Recycle Art

It is so cold here in our city!! BRrrrr! We have been cooped up inside most of the week but enjoying the Winter weather none the less! What are we doing this winter? We are drinking hot chocolate, baking cupcakes, playing in the snow, watching timeless family classics and doing fun learning projects. 

Busy making snow forts © Everything Family Guide

Below are two art projects we did using recyclables (pencil shavings). I recommend using liquid glue as it provides a visual for little artists and helps them stay on track. We placed glue on the paper in a circle around our painted finger dots and then carefully placed the pencil shavings on the liquid glue to make flowers.

© Everything Family Guide

Project # 1 © Everything Family Guide

Project # 2 © Everything Family Guide

Sorry about the messy bit as our toddler decided to intervene hehehe...Hope you all had a great weekend!

Annie

I Spy Lenses

So you know by know that I LOVE playing "I Spy" games with my kids. They are a great opportunity to learn and practice concepts. Little kids learn new things quickly or may even learn them very easily, but they forget just as easily and quickly! So it is very important for early education to be repetitive but with a new twist or theme each time to keep it interesting. So we have been focusing on learning vocabulary words using our sense of sight and hearing. We use the "I Spy" lenses to look for things called out and our sense of hearing to hear the words and associated sounds. Here is how we made our "I Spy" lenses:

We colored a 8" by 11" paper.

© Everything Family Guide

Collected a paper towel cardboard tube and cut in the middle to make two small tubes.

© Everything Family Guide

Cut the paper we colored in half.

© Everything Family Guide

Rolled the half paper around each tune and secured with a piece of tape.

© Everything Family Guide

Taped the two small tubes by placing them together like binoculars.

© Everything Family Guide

Secured a detachable keychain (optional) to wear around the neck. Viola! Our "I Spy" lenses are ready.

© Everything Family Guide

Let the hunting games begin...hehe

© Everything Family Guide

Annie

Cheesy Quesadillas

Nowadays my kids are hooked on Quesadillas! They are super easy to make, delicious and filling, healthy and great for a person of any age to eat and enjoy! You can also pre-make a batch of the filling in advance and freeze it or keep it in the fridge for a day or two. I am also able to sneak in some veggies!!

© Everything Family Guide

(This recipe yields 12 quesadillas)

Before you begin, you will need:

• 1 lb regular ground beef (with fat)
• 1 large green/bell pepper (seeds removed and diced in small sized chunks)
• 1 large onion (chopped in med. sized chunks or shredded with cheese grater if you kids don't like onions)
• 1 tbsp garlic powder or fresh garlic paste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin (It's great for digestion.)
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (if you like a bit of spice, I usually skip this steps for kids)
• 2 cup of shredded cheese (cheddar, marble or mozzarella)
• Pack of large 12 tortillas (white or brown)
• 1 tbsp oil

Directions:

1. Turn on the heat to medium low on your stove. In a sauce pan add the ground beef, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Now let this cook for at least 20-25 minutes on medium low heat. Stir the ingredients occasionally to mix them well into the ground beef.
2. When the ground beef is done, add the onions and green pepper and stir for 5 minutes on medium high heat until the veggies are translucent. Take the pot off the stove.
3. Fill the tortillas with ground beef and shredded cheese on one side and fold the other side over.
4. Turn the stove to low heat (to keep the tortilla from burning or turning dark brown) and in a frying pan, add 1 tbsp oil. Now carefully add the tortillas on the frying pan using two spatulas to avoid any spillage. Cover the frying pan with a lid. Toast the tortilla on one side for 2-3 minutes so that the cheese melts, before turning it over.
5. Now place in a lidded tray or plate to keep the tortillas from hardening. You can also use aluminum foil to cover the tray. These can be made in advance for parties, as you can warm up the Quesadillas for a few seconds in the microwave before serving.

Overall, this recipe is delicious and easy to make. My family loves it every time. Sometimes I use left-over roast chicken (with gravy) and serve with onions, bell peppers and cheese and it tastes equally good.

What are some variations of Quesadillas that you make for your family?

Annie

MI and Sensory Games for Kids

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences (MI) target all the different needs of a child. These skills are particularly helpful for teachers/educators/parents, who plan their lessons around the MI of their students. There are mainly eight MIs: verbal/linguistic, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal (people-smart), musical, logical/mathematical, intrapersonal (self-smart), visual/spatial, and naturalistic. Sensory activities help your child understand and explore the world around them by using the five senses (sight, hear, taste, smell, and touch). Both the MIs' & the senses are important aspects of early learning.  Keeping that in mind, I do activities with my toddler and preschooler that target the MIs' and the five senses.  

