Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Mom's Library (#18 for me)



Welcome to Mom's Library!


Filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, devotionals, crafts, recipes, and more!
Check back again and again to see the new posts!


 If you enjoy the link party, please follow Life with Moore Babies by email or RSS feed.

You can also follow us on FacebookGoogle +Twitter, or Pinterest!


My Stick(y) Features This Week! 



My Nearest and Dearest has a lovely and simple craft for little ones using sticks!



What Happens at Grandma's has a colorful idea for the stick loving kids out there.



Buggy and Buddy shows us how to stick a pencil through a bag of water (without a mess)!


If I have featured you please feel free to grab my featured button!

For more great features visit my fellow Librarian (Please follow them too!): True Aim Education 

Want to see all the great posts added last week? Click HERE to see the whole collection!

Want to see even more featured posts? Follow the Mom's Library Pinterest Board!


Would you like to Participate?


If you are new and would like to link up please checkout the Mom's Library Page.Support your fellow bloggers and comment on at least 2 other links.

Thank you for participating; we love to see your ideas! Please grab the button and share!


parents as teachers

*By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website.








Monday, April 29, 2013

M is for Mechanic

Our second Community Helper for M is Mechanic! To start with we went over different parts of a car. We found some great sheets on Twinkl where you label the parts of a car. (I did make my own list since we name things a bit different here in the states).


Then I got out a big box and let them paint it like a car. They added tires, wheels, controls on the dash,  a number, and a happy face, of course. Once it was dry I told them they could play in it, but they didn't want to. They just wanted to pretend to fix it with their little tool set, so off they went to get their tools and be Mechanics!


They decided on Number 11.

And the dashboard they painted.

After watching them saw, hammer, and drill their pretend car, I got out play dough; with the play dough they could really see how the tools worked.




They learned a little about cars and tools although I think they were most interested in the play dough. I do have a feeling that this will be a lot more fun when Eli gets a little older. After all he is already very into "vrooms!"

Leadership in Agriculture


In a world facing chronic and increasing shortages in food crops and natural resources, visionary leadership in agriculture becomes more and more critical for building and maintaining a sustainable future.
In their new book Leadership in Agriculture: Case Studies for a New Generation, John Patrick Jordan, Gale A. Buchanan, Neville P. Clarke, and Kelly C. Jordan – veteran agricultural educators and administrators -- define leadership as “motivating other people to follow you in a given direction to achieve a specific goal”. Specifically, agriculture is evolving into an enterprise based more on science and technology rather than on resources -- which requires a greater degree of visionary leadership.
Using case studies from research, industry, education, administration, and extension services, the authors present real-world circumstances ranging from natural disasters to major restructuring that demanded problem solving, new initiatives, consensus, and organizational commitment. Drawing on their own experiences and covering topics as diverse as closing facilities, mounting a national research initiative, reinventing a major corporation, and dealing with invasive termites, the studies contain examples of booth good and bad outcomes and refer back to the leadership principles and qualities outlined in the opening chapters.
For more on Leadership in Agriculture, or to order your own copy, please visit our website or call 979-845-0147.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Poppin's Book Nook #2 - Wizards and Magical of States of Matter


Welcome to the second edition of Poppin's Book Nook! Our theme this month was Wizards. To be honest, I couldn't think of many Wizard books for my kids age right away. Then one of the girls happened to come across Joe-Joe the Wizard Brews up Solids, Liquids, and Gases at the library.  It is a cute little book about a young wizard that doesn't enjoy his "plain old science" class. It also happens to teach States of Matter, something the girls needed to learn more about.  


So the girls got to learn about states of matter along with Joe-Joe. We started by exploring balloons filled with different states of matter: one with air, one with water, and one with ice.  The quickly realized the water filled balloon and the air filled balloon could be squished into different states while the ice filled one couldn't. 


After playing with the balloons it seemed obvious that the girls didn't really believe a gas took up space (because they couldn't see it), so I borrowed this fun DIY Water Fountain from Learn with Play at Home


You start with a balloon and an empty bottle. Ask you kids what is in the bottle (correct answer = gas). Then blow up the balloon and ask what is in it (again the correct answer = gas). Ask what will happen when the balloon is put on the bottle. They make think the balloon will go down because it is now open, but it doesn't! Why? Because the bottle was already full of gas! 



The second part of this experiment also show how gas takes up space and how both liquids and gases will flow and change shape.  Again you need a bottle (we used a 2 liter), as well as a bendy straw, and something to seal the hole (we used liquid nails because I couldn't locate my hot glue gun *gasp*). Make a small hole in the bottle and slide the straw in. Seal the hole. Then (with the straw facing up), fill the bottle even with the top of the straw.


Now (with your bottle sitting in a pan), blow up a balloon and put it on top of the bottle. Be amazed as the air in the balloon pushes the water out through the straw! And repeat, over and over and over! 




We may not have made "chocolate gas" like Joe-Joe, but we did have a lot of fun playing with states of matter.

Make sure you visit all the other participating blogs to see what Wonderful Wizard Fun they had this month! Then come back and link up your Wizard fun too!


Next month we are headed way into the past with Dinosaurs!





Friday, April 26, 2013

Finding Creativity Through Our Madness?

In TAMU Press’s new book, Madness and Creativity, author and analyst Ann Belford Ulanov utilizes her years of clinical work and reflection to come to the conclusion that madness and creativity work together. It is through the suffering of the human psyche where the foundations of creativity and genius are drawn. She pulls from the themes of Jung’s Red Book, which presents some of the most important experiences of his life—including his psychic encounters from 1913-1928.

