April 23, 2013

Free eBook – 14 Mother’s Day Craft Ideas for Kids

Allfreekidscrafts.com

I’m usually pretty good at coming up with unique and interesting craft ideas (and crafts that double as gifts) for the kids to do for each of the holidays. But Mother’s Day is fast approaching and I’ve been a little scrambled. After all I’ve got a Kindergarten graduation, a High School graduation and a College graduation all going on. Not to mention the incredibly busy household and work schedule that just about all of us have. So, it’s not surprise I turned to a free book to get some great ideas for Mother’s Day crafts.

Free eBook – 14 Mother’s Day Craft Ideas for Kids: Homemade Mother’s Day Gift Ideas has homemade cards and gifts to honor your mother in the most heartfelt way there is! Click Here

 

Blogging with integrity . . . This post contains affiliate links, but regardless the opinons expressed here are 100% my own (but probably opinions you have had too).

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March 27, 2013

Free Titantic education guide: Learn at home and away at the Titantic Musuem

free titanic education guide

We had an amazing time at the Titanic Museum in Branson.   We spent several hours there enjoying the interactive exhibits, beautiful recreations and learning more about the stories behind the people on board.   It is an amazing place for both children and kids, and honestly one of our favorite attractions while in Branson, MO with the grandparents during spring break.

Read our full reviews here — one from mom and one from dad.

But what we didn’t know until we got home was that the Titanic Museum also offers a free education guide online!   Using the Titanic Guide you can study the topics of language arts and social studies, science, geography, math, and religion.  There is even a special section for homeschooling as well as resources for teachers and parents.  Each one of them offers facts and figures as well as prompts to help you make learning these topics using the Titantic as a base.   For specific learning activities Continue Reading …

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March 12, 2013

Largest Children’s Festival arrives in Houston

houston childrens festival

You know what they say . . . everything is bigger in Texas.  That may be true and it may not, but when it comes to the Houston Children’s Festival there is no doubt about it.  They do it big, bigger than any other children’s festival anywhere in the United States with over 300 activities, big name celebrities, beloved cartoon characters and more!

When and where is this festival?   April, 6 and 7, 2013, 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m in . Downtown Houston – City Hall, Houston Public Library Plaza & Tranquility Park.

Who does it benefit?  Child Advocates, Inc.

What celebrities will be in attendance?  Along with Dora the Explorer and Sid the Science Kid expect to see Sunday Celebrity – VICTORIA JUSTICE –star of Nickelodeon’s hit series Victorious  and Saturday Celebrity – Radio Disney presents RD Live! featuring LAURA MARANO from Disney Channel’s AUSTIN AND ALLY.

What is there to do?

  • 5 stages of music and entertainment with Big Family Adventures Zones
  • OVER 300 ACTIVITIES!  Some feature your child’s favorite cartoon characters like Dora the Explorer and Sid the Science Kid.
  • Baker Hughes Circus Town & Stage * Apache Energy Zone & Stage
  • Green Mountain Energy Zone * Child Advocates Kid’s Korral
  • H-E-B Healthy Kids Zone * SABIC Super Science Zone
  • EP Energy Tile Painting Corner

Are you in?  Then you will want to know about tickets!

Purchase your tickets: $10.00 per person; under 3 years free * For special admission offers (Victoria Justice and Laura Marano), please visit their website. Food, beverage & games by coupon only; 9 coupons for $10.00.

You can follow the Houston Children’s Festival on Facebook and Twitter .  Share your excitement about the festival and use the Twitter hastag: #HoustonChildrensFestival.

Last year we attended and had a great time with the whole family from teen to tot.   Take a look at what we expereinced with the Houston Children’s Festival.

James Maslow in  ‘Big Time Rush’: James Maslow Talks About His Character, ’1D,’ and the Future

What you can expect to see at the festival,

Here’s my interview with Child Advocates from last year’s festival.  Find out what they do and how they do it to benefit children and families.

