The Seasons {Craft Tutorial}

I shared a photo last week of our Seasons craft to go along with The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature  and I wanted to share a little more photos and explanation of how we did it. My inspiration came from a post by The Art of Teaching. I wanted to add a little more to it, so I used her wonderful craft as a jumping point.

Here is what you will need:
Template from The Art of Teaching Site
Watercolor paper
India Ink- This is needed because it won't run when using watercolors.
Watercolors
Multi-colored Tissue Paper
Scissors
Glue- Old fashioned Elmer's worked best for us

Template for tree

If your child is old enough, he or she could sketch out the frame of the tree and draw the lines on watercolor paper as shown in picture above. If you are just going to use crayons like the original craft, you could just print this template out on a regular piece of paper.

Once  the sketch is dried, you can begin to talk about the different colors one might see in the different season. Your child can then paint the background of the tree in the colors of their choosing according to each season. Then have your child paint the tree itself.

Once this is completed, grab your tissue paper. Cut the paper into strips, and then into squares.

The next step is to ask your children again what colors would go with each season. We started with winter, and the girls had fun pulling out greens, blues, whites and dark blues.

The children can then start gluing the squished up pieces of tissue paper in the proper season section. I think this craft turned out beautiful and would highly recommend it as a keeper for years to come!

Thanks!

Week 3- Sonlight, Pink Eye and The Seasons

Our week was still filled with sickness. We had a double ear infection, and four pink eyes in the house... I'd say we were in full on infirmary mode. So again, we didn't get as much accomplished as I had on my lesson plans, but I feel pretty confident that Lily is learning!

We are WAY ahead on the Sonlight Read Alouds... We finished My Father's Dragon last night, which is not even started until Week 5. I have decided to take a little detour and spend some time reading more of The Boxcar Children series since my girls loved the first book so much.

Lily is doing very well at her Math-U-See, and it seems that one lesson a day is appropriate and just the right amount of work for her. She loves using the manipulatives (shown above) that come with the curriculum.

Lily also loved writing a story based on the picture of the boy and his robot...She could have gone on forever about their relationship!

Our favorite activity by far was our watercolor and tissue paper Seasons Tree. We read through the first part of The Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science which takes you through the four seasons. We loved reading the rhymes and looking at the funny pictures!

My next post will be a tutorial of how we made our seasons craft!

We did however, slack a little on our history this week due to all the sickness. I reserved a bunch of books on Egypt and we will be reading them as we continue our study of Early Civilizations. 

Thanks!

Week 1- Sonlight and Cavemen

We just completed Week 1 or Core A from Sonlight and  I am only just now starting to catch a glimpse of how I can incorporate fun things that I know my kids will enjoy into the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, I think the base curriculum from Sonlight is awesome, my girls are just a little more 'craft' oriented and can tend to get bored just reading out of books and not using their hands.

We read through the first parts of the Bible which included Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Abraham and The Tower of Babel...pretty cool stuff. Sonlight incorporates dinosaurs into this week, and I wanted to expand on this a little more but given that it is our first week homeschooling and we were attempting to find a new rhythm, I chose to let it go for now.

In addition, this week we also learned about the Cavemen! We discussed how different things were back then...the girls were pretty amazed!

We learned all of the different skills that they had to aquire in order to live a better life at that time. I explained how there was no electricity, no washer and dryer, not even homes! My oldest couldn't believe that they lived in caves. One of the skills they used often was weaving. I decided this was a great first 'Hands On' learning experience. I think I am going to call anything that I add on that involves a craft or activity will be called 'Hands On'.

Here's how we did it:

First we gathered sticks, and palm fronds, and I cut up yarn into 2' lengths'

Then we attached the yarn to both sticks to create a loom

This was a great activity in increasing dexterity as well!

 Then we started the weaving process,

' in-out-in-out', 'front-back-front-back...'

great way to teach opposites! 

Make sure to start your weaving at the bottom because you will build going up!

 

Getting closer to the top, the pattern really starts to show!! 

 

Lily's finished product!

 She was so proud! We attached yarn at the top to hang their creations on the back patio...beautiful!

I am also going to continue teaching about Cavemen and early civilization by painting with berries, crushing them and making our own 'paint', as well as making our own 'coracle' boat as suggested in Sonlight. My kids thrive on hands on activities, so I am going to try to incorporate as much as I can!

 We also ROWED the book, 'The Story About Ping' which allowed us to look a little deeper into China using Confessions of a Homeschooler's curriculum called Expedition Earth,  and it allowed us to delve into the culture...there are also many wonderful teaching tools in the FIVE IN A ROW Curriculum which we will be using often.

Thanks!