AfterSchool Linky Party

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.littlewondersdays.blogspot.com" title="Little Wonders' Days"><img src="http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz128/luraymeister/Afterschool/AfterschoolButtonDraft4.jpg" alt="Little Wonders' Days" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

This week's party is hosted by Mama Smiles.

AfterSchool is also co-hosted by:

Just Playin’ Around

Little Wonders’ Days

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

The Educators’ Spin On It

What Do We Do All Day?

The Little Wonders had a pretty laid back week of after schooling.

Little J finished his timeline of Abraham Lincoln while the twins played with Lincoln Logs on Presidents Day.

 

We celebrated Mardi Gras on Tuesday and talked a bit about some of Daddy's memories of New Orleans.

The the majority of the week was spent playing at parks or taking spring walks.  Our weather hit up into the 70's!  Sassyfras even hollered, "Oh no, what happened to that tree?  It's pink!"  So yes, our trees are starting to bloom.

We were going to start some of our egg experiments yesterday, but poor Juiciness spent the afternoon getting stitches in his eyebrow.  He wanted to help Daddy vacuum, but Daddy didn't know he was behind him and the vacuum and Juiciness's eyebrow collided.  He was a trooper though and let the plastic surgeon fix him all up.  Then he spent the rest of the evening getting the royal treatment from Sassyfras and Little J.  He looks like a little prize fighter this morning, but cute as ever.

Rainbow Shaving Cream Painting

So, Little J and I were up to our shaving cream antics again.  Actually, I wanted to see if we could make rainbows using this process and he walked in and said, "Oh, cool, I love shaving cream painting!  What are we making?"  I was really happy to have his input, he came up with some cool rainbow designs.  My plan is to do these closer to St. Patrick's Day...  See our booklist below.

Supplies

card stock (you can use other paper, but I like this best so far)

shaving cream

tray or pan

acrylic paint

Q-tip, toothpick or something similar to swirl the paint

squeegee or something similar

paper towels

How

Put the shaving cream on the tray and then pour the paint in a rainbow shape.  Swirl the colors gently in the shaving cream, but DON'T swirl the colors together. 

Then, press a piece of card stock paper onto the paint and let it sit a few seconds.  Remove the paper and set it paint side up on a paper towel.  Let it sit for a minute or so and then squeegee the paint/shaving cream off. 

Little J made this design in the shaving cream by dragging a toothpick from the purple band up through the red.  I think it was my favorite design we did.

Clean Up
Now, let's talk about mess control.  I've had several folks ask me if this can be done with preschoolers.  I do this with Sassyfras and Juiciness and they just turned 4.  I put them in old clothes and have plenty of towels ready.  If I'm going to let them play hands on with the shaving cream, then I either don't put the paint in or use washable paint and not acrylic.

The messy part is when you've placed the paper in the shaving cream paint and pull it out again.  Once we pull the paper out of the shaving cream paint, I set it on a paper towel and move it close to the sink to squeegee it.  This way, I can rinse the squeegee right away.  It's really not bad. 

If you were doing this with a group of preschoolers, I would certainly have extra hands to help and have a few kids do it at a time.  I like to have a snack or independent activity set up for the kids to go to after they've helped clean up as much as they can.  That way I can finish the final cleaning and know they're safely occupied.

Our Book List

• The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow by Sean Callahan
• A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
• Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee
• The Rainbow and You by E.C. Krupp
• Animal Color:  A Rainbow of Colors from Animals Around the World by Beth Fielding
• A Rainbow of Animals by Melissa Stewart

Linking to:  stART, Thrifty Thursday, TGIF!, For Kids Friday, Made by You Monday, ABC and 123, The Sunday Showcase, Saturday Sharing, It's Playtime!, The Friday Kids Co-Op, Creative Genius Party, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday, Fingerprints on, Once Upon a Weekend, Show and Tell Saturday

Scratch Off Shamrocks

My scratch off valentines for the kids were a hit.  I found the directions to make scratch off paint from Family Fun and it's so easy!  So easy that I made some lucky scratch off shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day.  They'll trade them in for chocolate coins!  

You can download my template below and make your own.

Supplies
contact paper
card stock with template printed
green metallic acrylic paint
liquid dish soap
paint brush
bowl/spoon

To make the scratch off paint

Mix together 1 teaspoon of paint with one teaspoon of dish soap.  It's that simple.

I cut a piece of contact paper that would cover the card.  I needed some help with painting a shamrock, so the card with the black shamrocks was my template.  Before peeling the backing off the contact paper, I set it on top and painted in the shamrocks.  It took 2 coats of paint.  Once the paint was dry, I peeled the backing off and adjusted the painted shamrocks to align over the pictures.

St Pat Lucky Cards

Linking to:  Red Ted Art's Blog, Wow Me Wednesday, For the Kids Friday, TGIF!, The Friday Kids Co-Op, Creative Genius Party, Fingerprints on, Once Upon a Weekend, Sharing Saturday, Show and Tell Saturday, The Sunday Showcase

Mardi Gras Fun

Today is Fat Tuesday.  My husband's family is from New Orleans, so I always feel like we should do a little something to celebrate each year.  I'll be picking up a king cake from a bakery a little later and I'll be making my late grandmother in law's shrimp etouffee tonight. 

I printed out some Mardi Gras masks on card stock and cut them out for the kids.  They used sequins, feathers, markers, and Do-A Dot stampers to decorate them. When they finished, I punched holes in each end and tied some ribbon.

grape flavored popcorn

Now popcorn has nothing to do with Mardi Gras, as far as I know, but I saw this recipe last week and thought it looked fun.  I loved flavored popcorn as a child, as an adult, well it was interesting.  The recipe itself is great and the kids loved it though.  I made it for the kids and would not recommend making it with them.  I also halved the recipe (and still had a lot leftover) as it's not the healthiest snack (it's more like candy really). 

Linking to:  ABC and 123

Updated Timeline of Abraham Lincoln's Life

To see how we started our timeline, go to this post.

Little J finished his timeline of Abraham Lincoln's life this morning.  Not only was it a good way to practice making a timeline, but we learned about a great man and discussed topics like The Civil War and slavery.

These are the times he chose to put on his timeline.  Certainly there are more facts from Lincoln's great life, but not bad for a 2nd grader!

1809- Born in a log cabin in Kentucky

1837- Moved to Illinois and became a lawyer

1842- Married Mary Todd and had 4 sons

1846- Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives

1854- The Kansas Nebraska Act was passed

1858- Ran for U.S. Senate and lost.  The 7 Lincoln- Douglas debates occurred

1860- Ran for president and won

1861- The Civil War started

1862- Signed the Emancipation Proclamation

1863- Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address

1864- Reelected president

1865- The Civil War ends

1865- John Wilkes Booth kills Lincoln

The Lincoln Memorial

What did the two little ones do to learn about Abraham Lincoln? They played with Lincoln Logs of course!

Deb at Living Montessori Now has rounded up a bunch of great activities and links for presidents day.  Our timeline is featured on her post.

The AfterSchool Party is still open and waiting for you to link!

Linking to:  Living Montessori Now, Link and Learn, ABC and 123