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March 8, 2013

7 kid friendly ways to reuse your gallon milk jug

Most of us drink milk and simply go and throw them into the recycle bin or the trash can. But a blogger buddy over at Coupons and Freebies in TX came up with some really fun, unique and interesting ways to bring our boys and girls to the yard with milk jugs.

These fun and simple ideas to help you reuse your milk jugs can all be done with our without the kids.  It’s just more likely they will water the plants if they make their own watering can.  Before you do any of these make sure you clean the milk jug out very good and let it dry out.

- Watering cans (kid friendly)

To make a watering can all you need to do is get a hammer, a nail and a piece of wood. You will place the lid upside down cap down and simple hammer with the nail 4-8 holes into the lid. Also you can use a knife like I did if you want a slower drip. Afterwards you place water in the milk jug and seal the top on and you are done and can go use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Self-Watering Jug (kid friendly)

 

You can either cut the bottom off of the jug just take the lid off or make this. Also you may or may not want to make a small hose size hole on the bottom (fat) part of the jug for you can fill easier it is up to you. Then what you do make hole in the ground near a plant that takes and needs water all the time and place the jug in the ground and then cover up the spot and add water to either the whole you made on the bottom or add water before you place in the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Bird Feeder House (kid friendly) Continue Reading …

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February 20, 2013

Family and faith: Lenten activities for the family

lenten activities

It can be hard to keep up with all the important aspect of Lent.  Families get busy and while we start of with the best of intentions at the beginning of Lent, we may be, by the end losing “faith” in our ability to participate in  reconciliation, abstinence, and charity.  Lent is 40 days long, and these 15 activities to do together as a family will not only make the time fly by but will strengthen your family and family bonds.

  • Begin with a jar with friends and family’s names.  Pull a name each day and say a prayer.
  • Cook together.  Here’s a recipe for Cheesy Rotini Pasta or Garden Primavera Pasta.  (If it has pasta I’m pretty sure my children will eat it.)
  • Create an offering jar.  Each day change goes into the jar and each Sunday one of the children takes a turn placing it in the offering.
  • Leave the Bible on the coffee table, or other highly noticeable spot to remember to do Lenten readings. Let each family take a turn each day.
  • Turn it off. One evening declare it a electronic free night.  See what your family can find to do without the distractions of television, iPads, PC’s, mp3 players and cell phones.
  • Choose one extra service during Lent to perform, some ideas include extra offerings on Sunday mass, working in a soup kitchen, leaving an extra special tip when dining out, or cutting the grass for an elderly neighbor.

Continue reading Faith and families: Lenten activities

 

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February 5, 2013

Free activities and resources for Black History Month lessons

 

Whether you are a teacher in the classroom, homeschooling parent or a parent who is wanting to provide some educational activities at home for your family, one thing we all have in common is that it can get expensive!  Today I think that just my two girls alone put a big dent in my arts and crafts supplies and there is no doubt that I need a new printer cartridge, so it’s always exciting when we can find free resources!  Here’s a few I’ve found for you for your Black History Month learning:

 


468x60 Teach Your Child To Read

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February 4, 2013

Black History Month activities, reading and lessons for elementary

Ella Fitzgerald – Image courtesy of Wikipedia Public Domain

Gigi came home during the week of Martin Luther King Jr with some wonderful stories to tell us about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. This was just the beginning of her introduction to Black History Month. These lesson plans, readings and activities are intended for primary grade students.

Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa is an excellent example of a quality book that conveys black history in kid-appealing way. Ella’s story is told through the perspective of a cat, “Skat Cat Monroe,” who pulls in readers in with rhythm and rhyme: “Got my name from knowin’ Ella. Ella Fitzgerald. The Queen of Skat. What’s scat? you ask. Skat’s the sound that don’t hold back. Ella’s sound- that was skat. Singing so supreme. Music’s velvet-ribbon dream.” Continue reading Black History Month lesson plans featuring Ella Fitzgerald.

These plans are written with first through third graders in mind, but can easily be modified for younger or older learners.

