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+.

Homemade Bird Ornaments – Read.Explore.Learn.

December 7, 2012 By Deirdre

This post contains affiliate links.This week we looked at the book Merry Christmas, Merry Crow by Kathi Appelt. It is wonderful tale of a crow who is constantly gathering treasure or bits of junk. Where ever he flies, he find something a ring, string, garland glimmering and so much more. Just about anything can be a bird ornaments.

Homemade Bird Ornaments - Read.Explore.Learn.

By the end of the book he has decorated a tree in the park for the other birds and everyone who stops by the park to see.

How did we explore Merry Christmas, Merry Crow?

Ornaments for Birds

Orange Shell Bird Feeders

This tree in our front yard is the favorite resting place for many birds. JDaniel and I decided it was was the perfect place to hang our orange shell bird feeders.

I hallowed out three oranges by cutting off their tops and scraping out as much of the pulp as possible. JDaniel thought it could have been in little cleaner inside, but wasn’t interested in scraping.

He enjoyed filling the oranges up with birdseed after I have attached colored twine to the oranges. At first he keep the oranges in the black tray to keep to birdseed from going everywhere. After I short time, he decided to hold the oranges and do a forwards scoop into them.

The forward scoop idea actually did a great job of keeping the seeds from spilling out. It looked cool too.

Bird Seed Ornaments

Every year JDaniel and I try to make bird seed ornaments and every year some fall apart before getting outside to hang on a tree for the birds. This year’s ornaments is made of suet and birdseed.

We started by gathering everything we would need. There was suet, birdseed, cookie cutters and straws. We started by melting down the suet a little. Then we mixed the suet and the birdseed together.

After stirring the birdseed and suet together, we molded the mixture into holiday shapes by putting it into cookie cutters. JDaniel used a spatula to push in as much as we could into each cookie cutter.

Once each ornament had been formed, we put it on an oiled foil covered cookie sheet to dry out. A small piece of a straw was pushed into each ornaments to make a place to put a ribbon through later.

Finally I put ribbon through hole and we hung the bird ornaments on a tree beside our house.

Here is wonderful posts from last week’s link up:

School Time Snippets share this amazing unit based on the book Little Nino’s Pizzeria

How have you explored books this week?

Giving Christmas to Others- Planning a Food Drive

December 5, 2012 By Deirdre

As you may have noticed, I love coming up with opportunities for JDaniel and I to give to others. I know I am not the only one that does. Many of you do it every day. There are a number of Kid Blogger’s that do too. During the month of December, Kid Blogger’s are sharing ways to serve others. The hop started on December 2nd with All Done Monkey sharing how to give joy to others. After looking over the December Holiday Service Blog Hop calendar, I bet you not surprised I selected planning a food drive. JDaniel and I have been shopping for our local food bank all fall. We have even found 5 ways to give to our local food bank. I even developed a food bank shopping list for him.This month I wanted to extend the opportunity to give food to others to my K5 Sunday school class. We have been talking about thanksgiving and giving thanks to God for all He has given us each week this fall. Giving food items to others for Christmas seemed like a great way to extend the concepts of the lessons they have been learning.

There are about twenty children in my class and if each brought in one can or bag of food we would really be able to double the donation JDaniel and I have been taking.

Giving Christmas to Others- Planning a Food Drive

Steps for Planning a Food Drive

So, I decorated a donation box and put it just outside our classroom door. I thought if other parents saw it they might ask what we were doing and want to help too. JDaniel and I added a few cans of our own to get the drive started. People like to see that others have been giving. I thought this might inspire the kids and their parents.

The box was out last Sunday and will be out again next Sunday. I can’t wait to see how many items we are able to collect and give to others.

Tomorrow’s way to serve is to give groceries. Kids Activities Blog (JDaniel is featured in this post.) and San Antionio Mom Blogs are sharing how they served others. Why do I keep talking about food pantries? Right now many food pantries are probably bursting at the seems, but by January 1st the shelves maybe empty. If last month wasn’t the right time for you and your family, maybe this month is or maybe the next. I just want to keep giving to food banks in your heart and mind.My food drive was so easy to put together. I just send the parents of my students and e-mail. JDaniel and I then decorated the box. Finally I took the box to church.

