Music has always had a profound effect on our moods and feelings.

Music has also been widely used in particular as a means of communication when words are not enough, or not available. A deeper knowledge of musical learning or music therapy has benefits to those who participate in them including:

1. Improved memory recall
2. Enhanced social skills
3. Boosted confidence
4. Higher academic achievements

Sensory processing disorder involves a jumbling of sensory signals that would curtail the appropriate responses to that sensory input. Some domino effects of this misprocessing include developmental lag, behavioral and emotional issues. Music and the sensory system are both linked to the nervous system within the body, and there are some great benefits of the utilization of music to help improve sensory issues and their subsequent struggles.

P.S. If you’re wondering what is THE most effective sensory activity to prevent meltdowns with your unique child, take this quick, free, informative quiz. I created it to help you get started in the right direction!

MUSICAL LEARNING IS MULTI-SENSORY

Music uses more than the typical visual or auditory senses, often including the sense of touch and proprioception needed to bang or blow on instruments. The wide array of sensory equipment that can be utilized for music therapy and learning opens many doors for those with SPD.

Multisensory equipment also aids in the development of skills, most importantly that of holding the student’s focus and attention and the enhancement of awareness, so that the student becomes more aware of their outside environment. But this is not to exclude fine motor function, creativity, increase in vocalization, hand-eye coordination, and improved social skills, because they have also been shown to improve with musical learning.

Using a multisensory approach is an effective tool in the advancement of diverse learners. It uses a very hands-on approach that strengthens the overall connection to what is being learned, improving overall achievements and giving children more confidence.

The best part about musical learning is that unlike some other forms of treatment for various sensory disorders, music is noninvasive. It provides more comfort and coaxes a more effective response, allowing more freedom and encouragement of creativity to express oneself, which is very enjoyable for children.

MUSIC PROVIDES A STRONG WAY TO COMMUNICATE

Music integration holds more than just helping children to learn language, it also can be used as a form of communication. Music is expressive and demonstrates multifaceted moods and emotions. Children can be calmed down or amped up depending on what they are listening to, and it helps them to access various parts within the brain that enable communication with those who struggle with speech.

Music has been used for people with conditions like Autism to improve sensory integration and encourage positive behavior. For those with dementia, music treatment has actually resulted in a large decrease of depression symptoms in a study done at Florida State University. The effect that music can have on our moods and emotions is astounding and should be tapped into for those with sensory problems as a way to help communicate their feelings.

MUSIC AIDS IN COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Another study that was done on the effect of music education on academics demonstrated a strong connection between students who had a musical background and those that had achieved strong grades and greater IQs, particularly in the areas of Math and Reading/Language.

Music actually engages the brain in many ways that other subjects do not.

Since many challenges with SPD affect social and academic functioning, music can be a great way to address those needs. Music accesses different parts of the brain and regulates processes, which actually improves how people organize their thoughts. This, in turn, can also aid in the development of responses to the outside environment.

HOW TO INCORPORATE MUSIC

There are multiple ways in which you can work to incorporate music for those with sensory issues. Enrolling in a program that offers online and in-home music lessons can be one great way, as it allows for the option to work with an expert musician in the comfort of one’s own home. Music teachers can provide an environment that is multi-sensory and help explore the best way to include music in communication, and having the option for online and in-home learning allows for comfort and familiarity.

One of the best ways for children to be introduced to music is through play. Playing musical-centered games, dance parties, or creating musical activities such as making at-home instruments with pots and pans, or even working with crafts to introduce different textures or sounds are all great ways to get started with music.

Maybe your children already have sensory toys throughout the home – take this opportunity to have them listen to the sound that each of their toys makes, and possibly even have them try to mimic the sounds. It makes the learning fun and gives you a sense early on how well music will be received by your child.

Music provides a wide range of benefits for those with sensory issues, and it is worth exploring the various options that are out there for you and your children. Music will prove to be a wonderful foundation for engagement and provide you with a stronger connection as you can all participate in it together, building a deeper and more understanding relationship.

The post Using Music To Improve Sensory Issues: What To Know appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

The words, the illustrations, the stories that live in our hearts. They’re the backbone of our homeschooling.

Over the summer, we combined history and science by studying the lives of famous scientists and inventors. These picture books about scientists and inventors inspired hours of creativity and dreaming that could very well change the course of my boys lives.

Lately I’ve been on the hunt for picture books about writers/authors and poets. And MY GOODNESS! These do not disappoint!

