Love bugs

Genevieve has suddenly developed a fear of bugs so this week we talked about love bugs.

In Music Makers, we've been practicing a rhyme about a Love Bug and "Won't You Bee my Valentine.". She's also been listening to some bug songs on ABC mouse.

We read a lot of bug books this week.  The Eric Carle collection includes The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Busy Spider, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Clumsy Click Beetle.  We read The Ant and the Grasshopper from Jerry Pinkney's collection of Aesop's fables.  Denise Fleming's Beetle Bop was fun and had a nice couple of sentences about beetles. We also read a counting favorite, Miss Spider's Tea Party.

We read a few Valentine's day books, like Heart to Heart about friendship and Crankenstein Valentine which is nice if your little one isn't interested in Valentine's Day.  Genevieve also enjoys the Pout Pout Fish about a fish that discovers his face is actually for kissing.

Genevieve made love bugs with paper hearts, pom poms and clothes pins.  She used her magnifying glass while searching for bugs.  We also matched different animals to their homes, including bees, spiders and other bugs.  For Valentine's day, she made heart pizza with her dad and heart necklaces with friends.  She went to a friend's house where they used canvases and stamps to create their own Valentine's day art.

As a side note, she found a robot canvas at Target and painted that too.

Valentine's and Groundhogs Day

We started getting ready for Valentine's day so we can mail the ones we need to.  We started by creating some heart puzzles for friends.  Then we used different sizes and colors of paper hearts to create some animals.  We made a flamingo, ladybug, fox, fish, owl, panda, and chicken.  We talked of making a mouse or a beaver, but she decided these were enough.  Genevieve also tried her hand at being a flamingo.

We read a book about Valentine's Day, but it was a little wordy for Genevieve.  It was interesting though to consider the history, both of the different Valentine's it could have been named after and Lupercalia.  We also read What is Love, Biscuit? and The Quilt Story while talking about love.

For Groundhogs Day, we read about light and groundhogs.  The light book included some fun activities, like noticing how a straw appears to break when in a glass of water when the light rays bend.  We were hoping to head outside and play with shadows and sun prints.  Sadly the weather didn't agree so we stayed inside and used a flashlight to create shadows.

Genevieve has also been enjoying some of the codes hidden within Enigma and The Jewel Fish of Karnak.  They are interesting stories on their own and have some hidden items to look for and codes to break.  Plus Graeme Base's rhyming, meter and illustrations have long entertained me.