2013 | The Mommy Teacher

Mommy Teacher Spring Break

I remember when spring break used to be a week at the beach, party cups, and friends for days.
Now, my spring break (as you are going to see) still includes friends, but it revolves around my kids and not my suntan…. But who needs a suntan anyway right? …. Well, since you asked….I do. But, I am 7 months pregnant and it was actually a chilly week so, that wouldn’t have happened anyway.
I have to admit, ever since I went back to working full time … I miss my kids so much that I SAVOR my time with them even more.

With a week of just me and my angels, I took the liberty of jumping on board of EVERY playdate adventure I caught wind of, and here is what my crazy-busy, awesome week looked like:

Monday – Zoo DAY

Packed the wagon, clipboards, zoo checklist, and lunches…

After nap time, we even made it to the neighborhood school playground and nearby park too… we really made the most of our day outside!

Tuesday – Exporing Downtown Baton Rouge

We packed our lunches, umbrella strollers, and blankets and headed to a trolley stop in Downtown Baton Rouge. We started singing “The Wheels on the Trolley…” when my baby started crying it was perfect timing for “The Baby on the trolley goes wah wah wah” haha

We took a little stair-step picture of the kids from tallest to shortest in front of the State Capitol…

After venturing to the top of the State Capitol, we had a picnic out front as we waited for the trolley to swing back around…

Wednesday – Fire Station Tour and Easter Egg Hunt Party

My friend set up a local Fire Station Tour where we maxed out the place with the youngest crew possible…

Sean Patrick was intrigued, and then scared, when the firefighter did his suit-up demonstration…

The Easter Egg Hunt Party we went to was way too fun for a simple, last-minute thing my friend threw together….

I’m still loving the bandana-liner idea from last year.

Thursday – Louisiana Arts and Science Museum

The LASM in downtown Baton Rouge has a great little discovery depot that was so developmentally appropriate for my under 3 year olds. It has so many age-appropriate learning stations for them to explore…

Friday – Bass Pro Shop and Sunrise Assisted Living

We made our way to Bass Pro Shop in Denham Springs, La to take pictures with the Easter bunny…. only to get the memo a little late that we would miss the bunny all-together (live and learn!) We found plenty to do…

After “Driving” the stationary truck out front Sean Patrick “Rode” the statue of a horse too…

Right before he picked out a fishing pole (that he uses every day!)

Then, we went to visit my mom (who has Alzheimers) and decided to take a picture with the Bunny Decor at the Assisted Living Residence since we missed the bunny at bass pro…

Weekend Fun – Crawfish Boils and Easter Celebration at the Camp

Finally, we wrapped up the weekend with two crawfish boils (dont be alarmed…below is a fake, plastic crawfish)…

Took a family pic (minus smiles) …

And went fishin in the lakefront (in the closest thing to a swimsuit) with the pole from bass pro…

And I wouldn’t trade ONE minute of it…. for my old Spring Break tan 😉

I hope that if you are on Spring Break right now with your kids off of school that you are able to join forces with your friends and come up with some play dates… it makes for such memorable moments!

April 2, 2013 by Jessica | 1 Comment

Sun Crosses – Easy Easter Craft

I had planned to do a different Easter craft activity every day this week, but you know what? This week FLEW by and we were never home!

Being Spring Break, I knew my kindergartner would want to be on the GO so I planned the week chock full of stuff… play dates to the park, zoo, arcade and more! So needless to say that by the time we got home, took naps, woke up, it was already dinner time!

Tonight we will be having a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt with all of our friends at our house! It will be so much fun! (If you want to do this, simply get a package of LARGE plastic eggs and glow in the dark bracelets to fill them. Then throw them in your yard. Bam! Glow in the dark Easter egg hunt).

Anyway… onto the ONE Easter craft we were able to d o – and we were able to complete it in about 15 minutes before we left for a play date one day this week! My kids call them Sun Crosses, for lack of a better name.

Materials:
2 sheets of paper per kid, scissors, tissue paper and stick glue

Step 1. Fold the 2 sheets of paper in half long ways together.

Step 2. Draw half of a cross on the fold.

Step 3. Cut out the 1/2 cross.

Step 4. Flatten one cross and cut 3-4 inch strips of tissue paper (or use one large sheet of tissue paper for your entire cross).

Step 5. Put the stick glue around the outside edge of the cross.

Step 6. Place the tissue paper across the opening for the cross. Do not leave any gaps.

Step 7. Take the other sheet of paper with the cross cut out and cover one side with the stick glue. Then glue it directly on top of the other cross on the tissue paper side.

Step 8. Add your own artistic flare around the crosses.

Step 9. Place in a sunlit window and watch the light shine through the cross!

Happy Easter, y’all!!!

March 30, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

Cheap and Easy, Easter Bunny Gift Baggie

I found this idea in my teacher stash of Easter activities. I almost always have paper bags, glue, markers, contruction paper, and scissors in my playroom cubbies. So, for me, this was just a “sweep-the-playroom” kind of activity.

I wanted to put a little Easter picture inside of a little gift bag for Sean Patrick’s grandma and great-grandma.

