Statue painting

K's aunt bought him a Lightening McQueen and Mater statue for him to paint.  I must admit, at first, I didn't know if I wanted to deal with the mess of painting, but I knew it would be something great for him to do being that it was art related, an area I am not as strong in.  This ended up being a great project.  It was something K and I got to work on together, and it provided us with some one on one time together, which is hard to get with two other little ones running around.  Additionally, K absolutely loved doing this!  He asked everyday if we could work on it.  Here are some photos of the fun we had. 

What the statues look like before painting

Early work - painting Mater

Almost done - painting Lightning

Finished product - Yay!

Note: These statues can be purchased at Walgreen's.  They are a part of the toys that are buy 2, get 1 free at 6.98 each, and some weeks over the holidays, you can get them buy 1 get 1 free at 6.98 each, making it a pretty nice deal.  Walgreen's also has toy story and princess statues for painting.  The instructions, paint, and paint brushes are included. 

Happy Birthday K!

I am a little late with this post =).  Our big boy turned 5 at the end of October, and he had a blast on his birthday.  Mommy and K had a date, took a trip to Toys R Us and had a little fun at the park before returning home to his "cake" and birthday gift from the family.  We love our champion!

Enjoying the park

K's "cake."  He does not like cupcakes, cookies, etc. So we made something out of things he does like -- chips, lollipops and soda (interesting bottle, I know; it's an all natural soda, free of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup)

Poppy and K playing with his new soccer goal and ball

Adding with beads

I created a new addition activity for K using beads and index cards cut into pieces.  The index cards have number sentences, and then there are answer cards for him to place in the blank.  The beads are color coordinated with the numbers and he counts the beads in order to see how many there are all together.  At first, I had him use an adding straw (pipe cleaner) to put the beads on (an incorporation of fine motor skills).  Now, he only uses it some of the time, but that is ok.  After he determines the correct answer and places it on the card, I have him read me the number sentence.

 

 

K is not yet to the point of determining totals in his head outside of adding one or two objects, so he counts them.  Right now, I only have sums for 5 and under, but soon plan to move up to 10.  I also would like to come up with a little song so that he can memorize these math facts.  K enjoys this activity.  If you have any additional ideas, please send them our way.