Over at Totally Tots this month I’m responsible for posting lots of fun activities to go along with the Monster theme. We chose the book If You’re A Monster And You Know It
as our starting point. It’s a fun little book that grabbed Jonah’s attention.

One of our favorite Monster activities was the Roll-a-Monster Game. Using craft felt, I made some body parts for the monster. Then we played a simple game with dice to help us create a monster. I wrote about it more in-depth at Totally Tots today with a closer look of how I cut the body parts.

I created a printable to go along with the game and I’m offering it to you so you can spend some time giggling with your own “Little Monster.”

Download Roll-a-Monster Game (821)

Roll-a-Monster Game {Free Printable} is a post from: Happy Brown House

Our life has been full of creepy, crawly bugs lately.

We’ve watched caterpillars grow and change into butterflies. We’ve stopped to watch a parade of ants and then watched them problem-solve when the sidewalk chalk paint interrupted their procession…And don’t even get me started about the war the Mr. has been waging with the wasps around Happy Brown House!

We’ve made Stained Glass Butterfly Art and Spider Web Snacks.

And just when I thought I couldn’t handle anymore bugs….we did some more.

To be honest, I’m so glad we did. I love that I have his fingerprint drawings from his last night as a four-year-old…forever.

Since we’re celebrating a birthday around here, I thought I’d share a little present with you!

Free Download: Bb is for Bugs Fingerprint Art Printable

This printable is FREE of charge and you are welcome to download it for you personal and/or classroom use only. However, free or purchased printables are NOT to be reproduced, hosted, sold, or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system (such as Scribd or Google docs). My printables are copyright protected and I appreciate your help in keeping them that way.

B is for Bugs {Printable} is a post from: Happy Brown House

We love Eric Carle books. Alot. They are the books that we return to over and over and over again.

One of the things that make Eric Carle books so unique are the way he makes his illustrations. They are made from paper that he has painted and added texture to himself. (You can see more about his process by watching this video.) Once he paints his tissue paper, he uses it to create collages. (You can see more about his process by watching this video.) I think his process is fascinating.

Or, maybe I’m drawn to his creation process because it is attainable for even the youngest of artists…

Jonah and I had some fun during the “Plague of 2012″. I mean, there are only so many movies a kid can watch when he is sick and it’s raining outside, right?!?! As we were painting with watercolors, I took a white crayon and made a pattern on some paper when he wasn’t looking. When he painted over the white crayon, he thought it was magic.

“Mommy, look! How did it do that?!?!?!”

I explained how, this time showing him the process. He painted over it again just as bright-eyed as before.

“Mommy, can we make more?”

And so it began…The Pretty Paper Factory.

The only problem with the Pretty Paper Factory is that eventually, papers are drying on every flat surface. And then, once they are dry, I have a stack of treasures that Jonah won’t part with.

My solution: The Collage Box

Yes, I really cut up his watercolor pages into 4 smaller rectangles. I asked permission first.

To read about the Collage Box, you’ll have to visit Totally Tots. I’m sharing about The Collage Box over there today!

Want some other Pretty Paper Factory ideas? I’ll be back with more! Subscribe so you don’t miss them!

Mommy & Me: Pretty Paper Factory is a post from: Happy Brown House

Snow is a precious commodity around our region. We get snow, just not very often. Nor does it stay around very long once it finally snows. So, we often have to make our own. Enter…Coffee Filter Snowflakes.

Jonah still needs LOTS of practice with scissors. LOTS. He keeps wanting to rotate his hand like a contortionist to try to cut paper. The only way I know to help him is to provide plenty of opportunities to let him practice and continue to guide his hands in the right direction. Literally. There is still lots of hand-over-hand help from me in this area. The problem with doing something that can be frustrating for a preschooler (or any age, really) is that when it isn’t fun or purposeful, they don’t want to do it. So, I masked the sometimes frustrating task of cutting with making Coffee Filter Snowflakes. Instant interest from Jonah. Mommy Score!

Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Materials Needed:

• Coffee Filters
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Fold the coffee filter in half several times. (Remember the more you fold, the thicker the layers to cut through. I found that Jonah had a hard time with it folded in sixths.)
2. Cut designs on the folds
3. Unfold! Jonah loved the anticipation of this step, and couldn’t wait to see the designs!
4. Display somewhere that makes you happy. We made a bunch and taped them to our large picture window in our kitchen.

