Pineapple Casserole- Paula Deen

Chocolate Playdough

Creating Artwork Binders

Picture Rail from Martha

Make a Magnetic Wall from Raising Olives

Hang artwork from curtain rings (link to where to buy them at Ikea)

How to Make homemade sidewalk paint

Homemade bathtub paints

Art frames that make it easy to change out the art inside.

Cute collage idea:

How to make an empty picture frame art holder- more info here.

Great Art Ideas

DeepSpaceSparkle.com

artlessonsforkids.wordpress.com

Artprojectsforkids.org

kidscraftweekly.com

Collages can be made with a variety of materials:  cotton balls, torn yellowpages, confetti, bits of yarn, torn construction paper, gift wrap, tissue paper.  Try finding bits of little things all in one color and let the children pick their favorite items to glue on their paper.  Good paper to use is posterboard or cardboard.

Eileen recommended pouring glue into a little baby food jar and having the children brush the glue on with a cheap paintbrush- definitely helps with the mess factor of glue.  In her classroom they used these ingenious glue bottles from discount school supply:

Recommended books/artists to study related to collage:

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Ideas for drawing:

-Use real sketch pencils (You can get these at hobby lobby for a couple of dollars. )  Show your child how to hold the pencils sideways like a real artist does to create fluid strokes.

-Use interesting paper- different texture or different shapes of paper

-Use different types of drawing utensils, all in the same color.  For example- fill a box with one of each- green marker, green crayon, green colored pencil, green oil pastel, green gel pen, etc.

Recommended books:

You Can Draw Animals

I Can Draw Animals

The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola

Here are the handouts she provided for us if you missed the wonderful meeting:  pdf download

Our goal as parents is to set the stage for creative ideas and higher level thinking as our children engage in art experiences.  Remember that the process is what kids care about, not the end result.

Recommended books about art (CLICK BOOK IMAGE TO GO TO ITS LINK:

The Art of Teaching Art to Children by Nancy Beal

Preschool Art by MaryAnn Kohl

Mudworks by MaryAnn Kohl

First Art: Experiences for Toddlers and Twos by MaryAnn Kohl

“Don’t Move the Muffin Tin:  Hands off Guide to Art for the Young Child” by Bev Bos

Here are the handouts from Nicole:  Organic Gardening info

Here are my notes:

How to get started:

- Fina a good spot in your yard that gets 8+ hours of sun a day

- build raised boxes with untreated wood- this helps with soil erosion and weed control

- loosen the soil underneath then lay down newspaper.  Add healthy soil above.  You will need to find good healthy soil from a garden center

- In between seasons, top with fresh compost.  Crops take out of the soil what they need and you need to replenish.  In the fall, place a nice layer of leaves on top so they can break down into nice, rich soil.

Make your own soil:  Keep kitchen scraps- egg shells, coffee grounds, vegetable or fruit clippings.  Keep in bucket and transfer outside.  Start a big compost pile.  You can also add leaves, grass clippings, wood chips.  Keep it moist.

So apparently my toddler at the remainder of my notes, but the rest is in the handouts. 

Print the Dirty Dozen/ Clean 15 shopping list here.

Documentary recommended by Nicole- Future of  Food: Watch free online here.

Food Inc.- available through netflix, amazon, or blockbuster.  “You’ll never look at your dinner the same.”  Visit Food Inc’s website to watch the trailer and see more info.  http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Food Rules by Michael Pollan- short, easy to read book highlighting how to make small changes in your eating for big impact.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan- This book takes the Food Rules into more depth- explains how “real food” is disappearing from our culture and what to do about it.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser- An investigative journalist looks behind the scenes at the Fast Food industry- you’ll never look at your hamburger the same again!!!  (this is the book, not the movie- the movie is not a documentary- I haven’t seen it and can’t recommend it.)

Local Produce:

180 degree farms- the farm our speaker owns and operates (Nicole Tyson)- CSA, produce, meat, honey, eggs

Farm Fresh CSA- meats, cheese, bread, produce

Country Gardens Farm- meats, milk, eggs, bread, produce, plants, gardening supplies, seedlings

Gaias Greens- organic produce delivered to your door!

