Recycled Tee-Shirt into a Backpack

He has it filled with little cars, so it is pretty heavy and hanging low...I have since shorted the straps so the bag sits up higher on his shoulders.



I have also discovered that the material I used for the straps is freing, so I think I will replace them with tee-shirt material straps like the original directions called for, I will have to use a different tee-shirt since the kids ones are to small to cut extra material off to make the straps...Dada must have an old tee we can use!



 I have been wanting to make the boys "Nature Bags" that we can take with us while out exploring..well..nature! The idea is for them to each have a bag with supplies that they can carry them selves. Here is what I want to put into the bags:

snack

hat

colored pencils

small notepad

sm. magnify glass

bug jar

compass

sm. flashlight

I thought it would be fun to make their bags from their old tee shirts! I found the instructions here...

How-to-make-a-drawstring-backpack-out-of-a-t-shirt

I modified these instructions a bit, cause kids tee-shirts are a lot smaller.  I could not cut the bottom off the kids shirts to make the straps, so I used some green fabric I had and made the straps.

First I cut the arms and neck off.

I cut 8 green strips into 2x13 in strips, then sewed them to make two strips 52 inch strips.

I folded them in and sewed down the middle to make the straps strong so they would not stretch when heavy things (like rocks) are in the bag.

Next I folded down the top about 1 inch and sewed across (front and back)

I took the straps and fed them thru the top so there was a loop and 2 ends at each side.

(you cant see the loop in the picture, but when you pull the ends it pulls the material together as a draw string)

I actually used a strait pin to pin the end to the eraser of a pencil to feed the material thru!

Bring the straps down thru the inside to the bottom

(shirt is inside out)

While inside out pin the bottom of the straps and the bottom of the shirt and sew across, when you turn it right side out it will look like this!

Picture of the front!

April's Fun Activities and Field Trips

The Greek Olympics!

In our Story of the World curriculum, it was my week to do the Olympics, it was also the last week for indoor park day with one of the home school groups, so I combined the two! More fun to have the Olympics with lots of kids of all ages then the 4 that is in the SOTW Co-Op. I am only posting this one pic, since I do not have permission to post pics of the other 19 children that participated. Some of the games we did was:

shot put (bean bags)

javelin (foam pool noodles)

egg on spoon relay

3 legged race

a hool-a-hoop group game

balloon relay

I loved that the teenage boys also really got into it!

I also printed out olive leaf crowns for them to color and bobby pin to their heads, name tags and a copy of the Greek alphabet to let them write their names out in Greek letters, and everyone got prizes!

 Herring Run

With another home school group we went to the herring run in Middleboro.  Such a beautiful place. All the children had so much fun running around, touching the fish and routing for them to get us the stream!

James fell asleep on the way there and spent the first hour wrapped up napping in the blanket to the sound of the babbling brook.....

Vernal Pool Hike

Every year our conservation committee for the town sponsors a vernal pool hike.

We really enjoy going and learning all about what makes a vernal pool, who lives there, and exploring all the creatures they find!

More info on vernal pools.

James holding a turtle

All prepared with new rain boots and a net!

Having a snack on these logs...this lead to a conversation about why it was wrong for the local teens to cut down this once live tree to make seats and a campfire on conservation land!

Discovering a large root that leads from the tree all the way to the pool.

After lots of questions about the spring peepers (frogs) we hear in the forest....one of the ladies went off to find one, which is tough, they are so small! It was cool to see one! I cant believe this small creature makes such BIG noise!

Mansfield Music and Art Center

Our friend Colleen took us on a tour and played theater games with us!

Colleen standing on the stage.

They played a wonderful game called "that's not a ___ its a ___."

The idea was to have an object like a scarf and say that is not a scarf that is an (enter imaginative idea here), like a bear, necklace,cape etc... then pass it to the next person who says "that is not a bear it is a ?" and so on. It was a great way to get them (especially Mason) to use their imagination!

Thank you Colleen!

Carnival

This is the second year we have taken the boys to the carnival. They love it! Its so fun to see their eyes wide with excitement!

Lets find Spring!

We have been very busy with our home school friends searching for SPRING! 

We went out in the yard and brought the camera.  The kids found signs of spring and then they took a picture of it.

crocus sprouting

searching

Add caption



onions in the garden sprouting



forsinthia budding

lilac buding

grass turning green

green bushes

We made eggshell planters.  The moms blew out the eggs, except for Mason who wanted to blow out his own.  The tops where broken off, the kids scooped dirt into them and planted Mourning Glory seeds in them.

Some where in blogger world I saw this great idea for letting your little ones help water plants without a huge mess.  I LOVE this, and it works so well!



I use a small bulb baster in a small glass vase, so the kids can squeeze a small amount of water to use to water the plants.  This keeps the water from pouring over the dirt and flowing over.



With another home school group we had a Nature Explores Day at The Sheep Pasture in Easton, MA

Our friend Loni put together an extensive list of things to find and hear in early spring. 

We split up into groups and off we went....

Here is the list..

1. robins
2. more bird songs (some birds are beginning to establish territories and find mates at this time)
3. lift a stone or a log to look for insects
4. lift a stone or log to look for worms
5. can you hear a frog yet?
6. redwing blackbird?
7. wood hellebore
8. a bumblebee (if we hit 55 degrees)
9. grape hyacinth
10. the sprout of any flowering bulbs (crocus, daffodil)
11. snowdrops (small white flowers)
12. milkweed leaves
13. barn swallow
14. grackle
15. mud!
16. skunk cabbage
17. a turtle ( we found a dead one)
18. a bluebird
19. the chickadee spring call (swee-tee)
20. mourning dove call or sighting
21. migrating geese or ducks
22. a weeping willow in full chartreuse
23. a chipmunk up from hibernation
24. pussy willow buds
25. witch hazel flowers
26. woodpecker drumming (territorial)
27. marsh marigold
28. snow trillium (usually along a stone wall)