Snowmen at Work Playdough Play

Many people know the books Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn and Mark Buehner, we were pleased to buy the books in a set a few years ago. Along with the set came Snowmen at Work, which is part of the same series but not as well known. This winter the boys have discovered the book and they love reading it. In the book a little boy ponders if the snowmen (and snowwomen) have jobs they do when humans are not looking.

We used the book as a launching point to inspire our newest playdough play invitation. 

To begin with I made up a batch of our basic cooked playdough and kept it white. 

"Our Big Heart" Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.

Last year we really enjoyed participating in the Multicultural Kid Blogs Martin Luther King series, so much so we were really glad to join in again this year. Last year we were inspired to focus on his messages of peace by reading several peace books for kids and creating peace doves.

This year we learned a little more about the man himself and his "big heart." 

Snowball Fight Painting

Little Brother is quickly approaching three (how did that happen?!) but in true toddler fashion he still tends to like projects best that are pretty quick. If there are too many steps to a project it tends to lose his interest. This snowball fight painting was right up his alley the other day though.

While we've been happy to get a little snow, it's still not quite enough to enjoy our typical winter activities and we find ourselves wishing for more snow. Until then, we're trying to create winter fun in other ways.

Basic Cooked Playdough

We do a lot of playdough play here, in fact we usually try to vary up our playdough play every month or so. Although there are a lot of different non-cook playdough recipes out there, we're still a big fan of a basic cooked playdough.

All of our playdough recipes stem from this basic recipe, which we've finally decided to share!

"Wintery Mix" Sight Words Practice

One of the thrills of being the parent of a kindergartner is watching him begin to take off in reading. I love hearing him work at sounding out words and being excited when he recognizes a word. His classroom teachers take both a phonics and whole word approach to teaching reading, which means each week they sound home both the letters/sounds they are working on and a few sight words for the week.

Sight words are primarily common words that are also tricky to sound out. You can find some examples of common kindergarten sight words here, although there are many different lists out there.

As a parent I can support his learning by giving him chances to read and write his school words at home. Over the break we came up with this fun alternative to writing with pencil and paper: using epsom salts on the light table. 

January 2016 Goal: Organize the Household Clutter

Last year we joined the Monthly Goals series and found it to be a great way to keep us motivated during the year to tackle a variety of resolutions. Rather than kicking off January with a whole list of resolutions, each month we selected a new goal and worked towards meeting that goal.

This year we're again excited to be joining in on the Monthly Goals series. I quickly realized last year that it was best for our family to focus on just one set of goals at a time, so each month we'll have a specific theme.

For January 2016 we're actually returning to a 2015 goal: 

Organize the Household Clutter

We spent the early part of the beginning of 2015 focusing on the goals of organizing and decluttering. I loved the changes we were able to make in our house. We redesigned household spaces, donated or gave away unused items, and in general had less clutter laying around.