A Candy Free Egg Hunt

Just had a sudden brainstorm and thought I'd share it in case anyone is making last minute Easter bunny preparations. :)

We went to an egg hunt today and it was a total bust (some meanie big kids swooped in and grabbed all the eggs before the little kids could get to them), so I decided at the last minute to have an egg hunt of our own tomorrow.

Now, Bermuda ants have super sensory powers and come from miles away at the mere whiff of candy, so I needed to find an egg filler that could withstand such an invasion. As I've mentioned before, we are a Lego loving family and it occurred to me they might be just the thing for our eggs...

Here's what I did:

I ran down to the local toy store and bought a basic Lego kit, then I separated out the pieces from the kit and put 4-5 pieces inside of each egg.

After I filled the eggs I numbered them with a permanent marker. The reason for this is two part - first, James loves anything to do with numbers so finding numbered eggs will definitely be half the fun for him, second - they'll help us to keep track of which eggs we collect, thus ensuring we find them ALL.

After the hunt the second bit of fun comes into play: cracking open each egg, gathering all the of the Lego pieces, and putting them together to see what they make!

Of course this would work with other small sets of things - puzzles, cars, stickers, pennies (especially if your child is saving up for something), little erasers - anything really and much of this can be purchased very inexpensively at your local dollar store or thrift shop.

~Thank you for your comments!~

On Our Shelves - April

Our theme for this month is Spring! I was going to go with an Easter theme, like we did last year, but I wanted something that encompassed all of the lovely things that happen this time of year!

Practical Life
Flower arranging. This is a classic Montessori work. I wish we could use real flowers, but our two kitties would surely eat them (and then throw them up later. Yucko.).

Transferring eggs. I just love those eggs - they're so soft and colorful. I made them last year using the wet felting method. Easy and fun to do with kids!

Flipping Bean Bags. To do this work, James will space out each bag on a table top and then, using the spatula, flip over each bag. This is a great activity that focuses on wrist control. I saw this idea on The Wonder Years ages ago and it has finally made it onto our shelves. I made the bean bags quite a while ago and have been surprised at how well they've held up.

Wood Polishing. James so enjoyed our wood polishing activity from February that I thought he might like this version of it. I found these small wooden crosses at Michael's.

Planting Lavender. This will be an outdoor activity since it involves dirt and water. :) What you're looking at are just the dry elements - the dirt and watering will be added once we're outside. I'm hoping to post about this later on in the month.

Open & Close Basket. This is a bit different than usual in that I've included lots of the same container and James will add the "surprise" (little critters) to them. I remember last Easter James couldn't get enough of these eggs. Hoping he enjoys them just as much this year.

Tweezing Flowers. A great fine motor activity whereby James will tweeze and transfer the little flowers into and out of the ice cube tray.

Still on our shelves (and still very much used): Dressing Basket.

Sensorial
Spring Sensory Tub. I won't bother posting about our playdough as it's identical to last year's. :)

Coloring Geometric Patterns. This printable comes from Montessori Print Shop (NOT abcteach, as I originally wrote - sorry for any confusion!).

Butterfly Matching. I purchased these cards at our local teacher's supply store.

Geo Board. James loves this!

Still on our shelves: Knobbed & Knobless Cylinders.

Language
Alphabet Eggs. These are also from last year. James has long known the alphabet and letter sounds, so I'm curious to see what he'll do with these. It may be that they get totally ignored, but I wanted to give them a fair shot since I took all that time to make them. :)

Books. I really just grabbed a hodgepodge of titles that related in some form or fashion to spring/gardening/growth/birthdays, etc.:
Polka Bats & Octopus Slacks by Calef Brown
Welcome to Sunny Patch by David Kirk
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter
Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Mother Earth and Her Children by Sibylle Von Olfers
The Flower's Festival by Elsa Beskow
The Story of the Butterfly Children by Sibylle Von Olfers
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
Grover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful Earth by Anna Ross
The Seasons: Spring by Nuria Roca
Pelle's New Suit by Elsa Beskow


Tracing. A variety of worksheets from abcteach. I won (in a giveaway) that beautiful pencil case you see. It was handmade by the owner of this sweet Etsy shop.

Poetry Basket coming soon.

Butterfly Reader. James continues to read anything and everything and I believe he'll enjoy learning about butterflies in this booklet. This is just one of the goodies I found on Montessori Print Shop's deluxe CD-Rom (click here to enter my giveaway - hurry, it ends Friday, April 8th!). You can also purchase it separately here.

Still on our shelves: Green Language Series.

Math
Counting Eggs. Another revival from last year and I suspect James will simply lay them out and name them off. James is REALLY into counting numbers in various languages. Don't ask how or why, it's just something he took upon himself and he's really amazing us with it. He can count to 10 (sometimes 20) in English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese. Yesterday he asked me, "What other languages are there?", so we're starting to learn Italian now. :)

Skip Counting. James has skip counting by 2's down pat, so we're moving onto counting by 5's. This is just a simple activity I created using paper eggs (I cut them from a garland), egg cups (the kind you get with an egg dying kit), and popsicle sticks with little foam circles glued at the tops.

Spindle Box. And oldie but goodie. :) I like to rotate our materials and this particular one hasn't been on our shelves for a long while.

Seed Graphing.

Still on our shelves: Number Rods, and Sandpaper Numerals.

