Tuesday Teachings - Life Cycles

We recently ordered the best books about Life Cycles. They are by David M Schwartz and one of my favorite things about them is that they contain real photos of the animals and plants instead of illustrations. The photographer for the books is Dwight Kuhn. Below is a picture of the Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle book and the link to purchase.

They have a large variety of books including: Bean, Wood Frog, Horse, Ladybug, Sunflower, Fighting Fish, Chicken, Hummingbird, Maple Tree and Jumping Spider.

Prior to receiving these books my child had zero interest in life cycle activities. I had tried numerous times to get him interested but to no avail. Once we got the books everything changed. In the last week I have read each of these books to him numerous times, I can almost recite these books!

I immediately thought back to an activity that I saw online a month or so ago on The Crafty Classroom. I marked it in my "Inspiration" folder and I am now inspired. I made Life Cycle stamps for my son to play with. It was easy and he loves them.

Supplies:
Craft Foam
Pencil
Wood Block
Glue
Scissors
Stamp Pads

I used an old book that we got at a yard sale last year for my inspiration photos and then I sketched the designs lightly on the craft foam. Once I was happy with the design, I went back over the pictures pressing hard to make the design stay indented enough to use as a stamp.

Once the pictures are completed, cut them out leaving a small border around the pictures and glue them on to left over wood blocks. We used alphabet blocks that we had duplicates of, you could also use just one block and put one picture on each of four sides. Once the glue is dry, start stamping!

I am also planning on going back and making life cycle stamps for other animals and plants. Next up will be the frog.