I LOVE contact paper!!

I totally love contact paper!! We don't have the money for me to laminate everything that I want to. The next best thing.... {and personally I think.... THE best thing..} is contact paper. It's found next to shelf liner and I have seen it in two different sizes.

I have found that the best way to use the contact paper is to cut a piece out and lay it flat. I like to place my paper face down {that way any bubble that might happen end up on the back}

Then cut your second piece of contact paper and lay it down.... sticky side up. And lay your first piece on top of the empty piece {am I making sense?} that way you cut down on the wrinkles you might have. Smooth it all out and WHOLA!

Cut it out and you've got it. I 'laminate' almost everything. You can use dry erase markers on them so they are great for thing that are going to be used over again. I also did playdo mats. I have some which I love... it doesn't help with the mess... it still gets everywhere, but it's fun to see the boys pull them out and use their imagination to create different things.

I'm always looking for cheaper ways of doing things. What are some of your favorite... cheap things???

{not sure why the pictures came out yellow...}

Exception to the rule.

Normally I'm not big on electronic toys. I like toys that they boys actually have to play with and use their imagination. So when the idea of Geo-Tracks came up I wasn't really excited about it. Then I saw Tim play with them at Grandma's house. We got a couple more and Tim loved it!!! For Christmas we got many more tracks {thank you ebay!} and Tim is in heaven just about every day.

What I like about this is that Tim is working so hard to make his track work. And the tracks are just incredible! Up, down, under the bed and all over the room. And then he is very careful to have 4 trains going without them hitting each other. And it's fun to listen to him having his trains talk to each other.

I'm counting this as pre-engineering.

Math...

I am really like Math-U-See... and better than that the boys are really liking it. James is understanding it and Tommy is picking it up really fast.

It's nice to see something that is working so well, and they boys like math and look forward to working on it {.... as much as one can like math anyway}

I love being able to see the light go on when they understand something, especially something like math.

He was listening.

Tommy was listening as we talked about our bodies! Sometimes you don't realize it until later. I cut out these little guys as we talked about our family. Tommy took it in a little different direction.

The first guy is showing the skin.

The second guy... the nervous system

The third guy.... the muscles

The fourth guy... the bones

And the last guy... the digestive system

I know you can't really see it well, but he did a really good job with it and when you look at it you can see all the parts that he put.

I like seeing these little things. It makes me happy to know that they are listening... even sometimes when I don't think they are.

Art all around us.

I'm trying really hard to make sure we get a little art in. Tommy really likes art, but James... it comes in waves. James like learning about the artists and what style they used rather than just color.

By accident I found that freezer paper works really well to paint on. One side is paper and the other side is wax so there is no mess even if there is a lot of paint. This is my favorite thing for art work!!
You know you gotta love the dollar section at Target! I found these little ceramic mushrooms that you paint. {and a good lesson on not eating mushrooms that are not given you by mom and dad :) }

The boys have also been learning to sew. They made these little "gathering bags" {like the Egyptian children use to use to gather food} This actually went over really well and they are getting better at it.

We have also taken a look at Cubism. Some paper and a little tape and whola!!

I like being able to use what I have on hand and help the boys learn and love art. And seeing what they create is really cool!! It's neat to see the talent that they have. And I like seeing them pulling out paper and letting their imagination take over with out any prompting.

I am putting together an art bin for the summer and after the Benjamin is born. This way everything is at hands reach for them. {hopefully Tim will keep the art to his paper and not on his body....}