Ponds and Chalkboards

Over the past couple weeks, Ben and I have been working on a unit about ponds. I wanted to continue doing some different "school" things with Ben this year, like I did last year with choosing a letter for each week. I found a really great website that has theme units (with printables) already put together. It is 1+1+1=1 and I used one of the "preschool packs." We did lots more things than I took pictures of, like writing activities and games, but the pics give you an idea of what we've been up to. I added some crafts and snacks to make it a little more fun. Up next...a Cars theme. I'm sure Ben will be pumped about that one!

I hung a few of the activities on Ben's art wire. I think the turtle he made is especially cute.

 I made fish, dragonfly, and turtle finger jello.

 For one of the art projects, I cut out a turtle and fish shape for Ben. Then I used contact paper over one side to make a sticky surface. He placed pieces of felt on the sticky part and when he was done with his design I covered that side with a little more contact paper.

 Cool window suncatchers!

 One of the afternoons, I made frogs with Oreos, pretzels, M&M's, and frosting. Not a healthy treat, but certainly delicious! :)

 Eating up his frogs.

This past weekend, Curt and I got another project that I've been wanting done underway. There was an empty space in the basement that I thought would be great for a chalkboard. So, after a trip to Home Depot on Saturday, we taped off an area and put on a couple layers of chalkboard paint. Then, Curt cut and painted the trim. After everything was dry, Curt put up the trim. I want to add a couple of metal buckets for the chalk and erasers, but I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for yet. For now we just have that stuff in a plastic container in the closet.

 The complete chalkboard. Ben really wanted the trim to be red. We picked out a "Colonial" red so that it wasn't super bright and I am really pleased with the results. The chalkboard paint said to wait three days before using chalk on it. Then I had to rub chalk all over it and erase before using it the first time.

Today was the first day Ben got to try out the chalkboard. He is busy drawing a race car. :)