Valentine's Day Tree

I love the Valentine's Day trees that have been popping up all over the place.  I think I first saw one on my friend Jenny's blog, Our Nifty Notebook.  Then, Amy at Teach Mama wrote about the learning benefits of making a Valentine's Day tree.  We could not pass up this fun, educational experience! 

We filled a clear plastic container with foam and sequin hearts and sticks we collected from our yard.  Then, C and R wrote the names of people they love on hearts cut from card stock.  Glitter glue and stickers were added to the hearts.  Holes were punched and ribbons tied through each heart.  Finally, they hung their hearts on our "tree".

This was fun.  C got some writing practice,  R strengthened her hand muscles by punching holes, and they both worked hard at threading ribbon through those holes. Now we have a great centerpiece for our dining room table.

Most importantly, sometimes it is just nice to think about the people you love.

Sun Catchers for Valentine's Day

This tissue paper sun catcher is definitely one of the most popular decorations for Valentine's Day.  It's easy and fun.  My kids enjoy cutting tissue paper into little pieces, sticking it on the super sticky contact paper, and helping me place more contact paper on top to seal it shut.  They also love any excuse to use a hole puncher so we had to punch holes in them and tie them up with ribbon. 

Boy Meets Girl in the Toy Store

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.

Happy Groundhog Day

When I saw this Groundhog Day hot cocoa, I knew I had to make it!  You can see that these groundhogs saw their shadows.

You can find directions to make some Groundhog Day hot cocoa for yourself at Gourmet Mom on the Go.

Circles

Challenge your child to draw something using only one shape and see what he or she comes up with.  If I had to draw something using only circles, I would draw a snowman.  C obviously has much more creativity in his little five year old self than I do!

He even made the mouth out of circles.  I was very impressed. 

If you try this with your child, please let me know what he or she creates!