Mother's Day: Last minute ideas!

First of all....Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all of you WONDERFUL, INCREDIBLE, SUPER WOMEN moms out there. You truly are the hero's in our lives! Thank you for all that you do and contribute to the world!

I just thought that I would share with you some last minute, fun Mother's Day ideas for your kiddos to do with you or for you to help create for your mothers/grandmothers in your lives.

Here they are:

1. Write Mother's Day poems.

2. Write a story and illustrate it about your mother.

3. Fill out a STATS ON MY MOM sheet that you prepare for your child... (ie: height, weight, color of hair, etc.) DO NOT HELP THEM...It's hilarious to see what they come up with!

4. Plan a menu together for the kids to make of all your favorite things!

** Check out these awesome websites for more ideas:

http://www.supermommoments.com/

http://frogsbeesundertheseas.blogspot.com/2011/05/mothers-day-tea-theme-thursday.html

http://www.moomootutu.blogspot.com/

Getting Ready to Write

As soon as Owen showed some interest in writing, I immediately started planning his own little writing center. I looked online at Ikea and found a perfect sized desk and chair for his room. I haven't bought it yet because I decided that I might start searching garage sales to find something that I can paint a fun color and rough up a bit. But this is my new project right now; and I want to get it up and running soon.

Now it might seem early for Owen to be interested in something like this since he is only 15 months, BUT it is important that we set the scene and mood when introducing new skills such as writing. I want Owen to be excited about it and as he gets older learn to grow to LOVE it.

So as I wait to buy/create his own little writing space, I have been busy making some crayon rolls for his "special" crayons to go in.

Owen loves to take the crayons out and in of their slots as well as scribble on paper. He especially loves to do this during church.

It rolls up so nicely and compact to take anywhere.

It was super easy and cheap to make and you can find the tutorial HERE.

And because it was so fun to make I decided to go crazy and make about 4 more for gifts.

Here is a girlie version:

Getting started is important as well as helping your child feel motivated and excited about learning.

What have you done or plan to do to help your child want to learn?

Also, don't forget to check out our AMAZING GIVEAWAY below!

Star Crayons

It sure has been a while! I'm happy to be posting again after a much needed vacay in the sun. :)

I found these adorable stars on another blog I contribute to.

I couldn't help but share them! If you want to know how to make these with your little ones go to Poshish. This is a fun way to make crayons that also give you a chance to teach your little one about shapes. You can easily make these with other shapes too such as a heart, circle, square or rectangle. Start keeping old crayons now so that you can make fun crafts such as these later!

How to Make Paint

I remember sitting in my art education class in college, and thinking "when am I ever really going to use this stuff in my classroom." I felt like the art techniques were too advanced for Elementary aged kids and the essays we were supposed to write were just too intense for a "non-art" major in my opinion. Lo and behold, I have found myself using a few tips and such from the class for not only my students when I was teaching, but for my son as well.

One tip she gave us was how to make egg-yoke paint. It is super easy and fast and not to mention CHEAP. All great things for a busy stay at home mom. And when do you not have an extra egg in the house??


So here are the easy peasy instructions:

Egg Yolk Paint

Break an egg over a bowl and separate your egg yolk from your egg white. You will need separate egg yolks for each color.

Transfer your egg yolk to your plastic cup.

Pour 1/4 cup of water into your cup. Mix your egg yolk and water mixture.

Add a few drops of the food coloring of your choice a little at a time to your egg and water mixture. Add more food coloring until you have your desired color.

And that's it! This is a type of Tempera Paint. Tempera paint is a great paint to use with children because it dries so quickly making it easy to transfer and layer paint upon paint upon paint. Not to mention, it cleans up super easy!

If you haven't checked it out already and you need a fun activity to do with Tempera paint powder, go here.

Fun Outside

Being outside is always fun and I feel that children NEED to be outside at least a few times a day. So here is a fun activity for ANY age. I am thinking I'm going to try it with my toddler soon. I know he will have a blast! {and probably get real messy :)}

Materials: Paper, any size you can find; tempera paint powder (sold in places like Walmart in the craft/school supply section), bubbles and a bubble wand

After securing your paper to the ground outside, scatter tempera powder all over (more colors the better!). Next give your child some bubbles and let him blow them right onto the powder. They must get low to the ground and aim their bubbles to hit the powder. As the bubbles land on the powder, it magically turns to paint and begins to make crazy designs as the bubbles pop all over the place! It creates a really fun painting!

When I do this with my toddler, I'M going to blow the bubbles and let him pop them as they land on the paper. I am also going to let him get real messy by bringing a bucket of water out and letting him use a paint brush to "paint". He might also use his hands too. ;)

This was the perfect activity for my first graders at the end of the school year when we all needed a break.

Gifts for Valentine's Day

**Day 9**

of our 14 Days of Love and Crafts series

Homemade gifts are always the best. I LOVED getting them from my students and we always made them for their parents. Here are a few ideas that you can make with your children from 

Martha Stewart.

