X Marks the Spot: X Day

Apparently, doing a crazy amount of P activities got D all excited about letter days again. He wanted to start X Day right away!

We started with his Confessions of a Homeschooler letter search.

Our first craft of the day was making our own x-ray! (I originally saw this one on Pinterest) I traced his hands with chalk on a black sheet of construction paper. Then, I drew lines of glue and then he placed q-tips on the hands for bones. He liked this one. It was super easy and looked kind of cool when we were done.

After we made our own X-Ray, we read our library book, Jessica's X-Ray by Pat Zonta. It was a great book. It had real x-ray pics in it and it was a great way to explain to D that he has bones inside of him too! He was totally into it. We felt the bones in his hands when looking at the hand x-ray, we felt his ribs when looking at the chest x-ray, and we knocked on his skull when looking at the head x-ray. Fun stuff!

After his nap we moved onto a different X theme. I wanted to incorporate a 'X Marks the Spot' part of our day. He loved our pirate time yesterday, so I wanted to build off of that.

I ended up drawing a Pirate Snack Map where X Marks the Spot! I found the inspiration for D's snack map here. Obviously, I did a very different map, but that's where I got the idea.

He had goldfish by the water, grapes by the palm tree, carrots by the volcano, Coco Puffs by the ship, and yogurt covered pretzel sticks marking the X. Dylan loved his map. We ended up taping it on the bottom of the fridge because "Dats where snacks are!"

We read one more X book before bed. I got the Harry and the Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, X Marks the Spot by Bright & Early Books from the library. 

P Day - The Biggest Letter Day EVER!

We had so much stuff for P Day, we weren't able to smash it all into one day. We tried, but there was just no way! So cancel all your appointments, this is going to take a while!

P Day 1

D and I spent our not-so-lazy Sunday at Mom & Bob's house and brought all of our P Day stuff with us. Boy, we were busy! I think my parents were really excited to be a part of our huge letter day.

As soon as we got there, Pa had Phineas & Ferb tattoos to apply. Dylan got a Perry tattoo for P Day. He and Pa have been doing tattoos quite a bit lately and they are getting to be pros. And I'm sure Bob likes showing off his Phineas & Ferb tattoos to all the guys at work!

Whlie his tattoo was drying he decided it was time to eat. It was a day of P food! He snacked on some peanuts while Nonny made him a giant pancake!

He ate the entire pancake. And he definitely didn't want to share any of it with Lili the cat. I know it looks like D is showing Lili how to count to 4, but he was actually saying, "No, Lili! Stop! Go away!"

Ahoy! Next up was pirate time! We both put bandannas on and got out the pirate stuff. We forgot to grab his big sword from Matt & Jenn, but we brought his inflatable one from his first birthday party, and his Jake from my dad and Connie.

It didn't take long before our pirate time turned into a full, blown-out pirate sword fight. I know that it looks like a very unfair fight, but D made me take the big sword and he used Jake's little one.

 

 

We needed a breather after all the running around and laughing, so D and Nonny had some quite time and looked at his Jake & the Never Land Pirates look & find book. They looked  and looked and looked! He loves look & find books. 

After that, D wanted to do stickers with my mom. I don't think he is capable of going to their house and not "doing stickers." So, the two of them searched through all the stickers and found ones with P stuff on them.

There was just enough time before naptime (Yes, that's right - I'm not even to naptime of Day 1 yet!!) for one more P craft. 

Last week, at his Arts & Play Class at the Y, Dylan made a shamrock craft that we made into a pumpkin craft for today. I cut out a yellow pumpkin from construction paper and then cut up an orange sheet. I covered the pumpkin with glue and let him place all the orange pieces. It turned out pretty cute. We gave it to Nonny & Pa once it dried and they displayed it proudly on their fridge!

I had gotten three pumpkin books from the library. So, we snuggled up on D's bed and got reading pre-naptime. My favorite out of the three was How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin by Margaret McNamara.

When D woke up from his nap hungry, we filled his tray with P food! We adults had already indulged in a P lunch of Clints Pizza (So, we were happy!). Dylan had peanuts, pickles, pizza, peaches, and pudding!

P Day was definitely the easiest one for food. And it was a bunch of stuff that Dylan really likes!

On to another P Craft! It was time to make a pig!

I saw a similar craft online, but it was a plain plastic bottle with pink paper wrapped around the middle. I thought it would be much cuter if we painted it!

I squirted some pink paint inside of a clean and dry plastic bottle, put the cap on tight, and let D shake it until the entire inside was coated with pink paint (I used Martha Stewart high gloss paint).

