Mrs. H

Clothespin Painting

Last week you may have read about our calendar art. (If not, be sure to go back and read that post!) So today I’ve got the first of many Friday “Fun with Art” posts for you that will give you some fun ideas for making your own calendar art.

For this activity, you’ll need a few clothespins, some paint, some thick textured card stock paper (I like to use it for painting b/c it’ll stand up to the liquid better than regular paper), and some random textured materials.

I found a large pom pom, a paper rose, some tulle, some burlap cording, some ribbon, and some felt. Just scrunch those items into your clothespins, and you’re good to go! We used pink, white, and purple paint on dark red paper – perfect for using with our February collage for the calendar. Becca enjoyed seeing the differences in what happened when she would dab the paintbrush vs dragging it across the paper. We each ended up doing two whole sheets. I like to do art alongside her so that she’ll get different ideas about how to use the materials, but also so that she’ll see me enjoying art, which encourages her to want to do more.

Here’s our finished products!

Next week, I’ll be sharing the other type of art that we’re using for our February collage. Remember – I won’t be sharing the finished collages until after Christmas – and would love for you to share yours with me throughout the year for me to post as well – when we share ours at the end of the year. You can email me anytime at butterbeesandbumbleflies@gmail.com.

Don’t forget to click “like” on my Facebook page (link to the right) – when I hit 80 fans, I’ll be doing a giveaway!

Math Clips Addition Matching Game

Our STEAM Subject today is MATH!

There are SO MANY times that I get frustrated. It’s really hard to be the mother of a gifted child who is VERY asynchronous in her development. I see all these adorable activities on Pinterest that are age appropriate for her, but they are color matching. Or they are shape sorting. And while those activities might be fun and totally appropriate for 98% of her peers, they aren’t appropriate for Becca. She doesn’t like to do things that are too easy. The girl wants to be challenged. A lot. And that’s fabulous. But, it does create quite a frustration on my part. She is super into math. She wants to add and subtract food from her plate (which we do frequently). She wants to add and subtract shoes from the shelf (which we also do frequently). But addition and subtraction activities without manipulatives usually equal a worksheet, which she HATES doing. And I don’t blame her. Worksheets remind her that she can’t write yet. And then she gets frustrated.

So, I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with some ideas for games that are similar to those color matching / shape sorting type activities, that cover the skills she’s ready for. Enter my

$math clips$

I had a bunch of little ocean stickers, so mine are ocean themed. You could do conversation hearts for Valentines day, or stars, or dinosaurs – whatever you have of the little tiny incentive chart stickers. Note: your child may not need the stickers to count. Becca doesn’t use them some of the time. But they make it more age appropriate and fun! Plus, it’s always good to have that visual reminder of what 8 starfish look like, what 7 turtles look like, etc. I also put a sticker on the end of the clothespin so that the answers for each card can easily be matched to the correct card if they are all stuck in a large Ziploc bag together. I did +2 and +3 with answers 5 and above. But if you have more stickers and use a larger sheet (I just cut one piece of card stock in half lengthwise), you could easily do larger numbers. Or, you could do much smaller numbers if your child isn’t quite ready for the big answers, and/or is still needing to sit and count each sticker to get to the total. I love how easily this activity can be modified to fit the needs of the child. And honestly, wouldn’t this be a fabulously fun activity for 1st graders learning addition as well?

Note: clothespins can be very challenging for a child who struggles in the fine motor department. Becca has had lots of practice and still has trouble – especially since these are on the right side of the paper and she is left-handed. If your child is struggling with the clips, it helps if you hold the card for them so that all they have to worry about is putting the clip on. They may also need you to hold their hand to help them squeeze if their pincer grip isn’t very strong.

Wacky Wednesday

containers= “puntainers” (those are of course containers made for holding puns 😉 )
“Mommy, I can get my game if you’ll turn the light on.”
“I don’t want to wear my lab coat today. I just want to wear this. I’m not Scientist Becca Boo today. I’m just Becca Boo.” Well, ok then! She TOLD me! HA! This from the same girl who asked if she could be a science girl forever…
“I want strawberry AND blueberry. Two options!”
“Mommy you wanna splore? Get your naculars! Let’s splore!” Back to being scientist Becca Boo…
“I need branches for me to swing on. I’m a monkey.”
“I hear something happening in my house!” She is hypersensitive to noises and changes in the house. Especially if everything is quiet. When the air system kicks on, when the dishwasher changes cycles, when the ice maker comes on, she notices all those little noises and has to investigate their origin.
“I put on my helmet and I’m an astronaut! I’m goin to outer space!”

