Icy Watermelon Storytime {Fine Motor, Sensory Fun and Biblical Extension}

Good morning, good morning!  During the summer, our Tuesdays are called "Time to Read Tuesday."  This summer, we're working through a Summer Reading Bingo card.  Tons of fun activities and silly places to read.  It also means that Mommy does a much deeper, intentional storytime.  We read aloud multiple times every day, but once per week, we pick out a super special book and really dig in.  

I'll be honest and say that this week's book was one I had not ever read previously.  In fact, it's one I probably would not have ever read if I hadn't been putting together a book list.  I'm so glad I did!  Icy Watermelon is a great story with so many great qualities!

First, the book is bilingual, which is just awesome.  We were able to read it in both English and Spanish.  Little Man especially loved that!  Second, it lends itself so well to a discussion about joy.  At one point, the grandfather poses a riddle.  "What's big and red like a watermelon and fills me with joy?"  A heart filled with love.

So... for some fine motor practice, we made torn paper watermelons!  Baby Boy is still a bit too young to quite understand tearing the paper, so I cut his.  He took the cut squares and arranged them (with a little help from Mommy).  

Such concentration!  After he filled the center, I had him fingerpaint around the edges to make the rind.  

I also made watermelon play dough this week.  For a super simple, no-cook recipe, I used this one!  She does a fun counting activity.  Baby Boy's not quite there yet.  Little Man could use it for some math facts practice!

I used her idea for the black bean "seeds" and the boys loved smooshing them into the dough!  As they were playing, I slowly made a heart.  I asked them what would fill our heart with joy.  I started adding a seed for each thing they said.  Family members, friends, church, Jesus.  As they kept naming things, I had them add their own seeds to the heart.  

I had a "moment" with this activity.  I originally set it up as just an invitation to play.  They were enjoying the sensory fun.  I was enjoying the quality time and discussion.  We had our memory verse.  We had the literacy extension.  We had an intentional moment.  I was going to leave it at that.  But that night, as I was praying with Little Man, he stopped and thanked God "for all those people that were seeds on my heart."  Wow.  Those people are seeds for him... and they are planting a love for our Lord each and every day.  

Have you subscribed yet?  We have a new book list coming tomorrow for What We're Reading Wednesday!  You don't want to miss it!

Froggy Goes to Hawaii {A Sensory Craft and Biblical Extension}

Good morning!  Happy Tuesday!  It's a beautiful day, don't you think?!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the coffee is strong, and breakfast is coming right up!  Little Man is at a day camp this morning, so Baby Boy and I are praising our Lord today with some Cedarmont Kids Pandora while having our Breakfast with the Bible time!  Yummy yogurt and fruit!  Side note... have you seen all the new flavors from Chobani?  Yummy stuff!

So let's talk picture books.  I'm excited to share some of the activities we did this week as we read our ocean books!  If you missed it, you can see all the books we read here.  This week's activities tied back to our memory verse.  You can find the printable posters here!  I do so love when everything fits together so nicely!

You rule over the story seas.  When its waves rise up, you calm them down.  

Psalm 89:9 NIrV

Really, any ocean book would work for this, but we love some Froggy around here!  He's just silly and deserves a lot of grace (don't we all) which lends itself to some really great conversations.  Because we love him, we naturally read this book multiple times throughout the week. 

Froggy Goes to Hawaii

For an art extension, we made did some sensory painting and made puffer fish!  Baby Boy had these bumpy balls, so we rolled them in some paint and made some spiky fish.  The original version I saw here was super cute!  She used wax paper for the fins and cut out some eyes from construction paper.  I'm going to be honest with all of you and just let you know up front that mine did not turn out nearly so fancy.

The boys started out all nice and sweet... until Baby Boy tried to poke Little Man in the face with a paint-covered finger.

Then he wasn't so sure what to do with said paint-covered finger.

I did eventually get them to actually paint.  

We let them dry and then they were in a hurry to run around like crazy monkeys get tucked sweetly into bed, so we just used a Sharpie to draw the eyes and fins.  It's all about the process and not the product, right?

For our Biblical extension activity, I wanted to tie in prayer since we've been working so intentionally lately.  Little Man especially has been dealing with some pretty big stressors over the past few weeks. We talked about how our God is bigger than all of those stressors.  He calmed the stormy sea and He can calm the waves in our lives.  

