birthday adventure

matching objects to pictures - apples and worms!

I am so excited about my new felt board! As you may know, I am a big fan of felt boards - they are perfect for activities like matching and storytelling. I made this one from a thrifted frame and a rectangle of felt. It's just the right size for little hands to carry to a table, and because it's a frame, I can easily replace the felt. A new felt board, for less than $1 - woo hoo!

Here are some photos of the new apples and worms matching lesson I made to go along with it:

When presenting this lesson to a child,
I would set out all the possible pieces
on a rectangle of felt like this.

Then, I would chose a card...

and make a match!

I would also encourage the child to come up with his or her own combinations, too! :)

crunch!

5 little apples hanging on a tree,
teasing Mr. Slinky Worm,
You can’t eat me! You can’t eat me!
Along came Mr. Slinky Worm as quiet as can be
and… CRUNCH!
4, 3, 2, 1...

Zero apples hanging on a tree,
away inched Mr. Slinky worm
as full as can be!

I love using concrete manipulatives when doing finger plays with the children at line time. We can still use our fingers to tell the story, but it's nice to have a visual image, too. Last school year, I made magnetic felt pieces to accompany my favorite Halloween and winter finger plays. The children thought they were fabulous! So, I decided to get on it and make a few more before school starts! This time, instead of felt, I used paper, and then ran everything through the laminator. Hopefully, these will be more durable because they sure get a lot of use!

Here's a close-up of Mr. Slinky Worm. I gave him a mustache as a nod to MUS (a visually delicious blog - take a peek if you haven't already) and her love of mustaches! ;{0

Oh! FYI - not that you would ever do this - DON"T put rhinestones through the laminator. Ummm... this is actually Mr. Slinky Worm II, and there's a rhinestone melting away somewhere inside my laminator as we speak. Yikes!

fawell friends...

Hubs and I getting the heck out of dodge and driving to Oregon! Yee haw! One of my dearest friends from my junior high days is getting married. I would be slightly more excited if I hadn't tried to give my hair a little trim last night... oh well, it's livable-ish. :)

Here are a few more photos of some fun P.L. lessons taken on the last few days of school. See ya next week!

The child uses her pincer grip
to hang felt fruit from a mini-clothesline.

I'm not sure where the clothesline came from,
but I think it would be easy to make something similar
-right?!

This child is using tongs
to transfer berries (fake) into an ice cube tray.

Wouldn't this be fun with REAL berries?
you could pour o.j. on top
and stick them in the freezer...
yum...
makes me think of the popsicles Lisa from
5 Orange Potatoes made with her daughters.
Check them out here.

dog crush

I have a new friend,
and this is her dog.
His name is Brody.



Rosie thinks she's died and gone to heaven.
Sigh...