Recognize this bucket from Monday’s post?
Yup, anything can become space related when you’re in the mind of Becca.
She and her Daddy had a blast putting on this helmet and breathing loudly as tho in space…
Good times.

Wise Men Say… Only Fools Rush In…

But I can’t help… falling in love… with… you.

January 20. It’s here again. January 20, 2007, was just like any other day. I can’t tell you anything that happened that day. It wasn’t special. It was totally ordinary. But it was the last January 20th I’d ever spend alone, and that makes it stand out. On that day, I had no idea that in one year my life would change drastically and entirely. Because on January 1, 2008, I discovered Cody Hinnant on match.com. And January 5th we met in person…

And on January 20, 2008, I became the future Mrs. Cody Hinnant.

He asked, and I said yes. It was a fools rush, to be sure. But it was meant to be. June 11, 2008, we were married. And here we are, seven years later, with two beautiful children. It hasn’t all been a bed of roses. In those seven years, we also have two children in Heaven. We lost his grandma. We endured nine long months of building a home and living with a friend. Before that, we endured several VERY long months of back and forth between Edmond and San Antonio living in a Residence Inn hotel with our two Border Collies and the grueling nine hour drive back and forth and back and forth every couple weeks. These seven years have included H1N1, a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis, four pregnancies, two deliveries, and one gallbladder removal – all from me. (Cody definitely got the raw end of the “in sickness” part of the vows. HA!)

But in those seven years despite all we have overcome and worked through, we are happy. He is my rock and I’m his shoulder to lean on. He has patience with Becca when I have none. I have patience with Grayson when he has none. We are a team. We are best friends. And we are blessed. Beyond measure. Because of Cody, I truly believe in love at first sight. We may have been fools to rush in, but when it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And I’m so thankful that my engineer who plans everything perfectly and researches and waits til the right time to make decisions didn’t take more than 15 days from the time he laid eyes on me to pop that question. Down on one knee in front of the fireplace in what was to become our home there in Edmond, Oklahoma, he asked me if I’d marry him. He presented me with a ring made from Legos, and my answer then is the same as it is today and always will be.

Yes.

Yes, my dear, sweet, wonderful man. Yes. I will spend the rest of my life with you.

Yes. I will dream with you and plan with you and cry with you.

Yes. I will love you with every fibre of my being.

Yes. Always. Until the moment I pass from this Earth, and even beyond into Heaven for eternity.

Yes.

I love you, Baby.

Ocean Habitat

This month I’ve been talking on Tuesdays about our animal habitat boxes. Hard to believe we’ve just got one more week in this series! I hope you are enjoying the ideas I’ve been sharing. If you’ve missed any of them, here are the links:

Arctic/Antarctic Habitats – Dinosaur Habitat – Farm Habitat

So today is the Ocean! Becca’s favorite habitat. She is obsessed with learning more and more about the ocean. She loves watching Octonauts on Disney Jr, reading ocean books, and of course, taking care of our tank of saltwater marine life. She would live at Sea World if she could.

The best part about these habitat boxes for me is that they take about three minutes to throw together. And for a Mommy who works from home, that three minute prep for an activity that will occupy her for 20+ minutes, is GOLDEN. So here’s what you’ll need:

colored rice (I used the blue and green rice mix that we already had together from our Colored Rice Sensory tray activity – KEEP everything, Mommy. Just throw it in a bag when your kiddo is “done” and pull it back out a couple months later. Keep everything.)

a storage box

Safari Ltd Toob (here are a couple great options):
Safari Ltd Ocean TOOB

Safari Ltd Coral Reef TOOB

Safari Ltd Baby Sea Life TOOB

Extension – get this Toob and make it be a shark box! Safari Ltd Sharks TOOB

A different idea for your older child learning about the various levels of the ocean – color your rice black and purple and get this Toob: Safari Ltd. Deep Sea Creatures