I had Little Man name a few of the "waves" going on right now.  Friendships, life changes, health, shifting schedules... waves.  With each wave, he would shake up the ocean wave sensory bottle.  

Slowly, we asked God to calm each of those waves.  And then we thanked Him for the many, many waves He has already calmed and has calmed without our even knowing.  

While many of our sensory bottles end up in Baby Boy's basket, this one went into our "Calm Down Basket."  Sometimes we just need that visual reminder that our God is the Almighty.  Even the waves and wind know to calm themselves before Him.  And I am so thankful.

Have a fantastic and wonderful week, friends!  Have you followed us on Bloglovin yet?  We have a new book list coming out for you tomorrow for What We're Reading Wednesday!

Biblical Extension Acitivities for "A Bad Case of Stripes"

It's Wednesday, so it's time to share another installment of "What We're Reading Wednesday!"  Today I have an old favorite.  Little Man went through a phase when he asked for this story every single night.  It's a good one though, with a great message, so I'm glad he enjoyed it!

Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she knows her friends don't.  She tries to hide the fact that she likes them because she doesn't want them to laugh at her.  :(  What happens when we worry too much about what other people think of us?  Camilla had to find out the hard way!

After the story, we had a short discussion about why we are special.  Little Man went straight the answer I wanted to hear.  "Because God make us special, Mommy!"  Exactly.  I asked him how Camilla was special.  She likes lima beans.  She has curly hair.  She's an only child.  All of it works.  Then, I asked him (if Camilla was a real person), would God have given her all these special qualities.  Of course.  So what special qualities did God give us?  Prepare yourself to hear some super cute responses from your little one!  :)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  

Psalm 139:14

For our extension activity, we gave ourselves stripes!  Instead of painting our faces (which could have been lots of fun), we made our stripes on paper.  I asked Little Man to help me come up with ways that God made everyone in our family special.  I loved his responses!  Considering one for his brother, Baby Boy, is "spit-up machine" (something he genuinely says almost nightly during prayers now), I wonder if I should have asked him about the dogs.  I can only begin to imagine the things he would have said!  I ended up hanging the boys' stripes on the bathroom mirror next to the memory verse (dry erase marker).  As we get ready each morning, I hope to have a quick chat about other things that make us special.  

We also tried making 3D hand tracings, but it was a little too difficult for Little Man.  He ended up losing interest pretty quickly, so I didn't force it.  If you have a patient one, I do encourage trying it.  Some great conversations about uniqueness could come from it!  

I also had an idea after we finished our activity that I might try in the future.  If I do, I'll add it to this page!  We could have easily made acrostic poems using our names and special words to describe ourselves.  If you want a literacy tie-in, there you go!  :)  

Tell me, have you read this book?  What extension activities have you tried?

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What We're Reading Wednesday ~ If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

I LOVE Laura Numeroff’s “If You Give…” series!  So does my Little Man and I can pretty much guarantee that Baby Boy will as well… especially if I have any say in the matter.  I also love busy bags.  I make them often and we take them everywhere.

Today I want to share a super simple beginning sounds busy bag I made for If You Give a Mouse aCookie.  All you’ll need is a template for a blank cookie jar (several copies), scissors, glue, brown construction paper (maybe a marker if you want to add chocolate chips), and some magazines. 

I picked some letters that I was working on with Little Man at the time.  I wrote each of the letters on one of the cookie jars and then I got down to searching… and by searching I mean I spent an hour reading magazines and cutting out random pictures as I noticed them.  Multitasking at it’s finest!  Add the pictures to the cookies and then let your little one start sorting! 

With this particular busy bag, the activity can be so easily changed to fit the level of your littles.  Think about it … beginning sounds, environmental print letters, upper and lower case matching, sight word sorting, etc. 

With all that said, how do you use busy bags?  Again, we take ours everywhere, but Little Man’s favorite is to toss one in a bag when we go to dinner.  He’ll play the entire time we’re waiting to be seated or waiting for food.  I love that it keeps him occupied so The Husband and I can have some adult conversation, but he’s also getting some good skill practice in!  This makes my mommy heart and my teacher heart super happy!  

Where do you use busy bags?  Comment below and give me some ideas!

I'm linking up at Teaching Mama, I Heart Naptime,  Teach Mentor Texts and 1+1+1=1!

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