Dark-Colored Dessert & Dd Cookies

It wasn't as easy to come up with something for the girls to make for Dd week's Better to Give Than to Receive lesson.  Yes, there's donuts, but I didn't want the girls around hot grease.  Yes, there's danishes, but I have never made one and didn't want to make something that might or might not be good.  Yes, there's deviled eggs, but the food had to travel a couple of hours to its recipient, so that was out.

In the end, we ended up making a dark-colored dessert for Uncle Don.  These were devil's food cake cupcakes, with dark frosting (fudge flavor) and dark decorations (semi-sweet chocolate chips).

I love how Arin helps her sister without anyone telling her to.

We also made a dozen D and d cookies for David.  We took a big shortcut and bought the cookies from the bakery.  Then, the girls frosted them and Arin (with my help) wrote the D or d on each cookie.

Yes, we were reaching a little this week!  As we were packing the cookies up for David, Arin looked at me and said, "cuh, cuh, cookies.  Mom, we should have made these for c week!"

(we also used this week to donate some of our unwanted items!)

Daddy Day!

During Dd week, we celebrated daddy by spending the day doing special things with him.

We started the day at Dunkin Donuts!

Then, we took daddy driving (which is something he's been wanting to do for a while now).  The girls enjoyed putting.

Next, we took a dunk with daddy.  He humored us by diving for a dozen dimes! 

Check out Arin's new diving skills :)

Finally, daddy ate one of his favorite foods: drumsticks (turkey).

To go along with this day, the girls and I read A Day With Daddy by Louise A. Gikow

We had a delightful day with daddy!

Letter of the Week: Dd

I don't love dinosaurs, but when I asked Arin what she wanted to learn about for Dd week, that is exactly what she chose.  Had it have been me that was asked, I would have chosen something like dogs, or dolphins, or daffodils, so I was a bit surprised when I heard Arin say dinosaurs.  On the other hand, Andrew said that dinosaurs were one of his favorite things to learn about when he was younger (like father, like daughter!).  As it turned out, we didn't do a lot of factual learning about dinosaurs, but we did use them as our main theme for the week.

Arin practiced writing the letter D and the letter d.  The worksheet can be found here.

She also practiced all of the letters, using tracing sheets, which can be found here.  I covered the worksheets in clear contact paper and gave Arin a dry erase marker to use while tracing the letters.  She loved this activity.  She typically does not love writing activities, but this one she did once because it was her assignment and another few times during the week because she wanted to!

The girls both practiced lacing skills with a dinosaur picture, which can be found here.

Arin used these dinosaurs, first to practice attaching paper clips, and then to attach clothespins.

Arin had her first introduction to greater than and less than using this dinosaur worksheet.  I told her to have the dinosaur "eat" the larger number.  She did great! (she especially loved using the glue for this activity)

We made fossils.  I made playdough, pressed dinosaurs into the playdough, and then had Arin match up the dinosaur to the correct impression.  To check if she was right, she simply placed the dinosaur onto of the playdough to see if it fit into the indention.

Arin played paleontologist.  We found a 3-d dinosaur puzzle at Dollar Tree.  I took it all apart and buried it in a tub of sand.  Then, Arin dug through the sand and found the pieces, cleaned them, and then put the puzzle together.  It was a challenge to put the puzzle together (even for me).  We assume this would be the same for the people putting dinosaur skeletons together.

Arin enjoyed watching Dinosaur Train everyday.  This has long been a favorite show of hers (guess it shouldn't have been such a surprise afterall that she would pick dinosaurs for Dd week!).

We read the following dinosaur books. 

Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems
How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
The Dinosaur Tamer by Carol Greathouse (this was the favorite dinosaur book and would also be good to use in United States geography)
Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea
If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most
Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

The Story of Creation: Day 7

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. - Genesis 2:1-3 KJV

We are so thankful to have a day of rest after each of our busy weeks. 

Ella was all tuckered out from her fun-filled week.  This is how we found her this evening!

The Story of Creation: Day 6

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.  - Genesis 1:24-31 KJV

I spent a week trying to recreate examples of God's creations for my children.  Trying to create fun projects to help them remember what God made each day.  By Day 6, I basically ran out of steam with this project.  It's interesting to me that God saved his greatest creation (in my opinion), man (and land animals), for Day 6. I was ready to throw in the towel, so to speak, by Day 5, but He saved "the best for last".  Makes me understand (and appreciate) even more the importance of Day 7, The Day of Rest!  

On Day 6, God created the land animals.  The girls watched an animal dvd called Eyewitness Rainforest Jungle.

God created every living thing that creeps upon the earth.  The girls made sidewalk chalk in the shape of bugs.

God also created humans on Day 6.  The girls looked through picture albums filled with pictures of people (family & friends).

They also colored they Day 6 coloring pages.

The Story of Creation: Day 5

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. - Genesis 1:20-23 KJV

We started with bird activities and then went on to fish/water animal activities.  We ran out of time before we finished everything that we wanted to do.  It would have been nice to do all of our planned activities, but we did do enough that they got the point of what was created on Day 5.

The girls made bird feeders by spreading peanut butter on bagels and then pressing the bagel (pb side down) into birdseed.  Unfortunately, we have no place to hang these, so we are hoping that Grandma will enjoy watching the birds feast on these treats!

Next, the girls made paper birds out of coffee filters.  The idea came from here.

For the last last bird activity, we made bird nests.  The recipe can be found here.  The girls sure did enjoy these special treats.

We also watched Eyewitness DVD: Birds.

For our fish/water animal activities, I made them an underwater storyboard.  They filled it in with fish and dolphins.  Arin made up several cute stories as she was playing with this.

They also watched Animal Life For Children: All About Fish and they finished their Day 5 coloring pages.

The Story of Creation: Day 4

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.  - Genesis 1:14-19 KJV

To help the girls remember that the sun was created on the fourth day, we made number 4 sun catchers.  These are made by sticking torn pieces of tissue paper on clear contact paper (sticky side up) and then covering with a second piece of clear contact paper and then cutting it into the shape of a four.

We looked at images of the phases of the moon.  Andy has a passion for astronomy and he has been teaching Arin about the phases of the moon and whether it is waxing or waning before she could even talk.  He quizzes her about it everytime they look at the moon together, so it was fun to see what she thought of a poster of all the phases together.

We also used these constellation cards. 

To put it all together, we made a paper collage of the sun, moon, and stars. The sun, moon, and stars were made by cutting magazine pages.  The day and night backgrounds were made by tearing pieces of cardstock.

The girls also colored their Day 4 coloring page.