Besides timing and consistency, quality of resources is another consideration when planning for black history month. Avoid choosing books that are not appealing or are not age appropriate just because they include black history. I found and fell in love with the book Dizzy by Jonah Winter. When I saw how well children responded to this book, I developed these lesson plans around it. As a teacher, I love to begin my planning around a quality, kid-attractive book. Continue reading Black History Month lesson plans on Dizzy Gillespie.

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September 23, 2011

5 teacher tips for spelling homework help

Sometimes spelling homework practice and spelling tests can lead to s-t-r-e-s-s. Try these tips for spelling word s-u-c-c-e-s-s.

1. Use drive time as spelling practice time.

Make it a habit that when you get in the car before the music, the books on tape, the iPods or DS games get turned on, that the family will run through the spelling word list for the week. Kids love it when you let them call out the words to you first. That makes it more of a game than a chore.

2. Make family game night a spelling night.

Games like Scrabble, Scrabble Jr. or Banagrams are a fun way to build spelling skills. Know matter how you keep score, give kids an extra point for using a spelling word in the game. Banagrams is our new favorite.  It’s fast and fun and kids can use this weeks spelling words.

3. Play old-fashioned Hang Man with spelling words.

Get out a pencil and paper and play hang man using spelling words. Your student will get practice whether they are the presenter or the player. This game helps kids notice how many letters are in the word and the letter order. Waiting for dinner? Everybody wins when spelling practice is fun.

4. Visit SpellingCity.com to practice and play on-line.

Sure there are upgrades for a fee but there’s plenty of FREE great spelling word practice using your child’s weekly word list or known challenging words. Kids can play games with their words and take practice tests too.

5. Especially for younger kids, use hands on activities as often as possible.

Even successful methods for spelling homework help can lose their z-e-a-l after a few weeks. Try these 10 ways to make spelling word practice less b-o-r-i-n-g.

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September 13, 2011

Kid friendly recipes: easy peach pocket pies

Try this kid friendly recipe in the kitchen with your kids. It looks and tastes like desert but you’ll see that it’s actually a whole grain and fruit smart treat. These easy fruit pocket pies start with soft whole grain bread and are fill with apples or peaches and berries can be added as well.

To create the fruit filling, peel, core and slice peaches or apples and cover with a half cup of water in a quart sauce pan.  Simmer covered for around 20 minutes until tender.  You can also cheat and simmer the apples or peaches in a slow cooker barely covered with water for an hour or more.  Either way, strain liquid and mash with a potato masher.  Now you have your fruit filling for the easy fruit pocket pies.

Four lbs. of fruit will make approximately 4 cups of fruit filling and each using about 6 tablespoons of filling.
Ingredients:

Fruit filling

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons of sugar

12 slices of whole wheat bread

¼ cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spoon fruit filling onto the centers of 6 slices of bread.

Top with second slices of bread and mash the edges with a fork.

Crust can be cut off of the edges.

Lightly brush each side of the pocket with oil.

Place pies on an ungreased baking sheet.

Sprinkle tops with cinnamon.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until lightly toasted and cool for 30 minutes.

Work and play together as a family. 

While the easy fruit pocket pies are cooking make sure the kids help wash and clean up the kitchen.  While the pies cool enjoy a game of cards or board game.

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September 6, 2011

Learning to cut exercise: Clipping coupons

Do you have a preschooler who is working on their skills using scissors?  I had one child absolutely determined to learn how to cut because for her it was a sign of being a big kid.  As parents and teachers we also know that learning to cut teaches hand eye coordination as well as some basic pre-writing skills (graphing, holding, following lines etc.)

There is one exercise at home that really helped out daughter learn how to cut using scissors.  Each Sunday afternoon we look through the coupons and clip them to use for our grocery and other shopping.  These are perfect for helping your child learn how to cut too.  Those dotted lines around the coupon images help your child learn to cut in a straight line as well as to follow directions. I recommend giving them the sheets of items you don’t plan on buying, that way if the scissors get carried away, it doesn’t matter what happens to the coupons.

My daughters think it’s great fun and it is absolutely helping with cutting skills.

Find out what you can do with those coupons that they have clipped here.

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