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The Hiccupotamus and Chuckling Ducklings

My kids and I love and highly recommend the books The Hiccupotamus and Chuckling Ducklings by author/illustrator Aaron Zenz.

The Hiccupotamus is colorful, fun, and just plain silly!  We like the crazy rhymes (Have you ever said criss-crosserous or strawcerous?) and laugh every time!

The illustrations in Chuckling Ducklings couldn't be any more adorable!  It's an educational book about the names of baby animals.  See some of the artwork from Chuckling Ducklings on Bookie Woogie.

Spring Beanbags

It's really a no-brainer but when I saw Make and Takes idea to use hot glue and felt to make beanbags I was in love. We went to town for Valentine's Day and made 25 hearts for a school V-day party plus a quick heart beanbag toss set for some cousins (reused a cool whip container covered with felt to hold the hearts).  Then we made shamrocks and rainbows for St. Patrick's Day. The rainbows fit right in to this spring set too and the adorable bunny beanbag idea came from Two Straight Lines (her bunnies are definitely much cuter though).  I ran out of beans and had old rice so that's what I used for all of the beanbags shown in the picture.

Hooray for Hopscotch!

I have fond memories of playing hopscotch in elementary school and loved having my own hopscotch marker.  Last year in my daughter's bunny basket there was chalk and a Hoppy Taw and she had no idea what it was for!  Now she regularly draws her own hopscotch and gets jumpin'-- I even join in the fun now and then!

Spring weather in Utah is unpredictable and crazy!  The time we spend outside is usually minimal so indoor activities to get some energy out are necessary!  That's why I really like this creative Hopscotch Play Mat by A Girl and a Glue Gun (guest post on The Idea Room). *image from A Girl and a Glue Gun

Playing outdoors requires drawing the pattern first but that's part of the fun!  Check out some great and different hopscotch pattern ideas and rules on Squidoo (scroll down a little to see the 6 pattern images) for making outdoor hopscotch just a little more exciting! *Dizzy Dragonfly Hopscotch image from Squidoo




*post contains an affiliate link

Snap a Poladroid

My parents had a Polaroid Camera and I always thought it was interesting how the film developed and how the pictures looked.  Believe it or not, someone has created a free application that mimics a Polaroid using digital photos!!  Poladroid Image Maker can be downloaded to your computer really quickly so you can start snapping some poladroids!!  I found out about this photo fun while browsing through This Mama Makes Stuff.

Amanda's Free Fonts

Look no further than kevinandamanda.com for a huge selection of free fonts for scrapbooking and more!  Amanda provides step-by-step instructions on how to download and install the fonts and she can even turn your handwriting into a font!  I use Pea So Lovely font for my post titles (credited on the left sidebar) and I love it!  The doodles fonts are really fun too!  It's important to read her terms of use before you use a font from her site.

* spring image created with fonts A Little Pot & Pea Tisha's Doodles

Easy Frog Craft

I take my son to Circle Time every Thursday where they read a few books on a topic and do a craft.  Yesterday was all about frogs and the kids made this fun frog blower.  I asked the teacher where she got the idea and she said they've done it for a couple years now and she couldn't remember.  I traced and scanned my son's frog so you can make an easy frog craft with the kids.  Find the download on google docs: frog craft with blower. 

Trace the frog pattern on foam, cut it out, and glue on googly eyes. Then push a party blower through the cut slits.  

(Martha Stewart has instructions for handmade party blowers)

Have fun catching some flies-- ribbit, ribbit!

More Printable Paper Dolls

I came across these fun paper doll links on Cooperating 4 Boys blog because Jennifer linked to one of my paper doll posts!

• True-Town paper dolls: 3 girls and 3 boys with many outfits to color

• Microsoft Office Templates Paper Dolls: boy and girl with outfits (b&w and color)

Mom, What's for Dinner??

The dreaded question.  My family is bored with my dinnertime selections so it's time to try out some new recipes.  Whenever I get a thumbs up for a new recipe at my dinner table I'll let you know!  This delicious picture was dinner last Friday!

