Flat Stanley Adventures

Flat Stanley was once a normal boy and BAM a board fell and smashed him flat while he was sleeping one night. Flat Stanley came for a visit in our home and went on vacation and had lots of adventures worthy of sharing. I had never heard of this book until my daughter came home with her already made Flat Stanley....right before Spring Break. Flat Stanley adventures help introduce geography, social studies and the best of all reading. Have you ever participated in any Flat Stanley adventures? How did it go? 

We headed to the local library and played around with their magnet board and the foam letters. I love how the title turned out.....

The one on the left is the one she made at school and the 2nd one we made at home. I searched the internet and found the template for it. You can find it on the Flat Stanley website with lots of other information and games you may even want to try yourself. We cut it out and went to the store to have it laminated. 

So Flat Stanley visited:

North Carolina Foothills

Boarded a plane with Kaylei's Aunt Summer and went to Germany and India.

A few things he did: 

Became a Martial Artist and won a metal

Cat rodeo- our kitty was not a happy camper, but it was fun for the kids

Played with our Mustache Straws

Had some coffee with mom at Starbucks

Hung around at the library and the Science center

Hung around at Barnes and Nobles

and so much more

We frequent our local Barnes and Nobles at least once a week. I just knew there would be lots of adventures there. We was not disappointed and here are all of the books we ran across while on our adventures. Plus, he rode the toy train and pretended to be a conductor.

There are much more books than this and they are always coming out with new ones to explore and enjoy. The kids had fun pulling books from the shelf and seeing the many books. My favorite part was the imagination and exploring that came with Flat Stanley. I am so glad he visited us.

I actually had fun doing this activity with my daughter. It was so exciting for her and she already loves pretend play. Welp, that is all of our adventures for now. Have a Flat Stanley project of your own? I would love for you to share the link so we can check it out. 

Wooden Learning Puzzles

I am always on the look out for thrifty learning things for the kids.  There is this little store that is hidden in a little area located up in town that could easily be missed, but luckily I know where it is.  We don't go there very often, but we happened to stop in.

I found these awesome wooden puzzles.  Guess how much they were.....okay I will tell you!  They were only .99; you just can't beat learning and sturdy wood in one.  I just had to pick some up.

These are perfect for my 4 year old and they are nice and colorful.

I got this one for our 7 year old.  She hasn't started learning this yet in school, but it is never too early to introduce it to her.  Sorry if it is a little blurry.

I just love running across deals. I am a sucker for .99 finds especially. 

Don't you just love running across bargains!  What is your latest bargain?

Make a Water Lava Bottle

I know you have seen these before.  I remember playing with bottles to make the swirling tornado just by doing a quick swirling motion with the bottle.  I loved that and my kids always love anything that involves a good mess. 

Supplies:

1. Plastic Bottle

2. Water

3. Oil

4. Food Coloring

Fill the bottle 3/4 full with vegetable oil.

Fill the rest of the bottle with water (almost to the top but not overflowing).

Add about 10 drops of food coloring of your choice. Be sure to make the water fairly dark in color.

*~*~Notice that the food coloring only colors the water and not the oil. COOL

Another Super Neat option for a lava bottle is to drop in a alkaseltzer tab and place a flashlight under it and watch it bubble.

Alkaseltzer Bubbling Lava Bottle:

** We used a recycled water bottle which takes less liquid than the vase used in the above video; making the liquid measurements different.

CON:  After going through a few runs of putting a tab in to watch it bubble the oil starts to turn cloudy.  I only had the orange alkaseltzer tablets here, so I don't know if that is why. The flashlight under the bottle was a really great idea.

  HaVe FuN!



Make ABC Window Clings

                        Window clings are really great for all kinds of things. Our favorite clings are the educational ones and the holiday ones are pretty neat too. Instead of buying them, I decided to try my cling making skills. I had never made clings before, but I had high hopes and the outcome looked pretty creative.