I bet you could hold a food drive for your Sunday school class, school, or civic group. The people in your groups and the food bank with benefit from the food drive.

Christmas Around the World- France

December 4, 2012 By Deirdre

My mom’s family is from the Breton area of France so, when I was asked what country I would like to share as a part of the Kid Blogger’s Network’s Christmas Around the World celebration I decided to focus on France. Other than making a butter cake called French Cake during the holidays my family did very little that passed out the French holiday traditions my great grandparents may have had. JDaniel and I headed to the library to look for books that would help us learn more about how the people of France celebrate Christmas. We found a wonderful book called Christmas in France by Kristin Thoennes. It is a book filled with wonderful photos and lots of information about traditions related to Christmas in France.

Christmas Around the World- Exploring French Traditions

Yule Log

We learned that in the past many people in France burned a yule log in their fireplace . Today they eat a yule log shaped cake called a buche de Noel.

JDaniel and I decorated a store bought chocolate roll cake with candy petal and berries I made out of Starburst candy to create our yule log.

Christmas Presents

JDaniel was thrilled to learn that in France Pere Noel comes twice. He brings small packages of candy and treats on December 6th and also on Christmas Eve. During his stop on Christmas Eve, he lives games, toys, and candy in or around shoes left near a fireplace or creche.

I think he might want to visit France next December just experience to Father Christmas stops.

CrecheThe link below is an affiliate link.A creche is a nativity scene that displays the birth of Christ. A creche hold figurines or santons. Santons in France are made of terra-cotta clay. The look like people and animals

We have a Willow Tree nativity scene made of the the people and the animals, but we don’t have an creche for that set. We do have wooden creche and nativity set from Bethlehem that my in laws brought my husband. Both sets are usually kept out of JDaniel’s reach. Some of the wise men were cracked last year.

This year I decided to buy him his own set to play with. It doesn’t have terra- cotta figures as a french set might. His is made of Lego like pieces and is called Tales of Glory Nativity Playset.

Christmas Crackers

We read that children in France make Christmas crackers. The crackers are papers filled with candy that are pulled open.

We decided to make some of our own using tissue paper to create cylinders. JDaniel painted the tissue paper with cotton balls. He made a wild modern design of streaks, spots and blobs. After placing the candy in toilet paper rolls, we wrapped them with the tissue paper and taped them closed with scotch tape to keep the candy from leaking out the sides. Then I tied at each end with rick rack.

Birthday Hat Christmas Tree Craft for Kids

December 2, 2012 By Deirdre

In the past we have made a Christmas wreath pasta snack and cardboard advent wreath. Before you take a moment to check them out, I want to share with you a birthday hat Christmas tree craft idea.

Birthday Hat Christmas Tree Craft

Every year one of the sibling’s in my husband’s family organizes and hosts a Thanksgiving/ Family Reunion. The final evening of our Thanksgiving/ Family Reunion is always a Christmas celebration. We have a white elephant exchange and my husband’s mom passes out her Christmas gifts to each of her five children’s families.

This year was our turn to host the family reunion. Everyone came from Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Georgia to visit with us in South Carolina. There are four children in our family under the age of five. I thought it would be fun for the kids to create the table centerpieces. During one of the family events before the Christmas celebration.

Birthday Hat Christmas Tree Craft for Kids

I covered party hats I had purchased from a dollar store with green felt ahead of time and created a sample tree for the children to see before we met to have dinner on Thursday night.

The children were each given a party hat Christmas tree to decorate with sticky backed foam shapes that had a Christmas theme. I put out so sparkly gold pipe cleaners that the kids could use as garland. I think they did a great job creating their trees. Some of the trees are loaded up with stickers. A few of the tree makers decided that their trees didn’t need a lot of bling.

If you like this Christmas tree craft, here are some more Christmas crafts you will want to try:

Christmas Craft for Kids- Hanger Reindeer

Candy Cane Reindeer

Five Little Christmas Trees Song and Craft

Christmas Recipe: Red and Green Layered Jello Dessert

November 29, 2012 By Deirdre

Jello is a real treat at our house. We just don’t make it very often. We try to stick to fruit as a dessert. JDaniel really loves jello and thought my nephews who stopped by last week on their way to my mom’s would like it in a fun dessert. JDaniel and I created this read and green layered jello dessert for them together.

