The Most Random Play-doh Toy

For N2's birthday, one of their friends gave them the most random playdoh toy I've ever seen.  Take a look.

Why yes, it's a mouth!  You can mold teeth (both incisors and molars), make braces, drill out cavities and add fillings, make a tongue, brush teeth and pull teeth.  N2 asked on the day of their party if they could play with it and I said no but then the next day they asked again and I figured why not.  I had to make all the teeth at first but then they got the hang of it.  They really like pulling teeth and destroying them.  Warning-don't ever visit them if they become dentists!  The drill has batteries so you can drill holes in the teeth.

 Natalie is trying to pull the tongue out instead of the tooth!

They certainly had fun playing with this play-doh set but it really strikes me as a strange thing to make a playdoh set about!

Natalie's Faces

The other day at dinner, I'm not sure how it started but Natalie started imitating Brian's faces.  She's really good at making the same faces as other people.  There is one face that she has trouble with but other than that, she can make all the same as Brian.  She clearly is her father's daughter!

Random February

On N2's birthday, Noah was throwing up and Natalie was better.  We put on movies but Natalie wanted to do other things.  She and I played Sequence for kids but then she got bored and watched to build towers with the poker chips.  She used all the chips to build one tall tower!

Natalie found my hat and gloves and put them on one day.  She looked so cute!

Kohl's Children Museum

We went to the Kohl's Children's Museum a few weeks ago because I bought a deal for half off admission.  Dad came with us and went some friends there.  They seemed to have a great time but they did get hungry so we had to leave earlier than I had planned to go have lunch at Walker Brother's.  Maybe that was the start of Noah's growth spurt!  I was glad to have dad there so that the kids could go in different directions which they did most of the time we were there.

Noah spent time in the baby hospital.  I love how well he took care of the babies!  He gave them shots in their heart and he listened to their lungs while they were face down.  What a great doctor!

They also did a LOT of grocery shopping.

We spent a lot of time working with the crane which was actually hard for them to maneuver on their own.

We also spent a lot time with the wheelbarrows and the conveyor belt.

 Natalie seems to love pretending to be a veterinarian and taking care of animals.  She spent a lot of time in that area at the museum.  While she was there, she talked on the phone and I love this picture because I can just imagine her when she is older and talking on the phone and being exasperated with me!

Preschool Valentine's Day Party

N2's Valentine's Day party was on the 13th as there was no preschool on the 14th.  I think that's where we picked up our stomach bug!  I was room mom for the class party so I planned all the games and ran them.  I don't have pictures of all of them because I was running the games.  I think all the kids had a good time and the teacher seemed pleased too!

Here are the flowers we took to their teachers.

The first game we played was a whole class song game called Sweetheart Dance.  I found the idea online and the author is unknown.  You give each kid a red, yellow or blue heart and they have to follow the words in the song.

Sung To: "Skip to my Lou"

Red hearts, red hearts, take a bow
Yellow hearts, yellow hearts, take a bow
Blue hearts, blue hearts, take a bow
Now all hearts jump up right now.
Yellow hearts, yellow hearts touch the ground
Blue hearts, blue hearts touch the ground
Red hearts, red hearts touch the ground
Now all hearts turn round and round.
Blue hearts, blue hearts, wit right down
Red hearts, red hearts, sit right down
Yellow hearts, yellow hearts sit right down
Now all stand and run to town! (run in place)

We had to stop after each line to get the kids to do the motions the first time through.  They also didn't know what a bow was at first.  We played it again and they were much better at it.

We did the craft next because it had to dry.  We made coffee filter hearts that I did with N2.  The only problem was drying them.  We stacked them up on the paper plates but only the ones on the tops were dry by the time the party was over. 

After that I gave each kid a bag of candy hearts and challenged them to build towers to see how many they could stack up.  (Not sure what Noah was doing in the picture here)

 Some kids were very good at making towers and other kids got a little frustrated.  I also encouraged them to sort the candy hearts into colors to see which color they had the most of.  They got to keep their bag of hearts to take home.

After that we played a more active game.  I put hearts out on the floor and they had to jump from one heart to the other without touching the floor.  I used construction paper hearts because that is what the teacher had but poster board hearts really would have held up better.

