Armadillos

This is our final project for the state of Texas.  We really enjoyed learning about this state.  There is so much to learn about, and so many fun things to explore.

C, R, and I enjoyed two books about armadillos.   

 (C did not want his picture taken, can you tell?)

Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett is about a young armadillo in Texas who wanders away from his mother and brothers because he thinks he has spotted a red armadillo.  That "red armadillo" is actually a pair of cowgirl boots on the feet of a young girl heading to the rodeo.  The armadillo has quite the adventure while trying to talk to his new "friend".  If you don't know already, armadillos don't have very good vision!

The second book is Substitute Groundhog by Pat Miller.  Groundhog gets the flu right before Groundhog Day and decides to look for a substitute to fill in for him on the big day.  Many animals audition, but most have some trouble doing the job right.  Finally, an armadillo on vacation visiting her cousin Badger comes along and offers to get the job done right.  She fills in perfectly, sees her shadow, and tells Groundhog that winter will be sticking around for a while.  Groundhog was a bit upset that spring would not be coming early, but then Armadillo invites Groundhog to go home to Texas where the weather is already spring-like. 

After reading these books, C and R made their own armadillos.  First, cut an oval out of corrugated cardboard.  You have to make sure the ripples go across the short width of the oval.  Then peel off the cardboard to expose the corrugated ripples.

Now you have the armadillo's body.  Glue the oval on to a piece of paper and draw a head, legs, and a tail.  Finally, draw the setting in the background.

That is a cowgirl boot with a blue bandanna sticking out of it (C was inspired by the illustrations in Jan Brett's book) behind C's armadillo.  He also drew a few bluebonnets in the background.

This is a great tactile project!  It's also a great way to finish up the state of Texas.  We'll miss you Texas!

For more book/art projects, check out stArt at A Mommy's Adventures.

Pecos Bill

I love tall tales.  This weekend, we watched Disney's cartoon version of Pecos Bill.  I just wanted to send out a big thank you to Ticia from Adventures in Mommydom.  She recommended that we watch this tall tale as part of our Texas studies.  I'm so glad she did.  We enjoyed every minute.  Thanks Ticia!

Javelinas and another Cowboy

Do you remember my post about The Gingerbread Cowboy?  I wrote that the gingerbread cowboy was chased by javelinas and noted that I had never heard of javelinas before.  Well, now my children and I are quite familiar with these interesting creatures.  Javelinas are relatives of swine, but not true pigs, and they are also related to the hippopotamus.  They are very bristly (as the author notes, "very hairy on the chinny-chin-chin").  Before I knew better (thanks Karen), I was calling them javelinas with an English "j" sound at the beginning, but obviously the word is Spanish so the initial sound is "h".

This week we read, The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell.  This book is a southwestern version of The Three Little Pigs. The setting for this story is actually the vicinity of the Tohono O'Odham Reservation near Tucson, Arizona, but the author notes that the setting could really be almost any dry southwestern area where javelinas, coyotes, tumbleweeds, cacti, and adobe houses are found - which includes parts of Texas. 

We also enjoyed Bubba, The Cowboy Prince, A Fractured Texas Tale by Helen Ketteman.  This book is a parody of  Cinderella and is set in Texas.  The fairy godmother is a cow, and the hero, named Bubba, is the stepson of a wicked rancher.  He wants to go to the ball to dance with Miz Lurleen, but he smells like cattle and has nothing to wear.  You can just imagine what happens next.  My favorite line from the book is said by Miz Lurleen, "There goes another ten-dollar Stetson on a five-cent head."  How funny is that?  Does anyone really say that in Texas?  I hope so.  This book is a fun read, the illustrations are great, and I tried my best to read it with a Texas accent - ha, now that is hysterical! 

I really enjoy reading different versions of fairy tales.

The Legend of the Bluebonnet

We are really loving learning about Texas for our Fifty States Project.  There are so many great books and wonderful things to learn about the Lone Star State. 

The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola tells the story of how the bluebonnet, the Texas state flower, came to be.  This is a beautiful story of a young girl who has lost her entire family to the drought and sacrifices her most prized possession to save her tribe.  I really love this book.  I am not sure if C and R really understood the story of sacrifice, but they did enjoy the book.

After reading the book, C and R made their own bluebonnets.

First, they used green markers to draw the stem and leaves of their bluebonnets.  Then, they finger painted the flowers.

Texas Treats

A lone star sandwich!

Blue corn chips (this plate of chips became nachos!).  According to The United States Cookbook by Joan D'Amico and Karen Eich Drummond, Texas grows more blue corn than any other state.

We also learned that chili is the state food of Texas, and we will be happy to enjoy some chili this weekend! 

Cactus Painting

I enjoyed cactus painting more than my children did.  I found the painting to be very relaxing and I loved the texture of the dry paint.  C and R enjoyed it too, just not as much as I did. 

First, I drew a huge cactus on a large roll of paper.

To make the cactus paint, I mixed together 1/4 cup liquid laundry starch, 1/4 cup water, 2 TBSP green paint, and 1 cup salt. 

Then we painted the cactus and left the paper on the floor to dry.  When dry, the paint has a rough texture.

We did this project as part of our Texas studies for our Fifty States Project.

The Gingerbread Cowboy

The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires is a wild western version of the classic tale.  A rancher's wife is tired of baking biscuits and decides to make a gingerbread cowboy instead.  When the rancher peeks in the oven, the gingerbread cowboy takes off running.  Instead of the usual cast of characters, he encounters a horned lizard, a roadrunner, a band of javelinas (not sure what these are??, I have to google them), long-horned cattle, and a coyote.  The book is a fun read.  I love all the different versions of The Gingerbread Man.

I thought about making cowboys out of real gingerbread, but we opted for the paper version instead.  I drew the outline of the gingerbread cowboys, and C and R filled in the details.

Here is C's gingerbread cowboy.  He didn't want to cut it out because he drew some details around the cowboy.  His details are all things that the rancher's wife used to make the cowboy.

R wanted her gingerbread cowboy cut out, and here it is:

We made some silly cowboy hats too!  The hats are just card stock cut in the shape of a cowboy hat with a paper bag band stapled around the back.

These silly hats made us laugh for quite a while!  Some cowboy fun is a great way to begin learning about the state of Texas.

Camping in the Living Room

C and R have been asking to have a camp out in the living room for a few weeks now and we finally did it last night.   This was our first camp out in our new home so I had to post some pictures.

We enjoyed some s'mores. 

T recently got braces so s'mores are probably not a good idea for him, but I hated to exclude him from the fun so I made him one or two.  No damage done.  Phew!

After our special treat, C, R, and I snuggled up in sleeping bags and watched An American Tale 2, Fievel Goes West.  T watched a few minutes and then decided he had things to do.  I thought the movie was funny and cute, and it ties in nicely to our Texas studies. 

This is a picture of C and R laughing really hard at one part of the movie.  They didn't even notice me taking the picture.

It was a fun night and hopefully the first of many living room camp outs in our new home.  (When is it no longer our "new" home?)

Texas

Our next state for the Fifty States Project is Texas!  Here are the books we are reading:

• The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires

• The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola 

• The Inside-Outside Book of Texas by Roxie Munro

• Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett

If you have any other book recommendations, please share them in the comments section.  We are looking forward to some great Texas projects.