Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

4th of July Activities- Read.Explore.Learn.

June 21, 2013 By Deirdre

Red, White, and Boom! highlights many of the events we associate with the 4th of July. Parades down main street with flags, batons, and musicians. Time spent on the beach flying kites and picnicking on corn on the cob and melon. Time at a park playing and watching fireworks. Each location and events that take place there are shared in rhyme and with wonderful illustrations.

I confess I had fun reading it to JDaniel. The words flowed easily and so beautifully fit with each picture.

What did we do to explore this wonderful 4th of July book?

Water Gun Fireworks Painting

We final product didn’t come out as well as I would have liked it too, but JDaniel had fun creating it. We placed water, paint, and food coloring into some empty green tea bottles. (Maybe too many liquids was the problem with this project. It was really runny.)

jdaniel4smom_red_white_and_boom_fireworks_painting_bottles

JDaniel dipped his crayon shaped water gun into each of the bottles to gather the colored liquids. He then sprayed one color at a time onto a piece of white drawing paper that I had hung from the fence in our backyard.

He had the best time splattering paint up and down the paper. I thought he used enough force to keep the some of the paint in place, but it all dripped down. Much as real fireworks cascade from the sky after their big boom has sounded.

I Spy 4th of July Words

We have spent a lot of time looking for pictures in I Spy themed books. JDaniel really loves them. Creating an I Spy 4th of July piece of word art sounded like something he would like and hold his interest. I looked through the book Red, White, and Boom for words that would illustrate the 4th of July.

Once I had gathered a number of words I headed to Tagxedo ( a wonderful word cloud site), to create a piece of word art that would display those words. It was such fun to reload the design to find the word display in the star design I selected.

When I found the right word arrangement, I saved the picture. The saved picture was later inserted into Microsoft Word. I added a title above the word art and the words I was going to help JDaniel look for below it.

JDaniel and I worked on spying the words to together. I read him each word, he repeated the word, and then he looked for as many appearances of that word as he could find. Some of the words were really small and hard to read. This was a challenging activity.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link.

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Bald Eagle Craft and Science Activity

June 19, 2013 By Deirdre

We have started to talk about the symbols of our country leading up to Independence Day on the 4th of July. I thought a wonderful symbol to start with is the bald eagle. The idea I came up with was that we would create a bald eagle craft and see if we could get him to fly as a science project.

Before I tell you what we did to create our eagle and how experiment went, I want to give thanks to those that disagreed with Benjamin Franklin about what our national bird should be. Benjamin wanted the national bird to be a turkey. He felt an eagle was far more respectable and less of a scoundrel than the bald eagle. For my part I am thankful that I didn’t have to try to help JDaniel create a flying turkey for this experiment. (JDaniel was a little surprised to hear that the turkey had even been considered.)The book we are going to Read, Explore, and Learn on Friday is called Red, White and Boom. While trying to decide on activities we could do to explore this book I came across a really cool picture of an eagle in the book. The eagle shown in the parade and being flown at the beach looked really fun. I tried to copy the it freehand onto newspaper. It looks close to the illustration by Huy Voun Lee, but not exactly like it. Hers is much better.

Making the Bald Eagle Craft

I decided on newspaper as my painting surface because it is light weight and I hoped it would allow the bald eagle to fly better. If you look closely at the picture, you will see that the newspaper I used is from a grocery store circular.

JDaniel helped me attach bamboo chopsticks in the shape of an X to the back of the bald eagle craft. When we took him outside and JDaniel through him in the air. Our bald eagle creation crashed quickly to the ground into slumping pile.

As you can see in the picture the bald eagle’s head and wings need some support. We took him back in and taped an additional chopstick to each side of the bald eagle to give him a little more stability.

Then we took the bald eagle to our deck. The eagle took off well when he was thrown off the deck on the back of our house. He drifted a few feet and then plummeted to the ground. We were able to work on lift on our model of the the bald eagle it seems , but not draft. It looks like we will need to do some research on keeping flying crafts in the air. Maybe we will need to adjust his wings or add a tail.

We will have to keep working on it. I would like the bald eagle to really fly before Independence Day.

Do you have any ideas of how we can make our bald eagle craft fly like an eagle?

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Do You See Animals When You Hike?

