Paper Roll Poinsettias

One of my favorite discoveries of the week was finding the blog The Crafty Crow.  How is it that I am just now discovering this blog? Hundreds of amazing craft ideas for the kids that will keep them busy until they're too old to want to do them! To continue on with our study of winter, AG and I decided to craft up these super easy Paper Roll Poinsettias to add to her nature corner! Here's how we made them.

What you will need:

• Round coffee filters 
• Red acrylic paint 
• A paintbrush 
• Cardboard toilet paper or paper towel rolls
• Scissors 
• Glue (You will see that I used a hot glue gun. This will work too.  I only went this route because we were out of glue!
• String to hang 

How to make them:

1. Start by painting your coffee filters red.  Because you want the filters to be somewhat transparent, we dipped the filters in water, wet our brushes and then painted the filters. We used two filters for three flowers just to give you an idea of how many to paint.  Set aside and allow to dry.
   
2. Next, paint the inside and outside of your cardboard rolls red.  Start by cutting them in half so that it is easier to reach the inside the tubes.  Once they are painted set them aside and allow to dry. 
   
   
   
   
3. Once your painted filters and cardboard rolls are dry, press the cardboard rolls flat and cut them  into half inch slices. 
4. Dip the cardboard slices in glue and stick them to the coffee filters.  Once they have dried, cut them out trimming away all extra paper. 
   
   
   
   
5. Glue the slices (petals) together! Again, I used a hot glue gun so this process went rather quickly.  If you do use glue, you might need to use clothespins to keep the petals together while they dry.
   
   
   
   
6. Thread fishing line or thread through the back of one of the petals and you're all set to hang!  
   

Our Homeschool Week In Review: Week One

This week was our first week using the Oak Meadow first grade curriculum.  Because we are starting midyear we had to jump around a bit. Just for reference we covered Lesson 1 for circle time, language arts, mathematics, social studies, music and crafts and Lesson 13 for science. We focused a lot on winter and snow this week which was perfect timing after getting over a foot of snow! Autumn said that she "loved" the curriculum which was reassuring.   :)

Here is our week in review:

 This week we were blessed with an almost 50 degree day so the kids and I decided to take a quick nature walk in the back of our house to gather items for AG's seasonal table.  As you can see that quickly turned into mountain climbing and very few items were collected.  

AG setting up her winter seasonal table (Oak Meadow Curriculum).

 Paper snowflakes (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

The winter seasonal table (Oak Meadow Curriculum).

We decided that AG's seasonal table needed a little more color. 

DAY ONE: Waldorf inspired monthly acorn calendar. CLICK HERE for more information.  

Freezing cold temps and over a foot of snow = lots of winter inspired crafts this week.  I love the way these beautiful Ice Eggs turned out.  CLICK HERE for more information.  

Pumpkin bird feeders.  CLICK HERE for more information. 

We made Sparkly Snow Playdough to compliment our study of snow and winter.   CLICK HERE for more information and the recipe.  

AG practicing her recorder (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

Planting and watering our microgreens.  We planted basil, cilantro, rainbow beets and carrots.  CLICK HERE for more information. 

I can't believe that this was the very first time that we have ever made bread.  It was so EASY! CLICK HERE for recipe.

The Four Processes of Math (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

This is an AWESOME website where you can download beginner phonic books totally FREE with zero commitment. The books can be printed or used on your handheld devices.
CLICK HERE to get yours! 

Oak Meadow Curriculum

Additional resources we found helpful:

Snowflakes and Snow:

Wonders of Weather: Snow

Frozen Planets: Filming Snowflakes Forming