Picture Books about Writers and Authors

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please see my full disclosure policy here.

W Is For Webster: Noah Webster and his American Dictionary

As a transition from our study of scientists and inventors, I grabbed this book about the creator of the first American dictionary. We all found it fascinating. His dedication to his task was truly remarkable.

Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird

While the actual book “To Kill a Mockingbird” is too mature for my boys right now, I was happy to introduce them to the life of the author, Harper Lee. She was an awful like her protagonist Scout and her tenacity in becoming a writer was admirable!

The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss

An indepth look at how Ted Geisel’s childhood shaped the author he would become. It was encouraging to see that he wasn’t always understood by others yet didn’t let that stop him. My boys were amazed that anyone would criticize one of their favorite authors! The information at the back of the book was insightful as well! Lots of background into what spurred him to write some of his more famous works.

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare

My boys adore Shakespeare and have loved learning about, watching and quoting his plays. Getting to learn about the man behind some of the most enduring stories of all time was so worth it. Diane Stanley has written many great biographies for kids that are FAR from boring!

A Picture Book of Harriet Beecher Stowe

A fascinating book about the life and impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe. I love that this book highlighted the impact that Beecher Stowe’s book had on the anti-slavery movement. Words can change the course of the world!

Lucy Maud Montgomery

A straightforward book about the author of the beloved “Anne of Green Gables” series.  It  becomes quite clear how the Maud Montgomery’s life was the inspiration for Anne’s plot. The illustrations are delightful as well!

Lost Boy: the Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan

Who can forget Neverland, Peter Pan, Hook, and the rest of the gang? J.M. Barrie certainly created one of the most magical and memorable stories of all time. Yet his life was filled with pain and tragedy. Through befriending another suffering family with young boys, Barrie was able to heal and offer healing, including through his writing!

Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls WilderPioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder

A superbly illustrated book that walks through the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family. It’s like a speedy trip through the whole Little House series, but includes her adult life, her journalist daughter, and how Laura became a world famous writer. It was like visiting an old friend, and got my boys excited to chronicle their own lives.

Picture Books about Poets

16 Words: William Carlos Williams and “The Red Wheelbarrow”

A gorgeously illustrated book about William Carlos Williams and his ground breaking poetry. We especially loved how Williams, though a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, was still a full time physician. But his keen observation skills and his willingness to simply put down words on paper, left the world with thought-provoking poems to chew on.

Emily

I automatically love anything illustrated by Barbara Cooney. This book is written from the perspective of a young neighbor girl of Emily Dickenson. The focus is on Dickenson’s reclusive lifestyle but her generosity with words, a gift that continues to delight readers the world over!

The Story of Emma Lazarus: Liberty’s Voice: A Biography of One of the Great Poets in American History

I had never heard of Emma Lazarus, but my goodness, what a role model she was! Ms. Lazarus wrote the poem that is engraved on the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” and she fiercely lived up to her ideals to create an America that stood for freedom. This is a must read!

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost

Written from his daughter’s perspective, this book gives a lovely look at the life of Robert Frost. It magnificently wove direct lines of Frost poetry into the prose of the story. The back of the book gave even further details plus many whole poems to soak in! Super inspiring!

Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho

This book about the father of Haikus introduced my boys to the 5-7-5 pattern while showcasing Basho’s life. We enjoyed learning about another ancient culture and the illustrations were fascinating and entrancing. Big bonus points for having actual haikus throughout the text!

Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton

This book had us wanting to stand up and cheer by the end! The determination of George M. Horton to learn to read, write, and produce poetry all while living under the evil of slavery was truly remarkable.

Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People

Featuring the Chilian poet Pablo Neruda, this book shows how a love of words and nature and bring about beautiful poetry. But above words and nature, Neruda loved people. Now that’s something I want my boys to emulate!

Imagine

With beauty and depth, Juan Felipe Herrera tells his life story of becoming the 21st U.S. Poet Laureate and he does the telling with POETRY! Growing up with his migrant farmer parents, Herrera shares his boyhood and imagination that led to greatness. Illustrated by Caldecott winner Lauren Castillo, this book is not to be missed!

The post Living Picture Books about Authors and Poets appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

Have you ever met a person that hated all types of music?

Yeah, me either.

Unfortunately, I know far too many people that don’t appreciate classical music.

