Thursday, September 5, 2013

Q is for Quilter



Our Community Helper for Q is Quilter. My first choice was Quarterback, but the girls are more interested in sewing then football right now. As a matter of fact Bria has been asking for months to learn how to sew. This seemed like a good time to start! 

The girls love quilts and looking at all the pretty colors and fabric combinations in them. They have several baby quilts of their own, and I am sure they have all watched either me or their Grandma quilting at some point.  They know how long it takes to make all those little stitches!


Since I didn't learn to sew as a kid, I wasn't really sure where to start. Luckily No Doubt Learning had posted on beginning sewing just a few months ago! She suggested starting with tapestry needles, embroidery floss, and styrofoam plates.


I drew a few simple designs on the plates for them to try to follow with their thread.


They were thrilled to pick out some embroidery floss, thread their needles, and get started sewing!


They quickly realized that while it was easy to keep the thread on the lines in the front of the plate, it was much more difficult when moving back through. Several times we had to back up because someone brought their needle back to the front to find the line creating a thread circling around the edge of the plate. Eventually they got the hang of it by holding the plates up to the light, so they could see the design and the needle behind the plate.




The other thing that gave them a few problems was keeping the correct tension on the embroidery floss.  If they pulled too hard it would just tear right through the plate. It didn't take Bria long to figure that out, but Nadia struggled a little more with pulling out stitches. In the end they both got the hang of it.

I figured they would do a couple each and be satisfied, but they kept on going! They had me draw more designs, and they drew some of their own until all my little styrofoam plates were gone!


They were still pretty excited about their sewing once we were done, so perhaps they will learn to quilt someday too! Until then, they hopefully understand a bit more about it.

Next step...actual fabric in an embroidery hoop!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Letter Q Sensory Bin


Our Letter Q Sensory Bin was a bit more difficult to create (as expected). I did find (and make) a few things for the letter though. We had a couple dolls with crowns to be Queens (I specifically avoided using princess for P, so I wouldn't confuse him), a doll Quilt, some Quarters, a Question Mark (drawn on a note card and then drawn over with hot glue), a Q book, foam Q's, and our singing Letter Q Magnet.

Eli was very into the singing magnet this time. He was so excited to push it and here it sing about the sound Q makes. He liked to try and repeat it too!


Then he noticed the Quarters which immediately went to his bank (like any money he comes across).  He also liked the little Question Mark (although he tried to pick the glue off).


This is one box where he actually explored everything! He was busy with it for some time, and left a mess of Q items all over the kitchen.



I kind of suspect that he will be more interested in his letter bins this year as he is a little older and very interested in letters now. We may have to repeat the ones we have done once we get through!  Have you tried making any letter bins for your kids?

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Preschool Features on Mom's Library


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!

(We have a great Giveaway too!)

 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 Preschool Fun Features This Week! 



Crystal and Comp came up with some cute Crafts for Letters!


The Good Long Road has a great collection of Bins for Different Senses all centered around the Letter A!



3 Dinosaurs shared some super cute ABC Coloring Pages (Free printable)!



Lalymom came up with a cute way to Practice Cutting by making this cute little doll!



Creative Kids Snacks has a Yummy Way to Learn Shapes!



School Time Snippets made this adorable Shape Sorting Flower Printable (also Free)!



 Tutus and Tea Parties is Practicing Patterns on Sticks!


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

For more great features visit my fellow Librarians (Please follow them too!):



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!

Our Great Giveaway this week is the Beginner Art Class (6 classes) from Thrive Art! You can read more over at Home is Where They Send Us.



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.






Sunday, September 1, 2013

Bottle "Glass" Sculpture


We recently got home from what is becoming our annual trip to Indianapolis. While we were there, we had to visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum! This year Eli was even more into all the exhibits since he was a year older! The girls had a great time exploring again, and Bria even remembered where things were! One of the favorites is still the large Chihuly sculpture in the center of the museum, and of course the area where you get to put together large plastic pieces made to look like the glass pieces in the sculpture. 


