Everybody's favorite part of baking: licking the batter bowl!

Projects

The entourage has been doing lots of self-directed projects lately. It's less work for me than coming up with (and doing most of) a particular craft project, and the girls seem to get more out of doing their own thing anyway. They all like to color: Goose scribbles on any surface I'll allow and a number of ones I won't; Monkey and Bug mostly practice coloring in the lines on coloring sheets or practice writing (either getting my input to write actual letters or do their own letterlike writing--lines of small angles and curves). Monkey and Bug have also been cutting and gluing this week, including learning how to use bottle glue instead of gluesticks. They also pulled out the paints at least once this week. They still don't paint actual objects, but they do lots of experimenting with techniques (narrow lines, wide lines, paintbrush prints, handprints, painting a section then drawing in the wet paint with the opposite end of the brush, etc.). They are quite proud of their creations which we hang on the art string in the playroom. Bug had so many paintings up that she decided to creat an art book by clipping a bunch of her paintings on top of each other, so we could look through and see them all but still have room on the string for other projects.

Games

They've been playing lots of board games this week (these tend to be played with in spurts, like the worksheets do). Of course, they usually play individually and make up their own "rules." For example, in the entourage's world of game play: Rush Hour is played simply by exploring different configurations and patterns of the vehicles on the board; Mancala involves counting and sorting; Candy Land turns into an imaginative telling of gingerbread men's adventures as they walk up the path; Memory is played--at least by Goose--by looking at each card and methodically stuffing it between the couch cushions. But this week while shopping at a consignment sale, I actually found a game that they will play by the rules from start to finish--nicely taking turns and everything! Bendominos. It's like dominos, but you match pictures of animals instead of dots, and the pieces are curved which creates a really fun path once you get into it. Of course, as soon as the game is over they go into their usual method of exploring the game--lining them up standing up, intentionally creating fun shapes, finding all of a particular animal, etc.

Trucks

Have I mentioned before how much my very well-rounded young ladies love vehicles? After "buddies" (baby dolls and stuffed animals), anything with wheels is their favorite toy, and we have tons of cars and trucks floating around--even Goose loves to vroom around the playroom and living room, complete with sound effects. We also have books about vehicles and usually come home with one from the library. We have several construction sites near our house, so any car ride involves keeping an eye out for active "diggers." Bob the Builder comes up regularly in our morning milk-and-snuggle-time TV viewing. The entourage even picked out a truck puzzle for their friend's birthday this week (a little girl--fortunately, it was a pretty cool puzzle and there were no objections). The girls and I have laid down masking tape roads throughout the playroom on a number of occasions, but these are inconvenient for a number of reasons. However, thanks to an idea I found online, a pair of worn out jeans, and a little yellow fabric paint, the entourage now has "real roads" they can roll out and rearrange at their convenience.

Library Day

Library day was a gorgeous day, so we packed a lunch and had a picnic on the library lawn. The entourage had a great time exploring the picnic area and found lots of "poky balls" (sweet gum seed pods). They wanted to learn about them and the tree they fell from, so we went inside to do a little research. They know I use the computers to look up books, but this time they wanted to do it. I helped sound out the word trees, and they identified each letter sound and found it on the keyboard to do the search. Monkey and Bug then helped me find the right number on the shelf for the tree field guide. Success! My three-year-olds now know how to use the library catalogue/Dewey decimal system, and were so excited about finding out what they wanted to know "all by themselves." After this adventure we checked out these books:

It's Library Day

Trucktown: Melvin Might

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Fancy Nancy: The Dazzling Book Report

Will Sheila Share?

Russell the Sheep

Barn Cat

If I Ran the Zoo

13 Words

Be Nice and Get Ready for Bed