Summer of Storytime Fun - Dinosaurumpus

By: Tony Mitton  

Theme & tie to book	Activity	Details
Trip	Dinosaur  Park	Dinosaur fruit snacks
Sensory and counting	Dino Dig	Dig for toy dinosaurs in sand or homemade playdough
Meal-	MTM- Lunch	Dinosaur Eggs (meatballs, cherry tomatoes or grapes) in a Nest (shredded lettuce) Dino Nuggets dino cheese sandwich cadbury mini eggs watermelon mountains
Art & Sensory	Paper Mache Dino Egg
Science & Snack	Bake Dino Bone & Egg Sugar Cookies	Use measuring and counting skills to mix and bake sugar cookies.
Links for more ideas	Dino Eggs Oatmeal

Measure up- Yardstick Projects

 

I am in the process of collecting vintage yardsticks. Here are some of the fun ideas I have come across:


Yardstick clad tables

Country Living

Reclaimed Crafts

Patina White

Yardstick Stair Tread-

Poppy Talk

Funky Junk Interiors

Yardstick Stars-  I could totally see these as part of my Christmas decor!

Mamie Janes

 

Mamie Janes

Lampshades

Roostliving

A Beautiful Mess

Sunburst Mirrors

 Budget Wise Home

 Craft Gossip

Frugal Decor Mom

Summer of Storytime Fun - Giggle, Giggle, Quack

By Doreen Cronin

 Lunch

Theme & tie to book	Activity	Details
Reading	Watch story video	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfontHcnZ_s&feature=related
Meal	Fun Lunch	Farmhouse sandwich with white bread bottom and wheat bread roof,  pretzel square window;  pretzel rod tree with broccoli top;  lunchmeat grass; Garden plot: pudding with cookie crumbs, green licorice plants. Duck pick: printed and cut out from internet search,  surrounded by petite celery sticks . baby carrots, and dill dip.
Meal, Days of the week recognition	Pizza Night (Tuesday)	Order pizza for dinner
Bubble Bath Sensory activity Day of week	Take a bubble bath or give toys a bubble bath (Wednesday)
Movie Night  Day of the week	Movie Night (Thursday)	Watch a movie with popcorn
Writing Skills	Write notes like duck	Write notes to mail out or give to someone at home.
Trip	Visit a farm	Go meet all the animals on a farm.
Links for more ideas

Summer of Storytime Fun - If You Give Pig A Party

My birthday is this week, so this book was a perfect fit.

If You Give A Pig A Party by Laura Numeroff

Theme & tie to book	Activity	Details
Number & color recognition	Coloring Activity Page	http://www.mousecookiebooks.com/activities/pdfs/pickthecorrectpig.pdf
Party & ice cream	Party
Pigs	Themed Meal	Piggy Sandwich:  open flatbread bun, w/slice of turkey face & circle of bologna nose, olive eyes and nostrils   Pig in the mud: Chocolate pudding,  1/2 pink marshmallow w/licorice tail. Fruit pick:  bananas and kiwi on plastic pick with paper pig topper made on silhouette machine. Watermelon pig: slice of watermelon with impression from vintage cookie cutter.
Activity	Hide and Seek	Play Hide and Seek
Activity	Blanket fort & Sleepover	Build a blanket fort and sleep in it!
	Online Matching Game	http://www.mousecookiebooks.com/games/matching/
Links for more ideas	http://geekettebits.com/for-kids-parents-educators/if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie-laura-numeroff-felicia-bond-activities/ http://www.bakingandboys.com/2009/05/z-for-zebra-cookies-and-p-for-pig.html  http://cuteyummytime.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/cute-piggy-bentos-teddy-bear-breads-kids-school-lunches/

Summer of Storytime Fun

I bumped into my neighbor at the grocery store today.  We chatted about our summer plans.  Me: swimming lessons and speech class.  Her:  She is thrilled to be finished working away from home and she and her kids will be living up their time together.  She mentioned field-trip Fridays as one example. That got me thinking. Why don't we do something fun daily each week centered around a storybook.  (inspired by this post over at Oopsey-Daisey- she will be posting a new theme every Friday.)

School gets out this week, so next week the fun will begin.  We will pick one storybook a week, read it, and then each weekday we will do some activity that fits the theme of the story.  I am going to try to integrate a field trip of some sort every week, as well as a fun themed lunch.  The other days will have an art, math, or science learning activity.   I will try to post them as soon as they are planned.  If I wait till we do it all and take pictures, things could get pretty behind! Stay tuned to see how it all plays out!

Baby "Shower"

We held a baby shower for my sister-in-law last weekend.  I put my silhouette machine to work.  Thanks to my wonderful mother and sisters-in-law who made it happen. (And if you girls have any pictures of the whole patio, I didn't get one in all the stir! Send it over and I'll add it.)

This is the entry to the patio,

Guests signed in by leaving their advice for the Mommy-to-be.

The buffet table:

It was a little breezy- the raindrops dangled and twirled- they looked great, the photos don't really do them justice.

 
Little cloud picks in the sandwiches.

Thanks for "dropping" by!

Creative kid's lunches

Little Miss S was talking about getting to eat lunch at school next year.  She is under the impression she can try the hot lunch every day and bring a backup cold lunch in case she doesn't like it.  I am inspired to find some creative cold lunch options for her.

I love the ideas served up by Kristen over at Cookie Cutter Lunch. 

We'll have to give some of her ideas a try this summer.   Here are links from the store where she buys her containers.  There are tons of mommy bloggers making bento style lunches.


Check out cutefoodforkids for tons of cute ideas, including this one little Miss T just called "hungry birds."  Appropriate, no?

Check out these other fun ideas:
MuffinTinMom
 
AnotherLunch
 
What's for Lunch at our house
 
Kitchen fun with my 3 sons

School Lunch ideas .comFamily Fun has some great ideas, including this one for a sandwich on a stick.




I also remember the idea to collect cute and fun paper napkins to tuck into school lunches.  And with that writing notes on the napkin from time to time.