Coincidentally, letting Jonah use the tape himself was also a fine-motor skill hidden in disguise. Jonah thinks tape is fun, so he is super motivated to use it. Little does he know I was giving his little hand muscles a workout! Sneaky Mommy! We had so much fun with this activity that we actually extended snowflake cutting over a few days. Jonah kept asking to make more. That is a success in my book!

We also read lots of books about snow. Here are a few of our favorites:

Snow by Manya Stojic

Snip…Snip…Snow! by Nancy Poydar

S Is for Snowman by Kathy-jo Wargin

If you’d like to see more of our snow book “picks” you can check out our list!

We’d love to see your Coffee Filter Snowflakes! Let us know if you make some~send us the link or post them to our Happy Brown House Facebook page. Happy cutting!

Mommy & Me: Coffee Filter Snowflakes is a post from: Happy Brown House

We’ve entered the world of “Sight Words” around here!

I’ve recently taken notice of some readiness for sight words with Jonah and decided to give it a try. I wasn’t very scientific in choosing a word to start with, it sort of randomly happened one day as we were preparing dinner. Jonah was looking at a book called “My Cats” (a repetitive High-Frequency Reader from Scholastic that I had just found at the local discount bookstore Clearance Sale). He wanted desperately to read it on his own.

I grabbed a piece of paper and a crayon and made a quick “rebus” style poster for him. (I know, I know…you’re impressed with my 2-second drawing. Aren’t you? Hey, it worked!)

We practiced a few times before dinner, but he didn’t seem to show tons of interest. I hung it on the fridge at eye-level and later heard him practicing reading it. Success! It’s still on our fridge and now we read it every time we pass it. He’s confident now and has started going on a “word hunt” in other books.

While “my” is a common word in books, I wanted to extend the learning. There are lots of “sight word” books online to print, but I wanted to start with something more personal that he would be interested in. So, I whipped up a quick book in Microsoft Word, printed it out, and grabbed my favorite illustrator.

Here’s a glimpse of our book….

(Do you see the progress on writing his name?!?! So proud of that orange crayon writing!)

(Jonah started with the door and Mommy helped with the house outline)

(Can you tell we’re STILL obsessed with cars around here?)

(Jonah added even more friends after I took a picture of this. )

After we were done assembling the book, we practiced reading it a few times and finding the word “my” throughout the pages. I showed Jonah how to use a highlighter to highlight the word “my” and he eagerly found them again.

Since I made the book, the least I can do is share…

Click to Download the “My” Sight Word Book Printable for FREE

Mommy & Me: “My” Sight Word Book (Printable) is a post from: Happy Brown House

Just wanted to let you know I have a guest post up on Pennies and Blessings showing a frugal fun snack for the summer…Grapesicles! In addition to that, we made some Fruit Kabobs and practiced making patterns. Super easy to set up and a fun way to let kids help prepare part of a meal!

And because I love you…I leave you with a link to Amanda at Impress Your Kids and the Fruit Of The Spirit Series…she made Fruit of the Spirit Kabobs! While you’re there, click around a bit and see some of the fabulous ideas to incorporate fun into teaching kids about God’s Word. You’ll thank me later.

Frugal Fun Snacks & Learning, too! is a post from: Happy Brown House

Jonah and I have been having some knight adventures! He’s taken an interest into castles and knights after reading the book In the Castle by Anna Milbourne. As an extension of the book, we made a shield and pretended we were knights. Making a knight shield is really simple!

How to Make a Knight Shield:

1. Cut a shield shape from some cardboard. I did this part freehand, but you can always look up some shield pictures and copy the shape. We used the cardboard piece leftover from making the portable puppet theater.

2. Let your little one color or paint the shield shape.

3. Attach a “handle” for the back. I basically cut a strip of cardboard from a cereal box and attached it to the back. I had Jonah place his arm on the shield so that I could see the size he needed. I folded the strip (envision an upside down horseshoe) and taped it down.

