Enchanted Mommy

Preschool: Introducing the Letter X

Letter X is the hardest!  There are just not that many words that start with X to help your child figure this one out!  I was kind of bummed that letter X fell on my week to teach preschool, but now I am glad!  We did a lot of fun activities to emphasize the letter X with the kids and it was really fun to watch the kids enthusiasm!

Circle time was a little different.  I reviewed past letters as usual and then introduced the letter X.  I told them that there were not very many words that start with this letter, but there a lot of words that end with the letter X.  I wrote down different words that end in the letter X one at a time (Box, Fox, Ox, Mix, Six, etc…)  and had the kids sound them out with me while really emphasizing the X sound at the end.

I did find an old x-ray of my shoulder from a snow boarding injury and taught them what an x-ray is and how/why they are used.  They were surprisingly interested.  Ha!

We also played Tick-Tack-Toe during circle time.  We played teacher vs. kids.  The kids loved it!  I held up a number flash card and had one of the kids tell me what number it was.  When they answered the question correctly they got to come up and draw their on the chalk board as their team’s move.  We played a few games having them trade off being X’s and O’s so that they would have the chance to practice writing both.

The kids loved bragging about how they beat me!

For our Art activity we painted X‘s that had been cut from cardboard.  I planned on using the finished X’s in a treasure hunt later on (you know… X marks the spot), but we never got to it with all the other things we did.

Great activity for the younger kids too!

These would have been fun to use in a treasure hunt!

We also made painter’s tape X‘s.  All you have to do for this is put an X on each paper with painter’s tape.  Then let the kids paint all over the paper however they want.  After the paint is dry, pull the painters tape up revealing a nice clean X.  This was pretty cool, but if I were to do it again I would reinforce the back of the paper using packaging tape so that the paper would be sturdier as there were a few little rips when pulling the tape off.

Another great activity we did was making a giant X in the driveway with sidewalk chalk.  The kids got to help color the X and then walk along it.

Coloring the X with sidewalk chalk!

 

Walking, dancing, and skipping down the X!

Here are few more letter X ideas you might also like:
Glue toothpicks on a paper in the shape of X’s
Make a treasure map/Scavenger hunt (X marks the spot!)
Have the kids form the letter X using their bodies
Bean bag Toss:  put X’s and O’s on the floor and let the kids try to hit the X’s
Make and decorate sugar cookies in the shape of X’s

 

Letter B | Letter C | Letter H |  Letter I  |  Letter K |  Letter L  |  Letter Q  |  Letter R  |  Letter W

New Daisy Hair Bow Tutorial

As you know from my previous daisy and korker bow tutorial, I love making my girls bows!  People ask so often where I got them and they are completely surprised that I make them.  Here is a new one I tried and I loved it!

pinwheel bow with button

Isn’t the bow so adorable?!?!

The steps cannot be easier!  All you need is an alligator clip, 5/8″ ribbon of choice, button of choice, hot glue gun, and 3/8″ ribbon to cover clip!

Step 1: Cover your alligator clip.

start making a bow

hot glue ribbon all around it

Step 2: Cut your 5/8″ ribbon into 6 equal parts and glue them.

daisy bow

cut strips equally and make sure you cut them double the width you want the bow (they are basically folded in half)

Step 3:  Glue strips around into the shape of a flower and glue button in the middle.  Then, glue bow onto covered alligator clip.

Cute daisy bow in my daughter’s hair

Okay, I couldn’t leave my other sweet babe out!  Here is the most simple clip ever!  All you do is step 1 and glue buttons on it!

button bow

Here’s another clip that is so easy.  Just repeat step one and glue buttons on it!

Perfect clip for her outfit.  It cost around 10 cents!

A Fun Way To Organize All Of Your Girlie Hair Clips!

hair clip organizer

Isn't this so cute for hair clips?!?!

I didn’t think of this myself.  A couple of years ago, we went to a homearama in Norfolk near my in-laws house and I saw this in a little girl’s bathroom.  If you’ve never been/heard of a homearama, you need to check out ASAP if there is one in your area anytime soon.  Basically, it’s a set up of 20 or so model homes that are for sale, but they are decorated amazing and can give you tons of fun ideas!!

I went to the Navy Exchange and found this memo board (~$15) and wahlaa.  These aren’t bows that I made in case you’re wondering, I got most of these from Target, Wal-Mart or Clarie’s.  It is a great way to organize all of the hair clips and everyone that sees it loves the idea.  It’s perfect in their bathroom.

For a couple of bow tutorials, check out my daisy hair bow and my korker bow!