D helped hold the pig still while my mom and I used her hot glue gun to glue a white pipe cleaner for the tail, pink paper ears, and squishy ear plugs for feet (the feet were my mom's brilliant idea - awesome!). I drew eyes, snout, and mouth with a Sharpie.

I think the pig ended up being the hit of the day. Although, I'm not sure that Dylan was as excited as the adults were. In my modest opinion, the pig is awesome!

After some pig play time, we got back to work! I had an actual worksheet for today along with all these crazy crafts. I printed off the Confessions of a Homeschooler letter search for P. 

Then, we made a pizza for Daddy. I had cut out some red circles and black mushroom shapes. Pepperoni and mushroom just happens to be Josh's favorite. So I asked D to make a really yummy pizza for Daddy. We glued all the pieces on and then took a pretend taste test. Hope you don't mind that we already had a bite, Babe!

While searching through his massive amount of books, Nonny and D found a picture of a beautiful peacock and a book about penguins!

By the time dinner rolled around D asked my mom if she would make some Mac & Cheese for him. Apparently  P Day was a little too much to handle because he started to fall asleep while chowing down.

I manged to get a second wind into him by pushing up bath time. By the time we got home, D was in his PJs and starting to get sleepy again. I put on Happy Feet (about penguins) and we snuggled up on the couch. Needless to say, he didn't make it to the end of the movie.

P Day 2
We didn't need a second day of P, but I had so many fun things to do, that I just couldn't stop myself. Day 2 wasn't nearly as full of letter stuff as Day 1.

We read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear by Eric Carle (I know I've mentioned it before, but Dylan absolutely loves Eric Carle books) and then we made our own Polar Bear.

Okay, so I know that this is a pathetic attempt at a Polar Bear, but it was an easy craft that D could do all by himself. I drew a (poor version of a) Polar Bear, covered the paper plate in glue and let him stick cotton balls to it. Voila, craft accomplished.

For dinner, Dylan had Phineas & Ferb chicken noodle soup with Perry shapes. Perry, obviously, had to join us at the dinner table and check out D's food.

[Side note: for those of you who don't have kids or who haven't yet discovered Phineas & Ferb...you are missing out. It's pretty awesome. Just ask, well, almost anyone who has seen it!]

After dinner we were in a Perry mood. So we pulled out D's Phineas & Ferb look & find book and got a little assistance from Perry. We also watched the newest episode stored on the DVR while we were at it.

Before finishing our day with popcorn and the original Disney animated Peter Pan, we did one last P activity. I had some tri-colored pasta and had him separate it by color. He also spent some time pretending to chow down on the uncooked pasta.

I can't believe we are finally done with P stuff. I also can't believe that you made it through this entire entry! Whew! I think we may pick a less busy letter for tomorrow.

Robots, Roosters, & Rain (R Day)

We took a breather from Letter Days. We were both starting to get a bit burnt out, so we took it easy for a few days. R Day ended up spanning across a few days. But we finally got through everything.

We did the Do-A-Dot sheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler and talked about R words. His favorite was "Roar!" He spent some time practicing his roaring. He is all boy!

"Roar!"

R as in Rainbow!

I got the Rainbow Fish from the library and we talked about rainbows. We did a color sorting activity with a rainbow and Fruit Loops.

R as in Robot!

Dylan has been obsessed with Wall-E since we watched it on W day. He asked to watch it again, so we watched it and talked about robots.

That lead to us building our own robot. I wrapped a pudding box and toilet paper rolls in foil, and a Kleenex box in black construction paper. Dylan picked out the pipe cleaner arms and told me where to draw the eyes and mouth. After that he said, "Where da buttons?" So I let him pick out one of his Do-A-Dot markers and put some buttons on the robot.

R as in Rooster!

I got another book from the library called "The Mixed-Up Rooster." We read that book and then made our own rooster with a red cutout of Dylan's hand print and a couple other cutouts glued to a paper plate. Then, Dylan gave his rooster eyes with his Do-A-Dot marker. He decided his rooster should have brown eyes so he picked his brown marker.

When we finished the rooster he said, "Dat was cool! What other animals can we make?" Oh geez!

R as in Rain!

We put on Dylan's rain boots and raincoat and I gave him an umbrella. And I sang Singing in the Rain while D danced and played with the umbrella.

A couple days ago, we also watched the Sesame Street Letter R Mystery episode and ate rolls and rice. We finished our R stuff today by reading the Velveteen Rabbit and watching Robots the movie. I am just about R-ed out.

Maybe we can get back into the swing of things and knock the rest of the alphabet out!