June 18, 2013 By Deirdre

JDaniel pointed out to me while we were hiking in Tennessee over Spring Break that hiking is not just about hiking it is about checking out all that nature has on display. I learned during those hikes that he was going to ask me often while hiking the same question. “Do you see animals when you hike?” he must have asked me a dozen times.We have started hiking at state park not far from us called Paris Mountain this summer. JDaniel loves trudging for hours on the trails there looking for animals and taking in all the there is to see. This means a 30 minute hike can take 45 minutes or longer.Every few steps he had to stop and look around. The Lake Placid Trail seems to have the most wildlife on it. I kept count as we hiked along it one day. JDaniel found ten different animals. I confess that I walked past many of them and had to turn around to see what he had seen.

Do You See Animals When You Hike? We saw the following animals.

Tadpoles and Frogs
Lizards
Birds
Toads
Snakes
Ducks
Turtles
Dragonflies
Ants
Fish

We learned to both walk quietly so we didn’t scare the animals away. There were three groups of turtles we scared off of logs while one of us tried to talk to the other about them. Once they slipped back into the water, we heard frogs leaping for their lives too. Thankfully there were several more logs that we passed. We walked very quietly past them. The turtles didn’t seem to notice we were there and were able to continue sunbathing. It also allowed us to see several frogs.

I also learned from my animal discovering son that I needed to step carefully too. This toad was almost a smudge on the bottom of my sneaker. We sat on a near by rock and watched him hop around this rock and through some trees. It was fascinating to watch him. He just to hop aimlessly from one area to another.

Here are some viewing tips:

Look carefully long the water line.
Scan the edges of the trail to the left and right of you.
Look both high and low.
Get down low and peek into nooks and crevices.
Turn your head slowly to follow sounds you are hearing.
Stand in place for a few moments and let the animals with bad short term memories forget you are there.

Disclosure:

While during this hike he noticed a lot of animals, we headed back a week later with his cousin and he was more interested in keeping up with Kev than looking for animals. I think we will probably have more opportunities to see animals when we hike when it is just my husband, JDaniel and I.

Do you see animals when you hike?

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Kid Friendly – Pimento Cheese Recipe

June 17, 2013 By Deirdre

JDaniel and I decided to make our own version of pimento cheese this week. We are calling it the kid friendly version of a pimento cheese recipe . Here is why we made it. When we went to my mother in law’s last week, she had purchased pimento cheese for us to have on our sandwiches for lunch. I can honestly say I have never tried it before. JDaniel loves all things cheese so, he tried it. He decided it loved it and wanted it when it was offered as a choice at a cafe in my mom’s retirement community later in the week. JDaniel didn’t love it this time. He wasn’t interested in it at all. Yuck
! I believe is what he proclaimed. What was different in these two version of pimento cheese? The lady behind the counter at my mom’s retirement community mentioned that their version had a lot of onions and a little bit of hot sauce. Hot sauce is way too spicy for my bland eating boy. Onions are not a big favorite of this either.

Here is what we came up with:

Kid Friendly – Pimento Cheese Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 a jar of pimentos (drained)1 package of neufchatel cheese (softened)
1 Tablespoon of mayonnaise2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese2 Tablespoon of dried onion

Directions:

Mix the cream cheese, mayonnaise and onions together.
Add in the pimentos. Don’t worry if they are in long strips. They will break up into smaller pieces while your child is stirring the mixture.
Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese a little at a time.
Serve immediately if you would like a thinner cheese spread. Refrigerate for an hour if you prefer a thicker spread.
Spread the kid friendly pimento cheese onto whole grain bread or the bread of your choice.

Our version of pimento cheese was declared a success by both my husband and son. I love how easy it is to make.We will be making it again when we run out of the bowl of cheese we made. This pimento cheese recipe is so simple and easy! We will be able to make it again and again.

This post is part of the Shrimp and Grits Blog Hop. Pimento cheese is very popular in this part of the South so I thought it would be perfect for this hop.

Here are other blogs that are participating in the hop:

All Done Monkey Simple Home Blessings Stuff-n- Such by LIsa HomeMadeville

Oh! I have also linked this post to Homemade Monday.

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar- Read.Explore.Learn.

June 13, 2013 By Deirdre

I can’t believe I haven’t featured this week’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Read.Explore.Learn. before. We have several copies of it in JDaniel’s room and I have read it to him a zillion times. He loves to count the fruits that the very hungry caterpillar eats as he prepares to build his cocoon.

If you aren’t familiar with the story, a little caterpillar hatches from an egg and then begins a daily inhalation of food. He starts his week of slowly and gradually eats more and more until he isn’t a little caterpillar any more. The caterpillar has digested enough to carry him through the time he is sequestered in a cocoon.

