Bumblebee Bumblebee

A few quick little bumblebee crafts for today!

Getting Braden's foot ready with a yellow stamp pad

Footprint!

Bumblebee

Fingerprint bees & a hive

Working very hard on his masterpiece!

The week went quickly and we didn't get to many of our planned projects, but we had fun!

Fun with Pom Poms

As I mentioned before we were a little late getting started with the Flowers & Bumblebee week.  On Wednesday during nap time I worked on putting together a magnetic pom pom activity.  It is definitely one of my favorite activities so far, and something that Braden can use many times.  

First I found the free alphabet prints here, then I used crazy glue to attach pieces of magnetic tape to the bottom of medium sized pom poms of all different colors.  To start I only picked out the prints I knew I was going to use (A to start off small, B for Bumblee & F for Flower) and only made the pom poms I needed for those.  I will have to go back later and make more for the rest of the prints.  

After dinner I brought the 4 prints I was going to use, the cookie sheet & the pom poms into the living room.  I started with the letter A, because it was very simple.  I then pulled out 3 black & 3 red pom poms and placed everything in front of Braden.  I started by showing him how & where the pom poms go.  He was able to figure it out very quickly.  

Figuring out how to do the activity

Red pom poms

Finishing up the ants

Then we went on to do some of the other letters.  I had F for Flowers (although the picture is a fish) and B for Bumblebee (picture of balloons).  Braden had so much fun with the balloon page and finished it really quickly.  

B for Balloons

Finishing up the Bb page

When he was finished with a page he just kept saying & signing "more", so we kept going (not in order of course).  Once we got to the letter Kk (the 4th card) he started to get silly and place the pom poms anywhere.  

**I will upload the video soon (it is on the other computer).  

So, I decided it was probably time to move onto a different activity.  So, we went into the kitchen and made a handprint flower.  

Lining up all of the paints

Handprints!

Completed flower - Braden chose the colors!

Gardening Sensory Box

We started things off a little late this week.  After being away for a week we had a few errands & appointments on Monday, so we didn't get any crafts/projects completed.  But, we started fresh on Tuesday with our Flowers & Bumblebee week.  

We started by putting together a sensory bin.  I used black beans, because I thought that dirt would be a little too messy.  Then added a a watering can, fake flowers & gardening tools to the box.  He had fun pretending to smell the flowers & shoveling the "dirt" into the water can.  I searched all week for some type of bumblebee to add to the collection, but had no luck!

Mmmm, smelling the flowers

Watering can

Flower mom?

Theme: Flowers & Bumblebees

May 20 - May 26

Crafts/Activities:

Bumblebee Footprint

Egg Carton Flower Stamps
Bumblebee Thumbprints
Flower Handprints
Cookie Cutter Painting

Sensory/Discovery:

Sensory Bin - "dirt", flowers & gardening tools
Lacing activity - from our Busy Bag Playdate
Flower Match
Magnetic Pom Pom sheets

Snacks:
Cucumber Flower
Grapes & Apple flowers
Banana Pretzel Bees

Alphabet:

F - Flowers,  B - Bumblebee  G - Garden

Books:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Giving Tree
Go Green
Tiny Seed

Play Dough Mats

I'm a little behind on the blogging, but have plenty of pictures and activities to post soon.  This post wraps up our Farm week.  Mike, Braden, Sage & I left on Friday to go to Littleton for the week.  On my way south I stopped at the Biddeford Staples to pick up some Play Dough Mats that I had laminated.  I had found them on Etsy and thought they might be a fun activity relating to our theme.  

Getting used to the play dough

Duck using the orange play dough

Some of the other mats - there were 11 total

He didn't play with them for very long - I think he will have more fun with them when he is a little bit older!

EIEIO

On Thursday, I put together a little bag of props to go along with the song Old MacDonald Had a Farm.  Braden sat at the table and colored for a little bit, while I put it together.  

Here is a cute little video of Braden playing around with the animal cards before we started singing the song.  

Then we went into the living room and I sang the Old MacDonald song.  Each time I had Braden reach into the bag and pull out one animal card.  He clearly liked this activity, because he kept saying "again" when we were finished.  By the end Braden was singing along to the EIEIO part.  

Farm Sensory Box

While Braden was napping I put together a farm sensory bin.  I found some popcorn kernels and filled the box, then added the farm animals and tractor that I had found at Iparty.  I think that the farm sensory box may be one of my favorites!  Braden and a lot of fun with it as well.  

Opening up the box

Hmmm, what do we have here?

Sage exploring as well

Smiling Hill Farm

Smiling Hill Farm opened for the season this past weekend.  I knew I wanted to take Braden sometime this week.  This morning we had music class, ran a few quick errands and on our way home we were driving by so I decided to stop in and check it out.  The rest of the week looks like it is going to be rainy, so it worked out great.

Last year they opened up in April - it was a bit chilly and some of the animals were unavailable.  This year they were doing some renovations and decided to open a bit later.  I really like the improvements that they made to the barnyard, which included a few more play structures and a little tractor play area.  Fortunately, this year Braden did not end up getting pooped on by any of the animals (there were no baby calves today or any cows for that matter).  

Braden had fun and of course was not happy about leaving!

Climbing inside the tractor

New tractor structure

Barn

Driving the truck

Would not come any closer to look at the birds

Llamas

Petting area - goats

At this point he wanted to be "up, up, up", especially near the sheep

Afraid of the sheep

Cute baby goats

Mini Horses

Riding the tractor

Enjoying lunch on the tractor

Afterwards Braden and I headed inside and shared a small vanilla ice cream!  Yum!

All afternoon he kept saying "cows, cows...".  Unfortunately, the cows were not out today - supposedly they should be around soon.  We will definitely go back again, because I purchased a deal on LivingsSocial for admission & feeding tokens (just didn't have it with me when we stopped in today on the way home from music).  

Then tonight after dinner Braden and I worked on a little cow craft.  I decided it would be a good night for that, because we didn't end up seeing any at the farm.  

**Don't mind the 22 month shirt - we've had it out for the last 2 days and finally took the pictures! **

Helping with the glue

Glues is fun, as long as I don't touch it! 

Patting the spots down

Cow

Holding it up and saying "moooo"