Melody's 'Projects'

This post is for the benefit of all the grandparents. Melody has been very into doing projects lately, every day she asks "we do a project today mom?" So I've tried to come up with stuff she can do without too much help, or too much mess!

We had a week that we did apples so we made an apple tree, an A with apples and ant stickers, and a collage apple that she didn't have the patience to finish. However, she did have enough glue on the collage apple to hang it on the wall without a pin. We also made apple sauce and cut open an apple so we could look at the seeds. She really enjoyed mashing the apples into sauce!

Then the shape picture she made on her first day of preschool. We had been working on shapes at home, but Gretchen (the teacher that day) said she was able to identify most of them on her own. I was surprised because she wouldn't name them with me, I guess it's just a mom thing, she likes trickin me! :0)

And finally our jack-o-lantern garland. I decided that I needed some holiday decor because I'm hosting the next book club and have to do preschool in a few weeks. But why spend all that money on cheap 'made in China' stuff when I have perfectly good cheap labor right here at home!

I cut out all the pieces, then put them into piles: eyes, nose, mouth, stem. she picked what she wanted on what pumpkin and put it on. I had to do a little guiding so we didn't end up with noses on the forehead, but other than that she did it mostly on her own. She likes talking about the faces and which one is scary, which one is happy, etc. When I told her I was going to put pictures of it on the computer so everyone could see she said, "yes, uh-huh! That be a GREAT idea mom!" It was pretty cute!

She's finally got enough control that she can write a few letters. I think M, Y, and W are all she can do so far, but I figured I'd start doing things with these letters so she can learn to write them and learn the sounds at the same time. Wish me luck!