Little Button Collaborative

drawnfaces

A while ago I found a great tutorial at the Purl Bee on button making. We decided to give it a shot. I drew some circles on linen and asked Lou to draw whatever she wanted with the disappearing pen. She drew faces. Then she picked out some colors.

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Then I stitched the faces…

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We cut them out…

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And Lou began pounding the buttons together with a mallet.

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buttons

What a handsome little guy.

More Collaborative Work

Roundup- Teachers, Listening

Roundup lists studies and info I find important to life as a parent. Plus one artist.

Wrap Hammock

wraptoes

I got this lovely wrap that is no longer in use as a wrap. However, sometimes we break it out and swing the kids in it.

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One parent on each side, swinging, singing…

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It’s got to feel awesome.

Roundup – Touch, Napping

Roundup lists studies and info I find important to life as a parent. Plus one artist.

On a side note: If you are looking for more artists like these you can follow me at google buzz or reader. Here’s my profile.

The Balance Beam

balancebeam

We bought a 4″x4″ and screwed on some blocks of wood at the ends for stabilization. It was a hit. Especially with the 18 month old.

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Note: Our piece of wood didn’t seem to have any splinters. Also, it’s a bit cumbersome to have laying about. I just knew I was going to end up tripping on it, so it’s banished to the garage when not in use.

Other than that, it was well worth the $8 to see how excited the kids were going back and forth. We got to watch Ero master the one foot in front of the other move, which puzzled him at first and excited him to figure out. Good times.

Roundup – Soda, Graduating

Roundup lists studies and info I find important to life as a parent. Plus one artist.

Non-Fiction for 3 to 7 year olds (Perhaps older)

cats

My daughter Lou is crazy for this old encyclopedia she borrowed from her friend. Montessori is a fan of non-fiction for kids, and after seeing how Lou reacted to the encyclopedia I got her a few more non-fiction books. It also happens that non-fiction is crazy inexpensive for some reason. I also wager these, or books like these, are at any library. Dusty and unloved.

books

They are glorious.

I’ll start with Our Animal Friends. It’s the most story like, and personal, of the bunch.

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Adorable art and wonderful (sometimes slightly dark) storytelling about animals on a farm.

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Above, for example, a mean rooster gets carried away by a fox. The way they do it is very funny for adults. I had to hold back my laughing since it’s hard to explain why I, a vegetarian, would laugh at such a thing.

The rest of the books are all very non-fiction. I chose ones that had pictures of kids in them since she likes that.

Wonderful Houses Around the World has great illustrations and descriptions of houses… around the world.

indiahouse

They show a real photo and then draw what’s inside.

houses

The book Children Just Like Me is a winner too. Beautiful photos and descriptions of individual children around the world:

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They show their favorite toys, families, schools…

people

Then we got another little house book. Homes Around the World. It has neat pictures of strange houses:

houses2

It’s also good for beginning readers.

Then lastly we got a book called People which is beautifully illustrated but slightly dated.

Great stuff like this:

manycolors

But also represents America as a cliché many times:

usahouse

People reading that book might think we are a nation of rodeo’s and BBQ’s.

Overall great stuff. Lou chooses to read some of these every day.

Roundup – Excellent Study Starting

Roundup lists studies and info I find important to life as a parent.

Note: I changed the name from Dailyish Roundup because it seems to be a couple times a week, so simpler it is.

Disassembling a Bouquet

flowerpettals

Just in time for Valentine’s day.

Peter got me a bouquet for my birthday and it was starting to look a little old. Add to that Lou was pleading to have one of the flowers. We let her have at it.

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It was full of learning. And ripping. And crushing.

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Lou split many of the flowers into categories:

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And we looked at the many differences:

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Pretty science…

17 Months – Lacing Beads

lacing

I didn’t expect Ero to be able to do the lacing beads. Peter however, doesn’t have a good grasp on when kids are ready to do things, so yesterday he started playing beads with him. Ero seemed to be getting it, at least getting the part where you put a bead on the little stick and then dad does the rest.

So I gave it a shot with him again today.

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I held the stick on a string and he put a bead on. I thought I would up the game by getting him to grasp the top of the stick.

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Then I let go and the bead slide down. Ero smiled. He did it again and again. Halfway through I realized that he was grouping like beads.

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Then as if to salvage his masculinity he ran about hitting things with it.

lacingrunning

Dailyish Roundup – Parents’ Age, Junk Food

Dailyish Roundup lists studies and info I find important to life as a parent. Daily is more of a goal…

Fixing Crazy Action Figure Eyes

eyes2

Sometimes we get a little action figure doll and it’s eyes are not painted correctly. Sometimes they have a wandering eye, sometimes crazy eyes.

When we got Belle, she had crazy eyes. I did not take a picture of the eyes at the time, so I shall illustrate how her eyes looked compared to how they should look:

eyes1

If you want to make someone look crazy, have their pupil surrounded by white. I broke out the sharpie.

belle1

Less crazy. Sure they are very dark eyes, but we preferred them to the little black dots of a mad woman.

The other day Lou got a fairy. She had a wandering eye.

Sharpie time.

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