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/

Valentine Dinner Conversation

Day 13

Only one more day left of our 14 Days of Love and Crafts series! This also means there is only one more day left to enter into the GIVEAWAY!! If you haven't entered yet, go to the right sidebar and click on GIVEAWAYS and enter!!

What are you doing for Valentine's Day for your kiddos??

We love quick and easy ideas that are fun and engaging and here's another one for you.

Having a fun Valentine's Day dinner with the family? 

Make your own conversation hearts! These conversation hearts can be made on festive paper cut into hearts, folded in half and placed in a jar or some sort of container. Make up fun questions and write them on the hearts. Your kids can help out with this too! Pass around the jar during dinner (or any other time during the day) and have each family member pull out a heart and read a question. You can then go around the table and have everyone answer the question. Don't be afraid to make up silly questions! We played this game in my classroom during our Community Circle. My students LOVED creating the hearts/questions and had even more fun answering them. Sometimes we found ourselves laughing and sometimes their answers just melted my heart. It's a fun way to bring conversation to the table, while enjoying each others company and celebrating V-Day.

Valentine's Day Dinner MENU

~ Day 10 ~

It's time to plan out the MENU for a festive Valentine Day Meal for the whole family to enjoy! (If you are going out on Monday, then you can do this on Saturday or Sunday night.)

Here are some fun ideas that you and the kids can serve for dinner on Valentine's Day:

~ HEART SHAPED PIZZA ~

Make your own pizza. The kids can choose the toppings and fix them up into little bowls so that they are easier to put on the pizza. Parents can shape the dough into a heart when it is ready for toppings. To get the entire family involved, each person can create a personal pizza for themselves with their favorite toppings. Add a salad and you have a perfect Valentine’s Day meal.

~ Valentine Soup ~

8 oz. Can of sliced mushrooms
1 can black olives sliced
Pepperoni cut in small pieces
4 Cups water
Large jar of spaghetti sauce or homemade spaghetti sauce
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon basil
In saucepan add all ingredients together. You can add or omit any ingredients as you would like. Simmer on medium 15-20 minutes until warm. Serve with garlic bread.

Read more: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/Valentine-recipes.html#ixzz1DcDXWNmb

~ Heart Meatballs ~
1 egg beaten
½ Cup Spaghetti sauce
¼ Cup bread crumbs, seasoned
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 ½ lbs. Ground beef
1½ Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl. With your hands shape meat into a heart. These will be much bigger than average size meatballs. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until done in the middle. (test with a meat thermometer)
It is rather easy to shape these into a heart shape and they are great placed on a mound of spaghetti or eaten as it is with a dot of red ketchup on the top. One of the easiest and fun kids Valentine recipes.

Read more: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/Valentine-recipes.html#ixzz1DcDxM5El

~ Heart Salad ~

Create a green tossed salad with whatever vegetables you'd like. Add some healthy Valentine hearts by cutting red peppers in half. Remove the seeds and cut out the core. With a small mini heart cookie cutter cut out hearts out of your red pepper halves. Toss into your salad. It is a lot of fun for those at dinner to find these red hearts.


Read more: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/Valentine-recipes.html#ixzz1DcEUUagx

For drinks, to make it festive, you can serve Cranberry juice mixed with your favorite Lemon-lime soda! 

And for DESSERT....

who doesn't love pizza for the main course and for dessert? 

This is especially FUN to make with kids!

~ Cookie Pizza ~
sugar cookie dough or brownie mix
2 Cups chocolate chips
14 oz. Sweetened condensed milk
2 Cups milk chocolate candies (M&M)
2 Cups mini marshmallows
½ Cups peanuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Press cookie dough or brownie mix into pizza pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. In saucepan, melt chocolate chips with condensed milk. Spread over crusts. Sprinkle with chocolate candies, marshmallows and peanuts. Bake 4 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly toasted.
~Shape your pizza dough into a heart shape.


~ Fruit Pizza ~
sugar cookie dough
white cream cheese frosting
Sliced fruit, strawberries, kiwi, raspberries whatever you choose
Spread cookie dough onto pizza pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool. Then frost. Top with sliced fruit in whatever pattern you choose.
~Shape your pizza dough into a heart shape.


