ABC SERIES: M is for MOON

My daughter is in love with the moon. She really loves everything in nature. I love how observant she is…

Any time she sees the moon, she gets super excited. She’ll even notice the faded moon during the day!! I sometimes wish I could stop and notice those little wonders more often on my own.

Thank heavens for little children who remind us of the beauty all around!

So when the letter M came around in our ABC Series, I knew right away that we would learn more about the moon!

Now there are so many activities out there that you can do with the moon. But we had to really narrow it down… I decided that this time around we would do some fun activities and next time around we might learn some more intense details about the moon and how it goes through phases, etc. Right now, I think that’s a little over Lanae’s head!

After our introductory Powerpoint put together by daddy and some letter M practice, we moved into the craft zone. Now this is a craft that Lanae was absolutely 100% excited about. And I was too! I found this amazing idea from Adventure in a Box. And even used her template (although I did alter it slightly).

Then we made this beautiful piece of artwork that we will frame and use as a part of her gallery wall in her room… because that is one of my goals this year! Decorate my kid’s rooms (on a budget). Which means, using what we have around the home or really, really cheap stuff that we find or make!

I’m gonna have to get creative!

I wanted Lanae to have complete creative control over her project. So we did this in several steps. I cut out the moon and placed contact paper on the back so that the buttons, beads, etc. would stick. Then we pulled out the supplies and she started placing them. The final step was glitter.

Our beads ended up being too heavy. So I glued the black paper to white cardstock to make it more sturdy and then hot glued the heavier beads on to make sure they wouldn’t fall off.

We also made some fun moon sand that both Lanae and Owen absolutely loved. For some reason, Lanae wasn’t in the most happy/interactive mood so most of my pictures of moon sand are from Owen!

Moon sand is actually super easy to make and such a fun texture to play with, plus it’s made with ingredients that most have readily accessible.

All you have to do is combine flour and oil using an 8:1 ratio. So for every cup of flour, I put in about a tablespoon of oil.

It’s neat because it compacts and forms shapes, but it is still super soft and sand like!

I absolutely love that Owen has become a big part of lesson time and wants to be a part of the learning process. It’s so fun to see them get excited about learning and thrive in a more structured setting.

When we finally get through this first round of lessons, I’m going to have to learn how to give both Lanae and Owen one-on-one time and independent learning time during our lessons. I’ll definitely be searching for ideas on how to manage that!

Check out the ABC Series for more fun ideas for every letter in the alphabet.