Five Little Aphids

Here's my buggy twist on the classic "Five Little Monkeys Swingin' in a Tree".

Five Little Aphids

Five little aphids, sitting on a leaf

teasing Spotted Ladybug,

"You can't catch me.

You can't catch me."

Along comes Spotted Ladybug, quiet as can be,

then...

SNAPs one aphid right off of the leaf!

Creative Dressing

This is the outfit Mr. Two has insisted on wearing the past two days.  I tried to reason with him, hoping he might change into something a little more coordinated. 

 

Me:  Do you see any red in this shirt?   Maybe we can find a shirt with red in it to match your pants.

His answer:  Well Mom, I just pretend that this yellow on my shirt is red.

Well, how can you argue with that?

On Being Entomologists

This week, we are entomologists (or as we also like to say, "Bug Scientists").  Mr. Two is loving to classify our bug collection.

We have two groups:  insects and not insects.  (Yes, we are very scientific in our classifications, and we usually have to have at least one car to help us in our discoveries.)

The insects go in the bug catcher.

The others go back on the grass.

How do we know which are the insects?

We count of course!

Six legs?  Check!

Three body parts?  Check!

Antennae?  Check!

Perhaps a pair of wings?  Check!

Well, then, you have yourself an insect!

Want a little song to help you remember?  Well, we're happy to oblige!

(sung to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes")

The Insect Song*

Antennae,
Head,
Thorax,
Abdomen, abdomen.

Antennae,
Head,
Thorax,
Abdomen, abdomen.

Six legs to help me move all around.
If you see me on the ground,
Don't step on me!

*I think this little tune was something I found in a primary grades activity book from Creative Teaching Press several years ago (sorry, I don't remember the source.)

Linking here and here.  Join the fun!

Notes to Self: Feeding the Baby

Note to Self:

When looking for ways to multi-task near dinner time, remember this:  Six and three year olds do not make reliable baby food dispensers while you are trying to finish up dinner.

Enough said.

Bug Soup

I pulled out the Bug manipulatives and props for some Spring learning.  Before using any new manipulative with children (especially preschoolers), it is important to let them have some time to explore and use them in a free play setting.  Let them have fun discovering, then use them in more structured learning later.  It is fascinating to see that they will sort, pattern, count, and label things all on their own.

I found some fun bug catcher sets at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago. They have a little magnifying glass on the top, a pair of tweezers and a mini net.  I added them to the pile of bugs to explore.  Mr. One and Two started off just throwing the bugs at one another, scaring each other, with lots of screaming, laughing and crying.  At that point, the bugs got a time out.

A few days later, I got them out again for Mr. Two and the little three year old I babysit part-time.  They got out the pots and pans and had a grand time sorting, counting, naming and playing with the bugs. 

Bug soup, anyone?

In the next few days, I hope to do some more structured learning with our little buggy friends. 

If you are interested in where I found my bug collection, many of them came from Oriental Trading Company (here and here), and others were found during visits to dollar stores, Target dollar spot, etc.  Oriental trading also has a fun assortment of foam bug shapes, beads, tongs, magnifying glasses, and more that would be great to add to your collection.

Rainbow Pasta

Yesterday was the first official day of spring.  It was overcast and wet all day.  Kind of ironic, since we live in the perpetually sunny state of Arizona.  Today the sun is out, and I'm feeling the need to add some more color to our days.  I've enjoyed the rain, now it's time for some rainbows.

My cousin's creative wife shared a fun idea on her blog for rainbow mac and cheese.

We colored the pasta this morning with vinegar and food coloring.  Mr. Two loved stirring the food coloring into the vinegar and watching it change, then squishing up the noodle filled bag to color them.  This was a fun mini lesson on color mixing for him.

This evening, we turned our rainbow noodles into dinner.  I used a slightly different recipe for the sauce.  This is from my sister in law Carla.  We jokingly have referred to it as "Auntie Carla's Yucky Macaroni and Cheese" because Mr. One didn't especially like it the first time we tried it.  Rest assured, it is not yucky in the least, and the rest of us think it is delicious.

Auntie Carla's Not-Yucky Macaroni and Cheese

Cook 2 1/2 cups noodles.  Add a dash of salt to water and boil 8 to 10 minutes (or just a minute or two shy of the directions on the box).

Shred desired amount of cheese (I used about 5 oz of cheddar jack cheese).

Melt 2 Tablespoons margarine (I used butter) on medium high heat.

Add 2 Tablespoons flour and mix.

Add 2 cups milk and whisk until smooth and thick.

Turn off heat and add

1 teaspoon salt

1 big shake of Worchestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard (I skipped this)

dash of pepper

Mix noodles in sauce, pour into casserole dish and top with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes (until cheese is melted and starting to bubble).  

Yum!  Have fun eating a rainbow!

linking to ABC and 123 Show and Tell
Tot Tuesdays at Delicious Ambiguity

Note to Self, RE: Little Boys and Grocery Shopping

Note to self:

When shopping with three little boys, do not forget to have little boys who are potty trained go to the bathroom before heading to the grocery store.

If you get to the third store of the afternoon and your almost-one-year-old falls asleep, just go home and call it a day.  Otherwise, you will be holding all twenty-some pounds of sleeping child while trying to push/drag a cart and corral two awake and active children.

If, in that third store, you get about halfway through your shopping and hear your three-year-old ask, "Mommy, does the grocery store have potties?",  you are in for a whole new adventure.  Run to the nearest restroom and pray that you make it in time.

If you are fortunate enough to make it in time to the restroom, don't assume that your six-year-old son makes a dependable chaperon for a three-year-old in the bathroom as you wait outside the door with a sleeping baby and a cart half-full of groceries. 

When two different grocery store employees enter the bathroom after your two children and then exit smiling, don't think it's because they think your children are adorable helping one another in the bathroom.  They are laughing at you, because you have no idea what they are really doing in the bathroom.

Be grateful the second employee stays by the door to kindly give you a play by play of what is going on at the sink.  When you ask if they are washing their hands (because you do hear water running), and you get a question back, "What exactly is your definition of washing?"  be assured that they are not indeed washing their hands.  Mercifully, this employee might kindly point out that the bathroom is indeed empty except for your two boys, so you can go inside and assess the situation.  Thank this helpful person.

Try not to laugh or hide in mortification when you see your six-year-old hiding behind the fake tree in the bathroom laughing his head off (Who puts a fake tree in the bathroom anyway?) and the three-year-old happily playing in the sink.  Just squirt some soap on those chubby little hands and scrub and get out of there as fast as you can with a still sleeping child in your arms.

Now, all you can do is finish your grocery shopping and pretend that none of this ever happened.

And resolve never to repeat this scenario again.