Happy New Year!

 Wishing you a Happy New Year.  The Russian Ded Moroz, or Father Frost and his Granddaughter Snegorichka are visiting our home tonight (A last minute plan, as I had forgotten about it until this evening) In case you would like to color one - here is my silly little drawing =)  We toasted in true Russian fashion this evening, and as Elly says, "We raise our glasses to friends, family, and all of the above!"

Afterschool Express: Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a memorable Christmas with their families!  We were very blessed to be able to celebrate with my husband's family this year in warm Florida while my family was in Colorado enjoying the snow.  Facetime, Yahoo and Skype were great for us all to be in touch with each other and not feel so far way.  





My daughter did this the day after Christmas and it just cracked me up.

 I didn't have the heart to tell her that it's now 364 days and counting down again. 

We're now getting back to normal life a little bit.  My 5 year old has been busy enjoying her new things from Christmas.  To my surprise her Hello Kitty Paint with Water was a big hit and has kept her very busy.  She's going to include them into her Thank you Cards for Christmas .  Now I've discovered you can make your own WaterColor Photos from I Can Teach My Child.  Think we  might be making some Valentine's this year with that idea in mind for our close friends.  Look for that post to come soon.
  

We've been working this week on getting ready to celebrate New Years.  I found a few cute sites about New Years Celebrations to share with you to help you prepare with your little ones. 

 Here's Emily playing the Graphing Dice Game from 2 Teaching Mommies

PRINTABLES FOR NEW YEARS
New Years Printables from 2 Teaching Mommies

New Years Mickey Mouse Party Printables from Disney Family 

News Years Countdown Ball from The Happy Home Fairy 

New Years Interview from 2 Teaching Mommies too

New Years Resolution Sheet from 30 Handmade Days

New Years Resolution Craft from Nurture Store 

New Years Countdown Goodie Bags from Hoosier Homemade

Thank you Cards from Recycled Wrapping Paper

We tried to use reusable gift wrap this year with gift bags or decorated gift boxes but we still ended up with a few wrapped.  We wanted a few wrapped with paper for our littlest one to experience opening up her first Christmas presents and the paper kept her entertained for quite some time.  We saved the used wrapping paper and my daughter cut out some of the cute pictures and used them for making crafts this week and thank you cards. 

 New Years Sign from Recycled Paper

We also used our used wrapping paper to create something new...  A 2012 New Years Sign.  We tried to find a paper with sparkle to save.  Then we had a little bit of leftover cardboard from new gifts so we reused them into making the numbers for 2012.  My daughter had lots of fun tearing and cutting the paper and gluing it onto the numbers.  Definitely kept her interested in the New Year and now knows the numbers in 2012!  Can't wait to hang it up for our New Year's Noon Party with her friends. 

Here are some fun photos from our NOON New Years Party Pictures

For your own 2012 PRINTABLE see this post!

Happy New Year to you and your family!  May the New year bring you much joy, happiness and amazing memories with your family! 

UPDATE:  Here's my post of Fun Family Games for your New Year's Party! 

The Afterschool Blog Hop is hosted by:
What Do We Do All Day?

Just Playin’ Around

Little Wonders’ DaysMama Smiles
Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns
The Educators’ Spin On It*this week's host*



New Year Day Celebrations at Amanda's House

We love New Year's Eve, but like to keep many of our family celebrations low key.  My favorite was last year when we were visiting my parents.  Elly requested to hang up a sign, so they hung up "Happy Retirement,"  a left over from my uncles celebration.  Gone is the last year - new things to come!  Just looking back at the photos make me smile!  Everyone laughed so hard during the decorating and we still say, "Happy Retirement," instead of Happy New Year as a family joke!  Sometimes it is the simple celebrations that end up being the most meaningful!  With all the adorable projects on the Internet, sometimes it is hard to remember that our kids just need us to enjoy the moment with them and not to stress about the little details. 

