A Happy Halloween

Alexander wanted to be Woody from Toy Story. I was not impressed with the Woody costumes at the store or the price so I made him one. The hat was his favorite part. I found a long sleeve yellow t-shirt for $3. I used a fabric marker to make the red lines on it, and sewed on 3 black buttons.The cowboy accessories were $5 (hat, handkerchief, badge and belt) I found a pattern to make a vest here.  I made it out of felt and painted on the cow print with black acrylic paint. His Grandmother bought him the boots, which he also loves and wants to wear them all the time









This was Alex's first Halloween that I think he really got the concept.  In the morning we went to kids event at Haunted Acres. He had a blast, there was a trick or treating through the woods, a maze with silly characters to catch and a pumpkin reward at the end., carnival games and face painting. Some of the props were pretty scarey looking but Alex didn't seem to mind. The place is mainly a adult attraction.

Later that afternoon we carved out pumpkins.

Mom craved a little spider

Dad carved a creepy face

And of course we did some Trick or Treating. Alex got right into it saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" at every house. We went with some friends, it was really cold but we all had fun.

Robin aka Wiley

Woody and Robin

 Hope everyone else had a great Halloween!

Dinosaur Day

~Alex is 32 months~

Today we read Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland

We enjoyed this book. Its a cute book that teaches counting backwards. It has cute colorful illustrations.

Today we made a hand print dinosaur. I got this adorable idea from No Time For Flashcards post. I cut out the dino shape out of construction paper and let Alex glue it to a piece of white paper. Then we added his hand prints. He loves making hand print art.

Alex wanted to add some orange "rocks"to his picture with a foam brush.

We also worked on some dinosaur shape worksheets that were made by Yellow Mums. She has some great printables and a Etsy shop too. Check her out.

Monster Day

~Alex is 32 months~

Rainy day = Lots of indoor activities

We read Welcome to Monstropolis (Monsters, Inc.)

 Another thrift shop find. Alex loves this book because it is about one of his favorite movies with tons of little lift the flaps. Not much text but lots of great busy pictures to explore. 


We made a collage monster. I pre cut a head, mouth, teeth, ears and horns out of construction paper. I also provided some googly eyes, a pom pom nose and a feather for hair. Alex work on his gluing skills. He was very proud of his monster.

We did a Umizoomi shape puzzle that I found here

We fed the shape monster. I got this great idea from Motherhood Moment's post. We used a picture of Sully from Monster's Inc and glued it to a cereal box. I cut out his mouth. I would tell him to feed Sully a certain shape and he would find it and feed him. It was great practice of colors and shapes. I made the shapes out of craft foam.

We did some messy play with shaving cream. I put some in a basin, with some boats. Alex had alot of fun playing with it, he also enjoyed cleaning his boats off afterward. 

I am sharing this at ABC and 123

Shapes, Cars and Pumpkins

~Alex is 32 months~

This week we are focusing on identifying basic shapes.

Alex wanted to read Mighty Machines by Mary Bjelobrk

We picked this up at a thrift store for like .70 cents. Its a nicely illustrated pop up book all about boats, trains, planes, helicopters, submarines and space ships, all things that Alex loves.

I made him some shape "race tracks" out of contruction paper. I thought this would entertain him a lot longer than it did (about 2 minutes), I may pull it out again later.

We played a fun game. I cut out some basic shapes out of contruction paper and layed them on the floor. I then played a fast song (Disney's The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room (Macarena Dance Version) ) and had him dance. Every so often  I would shut off the music and tell him to quickly pick up the ________ shape and put it in the bag. He thought this was a hysterical and we played it 3 rounds. He did pretty good considering we haven't really focused on shape identification before. Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of this game though.

After we were tired out from dancing we did a piece of directional art. I had pieces to make a car pre cut and I told him where to glue and where to put the pieces to create his car. He did pretty good listening to directions. He got a little carried away with the glue, but then again this is also a very new skill for him.

Next we worked on some pumpkin washing. I was inspired to do this from Counting Coconuts post. My set up was very last minute, she had a much better setup and tools. Alex still enjoyed doing this for a few minutes.

Alex was trying to get into his paints so I decided to do an apple stamp with him. i had intended to do this project last weekend but never got around to it. We just cut a apple in half and stamped it on the paper. I added stems and faces for him and he added the green swirls.

Halloween Friday

Friday was a busy day and I didn't get Tot School in. We had to get a haircut, do some shopping, finish Alex's Halloween costume and go to his Halloween Gymboree Party.

We did read Pumpkin Eye by Denise Fleming

We picked this one up at the library the other day. It is a great Halloween book with short, catchy text, bright, attention getting illustrations.

I also did get a chance to make Alex a Halloween ispy jar.  I got the idea from Chasing Cheerios post.
I used a mayonnaise jar (the only empty jar I had on hand), some black beans and some creatures from the craft and dollar store.

I glued the cover on with my hot glue gun. Alex liked finding the creatures inside on the way to his Halloween party (about a 1/2 hour ride)

So Friday night's big event was Alex's Gymboree Halloween party. I made his costume and finished up the last buttons and holster during his nap.  He had a blast as you can see in the photos.

Getting ready to go

Shaking maracas in the parade

Jumping with Gymbo

Bobbing for apples Gymboree style