When I was a little girl, I loved my paper dolls. I played with them a lot but luckily I took very good care of them so they have survived to be used today! I recently did a post on decorating with sentimental things. My paper dolls are very sentimental so I have used some of them in my decor. I had a set of paper dolls that were a wedding party. I had 2 old frames that I took apart, using just one frame and the glass from both frames, and I sandwiched the dolls between the glass. I framed the dolls as they were (in their undies) and added an outfit next to each doll. I didn't do that great of a job with my framing...you can see the wire and the points.But, it's so cute you don't really notice. I'll get around to fixing it someday (maybe). I hung this picture in one of my hallways with other art that I love, most of which was done by people I know or me... In the picture above, the painting of the woman blowing in the seashell was done by my friend, Kimbo (I've mentioned her before and I'm sure I will again). The painting of the sailboats and the Statue of Liberty was done by our nephew, Aaron. In this photo, the old truck was painted by me. The abstract underneath the truck was painted by my daughter, Carrie. The bird underneath the abstract was done by my son, John. The large painting of the blue bird was done by my friend, Michelle, and given to me for my birthday last year. The photo of the porch with the rocking chairs was taken by my brother, Gary (also a birthday gift). I bought the pig painting...I like pigs. My family used to be in the BBQ business. My friend, Karen, gave me the large oil painting of flowers in a pitcher. It was one of her thrift store finds and the bright colors are much more me than her...So, lucky me!!! I am so blessed to have so many talented (and generous) people around me! If your children have something that they adore, hang on to it. It might mean as much, or more, to them when they are grown as it does when they are little.

I've made progress in my "One Year to More Organized Photos" project and this week I want to share what I've done with organizing our printed photos.

When a client asks me to design their bedroom, I usually find they want it to feel like a relaxing retreat. Paint color plays a big part of that. Today, I’d like to share with you the best paint colors for a calm and serene bedroom.