Making the Red and Green Layered Jello Dessert

Ingredients: 1 small package lime jello1 container of low fat vanilla yogurt (32 ounces)

1 small package of raspberry jello

Directions:

1. Make the lime jello according to the directions on the box.2. Place half of the lime jello in liquid form into six plastic cups.

3. Place the remaining lime jello into a bowl with about 16 ounces of the vanilla yogurt.

4. Place the jello in cups and the jello with yogurt in a bowl in the refrigerator to set.

5. When the jello in the cups has set or become solid, add the yogurt mixture on top of it.

6. Place the cups in the freezer until the yogurt layer has started to become solid.

7. Make the raspberry jello and add half of it on top of the lime yogurt layer in the cups.

8. Mix the remaining jello with 16 ounces of vanilla yogurt.

9. Place the raspberry yogurt mixture and the jello cups in the refrigerator to set.

10. When the raspberry layer of jello has set, add the raspberry yogurt mixture layer.

How did the red and green layered jello dessert go over?

JDaniel and one of his cousins loved this dessert. The other cousin likes food to be “plain”. In the case yogurt in his favorite flavor from a particular brand and vanilla pudding served in a separate cup. I tried a cup of it and loved the mixture of flavors and textures.This red and green dessert was so easy! JDaniel did most of the mixing and scooping needed to create the dessert. I just kept him away from the hot water while making the jello.

What is your children’s favorite Christmas dessert?

Bringing Home the Cookie Tree

November 28, 2012 By Deirdre

On the last night of our Thanksgiving family reunion last week, our family celebrated Christmas. My mother in law gave each member of the family a gift and then the family participated in a white elephant exchange. Each five children, their spouses and their adult children was to bring gifts. We were to bring gag as well as great gifts for the exchange. I bought a Starbucks coffee gift pack and a Christmas tree cookie kit as our gifts. Both gifts looked like great gifts to me.

Early on in the gift exchange my twenty three year old nephew ended up selecting the Christmas cookie tree kit. He spent most of the game trying to get his female cousins to steal it from him. “It would make a great activity for couple bonding,” he mentioned over and over again. None of his seven female cousins seemed to want to steal it for couple bonding time. Actually only one of the seven are seeing someone right now and one is married. Maybe if more of them were dating or married they would have decided it was a must have gift.There were several other gifts that seemed destined to stay with the person who had unknowingly picked them. One niece had a fleece snowman hat that JDaniel thought I should steal from one of my nieces. He thought it was marvelous. I quickly responded that I wasn’t going to steal the lovely hat. It will most likely return to the white elephant exchange next year along with the plush Christmas duck that says “Aflac!” and the rubber chicken dog toy that has already made several appearances at our family gift exchange.The Starbucks coffee gift pack we brought was stolen several times. After three steals, it was deemed safe with the person who had orchestrated the last steal. One of my brother in laws was thrilled to end up with it.As the game drew to a close, my husband had a different Starbucks gift pack stolen from him. (Yes, there were several Starbucks gifts in the game. I think there were three in total.) He was given the choice of stealing a gift or selecting one of the three packages that were left. My guy did what any wonderful father and uncle would do he stole the Christmas tree cookie kit from his nephew. I wish I had taken a picture of JDaniel with his fists pumping up and down shouting “Yes!” as his dad brought the box over and handed it to him. I thought the kit would be something everyone would want and it turned out to have only one ideal recipient. My nephew ended up stealing potholders from someone. He said he doesn’t have any and that he is tired of using towel to take food out of the oven. Only the pot holders barely fit on his large hands. He may end up having to buy some larger ones and bringing the ones he stole back next year.Oh! What did I end up with? Well, I had a Christmas hand towel and evergreen scented soap up until the second to the last person had a turn. It was stolen and I was left to choose or steal. I ended up stealing three cans of specialty nuts and giving them to my husband. He had been eyeing them all night and he deserved them after getting a hold of the Christmas cookie kit for JDaniel.This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday!What is the most interesting gift you have received at a white elephant exchange?

