A Pasta Shell Home for Hermit Crab

We live in the Midwest. And we’re landlocked. There is no shell-collecting happening 'round here. When my son became interested in hermit crabs, I had to get creative – REAL creative. I’m too cheap to buy those overpriced shells at the craft store, so when inspiration hit while making cheesy shell-stuffed shells the other night for dinner, I was over-the-moon excited.

Pasta shells are shells, right? Those jumbo ones look just like sea shells!! You know what? They make a great home for a homemade hermit crab!

Supplies

2 large red pom poms

1 red pipecleaner (cut in half)
2 small wooden craft clothespins

2 small googly eyes

1 jumbo pasta shell

Paint

Low-temp glue gun

Before we got crafty, my son read the book Moving Day by Robert Kalan aloud. It’s a great book about a hermit crab in search of the perfect shell. It’s good for exploring opposites, too. Check out some of the text:

Too long,

too wide,

too big,

too small,

these shells will not do at all.

After we finished the book, my son painted the two small clothespins red (these are the crabs pinchers). Then he painted the jumbo pasta shell to his liking.

Once done, he used the hot glue gun to glue two red pom poms together. And glued the pinchers on. Then he bent the two pipecleaners in half and twisted them around the pom pom crab body for legs. Lastly, he glued two googly eyes on.

Now all that was left to do was see if “Herman” liked his new shell. Not surprisingly, he did!

My son has had so much fun playing with this little crab. And I’ve gotten a kick out of seeing where he turns up around our house! 

Up & Down, Add & Subtract – Elevator Math!

At the library, I stumbled on a wonderful math word problem book – Arithme-Tickle by J. Patrick Lewis. The first problem in the book is about a mailman that rides the elevator up and down delivering letters and packages. Readers have to use their math skills to figure out what floor he eventually ends up on.

It was the inspiration for this little game - Elevator Math!!

What You Need

24-floor skyscraper picture (download it here)

Lamination

Fine-tip dry-erase markers

2 regular dice

1 adapted UP and DOWN die (visit my Slide-A-Story activity for a download)

Notebook paper and pencil (optional)

Prep

To play, write six destinations on different floors of the laminated skyscraper (e.g. swimming pool, vet, chocolate shop, toy store, art studio, cheese factory, cafeteria, karate dojo, etc.).

Objective
See how many of the special destinations you visit while “riding” the elevator 11 times.

Play

Roll the two regular dice. Add the dots together. Roll them again and add all the dots together. The total of these four dice rolls equal the floor that you start on.

Next, roll the three dice. Add the dots on the two regular die together and, if the third die reads “UP,” add the totaled number to the floor number you are on; if the other die reads “DOWN,” subtract the number from the floor number you are on. Then, color a window on that floor and make a tally mark. Roll the three dice 9 more times until you have 10 tally marks on your skyscraper page, adding/subtracting and coloring the floors.

THE ROOF/BASEMENT: If the player ends up on the roof or in the basement, have him/her circle the word “roof” or “basement.” When on the roof, there’s only one way to go: down. The opposite is true for a player stuck in the basement. A total of the two regular dice determines how far up/down the player goes. For example, if the player is stuck on the roof and rolls a seven, they’ll descend 7 floors to floor 17.

My son has played this game three times since I made it. Even though it's as much a game in pretend as it is a math exercise, my son was thrilled this last time to finally "pay a visit" to LEGOland!

Magnetic Snowman Hangman [Spelling Practice]

Okay, okay, so my son didn’t really hang our snowman (that's kind of morbid), but he did build it gradually with each letter he guessed incorrectly in my mystery word. I began with a few of the spelling words my son’s teacher sent home and progressed to a few words of my choosing – the current season (winter) and a favorite toy (ninjago).

To make our game, I created a snowman body and some attire. (Download a 1-page PDF of the snowman I made here.)

Then, I printed them on a sheet of sticker paper and attached it to an 8½- x 11-inch piece of magnet paper (a 3-pack runs about $5 at local craft stores). 