As prompted by the title, Ulanov’s book is divided into two parts: part one-madness, part two-creativity. Within part one she delves into the madness of ourselves—of the breakdown and breakthroughs of our personal lives, and in the other part, the madness in the world—the violence of the world and our sense of meaningless within it. The second half of the book focuses on creativity. It is divided into studying the complex that haunts our lives, and then the transformation of our complex into creativity. Ulanov writes on the connection between madness and creativity in her introduction: 

"Madness dislocates us, out of our bodies, out of our minds. And yet, and yet, in the midst of madness dots of light appear; Jung calls them scintillae. These act as creative points indicating something bright, hopeful. Strung together, the dots construct a path, which can transfigure our madness into our creative contributions.”

Ann Belford Ulanov, a Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice, is the Christiane Brooks Johnson Memorial Professor of Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
To order this book, click here.
--Madeline Loving

Thursday, April 25, 2013

M is for Mailman

Our first Community Helper for M is Mailman! For some reason the girls have recently been fascinated by mail, so this came at a very good time. The girls already knew what a mailman did (deliver and pick up mail), but there was still plenty to learn.  We started by talking about how to address an envelope. They learned where to put the address they were sending it to, their address as a return address, and a stamp.


They practiced writing envelopes using the recipient, the sender, and a sticker for a stamp. After they made about 20 of these we decided to pretend to be mailmen!  We got out a little mailbox we had and they took turns sending the mail and being the mailman who picks up and delivers the mail.  I made sure they knew to put the flag up if there was mail in the box!


Then we decided to talk about the clothes mailmen wear. I asked the girls if they had noticed how the mail always comes even when the weather is bad. They, of course, hadn't thought about it. I brought out a basket of different cloths and asked them if they could pick out clothes for the mailman based on different types of weather. We didn't have a rain jacket or hat, so we just went with a regular jacket and sun hat.

Rainy (pretend it is a rain jacket and hat)

Sunny and Hot

Cold and Snowy

Warm and Breezy (Spring)
Then they went back to pretending. Somehow between Nadia putting the mail in the box and Bria picking it up it must have turned into winter!



We also made sure to leave some brownies out for out Mailman! Hopefully he enjoyed them!



Teething and the Snoodie

So. This week we've mostly been enjoying teething. OK - yes you're right, the opposite is true. Its been pretty horrendous to tell you the truth and we've gone through industrial quantities of nurofen and calpol despite my unfounded hatred of both. Turns out these molars are pesky blighters. Putting it mildly. Now we're watching our (OK, my) language round toddler - not wanting the oh-so-cute words of mummy, daddy, up, and eye corrupted completely by foul-mouthed-mummy. (Am sure it will happen. There's been at least two b-words today and almost an f- ! And it was only over hummous).

The results of the latest round of teething...
And we're dribbling again. Thought we'd left that delightful period long behind. But it turns out: no, its back. With avengence. This time cute Velcro dribble bibs won't cut it. And won't fit. Most dribble bibs being aimed at small babies as we've discovered. But any Velcro ones, well, they're off in a flash.

We were lucky enough to try out the lovely Snoodie, which has two popper settings to fit your little one. Anyone with an inquisitive (OK, willful)  toddler will know the impossibility of ensuring any garment not tied, buttoned or poppered on,  remains about their person. So the Snoodie's poppers are most welcome. In any event toddler seemed keen on his new neckerchief so no battle of wills, or poppers, ensued.

Our Snoodie was a funky green, good for us as we love bright colours, and adds a somewhat stylish accessory to one's overall outfit. Slightly French if you will. (Yes. I'm aware that is highly stereotypical. But hey.) Its all washable and soft smooth cotton as you'd expect, and caught all that dribble without soaking through.

So, in the fug of sleep deprivation and mayhem of the molar-cutting experience, I would recommend this stylish but practical accessory to make your little one feel a bit brighter...

We were sent a Snoodie for the purposes of this review. All views and opinions are my own and I was not paid for this post.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Letter M Sensory Bin


Hooray for the Letter M!  This sensory bin has been one of the easiest to find things to go it; I guess M is just a popular letter!  So for our Letter M Bin we found a Mask, a Medal, a Monster, a Monkey, a Motorcycle, a Mermaid, a Mouse, a Man, a piece of Meat, our M book, M Magnet, and foam M's.

Eli was already quite good at making the mmmmm sound, and apparently he had learned (somewhere) that M is what makes the sound because he started saying, "mmmmmm, mmmmm," as soon as he saw the box.  Of course the first thing he pulled out was the motorcycle! He drove it around for a while before moving on.  He decided the mouse should eat the piece of meat, and then he went back to the motorcycle! 



I did get a short video of him exploring some of the bin. You can even hear him say, "mmmm." 


Have you tried letter sensory bins with your kids yet? 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Mom's Library (#17 for me)



Welcome to Mom's Library!


Filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, devotionals, crafts, recipes, and more!
Check back again and again to see the new posts!


 If you enjoy the link party, please follow Life with Moore Babies by email or RSS feed.

You can also follow us on FacebookGoogle +Twitter, or Pinterest!

My Amazing Features This Week! 


Highhill Education shares a great way to learn multiplication visually! 



More FUN, Mom shares a great literacy activity for toddlers on up using milk caps!



Meaningful Mama came up with a great way to learn about Cooperation using Music!



If I have featured you please feel free to grab my featured button!


For more great features visit my fellow Librarian (Please follow them too!): True Aim Education 

Want to see all the great posts added last week? Click HERE to see the whole collection!

Want to see even more featured posts? Follow the Mom's Library Pinterest Board!


Would you like to Participate?


If you are new and would like to link up please checkout the Mom's Library Page.Support your fellow bloggers and comment on at least 2 other links.

Thank you for participating; we love to see your ideas! Please grab the button and share!


parents as teachers

*By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website.