Snack for Kids- Christmas Tree Themed Bento

November 26, 2012 By Deirdre

I have been trying to give JDaniel more veggies and fruit as an afternoon snack. He loves to eat them at mealtime and has been sneaking them out of the fridge lately at other times during the day. I thought maybe he had a need for the vitamins and nutrients in them and by serving them as his afternoon snack he won’t sneak them.
JDaniel loves spinach. It is one of his favorite vegetables, but I discovered that he doesn’t like this spinach dip. He ate almost everything else. He loved the mini crackers! He ate a few cucumber shaped trees, and the tomatoes though.

He did try the dip which I was thrilled to see. The cracker did actually end up with a rather large glob on it. Once it made it to his mouth he announced that it was not good.

I grabbed one of the large grape tomatoes and tried the dip just to see what it tasted like. It tasted good to me. The flavor wasn’t too strong. There wasn’t a garlic or strong onion aftertaste.

Maybe he would have like it if I had added a little melted cheese on the top. He seems to love everything covered in melted cheese these days. I can’t blame him I love melted cheese too.I am thankful that he like the cucumbers and tomatoes. He didn’t eat all of them, but that just left something for me to scoop the remaining dip up with.

Bento Making Tip: A cookie cutter placed in the Bento box is a great area to hold a thick dip and it can help illustrate the theme of a snack or lunch time meal.

If you like this Christmas tree snack, here are some more snack for kids ideas:

Star Wars Food Creations for Kids

Bento Lunch with Cracker Sandwiches

Summer Sunshine Bento Lunch

Snack for Kids- Christmas Tree Themed Bento Idea

Cardboard Advent Candy Wreath for Kids

November 25, 2012 By Deirdre

Time to get this Holiday Hop of Goodies going! For the next 2 weeks I will be posting holiday skinny mini recipes, crafts, decorating ideas, giveaways and more! Today I am going to share with you a cardboard advent candy wreath. Kids will love taking one piece of candy off the cardboard Adventwreath each day during Advent. My son has enjoyed having this up at our house.

We made an Advent candy wreath out of an old cardboard box. A plastic lid was used to trace the circles that make up this wreath. We just overlapped the circles until we had connected the first to the last. Cutting out cardboard isn’t easy. I used an X-Acto knife to cut out the wreath and then scissors to trim off the rough edges. If you have access to thin cardboard , it would be much easier to cut out.

Holiday Hop for Goodies- Cardboard Advent Wreath

After the wreath was cut out, JDaniel sponge painted our advent wreath green with a leave shaped sponge. I know you can’t see the leaves shapes once the paint in on the advent candy wreath. I just thought paint with a leaf would be fun.

Then we threaded four ribbons through pre-made holes (scissor cuts) in the cardboard to represent the four Sundays of Advent. Finally, twenty-four small candy canes were taped onto the wreath with cellophane tape.

One candy cane will be removed each day until we get to Christmas. This cardboard advent wreath will help us count down to Christmas and be used as during our discussion of advent.

If you like this Advent candy wreath, here are some more Christmas crafts you will like:

Threaded Star Tree

Doily Painted Angel

Branch Bracelets

Paper Bag Gingerbread House

You will find even more craft ideas for kids on my Crafts for Kids Pinterest board.

The Lonely Scarecrow Activities for Kids

November 23, 2012 By Deirdre

This week we read a wonderful book called The Lonely Scarecrow by Tim Preston and did a few scarecrow activities. The scarecrow is placed in a field to scare the local animals away from the farmer’s crop, but doing what he was created to do leaves him lonely. He longs to get to know the local animals and finally have friends. Yet they can’t get past his scary face and flapping coat.All through the spring and fall he watches the animals play wishing he could be part of their fun. When winter draws near, the animals scurry to find warm winter homes and he is left alone.

When the snow arrives, the scarecrow is covered from head to toe in it and the animals think he is a snowman. The animals come out to play on and around him. Yet he was afraid that they would fear him again when the snow melted.

Thank goodness they remember who their friend is on the inside when spring comes and his scary features reappear.

Here are our Lonely Scarecrow Activities for Kids:

Haystack Cookies

My sister in law Marcia make the most wonderful haystacks and brings them to our family Thanksgiving celebration. Her version contains peanut butter and chow mein noodles. JDaniel avoids everything with peanut butter in it even though he has decided he likes peanuts. We made our haystacks with chocolate and butterscotch chips, marshmallows, and chow mein noodles to take to our family’s Thanksgiving celebration.

