Learning through food

We do a lot of that here in our little corner of
the Garden State. Sometimes, it's learning while
we grow it, sometimes, while we prepare it,
sometimes we just enjoy learning about
things while we eat it.
Wednesday, we Princess practiced measuring
while we made our Blueberry Pancakes for
National Blueberry Pancake Day.


They were delicious!
Then she worked on China a bit more...

Tuesday was National Chocolate Cake Day, but since Princess

was not feeling well, we put off celebrating until she was feeling better.
We colored a picture from here for both days and if you like that try this one too http://www.lauranumeroff.com/

We then worked on more math, when we measured out for this

Sometimes, after dinner, Momma gets to enjoy this

while Farmer Dad teaches Princess something really important,

like how to make it to the next level on one of their computer games!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Happy Chinese New Year!)

Our Tuesday did not start out too well,

Princess woke up with an upset tummy.

Very early in the morning.

After sleeping on the couch for about 3 hours!

She woke up feeling fine, and ready to "do some school".

The Lincoln Logs were picked up from a wonderful freecycler this weekend.

I had previously picked a small batch up from someone else, and

figured maybe I'd end up with a whole set, but this was an entire full

set of them, in VERY GOOD condition too. We were all excited and have

been playing with them since Sunday!

We read our Mozart books, while listening to the music CD

that came with one of the books (see Yesterday's book post)

then a few Chinese themed books (one is also in the book post),

then we started crafting. Lanterns came first.

We took a sheet of construction paper (we used mostly paper that had pictures

we did not want or need to "save" on one side), and folded it in half - so we had a sheet

of 4 and a 1/4 by 11 instead of 8 and a 1/2 by 11. Then we cut at the fold (see first pic above),

then we made a tube by taping the sides together and squished a bit.

We used a hole punch to put a hole on each side (near the top) then strung them up

using leftover yarn. They looked very festive over our dining room table.

Then we moved on to our dragons.Yes, we made two. We could not agree on which style we liked

best, so we made both.

Dragon #1 consisted of a print out of a dragon head to color (OK, they both did,we used the same one for both dragons..this was a "craft bag" already made up and just waiting for us to get to it)We cut both heads out after coloring.

Then Princess traced her hands on construction paper (we did two sheets-4 hands)

Then she cut them out.Glued them together
Then we stuck them on a tongue depressor. The second we used leftover strips of construction paper folded accordion style and attached to the cut out dragon head with a tongue depressor

attached as well.

We placed them in a red glass on the table with our chopsticks until after dinner.

Dinner was delivered by a local Chinese Food place and just what the doctor

(Dr Mom) ordered. Literally, on Sunday I placed an order to be delivered

on Tuesday (via the Internet) as they were closed on Monday.If Princess looks a bit bored, she was waiting for Farmer Dad to get

home from work, he has been working late and "we" are not adjusting to it very well

at all. Somewhere between 5 and 7 pm is a big change from being home at 3:45pm.

Then we had a Dragon parade to bring us all good luck!

After dinner and parade, Princess sang us a few songs (traditional around here),

and then we played with the Lincoln logs while we watched the Nova special on

Monarch Butterflies. Desert was sherbet instead of Chocolate Cake (we'll do that today)

due to her earlier tummy issues. Bedtime was 11pm. I was worried she would be up all night after sleeping all morning, but she was agreeable at bedtime..for a change.

This morning I awoke to a bit of snow, now turned to freezing rain.

Princess is still sleeping. I am going to go wake her now.

It's Blueberry Pancake Day, and Ernie's (from Sesame St)

Birthday, and Kazoo Day (I'm thinking music will be Rubber Duckie on the Kazoo).

I'll have her help with the pancakes and we'll make the chocolate cake (Yesterday was Choc Cake Day) and have it for desert tonight to celebrate Ernie's B-day.

I hope your day is as sweet as the blueberries and chocolate we will consume today,

if not..there is always tomorrow! ;-)

Books,bellyaches and Chinese New Year

Sorry it has taken me so long to get a book post going today.

We spent a lot more time last night reading about Australia's animals,

and trying to find a Platypus cookie cutter. We do have a kangaroo,

so we will be making that.Princess did not stay up too late (for her),

and was up at the crack of dawn again. Unfortunately, she woke up

with a "belly ache" and was experiencing quite a bit of nausea.

I think it was from "drinking" the tub water in her bath while

"being a Mermaid" last night, or the late night sandwich she just had to have

while I was making one for Farmer Dad's lunch. Either way, she is not feeling

well, and in fact is sleeping it off on the couch right now. No fever.

Puts a damper on our plans to study China a bit and Mozart today

for Chinese New Year and Mozart's B-Day.

