Fall Bulletin Board Idea

I love coming up with my bulletin boards in my classroom each month and thought I would post my October board. A simple yet cute bulletin board idea for your classroom!

"LET'S HAVE A BALL AS WE ENTER FALL!!"

A craft for the season - WHOO WHOO!

In case you couldn't tell by my lack of posts I'm working full-time now as a Day School Teacher of 1-2 year-olds. Yes insanity at it's best!! However I've had so much fun finding cute crafts for these little ones to do and the best part is that almost all of them can be altered to fit older kids too. Such as this owl craft.

For my little students I cut out the parts and they just glued them on. However for older kids, such as my own kiddos, I had them cut out their own pieces.

Here's what you'll need:
- Brown Paper Bag
- Brown Construction Paper
- White Construction Paper
- Orange Construction Paper
- Black Sharpie Marker (or regular black marker if older kids are doing it themselves)
- Scrap paper or old magazine
- Brown String
- Tacky Glue (or regular Elmer's but tacky seems to hold better)

And here's what to do:
1. Cut out a brown triangle that fits from one corner of the bottom of the bag to the other corner and the point goes down to the crease in the bag. (bag is still flat at this point, don't open yet). Glue on as the beak.
2. Cut out two white circles and glue on each side of beak.
3. With marker make a circle in the middle of the eye and then lines coming out from circle to edge of white circle.
4. Also with marker make V's all over bottom 2/3 of bag to make the owl's feathers.
5. Cut out two orange feet and glue on facing up the bag. once dry fold the bottom part down so they stick out like feet. You'll glue them on about 2/3 a way down the bag.
6. Wait for all glue to dry.
7. Open bag and using scrap paper or pages of old magazine have kids crumple up paper into balls and stuff bag a little more than 2/3 full.
8. Once nice and stuffed, gather the bottom of the bag and tie tightly with string. Bend up and towards the back to make a little owl tail.
(sometimes you have to work the bottom of the bag a bit to get it somewhat flat and the feet right once stuffed.) Oh and the one on the right was a trial owl - we learned that using yellow makes it look "duck-like" so I recommend the brown and orange :)

And voila! WHOO -WHOO -WHHHOOOOO!

A seasonal craft for you and your little one to enjoy!

Messy Fun

Need some good messy fun with your kids? Just keep reading...

She finally arrived: Our long awaited guest. She has been highly anticipated since early June and we love the time she spends with us, the time never being long enough. Several times we thought her flight had arrived only to be disappointed with another flight delay.

Who is this wonderful and joyful guest we are so pleased to entertain and host?

Our dear friend Autumn. (And yes I mean the season, not a person - just in case anyone was lost.)

Before Autumn came the kids and I decided to make some preparations! Because we needed everything ready when she DID arrive. And what better way to start prepping for a guest than to BAKE! Woohoo! Typically sugar cookies wait until Christmas but hitting the %50 off Fall items at Hobby Lobby my eye glanced upon a package of cute Fall Cookie Cutouts and I couldn't resist. Plus - during the course of my college class most evenings consisted of homework and I figured I owed my kids some good quality (and messy) time.

So out with the ingredients:

Recruit some help...

Since I owed them I let them do it all - from step one to step...100? (Although I did crack the eggs and ice the cookies. There had to be SOME limits to these youngin's!

My kitchen paid for it. Dearly.

I think I "cut" out ONE cookie, the rest were ALL theirs...

Candy Wonderland!!! I had three bowls of icing, 7 bowls (yes SEVEN) of sprinkles, and two dozen cookies for them to do. (By the way have you noticed that we started in daylight and by this photo it is pitch dark out?!)

I love my hubby - he graciously captured all of us on film for me!

These kids had no rules with the sprinkles.

Should I have re-thought that one?

Nope. Never. Even though that first photo in this post was the "leftover" sprinkles off the cookie trays and my table. (No not including what little was left in the bowls. And NO not including the new sugar floor my kids gave me) But all totally worth it. Have you done something messy with your kids lately?

Autumn Festivities have begun...(recipe included)

Even though we live in Texas the weather HAS finally turned cool and it has been rushed in with a LOT of rain! But I am grateful for the rain after such a dry summer. Anyways Autumn is officially here and between reading my Better Home and Garden magazines, wearing sweaters and jackets, watching the trees turn colors, AND looking at my neighbor's cute Fall wreaths all hanging on their doors I have gotten my inspiration back!!

So here are some of the things I have done to welcome the new season:

1. Put out all my Autumn house decorations (my theme is scarecrow)

2. Changed my counter "grab" bowls to Almonds (for me) and Candy Corn (for the kiddos)

3. Went through the kids closets and bagged up all the "summer" clothes that were getting to small or WAS too small and accidentally stood hanging in their closet anyways!

4. Spent all week going store to store to find all the ingredients to make these adorable Pumpkin Patch cupcakes for Tyler's class party today at school! (Recipe and pictures below)

5. Looked through tons of pumpkin carving pics with my kids on the Internet until Tyler saw a "bats" one that he exclaimed "It's BATMAN!" So I cut the pumpkin open and let the kids help me separate out the seeds (to bake later) and we carved a wonderful "Bats in flight" pumpkin for our porch.

6. And oh yea I bought some Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer (even though I seriously hardly EVER drink coffee it just seemed right to do, haha)

So what have you done to welcome in the cooler weather? Maybe it already feels like winter where you are but none-the-less share what you have done!

PUMPKIN SPICE CUPCAKES

(makes 12 regular and 24 mini)

1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

3/4 cup buttermilk (in place of the water called for on the box)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs (in place of the number called for on the box)

After adjusting ingredients, make as directed on box. (Beating the batter is very important - your batter will be very lumpy if you just stir)

Place half the dough in a Ziploc bag (turn inside out and push down on one corner into your palm to scoop batter into the corner specifically then continue to fill) and cut 1/4 in. hole at corner of bag and fill the paper liners 2/3's full.
- Use orange paper liners for regular size cupcakes

- Use white paper liners for mini size cupcakes

DECORATING (to make PUMPKIN PATCH CUPCAKES)

4 green licorice twists (Twizzlers Rainbow Twists)

1 can plus 1 cup vanilla frosting

Orange Food coloring
1 cup orange decorating sugar

Green Licorice Laces (Watermelon Madness Fruit Streamers)

1. Cut the licorice twists into thirty-six 3/4-inch pieces for the pumpkin stems. Tint the vanilla frosting orange with the food coloring. Tint 1/2 cup of the orange frosting a darker shade of orange with more food coloring, and spoon into a Ziploc bag. Press out the excess air, seal the bag, and set aside.

2. Place the orange decorating sugar in a shallow bowl. Spread the lighter orange frosting on top of the cupcakes, mounding it slightly. Starting on the edge, roll the cupcake tops in the sugar to cover completely.

3. Use a wooden skewer to mark ridges in the top of each cupcake. Starting in the center or slightly off center, lightly press the skewer down toward the top of the paper liner to create 5 or 6 indentations. Snip a 1/16-inch corner from the bag with the darker orange frosting and pipe a line in each indentation to make the ribs. Insert a cut green twist for the stem. Arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter or a cutting board and add green licorice laces, trimmed to various lengths, for the tendrils.