Read more: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/Valentine-dessert-recipes.html#ixzz1DcF5qTRF

Don't forget to teach as you go! Let the kids count the toppings on their pizza. They could group them by two's, three's, or five's. Have them measure the ingredients into the bowls prior to using them in the recipe. Lot's of math can be learned from your very own kitchen. It just takes a little bit more time and patience to teach them....so take it!

Happy EATING!

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.

Fun in the Kitchen

**DAY 8**

One of my favorite things to do with kids is COOK! There are so many fun ways to involve your kids in the kitchen. Today while watching a T.V. segment on KSL's Studio 5,  I saw some great ideas for some Valentine's Day goodies that you could bake with your kids. 

"LOVE"ly Lollipops

Courtesy of KSL Studio 5:

Needed:
Candy Canes*
Lollipop Sticks (6 or 8-inch)
Almond bark or vanilla candy melts/chips
Wax paper
Valentine sprinkles
Lollipop bags and ties
* You can use small or regular-size candy canes. Small are the easiest to get out of their wrappers. For the small, use 6-inch lollipop sticks. If you use regular candy canes, you'll need to break the bottom off each to make the heart shape. Use the 8-inch stick for them.
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350° F.
Place two candy canes in a heart shape on a greased cookie sheet (or one covered with a non-stick baking mat). Put a sucker stick in between the two candy canes so that it goes through the bottom point all the way to the top point of the heart. Start with 8 suckers per sheet so that you can shape them before they cool and re-harden.
Put the cookie sheet in the oven and watch the candy canes closely. They will begin to bubble and melt in 3-5 minutes. When this occurs, remove them from the oven and pinch the ends of the candy canes together at the top and bottom of each sucker to form a heart. THE CANDY CANES WILL BE HOT, so do this carefully. (I used a butter knife to help shape them.) Let the candy canes cool completely. Transfer onto wax paper.
Melt almond bark or candy melts in the microwave, following the directions on the package so that it doesn't burn. Pour some into the center of each sucker and use a spoon to smooth it in each heart. Add sprinkles before the center hardens. Let the bark harden and then package for your valentine.
Fun Variation: Snip a couple inches off of each stick and place through the center of a frosted cupcake for a cute topper.

Check out the other 2 ideas here: 

http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=71&sid=14288823

Conversation Cupcakes

Sweetheart Grahams

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I also love to look up fun recipes on these two fabulous websites: 

   ~ www.bakerella.com

   ~ www.picky-palate.com

Here is a yummy treat that would be SO fun to make with your kids for a Valentine Day gift for friends or neighbors. I am planning on making mine tomorrow! SO EASY and FUN!

Oreo Truffles: Found on www.picky-palate.com

Oreo Cookie Truffles

1 bag Oreo Cookies, ground in blender or food processor (filling and all)
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 package Almond Bark (white chocolate candy coating)
1 square of the Chocolate Bark for drizzling

1. Mix ground oreos and cream cheese until well combined. Roll into 1 inch balls and place onto baking sheet or tray. Refrigerate overnight or until very firm.
2. Melt white chocolate according to package directions. Using 2 little spoons, dip balls into chocolate and place onto parchment paper to harden. Once dry, melt chocolate bark and spoon into the corner of a ziplock baggie. Snip a small corner and drizzle back and forth over the truffles. Let dry.
3. I enjoyed mine chilled in the refrigerator, but may be room temperature as well! Enjoy! Thanks for the great recipe Bakerella!

About 30 truffles each recipe

Simple and Delicious!

**Also only a few more days left to enter our FREE GIVEAWAY contest. Please click on GIVEAWAYS on the right side of this blog. 

**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!

Love Mail

Day 6

Who doesn't LOVE to receive mail? Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to send those you love a sweet letter in the mail. Hand writing letters is a lost art. It is one of my favorite hobbies and has been since I was a little girl. Growing up I loved to write to my long list of pen-pals. Take this chance to sit down with your child/children and see what they know about writing a letter. 

Beginner's Basic Letter Writing

(Geared toward ages 7-9, but may be adapted to ages 3 and up)

1. First begin by making a list of what your child already knows about letter writing. This is fun to hear what they know goes into creating a letter that you will mail. Ask questions like: "Who do you write letters to?" "What do you write in a letter?" "How do we mail letters?" etc. 