Each food he eats has a hole in the middle of it. JDaniel loves to put his finger into each hole as he counts the foods the caterpillar eats everyday. He learned to count as I read this book over and over again.

What did we do to explore this book?

Caterpillar Snack

I am not huge on snacks. JDaniel does enjoy them though. We had green grapes, tomatoes, and watermelon in the fridge. I decided to use them to construct the caterpillar from The Very Hungry Caterpillar for him. Half a grape was used for each of the caterpillar’s sections. except his head. Half a grape tomato was used for his head. The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s antennae and feet are tiny slices of watermelon.

The caterpillar’s eyes and nose also came from the fridge. I cut tiny circles out of a flour tortilla and colored them green with a food marker.

Measuring the Caterpillar

JDaniel has been very interested in measuring with a ruler lately. He wants to find the length of the tiles in the kitchen, my foot, and his shoes. Not everything he wants to measure is completely straight. I decided to show him a trick for measuring oddly shaped objects.

I made The Very Hungry Caterpillar out of construction paper. The caterpillar is simply a piece of green paper folded in half with connecting curves cut out of it. It front and back ends are reflections of each other.

Then we took yarn and organized it inside the caterpillar’s body to follow its curves. We lifted the yarn up very carefully and lined it up above a ruler. The yarn length of the caterpillar was longer than the ruler. We wrote twelve inches onto the white paper. I had JDaniel hold the remaining length of the yarn while I recorded the first length. We then measured the remaining yarn. It turned out to be eight inches. The caterpillar didn’t look twenty inches long, but that is what he turned out to be.

Sight Word Game

JDaniel has really gotten into learning to read. We have been working on six sight words a week. This week I thought we would play a game to help him review the words we have worked on. I made a The Very Hungry Caterpillar game board using a paint program.

He earned a red pom pom for the first word he recognized and a green pom pom for the remaining words he read. The goal was to review six words at time. I ended up having to print out two game boards. JDaniel remembered so many of the words and he loved earning pom poms for the caterpillar.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Memories Captured: Do You Know Where You Are Going To?

June 12, 2013 By Deirdre

Two wonderful ladies Galit and Alison host a wonderful link up called Memories Captured. I have participated in it before. Most of my posts have featured a point in JDaniel’s life I wanted to remember. This time the post is a little different. The post below captures where we as a family are right now. I want to capture these moments and remember them. They aren’t easy moments to live, but they are moments that are challenging us to grow, trust, and believe in each other.

Do you know where you’re going to?Do you like the things that life is showing you?Where are you going to? Do you know?-excerpt from Theme Mahogany by Michael Masser and Gerald Goffin

Sometimes you think you know where you are going. You can look at the next few months or years and see how they will be unfolding. Day after day the basic events of the day stay the same. There is something wonderfully comfortable about that.

Sometimes you have no idea where you are going to. Life shifts from its predicable pattern and routine to something totally unexpected. This may be fun and exciting for some you . Others of us may find it scary or unsettling.

It happens in an instant. You may wake up to what looks like a “normal” day with you on the computer editing a blog post, your son at his work table drawing a picture of jellyfish and your husband at his job of twenty years. Suddenly the garage door opens and change follows your husband’s car into the garage.

Change of this kind has shifted the life of my family in the last month and has hit many families in the last six or seven years. One day you have job and a mere twelve hours later you don’t.

Just as JDaniel crossed a bridge along a hiking trail we were on a few weeks ago we find ourselves at a split in the path of our lives. We may wish we could continue on the path, but we are being given the opportunity to step onto the beginning of a new trail. The first trail looks like a fine place to walk, but it isn’t the one the sign is pointing out that you to follow.

Standing with our toes edging over the beginning of the new trail we are left with many questions.

What town will be living in? Where will my husband find a job? Where can I find a job? Where will JDaniel start kindergarten in the fall?

We honestly haven’t any answers to those questions. We know we have faith that God will be with us on this journey on the new trail. He has challenged me to not pray for a miracle that would allow us to stay right where we are. (Though I would rejoice if this were His plan.) My prayers instead need to be focused on the fact that I have no idea where we are going, but that I need Him to help me keep my heart is open to His plan.

Just as JDaniel had to pause to look for signs along the new hiking trail we walked a few weeks ago, we find ourselves looking for the painted trail markers on our new path that will help guide us on this journey. We are pausing to pray often that signs will come quickly guiding us know where we need to be.

