More Fun Fall learning: Bumply pumkins!

More fun fall learning: I wanted to introduce her to graphing, and what better way to collect data than with sorting and counting Candy Corn?! She was fully engaged in the assignment and we were both pleased with the results in the end! The graph we used can be found as a printable from firstgradepizzazz



We had 3 different types of candy corn and I had them ready in their own little bowls. Each time that we selected one from a bowl we would then color in the appropriate box with the corresponding color, then we would proceed to tally. At the very end, we calculated our data, and made conclusions based off of the data, and tasted the data as well!



Another Fall Math activity we did was a dice game. We rolled the dice and found the corresponding number on the parts of the Jack-o-lantern to put it all together. The Jack-o-lantern that I used is from Alana Lee Designs


Here are some other random activites that we've done this fall and loved:

Sequencing a Jack-o-lantern: (original printable can be found at Little Gene Green Bean)



Halloween Number Dot: (Original FREE printable can be found on teachers pay teachers)



Last year I was really upset when I went to get out my Halloween decorations and festivities only to find that I had misplaced the box that had all of my Halloween story books. So this year I made sure that it was right where it was supposed to be so that we could enjoy them this time! (And, of course, I had misplaced the box of goodies I had collected LAST year instead!! ...We'll get it right next year!) One of the books in our Halloween Library is the Plumply Dumply Pumkin by Mary Serfozo.


I found this adorable activity to go along with this story from iheartcraftythings where they go on a pumpkin hunt around the house (great for a rainy day!) and then once all the pumpkins are collected, they are then sorted into appropriately marked buckets indicating plumply or bumply! Seeing as how she had used a pattern she had gotten out of an old magazine to print out her plumply or bumply pumpkins, I found myself putting together my own printable. Hope it can help make things smoother if you're in a fix for awkwardly bumpy pumpkins.

Fun Fall Learning! Spooktacular Ghosts

We have been having so much fun with Fall homeschool preschool! This is my favorite time of year so I love to theme it throughout and fuel our lesson plans. This is what we did for our Ghost Unit... We started off with bead counting. I found the idea on Pinterest, and it originates from childcareland.com, however I couldn't find a printable for it, so I made my own. You're welcome to save it and print it for your own ghost learning fun!

I printed this off then laminated it and hole punched it, wrapping the pipe cleaner (cut in half) to the side for the beads to be counted on.

We Also did A ghost lace card, which was good timing seeing as that morning I found her shoes unlaced all the way. Learning to lace came in quite handy.

I used the scraps from my bead counting laminate and cut it to shape, using sharpie for the face and hole punching the edges. I got the idea from makeandtakes.com Next was ghost bead counting. For this I had picked up some ghost beads last Halloween on clearance at a local craft store, and cut some black cardstock into quarters, drawing haunted houses with white crayon. Each haunted house had a numeral written with that number of haunting windows for the ghosts to spook from

After treating on some festive Ghost Peeps, I told the story of The Chocolate Chip Ghost.

I've seen a few different takes on it, but my favorite was the one featured on sandytoesandpopsicles.com She includes her ADORABLE (FREE) printable, which I printed and laminated. We had so much fun with the story, she had to retell the story to her daddy when he came home that night. We then concluded our school time with a fun Ghost craft. They came out SO cute.

A big thanks to notimeforflashcards.com for inspiring this spooktacular craft! You can find the (easy!) full step-by-step tutorial there! Materials needed: Contact paper, white tissue paper/white streamers, black cardstock, scissors and we used a black sparkle craft cardboard that has a sticky back (these I was given by a friend) You could use black cardstock, sticky-backed foam, or even some googley eyes! This activity was great for practicing to use scissors because you don't have to be exact with where you're cutting so it helps with getting acquainted and comfortable with using them.

After you're done cutting your scraps, you fill in your ghost cut outs that are secure to the contact paper.

Then it's time for the eyes! I love to see where the eyes end up, I feel like it gives the craft personality and makes the ghosts come to life.

Here's the finished product!

We had a spooky good time!