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On a side note: my dad and step-mom were here for a few days and Poppy decided that he wanted to play in the snow and build a snowman with D. They both had a blast!

Valentine's V Day

Since last Thursday was Valentine's Day, it was obvious what letter we chose for that day - V Day!

V as in Vet

Our morning started off in a very non-Valentine way. I had to take our cat, Oscar, to the vet. My mom came over to hang out with D while I was gone and she had an amazing idea. She brought over her stethoscope and she and Dylan played Dylan the Vet with his animals. I didn't even think about V as in Vet! Way to go, Grandma! And all of Dylan's animals got a much needed check-up!

He got so into it that as soon as we got home, he ran over to Oscar's crate (before I could even open it), welcomed him home, and told him he missed him. My little guy is so sweet.

Our first Valentine's Day craft involved painting, which always makes D happy. I saw a different idea on Pinterest that inspired this. I had a square canvas, used scotch tape for the letters L-O-V-E and let him go to town with red and pink paints.

He started to get really into it and decided that one hand just wasn't enough.

The finished product ended up being so cute! 

Dylan was really excited about coloring his V is for Veggies coloring sheet. Please not that I only have 4 markers and I know blue cucumbers aren't very realistic. We took creative liberties.

[Did you notice his Valentine's Day shirt? It is very  appropriate. he is quite the flirt!]


We also did a Confessions worksheet. This is the one she uses with magnets on the website, but Dylan likes using the little dollar bin craft balls.

Confessions activity

Dylan got a special Valentine's Day snack that afternoon. I put animal crackers, strawberry frosted mini wheats, Quaker Oats Whole Hearts (just like Cheerios but heart shaped), and a handful of Valentine colored M&Ms.

We did one last Valentine craft before getting ready for bedtime. I saw this one on Pinterest, too. We used different colors of paint and Dylan finger-painted dots. After it dried, I cut it into a heart shape and painted a tree trunk. We made a heart tree!

Happy Valentines Day!

Oh, It's O Day!

We've actually been going in order for the past few days! M, N, and now O!

Showing off his Owl and making Owl noises

This alphabet project might be making me a little crazy. Last night, we were at my parents' house and they were talking about their plans for tonight. Dinner was going to include salmon and scalloped potatoes and then they were going to watch the State of the Union. My first thought was, "Oh! They are doing S day here tomorrow." Yikes, I think I need more adult time in my life.

We always ease into our day. Today we started with a little coloring for O Day. I know he doesn't coloring in the lines, but he gets the concept and tries. Notice each O object is a different color. That was enough of an accomplishment to make me proud.

I didn't print of a Do-A-Dot sheet for today so we decided to use his Dot painters on a regular O. He didn't like it as much. Too much freedom without the dots? But he did use every single color of his Dot painters. It turned into a messy masterpiece. 

We had two O books today. I got Owl Babies from the library after seeing lots of recommendations. We also read Dylan's Octonauts book that he got for Christmas from Nonny & Poppy (Steve & Connie).

  

We had a very busy afternoon. We worked on motor skills with Cheerios (O's!!) put on spaghetti sticks stuck in a styrofoam ball. He concentrated SO hard at getting the Cheerios on. He even managed to get two on at once! Overachiever. He asked me to leave it out so he could play with it again later. He thought it was difficult, but he must have liked the challenge.

I found some Octonaut activities on the 1+1+1=1 website. We watched an episode of Octonauts and then pulled out the stuff I printed off. We started with puzzles. Dylan had to match up the characters' heads with their bodies. He also showed that he knows all the characters' names (surprise for me). 

Admiring his work and telling me which is his favorite
(It's Tweak, apparently)

Then he helped me sort out tiny little pics of the characters and then put them on the counting sheet. This wasn't a favorite activity for either of us, but we practiced some counting and talked about all the characters.

Later in the afternoon, we headed back over to my parents' house for dinner. While we were there, we did two O crafts. The first was the O owl (original craft found here). 

Gluing the O on his owl

As usual, I never guess which activity/craft is going to be his favorite of the day. Today it was the octopus  (original craft seen here). He helped put the stickers on the 8 tentacles and told me where to put his eyes and mouth. He ran around with this thing for the rest of the night. Who knew this was going to be such a hit?

After Dylan's bath, we got his O animals ready for a picture. He had Oso and his Owl ready to go. But before I could take the picture he told me that we had to go find his octopus we made earlier and his King crown. He wanted to be King Dylan again for the photo. 

King Dylan with O stuff

Later, he showed me the owl craft, the octopus, and his crown again and told me about how much he liked all of them and how "we make 'em!" I think he is proud of his work. I am too.