In the past, we have made brownies and frosted a clock with the hands at midnight.  12 cupcakes in a circle would be cute too! I've also made our bread sticks into the shape of  numbers in the new year.  I try to just make do with what we have!

Our friends are hosting a "Countdown to Noon" for the kids play date at the park, so the kids can ring in the noon-year with their friends.  We are all bringing one craft, snack, book, or activity to share that allows all of us to  keep with the "LOW STRESS" theme!  I saw this pinterst post and made a 2012, what I have on hand version of it.  Here is the template if you want to make one this weekend.

Last, but not least, I've always loved the pictures of kids that are in the same place at different times throughout the year.  I am not the best photographer, but would like to keep up with my yearly every other year photo opportunity on New Year's Day.  For some reason, I do think that I took one last year, but cannot find it =)  My hope is that we will someday be able to look back on our family photos taken on New Years Day and remember all the good times we had together! For the last 6 or 7 years, we take a family walk together and talk about our year goals as a family on New Years Day. I am a bit of a traditionalist and am trying create healthy versions of our "new" family traditions.

I'd love to say I have all these great things planned for this weekend, but we are just planning on blowing up a few balloons, having a huge sea food dinner and toasting to our good health, happiness, and prosperity. I'd love to get our 2012 picture taken and our nice New Year's Day stroll done too. 

I'm hoping that no matter how big or small your planned celebration is, that you are able to enjoy your friends and family too!

Amanda's Favorite "Spin On" Things by Kim in 2011

Awe - Kim, thanks for such kind words.  What an act to follow!  I have enjoyed getting our feet wet this fall in public blogging with you and look forward to 2012!

I love how I can always call you and talk about our kids, how we can foster a love of learning and what we can do to be better parents (and people for that matter).  In a busy, crazy world, it is so nice to have a friend that loves being a parent and truly parents with purpose! I am blessed to have you in my life and look forward to another year of friendship!

Here are my Favorite Picks from Kim's Spin On things in 2011.

I really enjoy learning more about your families cultures and traditions.  Learning about others and teaching my kids help create globally conscious children! Your post not only taught me something, but also gave me great ideas on how I could teach my children about the celebration of Diwali

Speaking of raising globally conscious children - this post represents how much I love your Little Hands that Cook with Books Series.  Using stories that represent other cultures and tying them into authentic learning experiences in the kitchen is an amazing feat.  It combines so many things that we are passionate about. 

Another Little Hands that Cook with Books favorite of mine to read, make, and eat were the owl pizzas!

Last, but not least, I have really enjoyed watching our kindergarteners' grow as writers as well as readers.  Your posts about ways to encourage writing using stickers and playtime as inspiration, reminded me of simple ways that I could continue to liven up writing in our household.  The goal for me is to spend time writing every day with both of my kids, as reading and writing are so connected.   These are great ideas of ways that I can keep my kindergartener writing and make it meaningful!

My blogging goals for the New Year!

1. Continue to bring you gardening, cooking, crafting, reading, and bilingual activities that you can do  with your children to enrich their lives.
2. Develop and offer our resources on Teachers Notebook.
3. Build our Educators' Spin On it Community through Followers and Guest Posters
4. Have Fun

Stay Tuned for
* Kids Literacy Interview
* Information on Blog Books
* LOVE BOOKS activity and book swap

-Amanda

Kim's Favorite "Spin On" Things by Amanda in 2011

I'll be the first to admit that this has been so much fun venturing into the blogging world with one of my best friends, Amanda.  She is one of those friends that encourages you to become a better person, mom, wife, daughter and friend.  I think in part that is why we both have chosen to take on this new adventure in our lives.  This blog was designed to help us and our followers become accountable for all the adventures we take and that our children take us on daily as we work on the art of being a stay at home Mom.  And hopefully we make it a little bit easier for you to make sure your little ones are learning all they need to know to prepare them for successful learning and a well balanced life. 


