Homemade Koolaid Playdough

This is my all-time favorite recipe for playdough. I even like it better than store bought Playdough. The texture is awesome - it isn't crumbly like Playdough and is very easy for little hands to manipulate. It also smells so yummy!!! The Kool-aid packets give beautiful, vibrant colors. When the colors get mixed up, it doesn't turn a "dismal gray". For playdough pictured, I used pink lemonade & grape Koolaid. The recipe is as follows:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 pkgs. unsweetened Kool-aid
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tbl. oil

1. Mix flour, salt, Kool-aid, and oil until blended.
2. Add boiling water, mix with spoon until cool enough to knead.
3. Continue kneading until color is blended.
4. Store in air tight bag or container in the refrigerator (I have always stored in fridge).

I found a box of "101 Wilton Cookie Cutters" at Goodwill which the boys have loved using!!!

My Blue Boat Lapbook

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We recently spent two weeks on "My Blue Boat" by Chris Demarest which is a book in the Before Five in a Row curriculm. The book is currently out-of-print but many library systems have it available for checkout. It was a fun unit which my boys really enjoyed. We used many components for our lapbook from here: www.homeschoolshare.com/b4_resources_my_blue_boat.php. I tied in several Bible stories that have boats in them like Jesus calming the Storm & Noah's Ark. We also used our new Do-a-Dots to dot the "W is for Whale" page from here: www.makinglearningfun.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.makinglearningfun.com/Activities/ocean/OceanWhaleMagnet.gif . We made boats from here:http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11996 and floated them in the bathtub. As a surpise, I purchased the boys their own wooden boats from Magic Cabin - http://magiccabin.com/magiccabin/product.do?section_id=0&bc=1004&pgc=549&cmvalue=MCD0Normal%20Search%20ResultP1. The boys were so excited about the boats especially when they found out that we would be visiting Aunt Tammy at her beach house the next week. This was a wonderful way to culminate "My Blue Boat"!!!

Lion's Paw by Robb White

I am so THRILLED to announce that "The Lion's Paw" by Robb White has finally been reprinted!!! I just got my very own copy after many months of vainly seeking an affordable copy of the then out-of-print book. I am currently working on a unit/lapbook for the book which should be posted on homeschoolshare.com. I will let you know when it is completed. This is a must read-aloud for any Florida family (although non-FLoridian children will also love it). :)

October's Giveaway

Shells from Pensacola Beach!!! I am collecting shells as we speak :) for this month's giveaway. The shells will match the memory game I made for my "Hello Ocean" unit posted on homeschoolshare.com. You can view it here www.homeschoolshare.com/hello_ocean_lapbook.php - I will try to have at least one example of each except for a few of the more rare shells. Mostly there will be several of each type of shell. Leave a comment if you want to be included in the drawing. I will post the winner on October 31st.

Jesse Bear What Will You Wear

We spent last week reading "Jesse Bear What Will You Wear" and making a lapbook to go-along with it. Most of the components of the lapbook came from here -http://www.homeschoolshare.com/b4_resources_jesse_bear.php . The boys loved the felt bears that I made for them. I traced this bear pattern http://www.first-school.ws/t/craft/bear_xmas1bw.htm on a cereal box and then glued the felt on to make the body. Then I got out a bunch of fabric scraps and they chose clothes for their bears. We attached the clothes to the bears using velcro so that they could change out the outfits. I also added a component to my lapbook of rhyming words from the book because Eli & Max are really into "What Rhymes". I chose several pairs of rhyming words from the book and put them on cards with a matching picture. Then we said the words and decided what went together. This was a big hit!!! You can see pictures of the lapbook & dress-up bears below.