Fall on our Fingers

This morning we fell in love with fall... it happens every year.  You wake up, walk outside, and it is that beautiful, breezy, crisp, bright, cool, but still warm day.  I LOVE it.  Growing up we always called it "football weather", for obvious reasons.
I want D. to appreciate this change in the seasons, as well.  Fall brings so much fun and I want him to FEEL the excitement!  We have been talking about the change in the weather, and how we've noticed the wind picking up.  We go outside and lay in the grass and look up and watch the trees blow back and forth as leaves spin though the air.  It's so fun!
I went and purchased some fall colored paints last week and this morning thought of painting a tree and having the leaves "change color".

I drew/painted the trees on a few pieces of paper and then painted D.'s hand with the green paint and let him make handprints on the branches (with some guidance), then we added yellow, then orange, then red and then brown.  As the colors were layered they changed and merged together, just like they do on the leaves.  He loved this project and we ended up with a few different pieces of "fall art" to hang up.
We will continue to talk about the color change as we witness it in nature over the next few weeks.
Enjoy this BEAUTIFUL day!

Old McDodson had a Farm

Here we go... back to the Pajama Projects!  D. has always been into his Fisher Price Farm.  Its a classic toy, that for some reason, has entertained him for many hours.  Do yours love this simple toy, too?  Anyway, we have added to the collection and have transformed it into an opportunity for some learning fun.  I went and got a piece of green foam board, blue felt, a farm diorama set, and got to work with my glue gun.  I wanted to take some of his favorite books and movies and make them "real" for him to explore.

do you notice the goldfish snack, in the pond :)

Sometimes he plays with it by himself, and makes the animals talk, or "disappear" into the silo.  Sometimes we explore it together and talk about what the animals eat, where they sleep, what they do and how they help us.  We discuss what the farmers do and what types of machines and tools are used on a farm.  While we discuss, we play.  We talk about animals that wouldn't be on the farm - I'll put a whale in the pond, and see what he says, and we will laugh about it.  Or I'll tell him to hide his eyes, and find the animal that is in the wrong place, and put a monkey in the barn, or something silly like that.  We pair up the mommy,daddy and baby animals, and switch them around.

I've found some great farm resources, that's I'd like to share with you as well.  The baby einstein Baby McDonald movie isn't just for babies- its quite educational and appropriate for toddlers as well as preschoolers, and is soothing for a rest time.  "The Big Red Barn" book is one we read at bed time.  DK Readers (Stage 1) "Good Morning, Farm" is a good realistic view of farms, as is the DVD "All About Old McDonald's Farm".
I've added all the items we used into the pajama project store, where you can order them through Amazon and have them shipped right to you.  I hope this helps :)  To find the items on the store page, look in the right hand top corner, click on the "Browse by Category" link under "Farm" to find everything. (  click here: Pajama Projects Store Farm Items)
Hope you are happy to see Pajama Projects back in action...I'm happy to be doing it again! :)

She LIVES....

Okay, I'm bringing Pajama Projects back from the dead!  So I took a serious break from blogging over the summer, and am trying to get back to it.  We tried D. in "school", and it just didn't work this year, so we are going to give it a go at home.  Sounds great to me.  I'm going to try to get my creative juices flowing again and bring you some fun and educational ideas to do with little ones.  Back to the drawing board!  Let me know if there is anything particular you are having trouble with teaching your child, and I'll see if I can come up with a fun way to get it across.

In the meantime, here is a picture to show you that we've been working on Potty Training!  Can you see the puppet attached to my hand... for some reason he really likes pooping and t-ting for the puppet, so I am going with it.  The first few days he called it "puff" then it turned into "pup".  Anyway, he wants "pup" to entertain him, and it really seems to be working.  He really wants the praise from Pup as much as from me.  We've been having lots of fun with it, and praising like crazy, keeping a close eye on him - and he's doing fantastic.  I'm so proud of him!  This is a project like no other!
Have a great day!
Again, let me know if you have any ideas/suggestions for the new year of Pajama Projects!