It isn’t easy to be patient and scan the horizon for small glimpses of where we might be going to. We are trying to enjoy the time we have this summer as a family. We are using the time we have to bond together through hikes and various other activities we love to do in and around the amazing town we live in.

How about you? Do you know where you are going to? Do you know what life is showing you?

This post is linked a wonderful link up called Memories Captured and Alphabe Thursday.

Car Trip- 15 Music CDs for Kids

June 11, 2013 By Deirdre

A lot of us will be going on car trips this summer. Whether it is a long trip or a short one, it is always fun to sing and car dance to a music. We have a few favorites in our car that JDaniel asks for again and again. I thought it was time that I seek out some new music for this summer’s time in the car so, I asked members of the Kid Blogger Networks to share their families favorite music CDs for kids. I particularly asked them for CDs that they like to sing and car dance to. Below you will see a list of the car trip music CDs they shared. I hope you will check them out as well as the bloggers that recommended them.

Car Trip Song Suggestions

Jacquie of KC Adventures loves Laurie Berkner as we do. Rocketship Run is JDaniel’s favorite Laurie Berkner CD.Janine of True Aim Education recommended Wee Sing in the Car and
The Best of Wee Sing

Jennifer of the Good Long Road makes her own mix CDs or relies on songs they know to sing a capella. Jennifer of Kitchen Counter Chronicles shared Catch That Train by Dan Zane as a CD her children loved when they were little.Anna of The Imagination Tree mentioned that the Wiggles CDs are great for car dancing too.

Here Come The ABCs by They Might Be Giants by There May Giants is a favorite of Terri of Creative Family Fun.

Splash was recommended by Kristen of Busy Kids= Happy Mom.

Becky of Kid World Citizen recommended the Rio: Music From The Motion Picture.

Jamie of Frogs, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails shared 50 Silly Songs. Her kids love it.

Songs For You is a favorite of Jen of Mama Papa Bubba.

Do you have a favorite music CD that your family loves to sing along or car dance to? Please leave your the name of your favorite car trip music cd for kids in the comment section below.

Here is another car trip idea:

Are We There Yet Countdown Board

{Fun Foods} Cookie Cutter Food Creations

June 10, 2013 By Deirdre

I have loved creating fun foods for JDaniel using cookie cutter food to make my creations. We have quite a collection of cookie cutters. Some are mini and others are full size. You have seen them in JDaniel’s bento and muffin tin lunches. Recently we pulled out the cookie cutters to make two really fun food creations.

Watermelon Puzzle Snack

The first was a watermelon puzzle snack. JDaniel helped me select mini cookie cutters to use to make the puzzle. It was fun to set the them into the watermelon and try to fit them in the right place. Despite the fact the butterflies were cut using the same cookie cutter, they were not exactly the same. One side of a slice of watermelon was slightly thicker than the other. When the wrong butterfly was in the wrong space it stood taller than the watermelon slice around it.

Idea for Later

After we used the butterfly and flower cookie cutters, I had a thought. Using a minis star cookie cutter in the watermelon would make a fun 4th of July treat. The cutouts could be used in a fruit salad or set out on plates with the slice of watermelon they were cut from for guests to play the puzzle game with too.

Fun Foods Cookie Cutter Food Creations -Star Shaped Berry Pancakes

We made these delicious strawberry and blueberry star shaped pancakes for a post that appeared on the Type A Parent. JDaniel and I first picked the strawberries for these pancakes and then mixed them with blueberries and pancake mix. They were awesome. JDaniel inhaled them.

I think we will be taking our cookie cutters out all summer to create fun food creations.

Here are some other fun foods we have made:

Star Wars Character Breakfast

Christmas Fruit Tree Snack

Kid Friendly Recipes- Teepee Snack

You will find lots more fun foods and food creations on my Food Creation Pinterest board.

Summer Craft – Fish Flop Painting

June 7, 2013 By Deirdre

We have checked out a ton of books recently. One of them called Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni lead to a wonderful summer craft I am calling Fish Flop Painting. I love it when a book immediately lead to my coming up with a fun craft. JDaniel loves when it leads to a messy one.

Fish is Fish a wonderful tale of the friendship between a frog and fish. They both start out looking the same, but over time one of them changes and experiences things out of the water. The illustrations and text just draw you in and make you yearn for the fish to get to see the same things the frog has. He so wants to experience them.

