Spoonful of Imagination

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Five Fall Table Decorations Kids Can Make!

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Tonight, we had a fall table decorated totally by my kids.  They loved putting this display together.  All day they excitedly talked about how we were going to eat dinner “by candlelight”.

There are five decorations on this table, and they are so quick and easy.  I promise!  I will walk you through each one.

1.  Walk through your backyard and pick some berries or branches to put in a vase for the centerpiece.  The natural outdoor elements will make it feel rustic and fall.  We put our berries in an old aluminum soup can that I had cleaned out and wrapped twine around.

2.  Have your child use a small pumpkin carving knife (that comes in a kit) to carve out the center of a small pumpkin.  My boys (who are 5 and 3) could do this step pretty much on their own.  I assisted to make sure no fingers were getting carved off and to help clean out the middle of the pumpkin with a spoon.  We inserted a votive candle into the middle of the pumpkin.  It was the perfect fit!

3.  Gather some acorn tops.  My five-year-old merely squirted some Elmer’s glue into each acorn top and stuck a colorful (fall colors) pom-pom on the glue.  It was so quick and easy.  He loved that looked like acorns, but they were also different and fun!  It was such a cheap thrill!

4.  Gather some pretty leaves of all different colors and lay in the center of the table.  My boys came back with fresh green branches.  🙂

5.  Make some place mats.  We made these  place mats with some acrylic paint, paper, and leaves.  The boys brushed paint onto the back of the leaves and used them as stamps to decorate their paper.  They did not want to use these tonight for our dinner place mats for fear they may be ruined, so we opted for some quick name place mats…

The boys were so excited to eat dinner that I didn’t even have to call them when dinner was ready.  They were already sitting in their chairs waiting.

It is so funny how something that didn’t take much time or really any money can make the kids feel so special.  Anything out of the “normal” is a big deal, and they loved our special fall decorated dinner table.

I hope you are all having a great week!  We had the best “family date” day on Sunday that I can’t wait to share with you all!

If you are local in Georgia and need a fun outing for this weekend, be sure to check back later this week!  I will give you all the information on what we did, and it was not expensive!

**This post is linked up at Miss Information.

Apple Picking

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On Monday, we went on a big field trip.  The kids and I went to Ellijay, Georgia (about 1 1/2 hours away) and made a day of apple picking with our sweet neighbors.  It was a complete blast!

Reagan was so young last year that she didn’t really get to enjoy the experience.  It was fun watching her tug on apples this year and shrill with delight when she got one.  Once she had her apple, she wanted to sit and eat it.  She loves her stroller “ride”.  Which I didn’t mind so much since I was watching the boys climb UP  trees for the apples.

Although there were lots of apples within arms reach on the ground, they preferred climbing the trees to get the best apples.  Boys are a blast!

There is so much innocent and pure joy in moments like these, as you watch your kids have sheer delight in discovering and experiencing life.

Reagan was not so happy at being taken from her beloved “ride” for a group picture.  I love how all the kids have expressions like “come on Reagan”.  J is watching my sweet neighbor trying to make Rea laugh.  Her girls are watching Rea too, and Caleb is giving me the stare down.  Life with kids is all captured in this one picture!  🙂

 

We totally got our money’s worth of an apple picking experience.  I think each child ate at least two apples while we were picking and then our two bags were full.  In addition, somehow I find some “stray” apples hidden behind Rea in the stroller?  She must have been saving them for later.

On top of LOTS of apples, this week we have been enjoying apple cider donuts and fried apple pies we picked up at the orchard’s store.

We’ve had so much fun learning about apples this week.  We’ve talked about the different kinds, names, terms like “orchard”, the parts of an apple, and so much more.  You can see a few of the activities we have done this week on The First Grade Parade’s site.  Here is her applesauce recipe that we started this morning.

The boys LOVED making this applesauce as you can see in these pictures.

The house is currently smelling amazing as our applesauce is in its last stage of brewing!  Can’t wait to try it this afternoon!

Are you enjoying the fun that comes with Fall??  Pumpkin foods?  Camp fires?  Boots!?  I just got the most beautiful boots last week and am wearing them like crazy!  Fall is a wonderful time!  What is your favorite part of it?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Kindergarten Tip: Story Dictation

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Today, I have a quick homeschool tip for you.  A simple story dictation (your child makes up a story aloud for you) can encourage so many wonderful things in your young child/student.  I got this idea from my mom, and it has become one of the best parts of our school days.

I got a small journal and have dedicated it to Caleb’s stories.  Everyday he tells me a story of his own creation, and I write it down.  Sometimes I am scrambling to keep up.  His stories tend to ramble excitedly from one point to the next (sometimes action moves and large hand gestures are included) and my pen is trying to catch it all.  Please forgive my grammer and spelling in these stories as I am writing a mile a minute!

I love it!  His imagination is letting loose, and I have it saved in this journal.

These stories have been a great “starter” to lots of conversations for us.  We talk about plot, characters, cause and effect, order of events, story title, etc.  He is learning all these things as a kindergartener without feeling like he is learning.

In his mind, he has his mom’s sole attention, and he is getting praised to think and dream up the most imaginative stories.  I know our boys love for us to tell them a story before bed.  This is Caleb’s special time to tell me what ever he wants to come up with.  It is easy to see what he is in to when you read through his journal.  🙂  Creativity is a big part of our school days.

Sometimes I come up with a “subject” for him to tell his story about.  Often I tell my own short story about the same “subject” that he used.  This step models the use of the same subject while teaching all those great story elements I mentioned above.  He loves this time.  His stories have greatly improved since we started this a month ago.

