Monday, February 02, 2009

Snowman Day:Our January Fun Day

After being inspired by Jessica's blog, I made today our first official "monthly fun day."...It was "SNOWMAN DAY" for thePoeFam and we all had SO much fun! The teacher in me was on Cloud 9...planning the things that you always wanted to do with your class...but never seemed to have the time or energy! And, nothing beats a classroom of ONE! ...

So, on with the day...I started a few days ago...gathering everything I would need for today in a basket in our laundry room!... And, when Q woke up, I started preparing his breakfast...made up of mini pancakes, bananas, raisins, mini M&M's, a cereal bar, whipped cream and marshmallows! Q was so excited when he saw it and ate every bite!...
It was this first activity where I started saying our verse for the day...
Encourage one another and build each other up.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
(get it?!..up...just like a snowman is built up! It's a stretch, I know, but it worked!)
I sang the song from this Steve Green CD all day long! (It is precious, by the way...Quinn is really starting to learn parts of Bible verses because of it!)
Then, it was time for our first story...and I just happened to have it on tape! ... Q wanted to listen to it over and over and loved pointing out all of the things on the snowman. He was most interested in the carrot nose...so, I got him one out of the fridge and he immediately put it up to his nose! ... Then he ate it...and, this boy doesn't eat carrots..."Snowman day" is already proving to be a success...

After taking a break to play with the train table, Quinn and I had fun looking at a little power point I made of different pictures of snowmen while listening to Fiona Apple's version of Frosty the Snowman. We counted buttons and spotted the snowmen that had carrot noses! He wanted to watch it over and over! (***If you'd like the power point, give me your email and I'll send it to you!)

Then it was time for some whipped cream finger paiting...fun, yummy and MESSY! It was a perfect activity to do right before bath time...


After bath, Q stuffed three cotton balls in each of the "blocks" that we had made out of old spice containers. He loved trying to count the three cotton balls that went in each container..

...and then had fun making his snowman. Sometimes the snowman was silly, but that's OK...
Here he is sitting pretty next to my "Happy Everything" plate...decorated with a snowman, of course!...


Then it was lunch time...and, did I ever have fun making his special lunch!!!!...Turkey sandwich bottom, peanut butter middle and top, pretzel arms and ground, cheese and triscuit hat, yogos eyes, carrot nose, raisin mouth, goldfish stars buttons, fruit by the foot scarf, and pickle snowflakes!!!...
Before...

During...

After....do you think he liked it!?...

After filling our bellies, we painted our first wooden circle. I painted the snowman ahead of time and let him use a Q-tip to paint snow all around. He did so good...with no help! I was very impressed!!!...We're going to do one of these little discs at every "fun day" and hang them by cute ribbon in Q's playroom...


One of the least successful activities was the "lick and stick" marshmallows! After Q colored this snowman, I tried to get him to lick and stick the snow all around...but all he wanted to do was eat the marshmallows! So, this activity ended quickly since nap time was just around the corner!

Right before nap, we read another fun book on tape! Quinn was very concerned about the cold lady that was eating everything. It was cute!...

After a very short nap, he woke up excited to do more snowman things! We played with our felt snowman...and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did putting it together...The first two he had a little guidance! The last one was ALL Q! :)
We {well, really just I on this one}, made our little snowman family out of cupcakes...
And had the most fun cotton ball snowball fight when Daddy got home. My little man had the BEST time...pure joy...pure preciousness!

After a surprise party for a friend at church, we came home to do our last two activities...we read Snowmen at Night (another that I had on tape) and Q listened to every word. Sweet little love...


And, after jammies, we played this fun game on the computer. Quinn wanted to do it again and again but, after 4 or 5 times, he reluctantly said "O.K." when I told him we'd play a lot more tomorrow!

Today truly was a priceless day for me! I loved being "a teacher" to my little man and I loved focusing so much time and energy on making his day so fun and special! Even though I know he enjoyed it, it was a blessing for me that I am so excited to do again very soon!

11 comments:

Kelli said...

I LOVE LOVE this idea! The teacher in me can't wait for Caroline to get a little bit older so we can do this. How do you get your snowmen and other pieces to attach to your Happy Everything plate?

Brianna said...

You are so creative!

Unknown said...

Very very cute! I was thinking about you yesterday and wondering how it was going. :)

The Rowe Crew said...

SO cute!!! I'm going to have to remember some of these for next year. And I LOVE that Snowmen at Night book...wish I had remembered that one.

Laura said...

I'm so impressed! You're totally an elementary teacher!

Michelle said...

You're such a cute mommy! What fun!

Danielle (Life with the Hewitt Family) said...

I really love this idea...I am going to start getting a basket ready so I can do some of these activities with Carter. Would you mind sending me the Power Point you made? Carter loves doing "work" on the computer! My email address is dhewitt@agrilabs.com

Thanks! Your day looked like so much fun!

annalee said...

what a perfect idea, i'm definitely taking notes for next year at this time!

kristin fulghum said...

i love it! looks like y'all had so much fun.

Leslie said...

That was so super cute! I totally will steal this idea from you. However, mine will not be near as cute as yours. You are so talented!!!!!

Unknown said...

I am reading through your theme days and love it! It takes me back to my kidergaten teaching days. Thanks for replying about when you started them. I would love the snow man power point and any others you have used. My address is jlfgraves@att.net...Thanks for sharing your creativity.