Review and Giveaway At Live, Learn, Love

Did you notice my new header? I've been trying for days to stagger the heading, but couldn't figure it out. Well, to my surprise this morning, while checking my e-mail, Annette from Live, Learn, Love had sent me the header fixed...it looks fabulous!! Thank you so much for taking your time to help me.

Be sure to stop by Live, Learn, Love this week because she's hosting a giveaway from Carolina Pad. There are a ton of amazing prducts that will help you get organized.

Tree Hugging Tots: Trees

This week's theme for Tree Hugging Tots is Trees! Our family really enjoys being outdoors during the fall...it's the perfect time of the year.

We took the girls to a local orchard to pick apples.


We read Johnny Appleseed.

Izzie made a tissue paper apple.

She insisted on making the apple green, which is her favorite type of apple.

To see more Tree Hugging Tots, click here.

I Heart Faces: My Favorite Things

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is "My Favorite Things." My favorite season is fall. I adore everything about fall...the cool crisp mornings, the leaves changing colors, watching college football, snuggling in a blanket on chilly nights, wearing the perfect outfit (jeans and a sweatshirt), visiting the pumpkin patch, and picking apples.

This past weekend, we visited the pumpkin patch...

And picked apples.

To see more Favorite Things, check out I Heart Faces.

What are your favorite things?

stART: If You Give A Pig A Pancake

For this week's stART project, we read If You Give A Pig A Pancake.

Izzie helped make blackberry pancakes for breakfast.

I saw a similar activity at Lakeshore Learning awhile back. I used their concept to make Izzie this activity. I made 20 pancakes (Microsoft Word), 10 pancakes with numbers 1-10 and then 10 pancakes with different amount of dots (1-10). The concept is to match the pancakes (number with the correct amount of dots).

For more drama, I put the pancakes on a baking sheet and gave Izzie a spatula to use. I separated the pancakes (1-5 and 6-10), so Izzie would not be overwhelmed. For numbers 1-5, she went in correct order and was able to visually distinguish the correct amount of dots.

For number 6-10, she would choose the correct number that went next, but had to count the number of dots to find the correct pancake. She really liked this activity and it was great for counting!

I wanted to create a game that would reinforce taking turns. So, this is what I came up with. I made 2 large pancakes (cardboard and felt...can you believe I didn't have 2 pieces of brown felt the same color). I then made game cards (Microsoft Word) that included the following toppings, 1 chocolate, 2 strawberries, and 3 blueberries. For the game pieces, I used the velcro chocolates, strawberries, and blueberries from Izzie's Just Like Home Cake Decorator Set.

We took turns picking game cards and then attaching the correct topping to our pancake. It's a simple game, but it really encouraged Izzie to practice taking turns.

For more stART projects, head over to A Mommy's Adventures.

Open Ended Art: Tissue Paper

This week's Open Art theme at Growing and Learning by Leaps and Bounds is egg shells or tissue paper.

We decided to make Apple Sun Catchers. The apple template can be found here. I cut each apple out of construction paper, added contact paper to one side, then had Izzie add the tissue paper. After she was done, I added contact paper over the tissue paper. Yep, it's that easy!

Yellow Apple

Green Apple

Red Apple

Izzie's Apple Suncatchers look adorable on the back door!

To see more Open Ended Art activities, please click here.