Science & Culture
Three Part Flower Cards. Another lovely material from Montessori Print Shop.

Parts of a Flower Puzzle.

Where Does It Come From? Cards. Also from MPS. I think James is really going to enjoy this work because he's forever asking me where does such and such a thing come from, what does it do, what's inside, etc.

We'll be doing some outdoor learning this month when we explore the nature reserve behind our house. We'll take samples and look them up online, we'll smell and perhaps taste some things, and then "document" our findings ala Sid the Science Kid. :)

Still on our shelves: Weather Discovery Tray (too much of a favorite to put away!), Family Nomenclature Cards, and aspects from our South America Continent Bag.

Art & Music
Composer of the Month: Debussy. Something about Claire de Lune just sings Spring to me!

Scissor Practice. I placed tiny Spring themed stickers on plain white strips of paper. James will need to cut in between the stickers. He did well with this the last time it was on our shelves, but extra practice never hurts!

Flower Rubbing. This silk flower (cut from a lei), showed up surprisingly well during my test run. I provided several sheets of paper for James since I know he'll end up rubbing the flower a couple of times and then switch to abstract drawing (LOVE his creations!).

Stamping. In the past I've given James just one stamp/stamp pad. I'm not sure why I did that, so this time I've provided lots of Spring themed stamps and a multicolored stamp pad from Melissa & Doug.

Cookie Cutter Painting. Lots of Spring themed cutters + lots of paint = lots of messy fun!

No art basket this month, but I do have a few crafty ideas in mind like this one. Oh and of course we'll do some of our family tradition Easter egg decorating, too!

Still on our shelves: Instrument Nomenclature Cards.

PS: Our calendar is full of balloons in honor of one special little boy's upcoming birthday! Happy Spring, everyone!

~Thank you for your comments!~

A Basket of Goodies

I'm so excited about James' Easter basket this year because much of what's in it is mama made. :)

Here's what's inside...

I found this pattern for Easter eggs and knew I had to at least try to make them for James' Easter basket. I had to learn a few new tricks (I *heart* the Magic Loop), and voila! a jumbo Easter egg was born.

The pattern mentioned above is for a very large egg, so I decreased it to create these little guys.

After that there was no stopping me. I found this pattern and made a cute little bunny.

And this pattern produced a wee chick.

I wet felted some eggs last month after I saw this post by Natural Kids.

I love the book The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow, and thought it was a must for James' basket.

So were these little wooden animals made by Engelberger. We have a growing collection of his animals and we love each and every one. Beautiful craftsmanship. Ostheimer is another favorite of ours.

Lastly, I needle felted this sweet little "boysenberry baby" necklace. I'm 99% sure James will love it, but if he doesn't I'll have no shame in wearing it myself!


The finishing touches were a bag of fruit snacks, a granola bar, a big orange, and a yellow playsilk. For the record, I have nothing against chocolate bunnies or jellybeans; it's just that my boy is active enough without all that sugar!!

Tia is here with us for the holiday, so I whipped up a basket of goodies for her too, but I won't post a pic of it just in case she reads this post before Easter morning. :)

Wax Painting Easter Eggs

This is a very special egg decorating method that's dear to my heart - I'll call "wax painting". Painting eggs with melted crayon wax is a tradition that's been in my family for generations. My mother taught my sister and me how to do it and it was a family tradition until she passed away in 1988. Up until yesterday it had been 22 years since I decorated eggs this way. It was bittersweet to revisit this old tradition and it took me right back in our tiny kitchen in Minnesota. I was happy share our little family secret with my niece and now I'll share it with all of you, too...

Update: My Aunt recently posted a video tutorial on YouTube - click here to view it.

Here's what you'll need:
::LOTS of crayons
::A muffin tin (we used a 12 cup tin)
::A roasting pan (or any shallow pan that's larger than the muffin tin)
::Pencils (enough for each person)
::Flat head pins (enough for each pencil)
::Clean, cool, and dry hard boiled eggs
::Water

Begin by peeling all the crayons

Then group them into color families

Stick the pin into the eraser on the pencil. This will be your "paintbrush".

Pour hot water into the roasting pan and place the crayon-filled muffin tin inside of it.

Place the pan over a burner on your stove top and heat on medium-low. Once the crayons are good and melted, you can turn the burner down to just a simmer.

::Now, this next part is a bit tricky, so if you find it doesn't work for you straight away, don't give up - it takes some of practice!::

Using your "paintbrush", dip the head of the pin into the melted color of your choice and very quickly drag the pin across the egg, tipping the pin to the side while you do this. The key is to move quickly because it takes seconds for the wax to harden onto the pin instead of onto the egg. The beauty is, if you make a mistake you can easily scrape off the wax and try again. {Tip: to remove the excess wax that will eventually accumulate on your pin, simply dip the pin into the hot water on the outside of the muffin tin.}

This starburst pattern was a favorite of my mother's, but you can experiment with any kind of design you can think of.

You can also dip the entire egg into the wax. (Be careful though -the wax is hot!)

After you've finished decorating your eggs, let the wax harden a bit and then place the entire tin in the freezer. About an hour later you'll have some new crayons! I plan on putting these in James' Easter basket. :)

I should mention that at our little egg decorating party, we used a variety of methods, too - wax and sticker resistance, dye, sponge painting, glitter, and markers.

What a pretty basket of goodies!

James really got into this - I think he'll have green hands for the rest of the week!