Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 1

Day 1 is actually Valentine's Day--did I count right?  I made the activity for today be eat pink and red foods.  I didn't think this one out too much though.  It could have been a lot funner, but I'll work up to that for next year.  Last year was nothing, so at least I've made some progress.

For breakfast I made pink, heart-shaped pancakes. They were made pink with strawberries, but the heart-shapes looked horrible.  If I'd planned better we could have had strawberry milk, too, and fresh strawberries. 

Our lunch was a picnic with no pink food.  But for dinner I cut hot dogs and made hearts with Cupid's arrows.  We also had red bell peppers.  I don't know what I would have done different, but I have time to think about it. 

I have memories of waking up on Valentine's day and finding a treat from my parents on my chair at the kitchen table.  I didn't do that for the kids because I didn't want to give them more candy.  But I saw what some other people did and I have some good ideas for next year.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 2 AND Valentine Party

Today we were supposed to make treats to share with our neighbors, but we ran out of time.  We only had time to make treats for our Valentine party.  And even those treats came from a roll. 

We made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and bought some snacks for our party then came home and baked the cookies. 

Later that afternoon we headed over to Ammanda's and had a party with her family and Courtney's family.  We decorated paper bags to hold our valentines.  Very Cute!

Then we moved outside to play a few games with balloons.  Super fun!

Next we shared our treats and the kids passed out their valentines.  Then they opened their bags and enjoyed looking at their valentines.  Yum!

It was a fun afternoon.  We love being able to celebrate holidays with good friends.



Valentine's Day Countdown--Days 4 and 3

We had to combine 2 into 1 day because we weren't home to complete day 4.  Day 4 said create a tissue paper collage and day 3 was draw a picture of something you love. 

For the collage I cut out white hearts and the kids glued different colors of tissue paper to cover the front,

then they turned their hearts over and drew or wrote about something they love.
Braedi loves her family and the church.
Corbin loves bears and art.
Dyllan loves her family.
Ephram loves giraffes.
Faythe loves hearts.

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 5

Heart Attack Dad's Car

The kids and I cut out a bazillion paper hearts, decorated a few and then put them all over Jonathan's car.  We did it the day before he went to work so that the next time he got into his car he would have a special surprise. 

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 6

LOVE poems

We don't do enough writing in our house--I don't require a lot of it, but I hope that through fun activities like this the kids will be inspired to write more.  Unfortunately only Braedi, Dyllan and I wrote a poem.  Dyllan and I wrote acrostic poems and Braedi wrote several poems of various styles. 

Dyllan:
Love
Oranges
Violet
Ephram

Me:
reLish
adOre
deVote
chErish

Braedi:
I love you, you love me,
We will be a family
I'll get married with yo-ou
Do it now or I'll be blue

There once was a girl and 2 boys
They liked to play with their toys
2 liked to dance
the other liked ants
Those were their very fun joys

I love yo so much!
you love me too even more
Happy Valentine's!

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 7

Valentine BINGO

A couple of years ago my mom gave me a different BINGO game for each  major holiday.  They have been super fun to pull out every year--we enjoy playing games together.  One time we played with mini-marshmallows as the markers and another time we used craisens. 

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 8

Make a friendship necklace
Last year I ended up with a lot of small foam hearts.  I pulled them out and used my hole punch to punch a hole in the hearts.  Then I found some yarn and some foam beads and we strung some necklaces to give to friends/primary teachers/grandparents.  I was a little scared that the boys wouldn't like this activity, but they all enjoyed making their necklaces. 

United States--Kentucky

Some interesting facts about Kentucky:

• Home of the largest cave system in the world--300 miles of passages
• Fort Knox is located there
• The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continually-held horse race in the country

For our activity we held our very own Kentucky Derby.  We watched a race video first and looked at some pictures of the traditions.  Then we attempted to make the rose garland for the winner of the race.  I searched for an easy way to make paper roses, and found a few ideas, but we weren't very successful. 

