The Tale of Peter Rabbit..... FIAR Study

 Hi Again! I am going to spend the next few weeks  updating the past FIAR books we have done, but I Just haven't had the time to post... The first one goes as far back as last May! - =( In the next few days the posts will be on "The Glorious Flight", " The Giraffe that walked to Paris", "Three Names" and "Harold and the purple Crayon..."

Today is The Tale of Peter Rabbit!!!

This was by far one of our most favorite studies!

I set up our display table with lots of puzzles and a peter rabbit game. And some stuffed Friends I found  ebay for very inexpensive prices. I did plan ahead for this study, So finding these cheap took some time =)

I set up a watering can , some flowers, a spring apron for the table cloth.

The kinders spent hours here, they just loved to walk up and play.

Here I placed a basket of go-alongs to the story .... There are many in the Peter Rabbit series that are wonderful to read as well.

We placed a chamomille tea bag on our table, and we talked about how it can help our tummies, and other teas made from flowers and leaves can also help us when we are sick... God certainly has created amazing things hasn't he?

My kids are to old for stacking blocks, but I just couldn't pass these up as they told the story on each side, so we used it as a story sequence game. =) They loved it!

Puzzle fun! My children LOVE puzzles of all kinds, So I really wanted to make sure I had one for this study. As you read the teachers guide in FIAR there isn't a whole lot you can do in the study unless it's in the lapook department etc... so this really was fun for them!

I found this game online as well, and it was alot of fun! We played this many times. (total splurge) I think this one is from British Ebay.

We took a book tour and visited Great Britain, London and the town from where Beatrix Potter lived.

Beatrix Potter 's art work is using Water colors. So for ART we learned all about Water Colors, and painted a few of our own coloring pages.... JT loved this! He spent alot of time on his.

First he drew a picture out of a book, then painted it.

Ta Da!!!

And we had to do a mini study on Cottontails! =)

we added this to our lapbook study, and learned about different rabbits here in Europe.

We also went outside and designed our own Garden on paper, as to what we were going to continue planting in our garden.....

They really enjoyed this!

We grew Strawberries, Carrots, onions, and flowers...

at the end of the season we only had a few of each...=( But it was a great learning experience, and this year we will try again!

I decided to purchase the Peter Rabbit Lapbook online from FIAR to see what their lapbooks entailed...
It was a bit pricey, but if you dont' want to look around online for things to put in yours, this is a great lapbook purchase, with tons of information to print out and do. I personally though probably wouldn't buy another one... But I like looking for things I want to put in our lapbooks.. =)

We also watched these AMAZING dvd's  that Gramma lent us

We also went online and visited Beatrix Potters Home

 and the  The wonderful World of Beatrix Potter We are going there, I think it will be next season though, as It's a bit of road travel from the London airport if we fly in. 

It's Amazing you have to visit the site!!! 

Can you imagine going to this:

THE GREAT PETER RABBIT EASTER EGG HUNT

Thursday 21st April at 10.00am

FREE

The North of England's biggest Easter Egg Hunt. Specially commissioned handmade ceramic eggs hidden throughout Cumbria. There is a prize for each egg found, 10 of which have special prizes

photo credit wide Cow

And Finally My son and I stayed up one night to watch

Miss Potter

Since it has been almost a year that we did the study, JT still considers this his favorite one. So for our recent Homeschool Academics Fair he decided to do his presention on this story:

He did amazing!

He loved it, and I was pleasantly surprised at how he enjoyed giving a presentation. Looks like we have a natural speaker on our hands - =)

we even brought our pet Bunny "Bun Buns" for display! =)

Helpful Links:

Peter Rabbit.com

Beatrix potter Coloring Pages

Peter Rabbit coloring pages

More Pete Rabbit and Friends coloring pages

Coloring pages

Tale of Peter Rabbit Lapbook -homeschoolshare FREE

Tale of Peter Rabbit Fold N Learn from FIAR

Tale of Peter rabbit Activites

Flower pot Addition file folder game

More Peter Rabbit fun and additional links from Virtual Vine

Spring Seed Planting Party!

Is it the beginning of SPRING where you are ???

Are you ready to start planning your Garden with your kinders?  How about a little shin-dig to get into the spring fun?

This weekend we had our first Seed planting party!

 It was probably one of the most FUN days we have had this year!

I set up different stations around the yard. We had 22 kids, and rotated our activities.

Come see what we did!

Each Child brought a Clay pot to paint, and some seeds to share!

I repurposed  coffee tables and already had a small picnic table to use for the kinders.

PAINTING STATION

I had some old boards in the garage that I painted the different Station signs on. Easy - peezy! Ad some old sheets for the table, fresh garden flowers and pinnwheels....and you are set!

I set out aprons for all the kids, since this paint was not washable... (probably should have told the mommies that! =( oops.)

And our first part of the day was painting! 

Look at how adorable they are!

