Picnic Week

 We have had such a great week!  I wanted to share a few things that we did at home and some cute ideas that the boys worked on at school.  We've been having picnic week.  I decided that was the perfect theme for this week because we've been talking about the different seasons and how fall is coming soon. We're taking this week and next week to say "goodbye to summer" and "hello to fall." Also my boys have a huge fascination with ants.  Not only do they get as close as possible to ants that are crawling along cracks in the sidewalk, they also think it's fun to observe them in ant piles.  I gave them each a magnifying glass earlier this summer, and they have loved using it in the backyard to "explore."  We treated our yard so that there would be any ant piles back there, but there are still plenty of bugs and insects to "spy" as they call it.  Here are a few of my favorite projects. . .

We started the week off with a "cookies and milk" picnic.   We talked about what you can do on a picnic, what you eat, and fun places to have a picnic.  I showed the boys this giant ant (from Dollar Tree) which grows when its placed in water.  We observed the parts, legs, and features of it.  This was fascinating to the boys.  They could not stop touching it.  I should have gotten two of them because it seemed impossible for them to take turns with it.                                



Inside a little picnic basket, I placed some books about picnics, ants, and cooking!  The boys enjoyed browsing through these during the week. We read most of them together. They were a mixture of fiction and non-fiction.  I am amazed how many questions they asked about ants.  Do they sleep?  What do they eat?  Do they drink water?  They were coming up with some great questions.  We used books and the internet to find out lots of information about ants.




These are some of the projects that we worked on.  My little Sol is working on naming the sounds of each letter of the alphabet so the letter a with the ants and apple were perfect for him!  We also talked about the beginning part of "ant" which has the word "an" in it.  The boys loved making the picnic blanket, watermelon, cookie, and ant. Tomorrow we will add a picnic basket craft to hold all of their "picnic goodies."

I am so proud of the progress that my big guy has made with scissors. At the beginning of the summer he had only used scissors a few times and struggled with using those muscles.  Now he is doing a great job, and his fingers are so much stronger!  I am a huge fan of directional art, torn paper projects, and painting.  All of those activities help little fingers get strong!

Tomorrow we're having a picnic with some friends to finish off the week.  Picnic week has made saying "goodbye" to summer a little bit easier.  Next week will be island/Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Week and we have lots to do!





At school this week the boys had a great time with construction on Tuesday.  The book of the day was "Jack's House."  I loved the house that Christian made.  The picture doesn't really do it justice because it has a backyard with a cute little tree in it and about a thousand windows!








Today was "Sloppy Joe" day at school so the boys got to dress in sloppy clothes and get messy!  The book of the day was "Sloppy Joe" by Dave Keane. Solomon made a masterpiece with fingerpaint, and Christian's class headed in the opposite direction as they made their own "feather duster!"

I love the handprint "signature" at the bottom.
We'll probably frame this one.  His teachers said he really really enjoyed getting messy and exploring the texture of the paint!                                            

                                                                                          I'm not sure how much dusting this will do, but I know Christian will want to try it out the next time he sees me dusting!  We make a lot of projects and crafts each week, and I'm sure I'll continue to get lots of cute things from school.  This year I had a great idea for all of these wonderful art projects. I want the boys to know that their work is priceless and so valuable.  I also want their  hard work and their creativity to be recognized so this year we are opening up an "art gallery."  On their birthdays, we will gather all of their art projects and invite family and friends to make a "purchase."  Half of the proceeds will go to a charity of their choice and the other half to their college fund.  I have a copy of all of the projects in digital format so I can always keep them close!  If I really really love something that I want to keep forever, I'll make a big deal out of it and purchase it from their gallery.  Ofcourse their cards, letters, and gifts for me and Mr. Perry will be treasured and will not be in the art gallery.  I love the idea of passing their work on to friends and family members! 

This is what Christian wrote in his journal today. . .isn't it sad?  We started with 5 fish about three weeks ago, and now we have one!  Bobby is the one we originally started with, and he has outlived the rest of his friends.  Christian looked in the tank today and asked, "WHERE are the REST of the fish?"  He knew that one of two of them didn't make it, but he didn't know that only Bobby was remaining.  Tomorrow we're heading back to PetCo to get a few more.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.  Maybe we're just not meant to have any pets right now!