The magnet paper is thin enough to cut through so I got busy with the scissors cutting all of the shapes out. 

Yes, the stick arms ARE a pain to cut out, but it's totally worth it.

One of the shapes I made is an oval game label. It worked perfectly to hold a piece of notebook paper on our refrigerator. 

On the paper were the blanks I’d drawn, one for each letter in the word I was thinking of.

Under the blanks, I recorded the letters he guessed that weren’t in the mystery word (to keep him from guessing them twice).

I’m not going to lie; I gave him hints – sometimes the number of vowels or other clues – to keep him from getting frustrated.

This was so much fun!

NOTE: Our printer’s color ink was pretty depleted, hence our snowman has a pink carrot nose and blue (instead of green) scarf. We still think he's pretty cute though.

Painting with Markers (Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired Art)

There is something so bold about Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings. Her larger than life depictions of flowers, desert hills, and animal skulls are simple, yet stunning. To teach my son a little about her phenomenal work and life, we created our own flower art.

First, we read the book My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter. Not only does this book share the story of O’Keeffe’s life, but it also has an underlying message that is so important to convey to kids: it’s okay to be different. An excerpt follows.

I did things other people don’t do.

When my sisters wore sashes – I didn’t.

When my sisters wore stockings – I didn’t.

And when my sisters wore braids –

I let my black hair fly.

This “don’t give in to peer pressure” lesson was such an unexpected (and pleasant) surprise; I planned the activity to be all about art, but it was so much richer thanks to Winter’s portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe.

When we finished reading, we embarked on our own kind of flower paintings. Freehand drawing is a bit of a struggle for my son. To keep him from getting frustrated, we used some homemade stencils. (Print the pattern I used here.)

First, I cut a heavyweight piece of acetate paper (like what you’d use on an overhead projector) that I purchased from the copy service department at OfficeMax into fourths. Then I cut petal shapes out of each section of the paper using an Exacto knife.

Next, my son grabbed his thick Crayola markers in “pretty” colors and a piece of paper.

I had him to draw the center of his flower in the middle of the paper, approximately the size of a quarter.

Then I gave him the acetate sheet petal stencils. He positioned his choice of petals next to the flower’s center and used the marker to draw a thick line around the outside edge of the petal, on top of the stencil.

I gave him a stiff-bristled brush, and told him to brush the marker on the stencil in towards the center, picking up the brush after each swipe. 

The color from the marker was swept into the center of the stencil, creating a wonderful texture!!

When done, he picked up the stencil and was amazed at the effect our "painting" technique had created. 
After repositioning the stencil, reapplying the marker, and brushing it in toward the stencil’s center several more times, he had enough petals to complete the flower.

I couldn’t resist and made one too. Aren't they beautiful?

A Music Measure of Math

Aside from an appreciation for music, I have no other knowledge of it or possess any talent myself. My son's music teacher’s “tee tee tah” lesson on music notes had my son trying to teach me, though. 

His curiosity became mine too. 

To help him learn the names of the music notes and practice some math, I designed this fun activity.

Download the music measure mat, cheat sheet, and notes/rests cards here.

The objective? See how many different combinations of notes can be used to create a measure of music with a 4/4 time signature.

I made some “note” cards and a cheat sheet that showed all the notes and rests and the number of beats each has.

After cutting the cards and taping together the music measure mat, my son sorted the cards into piles. Then I told him that the top number in the time signature (4/4) told us that each measure of music should have four beats. Each note does not have 1 beat, some have as little as a half beat, others as much as 4 beats.

I told him to fill the measure with notes and rests that added to four beats. He started with the easiest combinations: 1 whole note and then four quarter notes. But they got progressively harder.

I had to explain that two half beats equal one beat (I used an apple cut in half to show how two halves equal one whole). Then, the fun really began – using the eighth notes and eighth rests! More and more cards were laid down.

This was a great way to boost my son’s music vocabulary and work on counting, addition, and fractions. We made LOTS of different combinations of notes and rests that added to four beats. I lost count after he created 13 measures!