ABC Window Clings

I have been having liquid lead in hopes of creating something for at least 3 months now and I finally had my chance. This was my very 1st time using it for a big project and I decided ABC's would give me the best practice. If you have ever used liquid lead you know that you have to try to be as steady as possible, as well as you need to hold the bottle about 1/4 inch above the designs and just go. The hardest part is making it do what you want it to do.

SUPPLIES

*  Simulated liquid lead- 2 fl oz. for easier handling
*  Gallery Glass Window Color Crystal Clear- 2 fl oz.
*  Wooden skewer with one flat side and one pointy side
*  Any kind of paint
*  Gallery Glass Plastic Sheet
* You can use an outline of anything to trace as a design.

Optional Supply: Any kind of Glitter Glue- I put Crystal Clear on a star and once dry I spread a layer of Glitter GLue and let it dry. I used what I had on hand instead of going out for more supplies.

Wet ABC Clings

1. Trace out your chosen design with liquid lead on the flat side of blank. Let sit for a few hours until set.

2. Fill the letters with Crystal Clear, then put a drop of whatever color in different spots and use the flat part of the skewer to blend out evenly to lead lines. You can play around with different colors and blends.

NOTE: Make sure the paint is touching all of the liquid lead outline and that there are no bubbles. Use the pointy side of the skewer to pop bubbles. You can tap the underside of the sheet to make air bubbles rise.

3. Let dry.

Carefully review every cling to make sure there are no open spots to prevent tears.  If there are holes anywhere(Do not pull up) go ahead and apply a coat of Crystal Clear on top of it and let it dry.  It will work just fine.

Unsuccessful supply: Stained glass paint purchased from Walmart. I applied it by itself on a few letters and it caused cracking and a unstable letter.  I applied a coat of Crystal Clear to fix it.  I would say blend it in all together next time around.

If you try it out let me know how it goes!

Fun Constellation Learning and Crafts

Star Light Star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

Learning about Constellations!

This award-winning book capturing the glittering light show of the constellations is now available in paperback.

Take an illuminating ride through the starry night sky with National Geographic's Zoo in the Sky! Little Bear and the Great Bear in the Northern Sky; the scaly dragon winding his long tail; the Great Dog chasing the Hare in the Southern Sky; all are beautifully rendered in Christina Balit's vibrant art, studded with shiny stars, which perfectly illustrates Jacqueline Mitton's rich text.

"This is an attractive introduction to astronomy... The simple poetic descriptions will capture the attention of preschoolers and early elementary-age children alike. A brief explanation of stars and constellations rounds out this lovely and unusual offering." —School Library Journal.

We learned about Ursa Major the Bear and Draco the Dragon....

and made some super cool GLOW IN THE DARK Constellations for our wall!

Draco the Dragon Glow in the Dark Constellation

Ursa Major Great Bear Glow in the Dark Constellation

We did these activities by using a pre-made stencil of each constellation.  

1. The holes were punched out of the actual star positions within the constellation and we traced it with a metallic silver permanent marker. 

2. Then we put the little metallic stars on top of the dots and place a nice sized dot of Glow in the Dark glue on the star. The bigger the dot the more glowing effect it has.


This turned out to be a really fun learning activity for the kids and they love reading. We love all of those sparkling stars above and learning about the constellations. 

Kids Rainbow Activity

We Learned about reflection and refraction as well as why Rainbows exist. 

A book about that:

  Overview

Sally and Nick want to paint rainbows, but they don't know what colors to use, or what order to put the colors. And where do rainbows come from, anyway? The Cat in the Hat is not quite sure himself, but he knows someone who will know—King Kaleidoscope, ruler of Colorgalore! So it's off to visit the King in this funny, fact-packed book based on an episode of the PBS Kids show The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! featuring 3-D artwork on every page—and a pair of 3-D glasses!

Making Construction Paper Rainbows

Rainbow 1 with a hugging sun

Rainbow with a bowl of gold

Rainbow with a bowl of cereal

We had a lot of making rainbows and learning all about them. Arts, crafts and cartoons...it doesn't get better than that. All of their pictures turned out great and reflected each of their artistic imaginations.