Searching for Gems

Today we took the kids to the Natural Science Museum in Raleigh.  We walked into one of the gift shops and found this bag of Gem Stone Panning, best part it was a great price.  The kids couldn't wait to get home and start panning for the gem stones.

Can't wait to see what stones we find.

Anthony (my oldest nephew) dove right in looking for the gem stones.

Pouring more into the pan so they can continue to find more gem stones.

Everyone had a turn and always got excited whenever they would find a stone.

Bought some gems in a jar so the kids could observer them better.  I think it's so cute. 

Some of the gem stones we found in one of the bags, we bought two bags.  

One Nation under GOD!!

Our Fourth of July Unit:  it was so much fun teaching Kanani about Independence Day and why we celebrate it.  She enjoyed our arts and crafts for this unit.

ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!

                                       

LANTERNS

Set out some lanterns for Kanani to decorate and then we hung them on the chimney. 

TOILET PAPER ROLL DECOR

Set up a small station for Kanani to able to decorate her toilet paper rolls.  First she painted them then we hole punched the bottom to add fuzzy sticks and some beads.  These also got hung on the chimney.

RAINBOW RICE

We made some rainbow rice for sensory play.  It's always fun dyeing things.  We dyed them the colors of the flag, RED, WHITE, and BLUE.  Once the rice was dry I placed several things in the container representing the United States.  Some flags, star molds, a cupcake liner with fireworks, Presidents workbook, and some flash cards of the states in the United States.  Love how the rice looks all mixed together.

GLUE & SALT FUN

Had the kids draw a design on black paper with glue, then they sprinkled some salt on the glue.  Once they were done sprinkling the salt they shook the excessive salt off the paper.  Then they used a dropper and placed a couple drops on the glue and watched it spread.  

FIREWORKS IN A JAR

We made fireworks in a jar, which is always a lot of fun.  We placed 2/3 of water in the jar, then we set aside a cup of oil and put a couple of drops of food coloring in the oil.  The kids swirled the food coloring in the oil.  Once they mixed the colors in the oil then poured it slowly in the water.  Once it got poured in the water it spread in the water like fireworks.  

CUPCAKES AND SPARKLES

Love that I got a chance to spend this fourth of July with our nephews, it was our first fourth.

Tie-dye shirts

Tie-dye is always a lot of fun, especially with kids.  Best part was being able to do this activity with my nephews. 

GREAT DEAL

Went to Target and found some great deals on tie-dye kits

PREP SHIRTS

Excited to see how these turn out.  I pre-washed all the shirts and dried them before prepping them.  

TIE-DYE FUN

We soaked each shirt in water before dyeing them.

Putting gloves on so we don't get paint on our precious hands.

Each one picked their colors to dye their shirts.  

Once we finished we placed them in plastic bags (Wal-Mart bags), and left them in there till the next day.  Then we took the shirts out of the bags and rinsed them out with cold water and hung them out to air dry.

OUR TURN OUT

Love how our shirts turned out, wish I would of gotten some pics of my mom's and nephews shirts.  

Letter Fun

I set up a sensory activity for Kanani to do on the floor: searching for the letters, matching the letters, and then writing the letters down.

Hid all the letters in our Rainbow Rice, once found she would then place the letter on the matching letter on the paper, and then write the letter on the chalk board. 

Searching for the letters 

Once she found the letter she would write it down.

She was having fun searching for all the letters.

Searching for the last couple of letters.

Kanani was very excited to have found all the letters. Every time she would find a letter she would make the letter sound. Once she was done with this activity she took it upon herself to try to spell out words on her own.  Wish I would of taken some pictures of her doing that.  

Cat Unit

This week Kanani wanted to learn about cats.  Here are a few of the things we did for cat week. 

WASH & CLEAN 

This has been her favorite activity to do.  She loves washing her toys, such a wonderful sensory activity. 

SPELLING

Each week we learn how to spell a new word (the word of the week), whatever unit we are doing. For example the word for this week is C-A-T. 

WRITING

Just like with the spelling we practice writing the word of the week. 

CAT IN THE HAT

Of course we had to incorporate Cat in the Hat into our unit this week.  What is cat week without The Cat in the Hat?!  We love all things Dr. Seuss. First we made a mask of the Cat in the Hat.  Then we counted how many Pom poms it would take to cover the white parts of the hat.  Good motor and math practice skills since I had her grab the Pom poms with twizzers and then had her count them. 

LACE & TRACE

Great motor skill activity lace and trace.  

DRAWING

This was a Christmas gift given to her a couple of years ago.  It has several different pictures that she can learn how to draw.

IDENTIFICATION

Found this on Regina Davis' blog: Fairytalesandfictionby2.blogspot.com.  She has so many great ideas.  It helped with identifying the cat parts and reading.  Had Kanani read each label first then glue them in the correct section. She has done so good learning how to read I'm so proud of how far she has come.  

Tapioca Pearl Fun

A friend of mine had posted pictures of her kids playing with Tapioca Pearls, it looked like fun.  So I asked her where she got it from and we tried some out.  Found them at the Asian market, all we used was one bag and it was more than enough.  For bigger groups than two I would use more bags.  

Great sensory play for the kids at a great price for only $1.29.  

First I boiled the bag till the white pearls looked clear, then I drained the pearls.  

Once I had drained them I divided them into six different containers.  I put a couple of drops of food coloring in each one (red, orange (yellow + red), yellow, green, blue, and purple (red + blue), and had Kanani help me stir till all were covered.  

We loved how bright the colors came out.

Then I poured each one into a large plastic container and poured about 6 cups of water into the container.

Placed the container on top of some towels and had the kids go at it.  Dartainan was actually the first one to quickly go and touch the pearls, Kanani was more hesitate.  

He really enjoyed getting his hands in the pearls.  They felt all squishy and smooth.  

Kanani finally began to explore the pearls, she thought it was going to be sticker.  

Kanani wanted to add more water, she said she wanted the pearls to float.  

I grabbed a hand full of the pearls and Dartanian quickly grabbed some out of my hand. 

The kids mixed all the colors together, to our surprise it didn't stick together.  

After they finished playing with the pearls in the container we moved them to the water table.

They really enjoyed them more once we moved them to the water table, even Kanani got really into it.  

The best part of this experience is that it's all natural and safe in case the kids put some in their mouths.