We climbed aboard our rocket ships and zoomed up to the moon, visited a few planets, and then swung by the stars.

Here’s how we made our rocket ships:

Materials:

• Cardboard Tube
• Tinfoil
• Poster Board (we used red and blue)
• Stickers (for decorating your rocket)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Jar Top or Glass (for tracing a circle)
• Pencil or Crayon

Directions:

Step 1: Roll the toilet paper in tinfoil.

Step 2: Trace two circles on your poster board and cut out the circles.

Step 3: Cut a radius in one of the circles and fold it to form a cone. Glue the cone on top of the toilet paper roll.

Step 4: Cut the other circle in half.

Step 5: Cut slits in the side of the toilet paper roll and insert the half circle into the slits.

Step 6: Decorate your rocket ship and enjoy! (The USA rocket is mine. The double pink star space ship is my 4 year old daughter’s work.)

We also sang some fun galactic songs and read some out-of-this world books! Here are a few of the Astronaut Books we read:

I Want to Be an Astronaut (Ages 0-3), by Byron Barton, is a simple description of what astronauts do on a space mission.  The bold colors and heavy cartoon-style outlines will catch the attention of young children.

Space Boy (Ages 3-6) by Leo Landry is a sweet tale of a boy who decides to escape the noise of his neighborhood with a picnic on the moon. He enjoys the adventure but misses his family and pet.  So, he returns to Earth in time for for bed.

Astronaut Piggy Wiggy (Ages 0-3) by Christuan and Diane Fox is a funny take that will get toddlers excited about space exploration. There is not a lot of factual information for older children but the authors do fit in a few key ideas: there is a countdown to liftoff, the objects float, astronauts require training for the controls, they wear space suits and make repairs on their ship. A warning for purists: Piggy Wiggy finds alien creatures on a distant planet.

More space books and songs coming soon!

I am sharing this as part of stART — check out more story + ART!

At another Mommy & Me at Garden of Eve, Eve led us in picking wheat, threshing the wheat to separate the grain from the chaff, grinding the wheat (in a blender..though my kids have stone-ground grains at some local colonial-themed events), stirring in the eggs, sugar, baking powder, and milk, and frying up the pancakes.

Unless you have a field of wheat growing in your backyard, you may need to take a few shortcuts–but making a batch of pancakes is a great cooking with kids activity that we do most weekends with our children.

Pancakes, Pancakes! A great book for this fun and tasty activity is Pancakes, Pancakes!, by Eric Carle. A boy wants pancakes for breakfast and his mother sends him on errands to get flour from the mill, select an egg from the hens, milk the cow, churn the butter, and gather firewood for the stove.  The young man learns everything that goes into making his favorite breakfast and enjoys the delicious pancakes all the more.

Making Pancakes with Your Kids

Your children will also discover that food you make yourself just tastes better.  My daughter has her own whisk and loves stirring the batter with her Daddy or her Papa.

You can use a simple pancake recipe to make them from scratch or try these banana-cormeal pancakes at Crunchy Domestic Goddess.

Even using a just add water pancake mix provides opportunities for pouring, measuring, and stirring.

Go maple sugaring for added fun and a scrumptious treat!

Make sure to observe kids in the kitchen safety rules for a fun and memorable experience!  We have a Guidecraft Kitchen Helper that allows our kids to safely measure the ingredients into the bowl, stir the batter, and even pour batter onto the griddle and decorate the pancakes with chocolate chips or fresh fruit slices.

Educational Opportunities

• Math: measuring the ingredients
• Motor skills: pouring and stirring
• Science: What is the importance of each ingredient? Why does the batter transform into solid pancakes when fried?
• History and Culture: What role did this simple treat play in our culinary history? Why were pancakes important on the frontier? What types of pancakes are popular in other cultures (crepes, dosa, blintzes)? Wikipedia has a good starting place for pancake research.
• Ecology: What is the origin of the ingredients that go into the pancakes? Can these all be found locally or do some come from other regions or nations?
• Literature: Read Pancakes, Pancakes!, by Eric Carle. Make up a similar story about another favorite dish.

We have the good fortune to live near an organic farm (Garden of Eve) owned by young parents. The mom runs a summertime “Mommy & Me” that includes a circle time and a farm “chore”. One week the children picked blackberries and turned them into jam!

The process was fairly simple:

1. Pick the berries
2. Wash and dry the berries
3. Meanwhile, sterilize glass jars in boiling water
4. Crush the berries in a bowl
5. Add mixture to a pot and pour in pectin according to the recipe
6. Bring to a quick boil and stir
7. Add sugar according to the recipe and bring to a boil again
8. Ladle jam mixture into the sterilized glass jars.

