Easter Fun

I had so much fun putting together our Easter Trays when my parents were here, and I couldn't wait to show them to Naomi. Her reaction was all I had hoped for!! She gasped, jumped up and down, and couldn't decide what to do first. She loves our "school" time, and it's creating some really special memories for both of us. The fact that there's a whole lot of learning going on, doesn't hurt anything either! In an effort to keep my post to a reasonable length this week, I am only sharing our Easter related things. We did our usual language, math, and Bible activities, and started something new that I will share another week! I've had lots of people ask me recently where I get my ideas. The two main places I go are 1+1+1=1 and Homeschool Creations (which hosts Preschool Corner). They both host a blog carnival each week that others link up to, and share what they've been doing with their kids. I love surfing through the various blogs and this is where I get my inspiration. The links above will take you to their main blogs, and I will link to both spots again at the bottom, which will take you to their specific posts and blog carnival for this week. On to the trays!

Here is a look at some of the Easter books we've been reading this week.

Easter puzzle from COAH. I put magnets on the back and then put it on this cookie tray to make it easier for Naomi. Plus, I may as well use the cookie sheet for school since it's not like I'm going to be using it for making cookies! You can buy cookies in the store you know. ;)

Egg matching. The eggs I cut out fit perfectly into this cute, oval, container I got at the Dollar Tree awhile back. I love making things cute! This was from COAH too.

Egg transferring tray inspired by this.

Numbered eggs! I got the basis of my idea from Playing House, and have expanded on it. I'm really excited about this tray as there are MULTIPLE ways we are going to use it.

Easter card making tray. I got the stickers and foam pieces from the Dollar Tree too. I've got to say, the dollar stores have become my best friend for tacky, seasonal stuff!

Egg numbers from COAH. We are going to use these in a variety of ways.

Sound eggs! It seems every blog I went to was doing these, so I can't cite any particular one. There are 5 pairs of eggs. I filled them with rice, beans, coins, mini marshmallows, a small rock, pasta, and then super glued them together.

Egg puzzle from the Dollar Tree.

Naomi really loved this tray and chose to do it first. She was especially excited by the fact that the she got to use these ice cream dishes. "These are breakable Mommy, but I'll be careful!" she proudly exclaimed.

Working on the egg puzzle. She liked it but it was tricky so I had to help her in the end.

A short video of Naomi using our numbered eggs in the tray. She counts really well but it threw her a bit when she got to the new row, which was egg #7.

Proud that she got all the numbered eggs in order!

Putting the egg numbers in order. I introduced 11 and 12 this week! She can count past that, but we haven't done number recognition past 10 up to this point.

Here she clipped the correct number of clothespins to each egg number.

Nathan joined in on the fun with this tray! He thought it was hilarious to rip the clothespins off the cards once Naomi was done with them. I showed him how to put the clothespins back in the container too. He did really well with it!

Nathan enjoyed exploring our sound eggs too!

Using her spin art.

Once the paint dried we cut the paper into egg shapes to make fancy Easter Eggs! And a star - why? Because she is three and wanted a star! :-) I got the idea for these here.

Sorting jellybeans by color. This girl loves sorting things!

We put our number eggs in order again, but this time counted out the correct number of items for each egg. I had some cute little erasers that were perfect for this.

Finishing the magnet puzzle.

Naomi really likes things that are magnetic! She liked using our magnetic pom-poms to make this picture. We also painted it with our Do-a-dot paints the next day.

For science we made some observations about jellybeans using our 5 senses. I got this sheet to record our observations from 2 Teaching Mommies.

The next day we graphed the sorted jellybeans. This graph was from 2 Teaching Mommies as well. This was our first time doing a graph and it went really well.

Naomi doing our egg matching tray from COAH (link above). This one was tricky!!

This was a fun, Easter themed, cutting sheet, from Musings of Me. The Easter Unit from this site has tons of great activities in it! 

Nathan and I have been playing lots with his stacking rings. He needs help with the order, but can put them on all by himself now!

I still want to do a post to show off our new basement, but here is a sneak peek at Nathan's reading corner! He has really been into books lately and I'm so thrilled!! He drags books over for me to read to him many times throughout the day. Big thanks to my friend Michelle for this adorable little chair that reads and sings. Nathan LOVES it!!

My goal this week was to use things I printed or made in more than one way. We use each tray multiple times throughout the week, but I wanted to think of different ways to use each item to keep it fresh and exciting. The more we use something that I've put time into, the better! We will be using the same trays next week, and I've got lots of fun adaptations planned for them, in addition to some other Easter/spring themed activities. Check out what others are doing at 1+1+1=1 and Preschool Corner!

Karla