As the New Year approaches, I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on how you too can easily and creatively put your "Own Spin" on things as we have this year.  I can't wait to see what 2012 brings to our lives and into your homes.  


Here are my Favorite Picks from Amanda's Spin On  things in 2011.   



Handmade Gifts for Toddler
This was such an adorable gift that my little one received from Amanda for her 1st birthday.  She's been playing with them nonstop.  I can't wait to see her begin to count with them too.  



Owl Apron Tutorial
All I did was mention we're learning about Owls in Cooking class and her daughter shows up with an owl apron for class that she quickly created that day.  



Owl Costume Tutorial
Playing dress up up is such a treasure of childhood and one that inspires so much creativity from your little ones.  Whoooo wouldn't want to be an owl? There's even made a You Tube sewing tutorial to make it super easy for you!  



Snowman Candy Bar Treats 
Thinking of others is something we're always trying to teach our little ones.  Here's a great lesson in the art of giving and creating at the same time.  



Outdoor Play 
What a great idea to create a cut an old tree into 1inch rounds to allow your children to create all sorts of ideas with in that backyard.  Woodfloors, jumping logs the ideas are endless! 


We've truly found how much we have in common this year by creating our Pinterest Account together.  We've found ourselves pinning the same things a multitude of times, it's actually kind of funny how similiar we think at times.  If you haven't had a chance check out our Boards, here's the Link.  We have a multitude of boards created to help us and you with ideas.  We're always spinning our Ideas together and I've truly enjoyed seeing what Amanda finds on the world wide web and how she "Spins It" into her own ideas and usually very eco and economically friendly!  On top of it she has made some helpful videos on our youtube channel.  Check our our Educators' Spin On It Channel!  One of my goals this new year is to get more ideas on there for our followers.    


Amanda has been inspiring me to work with my little Bilingual Babies, to get outside and start Gardening with Children  and to create Natural Playscapes  in my yard.  I can't wait to get my littlest one started on some of your Tot School Ideas now that she's One.  Most importantly she's inspiring me to create a Print Rich home by Building Literacy with my children on a daily basis by setting up a great foundation.  I can't wait to see the books you are getting ready to publish and make available to our followers! 


Thanks Amanda for putting your "Spin On Things" and inspiring me to teach my little ones!  Hope you all get a chance to check out all the links I provided to some of her adorable and helpful ideas for your little ones!  

Holiday Cooking - Kale Pizza Trees, Snowman Pizza, Breads, Candy Cane Popcorn and MORE!

As I am the self proclaimed "Kale Queen," I must find many creative ways to use it!  Many of you probably already have a large holiday feast planned, but just in case you need a quick, healthy lunch - I thought I'd share our treeza -pizzas!  We make a home-made wheat pizza crust with pesto and ground flax seed.  I shape it into whatever form I want to make, fork holes in it and pre-bake the crust.  While my crust is baking, I chop and cook my kale.  When the crust is done, I take it out and the kids spread tomato sauce on it, then Kale, and top with a mixture of cheeses.  You could add olives and peppers for decorations! Then bake!  I've made Santa's and Snowman pizzas too!

 

We also LOVE to twist and braid our breads into festive shapes.  This is a sweet cherry bread that was fantastic with tea for a brunch.

This is a wreath from another bread recipe.  We've made many wreaths with different bread recipes.  This morning, we made a whole wheat walnut bread wreath.  It tastes the same as a loaf of bread, but for some reason, when it is in a fun shape, it tastes even better!

 

 

And last, but not least is my kids favorite.  Elly has named this one Candy Cane Popcorn.  It is very healthy and probably one of the lowest calorie sweet snacks that I make =) 

What you need

Popcorn

Candy Coating

Shortening

What to do

1. Pop your corn in a tiny bit of olive oil on the stove.  You could use an air popper or the pre-made packets too. 

2. Put it in a tinfoil lined baking dish.

3. Make a very small amount of candy coating per package instructions.  I always have to add shortening to make it thinner.