Faux Patio Camping

Husband finished his last final for the semester, and Little Nu's and I are ecstatic! I have so many ideas taking shape in my notebook of what I'd like to do for "our Holiday" aka Summer Vacation. Some of my ideas are big things like Disneyland, a trip to the Oregon Coast to visit the Sand Dunes, maybe a little gander at Monterey Bay Aquarium... then some, more "realistic" home-rooted ideas like building forts, making massive domino mazes and having a water gun family show down.

So, tonight as I returned home from a church activity and a few errands, I saw a wonderous sight on the patio! One of my very own checklist items coming to life! Husband had set up Little Honey's tent to take in the perfect, not yet scorching, evening air. We quickly ordered a Bug Off! screen from Amazon so that we can continue the faux camping while the weather is still fine. So thankful for our Prime account that allows us 2 day shipping, so we'll have it here by the weekend. Yay! Time to line up the chocolate, marshmallows, chocolate, grahams, and of course some chocolate... oh and don't forget the CHOCOLATE, for s'more action! My favorite is Hershey's Symphony with Almonds... delectable!

Candy Land, Toddler Approved!

Daphne played her first board game tonight! Candy Land was our battle of choice. She is really great with colors so it was a good game to start her off on.





She loved drawing cards, and seeing what color she got, and surprisingly enough she's already caught on to the importance of the "pink cards" as she calls them, which are the short cut cards to get to each different candy land. She would draw a card and say "pink card?" in hopes that she'd get one.





She didn't quite grasp the point of the race to King Kandy, so she'd loose interest until it was the next player's turn to draw a card, but she'll soon figure it out.



She even had a stroke of beginner's luck and won!

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole... Adventure

So between moving and settling into our new place, we've picked up the nasty habit of... eating out. We've spoiled ourselves so much with various breakfast restaurants, Thai, local gourmet pizza, local Mexican hot spot restaurants, Italian... Chinese... gourmet burgers... Mongolian BBQ, you name it! We didn't hold back on the drinks either... frappuccinos, boba drinks, multiple smoothie quick stops! We are very fortunate to have so many great options for eating out (even some awesome food trucks! ... That's for another post... soon!) I finally had to practice some restraint and find a recipe to break in our kitchen. It seems like it isn't "Home" until you bake something or cook up a production in the kitchen. So after a month an a half, it was time to get to know my kitchen a little better...

I poked around on Pinterest for a recipe that called for things that I had on hand... chicken... broccoli... rice... cheese. I came across a simple casserole from Iowa Girl Eats that she calls: Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole. Key interest in this recipe that caught my eye (aside from having all the 'right stuff,' is that it doesn't call for "cream of mystery" and it includes the option for brown rice (which i've noticed that I seem to have a heep of in my pantry, funny the things you unearth when you move!)

I also love how fool proof her instructions are, she puts in little tips that help things to flow so that you can be prepping one thing while the other is cooking and the next ingredients and tools are lined up, ready to go. I'm not the sharpest knife in the block when it comes to the kitchen. It seems inevitable that something is bound to break/get miss-measured/ accidental shortcuts taken/ ingredients omitted... But things usually turn out alright in the end, so I'm not entirely discouraged from clambering some new kitchen adventure!

Having said that, this "fool proof" set of instructions were not prepared for my knack for "recipe skimming." This was evident when I had the hood vent on full blast, window thrown open and Husband chiming in with, "why does it smell like something's burning?" My response, of course, (nonchalantly) "I'm cooking." We had a laugh and despite my incompetence, I was able to pull out with a champ dish.

We like to keep things simple and then conjure extra fixings afterwards on how to personalize the dish more to our liking - wich usually involves red pepper flakes <3

Overall, we loved the casserole and will for sure be making it again.

Here are some shots of the finished product:

Patio Endeavors

Living in a small space can be tricky, especially for us! We tend to always want to be fully accessorized as if we were in a 4 bedroom house (Someday we'll get there!) Our patio is no exception. However I've been feeling pretty good about that space in particular. Now that Daphne is big enough to engage in outdoor activities, we got a water/sand play table, a cute little deck chair that's tike size, and some great pails and shovels. Now that our patio is all dressed up with fun, its something that she and I enjoy on almost a daily basis. My favorite is when we chalk and blow bubbles. Here are some great pics of our patio endeavors!