Our Fall Family Tree

Drew and I painted leaves for our fall family tree one afternoon.  It turned out to be such a cute little project and the kids loved looking at all of our family.  It was pretty simple to complete too....you know my style...simple and easy.

Here's how to make one:

Start by painting some "fall colors" onto a piece of paper.  Just let your child paint away (unless you have an older child who could actually paint leaves freehand).

While your child is painting, cut out a tree with some branches.  Tape it up to the wall and then tape a piece of contact paper over the top with the sticky side out.  

After the painting has dried, cut out leaf shapes from the paper.  I think it's pretty cool how the colors are all mixed. 

Then print off some pictures of your family members, tape them onto the leaves and laminate the leaves.

Stick the leaves up on your tree and then play around.

My two really loved seeing all of our family!

Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Counting Game

Anna found this little pumpkin game in the back of one of our Halloween books and asked if we could play it one day.  It's pretty simple, but a great way to incorporate counting in a fun little game.  We played it like "hide-n-seek" with just a few pumpkins since it was just the two of us, but if you had a few kids playing, I'd recommend making lots-o-pumpkins.

Here's how you play...

Start by drawing some pumpkins on pieces of construction paper.  Your little one can draw some faces if they'd like.

Cut them out after they are all ready...

...and add some star stickers to the back of the pumpkins.  We did two of each number 1-3 (but like I said...make more if you have more kids).

Then the fun comes.

Hide the pumpkins throughout the house and then set your kids free to find them.

After all the pumpkins have been collected have each kid count up the number of stars on the back of their pumpkins.

The one with the most wins!!  

Simple Halloween Wreath

I saw this cute little wreath while browsing Pinterest one day and decided we just had to have one for our house!!

I cut out some simple pumpkin and ghost shapes from some construction paper and then had my two kids draw faces on them.

Then I cut out a circle from some more construction paper and Anna glued on all our pumpkins and ghosts.

We added a little bit of black ribbon and hung our beautiful Halloween wreath!!

Potato Pumpkin Stamps

That's right....more pumpkins!  We're kinda obsessed over here!

This is another fun little pumpkin craft and all you need is a potato, paint and paper!

Start by slicing the potato in half and then carving a face on the potato halves.

Then invite your child over to paint the pumpkin face with your orange paint.

Then stamp away!  

You really had to have just a little bit of paint and push pretty hard to get a good pumpkin face, but it was fun anyway.  Painting with food is always fun, right???

Happy crafting!

Toddler Craft: Apple Tree

Big sister can't have all the fun, can she???

Drew was pretty excited when he saw the Apple Tree Craft Anna and I did, so I decided he should make his own little apple tree while she was off at preschool one morning.  

This craft is simple and fun, but can be kind of messy if your little one is like mine.  Drew definitely doesn't mind getting messy.

Supplies needed:

Paper plate

Sponge

Cork

Brown construction paper

Red and green paint

Start by taping down a paper plate.  Then hand your child a sponge with some green paint and invite them over to paint the plate.

Watch out....it gets messy fast with little fingers!!

(You can let the paint dry if you'd like, but we just skipped that step!!)

Then put a cork in some red paint and show your toddler how to stamp the plate with the cork to make an "apple".

Cut out a trunk from your brown construction paper and tape it to the bottom of your "apple tree".

Hang and admire!!

Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

I thought I would share some more outdoor fun with chalk.

This is a scavenger hunt I set up for my daughter the other day.

I used the numbers 1-5 and had her first identify the number and then I helped her read what each word(s) said.  Then she went running through the yard trying to find all of the objects.

It was super fun and an easy and free way to enjoy the outdoors!!  I think we'll definitely do this again this Fall!!

Making a Chalk Drawn City

We spend lots of time outside and lots of time drawing with chalk.  I'm not really sure why I've never ventured any further than hearts and butterflies with my chalk drawings....but I love this chalk city!!

First I drew some roads for the kids to ride their tricycles on.

Then gave the roads a "go"...

and "stop" sign.

And sent them on their way...

Anna requested a house with a garage, and we also drew a pool, our Mimi's house and some other random buildings for our city.

Even my little guy loved riding around!!

Here's to some chalk fun!!

Fine Motor Activity: Color Matching with Star Stickers

This is another color matching activity similar to the watercolor one from the other day. 

My daughter always loves finding something "new" to do and I love making these simple little activities for her.

This one is great for color matching and fine motor skills.  

All you need to do is draw some small dots on a piece of white paper in a variety of colors.

Then add a sheet of star stickers and let your little one match up the colors.

Easy peasy!!

Calendar of Activities: September

Here is what our calendar looks like for September.  As mentioned in the post about Our Fall Schedule, I am trying to be super prepared and organized when it comes to activities, crafts, baking, etc.

We always run smoother with some type of schedule.  

