Cute Apron Tutorial

I will have to add a picture of the apron I just finished. But here is a cute apron I made for my niece for Christmas. Check out the simple directions at Skip to my Lou.

Another wonderful tutorial I used a month or so ago was to make a tie for my boys. It is simple, you cut, iron, and hand stitch. You can finish a tie while watching TV. You can find the tutorial at Purl Bee.

After completing the tie I undertook the task of making 2 toddler ties for my sister-in-law Tiara's wedding. I took apart a Men's Tie and was able to make 2 toddler ties. I think I could even make one bitty baby tie with the left over. Anyway, I took apart one of Davis' ties to use as a pattern. It was really easy. I may make a pattern. . . What do you think?


I know it would probably be a better advertisement if they were wearing them with collared shirts. Trust me they are cute.

Gift Tags

I find lots of great freebies online (tutorials and what not). I wanted to start sharing things I enjoy doing in my down time or on a rainy day.

I just printed off some cute gift tags. And now if I want to do more I will remember where I found them.




And if you want to print off some more cards check out the Simple Beans website where she listed her favorites.

Price Scavenger Hunt

This unit for Preschool was Money and a review of numbers. I get to plan the outing and we are going to go to Target and the kids are going to help find the prices of the 9 objects above. I made little binoculars out of toliet paper rolls that the kids can use to spy the objects. The moms will show them where the price tag is and the kids get to read it off so the moms can write it down. When they complete their task we are going to meet back at the Target food court and they will earn $1.10 if they complete their task. Then they get to pick something out of the dollar bins to buy with their money they just earned. (Our sales tax is 10%.)

Memory Cousins

So who hasn't played the game Memory? I got the idea for this game after seeing this while blog surfing one day. First I cut circles (traced a lid) out of cereal boxes. Then I printed pictures of the cousins (two pictures each) and I cut out circles of scrapbooking paper. Then I glued the pictures and the paper onto opposite sides of the cereal box circles. Then I covered them with contact paper. Tanner loves playing it!

Lets Learn About Fire Safety!

So I was in charge of preschool yesterday and I think it went well. My topic was fire safety. First I had a candle burning and I showed them (from a safe distance) what fire looks like. Then I blew it out and showed them what smoke looked and smelled like. Then I talked about how they should neve touch it because it is hot and can hurt/burn skin, clothing, hair, rugs, etc.

Then I showed them pictures of matches and lighters and I taught them this song:

"I found Matches!" (Sung to "Skip to my Lou")

I found [matches] what do I do?

I found [matches] what do I do?

I found [matches] what do I do?

Tell me what to do!

* replace matches with lighter for 2nd verse

At the end of the song I would say: Dont touch it and tell a grown-up

Then I had four pictures (a matchbox, matchbook, and two kinds of lighters). I placed them around the room and then the kids got up one at a time to see if they could find matches or a lighter and then they were supposed to show me what to do. When they found the picture we would sing the song replacing "I" with their name. They enjoyed it and it was really hard for them to not pick up the picture to bring it to me.

My sister found a cute idea for teaching stop drop and roll. I made felt flames and one at a time I stuck them on their clothing and we sang:

Stop, Drop, and Roll (Sung to "Farmer in the Dell")

Stop, Drop, and Roll

Stop, Drop, and Roll

If your clothes should catch on fire

Stop, Drop, and Roll

The kids practiced stopping, dropping and rolling and thought it was pretty fun.

Then I talked to them about smoke detectors and pushed the test button to make it make noise so they could hear what it sounds like. (At least I tried to.)

My sister is a fire fighter and she said that one of the most important things for kids to know is what a fire fighter looks like in all his gear and that he is a friend and they should never hide from them. Apparently kids tend to get frightened and hide, which makes it difficult for fire fighters to get them out in time. She found a video online that I showed my class (start video at 7min 29sec). They thought it was pretty cool.

Other than that we colored pictures for stop drop and roll, and a thank you for firemen, then did the nursery rhyme "Jack Be Nimble".

Homework was for the kids to take a hand out home and then talk with their family about the five steps to fire safety.

Valentine Family Mobile

Tanner and I made a cute valentine mobile. Tanner colored the bodies of all the family members then glued two sides of our heads over the bodies and the yard. I cut the yarn different lengths and strung them through a paper plate, which Tanner had decorated by glue sticking paper hearts all over. Then we hung it from the ceiling.

Learning Letters

Catherine recently learned her letters. These are some activities to help her learn her letters that she has liked.

Maria recently did a post about these Baby Einstein Alphabooks. Catherine has really enjoyed them too.

When we first got these books we would sit down with Catherine and read them to her. We made sure to always say the name of the letter that we were reading about when we started a new book. After a while, Catherine knew what all the pictures were and could "read" them by herself. She liked the independence this gave her, and we encouraged it. One day she picked up a book and said, "H". I looked, and sure enough, it was the "H" book. To test how many letters she knew, I laid out 6-7 books at a time and asked her to pick up a specific one. For example, I would put out a, b, c, d, e, and f. I would ask her to find the "F" book. When she found the correct book I read it to her, and put a new book out. After a few days of doing this, I increased the number of books that I laid out at a time.

Next, we used the books like flash cards. I would hold up a book and ask Catherine what letter it was. Again, for a reward, I read the book to her before we moved on to a new one.

After she mastered the books we wanted her to associate the letters on her books to letters in other places. I thought that she might have just memorized what the book covers were and knew what she was supposed to say with each cover. To help reinforce the letters we bought her an alphabet puzzle. When we first pulled it out, I put all the letters on the floor and asked her to find certain letters. It wasn't working. She was overwhelmed by so many things to look at and couldn't find the right letters. I reduced the number of letters that I put out to about 8-10. We went through a similiar process as we did with the books. I asked her to find a certain letter and showed her where it went on the puzzle. Once she was familiar with the puzzle (there are pictures under the puzzle pieces, and so it wasn't simply a matter of matching the piece with the board. She had to learn what picture the letter was associated with) I asked her to find a letter and told her what picture that letter went with.

A while ago we bought a used computer keyboard from Goodwill for Catherine to pound on. Now that we are working on her letters it has become useful to help her recognize her letters. She likes to point out the letters on the keyboard. We can talk about the letters and I can remind her of some words that start with that letter.

These are all activities that Catherine really likes to do. She thinks they are a lot of fun, and I enjoy watching her learn new things. I hadn't intended to teach Catherine her letters this early, but once she showed an interest in it I like thinking of new ways to help her recognize the letters all around her.