Windblown

I just grabbed this book off the shelf at the library and hoped that it would be one we would enjoy.It was on the New Books shelf and sometimes I can't resist a clean, creaseless book with a sparkling new cellophane (library) cover. Plus, the next time we take it out and see the smudged fingerprint on page four we will know that we were the first ones to put it there. (Sorry! Sometimes, books and glue don't go together! P.S. I pay my fines. I do!)

Anyway, Babe-O ordered multiple readings. So, it has made it to the best books list. And the book basically begs you to bring it to life. It's so easy to do! Windblown by Edouard Manceau is a book about seven scraps of paper arranged to depict a fish, snail, chicken, bird, and frog who all claim the scraps as their own. But the wind believes the scraps belong to it, and blows them along to the reader with the question, "What will you do?"

I cut out the shapes for Babe-O and gave him some white paper and a black marker.
He immediately constructed the chicken and then got creative with jellies.

 

I really like how the simple shapes became like a puzzle challange for Babe-O, and he enjoyed working with the marker to add details. Simple, easy, fun. And easy to keep some scraps, paper, and a marker on the kitchen table for spur of the moment creativity. 

The Donut Chef

Donuts are perfect for birthday celebrations (of which we have had two in the last two weeks) and a great way for Mama to de-stress in the kitchen.  I love this kind of crazy involved cooking on a cold winter day. Also, donuts are the perfect way to serve up a little home-made gooey love.

I used a recipe for Raised Donuts from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. My Mom passed down this cookbook to me. It was printed in 1968 and it's covered in grease stains and flour. It's pages are all out of order because the book is a ring binder and a while ago the pages fell out.  I never bothered to put them back in order. It forces me to have to look through recipes to find what I want. It has discolored pictures of  jello molds and crown roasts. It reminds me of my Mom's kitchen and baking (or deep frying as it is for donuts) out of it for my family just makes me happy.

Notice, our tribute to the Winter Olympics!

Plus we LOVE books about donuts!

The Donut Chef by Bob Staake is a family favorite.
This book is about a chef who opens a donut shop and competes with a chef who opens up a shop next door to make the best donut. After experimenting with every shape, color, and flavor the most loved donut is a simple glazed. We love all of Staake's books for their awesome rhymes and content (and because most of them involve food or robots!) What better way to bring this book to life than to make donuts?! 

So we whipped up a batch and Babe-O became the donut chef by decorating (and devouring) his own donut.

Our second favorite donut book is Who Needs Donuts Anyway? by Mark Alan Stamaty This book is a psychedelic journey to the city of donuts. Where the main character, Sam, discovers that love is more important than donuts. It is a must read for anyone!!! The illustrations are amazing and the story is just perfect! What better way to bring this book to life than to deliver some home-made donuts to our neighbors?!

So there you. have. it. A bunch of donuts. A lot of sprinkles! Two books. Lots of GOOEY LOVE!
Wish you could have joined us!

Extra Yarn

We have been reading Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated Jon Klassen.
A great book! We. LOVE. it.

There are knitting needles, an archduke, Mr. Crabtree, a ship, a castle, three robbers and three ladders, several letter A's, a dog named Mars, and lots and lots of yarn. If that doesn't make for a great book I don't know what does.

So we did this little project to celebrate our newest favorite book.

I drew a few key elements/characters from the story onto Contact paper using a permanent marker. (Don't judge me. I did what I could in T - 2 seconds).

Gave Babe-O some "Extra Yarn" and some scissors.

Process over product folks! He loved being like Annabelle (the main character). And the sensory experience matched with the fine motor practice makes me feel good. It's a pretty quick set up and clean up. Perfect for a 3 year old and can be made into a more intricate process by an older child.

Another book come to life! Rawsome!

"We really let winter in!"

We have been reading Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel.

I confess. I picked it out at the library because it looked like one of those books that would put Elias to sleep at night. It's a chapter book and it's kind of a "quiet" read (not like the current favorite Batman, The Story of the Dark Night). I thought if I used my monotone voice it would be a good sleepy-time book.

Wrong. By the time we got to the story "Upstairs Downstairs" we were scream laughing!

Anyway, the first story is called The Guest. Winter pounds on Owl's door and he kindly invites Winter in for a warm up. Winter behaves badly, running around the house, blowing snow and wind all over. Owl has to throw winter out so he can get toasty warm in front of his fire once again. (Sorry I ruined the story for you.)

"Winter, you can't come in!"

It is brutally cold here. -12 degrees with windchill making it feel like -46. Yes, "ladies and jungelman" the Arctic Front is upon us! What better day is there to invite winter in to get warmed up?

We brought snow in on a baking sheet. Put on our best snowball makin' gloves and played with winter at the dining room table. (Messy and cold! But if your house looks anything like mine, you won't mind if snow and paint get on the floor cuz it will give you some motivation to finally wash it.)

Babe-O kept saying, "We really let winter in!"

To liven things up even more, we decided to make glowing space snow! We have done a few glowing projects in the past. Thanks to the awesome blog
Growing A Jeweled Rose and their recipes for all things glowing. We made some glow in the dark and fluorescent paint watercolors, added a black light, and got to "glowing up" our snow balls.

We stuck googly eyes and tooth picks into our snow balls. We built a little glowing snowman. Before long we had to smash winter out of our house! Babe-O had fun whacking the snowballs and our little snowman to pieces with tongs. Very messy and very fun!

Babe-ala also loved this project.She was enthralled with the radioactive nature of things when the black light was turned on. Here is a few pics of glowing Babe-o and his robot and outer space jams AND glowing baby!