Family Time – Page 7 – Learning With My Boys

Airforce Care Package

The boys and I packed a care package for my brother who is stationed in the Middle East.

They drew pictures on the box for Uncle Tyler!

Thank you for your service, Uncle Tyler!

J is 7 now… growing so fast! He has liked Batman since he was 3. When he was 3 he was asked by a teacher what he was going to be for Halloween (we had never dressed up for Halloween before and never talked about it before this). He responded like he knew what it was all about, “I’m going to be Batman”. I didn’t even know that he knew who Batman was, but we let him dress up anyway and he still likes Batman!

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

Ingredients:

16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco

Directions:

Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.

Birthday Gifts

I found him the Batman beach towel for a gift. He also got Legos and more Batman toys!

My sister-in-law, Cloninger Photography, took J’s 7 year old birthday pictures.

I have tons of other kids party themes:

Independence Day Party

For the 4th of July we grilled and had some fireworks. It’s been really hot this summer with record highs of over 100 degrees so we just had smaller fireworks this year. We grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob then we had watermelon and chips too. The boys love fireworks and have been looking forward to today for a while now.

I filled the kiddy pool with water balloons and had a little water balloon battle.

The boys liked the tanks and the parachutes this year.

The smoke bombs were a favorite for the kids and adults. We stuck a green smoke bomb down one snake hole and some of the smoke came out of another snake whole next to it.

Sparklers and fountains are my favorite!

Happy 4th! 🙂

Here are some more Independence Day Party ideas.

Butterfly Unit Study

In this unit study we learned about the life cycle of butterflies and moths, the anatomy of butterflies and moths, and the differences between butterflies and moths. We also grew a butterfly and record our observations. This unit study has 4 days worth of lessons, and it takes 3 to 4 weeks to grow the butterfly. I did this unit study with my 1st grader and I recommend it for Kindergarten to 3rd grade.

Day 1 Butterfly Life Cycle

Day 2 Caterpillar Anatomy

Day 3 Butterfly Anatomy

Day 4 Butterfly vs Moth

Butterfly Book List

Books can be read by the child or by the parent to the child, depending on the child’s reading level. I don’t think that a child is ever too old to be read to.

Books I used in the lessons…

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

Creep, Crawly Caterpillars by Margery Facklam

Caterpillar to Butterfly by Camilla de la Bedoyere

What’s the Difference Between a Butterfly and a Moth? by Robin Koontz

Other age appropriate books…

Butterfly Story by Anca HaritonButterfly House by Eve Bunting
The Lamb and the Butterfly illustrated by Eric Carle

Painted Lady Butterflies by Martha E. H. Rustad

The Magic School Bus the Butterfly and the Bog Beast by Nancy E. Krulik and Thompson Brothers

Can You Tell a Butterfly from a Moth by Buffy Silverman

Butterfly Video List

Wild Kratts Episode 109 Voyage of the Butterflier XT

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/animals-pets-kids/bugs-kids/butterflies-kids/ (Web Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vXmF5W_Wkc (Web Video)

The Magic School Bus Season 2 Episode 5 – Butterfly and the Bog Beast (DVD)

Live Butterfly Garden

We got a Butterfly Garden from www.insectlore.com. When we got the kit we sent for the caterpillars. They came in about a week.

There were 4 tiny caterpillars in a container with food and air holes in it. We did not have to open the container at all.

J recorded his observations of the caterpillars in a home made butterfly journal. He wrote an update every other day or so; he also drew a picture for each journal entry.

On day 10 two of the caterpillars hung from the top of the container in a “J” form.

By day 12 all four of them were hanging form the top in their chrysalis’. And on day 14 we opened he container and gently moved the piece of paper under the lid that they were hanging from. I pinned it onto the mesh sides of the butterfly house.

Finally on day 20 one emerged from the chrysalis. Then a few days later we set them free outside.

Catch Your Own Caterpillars

We also caught our own caterpillars and put them in our butterfly house to see what would happen.

We caught 3 that looked the same and had formed cocoons by the next morning. We also caught 2 other types of caterpillars that we had to feed leaves for a week. Since they were in the grass when we found them we took a few leaves from the different trees in our yard to see which type they would eat. Then we added new leaves from that tree every day.

The moths came out of the cocoons about 18 days after they made them.

The Butterfly House

We also took a trip to the St. Louis Butterfly House. They had tons of beautiful butterflies and flowers.

The boys really enjoyed seeing all the different types of butterflies.

They also had a chrysalis viewing area. We saw one butterfly hanging on his empty chrysalis pumping his wings.

There was a 15 minute video to watch about the life of a butterfly and a world map outline that showed where different types of butterflies lived.

Outside there was a huge stone caterpillar that they boys could play on.

The whole visit was only about an hour, but it was fun to see all the different kids of butterflies, my favorite was the blue morpho butterfly (I didn’t get a picture of one with open wings though).

Here are some of our other Elementary Unit Studies:

Christopher Columbus Unit Study

Preschool “Love, Joy, Peace” Canvas Painting

I placed letter stickers in the bottom corner of the canvas to spell a word. Then I had the kids choose their colors of paint and make long strokes of paint all the way across the canvas.

After they were happy with their canvas, I gently peeled off the letter stickers.

Their finished canvas’s turned out beautifully…

I have other fun Preschool posts too:

Christmas Sugar Cookies

We made Christmas sugar cookies for a family activity tonight.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

In a bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll the dough on a floured surface.
Use cookie cutters to cut out Christmas shapes.
Grease a pan and place the shapes of dough on the pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

Our family Thanksgiving tradition is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we used graham crackers, we also tried chocolate graham crackers. I made buttercream icing to add the candies.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Here are some of our past Gingerbread Houses.

Halloween Bonfire

We had a Halloween Bonfire again this year. This time we set up a table outside with all the pumpkin carving tools and told people to bring their own pumpkins to carve. The boys actually helped us gut the pumpkins this year… in the past they have said it was too slimy for them. T really like looking at the candles in them. It was fun making jack-o-lanterns together!

We roasted hot dogs and smores too. This was the biggest bonfire that we have ever had, was a fun time!

I bought caramel apples this year instead of making them… they were much better! J just LOVES caramel apples!

Check out our fun Halloween Bonfire from last year!

Surprise Adoption Party

My in-laws finalized the adoption of their 2 girls this past week, so we had a surprise ice cream party for them!!!

I made a family tree poster with our fingerprints. Everyone in our family added their fingerprint as the leaves on the tree. We also had new family photos taken to include the girls. I made a banner that said “Welcome to our Family” too.

Ice cream sundaes! We had several different flavors of ice cream and tons of different topping choices of fruit and candies. We wanted to make this the most special thing to celebrate the girls!

I made “Our 2 Sweethearts” sign/ banner with my Cricut.

Welcome to the family… we love you!

Easter Hunt

We always have an egg hunt and Easter baskets for the kids, but this year we decided to have one for the adults too with huge prize baskets. Everyone pitched in a few dollars to pay for the prizes and it ended up being tons of fun. The boys enjoyed dying and hunting eggs and they loved their Easter baskets too.

My husband hid 3 dozen eggs for the adult egg hunt while I assembled the prize baskets. We had one for the guy with the most eggs and one for the gal with the most eggs. Some of the eggs were camo colored for more fun!