Alphabet Fun - Letter Bb

Jenni is 3 years 7 months

We had bundles of fun exploring the letter Bb! Here is some of what we did..

Bible Verse:
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)

Books:
The Bible
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear (by Nancy White Carlstrom)
It's About Time, Jesse Bear and Other Rhymes (by Nancy White Carlstrom)
Let's Count it Out, Jesse Bear (by Nancy White Carlstrom)
No Jumping on the Bed! (by Tedd Arnold)
Bread and Jam for Frances (by Russell Hoban)

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear (Before Five in a Row)

We completed the Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear lapbook. It was a lot of fun - and our very first lapbook!

Beans

I outlined the letter Bb and Jenni glued dried beans onto the inside.

Bubble Blowing

Bread

Our intentions were to go feed bread to the ducks - which did happen - but Jenni also fed bread to herself and brother bear :)

Our Budding Ballerina

Our little ballerina practicing her ballet moves at the pond. I believe it was after this outing that we retired Jenni's favorite pink sandals which were clearly too small :)

Balance Beam Fun

Jenni practiced her balance beam skills at the park. She had such a wonderful experience with the balance beam when she took gymnastics last fall.

Monkey Bars

I remember my sister and I having so much fun on our monkey bars in our backyard as young girls. I think Jenni will have just as much fun...one day :)

Alphabet Fun - Letter Rr

February 2011 - Jenni is 3 years 6 months

We had a really good time exploring the letter Rr! Here is some of what we did...

Bible Verse:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

Books:
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
My "r" Sound Box by Jane Belle Moncure
Rabbits and Raindrops by Jim Arnosky
Inside Noah's Ark by Laura Fischetto
The Bible (Noah's Ark)

ROYGBIV Mini-Book

 

The paper was divided into three columns. The left column had the letters r-o-y-g-b-i-v written down the side. The middle column had the color name next to it. The right column was where Jenni colored in the space with the matching color.

Rainbow

I found a coloring sheet online with the rainbow and clouds. I was hoping to have Jenni color in the seven colors of the rainbow into each designated space, but the lines were fairly small making it a little difficult.

Painting the Rainbow

Jenni first colored the sun and clouds with a paint brush. I then gave her several toothpicks and the colors of the rainbow to paint onto her paper in the shape of a rainbow. On another piece of paper I outlined the shape of a boat (to resemble the Ark) and Jenni painted it in with our homemade paintbrush. We then discussed the rainbow convenant...

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. (Genesis 9:12-16)

Color Mixing

 We took the 3 primary colors (red, yellow and blue) and mixed them to make the secondary colors. Jenni had a lot of fun mixing the colors together and did a great job remembering what colors mixed together to get the third color. She then made rainbow hand prints :)

Rainbow Counting Bears

Jenni sorted the bears into their matching cups. She then dumped a cup out at a time and counted how many bears were in each cup. We then practiced setting the bears up in 1 row of 10, 2 rows of 5, etc. Counting bears are so fun!

Rainbow Colored Lunch

Part of our rainbow lunch - strawberries, oranges, peaches, celery with peanut butter, black berries and grapes :)

R is for Ranch

 Jenni and I went to visit two ranches with our homeschooling group. The parents and the sister of one of the ladies in our group run working horse ranches. At the first ranch we learned about feeding, cleaning, grooming and safety around horses. We saw a pregnant horse that was due to give birth in the coming days, watched men shoe the horses, learned about cleaning the stalls, safety around young horses and older horses, watched riding lessons and much more. It was a neat experience! At the second ranch, we had a sack lunch and walked around the ranch meeting horses and enjoying nature. The kiddos did fun outdoor activities such as bike riding, bubble blowing, and best of all - butterfly catching! It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, and tons of butterflies flying around the small ponds.

Alphabet Fun - Letter Dd

Jenni is 3 years 6 months

We had a delightful time exploring the letter Dd! Here is some of what we did...

Bible Verse:
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Books:
Do Like a Duck Does by Judy Hindley (Jenni adored this book!)
Duck and Cover by Jackie Urbanovic
Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic

Duplo Prints 

Jenni dipped one side of one duplo into blue paint and the other side of another duplo into pink paint to make different imprints on paper.

Duplo Graph

 

I put various colors of duplo blocks in a container and had Jenni graph three colors at a time. Then she practiced reading a graph - which column had more, less, or the same amount.

Dot the letter Dd

 

I drew a capital and lower case Dd on white cardstock and cut out a handful of pink and purple dots (circles) and Jenni glued the dots onto the paper.

Diamond Collage

Jenni woke up a few hours after we put her to bed for the night (notice the crazy hair :)) asking to do a project. Beforehand, I cut several diamonds from construction paper, as well as a few triangles. Jenni glued the diamonds onto the white cardstock and pieced two triangles together to make a diamond.

Dozens of Dots!

I hole punched dozens of colorful dots for Jenni to glue onto her paper. It was a delightfully messy project :)

D Prints

We used our 'D' bath sponge to paint on paper.

Duck Pond

We went to our favorite duck pond to feed the ducks. Jenni did some dancing on the boat dock too :)

Quilted Rag Letters and Numbers

I found an awesome tutorial on quilted rag letters and decided to make Jenni a few sets to work with letter recognition and spelling. I also made a few sets of numbers to work on number recognition and simple math. They are super soft, colorful, easy to wash, and so much fun. I will soon be making Joshua his own set in manly colors :)

 I printed and cut out the lower case letters template and the numbers template.

Then I traced the letters onto solid color fabric and cut them out.

 I cut out each letter and pinned it to white felt (for the quilting material) and white minky dot fleece fabric (for the back).

 I sorted and sewed the letters by color.

 After sewing the three pieces of fabric together, I trimmed the edges of three layers leaving a little over 1/4 inch around the edges of the letters.

After sewing and trimming around the letters, I tossed each set of colors in the washer and then the dryer, giving the edges a ragged/used look which I liked. I originally hung the letters on a clothes line on the wall, but since have taken them down so they are more accessible to Jenni J.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap (for front or top loading machines)

The Duggar Family Recipe

Ingredients
4 c. hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 c. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 c. Borax

Directions
-Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

Yield: 10 gallons
-Top Load Machine: Use 5/8 c. per load (approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machine: Use 1/4 c. per load (approx. 640 loads)

Update: We have been using this recipe for the past year and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the initial cost for all the ingredients, including 3 additional Fels-Naptha bars, was around $11. I have only made this recipe once since it makes such a large quantity. The next time I make the laundry detergent I will not have to buy anything since I have plenty of left-over ingredients. So this recipe allows me to spend less than $11 a year on laundry detergent, cleans our laundry, and leaves our laundry smelling nice and fresh :)