**You can see we are also working on writing the date, and he is starting to write that at the top of his journal entry for me.**

At times he is more tired and doesn’t want to think up a subject.  I have seen story blocks or story stones and have wanted to create my own.  I have not gotten to it yet, but I think they would be a fun way to change this assignment up from time to time.  I love the simple painted story stones that A Happy Wanderer came up with for her son.

The simple picture could help ignite a story in Caleb’s mind, or he could pick out a few and combine them all into one story!  I think the concrete item would help him to hold and get excited, rather than for me to just say aloud a subject.  It is a different way and helps spice things up.

Since I have not created my stones yet, I came up with stamps for today.  Caleb needed a little guidance on what to “write a story” about.  I placed two stamps on our journal page and he created a story with them both.

We are loving this quick yet really valuable tool in our school days.  Even if you don’t homeschool, I think it would be a fun activity to do with your child.  They are only young once and we will miss their creative imaginations when they are grown.  Why not help foster and encourage it, while preserving it in a journal!?

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you are having a great week!

Linked up at:  The Hip Homeschool Mom Blog Hop

Painting: Tips for letting young kids paint!

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This week we did LOTS of fun things.  We got to have two play dates, a park outing with their grandma, and even a zoo visit with friends.  We only had one day this week where we didn’t have anything on the calendar, and it just so happened to be the “rainy” day.  We loved it!

In our school days, we have been talking about fall and the changes that come with this season.  Having a rainy day at home, was the perfect time to paint our ceramic pumpkins!

They did an awesome job, and I absolutely adore them!!  I know they will be a decor item I save and use for years and years!

I got these little ceramic pumpkins at Hobby Lobby last week and they were on sale for 40% off.  I think the small pumpkins ended up costing about $1.70 and the large one was about $2.80.  They cost SO much less than going to a paint your own pottery place, but I think the effects and look is the same!  Thanks to one little tip at the end that I will share with you!

We talked about fall colors and which colors they would like to use on their pumpkin.  I said they could use any “fall” color.  They said they wanted to use only orange and brown.

I let my little girl paint!  She’s about 20 months old and loves to paint!  She kept squealing with delight, smiling, doing a bouncy dance in her seat, and laughing.  While I watched her with so much joy, I had the thought that many people might not try this with a child her age.

It can be a little scary and hard, but it is worth all the work.  We are building memories!

I came up with ten tips to help make painting with young kids less intimidating and easier to do.  I hope you find them helpful!

1.  Strip your kids down.  🙂  They can wear an old shirt or paint smock.  We have both, but I usually just have my boys take off their shirts.  It’s so much easier and then you aren’t pulling wet paint over their heads, when they want to remove that shirt afterwards.  For my little girl, I had her wear an apron to stay “modest” for these pictures. 🙂

2.  Use a big tarp or old table clothe to cover your table/painting area.  I tend to use big sheets of paper or old newspaper because I can just bawl it up and throw it away afterwards.  It helps keep it simpler if you don’t have to wait for the table cloth to “dry” and worry about where to store them, so you find them next time.

3.  Use paper plates as your paint pallets!  Although those cute plastic pallets that are sold in art stores are cute with the divided out areas for different colors, they are just one more thing to clean. I stopped using them because they always had dried paint on them and were a pain to scrub clean.  We just squirt some paint on to paper plates and throw them away afterwards.

4.  Paint in steps!  If your child tends to “quit” quickly, you can let them paint till they want to be done.  If you want them to “cover” more of their area say “you can let that dry and come back later and work on it”.  It’s ok, if it isn’t completed in the first sitting.  Hardly any of our projects are, right!?

5.  Go with their creativity!  This is so important!  Let them dream and design it as they want!  I fight the urge in me to at times want to “touch up” their work.  You want THEIR work not YOURS, so let them create it as they want.

6.  Do not have a “time” crunch or crazy busy schedule where you are trying to “squeeze” this activity into a tight window frame.  The best projects are when they are the only “to do” and you aren’t rushing to just get it done, so you can go to the next project.  Any easy tip along these lines is to have a cup of water for the older kids to clean their brushes (before changing colors) on hand.  When we are done painting, I throw all the brushes into the cup, so I can walk away and help the kids get cleaned up.  I can come back and clean up the mess later, without worrying about the brushes having dried out.  Also, use a plastic/throw away cup here!

7.  Let them explore!  It might end up the little one starts painting her belly.  I go with it.  She is exploring and learning so many things (cause & effect, sensory elements, and fine motor skills are just a few).

8.  I always plan for a bath to be needed afterwards, so it’s a nice surprise when that is not needed.  After our pumpkins were painted, the rain started pouring!  I let them run and splash, so they were gonna need a bath anyways.

9.  Let them admire and show off their artwork.  They will be so proud of it, if you encourage and praise them and their work!  They will want to touch it and show it to others!  Let them.

10.  Have fun with it, and have the mindset you are making memories!

That is it!  There are ten tips to help you paint with your little ones!  I hope it helps and doesn’t make painting with “babies” so intimidating!  Our last step for this project was to give our pumpkins a thick coat of Mod Podge.  This created a shine finish to the pumpkins that makes them look like they are fresh from a ‘do it yourself pottery place’.

An easy way to incorporate step 9 being “letting your kids show off their art work” is to display it around the house.  I put my kids’ pumpkins on my mantel, and they are so proud of them.  My three-year old goes over to look at his pumpkin several times a day and says proudly “look!  It’s dry now mom!  I can touch it.” as he scoots a chair over. 🙂

I hope this post helps you tackle a painting project with your kids and gives you some tips on how to do it, and it to be a cheap and fun memory!

Later in the week, I will be sharing more with you about this pretty fall wreath!

Thank you so much for checking in and reading this little blog of mine!  I hope you all had a relaxing weekend!

Linked up at: At Home Take 2, Centsational Girl, The Inspired Room, and Hip Homeschool Moms