 Crockpot Barbeque Chicken and Oven Fries from Smashed Peas and Carrots

Penguin Finger Puppets

Once in a while I like to share something fantastic of my own.  These adorable penguin puppets can be duplicated with a free printable penguin finger puppets pattern downloaded on Google docs.  *note: I made the above finger puppets (not my children).

Easy instructions: Trace penguin puppet pattern pieces on felt.  Cut out the felt pieces and glue with a low-temp glue gun (adult supervision please!).  The wings and feet are glued in-between the body pieces.  Only glue the top and side edges of the body so a little finger can fit inside!  Don't forget the googly eyes!!

Here are some penguin books to go along with the penguin finger puppets.  You could pair a puppet and book together for a fun kid birthday gift!

 





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**linked to:

Sew Can Do, Somewhat Simple, Childmade, Local Fun For Kids, Funky PolkaDot Giraffe, Raising Memories, My Delicious Ambiguity, Skip To My Lou

**featured on:

One Pretty Thing
Tip Junkie
Fun Family Crafts

*post contains affiliate links

A Perfect Pair of Pizzas

Last night I made pizza in honor of National Pizza Week!  We had my husband's favorite BBQ Chicken Pizza and a version of Papa Murphy's Gourmet Chicken Garlic Pizza Copycat Recipe that Melissa from Wonder Mom Envy shared.  They're perfect together in my opinion!  Neither have a healthy sauce but they're so delicious I forget about that!

BBQ Chicken Pizza
sauce- KC Masterpiece Hickory Brown Sugar
shredded mozzarella (or mixture of moz and cheddar)
cooked shredded or cubed chicken
optional toppings: pineapple, olives, green peppers, cooked bacon pieces
add more shredded mozzarella
sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired

garlic and ranch pizza sauce (adapted from Wonder Mom Envy)
¾ cup Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 spoonful sour cream
1 tsp. garlic powder
¼ to ½ tsp. onion powder
• enough for 1 large pizza with some left or 2 medium pizzas

2 lb. bread machine pizza dough (1½ lb. recipe with directions HERE)
recipe source: my Breadman recipe booklet
1½ cups warm water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. salt
4¼ cups flour
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. yeast
• dough makes 2 large pizzas

Penguin Possibilities

Penguins are perfect for January!

 ❄ Penguin Snow Globe on Parents

❄ Penguin Craft from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman 

 ❄ Penguin Birthday Party from Gourmet Mom on-the-Go

❄Penguin Fingerprint on The Activity Idea Place (image from me)

❄ Heart Penguin Paper Craft from DLTK (so cute for V-day)

Owly and Wormy Wordless Picture Book

Andy Runton, author of Owly graphic novels, has made his first Owly full-color picture book!!  Owly & Wormy: Friends All Aflutter will be released in March but is available for pre-order at many places, including Amazon!!  "Owly and Wormy want butterflies! But when they come home from Mrs. Raccoon's nursery with a milkweed plant that's supposed to attract some fluttering friends, what they get instead are chubby, green bugs!"--from Top Shelf

I am sooo excited about this book because my kids and I love reading Owly!  I'm even more excited that Owly & Wormy: Friends All Aflutter is a great price right now on Amazon!

*post contains affiliate links

Bookworm Beginnings-- Friendship

I like reading books about friendship with my kids because it's an important topic to be talked about before a child starts school and continues to be a huge part of life.  Each of these picture books has a lesson on friendship.  I'm a little lazy to write a brief description for each book so if you want to read a synopsis click on the title and it will take you to Goodreads.  Happy Reading!

Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley

 Toot & Puddle: You Are My Sunshine by Holly Hobbie

 Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker

*Linked to Annie's Feed Me Books Friday on Little Sprouts Books!

*post contains affiliate links

Preschool Activity: ABC's with Chalk and Water

My son is doing home preschool with the Utah UPSTART program.  It's all on the computer so I like to supplement with regular activities.  I use resources on my Home Preschooling Helps post to find ideas.

I discovered this fun chalk and water activity On Gayle's Preschool Rainbow (scroll down to 'Erasing with Water').  My son actually enjoys practicing letters with this method.  We have small chalkboards that we got from a friend who's a retired teacher. 
(No Biggie has a guest post on Make and Takes that shows you how easy it is to make your own chalkboards!)