4. Grab your foam sword and storm the castle…er, um, I mean swingset!

To see more activities involving knights, visit the Totally Tots Knight Theme!

Tutorial: How to Make a Knight Shield is a post from: Happy Brown House

Jonah and I have had some puppet fun this week! I got tired of our fancy puppet theater that kept coming apart and made up a portable, easily stored Puppet Theater with a science project display board. Now Jonah can play puppets whenever he feels like it, without Mommy having to get everything set up. He’s loving the independence he’s gained…and so is Mommy! He’s been retelling a few of his favorite stories which encourages all kinds of literacy skills.

Want to see the tutorial?

You’ll have to visit Totally Tots to get the full details.

Here are a few favorites we found on Amazon to go with our Portable Puppet Theater. Save up your Swagbucks and get a set! (Remember how I got $40 worth of books for FREE? I’ve got another $20 waiting on me to decide what to get from Amazon for FREE!)

You’ll have to click over if you are reading through email or a reader to see the widget. Regular subscribers rock!

Also, if you live near an Ikea or will visit one in the future, I found some great finger puppets there!  It’s worth it to look next time you go!

Happy Mommy & Me time! Go enjoy your kids!

Mommy & Me: Portable Puppet Theater is a post from: Happy Brown House

 This is my favorite Homemade Playdough Recipe to go with the Preschool Playdough Mats & Activities shared earlier this week. Unlike some store-bought brands, it is smooth and stays moist for a long time if stored properly! Plus, you probably already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen cabinets. Enjoy!

Homemade Playdough

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Water
• 1 Cup Salt
• 2 tablespoons Oil
• 2 tablespoons Cream of Tartar (found in the spices section)
• 1/4 teaspoons Food Coloring

Heat about 3 minutes on High. Stir continuously. After it gets thick and forms into a ball, pour onto some wax paper. Let the dough cool slightly. Knead until smooth. Store in a plastic bag, inside an air-tight container.

*If you want to add a little sparkle to playdough time, add a little glitter during the cooking process–Instant “Princess Playdough”

And because I love you…

Download the Printable Recipe Card: Homemade Playdough

Homemade Playdough Recipe & Printable is a post from: Happy Brown House

(photo credit: jimmiehomeschoolmom)

Playdough is so much more than just squishy-gooey fun for little fingers. Playing with playdough is beneficial to developing and strengthening fine motor skills. Essentially, playing with playdough can directly impact your little one’s writing skills! (I know, I know, it can be messy. With a few guidelines, you can let your little one squish playdough to their heart’s content.)

Playdough Guidelines At Our House:

1. Always at the table!
2. Use a placemat
3. If you purposefully throw it on the floor, we put your playdough away.

I have found that little ones don’t really have the dexterity to sculpt playdough into complex shapes and can get frustrated. One of the things they can do really well though is make “snakes” and roll a “ball”. Using these two things, we can harness the educational power of playdough through playdough mats!

Playdough Mat Ideas:

• Letter Outlines (Here’s a great printable from Homeschool Creations!)
• Number Outlines (Another printable from Homeschool Creations)
• Shape Outlines
• Child’s Name
• Counting Sets
• Simple addition or subtraction facts (also known as “Number Sentences” in Kindergarten)
• Spelling Words

Other Playdough Activities We Like:

• Cookie Cutters of all kinds
• Practicing cutting with a plastic knife
• Practicing cutting with child-safe scissors (with lots of supervision!)

Here is a little trick to help extend the life of  your Playdough Mats: Slide the playdough mat into a plastic page protector. This will prevent the playdough from sticking to your playdough mat paper and will make it easy to wipe clean. Also, did you know that you can write on page protectors with a dry-erase marker and wipe it clean? Aha! Now our playdough mats are multi-purpose!

Playdough Mat Resources:

• Pie Playdough Mat  from PreKinders.com (practice rolling “balls” and pretend kitchen play)
• Several Number Skills Playdough Mats from Sparklebox
• Faces Playdough Mats from Sparklebox
• Making Learning Fun has tons for different themes, including Brown Bear, Brown Bear!(I linked my search on their site)

That should be a great starting point for you with making playdough time a powerful learning tool!

Preschool Playdough Mats & Activities is a post from: Happy Brown House