Halloween Books: Paper Bag Style!

I am always on the look-out for cute and easy book or foldable ideas. The other day, while surfing Pinterest I found this great DIY book idea from Hooty's Homeroom. I am in love with it! I am actually going to use it at a teaching conference where I am doing a presentation (for the attendees to put their notes in), but I thought I'd try it out with my kids first! We decided to do Halloween style books.

Here they are, busy at work!

The front cover:

The inside:

There are six pages altogether, plus pockets to put extras in. Don't you just love those! And there are so many uses for them, regardless of the age of your children! Be sure to check out Hooty's Homeroom for a great tutorial on how to make the books!

Also, our fossils from last week are nice and dry now. Here is the finished product! Not totally sure what to do with these now - perhaps it will be one of those art projects that mysteriously disappears overnight...

And lastly, ever just turn your kids loose with a table full of art supplies? Sounds scary, but it will buy you at least 30 minutes of time to get something done. Yikes.

Have a great week!

Making Fossils

Today we did a little project that the kids LOVED. I had done this in my grade four classroom a few years ago, but it worked great with my young kids too. This fossil recipe is very easy, and they turn out surprisingly well.

You will need:
1 cup of used coffee grounds
1/2 cup of cold coffee
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt

That's it!

We mixed the ingredients up in  a bowl. Our mixture seemed a bit dry so we added a tiny bit more coffee.

Then we rolled the "dough" into balls...

...and pushed it down to make  a perfect surface for our fossilized item!

I told the kids to go into the toy room and choose some items that would make good fossils. They decided on this lion,

a building block,

...and some toothpicks (those were in the cupboard, not in the toy room. I know what you were thinking - "She lets her kids play with toothpicks?!")

Number Two decided on an elephant and a car. Not so sure how these ones will turn out, but he was sure having fun!

Our fossils are now drying and should lighten up quite a bit by tomorrow. It takes up to two days for them to harden, so we'll see if the kids can actually leave them to dry for that long.

We'll be back soon!

Welcome and Introductions!

Hello! Welcome to my brand new blog! I have been blogging for just over a year on my teaching blog, Teaching In the Early Years. However, I am at home with three little munchkins right now for a few years, and every day when we are doing our thing, I think to myself, "I could be blogging about this." So FINALLY, I am all set up and ready to go.

As I mentioned, I have three little ones at home right now. Number One (my oldest daughter) is five years old and just started Kindergarten. She loves books, Barbies and peanut butter. Number Two (my son) is about two and a half. He is a boy through and through and loves his trucks and tractors, but he can also be persuaded to dress up in pink skirts and high heels. Oh, the joys of having an older sister. Number Three is my littlest one and she is eight months old. She is developing her own little personality already and eagerly awaiting the day that she can play with her brother and sister (as well as defend herself against their overly affectionate hugs).

When we found out we were expecting our third, people told us that it wouldn't be as much of an adjustment going from two to three as going from one to two. Well, I am here to tell you that those people were wrong. Maybe it's just the fact that we have three under five, but it is CUH-RAZY around here most days. But, it's also wonderful, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

Hope you enjoy coming along with me on my mommy-blogging adventure!