Then we came up with names for our horses.  We came up with a list of nouns and a list of adjectives, cut them apart and put them in 2 piles.  Each of us drew a noun and an adjective.  Put the 2 together and you have a silly horse name.  The 3 older kids didn't like their creations so they came up with their own.  The one in parenthesis is their own creation. 

Braedi--Chunky Ball (Chunky Monkey)

Corbin--Humongous Mom (Spitting Cobra)

Dyllan--Fast Peanut Butter (Fast Cheetah)

Ephram--Little Store

Faythe--Brown Cup

Me--Bald Fly

And of course we had a race.  Dyllan and Corbin have stick horses that they used/shared for the race.  Anyone who didn't have a horse just had to gallop.  Our course was around the kitchen and back to the living room.

A silly tradition of the Kentucky Derby is that people come dressed in silly hats.  Dyllan and Faythe made a silly hat.  They didn't stay on well, and I barely got a picture of Dyllan's.

Another tradition is the drink--mint julep.  It's an alcoholic beverage, but we made a kid version--mint ice cream with 7Up.  The kids loved it.  It was a fun day at the races.

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 9

We went out front and drew giant valentine cards all over the sidewalk and driveway with chalk.  Hopefully they will brighten some one's day.

Corbin out-fishes Dad

I love working with Corbin to complete his Cub Scout requirements. I learn a lot. We build our relationship by spending time together. And it's fun to watch his talents, knowledge, and interests expand.

The other day, we checked off a few of the fishing related requirements. One requirement is to catch a fish. Corbin reminded me that he hadn't caught a fish since his 8th birthday, so we couldn't honestly sign off that requirement. (I think he was milking me for a fishing trip and I was happy to oblige.)

We headed to a favorite spot in the city where I've had success in the past. We fished one area without any bites and moved to another spot that I like. Corbin had two carp take his bait, but both times his line broke due to the drag on his reel malfunctioning and Corbin's inexperience playing a large, strong fish. We adjusted his drag and talked about technique.

Then I got a nice Koi on a fly that I tied specifically to target these carp, because the carp are smart and quickly get savvy to the flies my friends and I typically use there. It's really a blast to catch fish on a fly you tied yourself. Here it is:



My catch excited Corbin, and he tied on another fly I tied. He quickly nabbed two bluegills back to back. Just as quickly, he pointed out that he now had caught more fish than me.





I was happy to correct him as I connected with another carp. I was also excited that it was a fighter. Unfortunately, I was cursed by my pride, and after running out about 70 feet, the carp threw my hook. The score remained Corbin 2 - Dad 1.

My competitive side flared up, and I got serious. I had another carp honing in on my fly, when an exstatic scream "I GOT ONE!!!" sent my quarry bolting. I turned around and saw Corbin's pole with a healthy bend in it. Afraid of another broken line, I helped Corbin quickly net his first koi. So it turns out that not only did Corbin catch more fish, he also nabbed the big fish of the day.



What great fun. There's not much better than building relationships with your kids while having fun and completing requirements for scouting. Scouting does a lot to build confidence and character in our young men, and if done right it strengthens family bonds as well. We're proud to be scouters in our house. And I'm proud of Corbin - even if he did beat me that day.

Valentine Day Countdown--Day 10

I didn't plan this, but I'm glad it turned out this way.  Our activity today was perfect for the sabbath--Share 1 thing you love about every member in the family.  We went around the table and each said something that we love about each person.  A lot of the things said were "I like your hair" or "I like your bow", but some where what I was hoping for--liking the other person for who they are instead of what they wear or look like.  Afterward we talked a little about the importance of love.  We talked about who we need to love first (Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ) and who we are supposed to love next (our neighbors).  Then we talked about who our most important neighbors are (our family) and how important it is for us to show love and be friends.  It's something that Jonathan and I want for our children--to be best friends with each other. 

Groundhog Day

February 2nd was Groundhog day and I wanted to do a little activity to help Ephram and Dyllan learn about the tradition.  We read a story and looked at pictures and talked about groundhogs, then did a craft/writing activity. 

