Chinese Paper Lantern Craft {for Chinese New Year}

One of our crafts for Chinese New Year (and our Kindergarten thematic unit on China) was to make this cute paper lantern craft.  I thought the kids would enjoy this activity because they love arts and crafts, but I had no idea how much they would get into it.  The girls kept asking to make more and more lanterns and now our house is completely covered in them!  It was a great way for the twins to practice following directions and to use their scissor skills.  Here's how you make them..

Felt Fortune Cookies {Chinese New Year or Valentines Day Craft}

Earlier this month I read A Cricket in Times Square aloud to the twins.  In one of the chapters, the main character was invited to a Chinese dinner and was introduced to his first fortune cookie.  The girls and I made these adorable felt fortune cookies to go with the book and our "China" theme for January.  They would make perfect little crafts for both Chinese New Year or Valentines Day!  They were surprisingly simple to make.  Here's how its done..

The Art of Green Tea

I'm a daily tea drinker and have been sharing my love of tea with my kids since they were toddlers.  So you can just imagine how excited I was to receive a VoxBox with samples of Celestial Seasonings tea from Influenster.  If you're not familiar with Influenster, it's a great program that will send you free boxes of products to try out and share with social media.  If you're interested in an invitation to join too (I have 5 left), send me an email at creativetotmom at gmail dot com.  Here's what was in "The Art of Green Tea" box:

Homeschool Kindergarten Lesson Plans - Week 20

We're starting to get back into a decent daily routine with our homeschool.  Baby brother (28 months) has been waking up early lately, so instead of trying to rush to get the girl's school done before he gets up in the morning, I've been doing circle time with all three kids every morning.  It's a lot of fun and I'm realizing that just because I see the twins (4.5 years old) as academically advanced, it doesn't mean that I should forget that they enjoy singing, dancing, and listening to me read aloud picture books too.  Then in the afternoon (while baby brother naps) we focus on a single 'subject':  Sunday is Latin, Monday is Social Studies, Tuesday is Art, Wednesday is Science, Thursday is Music, Friday is History/Geography, and Saturday is 'Virtues'.  It sounds like a lot but we totally play it by ear and 'school time' usually isn't more than 1-2 hours max these days.  This past week we learned about China, families, Benjamin Franklin, and more.  Here's a taste of how our week went...