Maybe because they weren’t exposed to it at a young age. Maybe because they don’t know the magical true stories behind the compositions.

These eleven picture books about composers will tell a story that will make the music come to life and touch your soul.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please read my full disclosure policy here.

Becoming Bach by Tom Leonard is gorgeously illustrated and pulls even the youngest readers in. It tells about the driving passion for music that Johann Sebastian Bach had from a very young age.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by Anna Harwell Celenza It always fun to introduce kids to more modern composers who blazed incredible trails. This book captures the genius behind the creation of some truly American music, “Rhapsody in Blue”.

Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony (Once Upon a Masterpiece) by Anna Harwell Celenza A fascinating look at the politics and personal struggles behind Beethoven’s third symphony, originally written for Napoleon. Beethoven is a kid favorite for his larger than life personality.

Hallelujah Handel by Douglas Cowling A sweet story about Handel rescuing a orphan boy who never speaks, but sure can sing! Wonderful around Christmas time as you listen to Handel’s iconic “Messiah”.

Two Scarlet Songbirds: A Story of Anton Dvorak by Carole Lexa Schaefer

A lovely story about what inspired Dvorak’s writing of the American Quartet. This book was such an eye opener for me! We’d been listening to Dvorak for a couple weeks, but my boys were not enthusiastic. Then I found this book, and in true Charlotte Mason fashion, the living books and living ideas became theirs and BAM! they found they loved Dvorak.

Beethoven Lives Upstairs by Barbara Nichol When Beethoven moves to the apartment above Christoph’s family, things are anything but quiet. The friendship that ensues is magical!

Tchaikovsky Discovers America by Esther Kalman When Tchaikovsky visits the new world, he meets a little girl named Jenny Petroff who shares many of his same interests. Parts of his actual diary are dispersed throughout the book.

Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite by Anna Harwell Celenza This one is fun to pair with the Tchaikovsky book. When Ellington endeavors to turn a classical ballet into a jazz piece, most people (including his band members) are skeptical. But the results are magic!

The Farewell Symphony by Anna Harwell Celenza This book explains (with some fictionalized details) the hilarious story behind Haydn’s Farewell Symphony. My boys were rolling on the floor laughing, and there’s no way they’ll soon forget this piece!

I, Vivaldi by Janice Jordan Shefelman A fun book that tells of the struggles Vivaldi had as he tried to please his mother while following his dream to be a musician. Also a lovely peek into Venice.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by Anna Harwell Celenza A great in depth look at Vivaldi’s most famous piece, the four seasons. Join the girls from the orphanage as they bring their teacher’s (Vivaldi’s) composition to life. It will be impossible not to picture the stunning outdoor scenes as you listen to the four section of the piece. (CD included).

The post Living Books about Composers appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

Some of my fondest memories were goofing off in the back row with the other low brass players as we sat counting a ridiculous amount of rests.

I’ve played French horn, tenor sax, flute and a handful of others, though I really only had any skill at playing the horn.

Before my boys were even born, I knew I wanted them to love the team sport that band and orchestra can be. From an early age, I exposed them to classical pieces and took them to see concerts. I even let them mess around with my sadly neglected instruments that had been collecting dust.

One of the reasons I love homeschooling the Charlotte Mason way is the emphasis on beauty; through literature, poetry, art, nature, and music.

I wanted to challenge my boys to hone their musical ear and start to identify musical instruments from their timbre (their unique sound).

Thank you to Safari LTD for sponsoring this post and supplying us with the super awesome mini instrument figures. They have figures for every interest imaginable and the learning and play opportunities are endless! They’ll even bring out the inner child in you! This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. 

This activity is super easy to put together. All you need is…

Supplies:

Instruments (We used this Musical Instruments TOOB from Safari LTD.)

Music (Something that features a bunch of different instruments. Peter and the Wolf is a great place to start!)

Optional: Video of the music being played, speakers. I used my phone and these Bluetooth Speakers.

Instructions:

If your child doesn’t already know, instruct them on the names of each of the instruments. Our toob had a clarinet, trumpet, flute, trombone, French horn, saxophone, violin, and guitar (though my four year old insisted it was a cello.)

If you or your child is new to identifying instruments, try listening to a solo piece by a particular instrument. Ask your child to describe how its sound makes them feel. If that instrument’s sound were a color, what would they imagine it to be?  If that instrument was an animal, what would it be?

The goal is for your child to get to know each instruments’ sound as if it were one of their friends.

