Just go to Alaska!!

The FCC requires each home to have a quiet area, it's a great idea for when a child needs some quiet time away from the group for a variety of reasons.  I have been trying to come up with a cute idea for my quiet area and have been coming up empty.  I am addicted to www.pinterest.com and I was ecstatic when I found an idea pinned by madeintheshadeinsecondgrade.blogspot.com.  Having the opportunity to live in Alaska for four years was an amazing experience and I miss it every single day, so bringing a little bit of the beautiful state to The Owls Nest just seemed like the perfect idea.  I bought a green bathroom rug from Target, printed off some pictures from Alaska, and made a sign that says "Alaska: A place to chill".  I'm going to add a basket of books, stuffed animals, and quiet activities for a child to do when they are in Alaska! 

Marbled Eggs

Start with shaving cream

Add paint 

Use a spoon, toothpick, or fork to stir the paint into the shaving cream.  I like the marbled look!

Press paper (ours was cut into an egg shape)...remove from paint and remove excess shaving cream...we used the edge of a piece of paper and jumbo craft sticks

Let the paper dry

We made our into a pretty garland decorate for Easter! 

Light Box

This recovery has been pretty boring...OK, really boring!  I have been pretty productive though or as productive as one can be from the couch!  I have created calendars and made lesson plans through May..I've made a list of bulletin boards I want to create and of a thousand projects I want to do for and with my Owlets. 
This is the first one on my list.  I have read some articles about light boxes and decided that my school needed one.  If I can, I like to DIY, so after researching them on a few websites, I found a tutorial for a DIY light box on www.pinterest.com from http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/06/diy-light-table-for-preschool.  I used a smaller container than the website used, but added black poster board around the sides, parchment paper on the lid to diffuse the light, and two tap lights that I secured to the bottom of the tub with Velcro.  This light box will be easy to store when not in use and I think the Owlets will really enjoy using it!  I have found a few activities for the light box, but I need to look for some more!  I'm super excited about this new addition to The Owls Nest! 

Awesome New App

Books...I love them, my kids love them.  I think that reading to children from a very young age is so important and teaches them to love books and reading when they are able to do it on their own.  We are constantly going to the bookstore or local library to get books based on something my kids are interested in or something that we are doing at The Owls Nest.  I have bookshelves full of books for kids that my own kids read and that I use weekly for FCC...and I am always searching for a way to organize them so I know what I have and so I can avoid buying duplicates (which I'll admit I've done more than once...)
Years ago when I taught at a CDC I tried to go through all my books, sort them by category, and make a list...I think I made it not even halfway through my stacks before I was over that idea.  I put them in containers with theme related items but realized that some of them were books my kids liked to have read to them before bed, so that didn't work.  I have relied on my memory (bad, bad idea) when I am in the bookstore or library...I knew I needed a better system!
Tonight, while sitting on the couch (because I can't do much else while recovering from surgery...ugh) and pinning educational pins on my most favorite website ever I found the solution to my book problem!  I was so excited and I had to share it in case you too have a ton of books and need a database to keep track!  The app is free and is called BooksApp2.  You can add books by scanning the ISBN number (it has a built in scanner), typing in the ISBN number, or snapping a pic of the cover with your phone..the app does the rest, sorting the books by author and subject!  This awesome app is exactly what I needed and I will always be able to open it up and make sure I don't already have a book before checking it out or purchasing it! 

Playing Catch Up...Again

I can't believe that I haven't posted on here since November...that's insane!  To say it's been crazy around here would be an understatement...with family, friends, FCC, homework (mine and Clever Owl's), and as of last week surgery and recovery...crazy doesn't even begin to describe it!  My FCC is full and those cute little Owlets keep me super busy!  We've done a lot of fun things since November...and I have lots of pictures on my Facebook page of all the things we've been into.  I was sad to have to close for three weeks to have my hysterectomy and recover some...I miss my little friends and can't wait to open back up and get back to normal.
 My plan of being up and back to my old self two days after surgery didn't happen and having  to sit and be taken care of is driving me a little crazy.  I am blessed though to have such an awesome hubby, he took two weeks of leave to take care of me.  I think I'm driving him up the wall though trying to do things I'm not supposed to do...I joked today that if I wanted to do something that I shouldn't I'd have to wait til he wasn't looking!  

I was happy that my last week of FCC we were able to celebrate the amazing Dr. Seuss and all his wonderful works!  The kids enjoyed the activities that were in the learning centers based on some of his best works.  My first week back will be the week before Easter, so the theme will be Eggs!  One of my friends, who is also a FCC Provider and I will be planning an egg hunt for our little friends!  It should be a lot of fun!
I am going to make an effort to do much better at posting activities that we do during school!  Well, I guess I'm off to pin more educational activities, exercises (can't wait til I can do that again!), and recipes to experiment on the family with!