I've always been a big fan of zoos. Even before I had kids, I visited zoos on a somewhat regular basis. Seeing such "exotic" animals out of books and so close is something rather special. I'm still hoping to see some of these zoo animals in their real habitat while we're so close to Africa. We've been talking about going to either Tanzania or Kenya (South Africa is a LONG flight away) but these countries have both been a bit unstable lately. Hopefully, it will all get better soon, both for these countries and for my safari wishes! :) Lion Paper Plate Craft - Fine Motor Skills & Art Fine Motor Skills? Where, you may ask? Well, if you look closer, the mane of the lion has been scissor cut. Yes! Adrian is finally "making the cut"! :) I found a perfect pair of scissors that makes it manageable for him to cut. I still have to hold the material he is cutting but he is now able to cut instead of simply crease/fold the paper. I used a dinner plate to make this lion so cutting all around was long but he managed. The cutting was the first step. We then painted the face in yellow and then the mane in orange. Our plate had a slight bevel so I showed Adrian to use that as a "face" guideline to know when face and mane started/stopped. Once everything was dried, Adrian glued on the goggly eyes and the pre-cut nose/mouth. Idea credit: Preschool Corner. I spy on this Zoo Map - A Literacy Adventure Curiously, we do not play a lot of "I Spy" games over here. I guess it's one of those "too obvious" games that gets forgotten. I know some people have done versions with bottles, others with booklets and here I am presenting you a version with a zoo map. A San Diego Zoo Map to be precise. I downloaded it straight from their website. It is busy enough to make it challenging for a 4.5 years old yet not too difficult for one to give up depending on which animals you are looking for. Here are the ones my little eye was spying on... -a panda -an elephant -a tiger -a gorilla -a lion Adrian had no trouble finding them. I'm not saying it didn't take him a few seconds but he found them without needing any hints and without losing too much time/patience. As a bonus, I also asked him to find a white arctic fox and that was definitely a good bonus. It took him a long time but he finally did. Will you find it? Water basin temperature matching aka Thermic "bottles" Sometime during the primary years, the thermic bottles are presented to the children attending Montessori schools. I still hadn't done any thermic activities with Adrian and thought I might just be able to slip the "thermic bottles" in the zoo unit with a little variation: instead of using the bottles, I'd used budget-friendly glasses. As this was our first time doing this type of activity, I also decided to do only three different temperatures instead of the usual four. It also worked better for my zoo scenario. One cup was 37 degrees, one was 17 degrees and the last one was about 7 degrees (all Celsius). I explained to Adrian that each of these cups contained the perfect water temperature for an animal living at the zoo except for one that would be perfect for the people visiting the zoo instead. I told him his first job was to match the water cups by temperature and so he did with no problem. I then asked him to organize them from coldest to warmest. We discussed which felt most comfortable to him; which cup he'd rather take a bath in. He pointed to the 37 degree cup and I told him it was the water basin for the visitors of the zoo. I then showed him a picture of the penguins and asked him which water he thought they might prefer. He pointed to the coldest saying penguins like snow and ice. And that left us with the middle cup which is I explained was the perfect temperature for the dolphins. How Many Fleas on the Back of this Monkey? Have you ever noticed monkeys at the zoo? They spent quite a bit of time looking for parasites into each other's fur. My son thought it was funny, especially when they'd find one and would eat it. I therefore dedicate this activity to him! :) I printed pictures of various monkeys and drew tiny specks with a black pen to represent "fleas". I tried to put them in the darker areas of the monkeys to make it more difficult. I then added a magnifying glass to the tray (first time using one for Adrian) and we were off to find and count fleas. It was indeed very fun. Adrian loved the magnifying glass and I am planning on including it some more later. Magnifying Fleas Sweeping a Zebra Enclosure Adrian is, generally speaking, no fond of the sweeping activities. They are quite traditional in the Montessori schools and I try to make them fun but until now, they had never been caught Adrian's interest. I am so glad he liked this one. I used Panko bread crumbs, a paintbrush and put a zebra figure in the crumbs. I explained that the zookeeper was quite busy that day at the zoo and that it would be helpful as assistant-zookeeper if he could clean the enclosure himself by sweeping all the crumbs to one side. He would also have to move the zebra to make sure no crumbs remained under the animal. Mission accomplished! In the Process of Getting Mr. Zebra's Enclosure Clean Matching Labels to Zoo Fur Samples When I thought about the zoo unit curriculum, I immediately knew I'd want to have Adrian match a picture of the zoo animal and a part of their fur/feathers and such. Unfortunately for me, the only place I could remember having these patterns on "paper" were Michael's stores (which is nowhere around here) Thankfully for me, TPTB had the same idea and I guess didn't have access to these sheets either! :) So I printed her work and used those instead with the labels as a literacy practice (Adrian can "read" by first letter and from then on can match to the fur card). Needless to say, I'm still wanting my "real" furry sheets for when little Zahavah gets to his activity but for now, I settled... *sigh* Zoo Quiz Every so often I prepare a little quiz for Adrian. I think last time I did one was in the fall and was about farm animals. This time, I made one about zoo animals. Only five questions with three hints, each getting easier. Adrian got all the answers and loved the quiz overall. Question 1. Hint 1. I have a blue-purple tongue. Hint 2. I am the tallest zoo animal. Hint 3. I am yellow and brown like a ripe banana. Question 2. Hint 1. I cannot walk backwards. Hint 2. I carry my joey baby in my front pouch. Hint 3. I'm from Australia and love to hop (hop). Question 3. Hint 1. I am a bird but have no wings; instead I have flippers and love to swim. Hint 2. I live in Antarctica. Hint 3. I am mostly black and white and waddle like this (waddle). Question 4. Hint 1. I stand up to sleep. Hint 2. My name was Marty in the movie Madagascar. Hint 3. I look like a black and white striped horse. Question 5. Hint 1. I am the biggest zoo animal. Hint 2. I use my tusks to find food and water. Hint 3. My long trunk helps me pick up food. * * * Sequence for Kids What? No picture? Nope! We did not get to play. But we will on one of these rainy days! :) If you haven't yet, you should get your own board. Sequence for Kids is GREAT. Adrian and I both love it and it features zoo animals. It fitted this week's theme perfectly but time was short and this was obviously not a priority on my list. Zoo Enclosures with Blocks & Tape Measure No way! Yet another thing we did not get to do! What is going on? Well, little Zahavah is growing up. As such, her nap time is being cut back and it is eating away at our school time. I guess I also had planned more activities than less or maybe we just took more time than I thought we would on certain activities. Anyhow, I had planned on having Adrian build zoo enclosures with wooden blocks. These enclosures would have been for our Jumbo Zoo Animals made by Learning Resources and I would have provided "dimensions" and a measuring tape for the activity. Let's see if we can recycle this activity in another weekly theme... Zoo Map continents Hmm. Well, this one stayed "off the map" as well. I had originally planned on "making" a sandpaper globe and have a guessing game of where the zoo animals originally came from. I had planned on having 1-2 animals representing each continent. Maybe I'll just get to it later, like over the summer or something. Here are the animals I had picked : Asia: Tiger & Panda Australia: Kangaroo & Koala Europe: Chamois Africa: Giraffe & Gorilla North America: American Buffalo South America: Llama Antarctica: Penguins * * * Today, I'm happily linking up to: Living Montessori Now, B-Inspired Mama, I can Teach my Child, Sugar Aunts, Teach Beside Me, Golden Grasses, No Time for Flashcards, True Aim Education, Hey Mommy Chocolate Milk, Chicken Babies, Life with Moore Babies, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Here Comes the Girls, Inspiration Laboratories, The Iowa Farmer's Wife, Discover and Explore, Train Up a Child and If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!