KT was so proud of her butterfly Flower pot. =)

My son's hands after a good hour of painting his! This is huge for my anti-messy child! He had the BEST time! He decided to be creative and use his fingers as his brush like some of the other kids!

GARDEN MARKERS STATION

Our next station was Making GARDEN MARKERS for our seeds! I set up tons of popsicle sticks, markers, crayons, paper, scissors, glue, tape, and tons of stickers...Once they choose their seeds, they worked on these...

They all made some GREAT markers!

Time for Snack!!!!

Our next station was the REFRESHMENT Section.

I made this little table from 2 chairs and a board...it was the perfect height for the Kids, and worked in a pinch!

We served Water! =) Perfect, no mess drink, and everyone likes it!

All the families brought a snack to share,  and we made these adorable little Dirt Cakes!!! I bought mini flower pots, (50 cents each) felt flower decor,(pack for $2)  and gummie worms.

Aren't they adorable? I just used plain vanilla pudding and ground up oreo cookies since it was easier than the actual dirt cake recipe. =)

Our next station was the DIRT station!

Time to fill our pots!

We also had families bring Egg cartons to fill as well.... Each Child recieved their own shovel, and were able to take it home as a party favor. (only 30 cents each at the german toy store!)

I bought a 6lb bag of soil, laid out a tarp and framed it with firewood. The dirt was just enough for all the kids, with some left over.

Next, onto the SEED PLANTING station!

Here, we set up a table for the Children to work out, and plant the seeds.

I laminated the seed growing process and placed it on our seed table.

If you do this, make sure you have the kids put the seeds back in their envelopes, otherwise you won't know which seeds are which, and it will be a "Mystery Garden" =)

How cute did they turn out????!!!

Next the WATERING Station!

Children took their finished potted seeds to the watering station and lightly watered their garden.  Also available for free play!

I hung simple pendant banners around the yard.....

The next station was a SENSORY Box!

 This was a HUGE hit!

Daddy built these for me before he left. I wanted 2, and I wanted them big enough for at least 4 kids to play around them at a time. They are simple to make.

We use them for all sorts of Themed activities for the kids.

This one I filled with 8 packs of black beans, and 1 pack of brown peans, plastic bugs, butterflys, fake flowers, flower pots, and 3 little square grass decorations.  

The KIDS loved it!!!

 There were a few who only wanted to play with this most of the time... Thanks Daddy!

This was a great size for them! I also set it on top of two old vintage drawers I had laying in the garage to raise it off the ground a bit...

I laid out a few quilts to sit on, and some stories for the younger ones and the mamas....

With so many families coming, I knew i wasn't going to have enough lawn chairs, so laying out blankets was a great way to seat everyone, encourage relaxing, as well as cost effective! =)

I also set up a little table with a sequencing game of HOW DO PLANTS GROW?.. I used a cookie sheet, and magnets for this, and it kept the wind from blowing the pieces away!

I laminted the HOW DO PLANTS GROW book, and placed it outside with the game, And one of the Mama's read this to the kids before they headed over to the planting table!

What happens when you are all done planting and you have dirt and water left??????????

That's right, TONS OF FUN!!!!!!

You wouldn't believe how much fun the kinders had playing in the mud!

Mud PIES!

I have NEVER seen my children this dirty. =) And to my surprise how much FUN they had being dirty!

The dirt pile is going to STAY!. 

 P.S. . KT's pants had flowers on them, they are NOT black....=) see her now!

Something else I did,  was take a few seeds to examine the differant sizes ... an Avocado Pit, an acorn, and asked the kinders to GUESS what it was...

Counting FUN!

I have a boxes of little wooden counters of all kinds of shapes, and things from a local craft shop. They are very inexpensive ($1-2 pack of 10)

I wanted to have a display on the table of the differant parts of a LIVE plant the kids could look at and touch. .. Roots, leaves, flowers, stems, ... Great hands on for the kinders... NEXT time! =)

 STATION: SHOWER TIME!!!!!

Tiny little Toes Had fun here today....

What a totally FUN Day!

Thanks everyone for coming and sharing with us!!!

And this is where we will transfer our new seedlings when the weather is right..... our square foot garden....

The Kinders and I are heading to Asia in a few days to visit this guy! Remember he left last spring, and came home in November, and then trotted off to another part of the world for a YEAR? Well, we are SO blessed to take a month to be a FAMILY again... =) The Lord has worked out every detail and we are so thankful.

I will be sharing Next week on our CRAFT room! Woo Hoo!!! (after the jet lag! )

Thanks for visiting!

Now, Go Have a PARTY!!!

                                                                         Helpful links:

From Seed to Plant printable

How do plants grow sequence game

And here are some other great GARDEN Ideas for your little ones!

Garden Preschool Pack- from Homeschool Creations

Printable Veggie Seed Packets from Mama Jenn

Growing Ideas  from Mama Jenn

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