Summer Craft- Fish Flop Painting

How did we Fish Flop Paint?

Foam fish were cut out of a foam sheet with a sticky backing. I thought the fish would stick to the flip well with the sticky backing. My husband suggested I use really strong glue. He was right the fish came loose after only few painting walks. They had to be glued on with strong glue.

JDaniel attached the fish to the flip flops. I told him to put them anywhere he wanted to.
We then used a paintbrush to place paint on the fish. Red and blue paint were used. (Yes, I had the Dr. Seuss book about One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish on my mind.) One flop flop received red paint and the other got blue.
Then JDaniel took a walk down a long sheet of white paper. His initial steps lead to deeper fish prints than those that were made after a few steps.
After I few steps, I would have him sit down and we would add more paint. I think he headed up and down the paper about four or five times.

I really like the final result. The fish are clear in some part and blurry in others. This summer craft of fish flop painting will definitely be done again. Especially now that we have fish super glued to the bottom of flip flops.

If you like this summer craft idea, here are some more summer crafts you will like:

Paper Plate Shark Mask

Paper Plate Jellyfish

Pool Noodle Shark

You will find more wonderful ocean themed activities on my Ocean Related Activities board on Pinterest.

Top 10 Ways to Serve Kids Snacks

June 6, 2013 By Deirdre

There are 20 members of the Kid Bloggers Network that are sharing their top 10 ways to keep kids learning over the summer. While you may look at the topic I chose to focus on (Top 10 Ways to Serve Kids Snacks) and think that it may not fit under the umbrella of learning over the summer, I would beg to differ. Children learn in many ways. Trying new foods, creating fun ways to each and exploring learning concepts while interacting with foods are all forms of learning.

I have searched through the blog’s archive to find some wonderful snacks to illustrate ways to serve snacks and I have also made some sample snacks for this post.Before I share them with you, I want you to know that I totally understand that you may not have all access to all the materials I am going to share. If you don’t have all of them, you may have some. If you see one you like and want to plan to get them, know that I have purchased most of the using a weekly discount coupons I found online.

Here are some of the tools I use to make my son’s lunches and kids snacks:

Without further ado, here are my Top 10 Ways to Serve Kids Snacks!

In a cookie cutter– I love to place a cookie cutter on a plate and fill it with a snack. It could be a dip like the one featured in the title picture or cereal that a child can decorate like the gingerbread man snack below.
Buffet Style– Giving children the choice of ingredients when they create a snack gives them the freedom to try new foods and new combinations. My son was served a frozen banana and was given a muffin tin filled with ingredients to try on the banana.
Food Picks- Toothpick or plastic food picks are wonderful for displaying and holding snacks. If you cut the sharp end of pick off, children can eat right off of the pick.
Cookie Cutter Shaped Foods- Both full size and mini cookie cutters are great for forming foods into fun shapes. Fun shaped foods may be eaten by picky eaters just because the food looks different and new. (Don’t through away the scraps! The outlines left in the food can be served along with the cutouts or used in salads.
Small containers- Containers like silicone muffin cups, cupcake liners, or old applesauce cups not only hold small amounts of food they also look less daunting to kids. My son seems to be more willing to try something new or understand portion size when it is in a small container.
Frozen- Whether it is smoothie ingredients, juice combinations, or applesauce mixtures, freezing them in ice cube or muffin tins makes them seem more appealing. Kids can suck on the cube or frozen shape or shave it off a little at a time with a spoon.
Character Shape or Themed – Using food to create a familiar character is a lot of fun. My son loves to see what I will serve him. Something he requests a particular shape and other times I just surprise him. Last year I made him a bento filled with Olympic symbols. He had had wonderful time watching the Olympics. He loved seeing some of its symbols.
Dips- Dips are a great way to encourage children to try new foods. It could be the dip itself that is new or the food they will be dipping. My son loves to be served spinach hummus, mixed vegetable dips, and yogurt based dips. If I put out a dip and some raw vegetables, he will inhale them. Without a dip he may pass up the vegetables.
Tiny versions of Favorite Foods- Small sandwiches with favorite fillings or mini muffins are great snacks. They look really cute too.
Sprinkles- Sprinkles can be placed over some many foods. My son loves them on yogurt, applesauce, cream cheese on crackers, and even in milk. I recently had a friend tell me she told her son he could have sprinkles on any food he wanted to try them on if he would then eat that food.