A Family Portrait: 31 Months

Our paint supply was replenished this week and we added some nice paint cups and brushes. 

The result: tons of paintings drying all over the kitchen!

I had no counter space left by the time they were done:) 

A pretty blue sun by I-Bell. 

They were so busy.

And then D surprised me. He said he made a picture of Mama, Dada and him.The painting was three circles for our heads. Then S asked about little L, so he added another person to his painting. I-Bell suggested he add some legs to all of the people in our family ... so he added legs. 

 Our family portrait is now hanging on our fridge. I love it so much!

So proud of our little guy. He's growing up so fast.

Window Easel

Josh recently made the kids a window easel.

They have been writing all over steamy windows lately - so this was done just in time! 

Daddy couldn't wait to play with it.  

They played for a long time! 

And then it was time for a bath - lol 

They next day we used some Snow Blower spray.

Wrote some numbers and letters on the back side. 

And we got some letter/number writing practice with dry erase markers. 

They loved it! 

Can't wait to share more soon. We have so many ideas for this thing!

Eye Doctor New Additions

This post is an update to Eye Doctor. 

Today, D and I visited the Dollar Store and found some reading glasses. 

We also have some new eye test sheets laminated and ready for play. Below is the letter and number test. Its become the most used sheet right now.

Josh and I just popped the lenses out of the reading glasses.

D has become quite the professional, especially when it comes to recognizing letters and numbers.

***Now accepting new patients***

A Matching Game for The Train Lovers: 2.5 yrs old

D asked me this afternoon if we could play a matching game. We have a few games at home, but I wanted to do something a little more educational. Little Lady L was sleeping, and it was just the two of us, so I asked if he would help me make one.

We made another train game. We've done some similar games in the past: Fun with Learning Numbers, and Ticket Punch. I was wondering if the Fun with Learning Numbers game would help draw their interest to the numbers on the trains, and it did! D has been talking about who has what number ever since. 

Today, we cut out some rectangles, and drew some basic trains to keep the attention on the number. There are two of each number. And the numbers actually match the Thomas Train numbers (i.e. Thomas is number 1, Percy is number 6, Toby is number 7 ...).

D saw these all laid out and said, "Mama, it's perfect!"

We flipped the cards just like this, and it was game on. 

Number 7 ... it's Toby! 

Looking for number 1 for Thomas ... can you remember where it is? 

He found a number he recognized...it's for Percy! 

Number 6 for Percy!

 The only number he needed help with was number 2 :) Must be because Edward, the number 2 engine is hiding in my room for Christmas morning ... 

OK ... this next part was created by D. He wanted some coal cars. Here they are. can you count how much coal is in each car and match it to the number?

Here he is pointing to each dot as he counts. He surprised me with this one. Number 7 for Toby. He counted the dots correctly and matched it - no prob. 

This was cute ... Toby's coal car is chugging to the top. He is saying, "chug-a-chug-a" all the way up to its matching engine. 

There we go - a match! 

Three was too easy. He didn't even count the dots. Saw it, matched it. I still made him count to be sure. 

Two. 

And match.  

Counting the dots. This kid is serious about Thomas. Check out those tattoos on his hands. He also has his Thomas cup next to him; and you can't see in the pictures, but his Thomas pillow was brought to the table (because he didn't want to rest today:)

So much fun!

The Moon and its Phases

D has been fascinated with the moon lately. His grandma always says, "Love you to the moon and back." They have a song they sing together about the moon. And his favorite shape lately seems to be a "crescent moon."

The other night D asked someone where the moon was, and they responded with, "The moon is still sleeping, so we can't see it." Hmm, no thank you. Please don't tell my son silly things like that!

And this is how we began our moon study. :)

We had oreos at home, so why not make studying taste good? We also love to play with our food here. I mean, doesn't every child? 

We talked about the different phases. I am aware that there are eight, but considering these guys are not in school yet, we kept it simple.

New moon! 

Crescent moon! 

Eat the moon!

I arranged the oreo moons in order on the table. If they could name it, they could eat it. 

D and I lit up our moons tonight. Then we stepped outside to see what phase the moon was in. 

It was cloudy, but through the clouds he thought it looked pretty full. I checked, and the full moon is only two days away...

He lit up our full moon. Considering we're keeping this simple, he was right.

I think we'll put these up on the wall in his room and he can enjoy the moonlight without having to go outside.

Good Night, Moon!

If your child is into the moon, or space, check out some of our past studies:

 A Look Into Outer Space

Aliens, Planets and a Space Ship!

Eye Doctor

The other day as I was cleaning out our summer storage bins and  saw how many sun glasses our family owns that we don't wear anymore. I wanted to let the kids use them, but didn't think they would if I just put them in the dress-up bin.

 

This is where the inspiration to play Eye Doctor came from.

Originally I drew shapes on a sheet of paper with crayon. When I realized how big of a hit this was turning out to be, I decided to create some "eye test sheets" on the computer and laminate them.

Later we brought in a computer, which is just a keyboard with a fabric bin.

We also added shape flash cards. The Dr. observes the shapes that the patient needs to study. At the end of each appointment, the patient is fitted for glasses, and sent home with their shape cards. The glasses seem to help the child read their study cards. They practice and come back again and again. 

Colored shape chart.

Black and white shape chart.

 

Letter chart.

 

At 2.5 yrs, D loves this! He doesn't like when I try to sneak pictures during play. We take turns playing the roles of Dr/Patient.

Last night he got out of bed because he needed glasses. So 

we played before bed. He went right to sleep afterward with his big, pink glasses on LOL

 

I hope your children enjoy this as much as mine do!!