Serenbe Farms- huge, gorgeous farm in Palmetto, Ga.  They offer a CSA program and a farmers market

Sweet Valley Shea- lotions and skin care company owned and made by a former fayetteMOPS mom- free delivery to PTC/Senoia.  (This lotion is so good I caught my two year old eating it one day- seriously.  Luckily it’s all-natural!)

PTC Farmer’s Market- Fresh South Market- starts in May

Click on the image to get the instructions!

Leprechaun Ears!

(from Make and Takes)

Make a Pot of Gold

Leprechaun Rice Krispy Treats and Green Popsicles from “No Time for Flashcards”

Shamrock Bread (from Family Fun)

Make a Leprechaun Beard….

(from “No Time for Flashcards“)

Cute Shamrock Sun catcher made out of construction paper and tissue paper.

(from “Ramblings of a Crazy Woman“)

Gold hunt game!

(from “No Time for Flashcards“)

These Leprechauns left a trail of golden rolos on the messes the Leprechaun made!

At this house, they climbed up the refrigerator and turned the milk green!

( I love the way she made the green leprechaun foot prints!)

If you are really into it, this website has full instructions about “staging a Leprechaun visit….”

A few days before, discuss St. Patrick’s Day with the children. Share stories and pictures of leprechauns.

Explain that leprechauns are wee people from Ireland. They like to do tricks and mischief in homes and classrooms. Tell them that the magical leprechauns are able to find gold at the end of rainbows and sometimes they share their gold.

The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day

Make Leprechaun Mischief in your Home Use any or all of the following ideas:

· Sprinkle glitter about the room

· Place the piece of green velvet fabric in a spot where the leprechaun could have caught his clothing. (in a window, in a door, etc.)

· Make leprechaun shoe prints along the chalkboard, on desktops, across student’s homework, etc. (shoeprint stamp & washable ink)

· Make some shamrock cut-outs and place them around the room

· Turn things upside down and topsy-turvy: chairs, toys, books

· Switch everyday items (hang up shoes in the closet & place coats on the floor)

· Unravel the toilet paper

· Turn the toilet water green w/ food coloring

· Sprinkle Lucky Charms cereal in a few spots

· Leave normally-closed things, open (windows, doors, cabinets, drawers, etc)

· Place the leprechaun hat in a non-obvious, hidden place for the children to discover.

· There’s no limit to the number of mischievous things that you can do. BE SILLY! At each place of mischief, place a green shamrock coins for the children to collect.

· Write the following on  a piece of paper:

Good Morning, (your children’s names at home)
I had a great time dancing and playing in your home last night! I’m sorry if I have made a mess of things. I seem to have misplaced my hat. Will you please find it and keep it for me? I’ll be back later to get it.
Your Friend – Lucky the Leprechaun

On St. Patrick’s Day morning

Upon the children’s awakening at home mention that some mysterious things have happened and let the children search out all of the mischief.

When the green hat is finally discovered, exclaim, “The Silly Leprechaun forgot his hat!” Remind the children that he will return to get his hat, as he mentioned in his note. Have the children pick a special spot in the room for Lucky’s hat.

Have the children clean up the leprechaun’s mischief. (The excitement will no doubt turn to a little grumbling about “messy Lucky” at this point.

· A fun writing assignment would be to have the children write letters to Lucky, and leave them with the hat.

Later on St. Patrick’s Day – afternoon

Remove the hat and the letters that the children left for Lucky – hide them away!

· In the now-empty spot, place the small black kettle that you have filled with the gold chocolate coins.

· Leave a trail of glitter behind…

· Also leave the following note for the children:

Dear Boys & Girls:
Thank you for finding my hat!
For helping me, I am sharing some of my gold with you.
See you next year!
Your friend – Lucky

Have fun and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Their brochure.  I love the fact that they have a child-friendly waiting area!

Also, Prayer Journaling that Rhonda shared with us!

The Math Games we used are from these posts:  Math overview; sorting and patterning; counting. 

If you did not receive one of our “counting wheels” that you clip clothespins on, you can download one here from “Confessions of  a Homeschooler”  (She has tons of awesome ideas!)

Here are the caterpillar number order cards.

The Hungry Caterpillar games came from this great lapbook site (Lapbooks by Carissa)

The ABC flashcard game came from “Totally Tots”

To make the lapbook, we used a variety of activites from the internet.