Container Strawberries

I tried a garden a few years ago.  It didn't work.  Or maybe I didn't work (weed) hard enough.  The weeds grew like crazy, and the fruit and veggies didn't.  Grass still doesn't grow in the garden plot, just weeds, despite Derek's hard work.

Even though we know strawberries take a lot of work, and they don't fruit until the second year, we're trying something new.  We have a Topsy-Turvy strawberry planter.  We bought twelve strawberry plants from one of our Cub Scout friends.  And we filled.

 After less than twenty-four hours, I was impressed that the little buds had already opened up and were lovely little leaves.

 Unfortunately, we do NOT have a single place to hang this from.  We bought a shepherd's hook, but it is not nearly strong enough.  (We do not have a porch or deck.)

For now, we are watering daily and turning the planter daily.  Hopefully it works.  Anyone want to take bets? (Not that I am a betting girl...)

If you have any advice on a strawberry planter like this, please do share!  I've heard to be careful not to over-water, and I've heard you cannot water it too much.  (There are drain holes at the bottom.)  

Now I think we need to read The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear again!

Book Party!

Now that summer is almost here and my daughter will be home from preschool, we will looking for EASY ways to fill our days.  When it's too much of the same thing, the children bicker and fight.  (Okay, they fight daily, but monotony makes all of us that much crankier.)

One way I love to have some fun with the kids is with a book party.  I gather up lots of books, and even have the children bring some, too.  We put the books into a pile.  Then the children take turns picking books!  A book party also encourages me to read lots of the library books at one time to the children.  (We tend to take so many out at once that I sometimes a book or two get ignored before our next trip to the library.)

Our first book party was in April of 2009.

Sometimes we get lots of pillows and sit on my bed surrounded by books.  Other times, we pile the books on the living room floor and relax on the couch.  Either way, it's enjoyable and just by calling it a party makes it fun.

You could even take it a step farther and have a special treat.  (We don't typically do this, but this summer we will, but not every time.)  Creating bookmarks is a really easy and fun craft.  I just cut some paper or cardstock to size and let the kids "at it" with markers and stickers.

A book party only lasts as long as there is interest.  Sometimes we only get through three books, but other times we read many, many books.  I hope you consider your own book party!

(If your first book party isn't full of books and reading, don't be discouraged.  For our first book party, we read a book or two, and then a diaper desperately needed to be changed.  Once that happened interest was lost, but we have had many successful parties since then.)

Caterpillar Name Craft

This is a Rainbow-Caterpillar-Name-Craft.  And I love it!  I really like to do a lot with children's names so they can recognize their names, and eventually spell and write their names at an early age.  We have given personalized name pillows and personalized wall hangings as gifts.  We made the name snowmen this past winter.  Last week I needed to think about removing the lovely name snowmen from our front door.  I knew it would devastate a certain four year old unless we had something to replace them.

I looked around online but didn't really find much for name crafts, let alone a spring name craft.  Using the circle idea from the name snowman, I came up with this little caterpillar name craft.  Being spring, I thought it was time to talk to my daughter about the colors of the rainbow, too.

I used scrapbooking paper for the background, though a solid color may look nicer.  I used a biscuit cutter to trace the circles.  (I cut the circles pictured, but had my 4 year old cut most of hers herself.)  After cutting, we arranged in ROY G. BIV order, and glued them to the paper.  We made a face and added a pipe cleaner antenna.  Then we used some of our foam letters to add some extra color to the caterpillar, though this would be great name-writing practice, too!  (Obviously, I took this photo before we actually put the stickers on the caterpillar.)

This craft goes great with The Very Hungry Caterpillar and My Promise Rainbow. 
What other books would you recommend for rainbows and caterpillars??  
You may also be interested in this simple rainbow craft or this rainbow dessert.
I'm linking up today at

Freight Train Craft

Both of my children love the book Freight Train, by Donald Crews.  With its simple language and bold pictures, it's a keeper.

  Now that my daughter, age 4, can draw some basic shapes, I thought it would be great for her to draw her own freight train, based on the book, and have her color it.  Since my son likes to color, I thought I could draw the train, and have him color it.

We began by reading the book, one page at a time, and drawing the car that was there.  I modeled it for M.  First we drew the train track.  Then we drew a red rectangle at the back and colored it.  We continued until her freight train was complete.  Her coloring skills hide her nice shapes, but she was very proud.  If you look closely, you can see the wheels and how the cars are connected.

As it turns out, E was not interested in coloring the train.  He just colored for fun while we worked.  I think last year's Freight Train craft would be much more his style.  Just a simple paper craft!  (Click to see it!)

We are linking up to a couple of great sources!  Check them out!

Paper Dolls

One day we were reading a Little House picture book based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  To be honest, I am not sure which book it was, but I think it was Winter Days in the Big Woods.


Just as Ma cut out paper dolls for her girls, I was inspired.  Last year, I found all sorts of vintage paper doll books at the thrift store.  Yes, the price tag on that Daisy book says fifty-five cents!