2. Based on your child's background knowledge you may begin the process of writing a letter. 

Dear _____________,

    (Indent--3 finger spaces.) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                               Love, ______________

It's nice to provide your child with lines and some prompts to help them get started. You could always do what my 2nd graders referred to as a SLOPPY COPY first and then have them copy their letter on to a beautiful hand made card! Encourage your child to ask their reader questions and inform them of exciting things that are happening in their own life. 

3. I say the more ART the better! Have your child draw pictures, borders, or color the letter to add personality. I always loved using stickers to decorate my letters when I was young.

4. ADDRESSING the ENVELOPE! This is a very important part of the letter writing. Rather than having Mom or Dad do it, take the opportunity to teach your child how to address the envelope properly. Here is an example below.

5. Have your child drop it in the mailbox! 

Letter writing is a wonderful way to promote good hand writing since they are writing for someone else to read. It is empowering for young children to write for a purpose. I know that I LOVED getting my pen pals response letters in the mail and could hardly wait to write them back and answer their questions! 

Have fun writing some LOVE MAIL this week to all those special Valentines!

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.

Friday Night = Game Night

~Day 4~

Valentine Themed Game Night

Friday night is the perfect night for a family game night! So today after school gets out have your kids help you make BINGO or "HEART" cards for tonight's game night:) 

This website is the BEST! You can make your very own themed bingo cards FOR FREE!

check it out: 

http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/bingo1.asp

The best part is that you can choose what you want your children to learn as you create your very own Bingo cards. The site will walk you step by step through creating your very own custom bingo cards. Here is the one that I created in a matter of minutes:

H E A R T

I created mine to practice Letter Recognition. 

This is a great way to get the whole family involved in the process of learning and having fun together! 

To go along with "HEART" bingo cards you can use Valentine Day M&M's as your markers. The first to get a bingo or "heart" gets to pick a prize from a sack of Valentine goodies that you might purchase from the Dollar Store! 

Happy HEART night!

Day 3

Sweet and Simple

Love Notes

Writing notes throughout the day to your children, your children to you, to friends and to family is a great way to show each other how much you care. Of course I need to tie it in educationally: writing notes is also a great way to practice handwriting, complete sentences and grammar! 

Ways to make your love letters fun:

Use fun paper and fun ways to fold/decorate them

Write your letters on cookies! 

It is always fun to find love notes hidden in places throughout the day and children LOVE to surprise people and feel good that they are making others feel loved.

As always, this activity can be adapted to any and all age groups! If you have more questions about how you can adapt this activity (or any other activity!) please let us know!

**DaY 2**

It's Day 2 of our Valentine's Day Love and Craft segment!

Today I want to highlight one of my favorite books of all time:

written by: Emily Pearson

Every year I read this to my 2nd graders and they hung on to every word. In fact one year my class even did an assembly on the power of this book. 

Although this is not a Valentine's Day book, it has everything to do with showing LOVE and APPRECIATION for others. In order to teach our children the power of LOVE I think the best way to do that is through SERVICE! In short this book is about PAYING IT FORWARD.

Here is a quick synopsis of the book:

 Can one good deed from one ordinary girl change the world? 

It can when she’s Ordinary Mary — an ordinary girl from an ordinary school, on her way to her ordinary house — who stumbles upon ordinary blueberries. When she decides to pick them for her neighbor, Mrs. Bishop, she starts a chain reaction that multiplies around the world. Mrs. Bishop makes blueberry muffins and gives them to her paperboy and four others — one of whom is Mr. Stevens, who then helps five different people with their luggage — one of whom is Maria, who then helps five people — including a man named Joseph who didn’t have enough money for his groceries — and so on, until the deed touches every single person on the planet and finally comes back to Mary.

HOW TO SPREAD THE LOVE

1. Read this book and discuss it with your kids (ages 3-12).

2.  Next decide on THREE good deeds that you can do that show your LOVE for someone else. The goal is to have your children come up with their very own deeds. 

3.Next write these deeds down and make it a goal to complete these deeds by Valentine's Day. It is important to stress that the moral of the story is when you do one good thing for someone else, it is likely that it will spread. Many life lessons can be taught using this book. 

4. Then on Valentine's Day night celebrate your good deeds by having a little celebration of love. (More ideas for V.Day night to come!) 

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!