Once they are familiar with the instruments, it’s time to play a full orchestrated piece and see if they can pick out the instruments.

The easiest version of this is to let them watch a live recording. Typically the camera man will zoom in on the instrumentalist that has a solo. When the child recognizes the instrument, they find the figure among the toys, hold it up and name it.

If your child is ready to be challenged, use just a sound recording and ask your child to identify the instrument from sound alone. This can be a blast!

I usually still have the visual movie going somewhere off to the side so we can check if we’re right. My kids love it when I get it wrong!

Another fun little activity you can do with your toob figures is to let your kids “play” the instruments. My boys love to hum and mimic the timbre of the instruments they’re holding.

This can quickly turn into a wacky duet!

Give your children a way to explore the wonderful world of the orchestra with these realistic toob figures!

The post What’s that Sound? Identifying Musical Instruments appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

I have been dreaming of this day for 20 years.

My oldest is about to start kindergarten and I get to be his teacher!

As a girl that was homeschooled from K-12th herself, I have always planned to homeschool my own kids for a number of reasons. But now that the rubber is about to hit the road, I find myself having to make specific choices in philosophies and curriculum for my son.

After reading these books on homeschooling schools of thought, I settled on our own unique mix between the Charlotte Mason model and the Classical model. While I’ll probably write a more detailed post on this later, suffice it to say that I love Charlotte Mason’s approach to learning. It centers on “living books” and interest lead studies. It’s a low stress way to get students to fall in love with learning and literature. The Classical method is more structured but is also literature heavy. My biggest draw to it is the Logic and Rhetoric stages of middle and high school, that teach kids to think well. Students are taught to communicate, persuade, and debate. Because what good is knowledge without influence? I also love their approach to history. They go through the whole of history every four years in chronological order (which is surprisingly lacking in most curriculums that tend to start with American history first.) Another plus is their study of Latin and a strong focus on the arts.

So with these philosophies in mind and my goals firmly planted, I settled on these books to aid us in our first year of formal education. I hope it will help you make your selections of the best kindergarten homeschooling curriculum. 

Please note: while I’m an experienced participant in homeschooling, this is my first year teaching. I have enough humility to know that things won’t always go as expected and I may need to change my approach drastically. This is my best first attempt based on my research and my understanding of my unique son’s needs.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please read my full disclosure policy here. 

I’m very grateful to Veritas Press, Cornerstone Curriculum, and Berean Builders for providing me with my very top first choices in kindergarten curriculum at my request. The opinions that follow are my honest assessment. 

Language Arts Curriculum 

Let me admit upfront; I may have gone a bit overboard in this category. I love all things language and literature, so we’re coming at this on all fronts.

We are going to learn phonics using the Veritas Press “Phonics Museum Combo Kit” curriculum. It’s an incredibly thorough program with a Classical approach. This curriculum has the premise of a knight named Percival who guides children through an art museum as they collect sounds and phonics rules. It comes with primers that were written with only the sounds that students have already learned up to that point. It does a great job of getting kids ready to read their first book early so they get a taste of how fun it can be and are motivated to keep learning.

The curriculum set comes with all sorts of addition games and tools besides the workbook. There’s a board game, a CD with phonics rules set to music,  flashcards, puzzle pieces with all the different letters and blends so you can piece words together, and much more. There is a copious amount of material with 155 lessons and each one jam packed with activities. I highly doubt we’ll be able to finish each lesson each day, but I’m cool with that. (Check back in a couple months when I give this curriculum a more thorough review after we’ve used it a while.)

Since my mom lives close by, she is stoked to help me homeschool for her second round of teaching. Some quick background first. My brother struggled to read until 5th grade. Back then, not much was known about learning disabilities, but my mom didn’t let that stop her. She heard about the LiPS: The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech and knew it would help my brother. It’s a totally different approach to language arts and focuses on sensory and kinetic learning. For example, instead of simply memorizing sounds with their letter symbols, students are taught to look in a mirror to see what their mouth, lips and tongue must do to form each sound. It works totally different areas of the brain and was the turning point for my brother who is now a highly successful engineer. So while my son may not have dyslexia like my brother, I’ve decided with his SPD it certainly won’t hurt to try this approach to reading and language development. My mom is chomping at the bit to do it, and as a very experienced homeschooler, she believes this is the best way to learn to read. I’m undecided, so we’re just going to do both! Ha!

