Just Get Outside - A moonlight stroll!

Just a quick post to let you know that the latest installment of my guest posting  "Just Get Outside" is up at Itsy Bitsy Learners. A preschool sidekick, the dark woods, and a moonlight night combine in this one! Go check it out, and feel free to come back and comment here.

You can see it here.

5 Reasons why you should be getting out the playdough...

In case you didn't see it, you might want to take a look at my latest post on my other blog, The Usual Mayhem. I'm giving you 5 reasons why your should get out the playdough, 6 things to add for creative play, and 8 places to find (free) playdough mats!

You can see the post here. Happy squishing!

St. George and the Dragon

This week's story is St. George and the Dragon. This one is a BIG hit and we're not done with dragon-related activities.

After we read it, we did a cute little dragon head craft that I spotted on About.com. I changed it up slightly because I didn't have pompoms, and because I did have some cool "jewels" that we wanted to play with.

You need:
A toilet paper tube
green paint
Green felt, pompoms or stiff green paper cut into circles (2 of whichever one you choose)
Googly eyes (2)
crepe paper or tissue paper for the "fire"

Paint the toilet paper tube green.

When it's dry, glue the googly eyes onto the green circles. Glue them onto the head at one end.
In retrospect, think paper would have worked better. Oh well, live and learn. Take a marker and draw two circles at the front for nostrils.

Now take a pile of shiny dragon "scales" and stick them all over your dragon.

Take your crepe or tissue paper, cut, and tape or glue inside the "mouth" to make fire.

See? A very silly dragon!

In case you also have a knight/dragon enthusiast in your house, here are a few fun free printable links that we're doing this week:
Role-Play masks
Homeschool Creations awesome Knights Preschool pack
Story sequencing printables
Rewards charts
Colouring pages
Print this puzzle on a magnet page and stick on the fridge!

I also put up some go-along ideas on the sidebar if you're looking for a party theme or want to really go all-out.

Cost: $0, except for some printer ink which I had been procrastinating on buying.
As a side note, if you have an older child who is a Harry Potter enthusiast, I've made a 10-week Hogwarts unit study free to download on my other blog The Usual Mayhem.It has wonderfully gross experiments, writing activities, magical creatures journaling, and lots more. Your own preschool sidekick could easily do some of these activities as a go-along for the Hogwarts unit.

Princess and the Pea

This was a quick one. D liked the story but not enough to want to do much with it.

We did this "Princess sleeping on the pea" craft after we read the book. With careful supervision, D used my scrapbooking paper cutter to cut strips of scrapbook paper he'd chosen:

 (notice his sister appearing to watch - we can't resist a good craft around here!)

The joy of this is that it doesn't matter if the paper's straight - it actually adds to the charm, I think, if they're a bit uneven.

He chose a background "Nighttime, Mom!" piece of paper and carefully glued the strips on. I cut a  "pea" with my circle cutter and he added it between 'mattresses'. Then, using basic shapes I'd cut (rectangles, circle, triangle) he added the princess on top. The end result: a really cute, if rather busy-looking, princess on her pea.

 No, I don't know why most of my photos lately are sideways. I am not gifted at rotating them in a way that will remain rotated. Feel free to turn your head. :)

Cost: $0. I already had paper, glue, and scissors.

I also whipped up a silly doll and mattresses from some fabric scraps I had lying around. Basically you cut a circle and stitch loosely around the outside. Pull it together and stuff it, then sew the ends shut. Draw on a face (or before you stuff it, embroider one like I did). Make a rectangle. Stitch three sides shut, stuff, and sew the head on. If  I were going to do this again, or as a gift, I'd fashion some sort of a neck with the head piece to make it easier to attach. I didn't feel like adding arms so I told D she was in her sleeping bag, which he found very amusing. I also took a little pack of embroidery thread and just stitched it on down the middle like a parting.

Then my 11 year old and I I whipped up a few mattresses (and a felt pea, not shown, using the circle-stuffing technique). It would have helped if I had measured the princess instead of cutting the fabric before I made her. Some of the mattresses are very small. Crafting fail.  Either way, D was pleased and has enjoying stacking them and knocking the princess off.

Cost: $0...I have an estimated seven billion fabric scraps stashed away.  Time: About an hour, despite enthusiastic preschool assistance.

Fun Stuff Fridays, Toys in the Dryer, Serenity You. 2 Posh Lil Divas, Sun Scholars, Sharing Saturday, and TGIF. Blog Owners: If you don't see your button it's because it's on my other blog, www.theusualmayhem.blogspot.com and I haven't had time to add it here as well. :)

Foam Board Castle

To kick off our fairy tale fun, we made a foam board castle. These are super easy and inexpensive to make.

While D was sleeping, I took a piece of regular printer paper and drew windows, doors, etc. Then I took a piece of that stiff foam board that you can get at the dollar store in the school section, and cut out four sides using an X-acto knife and a cutting board.

As you can tell, it doesn't have to be fancy. When you cut out the drawbridge, score the inside part of the crease lightly with your knife so it'll bend smoothly. You'll probably have to reinforce it later with tape, too.

When D got up, we broke out a rectangle of sponge and some silvery-grey paint (more dollar store items!) and painted "stone bricks" on all of the outside walls.

I love how the paint looks all bumpy like stone!
Let it dry. We are not good at this and kept poking it to test it. You may be more patient.

When it actually was dry, we took tape (I like duct tape, and we had some silver) and tape the walls together on the inside. Then, we had a few random rectangles left over so I made a rampart for the castle.
I measured the inside of the wall, cut the pieces until I had the total measurement, and wrapped them around with duct tape. Then I fashioned some supports underneath.

Sorry about the camera strap that dangled in there. I just noticed it now!

Cut a length of duct tape and tape the supports to the wall. Ta-dah! A rampart!

I duct-taped the drawbridge for added sturdiness. I still have to add string or pipe cleaners so D can haul it up and down a thousand times until it falls off. D was so excited at this point that he forgot the "don't stand on the table" rule.

Finally, we broke out the bucket of knights. These are old, but you can find something similar in Toob form, or in an inexpensive baggie. Or maybe your dollar store has better toys than ours - might as well start there if you're buying the foam board anyway.

Total craft cost: $3 and about 45 minutes, not counting poking-to-see-if-it's dry time.

Linking up at: Fun Stuff Fridays, Toys in the Dryer, Serenity You. 2 Posh Lil Divas, Sun Scholars, Sharing Saturday, and TGIF. Blog Owners: If you don't see your button it's because it's on my other blog, www.theusualmayhem.blogspot.com and I haven't had time to add it here as well. :)

Once Upon a Time.....

Once upon a time, there was a mother. A mother who loved fairy tales. A mother who became very frustrated at the lack of preschool fairy tale and folk curricula. A mother who detested having Disney characters come up every time she searched for a colouring page for her 4 year old. A mother who decided to design her own preschool curriculum around fairy tales and share it, story by story, schedule and all.

This is her blog.

Stay tuned for the "Ever After".