Easy No Sew Tutu Tutorial! A tutu for $3 and an hour of your time!

Have I mentioned that I have three boys and NEVER EVER get to do anything girlie? My life is fun and full of sports, bruises, grass stains, dragons, knights, and complete adventure! I love it and am not complaining, but sometimes I dream of a day I can crawl into bed without laying on a match box car or  put on my shoes just to find them stuffed with legos and plastic dinosaurs!

Okay, I guess I should just admit that I sometimes watch in wonder as my nieces or friends little girls play sweetly with their dollies while they rock them in their rocking chairs pretending to feed and care for them. I then look over at my boys who are usually smashing their toys together, rough housing, or jumping off the couch to wreck their large block towers…. and well sometimes I just want a moment of frilliness!

I decided that if I ever did have a baby girl she would have to wear a tutu every day of her life!!! With this in mind, I decided I would learn to make tutus!!! So my dear friend (and co-author of this blog) has two little girls and she is really good about humoring me and letting me play dress up with her girlies from time to time so I started with making one for her sweet Anna Belle’s first birthday!

This ended up being so easy… really not sure why anyone would spend money buying one when they are so simple! Let’s start with the supplies!

Supplies:
3 yards of tulle
Ribbon
1 elastic headband

You need 3 yards of tulle. Any color, multiple colors doesn’t matter as long as you have 3 yards total. I found mine for $1.49 a yard at Jo-Ann Fabric and used a 50% off coupon you can get in every weekend paper or online.  Add some 50 cent ribbon from the sale rack and you have spent a whopping $2.75. Not bad huh! For the elastic I just used an elastic headband I already had in my collection. You could use regular elastic if you need too, but the head band is really the perfect size already!

Step 1:  Cutting your tulle
The easiest way to do this is the roll your fabric up 1 yard at a time, cut the end so it is even and then cut strips every three inches. Then you take each individual strip you cut and cut that exactly in half.  Yep… that’s it!  Very easy!

You don't have to use a rotary cutter for this. Scissors would work just the same... It's that simple really.

Step 2:  Tie your tulle around your elastic
This is the most time consuming part of the tutu, but it is pretty mindless really.  I just sat myself down in front of the tv and tied it all up before the half hour TV show was finished.  So, all you do is take a strip of tulle, fold it in half, then pull the ends up around the fabric and through the loop you created by folding it in half.  Think of attaching a ski lift pass to your coat when they use to use the bands instead of the metal hooks.  Super easy!  Here is a good video that demonstrates how to loop tie if you aren’t quite getting it from my description.

About half way done here and it is looking nice and frilly already!

That’s it really.  You are done.  If want to tie a ribbon with bow around it go for it, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.  Some people like to put the tutu under something heavy to flatten it out a bit, but personally I love it all frilly and fluffy looking!  There are a ton of variations you can do here too.  You can use all one color of tulle and lots of different colors.  You can also tie strands of ribbon through out the tulle too.  

Very easy and very inexpensive!  Just look at this little princess… sigh!  Isn’t she perfect?!  Maybe one day I will have one of my own I can gush over… doubtfully, but hey one can dream!

Learning Words With Plastic Easter Eggs!

Easter Egg Words

I started with using words that ended in -at, -an and -ar.

Keep those Easter eggs!!!!!  This is an awesome way for your little ones to learn their words!

All you need is:

  • plastic Easter eggs
  • label maker (that is the one I have and a favorite mama item)
It’s so easy and can really help with learning!  I found this on good ‘ol pinterest here.  Twist the egg around and there you have it, several different words!  Happy egg making!
Learning words with eggs

There are endless possibilities with this!

Another Cute Bunny Craft!

Do you remember my previous bunny craft?  Here is another cute bunny idea!  Thank you pinterest!  The actual blog is here.  Check it out!

bunny craft

Cute bunny!

My daughter begs for crafts, so I have to get creative (or look on pinterest).  I found this craft and had everything we needed.  Here is what I used (a little different than what was in the link):

  • paper plate (I cut the outside ring off.  The other site calls for large white card stock).
  • three pipe cleaners (two black one pink)
  • cotton balls
  • 2 larger googly eyes
  • white construction paper
  • pink construction paper
  • glue
  • 3 pink pom poms
This is another pretty self explanatory craft.  It’s also a lot of fun for a two year old.  Here she is:
easter craft making

She loves crafts!

She’s so proud!

bunny craft

Happy of her work!

R is for Rainbow! Fun Letter R Activities for Preschool!

