F is for Fireflies

Time for Alphabe-Thursday Fun with the child. This week's letter is F, and when I asked the child to help me think of something that starts with F we Floundered a bit at First. Furniture? File? We have lots of both, but they are not very exciting to look at.

Then over breakfast we were discussing a recent craft from storytime at our local library and it hit us - Fireflies!

Fireflies - of course!

Each child got to make their own Firefly at the library. The parts were already cut out for them, and we just glued them together. This was one of the first craft times that the kids all worked relatively independently and I just watched them in action. It was a special camping-themed story time, so there were also coloring sheets, but only the child did one of those. Nice blue hair, no? And the bear, in case you're wondering, is a polar bear. But I digress...

We were discussing the fireflies and who made which, and which was "better." There was a model to follow, you see, but each kid "followed" it in their own way. Little boy made his firefly friendly - see it waving hello? Little girl made her firefly in flight. We decided the child's firefly was standing in profile - one wing behind and one in front. And so, I concluded, I like all of the Fireflies...very much.

To Find the other Fun Follies click here.

E is for Elephant Fun

When I asked the child for an E word this week she said, "Who is making us do this, Mom?" he he he...
"It's just for fun," I said. And then she proved me wrong. Last week I said I think she just looks around and says the first thing she sees that starts with that letter. Well for E she thought about it and said, "Elephant." Needless to say there weren't any elephants around. So I asked her which elephant she was thinking of. We actually have lots of elephants at our house, because I happen to love elephants. They are my favorite animal. A couple of years ago I was so happy to get to ride an elephant in a natural environment when we visited Bali. I have collected elephant pictures, books, figurines, and stuffed animals. So she caught me off guard, again - it is her specialty - when she said she wanted me to take a picture of the Elephant from Monkey Dunk.

In case you are not familiar, Monkey dunk is a Milton Bradley game from Hasbro. It is sort of a take off from tiddlywinks. Each player is given four plastic monkeys (yellow, red, green, or purple).

These monkeys jump when you push on their backside. It is a little tricky for small fingers, but with a little hand over hand and encouragement I got the four year old twins jumping monkeys in no time.

The object is to jump your monkeys into the swimming hole. The elephant guards one of the swimming holes, and also acts as a timer for the game. When you push the bottom of the elephant in it sets a spring that slowly unwinds and then...POPS! When the elephant pops some of the monkeys jump again. Each player counts how many of his monkeys end up in the swimming hole and takes a banana token for each swimming monkey.

The bonus of getting this game out to take photos of the Elephant is that the kids are all now happily playing monkey dunk while I write the post. It's a super fun win,win, win.

To see other Excellent Excerpts on E click here.

Disclaimer: in case the spontaneous nature of this post wasn't clear enough...no compensation (except laughter and fun times) was provided by Hasbro for this advertisement. Good deal for them, no? 

D is for Dresser

When I asked the child for a letter D object to photograph she immediately said, "Dresser!" I'm noticing that she basically looks around and says the first thing she sees that starts with the letter of the week. I may have to be more careful of her surroundings when I ask her for a word! Luckily her Dresser is not looking as bad as it sometimes does. I just cleared it off and "reorganized" it a little over a week ago.

To be fair, this is one of the few places the child can put things that she doesn't want her siblings to mess with. They can't quite reach up there yet, and it is certainly out of sight for them, so they usually ignore whatever is up there. These may be among her most prized possessions.

The jewelry box on the right is a music box with lots of little drawers to hide treasure in. You may also see her John Lennon glasses, her "fossil" and clay fairy that she made in 2nd grade, and her cherished "Squinkie" salon play set. Less important (to her) the clothes stowed inside. The purpose of the dresser in her mind is to protect her special things.

Where is your treasure?

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." - Jesus

(Matthew 6:19-20, NIV)

I know you want to delve into more dutiful D delicacies, so click here.

C is for Cup and Cop

I'm continuing the alphabet series with the child's input on what I should photograph and write about as we work our way through the alphabet. This week is Crazy with the end of the school year upon us, so I'm a little late, but this is what she came up with.

When I asked her for a C word she was getting ready to go outside with Daddy. So maybe Daddy was just on her mind. His cup was sitting on the table nearby, and that settled it. "Cup," she said, "Daddy's Cup." and then she had second thoughts...

"I can think of another C word, Mom - Cop. But there aren't any cops here to take a picture of." (Thank Goodness.) After a few minutes of pondering she went to the box where our train set pieces are and found this police woman. "Here's a Cop, Mom."

I think it's fun that the character is a police woman. I want my girls to grow up knowing they can do any job they set their hearts and minds to. I also think it's fun that these are both that cobalt blue color that I love so much.

Daddy complains that this "cup" is more of a glass, but we'll just let that slide for now, 'mkay?

For a Complete Cast of C Compositions, visit this link!