Christmas Pinecone Craft

FUN, CHEAP, EASY, BEAUTIFUL, SIMPLE AND NO MESS!

This is my favorite ornament to make! 

The only supplies you need are pinecones, pipe cleaners and pompoms. 

 The kids get so creative! 

Have fun!

I find all my pinecones outside. I order my pompoms and pipe cleaners from Amazon or get them from Hobby Lobby when they are half off! 

                                      

Experiments with Color

I wanted to do a color unit with my boys. I wanted to do experiments and read books but also wanted to take it all a little further. So…I grabbed all my books that had to do with color and combed Pinterest for ideas!

I had my books. 

I had my ideas.

Now, I needed resources. So, I created some to go along with each activity or experiment.

I have a 5 and 8 year old, my resources have to be for several ages. 

I am so happy with how this unit turned out. The unit includes the steps and supply list for all the activities in this post.

It can be easily differentiated for grades PreK through 3^rd.

We had a blast reading about and experimenting with color.

Check it all out below!

Color Wheel

We started off learning about the color wheel. 

I liked this video from YouTube. 

 Max loved the color wheel, he even turned his modeling clay into the color wheel. 

Mixing Colors

For our next activity we read the book, Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh.

Colors

For our next activity we read the book, The Mixed up Chameleon by Eric Carle. 

I like this book because it shows a chameleon wanting the parts of many different animals of all colors. This book has a great lesson!

I have a lot of activities that go along with this story and experiment in my unit... but this directed drawing was one of our favorites! 

Color Mixing Spinners

For our next activity we read the book, A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni. 

I loved this activity! So many discussions and problem solving came from this experiment! 

Color spreading

 For our next activity we read the book, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. 

We used oil pastels for this project. 
They are so fun to use!

Fossil Sorting Activity Kit

FOSSILS!

Look what I found!

This kit is fantastic!

My boys had a blast digging through the fossils, checking them out with their magnifying glasses and matching them to there correct ID cards.

The kit has over 100 fossils!

We dumped ours in a tray, laid out our color ID cards and started sorting and LEARNING!

The favorites were the teeth and poop fossil J.

I found the kit here on Amazon!

Here are some pictures from our fossil exploring. 

These also work well with my 

Earth Materials Vocabulary Posters!

We also made our own fossils! 

The recipe is super easy buy you have to prep it the night before. 

Ingredients: 
1 cup used coffee grounds
1/2 cup cold coffee
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
Items to make fossil impressions. 

I made 10 fossils with this recipe but you could make them smaller. 

1. Mix the ingredients until smooth.
2. Scoop onto wax paper and put in the refrigerator over night.
3. The next day have the students press items into the mixture. 
4. Let the fossil harden overnight. 

Organizing my Pop Up

As you know pop ups do not have a ton of storage… so you have to get creative. 
Here are a few organizational ideas I did in ours.

I'll start first with the open bench. On one side I covered some foam and made a cushion but on the other I wanted to put a shelf to keep all of our food and such. 

My shelf, I love this shelf. I found the shelf at Target and the tubs at IKEA. The shelf lays right under my table when it is time to put the camper down.

I store all of our food in the tubs while we are camping. I keep my little coffee pot on top on a tray (IKEA). 

I now have a new coffee pot/ toaster/ mini oven in place of my mini Keurig. I found this adorable, blue coffee pot at Amazon.

We also added a little ice maker, which is super handy! It fits perfect right next to my green bins. 






Next, are some actual camping pictures with all of our food and drinks stored. 

In the red clip bottles I keep our adult beverages :), so I don't have carry class containers.  I love how the bottles just clip to my wire shelf!! 

The sink! I found the fold up wire rack at Amazon, I use it as extra counter space or to dry dishes. I also love my dish drying rack and mat, it folds up nicely when I am not using it. I found the little sponge holder at Amazon as well. 

I store both of my racks in this IKEA file holder. I also installed this cute bear bottle opener as well!

Cabinet under the bench--I keep our tools down here, there isn't much room for anything else.

The under the SINK AREA--

Hanging Basket

Small cabinet by the door--this thing is small and skinny, but works perfect for dishes.

Under the table benches-- this is where I get most of our storage!! 

We do all of our cooking outside. I store my propane cooker and pots and pans in the benches. (see above picture)







Table Display-- I love this little storage area, I put fruit/snacks here as well as our plastic stuff.

 I found the 2 tier holder at Target. The cute Crochet Mason Jar Cover at my friend's Easy shop.

Well, thats it-hope you enjoyed it! 

Find my pop up make over here.