Here is a mix of those activities that incorporate the MIs and Senses:

1. Water Play - We do water play everyday during bath time. I have a basket of fun supplies that we use during this time from bubble baths, bathtub markers, fizzy color balls, and a variety of bathtub toys. (MI: Kinesthetic, Visual & Naturalistic. Senses: touch, hear, sight).
2. Sensory Rice - My kids love to play with the colored Sensory rice. Sensory rice can be made using various colors dyes and flavors/smells. I usually add small toys to the bin that he can discover, scoop out, or transfer from one bin to another, using a variety of tools (i.e. shovel, plastic cups, spoons, jugs). (MI: Visual, Kinesthetic, & Naturalistic. Senses: touch, sight, hear, smell).
3. Homemade Play dough - I use white flour, food color, salt, vegetable oil, water, flavor/essence (optional) to make homemade play dough. Sometimes I use a stand mixer so that the colors are incorporated well or we mix with our hands.  Sometimes I do the mixing and dough making to avoid messy situations or let my kids participate by adding some of the ingredients.  Homemade play dough is a healthier alternative to store bought play dough (God knows what hidden chemicals or secret ingredients they add to their products). (MI: Kinesthetic, Naturalistic, and Visual. Senses: sight, smell, and touch).
4. Body Massage - This by the far is the best sensory activity for your kids. I massaged both my children everyday for a whole year and they enjoyed that a lot as babies.  As my kids have grown into a toddler and a preschooler, I still give them body massages once in a while as a treat. Usually a body massage is done using an oil of some kind (I use ones that my kids are not allergic to such as olive oil and baby oil). I sometimes give them a massage before a bath.  This helps them stay calm and soothes their muscles. For my preschooler, I often give him a head, foot or leg massage (as he is a growing child and his legs ache sometimes from running all the time and the head massage is to simulate healthy hair growth). For my toddler, I often give him a whole body massage before a bath particularly focusing on the hair, back/hips, the shoulders, the legs/feet, and the tummy. Massage allows your children to relax after a hectic day or just helps them start their day calmly. You can also plug-in some classical or nature music for an added soothing effect. One more thing, the massage is always given with a gentle and loving touch. (MI: Naturalistic, Kinesthetic, Musical, & Intrapersonal. Senses: touch).
5. Movement Games/Relay Race - Movement games are a great way to fit physical activity in your child's life. Children nowadays are glued to their TV screens or Ipads and are reluctant to get up/move around. The best way for them to move around and have fun at the same time is by playing movement games as a team or small group (i.e. your family, friends, playgroups friends, relatives, neighbors, etc.) This usually require little to no setup time and is great fun that keeps you and your kids engaged for a long period of time (i.e. anywhere from 20-30 minutes).  Examples of movement games include tag, chase/run, chase/catch, ball throw/catch, kicking/passing the ball, jumping jacks, skipping, relay races, musical chairs, etc. You can also add music to the games, especially the relay races to make them more exciting and fun. (MI: Kinesthetic, Musical. Senses: hear, touch, sight).
6. Vocabulary Games - Vocabulary games can be a fun for learning and also be a sensory experience. Some types of vocabulary games can be matching objects, finding and naming objects, hearing and naming objects, sight words, etc. Other games like "I Spy" are also fun to play with your kids and can be about anything to include all the senses(this is my favorite game and my kids never get bored of it ever!). (MI: Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Visual. Senses: hear, sight, touch).
7. Pretend Play - This is the type of game that can incorporate all types of MIs and the senses. It can be about anything from playing house to going shopping. Common themes for little ones include shopping, cooking, dress-up, action figures, dolls, sleepover, camping/tents, outdoors, role-playing, etc.
8. Let's Explore Nature - This can involve taste/smell testing in the kitchen (products that are safe and non-allergic for kids like cinnamon, sugars, flavors, etc). The kitchen can provide great sensory and MI experiences for your child. Other natural places to explore would be parks, supermarket, bakery, ocean/beach, etc.). (MI: Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic. Senses: can include all senses depending on the type of play).

Overall, these games are a great start for incorporating the MIs' and the senses. Most of these games cater to the needs of young children between the ages of two to eight. The main aim of playing these games with your child is to provide him/her with a wide variety of learning experiences. It will also help you see what type of learner your child is.  This way you can cater your lessons to fit the needs of your pre-K, home-schooled or school-going child. I found this really cool site where you can take a test that will tell you what type of learner you are based on the answers you provide. 

What are some sensory games that you play with your child that targets the senses or the multiple intelligences?

Annie

Snowflake Art

It's been snowing like crazy and the temperatures are steadily dropping here in our city, so we have shifted our Preschool focus to winter crafts and activities.  We did this particular art project in various steps. Here is what we did...

Prep: we collected blue water color paint, paint brush, white paper x2, scissors, and blue bingo dauber

Step 1: Firstly, we wanted to capture a winter scene outside of our window in our minds. We discussed a snowy sky and decided to use blue paint to represent the snow and the sky. My preschooler painted a paper blue with straight lines and another one blue with light blue dots using the Bingo dauber. We let our art work air dry by laying it on a flat surface (so that it dries up flat instead of hanging it to dry which sometimes causes the painting to shrivel up or curl around the edges).

© Everything Family Guide

© Everything Family Guide

Step 2: Once it was dried, I helped my preschooler fold the paintings into various folds until I had a small square in my hand. Then I let him cut the edges for snowflake deco design.

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This was the end result:

 

© Everything Family Guide

What are some unique winter art projects you do with your kids?

Annie