Not knowing if M, age 4 would appreciate that adorable Daisy doll and not wanting to cut a beautiful vintage book, I made a colored copy of just two pages.  I printed Daisy on cardstock, but the clothing is just on regular paper so that M could work with them easily.

M was so excited as I was cutting out the dolls.  She knew immediately that they were paper dolls like Laura and Mary's.

These dolls were used well for only about a day.  I probably should encourage her to use them again, or use some of the other pages from the Daisy book.  Maybe we'll do that today!

They are so cute!  In one outfit, she is using an artist's palette.  In another she has a kitty in her apron.  Just like Laura and Mary, she even uses a candle!

Maybe you are more creative and could draw your own for your child.  I think it'd be fun to create outfits out of scrapbook paper or wallpaper.

~Please know that I do not know if this is a violation of the copyright of this book.  Yes, it's out of print, and this was just for personal use.  I just wanted to make sure I shared that, in case you considered doing the same thing.~

We really enjoy the Little House series.  If you peek at my book list of the books I'm reading/listening to this year, then you know that we've been listening to the chapter books.  I really appreciate them, but the picture books are perfect for a four year old!  I highly recommend checking your library, bookstore, or Amazon for the My First Little House picture books!

Check out these great blogs for other inspiration!  Though this is not a true craft, it does let my little girl use her imagination!

Raggedy Ann and Andy Craft

Today is the last day for the giveaway of Words!

Having read The Raggedy Ann Stories (linked to review) and currently reading Raggedy Andy Stories, I was excited to look for craft ideas.  Looking online, I didn't really come up with much.  I was quite disappointed, but did find a tube doll.  Below outlines our very basic craft that truly excited my daughter.  My son enjoyed it, too, and liked to point to them and say who made which craft.

Though my son (age 2) doesn't know Raggedy Ann or Raggedy Andy, he does like to craft.  (We're just getting started.)  My four year old suggested that he make Raggedy Andy and she would make Raggedy Ann.

Materials Needed for each:

Paper plate

2 black buttons

Red yarn
Scissors

Pink or red paper

Marker(s)

Glue

We've read enough of the stories, that I knew my daughter would remember what shape nose and what kind of eyes (shoe buttons) that the dolls have.  I asked her about each.  She also remembered that they have painted smiles.  She was not disappointed that I only had buttons and not shoe buttons.  They worked!

For Raggedy Ann, I showed my daughter how to make looped yarn hair since that is how the book describes  it.  We just placed the two ends of a long piece of yarn together and glued it.  Also based on illustrations from the book, first we drew the smile with a pink marker and then a black.   Somehow both of my children placed the noses upside down, but they certainly do not mind!

To help my son with the idea of making a head, I first drew the smile on the plate.  Then we glued the eyes and nose.  Lastly, he placed hair on Raggedy Andy.

I highly recommend reading any of the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy books by Johnny Gruelle!  (We haven't tried any of the other authors yet.)  I'm thankful our library has several copies, but we may want our own later.

Coffee Filter Snowflakes

This week we had a bit of fun with snow.  Snow books and snow art and snowflakes.  (Some snow art will be posted later next week, too.)

I like coffee filter snowflakes for lots of reasons.  Coffee filter snowflakes are easy.  Both my 2 and 4 year old children could participate.  Circular snowflakes.  Snowflakes that make coffee filters useful.  (With my small package of coffee filters, they will likely last a lifetime.  Yep.  My husband and I do not drink coffee, but we do have a tiny coffee maker for guests who need it.)

First color the coffee filters with markers.

  Place the coffee filters on a paper towel on a plate.

Then spray it.  The kids love this!

 Let the coffee filters dry.  (If you spray lightly it doesn't take long.)

Fold in half three times

Draw some markings on it if your child is not able to understand how to cut the snowflakes yet.

 Let the child cut!!  

It takes a long time at our house.

Open it.

Be totally amazed at your child's beautiful creation!

 Honestly, I had a blast with this project, too.  (Can you tell?)

I cut the snowflakes that my two year old son or I colored.  I had lots of fun.  

We hung them in our kitchen window and the windows by our front door.  

E (2) had fun coloring and spraying.  M (4) had fun coloring, spraying, and cutting.  

Initially, I only wanted to make white snow flakes.  M had great fun with that.  Then on another day, I decided it would be fun for both children to get involved in the project and so we all made colorful snowflakes.  M's favorites are the colored ones, of course.

I loved that the the coffee filters were already round since I dislike square flakes.  More importantly, they were easy to fold and cut for my little girl's introduction to snowflakes!

After our little project we read the very short chapter book Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan.  Though it is a chapter book, we read it in one sitting.  I love that M is starting to enjoy lengthy books!  E's (and M's) favorite snow book is probably Snowmen at Night or Frosty the Snowman!  

I have seen these easy snowflakes around blogland quite a bit, but the first place I saw them was at Cheerios Underfoot.   Thanks for the inspiration!

I am linking this to some great crafty resources!