Instructions for craft: Take a blue piece of paper and a half sheet of brown.  Staple the brown to the blue leaving the top open to make a pocket.  Hide a drawing of a groundhog inside the pocket.  Draw either a sun in the blue sky or clouds depending on if you want spring to come or 6 more weeks of winter.  Then write about what happened to the groundhog when he came out of his hole. 

Some of the kids did both--one on each side.  I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but hopefully you get the idea. 

We also learned a little bit about shadows.  We made a simple sundial and traced the shadow it made at various time during the day. 

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 11

Build a "Love Bug" game

This game is much like the game Cooties--you roll a die and draw the body part that corresponds with the number.  We took turns and tried to see who could complete their bug first.  You can find a printable here http://teachingheart.net/blog/2012/01/roll-a-love-bug-game/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+teachingheart%252FXIVA+%2528Teaching+Heart+Blog+1%2529 or just make your own.  (I've been having a problem with my linking--it just inserts the whole website instead of hi-lighting the word.  Sorry for the mess it makes.)

1=eyes
2=antennas
3=arms
4=legs
5=mouth
6=nose
The body was 2 hearts stacked on top of each other.

United States--Kansas

We took a trip to the middle of the United States last week--Kansas is the geographic center of the lower 48 states.  Kansas is farm state that grows wheat and other grains.  It is also in the middle of Tornado Alley and gets a lot of tornadoes.  Texas actually gets the most tornadoes and Oklahoma gets the worst tornadoes, bu what else is there for us to do in Kansas but study tornadoes?  I tried talking the kids into making wheat bread, but got vetoed, so we made a tornado in a bottle.

What You'll Need:
clear jar
water
food coloring
liquid dish soap
vinegar

Step 1: Fill the jar about two-thirds with water.  Add a few drops of food coloring to the water.  (We used red, but I think it would have shown better with a lighter color or no coloring.)
Step 2: Add 1 tsp of soap and 1 tsp of vinegar.  Screw the lid on tight to prevent leaks.
Step 3: Give the jar a good, hard shake, then give it a twist to set the liquid inside spinning.
Step 4: What you'll see is a tiny bottled vortex that looks like a mini-tornado. 

I don't think it worked like it was supposed to.  One of these days I'll need to buy a tornado tube and connect two 2-liter bottles together.  Those really work!

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 12

Secret Valentine Messages

We wrote secret valentine messages to each other today using a white crayon on white paper.  In order to read the message the receiver had to paint the card with watercolors.  I loved seeing the kids get excited about reading their hidden messages.

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 13

For today's activity we sorted valentine candy hearts.  This was a math activity more for the younger kids, but they all enjoyed the candy.  I gave each kid a paper with hearts to help sort the candy on one side and a graph on the other side and a bag of candy hearts and they went to work.  For the older kids I asked some more complex math questions in which they could use their candy to help solve. 

Valentine's Day Countdown--Day 14

To help me celebrate the holidays with the kids I created a heart shaped chain with each link containing a valentine activity. 

The helper of the day gets to break off the heart for the next day.  I did it that way so that I could get prepared for the activity.

Day 14--Valentine Scavenger Hunt  (The poems aren't mine--I found them on another site.)

Each clue was written on a heart shaped paper and placed through out the house.  The final treat was a pink banana smoothie. 

To find the treasure, you will follow many clues.  Look for the next clue where you keep your shoes.

Where your treasure is, nobody knows.  Find your next clue where we wash the clothes.

Another clue?  You'll need more.  Find the next clue at the front door.

You'll find the next clue in the spot where you sleep.

Search for the next clue in the room where we cook our food.

You're doing great with so many in a row.  Find another clue where you watch a show.

I love you so much!  You are so sweet!  Look in the shower to find your Valentine's day treat.  (I didn't actually have the smoothies in the shower.  I taped a picture of the treat to the shower wall and we had it for snack.)

Pink Banana Smoothie Recipe (I didn't have the ingredients for the actual recipe so I made up my own.)
1 can of pineapple with juice
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen raspberries
2 frozen bananas
1 cup milk
Blend until smooth