Butterfly Lifecycle

He wanted to hold it, but changed his mind once it was on his arm!

We were able to watch the lifecycle of a butterfly from caterpillar to butterfly! Much better than just reading a book, we watched the process from start to finish.

Skiing in Tahoe

Levi learned to ski! I was expecting to just get him used to the equipment and ski with him between my knees, but he got the idea very quickly! He was riding the lift, getting off on his own! And he was able to stop and turn and do blue runs (green is easy, blue is medium). It is VERY easy to teach such a young child to ski (he is 2.5 here), because he is so low to the ground. My first job when I was 16 was teaching kid's skiing, and I learned how to ski at this resort when I was little.
The weather was beautiful and we had a great time!

Video here (Click me!)

The Letter 'M'

The letter M!

Words that start with M
moon
muffin
magnets
magnifying glass
marbles
moose
mouse
monkey
moonsand
manatee

Books:
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
Moon Cake (little bear book)

Covering the Letter M with marbles. This can be done with other letters, and other objects - stickers are great too!

Moon muffins! These were made with the basic muffin recipie from a previous post, and chocolate chips added! We used a 'muffie topper' pan to make the moon shape. We also ate them trying to make the different shapes of the moon (half moon, 'toenail' etc.) MMMMM moon!

Here is the finished moon painting project

Playing with magnets (do NOT use magnets if your child might eat them!). I tried to get him to make an 'M' with them, but he just made lines.

Moon Paint

Shaving cream

white glue

Mix in equal portions. Paint all over paper and let dry overnight. Then cut out a moon shape and an 'm' and glue onto darker paper. This 'paint' is a really strange texture and fun to play with. It cleans up easily (wet or dry) as well. You can also add color for variation (mix it with the glue before adding to the shaving cream)

Some other activites:

Saw some real manatees in the river

Made a monkey puppet (folding paper accordian style for limbs)

Played with moon sand

Played a matching game

read books with the letter M

Looked at stuff with the magifying glass (see 'adventure walk' post for more on this)

Played music with instruments

Baked Onion Rings

Chef No Pants

Baked Onion Rings

panko

mojave seasoning (or whatever seasoning you'd like)

1 egg

milk (we use almond)

1 sweet onion

Cut the onion into rings. Mix the egg with a little milk. Mix the panko with seasoning, to taste.

Dip in the egg, 'shake shake shake' to get the drip off. Dip in panko mixture and pat more on as needed. Put on cookie sheet.

Bake 400 degrees, about 10min, flip and 10min more.

Levi could do every step of this process, I just had to remind him to shake the egg off! These were yummy and healthier than the fried kind!

Snow mess!

This was a GIANT mess but Levi had fun!
We got something in the mail packed in peanuts (the foam kind, unfortunatly), and Levi broke them into bits and spread them around the kitchen. This kept him entertained for a while!
We used it as a life skill practice though, clean up after yourself! It was a challange for him to use his brush and pan to sweep all this up, but it was his mess, so his clean up (yes, I did help some!)

Finger Paint

Finger Paint
3 cups water
1 cup cornstarch
your choice of coloring (small amount of kid paint, food coloring, koolaid packet)

Mix in a saucpan and cook over medium heat until thick. Add more water if you want to. Add color and allow to cool

Guy's Day Out

Happy Birthday Shawn! (Shawn and her friend Tyler)

For my sister's birthday we had a 'girls day out' and went to the spa. So Levi stayed with my dad, whom he calls 'Buddy'. It was 'big truck day' so he had the oppertunity to check out some big trucks! He even got to pull the horn on one.

Afterwards, Buddy took him to a baseball game. He got really into it and actually wanted to sit and watch the game. Buddy wanted to take him over to 'the hill' over by the out feild where the kids play around, but Levi insisted on 'seeing if the guy can hit the ball' first.

I don't know who had more fun, Levi or my dad!