And since I’m a huge Charlotte Mason fan, I’ve set aside an entirely separate subject hour for reading aloud to my boys. I’m currently gathering a list of great works of literature that spark the imagination. We’ll spend our low key afternoons reading and exploring new worlds together. I must say, out of all the subjects, I’ll looking forward to this the most!

Science Curriculum

A lot of the books I read advised me to put off science in kindergarten, but I just can’t do it. My son is enthralled with the idea of experiments, and I just can’t say no to his curiosity!

I really enjoyed science when I was homeschooled, especially in high school. I used textbooks written by Dr. Jay Wile and found them great at explaining concepts. I was pleasantly surprised to see Dr. Wile is still writing science books.

We are going to be using “Science in the Beginning“. It is organized around the seven days of creation, so the first section focuses on the study of light, the second section on water and air, and so on. Nearly every lesson has a very doable experiment. It’s written from a Christian perspective with the goal being to know God better by exploring His creation. I really love that’s it’s meant to be used for various age groups at the same time. Any child, K-5th will get plenty out of it and can do it with their siblings. When my other boys are school aged, this will save me a lot of time and work!

The curriculum kit has review questions at the end of each chapter. There are two basic ones for the young students, as well as more involved follow up assignments for the middle and oldest students. There are tests included in the “Helps and Hints” book, but they are not required. The author recommends this material only for older students that need some practice preparing for the scholastic rigors of exams.

Because there are so many lessons and because this curriculum can be used for all grade schoolers, I’m sure we’ll take more than a year to complete it and probably cycle back through it more than once.

Math Curriculum

Numbers give me the cold sweats. I attribute some of my fear to the curriculum my parents used with me when I was homeschooled. (So yeah, definitely not going the Saxon route!) My brain doesn’t work that way, and I don’t think my son’s does either.

I wanted a curriculum that’s more than just more memorization and more testing and more boring. I think I’ve found it in “Making Math Meaningful Level K“. Also founded on a Biblical worldview, MMM by Cornerstone Curriculum strives to help kids understand and apply mathematical concepts, not parrot back facts without understanding. The main focus of the first year is on understanding the concept of equal/not equal and knowing how to make things equal. Sounds simple, but the concept is often lost on students if they’re not taught it. They’ll be getting the WHY behind math, and that is something I can get excited about!

While the books might not be flashy, there’s a TON of manipulative work with real life objects. The tactile, kinetic learner will love it. There are 36 weeks of lessons and can be easily completed in 15 mins a day. It keeps math from being a mystical idea and makes things concrete through observation, interpretation and application. (Cornerstone Curriculum has other subjects including a Science program that we will use as a supplement. It focuses on using the scientific method to learn about the world around them.)

History/Social Studies Curriculum

After reading up on Classical education, I really wanted to follow the way they layout history by going in chronological order and covering everything from start to finish every four years. But as you might expect, that’s a little too much for a kindergartner to handle.

When I saw Bede’s History of ME from Veritas Press, I knew it was the perfect stepping stone to help my boys be ready to handle a vigorous study of history. Meant to be used once a week, this short book is gorgeous and kid friendly. Students are introduced to the concept of a timeline and over the course of the study make all sorts of them. What kid won’t enjoy making a timeline of toys! Kids will also learn about family trees and understand the basic geography of where they live. There are lots of fun projects without taking up gobs of time. It’s the perfect foundation to lay the more serious study of history upon.

Bible Curriculum

I still don’t see the need to follow a curriculum at this point. We have a bunch of our favorite children’s story Bibles that we read from during breakfast. I want to add more reading of the actual Bible. While it may seem boring to young ears, I want them to learn young how to glean treasure from its pages.

We’re going to try again this year to memorize the New City Catechism. It’s great for learning theology systematically and help kids understand how to view the world. We’ll also spend some of our read aloud time learning about the lives of famous missionaries. I’m also really excited to use The Big Picture Bible Timeline. It will help my boys visualize the full scope of the Biblical narrative, and they get to color the highlighted stories!

The boys are involved in the AWANA program as well so they’ll be memorizing scripture regularly. And of course, I will by God’s grace, bring the gospel into every situation we find ourselves in, both academically and otherwise.

Extra Curriculars

My son will be spending one day a week with other homeschooled students, learning social skills and some extra fun electives. He’ll be taking art, music, speech, gym, even Spanish. I’m excited to watch him excel and make some friends while he’s at it. We’re apart of a support group that gets together for social events and field trips as well.