I don't have a "time" picked out to do these activities...we will just play each day by ear.  Some days we may not do the activity and some days we may do more than one.

Some of the things I will do with my daughter, Anna, while my son takes his afternoon nap (games, baking, etc...).

Anna is in preschool three days a week so I wanted to make sure we have lots of fun things planned for her when she gets home and while Drew naps.

I have included links to each of the activities (if I had one) so you can play along with us if you'd like.  To make it a little easier to read, I have listed the activities by the day of the week/type of activity (i.e. Monday's: Play dough).

Most all of the activities require very little materials, which I like.....and most are easy and fast to throw together!

Mondays: Play dough

Play dough Monsters

Glitter Play dough

Ice Cream Play dough

Apple Pie Play dough

Tuesdays: Baking

Sugar Cookies

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Banana Bread

Easy Apple Muffins

Wednesdays: Painting

Mini Watercolor Book

Mess Free Finger Painting

Painting Faces with Googly Eyes

Fall Tree Cork Painting

Thursdays: Craft

Letter Pizza

Cheerio Bracelet

Bird Feeders

Autumn Leaf Craft

Fridays: Games

Popsicle Matching Game

Family Memory Game

Hide-n-Seek

Candy Land


I hope some of you will join along with us this Fall for our activities!  Drop me a note and let me know if you are playing along!  Everything is always more fun in a group, right??

xoxo

Our Fall Schedule

I don't know about you, but our days always run much smoother when we have a schedule or something planned.  "Just go with it..." days don't really seem to work for us.  

So...in order to be ready for our preschool year and this Fall, I am putting a lot of up front work in and am planning out our days.  

I'm going to try to "stick" to some sort of schedule of activities so I can be more prepared.  I love spontaneity but that doesn't seem to always fly with my kiddos.  We aren't stuck to this schedule, but if nothing else comes up, I will have a go to if needed.

Our schedule will be as above:

Mondays: play dough day.  

I plan on making a new batch of play dough with the kids and having a fun little activity for them to do.

Tuesdays: baking day

On Tuesday, I plan on having a fun little cooking activity planned for the kids.  Sometimes we will just make something easy or sometimes I will have an activity or book to go along with the baking day.

Wednesdays: painting day

Watercolors, finger paints, bubble painting..something like that.

Thursdays: craft day

I'll have a fun little craft planned for us on Thursdays.  Most likely I'll pick one of Allie's fabulous ideas over at No Time for Flashcards.

Fridays: game day

On Fridays I plan on having some type of fun game planned.  I'll probably use some of the store bought games we have on hand and then supplement with other "homemade" games I find/know (like "I spy" or "Hide and Seek").

I'm getting my calendar all ready and plan on sharing it here on my blog later this week so you can follow along with us if you'd like!!  If you don't already, follow Playing House on Facebook!  I post all my blog entries there so you'll hear about it right away!!

xoxo

Wrapping Paper Play Mat

You guys know I love simple and easy, right??

Well, this little activity is just that!  I guarantee you have everything you need in your closet!

All you need is some wrapping paper, crayons and an imagination.

I usually only purchase white wrapping paper since it's so versatile and easy to personalize, so I had a roll on hand to tape down for our play mat.

But remember.....the "b-side" of most wrapping paper is white, so just turn your paper over and you'll be ready to go.

I use blue painters tape to tape down my edges...I find it comes up the easiest and doesn't leave any sticky residue behind.

Then we get creative with our markers and crayons....

Here is our construction zone.

And since we are all about the Olympics, we grabbed our Olympians and made our own Olympic park.

I typically let my two kids decide what they want on the play mat and then try to draw it for them.  They like to color in the houses, buildings, etc....  And lately, Anna has enjoyed drawing her own little additions (sun, lake, pool, tree...).

As you can tell, I'm definitely no artist.....but my two kids don't really care!  They just love drawing and coloring!

So go grab your wrapping paper and get creating!  We usually leave our play mat up for a few days and add more and more!  

Enjoy!

Fun with a Pool Noodle

Packing with two kids around has been just plain crazy.  And once all our "fun" stuff was packed I was left standing in my kitchen wondering how I was going to entertain my two for the rest of the week.  

So I went through our "goodwill" pile and found some things that worked out just fine!!

A pool noodle, spoons and paint!  Who would have thought a pool noodle could have provided a few hours of entertainment.

I took out a knife and cut the pool noodle into small pieces.  Then I handed them over to my son.  He enjoyed stacking them, knocking them over and then eventually throwing them....such a boy!

Once he seemed a little bored, I took out some spoons and showed him how to stick the ends of the spoons in the holes of the noodle.

He loved this and spent quite a while putting them through each hole.

For my daughter, Anna, I took out our paints and some bowls and let her do "noodle prints". 

They both enjoyed these little activities and we managed to get one more day of packing under our belts!!