JDaniel thinks they are wonderful!

Measurement Activity with Scarecrow

The Lonely Scarecrow Activities for Kids- Measuring a Scarecrow

JDaniel made this wonderful scarecrow in preschool a few weeks ago. We have had him hanging on our refrigerator. Recently we took him down and used inch cubes to measure him.

We measure the length of his nose.

We measure the length of his smile

It was fun to use some of JDaniel’s school art to work on a math activity.

Here are some wonderful posts that linked up last week:

I love the wild bird study that was done on Like Mama~Like Daughter. Her handprint bird project is amazing.

$Jack & the Beanstalk Math$

This retelling tool for Jack in the Beanstalk from Fantastic Fun and Learning is truly amazing too.

How have you been exploring books this week?

My Posts From Other Blogs – Fall Crafts and Actvities

November 22, 2012 By Deirdre

Today I am taking the day to enjoy time with members of my extended family. The Smith clan is in South Carolina this year for a family reunion and a time give thanks. I hope you enjoy looking for this wonderful collection of fall crafts and activities.

I am giving thanks that they everyone from out of town is staying at the amazing Embassy Suites hotel and that almost all the food is catered. Our Cape Cod house would have been filled to its rafters if everyone had tried to dine at our house.

If you have stopped by for a moment or two of your Thanksgiving downtime, here are some of the posts I have shared on other blogs and websites this month as well as some of my old favorite from this blog.

The other blogs and websites represented are Kiwi Crate’s The Studio and Kids’s Activities Blog this month.

Here are the Fall Crafts and Activities:

A yummy Turkey Bento Lunch with apple feathers and frozen yogurt Thanksgiving molds was served to JDaniel two weeks ago for lunch.

JDaniel and I made a delicious Pumpkin Smoothie. It was smooth and just a tad spicy according to the JDaniel.

One morning for breakfast JDaniel had Apple Cider Pancakes. My husband keeps asking for me to make more the ones I made for him disappeared too quickly he claims.

The final picture in this collage isn’t food related, but we did have fun with the owls in it. They were for a post called Owl Craft for Skip Counting. We counted by ones as we counted their beaks, we counted by twos when we counted their eyes, and we counted by threes when we counted their claws.

A turkey activity for preschoolers and others to work on spatial terms like above, below, and over was created with feeling. JDaniel was told to place the small red feather on the large green one. Then we were asked to place it beside the large red feather. We had a great time making various turkeys with this activity.

Beside it is a turkey JDaniel created. His feathers were created by painting in a salad spinner.

JDaniel and I did our November shopping for our local food bank using a word and picture guide I created that displays food the food bank really needs.

We worked on symmetry while creating a found art object or centerpiece. JDaniel loved collecting the objects to create the project with.A paper boat was used to create a really simple Mayflower craft! I love how the ruffled edge of the plate looks on the sails.

Here are some of our fall crafts and activities :

JDaniel and I made two paper plate turkeys. They were a part of a post called Read.Explore.Learn.- Trouble at the Tappleton’s.

I made the turkey bowling pins for JDaniel when he was two and a half. The turkey’s bodies were made of his hand prints. The post was simply calledRead.Explore.Learn.- Thanksgiving

We made the turkey treat bag to take to our local fire station. We filled the bag with cookies. The post the bag was featured in was called Read.Explore.Learn.- The Firefighter’s Thanksgiving.

Our thankfulness tree spent last Thanksgiving on our kitchen table. It is filled with leaves that list things we are thankful for. The post that featured the tree is called Thanksgiving for Kids: Being Thankful.

The muffin tin meal on the top of this collage features a turkey and all different foods a turkey would eat. The post was called Muffin Tin Monday- Turkey’s Food Pyramid Meal.

The muffin tin meal on the bottom features a stuffing turkey, the best sweet potato casserole, and turkey divan with a turkey biscuit on top. The recipe for the sweet potato casserole is included in the post. It really is wonderful. The post is called Muffin Tin Monday- Thanksgiving with Sweet Potato Casserole and More.

I made my guys a Breakfast Turkey last year. They loved the pumpkin spice pancakes, bacon, and sausage.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving!