Letter O Projects - Orange, Orange Tree, Octopus, Owl

This week we began our study of the letter "O" with St. Omer(click on the link for info and craft).  The past few days we have been doing a steady stream of other projects to add to our ABC book .  We began this with my oldest daughter when she was about 2, but we've been interrupted many times with counting activities, reading, writing practice, and a unit on art and artists for toddlers that we've thrown in there too (plus LIFE!  hehehe). Around letter "N", Elise was ready to begin participating, so we are starting her ABC book at letter N and we'll circle back around to catch the letters she missed and do those projects with her, and probably by that time, Ava will be ready to join in and Kayla will be working on reading more on her own and spelling instead....

1. Octopus

A very simple project as most of ours are.  Paint a piece of paper blue for your ocean background.  We used two different colors of blue paint for added effect.

Wait for the paint to dry and move on to the next step.  Cut out strips of construction paper.  To help with counting, I cut out more than enough and had them each choose 8.  They liked choosing the colors they wanted and it was fun for them to practice their counting too.  Then we simply glued them on.  

     

2. Owl

I found this idea on Pinterest and loved it:  handprint owls! Cut out an owl body (the girls chose their own colors), to white circle for eyes, and an orange beak and feet.  The girls glued them on and I helped them make the handprint 'wings' for their owls.  Whoooooo! 

      

3. Orange Tree

We used to have a huge orange tree in our backyard before we moved, so the girls are very familiar with both oranges and orange trees.  They've seen  the trees in all stages of growth and wondered why the balls were green instead of orange.  I assured them that come winter they would turn orange and we would get to pick and eat the yummy, ripe oranges.  Unfortunately we moved before this year's crop was fully ready.  We were able to get a bagful of nearly ripe oranges to take with us to our new home, but the rest were left for the new residents and boy are they lucky.  That orange tree was incredible.  We were blessed with fresh, delicious oranges all last winter and were able to share bagfuls with others too.  But we still live in the land of fruits and nuts so we are not short of fresh fruit, though I admit that I do miss our orange tree some days and wish we had it back.  

I drew tree trunks and the girls painted green trees and used Q-tips to add little oranges on their trees. 

     

 Afterwards they colored their tree trunk with crayon and added a little background color as well.  

4. Oranges

For added effect and to engage the girls' senses we added some scent to our orange paint.  You could use a few things (orange extract, a bit of Tang powder, some grated up orange peel, even a little orange juice).  The girls loved smelling the lovely citrus smell as they used cups to stamp circles on their paper.  Next they grabbed paint brushes and filled in the circle with more of the orange paint.  We added little texture dots and a few green stems as well.  

 

Kayla's look a little like pumpkins from far away
Oh well, she knows exactly what they are. 

       

Happy crafting!

O is for St. Omer

I looked over the list of Saints whose names begin with letter "O" on the "Catholic Online" website, but found none whose stories or names I was really familiar with.  What did catch my eye was the name OMER on the list.  This is a family name on my husband's side: His grandfather (they called him Pépé) was named Omer.  Apparently a family tradition of each of the first born son's using their middle name for their own first born son started here, so this is also my hubby's dad's middle name.  I had no idea he was also a French Saint!  There wasn't a lot of information about St. Omer, but what they had was fun to read especially given our French heritage on that side of the family and the name Omer among our relatives.  

Here are the basics:

• St. Omer was a bishop and miracle worker. 
•  He was also known as St. Audomar (though better known as Omer). 
•  A town in northern France Saint-Omer was named after him. 
• He founded the Abbey of St. Peter (now St. Bertin's).  
• He loved study of the Scriptures (hence why he is depicted holding a Bible).  
• His feast day is September 9.  

Start with your person, add a white cassock,
then a green vestment over top...

Add a bishop's hat and your red vestment over
the top...it's all about layering.

And because St. Omer loved Scripture, we practiced some of our memory verses today.  Here is one we are working on.  Kayla has it halfway memorized already.  

"Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God for everything!"

- Ephesians 5:19-20