Since we did not plan to keep the jams for a long time, we did not process them in a Boiling Water Canner.

Books About Jelly, Jam, and Berries

Jamberry (ages 0-3)

My daughter’s favorite book when she was a baby, Jamberry is a rollicking, rhyming journey through the land of berries.  With just the right amount of playful silliness, a boy and his bear pick blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries for jam.  Their journey through Berryland ends in an explosion of flavorful berries as delicious fireworks fill the night sky.

Blueberry Shoe (0-3)

A clever story that makes a connection between a young family’s berry-picking and the natural environment.  A young toddler loses a shoe hiking with his family and the local wildlife makes use of his unintended gift.  When he finds it again the following year, he brings a bit of nature home with him.  Amazon has this listed as a book for 4-8 year olds but despite the more advanced vocabulary, the simple sentence structure, short pages, and beautiful woodcut-style illustrations will keep younger children’s interest.

Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie (Ages 4-8)

This touching story focuses on the bond between a mother and her daughter.  Holly’s mother wants to make sure she does not miss a single day of school for lack of a warm winter coat and boots.  So, the pair gather the bounty of the forest to make and sell jams and other berry treats.  I love the focus on the importance of education, personal responsibility, and hard work.

More berry book suggestions at Gardenaut…

Educational Connections

• Mathematics: Measure out the ingredients.
• Science: What makes berries sweet? What is pectin and why is it important in making jam? Which fruits are highest in natural pectin? Why do we boil the jars?
• Ecology: What other animals eat the berries? What is the difference between cultivated and wild berries? (Remind children to never eat berries without confirming with an adult that the berries are safe to eat.)
• Colors: Even young toddlers will enjoy identifying which berries are ripe and which are not yet ready based on the color.

Here’s a song about snakes that I wrote, based heavily on typical preschool counting songs:

Five Little Snakes
by Candace Lindemann

(start with five fingers up)

Five snakes molt their skin to grow some more, (children can reach for the sky)
One slides away and now there are four. (hold up four fingers)

Four crawly snakes climb a tree, (put hands together to show a snake shimmying up the tree)
One falls off and now there are three. (hold up three fingers)

Three slithering snakes in the muddy goo, (make a slithering motion with hands)
One hides under a rock and now there are two. (hold up two fingers)

Two cold-blooded snakes bask in the sun, (look up and smile)
One goes hunting and now there is one. (hold up one finger)

One crawly snake goes to find his mother. (hug your child)
Now there is no other! (open hands wide to show there are no more snakes)

And here is a classic snake song (edited to add: Amy pointed out  on facebook, this is by Shel Silverstein!):

I’m Being Swallowed By a Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein

I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor;
I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor.
Oh no, he’s swallowed my toes.
Oh no, he’s swallowed my toes.
Oh gee, he is up to my knees.
Oh gee, he is up to my knees.
Oh fiddle; he swallowed my middle.
Oh fiddle; he swallowed my middle.
Oh heck, he is up to my neck.
Oh heck, he is up to my neck.
Oh dread; he swallowed my head!
Oh dread; he swallowed my…gulp!

I also found some fun snake songs on iTunes to play while the kids were crafting:

• Sammy the Snake (Sesame Street: Sing the Alphabet)
• Kassandra the Snake (Gretchen Parlata – A World of Happiness)

Educational Connections:

You can investigate some of the points brought up in these songs:

• How do snakes move without legs?
• Why do snakes molt?
• Why do snakes generally live in warmer climates and why do they spend so much time in the sun?
• How come snakes can eat prey so much larger than themselves?

PS: Yes, that is me, holding a snake, in Bangkok.

Tickly Octopus is the story of a fun-loving octopus who enjoys tickling his friends–but only the wiggly, giggly fish appreciate his tentacled-tickles.  When our octopus protagonist goes on an adventure to recover his friend oyster’s pearl, he discovers he has so many other talents, including zooming through the water, squeezing through holes, and squirting ink to confuse foes.

My daughter also enjoys the Gentle Giant Octopus, which is more of a non-fiction discussion of an octopus but with a narrative style and lyrical language that is appealing to children. Children under four will probably prefer the more lively Tickly Octopus but future marine biologists and children four and older will appreciate the detail in Gentle Giant Octopus. Be forewarned that this book reveals that the mother octopus’s life ends as her babies’ begins so the themes may not be suitable for some families.

