Month: January 2010

k is for kansas

| || kristin ||

kansas turns 149 today (and no, i did not stay up until midnight to post this…i usually do a bunch of posts and schedule them for later).

butter time

our  kansas celebrations this week include making butter to eating zweiback brought by families.  its such a simple process, i don’t know why i don’t do it more often.

we used fancy local cream that came in a glass bottle, poured it in another jar and shook, shook, shook.

butter time

butter time

suddenly you hear a thunk, thunk, thunk and you know the butter is flopping around in there!

butter time

we sang happy birthday by “candlelight” (thanks for the inspiration, tom!) and enjoyed our feast.

butter timebutter timebutter time

it’s been a cozy week.

s is for sunflower

| || kristin ||

sunflowers

all i could find was a slightly neon-toned yellow paper.  we put out yellow crayons and pens to soften the color a bit.

sunflowers

then snowflake style, we offered the preschoolers a paper folded in fourths with one petal shape drawn on.

sunflowers

some thought they worked better as airplanes.

sunflowers

then gluing them around a center and adding an O shape for the middle with a cardboard stem.

sunflowers

our state flower!

w is for wind

| || kristin ||

i was in charge of an intergenerational sunday school time on the topic of the holy spirit.  we made these wind catchers to demonstrate that even if you can’t see the wind, you know it is there because the fabric moves.  with church and preschool sharing space, we share these now too.

spirit

the children are surrounded by streams of color that move with every passerby.

spirit

i am surrounded by the reminder that goodness and peace are moving with us.

spirit

p.s.  to make one you need a panel from old wire shelving units and about 20 thrifted scarves. : )

n is for nut buddy

| || kristin ||

totally crafty.

nut buddies

totally not child-centered (all they did was choose a nut with eyes already hot glued on and an acorn cap for the teacher to glue on).

nut buddies

except for the moment they carry their nut buddy around the room and it enters their play.

nut buddy