Way better than a gift bag was this little craft idea I found in my teacher shed (the one on the left is my “example” and the one on the right is the one Sean Patrick made):

I just Cut a dip in the top of a brown bag (the side that opens) to so it left a shape that resembles a bunny. You could cut a rectangle out of the middle of the top of the bag if you don’t want them to be as rounded. (A white paper bag would be super cute too, but I was out).

I used pink, blue, & black construction paper to make the eyes, inner ears, nose, & whiskers.

Sean Patrick wanted to color it first of course (red is his favorite color if you haven’t guessed by now).

I always include my little bed-head one year old too. (they are both shirt-less because I wanted to keep their cute shirts clean).

I then helped him cut/tear and glue little pieces of pink paper to a gluey oval in the inner ear. Then he glued the eyes and nose (“just a dot, not a lot”)…. I glued the whiskers because I couldn’t find my glue stick which would be easier for him.

After we finished glueing, I grabbed a black marker, took his hand and guided him to make the pupil of the bunny’s eyes, the eyelashes, the little dots around the nose, and the mouth.

That was it!

We wrote a note from “Sean Patrick” on the back.

We put some Easter grass, starburst candies in some eggs, and the pictures inside & he will give them out when he sees them for Easter!

You can always add to it and share your ideas on facebook (like a cotton ball on the backside):

March 29, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Impromptu, Getting-Ready-For-Easter Activity

Simple Easter Bunny Art Using Bulletin Border

Being a teacher with a “teacher shed” and tubs full of bulletin borders, di-cuts, and other materials definitely pays off when making crafts. But I think that this is something that you can just as easily re-create without the exact same materials that I used to create this simple but fun Easter activity for the kids.

I grabbed a large piece of cardstock, a strip of grass border (any teacher supply store has this, but you could also cut contruction paper to look like this), a strip of rainbow/sky border, a bunny template (simple), markers, modge podge (any glue will due), and Easter stickers from the Dollar Tree.

We glued the borders and bunny and let the kids decorate from there.
They drew the face for the bunny, drew eggs, drew a sun in the sky, and some dots and lines too. 🙂

We included the one years old too.

If I were doing this with older kids I would talk about “signs of spring” and encourage them to label or write about their picture on a sheet of paper that I would tape to the back.
But I loved this because it was super simple, but festive and fun. Creating a little scene for the Easter Bunny was really exciting for the kids.

Other thoughts… Have a scratch sheet of paper or take your child’s hand to teach them how they might make new shapes or pictures.

Give the little ones ideas like :

1.”I’m wondering if the bunny might want a carrot to eat?”

2. “Does the bunny need a basket of eggs to deliver for Easter?”

3. “What kind of flowers do you think we could draw for the bunny to pick on the way?”

4. “I’m thinking that the bunny might have circle-shaped eyes, a triangle-shaped nose, and whiskers that look like lines. I might draw the same amount of whiskers on each side so that it matches.”

March 24, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Buggy Xylophone

There are certain tasks that are fairly simple but when you throw kids into the mix, it can be downright miserable… especially when that task is to simply wait.

Take getting an oil change, for example. Today we were quite lucky to only have to wait about 45 minutes, but there have been times where it has gone longer than the estimated time.

After about 2 minutes of everyone, including my toddler, cooing at my smiley 10 month old, we were already searching for a new game. Here is when I invented Buggy Xylophone (patent pending).

I pulled several items out of the diaper bag and we brushed each of them against the metal rungs of the basket.

Auditory Learning / Music skills

Mommy Teacher: “Does the pen make a HIGH pitched sounds or a LOW pitched sound?” (Make your voice go HIGH and LOW when saying those words.)

Mommy Teacher: “Does the wallet make a LOUD or a QUIET noise on the basket?” (Make your voice go LOUD and QUIET when saying those words.)

Mommy Teacher: “Let’s change the tempo. Can you move the pen fast across the rungs of the basket? That is a fast tempo. Now move the pen slow. That is a slow tempo.”

Listening Skills / Following Directions / Counting / Rhythm

Mommy Teacher: “I can tap 3 times tap tap tap. Now you tap 3 times.”

Mommy Teacher: “Repeat after me tap pause tap tap.”

Compare/Contrast

Mommy Teacher: “Which object is loudest?” “Which has the highest pitch?”

Grouping Like Objects (Science and Math)

Mommy Teacher: “The spoon and the pen are both hard and are both LOUD. The wallet and the purse are both soft and are both QUIET.”

Predicting (Science Skill)

Mommy Teacher: “Do you think the spoon is going to be LOUD or QUIET?”

Opposites

Mommy Teacher: “The pen is LOUD. The wallet is the opposite of LOUD which is what?”

Vocabulary

Loud, quiet, high pitch, low pitch, opposite, tempo, fast, slow

And that, my friends, is how you annoy the other patrons at Walmart… OR that is a great way to entertain your kids while waiting for your car to be ready. I prefer the latter.

March 19, 2013 by Casey | 0 comments

The Mommy Teacher

Year: 2013

Mommy Teacher Spring Break

Sun Crosses – Easy Easter Craft

Cheap and Easy, Easter Bunny Gift Baggie

Impromptu, Getting-Ready-For-Easter Activity

Buggy Xylophone

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