Another Art Gallery

Do you have sliding glass doors in your house? Use Crayola window markers and draw frames on the doors. Hang your child's artwork inside the 'frames'. Easy breezy lemon squeezy plus artwork is easily changed. For other fun ideas using window markers, markers, crayons and chalk go to www.crayola.com

Art Galleries

By now you may have several pieces of your child's artwork or several hundred. We have a lot of creative hands busy everyday. The refrigerator can only hold so much artwork and then how do you preserve those precious crafts and paintings?

***Head to one of the many Goodwill stores in the area and buy some frames. Check http://www.goodwill.org/ for store locations. Paint the frames a uniform color or collect unique shapes and sizes for your display. Check out http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/display-it-709478/ for help with this project and other great display ideas.

***Do you have a glass topped table? Slip artwork underneath. Save seasonal art projects for this idea!

***Send art work in greeting cards to faraway relatives.

***Scan art and use a computer screen saver, post on your Facebook, place in a digital frame for a slide show (again great place for seasonal art).

***Use a three ring binder and plastic sleeve covers to store art.

***Pack up seasonal and holiday projects with your seasonal decorations and hang them up each year. I crack up when I get out my grown up boys old school projects. It really is such a joy to remember their childhood!

***The classic home art gallery is the refrigerator. I have many photos of my boys with lots and lots of art that did not get preserved. It is okay to throw it away. Seriously after a few years where can you store it all? The photos make us laugh because our first house came with an avocado refrigerator. We see favorite outfits they wore when they were little and we still can see the art! I wonder what they will say when they find out I posted their pictures on the school blog. Oh well, I'm still the mom :-)




Why go to all this trouble? It shows your child you value their work. The children love to create things for the family so try to create a space where your family can share their art work.

Boo at the Zoo

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate next weekend for the Peoria Zoo Howl-Zoo-Ween bash. There will be trick or treat trails, magic shows, a costume contest and many more activities for you and your family. Howl-Zoo-Ween will be held Friday, October 15th and Saturday, October 16th from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Admission is $3 for zoo members and $5 for the rest of the world. For more information go to http://www.peoriazoo.org/ Why drive hours when you can play around in Peoria?

We Are in Great Shape

Our TTh class is having fun with shapes. We learned that shapes are EVERYWHERE!

We made a craft with squares which required a lot of listening and following directions. Our circle craft was more open ended. The children could glue the circles anywhere. We started with one large circle and the circles became smaller and smaller.

We are singing a shape song and playing a shape game. Each child is given two shapes on a card (we work on square, circle, triangle, oval, rectangle and diamond). We sing the song and when they hear their shape, they stand up.

The Shape Song (Where is Thumbkin?)-

Where's a ________?

Where's a ________?

Show me now.

Show me now.

If you have a _______,

If you have a _______,

Sit back down.

Sit back down.

Want to do more? We talked about shapes are everywhere. You can point out shapes in your environment to your child. In the car, on the road, in the store and in your home-shapes are everywhere.

Band on the Run

Remember that one time at band camp? Me neither. I never went to band camp but this Saturday thirty plus marching bands from all over Illinois will be lining up to march through Metamora.

The 30th Annual Metamora Parade and Field Invitational will be held this Saturday, October 9th at Malone Field. The parade starts at 11 a.m. and will follow the MTHS homecoming parade route. If you have an aspiring musician and would like to watch the field competition, head to Malone Field at 1 p.m. Adults admission is $5 and children/students $2. There will be food and drink for purchase at the field competition. A super fun filled local event for you and your family.

Helpful hint-stay clear of the high school in the morning when buses, trucks and trailers are arriving.

Barn Dance!

Our MWF classes listened to the story 'Barn Dance!' This is one of my favorite children's books. It is written by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. Do you recognize the authors? Bill Martin Jr. wrote the 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' books with Eric Carle as the illustrator. Bill and John also wrote 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom'.

Before I read the book, we looked at the cover and the children told me what they saw. We talked about the boy, it's dark, where should that boy be, the scarecrow, what is a scarecrow's job, are they in the city or the country, what is a barn, where do you find a barn, who do you think is going to come to the dance and what do you hear at a dance. Remember the goal of reading is to engage your child in the book. Ask questions. Talk about the illustrations. Get their reaction to the story.

When we talked about hearing music at a dance, I told the children that I was not going to read them the story but sing it them. We had a blast. This is such a good book and I highly recommend it for your library. It is available at Amazon and most major book stores. I read it so many times to my boys I know the words by heart!

Perfect Playdough

This is seriously the best playdough recipe ever! I have had the recipe so long I can't even credit the person that gave it to me. With the forecast looking to cooler temperatures, it is time to look for indoor activities away from the TV for your kids and kids love playdough. This is a cooked recipe so it is an activity you can do with your children. Remember cooking with kids is fun! Seriously remember that when there is flour all over the kitchen. :-)

Playdough Recipe
(I usually double for school)

2 c. flour
1 c. salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 c. water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Food coloring

Measure the dry ingredients and put in large pan. Add liquids and heat on a medium heat. Continually stir. Mixture will start to get thick. When it gets to playdough like consistency, remove from heat. Let cool a a bit and knead. It will probably be too warm for little hands.

If the mixture is too wet add small amounts of flour or too dry add small amounts of water.

Store in a Ziploc bag or sealed container.

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We have had our playdough for over a year. When I pulled out the bag this year it was a little dry and I just added water. We love this playdough because it doesn't flake into little bits like the store bought playdough.

We provide small rolling pins, plastic knives, cookie cutters, small plates, small baking and muffin pans and lots and lots of birthday candles.

For scented playdough, add one or two packs of unsweetened Kool-aid to the dry ingredients. You can also add cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients for a yummy smell. Vanilla can be added to the wet ingredients and look in the baking aisle for other extract flavors that could be added for scent.