4. Spread liquid candy coating on popcorn and stir the popcorn while still warm.  I use a tiny bit of candy coating - maybe a spoonful per popcorn batch. Add just a little bit of salt.

5. Pop the pan in the fridge for a couple minutes so the candy coating sets faster

6. Serve and eat!

Candy Cane Popcorn

 

Unfortunately my photography skills - or lack of - doesn't do this snack justice.  It really is pretty and yummy!

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas and Tree Topper Craft

Guess what!  Elly got fantastic package in the mail!!!!  "WOW, This is really for me? NEAT!" She said.

 Thanks to Pen Pals & Picture Books, she received the book "Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas," written by Jane O'Conner and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser and a themed craft project to go with it!

She snuggled up with it right away and we read it together.  We have been talking about being able to make the best of situations and that holiday's are stressful for some people.  This book fit right in with what we have been talking about. That everyone makes mistakes.  It is ok to be sad, but that we must not let ourselves become stressed over the simple mistakes and material things in our lives. We must make the best with what we have in life.  I appreciate how Fancy Nancy was able to come up with a creative solution and have an enjoyable holiday!

After reading the story, Elly knew exactly what to do. "Can I make a tree topper just like Fancy Nancy?"  "Of course," was my reply!

And so she used the materials in the package and some from our craft closet to create her tree topper. 

 Let me just say that I think it is "Splendiferous!"  Although Martha Stewart would like this last post, I am sure she would cringe at the sight of our tree at the moment.  We even stuck unopened Christmas Cards in between branches so we wouldn't lose them.  =)  Makes me happy just looking at it!

 As we were cleaning up, she asked if she could keep crafting and came up with a wreath to hang on the door handle or to use as a mask - isn't she a hoot!

THANK YOU Pen Pals & Picture Books for such a delightful package!!!

Afterschool Express: Holiday Fun

There are so many great ideas that have been posted with activities to do for the holidays!  We have a large zip-lock bag that I fill with the activities I have printed or made.  Since the kids were 2, I have saved these activities and used them every December.  More is added to the collection each year and we adapt the activities to meet the current needs and academic abilities.  This way, I am able to re-use projects and do not feel so wasteful when I print things.  I store them with all my Christmas decorations so that I know exactly where they are!

Here are some of our favorites.
1+1+1=1 Christmas Printable Collection
Confessions of a Homeschooler - Preschool Pack
Ready Set Read to Me
Hands On: As We Grow
A Collective Collection of 24 Bloggers
Little Wonder Days Christmas

Here are some great resources we've found and wanted to share with you.  As you know we're always putting our "Own Spin" on creative ideas we see. 

Here's what we've Pinned for you to do your own spin on too for Handmade Ornaments. 

Here's our Pinterest board for Holidays Ideas

We are both especially looking forward to having our Kindergartners home with us to have fun doing all these holiday activities together.  We've been working on a few over the past week that we wanted to share. 

Homemade Christmas Cards

Give your little one some holiday stamps and let the fun begin!  My daughter and her friends exchange cards each year in the mail to get a special surprise during the holidays in the mail.  You should see how excited my daughter gets when a letter arrives for her. 

 

Here’s a quick way to make your own cards.  We just buy a premade pack from the Craft Store of blank cards and envelopes to keep throughout the year.  Then we use some black, green and red ink to create her cards.  I have her write her name and then she gets to stamp away.  This year she decided to even stamp out her friends name which is a great way to personalize each card.  (Think we might be stamping out sight words over holiday break to keep us learning, look for that post soon)

Gingerbread Man

Using some sewing scraps we created an adorable little Gingerbread Man from  brown construction paper.  There is a terrific Gingerbread Unit on 1+1+1=1 that I printed some things from too. 

Amanda made this adorable Gingerbread Man  too to hang from the tree or attach to gifts. 

