Olympic t-shirts

Since deciding to stay at home with our children a year ago, I find that I truly miss the back to school season.As crazy as it may sound to some,  I miss setting up my classroom and all of the excitement of the new year. Although I am so thankful to be staying at home with my children during this phase in their lives  and wouldn't trade it for anything--- I, also, miss teaching!  I see opportunities everyone to teach, explain and explore with my kids. This Friday our toddler book club is going to be learning about the Olympics. Throughout the week I will be posting about the many activities we will be using! One of the fun things we will be trying for the first time is tie dying! 

Yesterday, the boys and I went out in a torrential down pour in search of t-shirts and liquid dye. It turned out to be a good excuse to play in the rain and get our supplies.

We ended up with two 8 oz bottles of dye for $3.99 a piece. One Scarlet and one Royal Blue. I googled for a refresher video on how to tie the shirt with rubberbands for different patterns.

This video helped refresh my memory on what exactly to do...

Then, I found t-shirts on sale for $2.99a piece! Don't forget to wash your t-shirts first when tie dying.

Finally, I purchased Tulip brand t-shirt paint in the colors of the olympic medals. I thought they were a little pricy ($1.50 per bottle for 1 oz)

Originally, I had planed to use jar tops to stamp the rings on the t-shirts from an idea I found on Pinterest. It was really hard for my 3 year old. So, I started looking around my kitchen to see what else would work. I started thinking about preschool vegetable stamping and decided to see what would happen with fruit! We cut up an apple and got started!!

Apple Stamping                               Jar lid stamping

With the jar lids being so narrow it was hard for Noah's developing fine motor skills to hold the lid steady enough to stamp. However, the apples were much easier. At first I thought about how I would cut out the middle and finally realized it would be easier to just paint the outside ring.

Step 1. Paint the blue ring on apple. Stamp on t-shirt. Remove apple.

Step 2. Repeat with all olympic colors. (Please note that each t-shirt you make, you will need to repaint your "stamp" apple a fresh coat of paint.

I decided to go ahead and paint the rings on the book club t-shirts so on Friday the shirts will be ready to tie dye! Friday the mommy's will be helping their little ones rubberband the  shirts and then we will be tie dying our olympic shirts! Check back to see the finished product!

For the two babies in the group....I made thumbprint Olympic rings. :)

I let the shirts dry overnight. Then, the I put the rubber bands on. Today I tested out tie dying (before I do it with the kids). Let's just say I could use a little  practice :). However, the shirt still is very "patriotic"! Haha! Here is to getting better before Friday. Check back later this week to see how the kids shirts turn out!


Well.....

My red, white and blue tie dye turned into purple. I guess I didn't watch my refresher video as closely as I should have! As we did in the classroom...monitor and adjust. Tie dying with 3 year olds will probably produce more purple shirts. So, we will stamp the backs! This time we are going to use a potato to make an Olympic torch!

I cut the potato into two sections (one for the black flame holder and one for the actual flame).

Jack the Builder, by Stuart J. Murphy

While teaching first and second grade over the years, I fell in love with Stuart J. Murphy's Math books. I highly recommend them for all young learners! Our three year old really enjoys how Murphy connects his concepts to real life examples that kids know about!! For example, in this story Jack the Builder, Jack uses three dimensional shapes to build things and his imagination brings his creations to life! All of Murphy's books show on the front cover what math concept the book will focus on.

 To see the level, look in the top left corner (the yellow triangle). It says, "Math Start Counting On". This book also allows for great teachable moments with 3-Dimensional shapes and making predications. It was fun to look at Jack's shape and ask Noah, what do you think his imagination is going to turn his creation into? Then we would turn the page and see!!

After reading the story, I invited the boys to build. We had a wonderful time mimicking Murphy's creations and coming up with some of our own.

I am finding with my three year old that it is so important to never underestimate his ability to learn "hard stuff". While we were playing I used the 3D shapes' names. (Sphere, cylinder, rectangular prism, cube, triangular prism, cone, etc.) He begin to use some of them without my prompting. Although his pronunciation was not always spot on he is beginning to realize that a ball is also a sphere.

       Even the little one enjoyed playing with the shapes! He decided to chew instead of build. :)

I encourage you to look for Stuart J. Murphy next time you are browsing on Amazon or at a book store! His books are incredible for introducing and reinforcing math concepts. Noah has discovered our math book basket is full of Murphy's books so I think he has picked an "Author Study" without knowing it! We will be exploring another tomorrow. Check back to see what we discover!

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes

  

Dying the noodles for our necklaces was so easy thanks to a little tip I found through Pinterest. All you need is a little food coloring and some rubbing alcohol. I put about 8 drops of food coloring in a ziploc baggy with the noodles and then a splash of rubbing alcohol.

                       Then, I poured them out onto paper plates and let them dry over night.

                                                   Let's sort colors on the light table!

 Sorting Water Beads by Color

Let's match colors and also the word to the color.  The box was a "grab box" where the kids could reach in and pull out an object and name the color of the object.  The color matching was another Pinterest inspired game!

Bingo Dot Painting - First initial

 As we read the story, Pete the Cat I love My White Shoes, each child had the colors that Pete steps in (Red, Blue, Brown and White). As we read those colors in the story, they held up their piece of construction paper that matched that color.

                                           Everyone busy at their Color Workstations!

Retelling the story of Pete the Cat using our feet!