We did a lot of fun stuff this week for preschool.  The thing I like about this preschool swap arrangement is that I only teach every four weeks.  It works out great because you don’t get burnt out and you have plenty of time to come up with creative things to do when it is your turn.

So its letter R for me!  Here are some of our letter R activities for Preschool.

Letter R Activities for Preschool

R is for Rainbow!  There are so many fun rainbow crafts to do!  I really had to pick a couple of them so I would have time to do everything else.  The rainbow cupcakes were the kids favorite of course!  They were pretty simple too!

All you need to do is use white or yellow cake mix and prepare it as the directions say.  Divide the cake batter equally between 4 or 5 bowls and add food coloring to each bowl.  Put a small scoop of each color in the cupcake papers and bake as directed!

This is a great cross curricular activity since it includes language arts for the letter R, life skills in baking, and science for food coloring.  The kids really enjoyed helping mix the colors together and scooping them into the cupcake tin.

The easiest why to get your frosting in your pastry bag!

Yummy!

We also made some rainbows out of fruit loops!  How cute are these!  Click here to download your own rainbow/fruit loop template.  I wouldn’t leave your final project out on the counter unsupervised if you have a dog… I made that mistake!!!

letter R activities for Preschool

We also read “The Little Red Hen” and “Little Red Riding Hood” during circle time.  I had the kids raise their hands every time they heard me say the word RED.  Then we made collages out of everything RED we could find!

Cute Little Bunny Craft!

Bunny craft

Look at that cute bunny!!

I am very partial to Easter!  I love all the hunts and the reason for the season, BUT I especially love it because my husband asked me to marry him on Easter (yes, my ring was in an egg).  So, here is my girl’s first Easter craft.

All you need is:

  • white cup
  • pink grass
  • googly eyes
  • pink pom pom
  • white pipe cleaner
  • pink and white construction paper for ears
  • school glue
  • glue gun
It’s pretty self explanatory.  I had to use a glue gun for the pipe cleaner (I used one and cut it in half and then cut it in half again).  We did the ears first and my 2 year old immediately saw that it was a bunny.
Here she is making it:

Gluing the ears!

She loves it!

She’s so proud of her work!

Bunny craft

Enjoying her new craft!

My Valentine Surprise

I have the best six year old ever!  He woke me up today at 630am… yes you read that right.  6:30am!!!!  He snuck into my room when it was still dark out.  I heard him whispering over to me, “Mom, I made you a Valentine.  It has a note on it, but you can’t see it in the dark.”  He slipped a cut out heart he had made from construction paper into my hand.  In my drowsy state I saw him sneak over to his Daddy and do the same thing.  He also put a hand cut out flower he made on top of his four year old brother (who happened to have snuck into our bed unnoticed last night).

Seriously…. how cute is this little note!  I am in shock that he thought to do this all on his own and woke up early while the rest of us slept to make us each a Valentine.  In all honestly I didn’t think he though of much besides skateboarding, climbing trees, and learning stunts on his bike.  He is a true boy through and through so this gesture of his really made my day.

Translation: “Mom you are the best I love you I tinck you are so cool. From Casey”

There are definitely days when I wonder where these little monsters of mine came from, but on days like today I think how really incredibly awesome my kids are.  What a cool kid!

On another note, a friend gave me this tray of marshmallow fudge this morning.  So yummy!  Love sweet friends like this… I need to do more things like this for people because it really has made my day!

Thanks for the yummy treats Sherri!

L is for Ladybug!!!

We had so much fun learning the letter L with our preschool class.  (For those new readers, I have a preschool swap program with a couple friends that have kids the same age as mine.  We trade off who teaches every couple weeks.  It really works out great!)  So it was mine turn to teach the letter L.  We had a blast Leaping like a Lion, making our own lion masks, decorating the letter L with Leaves, making L’s with play dough, and making a cute Lady bug take home project.

L is for Ladybug!

Ladybug supplies needed:
black construction paper
wiggly eyes
1 paper plate
red paint

Very simple… cut a paper plate in half and let the kids paint it.  Once it is dry have the kids glue it on a pre-cut ladybug head and body.  I used a hole puncher for the spots and crinkled construction paper strips for the legs.  **This is a cross-curricular activity since it covers, art, science, and math.  Take time to help the kids count the ladybug spots and talk about ladybugs and insects!

L is for Leaves!!!

The kids really enjoyed this one!  Even though it is winter out we were able to find enough leaves to do this.  It was different for the kids so they thought it was pretty cool.

 

Coloring our lion masks

The fun part about making lion masks is running around pretending to be one!

Lion Mask Materials
Paper plate
crayons
wide popsicle stick