We made a simpler version of these water bottle octopuses:

Materials:

• Empty plastic water bottle
• Scissors
• Tempera Paint and Glitter Glue
• Googly Eyes
• Glue

Directions:

1. Cut off the top of the water bottle.
2. Cut slits from the area of the removed top, stopping about an inch from the bottom of the water bottle, to form eight tentacles.
3. Paint the octopus any color you wish.  Add glue to paints if they do not stick.
4. Paste on googly eyes

Educational Connections:

• Mathematics: Count the tentacles of the octopus.  What other animals have eight legs?
• Science: How has the octopus adapted to its environment? What are some other examples of adaptation to environments?
• Field Trip: Visit the Aquarium. What other adaptations has the octopus made to its environment?

I’m adding this to a fun educational meme: Story + Art = StART! Check out all the other cool ideas.

So, I put together a Google Custom Search Engine with some of my favorite educational bloggers. You can easily use the search engine. It is right on the sidebar of my site (under “Search Educational Blogs”).

This was not an entirely selfless exercise.  When I create a post about an activity I’ve designed or enjoyed, I like to link-up to other bloggers who have similar or complimentary projects and posts.  If I write about an educational issue for another site, I like to quote from my fellow bloggers.  So, this is a more efficient and targeted way of searching for me–I hope you will find it helpful as well.

If you write regularly about education (any level, any topic), children’s crafts, and/or parenting from a developmental perspective, please feel free to e-mail me or leave me a comment and put your URL in the website field so I can add it.

Here are the blogs I have included so far:

The Activity Mom
Chasing Cheerios
Childhood 101
Cool Cat Teacher Blog
Crafty Crow
CraftyMama of 4
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
Freely Educate
Fugal Family Fun Blog
Let the Children Play

LetterSoup
Little Elephants
LollyChops
Mama Smiles
A Mommy’s Adventures
My Montessori Journey
Naturally Educational
No Time Flashcards
The Parenting Passageway
PhD in Parenting
Quirky Momma
Scribbit
Study Skills Mentor
Switching Classrooms
Teach Mama
Teach Preschool
Teaching Tiny Tots
That Artist Woman
Tired, Need Sleep
The Wonder Years

Whether teaching your kids or students in the classroom, you usually have the advantage of knowing your partners in learning.  For my moms’ meet-up group, I have been organizing a weekly “Preschool Play Date”.  Today our preschool play date suddenly became a Toddler Play Date and I had to adjust our plans. The result was a fun and easy fish craft that even a toddler will enjoy.

Sea creatures are always a hit with little ones, especially if you have a decent aquarium nearby.  We’re members at ours and the children are mesmerized by underwater life even as young as one–so colorful, so different, so entrancing!

Materials

• Paper plate
• Scissors
• Strong Non-Toxic Glue (we used Elmer’s Glue All)
• Googly Eyes in two sizes
• Materials for decorating your fish (this could be torn paper fish scales or any crayons, markers, or paints…we used Elmer’s Squeeze N’ Brush)
• Thread or Clear Tape

Instructions

1. Decorate the paper plates. You could use squares of lightweight paper or tissue paper to represent scales.  My younger group enjoyed using the Elmer’s Squeeze N’ Brush paint pens–lots of fun!
2. Cut a small triangle from one side of the plate to form the mouth.
3. Glue the triangle to the other side of the plate to make the tail.
4. Trace a small circle (a baby food jar lid works well) on a piece of poster board and cut out the circle.
5. Cut a small triangle from one side of the circle to form the mouth.
6. Glue the triangle to the other side of the circle to make the tail.
7. Add large googly eyes to the plate fish and small googly eyes to the paper fish.
8. Suspend the smaller fish from the mouth of the bigger fish with tape, fishing wire, or white thread.

Depending on your age group, you might read one (or both) of two books:

Swimmy by Leo Lionni is a good choice for toddlers and preschoolers. It is a simple tale about fish that focuses on the food chain without being overly intense. Like many of Lionni’s books, Swimmy also highlights the importance of friendship and teamwork.

Children four and up will enjoy the greater detail in  The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten: A Book About Food Chains. If you are a fan of The Magic School Bus, you are already familiar with the 70s-era psychedelia and groan-out-loud puns that permeate the series.  Whether or not you appreciate the humor, the information is scientifically accurate at an age-appropriate level. For this field trip to the beach, the eponymous bus transforms into a dolphin and dives into the ocean, exploring the symbiotic relationships among marine life and the oceanic food chain.