Gingerbread Playdough

Making Gingerbread cookies is a tradition in our family but we only do it once during the season.  Here’s a great way for my daughter to make them over and over again all on her own.    This play dough also makes an awesome goody bag treat for holiday parties.  It is non-sugary, delicious smelling, can be used over and over again, and encourages play!

 

Baking!
Kids learn so much by spending time with you in the kitchen. It is math, reading, science, and lovey time all in one!  We have made several batches of cookies this past week.  Elly really enjoyed the snickerdoodles. She not only helped me read the recipe and put the ingredients together, but also rolled the dough into balls and rolled the balls in the sugar.  Other great cookies to make are Spritz with the cookie press! More cooking to come this week in posts -  Stay tuned! {update: Candy Cane Popcorn, Xmas Tree Pizza & More! }

 

Nativity Scene

This is a great fine motor activity for your little ones.  Of course you need to make sure your child knows the proper way to use a push pin for safety.  You take a Nativity Scene and have them use the push pin all around the outside of it to create and outline and then hang it into your window. 

Here’s a cute flag tutorial for outside too. 

Here's a Nativity Snack to go along with your craft.

May you have an enjoyable week with your children! We'd love to see what you are doing with your children!  
- Kim and Amanda

The Afterschool Blog Hop is hosted by:
What Do We Do All Day?

Just Playin’ Around

Little Wonders’ Days*this week's host*
Mama Smiles
Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns
The Educators’ Spin On It

Tot School -Books, Shirt and Easy Ornaments for Toddlers

I LOVE making holiday shirts and dresses for my daughter. There are SO many CUTE ideas out there for girls. When I saw several versions of this on pinterest and ETSY, I knew it would work for my tot! The neighbors have a "blow up" snowman and he started to say "snowman" this week, so it was very fitting!

I made my version of it by hand stitching felt pieces to a plain white t-shirt.  I pulled the stitches taunt to give it a puffier look.  He has started being very opinionated about what he wears, but this shirt has made the cut!  Wouldn't it look cute with a top hat?

 

We made reindeer crackers - cream cheese on a Ritz with pretzel antlers, chocolate chip eyes (I thought I had raisins, but didn't) and an olive nose to go with the book "Olive the Other Reindeer."

Nicholas enjoyed making his, but there was NO way and olive was touching his reindeer.  Even big sister couldn't convince him!  A favorite book of ours this week was, "You Are My Miracle."  It is such a touching story about a parents love.  I get all teary eyed reading it to the kids, it just makes my heart so warm and fuzzy.  The illustrations are simply wonderful and the words... "I am your fortress; you are my snowball fight.  I am your decorate; you are my tangled lights,"  are just amazing.  If you haven't read it, I urge you to and consider buying it for your collection.  It is worth reading over and over again!

Since the simple gingerbread ornament post was so popular last week, I thought I would post another one that is very simple and easy for toddlers to do. I really want to instill the value of "It is better to give than to receive" in my children's hearts.  It is SO hard for a 2 year old to grasp this idea, so I wanted him to help make and give to others what he has made.  Although companies such as Oriental Trading have adorable ornaments to make, these ornament pieces are pre-made and pre-cut out.  Each ornament will end up looking very similar.  The focus is more on the product than the process.  These ones let your kids practice gluing and fine motor skills and no matter how many or few noodles get glued on, these turn out great. 

 You will need:

Card stock or Cardboard shapes (I cut mine out of old cereal boxes)

Noodles

Gold Spray Paint

Ribbon for hanging

1. Cut out your shapes and punch a hole in the top for your string.

2. Let your child add the glue and noodles in whatever shape or design they want.  You can talk about number concepts such as a few or many, count the noodles, or even give the direction words for where they placed the noodle, "You put the noodle on the bottom."

3. Let the glue dry (this can take a while depending on how much your kid loves glue)

4. Spay paint the front and back of the ornament.

5. When it is dry - add the string to hang.

6. Hang it on the tree or wrap it up and give it to a friend.

 

 

 

Click here for more ideas for Christmas Activities with Toddler

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