We ended the games by playing a matching game.  Each kid got a piece of a heart and they had to find the heart's partner.  N2 helped me make this game.  I cut a heart in half in an interesting way.  I wrote a number on one side and N2 put the coordinating number of stickers on the other side.  I cut each heart in half using different ways so that the hearts could only be matched up with its partner.  The kids had trouble with this game even though they did know the numbers and could count the stickers.  They just had no idea how to find their partner!  We had to help the kids and they did eventually find their partners.  After that it was snack time.  I brought in heart shaped fruit.

Then they passed out valentine's which took a long time.  It was a great party!

Children's Music Day

Brian's band program finally was able to get a children's music day off the ground.  He had tried several times before but didn't have the interest.  This year there was TONS of interest.  He set a maximum of 100 kids and he had that plus a few more!  He programmed it for ages 4 years to 3rd grade.  It was a drop off for kids 1st grade through 3rd grade.  His students ran the whole program.  There were stations and each group (grouped by age) rotated between the stations.  At the end of the rotations there was a concert specifically for kids.  I head great things from parents as did Brian.  He actually got an email from a mom saying that her kids emptied the recycling bin so they could make more instruments (one of the stations was making instruments).

***Warning, this post has a lot of pictures***

The first station that we went to was making instruments.  Each age group made different instruments based on their age.  The 4-5 year olds made shakers out of toilet paper rolls.  We put rice and beans inside and then taped a paper over the top and bottom.  Then we got to decorate the whole thing by putting tissue paper on contact paper and then putting the contact paper on the toilet paper roll.  Since we had a little extra time, we got to make paper plate tambourines.  The kids colored on the plates.  Then we put rice and beans inside and taped the plates shut.

Our next station was an instrument petting zoo.  Students had various instruments and the kids could try all of them.  The younger kids in our group (the 4 year olds) were a little overwhelmed by all the noise!  This included N2.  They clung to me and didn't want to try any instruments.  I finally convinced them to try some. Their favorite was the snare drum which happens to be Brian's and is stored in the basement.  We had a snack and then they decided they wanted to play the instruments since all the other kids were eating.

Our next rotation was a drum circle.  The kids got to go on stage and pick a drum.  My kids went straight for the bass drums and snare drums and didn't want to try the hand drums.  They got to switch instruments and N2 just switched with each other which Brian's students thought was really funny!  Each kid got to play a solo if they wanted.

Our last rotation of the day was a conducting station and a music writing station.  One of Brian's drum majors showed the kids in small groups how to conduct and then they got to conduct a video of the band.  Brian wandered around to make sure all the groups were running smoothly and he stopped to conduct with N2.

While the small groups of kids were conducting, the other kids were "writing" music.  They had staff paper and stickers.  They put their stickers wherever they wanted on the paper.  Then they took them to a student to play on the piano.  N2's compositions were quite complex!

The final part of the day was a concert.  All the kids got to go on stage and Brian led a rhythm band.

Then they got to conduct the band all together.  For some reason Natalie didn't want to participate.

We had a great time and it seems like everyone else did as well!

Sports Class-Football

N2's sports class has been over for a couple weeks but I just hadn't sorted through the pictures yet!  The class advertised that they would play soccer, t-ball, and basketball.  I don't think the coach wanted to repeat anything so they got to play football and floor hockey as well (they did play soccer twice since their coach had an unexpected flat tire on his way to class and someone else had to fill in).  I don't think N2 have ever seen a football or a football game so I don't think they had a clue what to do!  But at the end of class the coach told me I had 2 future football players on my hands.  Ha!  Very unlikely.

The coach started by showing them how to hold to ball really tight. (See the first picture)  They had to run and the coaches tried to get the ball out of their hands (they didn't try really hard!)  Look at that fierce football player with her tongue stuck out!  When they got to the "end zone" they got to spike the ball.   Natalie made a good running back because instead of running down the line of cones, she ran far away from the coaches so they couldn't get her.

Then they got to practice hiking the ball.  This was quite amusing!

 Then they got to practice throwing the ball, passing, and catching the ball.  Very few kids could catch the ball.  I guess the second shot of Noah could be considered good form but what do I know about football?

They seemed to really like football and asked if we could play football at home.  I went searching through the balls we have and we do have a small football.  But we haven't practiced yet.