Heart Necklaces

Heart Felt Scarf

Conversation Heart Cookies

Lace Matted Picture Frames

After making these gifts, have your child create his own wrapping paper to make the gift even more special for a friend, parent, sibling, teacher or just some one they love.

**Day 7**

Numbers and Hearts

Number sense is one of the most difficult concepts to master. My biggest piece of advice for all you moms with little ones at home is to start young! Introduce your child to numbers at an early age through developmentally appropriate games/activities. Count often and show your child what numbers look like. Not just their shape (i.e. 9) but how many 9 is: ********* (9 stars). It is important you do this often, if not daily, to help your child gain a strong sense of numbers. This will greatly help him when he begins preschool and kindergarten.

A fun way to practice number sense is by letting your child play hands-on games like the ones below.

To make it fun and festive, you can buy these cute hearts from the dollar store (14 for a dollar!) and write the numbers 1 through 10 on each heart. Of course you can write less or more depending on what you think your child can handle.

With these numbers there are countless ways to play games!

You can give your child the hearts in a big pile (not in order) and have her lay them out on the floor in the correct order.

OR....You can have your child help you lay out the numbers in order on the ground and then tell her (or show her) a number and have her "skip" or "hop" or "twirl" or "walk backwards" or...I think you get the picture, to that number. You can do this one over and over and over again!

If you buy enough hearts and you can play a GIANT game of memory to match the correct numbers (i.e. 5 and 5) or addition/subtraction memory (turn over two numbers and have your child add or subtract them) for older children.

 OR....You can give your child one heart and have her "show" you what the number looks like using manipulatives.

You can also have your child draw pictures on the hearts and then hang them with ribbon or yarn from the ceiling in her bedroom or in the living room for some cute decorations!

Have fun playing with hearts!

Heart-Shaped African Violets

DAY 5

I always loved when my first grade class and I planted flowers/plants together. It was a great hands-on learning experience. We always learned SO MUCH about plants. They also learned about responsibility, as they were in charge of keeping their plant alive (no I did not water them after school for them!). They learned about the parts of the plant and what a plant needs in order to stay alive. In addition they learned about the materials plants make in our world and how they keep us ALIVE. This activity was always a huge hit in Room 26.

Here is a fun way to bring science into your home while celebrating Valentine's Day.

All it takes to create African violets is a large healthy leaf, cut in half. To turn the leaf into a pretty gift, snip it into the shape of a heart. Using clean, sharp scissors, remove a leaf with 1 inch of stem from a plant, and shape the leaf (it was always fun to take a little field trip outside to find our leaves). Next, fill a small pot with fresh potting soil, and poke a hole in the soil with a pencil. Insert 3/4 inch of the stem, pack soil firmly around it, and water well. No sun needed!

(While rooting, the leaf should be covered with a glass jar or a plastic bag and removed from bright light to keep it moist.) 

A new "plantlet" should emerge in 6 to 8 weeks.

I love how these plants have little tags on them to indicate who's plant is who's. You could also add a little tag to it and give it away as a gift. Your child/children will absolutely love this activity and especially the responsibility that comes with it.

Happy Planting!

P.S. If you haven't already entered our first GIVEAWAY, you can find that post on the side bar of this blog under "Topics of Interest" or you can click HERE.

14 Days of Love and Crafts

We are super excited for the month of February! For the next 14 days, there will be a post sharing a crafty idea that is both educational and fun for your family. Make sure you stop by daily for some Valentine fun!

Day 1

Hearts that say "I love you."

For this craft, all you will need is red, pink, or any other color of your choice, and brown construction paper. You will also need glue, scissors, tape and a marker. 

This craft is suitable for all ages, families with kids and families without. So basically everyone!

First, cut out your tree. This is where your imagination comes in! I just cut free handed, but I am sure you can make yours even cuter with a stencil or cricket. I used 3 sheets of brown paper to make my tree. Tape your tree where it can be seen: on a wall in the front room, in the hallway, anywhere you'd like. I taped mine by my front door.

Next, cut out multiple hearts in various colors and sizes. Put these hearts near the tree in a container with a marker.

This is where the fun comes in. Invite your family, friends, neighbors, anyone who comes into your home to write on a heart something they "love." For your children, make sure they use their best handwriting and a complete sentence! "I love _____." For your little ones in preschool, they can write just one word, and for your little ones younger than 3, have them scribble their thoughts or draw a picture. It can be adapted to all ages! 

Last, hang the hearts as people write on them throughout the month of February (or you can do a shorter time period) and it will make the cutest display in your home, while reminding each other the things you love about life. To introduce something new, it is always fun to read a picture book. In this case you can read a book about Love and talk about why it is important to show others that you love them. For older children, you can brainstorm ways to SHOW others your love: i.e. cleaning your room to show mom you love her, giving your friend a hug, etc. 

This craft can easily be adapted throughout the year to celebrate seasons and holidays. Have fun with it and don't forget to make it educational too!

Also, you have just 2 weeks to enter to win our GIVEAWAY!! Hurry hurry to win some awesome classic picture books for your kiddos and you to enjoy!

Happy February!