Last year when we got home we made our own version of glass sculptures


While my aunt and I discussed how we might be able to replicate it for kids, I had no idea she had made her own version with one of her art classes! And she won her school an awesome prize with it too! So while we were out there this year we started one with her (and finished it at home when we had more materials).  I cannot take any credit for this awesome craft; it was all my aunt's idea! 

First you need the really cheap, thin water bottles with their labels removed. Gather a bunch of them and color them all with permanent markers. Any permanent marker will do; we have a ton of Sharpies, so that is what we used at home. 




The starting just a little above the bottom, cut the bottle in a spiral almost all the way up! 



At this point my kids found they were a lot of fun to play with like this.  The girls also enjoyed coloring designs on the bottle and then watching how the designs changed once the bottles were cut!


Once we were home and had gone through the rest of that case of water, we finished coloring and cutting the bottles. Then you need some sort of wire. We used a coat hanger. We opened the top and threaded on the bottles on. Once they were all there we closed it back up and it was ready to hang. My aunt used pipe cleaners to attach her classes bottles to a large, circular wire.


Once you have them all attached, hang and enjoy! Here are a few pictures of ours! It finally ended up in the play room in front of a window because I wasn't sure it would hold up to wind and rain.




May not be as impressive as the Chihuly sculpture, but it is still quite pretty (and much safer for little hands). You could make one as big or small as you want, and it is fairly mess free as long as your little ones can handle markers well. Definitely a fun art project! A big thank you to my lovely aunt for sharing it with my kids (and now all my readers)!

Thank You August 2013




A big THANK YOU to the amazing blogs that featured me this past month! So many great ideas going around; make sure you stop by and check them out!

Kids Co-Op - 25 DIY Summer Toys
Highhill Education - Hobbies and Handicrafts
Sugar Aunts - Summer Sensory Play
Fun-a-Day -  Summer Games for Kids
The Real Housewives of Riverton - Housewives of Riverton Round Up
Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Hearts for Home
Kids Activities Blog - 5 New Oobleck Experiments
All Things with a Purpose - All Things Thursday Blog Hop
Upside Down Homeschooling - Hearts for Home
My Joy-Filled Life - Hearts for Home
Monsters Ed - Hearts for Home
The Multi Taskin' Mom - Hearts for Home
From the Mrs - Hearts for Home
Happy and Blessed Home - Family Fun Friday
Teach Beside Me - Share It Saturday
Serenity You - Serenity Saturday
Tutus and Tea Parties - Pinteresting Party
Cheerios and Lattes - Saturday Show and Tell
Here Come the Girls - Art Activities for Kids
Chestnut Grove Academy - Beach and Ocean Activities
I Can Teach My Child - Show and Share Saturday
Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Sunday Showcase
Fantastic Fun and Learning - Sink or Float
KC Edventures - Boat Crafts for Kids
I Can Teach My Child -Show and Share Saturday
Teach Beside Me - Last Chance Summer Play
Laughing Kids Learn - Simple Activities for Little Fingers
Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational - After School Linky
Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas -  Sensory Play for Kids
Preschool Powol Packets - Letter Learning Activities
Smart School House - After School Crafts
True Aim Education - Activities Just for Fun
Fun-a-Day - 15 Pretend Play Ideas
Learn ~ Play ~ Imagine - Making Learning Fun
Preschool Powol Packets - Preschool Learning Fun
Only Passionate Curiosity - How Do I Homeschool with a Toddler?
Econobusters - Apples, Apples, Apples
School Time Snippers - Ways to Encourage Your Beginning Reader
Mum's Make Lists - Empty Your Archive
Mother's Niche - All Things Thursday
Only Passionate Curiosity - Hearts for Home Blog Hop
Fun Family Crafts - Noah's Ark

Again thank you all for hosting your link parties or just featuring our posts; if I missed you, I'm sorry. Please make sure to leave me a quick note if you feature me; otherwise it will just be chance that I find out!


And a HUGE THANK YOU to all my readers! Without you there would be no point in posting at all!