Teaching Extensions:

• Field Trip: Visit your local fish hatchery or aquarium! (Brave Parent or Teacher Bonus Points: Get your own fish tank and stock it with fish of your own!)
• Biology: What is the difference between a mammal and a fish? What are some examples of sea creatures that are fish and ones that are mammals? What do they have in common and what separates the two?
• Ecology: What is the food chain?  How do changes to one part of the food chain effect the entire chain? How does pollution effect the food chain?
• Economics: Beyond food sourcing, how do human beings rely on the health of our oceans and other bodies of water? Visit a seafood market, interview a fisherman, dine out at a seafood restaurant.
• Current events: Research the connection between oil spills, the environment, and local economies.

This won’t be the last of my sea creature craft and book posts!  We have an entire library of fun sea creature books and lots of crafts to try.  I have a few octopus crafts I’m itching to make with a group of older kids (including this Water Bottle Octopus from Crafts By Amanda and a Yarn Octopus from Craft Stylish) and I’m brainstorming a possible shark craft and a hermit crab craft.

We bought flashcards but they did not hold her interest and I do not like to push.

Instead, inspired by some bottle cap reading games, we made a musical notation bottle cap game.  I was going to make it for her but she wanted to make the bottle cap notes herself.

All we needed was some extra-large staff paper I made on the computer, some plastic bottle caps, a permanent marker (Sharpie), and some strong glue (Elmer’s Glue All).

We outlined the bottle caps in permanent marker and then added a note name in.  For notes above and below the staff, you can glue pipe cleaners above, below or through the middle of the bottle caps.

We also used some translucent caps (without outlining them) and drew flats, sharps, natural signs,  and rests.  My daughter has fun making “words” with the musical notes and creating pieces for me to transcribe.

As an Elmer’s paid Bag It Forward ambassador (along with Naomi Shapiro – Superdumb Supervillain, Kathleen Walck – My Home Sweet Home Online, and Beth Davis – The Plus Size Mommy), I was given $100 via Collective Bias to shop for two bags of school supplies — for my daughter and for a family in need.

My family and I decided to amplify our efforts by donating the entire amount and recruiting local friends to prepare at least 10 backpacks for the National Guard enlisted soldiers in my husband’s unit.

If you have any extra funds this year–or you buy supplies in bulk and find you have a surplus, please consider donating to a classroom or to a local family in need. Just ask at your local school, Head Start location, military installation or National Guard unit, or house of worship–I am sure they will find a need that your generosity will fulfill.

I will be following up on one of my other sites, Army Wives Lives’, once we assemble the bags and make the donation.  I will also have more information here about how you can also “Bag It Forward” for back-to-school.

Education for the Military Child is an issue close to my heart.  Our smallest heroes often suffer the most from military moves and deployments.   Despite legislation, training obligations and frequent deployments can also harm the careers of our civilian warriors in the National Guard and Reserves and their spouses.  In the active duty world, frequent moves can make it difficult for spouses to maintain their careers.

Anything you can do to support a military family emotionally or financially is a patriotic act.  These brave soldiers stand willing to sacrifice everything for our nation–please do not forget them and their families.

Disclosure: I was given $100 to shop for school supplies for the Elmer’s #BagItForward project. I am also serving as a paid Elmer’s ambassador and contributing to the BagItForward.org site. All words and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

The educator at the nature center urged kids to exclaim “Oooo!” instead of “Ewww!” and I think that she has the right idea to encourage the children’s sense of wonder instead of forcing adult ideas about propriety on the kids. Of course, along with that sense of wonder they need a healthy dose of respect for not only the fragility of the ecosystem but also the potential dangers of nature–which is why the kids got to handle the Madagascar hissing cockroaches and Vietnamese walking stick bugs but not Rosie the Tarantula.

And don’t forget–there are some bugs that even adults think are pretty neat–ladybugs, fireflies, dragonflies, and butterflies!

The kids also made a very simple bug catcher craft at the Nature Center.

MAKE YOUR OWN BUG CATCHER CRAFT

Supplies

• Two Clear Plastic Cups
• Wire Mesh (for patching up window screens)
• Rubber Band
• Stickers and Permanent Markers (for decorating your bug catcher)

Instructions

1. Cut off the bottom of one cup.
2. Wrap the mesh around to cover the bottom of that cup and secure with a rubber band.
3. Use the stickers and markers to decorate the other cup around the rim (don’t go much lower than an inch below the rim).
4. Catch bugs in your cup and then place the cup with the mesh inside to trap the bugs in for observation.

If you want to be extra fancy, your child can make a Bug House out of an oatmeal canister (Your Wild Child) or you or an older sibling could make this Bug Catcher out of plastic canvas (The Mama Dramalogues via The Crafty Crow).

Enjoy your bug hunting and remember, this is a catch and release activity, only!