I believe it is also chocolate cake day, so we were going to make a

chocolate cake for after dinner (Chinese Food is already ordered)

while listening to Mozart. I got a nice book called A Musical Picture Book

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the library

which we were planning

on flipping through while we listened to the enclosed cd. The book is great

for older children, but a bit wordier than P is into at this time. Maybe if it were

about something like the Platypus (oops..sorry I digress).The cd included is lovely.

Play Mozart,Play is also a great book to enjoy today.Much more to Princess'sliking.

As usual, Peter Sis uses both facts and fancy to bring you into the world

of his subject. Did I mention his artwork?Great book!

In The Snow

For some reason Princess was not interested in taking out any

of the large and beautiful selection of Chinese New Year books

on display at our library. (Have I mentioned our HUGE Mandarin speaking population?)Normally she is all about all, or at least many things Chinese. She loves the people and the culture. (And the food!)But she chose instead, this lovely book by Huy Voun Lee.

A boy and his Mother go for a walk in winter and she writes Chinese characters in the snow for him to learn. It is a lovely intro to one of the oldest picture-languages in the world.

The paper cut art is wonderful.

Because we were also celebrating Australia Day yesterday, we have been

enjoying The Trouble With Cauliflower.

This is a funny book about a silly Koala Bear who says he can't eat cauliflower because

it brings him bad luck. I was hoping it would open Princess up to the "try it, you might like it"

thing. She has suddenly become a somewhat picky eater.We enjoyed a giggle or two at poor Mortimer's expense anyway.

That is all I have time to post now, Princess is waking up, and I must tend to her.

She is calling me to her side in a pile of flannel jammies and soft squishy pink blankets.

(Don't be too jealous S.P., your seasons will change soon and you can bundle back up and watch the storm clouds roll in too!)We will eventually get to our Chinese New Year crafts, and I will of

course post them here.

Have a Ball Learning About Australia

Finally, I've added photos..

We used this tray to which I taped slips of paper with things

we may like to know about Australia. People,food,sports,

maps,weather etc. Princess rolled the ball down the tray and

we did whatever it landed on. She liked it and we got everything covered.

BALL

That is the theme for this week's Unplug Your Kids Group Project.

Today is Australia Day, and we plan on having a ball

learning a bit about Australia and visiting here

and here

and making a lap book with some of what we learn.

This is Princess's "globe" light. We still need to procure a proper globe for her.

I had originally thought that I would have Princess

roll a ball onto areas we could learn about Australia (see Bex's list "down under"..lol),

but Princess thought that sounded a "little lame" (like my joke?), so that

may not happen after all.
Be sure to pop over and see all the participants at Mom Unplugged's blog

and link with her if you join in.

In the words of Bex, we should look into some of this:

* Australian animals- they're all pretty nutty!

* Our money- it's pretty unique too

* Events happening on Jan 26th

* Seasons in the southern hemisphere

* The fact that it only really snows in one place in OZ.

* The stars! (In the sky that is!)http://www.assa.org.au/observing/nightwatch/
* Cricket

* Ularu

* The Gahn

* Aboriginal Culture & History (we did some Aboriginal "dot" art)

* Saying sorry (Nice little lesson this one)

We used our telling time supplies to learn about the time difference.
Princess was up at 7 am to "celebrate Australia"..she was excited. ;-)
To all our friends "Down Under"..Happy Australia Day!!

We'll be back with some Chinese New Year stuff tomorrow.

I'll do my book post too! ;-) G'Day Mates!!

Green Up Saturday

Sorry it's late, and the only tip I'm
offering today, is GET OUTSIDE!
Go on, I know it's probably too cold,
or maybe..it's too hot(Sarah Patience), just get those
kiddies out into the fresh air, and for goodness
sake go with them. Not because they are unsafe
on their own, but,because you need the fresh air and sunshine too.
We drove down the shore today...

it was freezing down there. It was worth it.

We walked and found shells, and tried not to blow away.

Then we got back in the truck and went to lunch.

Did I mention it was freezing?

Did I mention it was worth it?

Crack is Wack, but this Blog is Good

Seriously.How else would you explain this?

Wendy gave it to me!

So there are rules. Rules that I must post here (because,well those are the rules)

Ok:

• List six things that make you happy.


• Pass the award on to 5 other bloggers.


• Link back to the person who gave you the award.


• Link to the people you are passing it on to and leave them a comment to let them know.
  
  Six things that make me happy

1. Obviously, My Princess.
   
   
   

2.Our garden (even under snow)

3. Blue skies

4.Giving old stuff a new home

5.Opening the mail and finding a note ,or drawing from this crew, instead of a bill.

6. This beside my chair

I'm passing it on to...Nina,

Cher ,

Heather,

Mariposa,

and Sandra .

I have so many other people I love to read every day and that I miss when they don't post,

but THE RULES SAY 5. (Stinkin' Rules!!)