So that rounds out our plans for the coming school year. Whew! I’m exhausted just thinking about it. 

If you have questions about any curriculum mentioned above, email me at julie@mymundaneandmiraculouslife.com.

If you’ve tried any of curriculum I’ve talked about, leave a comment in the section below. I’d love to know what parts you found helpful or that your kids loved learning about.

The post Our Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum Choices appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

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These kid-made decorative bowls are perfect for even the littlest hands. Excellent for hand strengthening and fine motor skills.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Read my full disclosure policy here. 

Thank you to the Toybrary of Austin for generously giving my family a membership in exchange for showcasing some of their amazing toys!

Supplies:

Air Dry Clay

Play Dough Stampers

Paint and Brushes

Protective Paper

Directions:

Use a little water to soften the clay. Form the dough into a bowl.

Encourage your kids to make textured impressions with their play dough tools.

After your kids have made all sorts of pretty patterns, let the clay air dry for a day or two. Once it is hard, let your kids paint it to their hearts’ content.

We borrowed the textured stampers from the Toybrary of Austin. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a library for TOYS! I love how borrowing instead of buying helps reduce clutter and waste in our home. Liza, the owner of the Toybrary is great about keeping the store full of educational open ended toys. If you’re anywhere near Austin, TX, I highly recommend considering a membership with them.

This Saturday 6/25, Allyson Downey of www.weeSpring.com will be at the Toybrary in the early afternoon. She’ll speak briefly and sign copies of her book “Here’s the Plan.” (Check out the website for details about the time!)

The post Kid-Made Decorative Bowls appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

Unfortunately, I live in Texas.

To ease my sorrow over the lack of white fluffy stuff, I complied this round up of snowflake crafts, sensory play, learning activities, and even yummy snowflake TREATS! You’ll be sure to find WARM ways to enjoy the snow and winter!

Posts with asterisks have their images featured above for your convenience.

Snowflake Crafts

Washi Tape Snowflakes from Best Toys for Toddlers

Snowflakes from Toilet Paper Rolls from Red Ted Art

Snowflake Crown from Me Plus 3 Today

*Water Color snowflakes newspaper from Buggy and Buddy

*Rainbow Snowflake Window Art from Two Daloo

*Puzzle Piece Snowflake Ornament from Mama Papa Bubba

*Popsicles Stick Snowflake Ornament from Fireflies and Mud Pies

Puffy Snowflake Painting from Inner Child Fun

*Yarn Wrapped Snowflakes from Cutting Tiny Bites

Snowflake Learning

Symmetry and Paper Snowflakes from Words N Needles

*Cotton Swab Snowflake Busy Bags from Play Dough to Plato

*Crystal Snowflakes from Little Bins for Little Hands

Play I Spy with Snowflakes from P is for Preschooler

*Build a Snowflake Busy Bag from Schooltime Snippets

Snowflake Sensory

Snowflake Play Dough from Learning and Exploring Through Play

*Snowflake Slime from Little Bins for Little Hands

Snowflake Oobleck from Little Bins for Little Hands

Winter Snowflake Sensory Bottle from The Jennifer Evolution

Snowflake Food

Snowflake Cookies from There’s Just One Mommy

Cinnamon and Sugar Snowflake Snack from Happy Hooligans

EXTRA!

These snowflakes are a bit advanced for the preschool crowd, but they are sure to WOW!

Check out these intricate Star Wars, “Frozen”, and Minecraft snowflakes from The Joy of Boys

Find more awesome kids activities and more by following me on Pinterest!

Visit Julie: My Mundane and Miraculous Life’s profile on Pinterest.

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Over at Pre-K Pages, we did THREE art projects that reflects different aspects of nature. As with all process art, it’s not about the finished project, but the journey (or process) of getting there! Go check out how we made art with wind, frost and rain!

Visit Julie: My Mundane and Miraculous Life’s profile on Pinterest.

The post Learning about Weather: Process Art appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

If you’re looking for a fun way to explore music vocabulary this Autumn in a hands on way, check out this post I wrote for Pre-K Pages this month. It doubles as a sensory experience of course! It’s full of neat ideas and oh so very simple, just the way we like it!

Want more Fall Activities? Me too! Follow my Pinterest board to see what I find in my search!

Follow Julie: My Mundane and Miraculous Life’s board Unit: Autumn on Pinterest.

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