Fall Art Gallery

I've been wanting to create an art wall / gallery for my children's art for some time. I finally got around to it. There may be some changes and or additions, but at least I have a start. The idea is that each month or each season they will create new pictures to go in the frames. This month we went with a fall theme.

The first piece of art was created by Baby with a little help from me. I started by painting a simple trunk and branches. I then applied paint to her hand, I used a combination of red, yellow, orange and brown. I squirted globs of paint into a pie pan, being sure that the colors were close together. I then took a sponge and laid it in the pan, being sure to pick up all of the colors. I used the sponge to apply the colors to her hand. The leaves are made up of finger and hand prints.

Next up, Big Sis created this lovely tree using paint and brush. I think little brother helped with it a little too.

Turkey Time!! Little Guy made this turkey. I applied paint to his hand, just like I did the baby's. I helped him press his hand on the paper, added eyes, beak, legs and he helped paint fall grass. I love the way his thumb moved just enough, to give the appearance of feathers on the turkey's head.

Have a delightful day!!

A is for Apple

We actually did this activity last week, and read the book Apples and Pumpkins (which is a Fall book, but ends with the children trick or treating).

A is for Apple, Apple Sauce

(this is soooo yummy with whipped cream)

enough cooking apples to fill your crock pot

add just a bit of water

red hot candies (add to your taste, I usually give in to my kids and add lots

Fill crock pot with apples (I used a little crock pot, you know the kind for dips and stuff). Add water and candies cover and cook until apples are tender and mushy ( we cooked it overnight and ate it for breakfast). This make a yummy chunky apple sauce!!

I first made this when I was teaching first grade. One of the other teachers shared the recipe with me. We saved some of the apple sauce and made fried pies with it the next day. If you would like to try making fried pies and easy way to do it is to buy refrigerated biscuits have kids flatten them out, spoon in apple sauce, fold over, seal edges and fry in hot oil.

Have a delightful day!!

Muffin Tin Monday Halloween Challenge

What to do, what to do. It's the day of the challenge and I'm not prepared. Maybe we should just sit this one out. No Way!! We don't want to miss out on all of the fun.

I've already looked and you "Muffin Tin Mommas" have done some really cool stuff!!! I'm not even going to pretend to be as cool as you guys, but I do want to play along. So here's our muffin tin. We've been reading a lot about pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns, so I've put together a muffin tin lunch with a Jack-o-Lantern theme. This was super easy to put together and my little guy had fun turning his food into mini Jack-O-Lanterns.

On the Menu: Jack-O-Lantern Pizza, and Jack-O-Lantern Cookies

I just used what we had on hand for this a larger cookie would have been ideal, but the chocolate chip cookies we had worked.

Cookies, Orange Icing with (Popsicle stick for spreading), Candy Corn

English Muffins (split), Pizza Sauce, Cheese, Pepperoni (cut into shapes)


And if you give a boy a muffin tin he's going to what a book to go with it....
So we read Pumpkin Jack to go along with our Jack-O-Lantern lunch!!

Be sure and stop by Sycamore Stirrings to see everyone's spooky snacks!!

Have a delightful day!!

Halloween Party

The lovely Ms. V of A Fanciful Twist is hosting the most fabulous Halloween Party. Won't you join the fun!!

Come into my parlor, if you think you dare.

There are creepy crawly things

and little pumpkins there.

Come into my parlor and if you can stand the tricks,

you may find a treat or too, but you'd better hurry quick!!

Now you're here

and you can see

things are not so bad.

Pull up a chair and read with me

It might make you glad.

We've had a fright, yes quite a scare

We've read some stories too.

Now share a little treat with me.

It's alright to take a bite,

I tell you that it's true.

No poison apple will you find would I lie to you?

Have a delightfully scary day!!!

S is for Scarecrow and Spider

In my last post I mentioned that the Little Guy has been learning about the letter S. We've been reading all about scarecrows and spiders and we've done some fun activities that even Big Sis has taken part in ( Scarecrow and Spider Crackers). I'm finally getting around to posting a couple of other activities that we've done based on the Letter S.

Scarecrow and Straw start with S (books we're reading The Lonely Scarecrow , Barn Dance, and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything)

First up is the Straw S. This is a super simple activity, but just one more way for little ones to begin to associate the sound s with the letter s. I cut out an S and we glued straw on together. As we worked we talked about our scarecrow stories, and remember that scarecrows are made with straw.

Spider Starts With S (books we're reading How Spider Saved Halloween and, The Very Busy Spider )

Next up, we have the favorite craft by far!! Spiders!! My little guy is really into spiders lately, and he loves to decorate for Halloween. Before the day was over we had to make a family of these guys to hang from the light fixture.

As usual I went with a simple pattern. I traced a medium sized bowl for the body and cut strips about 1/2 inch in width, and as long as the short side of the construction paper, free handed round eyes and the letter S.

We love the accordion folded legs and silly eyes. The spider looks great hanging from a light fixture or such (I should have taken pictures).

Have a delightful day!!

Muffin Tin Monday---Spider Snacks

We've been learning all about the letter S. Last week we read Barn Dance and made a Scarecrow (because scarecrow starts with S). This week we'll be reading How Spider Saved Halloween and The Very Busy Spider. So I thought it only fitting that Muffin Tin Monday reflect the stories and activities that we will do this week!!

I filled our muffin tin (well it's not a "tin") with Ritz crackers, pretzels, raisins, cheese slices cut into circles, cream cheese spread, and clementines.

We used all of this yummy stuff to make spider sandwich crackers!!

We actually had Muffin Tin Monday on Sunday so that Big sis could join in the fun.

Spider legs sure are yummy!!

For more Muffin Tin Monday head on over to Sycamore Stirrings.

Have a delightful day!! DeeLight

Scarecrow Party

I can't believe how quickly the week has gone!! This time of year it seams that we get so busy, but it's a good busy. It's the kind of busy that's alive with kid fun.

No matter how busy we get, we always have time to share a great story. Last Saturday we went to the book store and bought a few new books to add to our "Fall"collection. I hope to share all about them, and the fun activities that they have inspired in the next few days.

Barn Dance is not a book that is new to our collection, but it is one of my very favorite books. The text is so musical, and the story if filled with magic as the scarecrow comes to life and the farm animals dance until the wee hour of morning.

To celebrate the season and extend the fun of this book, we invited a couple of friends over and made our very own scarecrows.


We used some of our Little Guy's old jeans and a shirt (about size 3). They were just the size for the girls to easily work with (Little Guy helped but I think he was off eating candy corn for most of the pictures). We stuffed our scarecrow with plastic grocery bags.


For the head the girls stuffed one sack with other sacks. They then shaped it into a rounded shape, inserted a ruler (you could use a yardstick if you want the scare crow to stand up), and tied off the bag.

Now for the fun stuff!! We brought our scarecrows to life by creating our own lively faces. We draped the fabric over the "plastic bag" head and tied it on with raffia. We then finished off the scarecrows by tying the wrists and ankles with raffia, and adding a little raffia for hair when needed.This guy went to live at the home of our good friends!! Isn't he fun?

This guy sits on our front porch keeping watch!! Don't you just bet he dances in the yard while we're sleeping?!?

I didn't worry about connecting these guys at the waist. We just sat the bottom portion on a chair and the top portion on top of it, but you could use a long dowel rod or yard stick to connect them for a standing scarecrow (you would also need to make a hole in the pants, so that the dowel or stick could be used to stand up the scarecrow).

Have a delightful day!!