The Valentine Scavenger Hunt

I don't normally create work for myself.  In fact, I go out of my way to avoid it. BUT-there is something about Valentine's Day that makes me want to work twice as hard. If the day is really supposed to be about love and friendship, we should put some effort into it.  That's just my feeling.

This year, my boys are in a public school in the morning and a private one in the afternoon. That meant not three but FIVE sets of Valentines for the parties.  Like I said, work created...

To top that off, I don't let them buy Valentines. We make them. We have always made them and we always will. The theme this year was supposed to be glitter...love those sparkles!

We made three sets of red and gold glittering Valentines and quite a mess in the process:

They came out cute, and are absolutely worth the glitter I am still sweeping up off the floor. 

However, I had one child that didn't want glitter cards.  We had this problem last year when he wanted a non-Valentine shoebox for school.  So, he came up with his own plan-and since it was for the Montessori Center, I followed the child.

What would you rather have?  A bug or a hug? That's a good question.  I was the one that insisted on the heart sticker, just to remind him of why he was passing out insects.

When the goal is not to create work, we try to get rid of all this Valentine stuff immediately.  I can only imagine how creative some moms get about tossing things out when their kids aren't looking.

I couldn't  just let them tear it all up for the pencils and trinkets and then wait until next Sunday night to take to the curb before my buddy Quincy comes to get the garbage while the boys watch in fascination.  Yes, I talk to my garbage man-I talk to everybody. Service is better that way....

 We had a "Valentine Scavenger Hunt." They each had to go to a corner of the family room and dump their Valentines out on the floor so they could see them:

Frances was ready!

Once they were ready, I called out something for them to look for in the cards and bring it to me.  We kept score of who had the item.  All three of them REALLY got into it!

Just a heart!

Cats!

 

 When we were done, I set the stopwatch to see how quickly they could put everything back in their Valentine boxes....2 minutes, 35 seconds!  THEN, I counted their tally marks and gave them candy for them. Yes, it was real Valentine candy.  Sometimes you need a little, but they earned it!

Right now the artwork wall is all love and hearts:

I'm going to miss all the pink and purple when the green and gold arrives in March!

Snow and states of matter....

Yesterday was the first official snow day of the winter in my New England town. It was a little gift from the universe for a couple of reasons:

1) It was a Saturday- I didn't have to work on the laptop and hear them say, "Can we go out now?  Can we go out now?" We could do whatever we wanted!
2) I had everything they needed:  waterproof gloves, hats, snow pants, boots...for all three of them and everything matched.  This was a first since I moved to Pittsburgh.
3) I was determined not to turn the television on until four.  I really wanted to have a fun day of "Mommylicious" activities...


One of the ideas came from my daughter's backpack. Slacker moms, please, always take a minute to open the backpack. You never know when something good will be in there.

 She had had a science lesson on "States of Matter"

This is one of those times I had my "Mommy Game" on-I could reinforce the lesson with her while teaching it to the younger two-score one for Page!

We went outside and collected snow-then observed it about every thirty minutes (this also reinforced lapsed time...bu-wah!!)

 

Let me back up-the younger two could not believe that snow became water. They thought I was the coolest mom ever. 

"Guess what boys?  You boil it and it becomes a gas and disappears into the air!"

"No way!  That is the awesome-st thing I've ever heard of!"  I can't wait until he hears something better...


So that is what we did:

 

We used the first full snow day of the year on states of matter.

I could get all mushy about this...we are all in different states...sometimes we are solid, sometimes liquid, God help you when you are only vapor floating around, but you will become solid again....trust me....take those moments, make them teachable...CHECK THE BACKPACK!!!!

Anyway, at four o'clock all three of them were watching Wow Wow Wubsy! and I was cleaning up the mess we made on our experiment.

I hope Maria Montessori comes to me in a dream and tells me she is proud of me....

Try to stay solid, or know you will be one day....

Happy Snow Days!!!!