Activities for Holly - Soccer

Holly has finished up her second year of soccer! She grew a lot this year, her skills improved immensely even though her comedic act still is in full play while on the field. She is a happy girl who gallops across the field with a smile... instead of getting on the ball and taking it back. Part of me wants her to get in there to get the ball the other part of me wants her to remain the happy girl skipping down the field... as those moments are passing so quickly, she is growing up and slowly replacing those little 'kid moments' with adult ones. It is going to quickly!

Here are a few photos from her final game!

Rainbow Batik

I saw this wonderful project at this great site Pink and Green Mama (a favorite of mine)- as soon as I saw the project, I just had to try it out with Holly as this was right up her alley. When I showed her what we were doing, she was very excited. We started with a white cloth napkin and if she enjoyed this project we would later tackle something larger like an apron or book bag. This was just the right size for now though.

You take your Elmers Gel Glue and draw a design all over your fabric. Let is sit and dry for a couple of hours, we set ours in the sunshine. Then you paint your design with acrylic paint - rainbow colors for us. Again, let this dry for a couple of hours, we set ours in the sunshine. Once the paint is dry you will then soak your fabric in a sink of hot water for about 15 minutes and the glue will begin to dissolve. You can scrunch/rub the fabric together to encourage it to happen quicker, this will not ruin your paint job. Once the glue has fully dissolved from the fabric it will reveal the design you created, a batik.

This project, though it looks fancy, was amazingly easy and quick! Holly truly enjoyed this - we'll be doing more I am sure! A fun art project!!!

Art Club Fun

Today Holly attended her first ever Art Club function through our home school group that we adore. Today they worked on Modigliani Inspired Self Portraits. The kids learned how to break down the project based on sectioning their paper, did a self portrait on black paper and colored in with pastels ( a favorite medium of Holly's). She did a fantastic job of listening to her instructor, taking her time and being pretty complete in her work. I really enjoyed that she was able to see other children completing art along side of her, how their styles differ so much and how they complete their work. She is looking forward to her next session in a few weeks with the Art Club, I am too!

Rainbow Shells

Holly chose some white shells from her collection of shells today to paint. She had a selection of paints to try and she opted for watercolor paints. Since the water color will wash off I plan to seal them with clean acrylic paint. These new rainbow shell treasures will be added to her sensory tub or nature collection - which ever she sees fit. Holly loved this rather quick and easy project - perfect for a nice drizzly afternoon!

Northwest Trek

Last week we enjoyed a really nice day with fellow homeschoolers over at Northwest Trek. The weather was perfect and the animals were all out for at least a quick viewing. The tram ride proved to be filled with much entertainment from bison, elk, babies of all sorts, deer, moose and more! In the park we enjoyed the coyote, wolves, bear and beaver. There are just too many critters to list or write about ~ instead I'll share some photos from our wonderful day!

Ocean Books & Films

With Summer as our main focus I have not posted as often as I'd like... I am going to try and do better on this! Schooling is still happening in between the homeschool activities, visits with friends and family, camping trips, day trips and more. Life is really - very busy!

I did want to share with you that we are still enjoying a theme of 'Oceans' for the summer. Some books that we have been really enjoying I am going to share. Some of these are geared towards children and others are just wonderful resource books we have borrowed from the library. As well as a wonderful book collection we have been enjoying a variety of documentary movies from Netflix. These have all been a lot of fun to enjoy!

Some films we are viewing are:

The Blue Planet : Seasonal Seas & Coral Seas
The Blue Planet: Tidal Seas & Coasts
The Blue Planet: Ocean World & Frozen Seas
Coral Reef Adventure
Under the Sea: Imax film

And, here are books we are enjoying: