March 21, 2013

Toddler Time: Spring Bulletin Board Ideas for Home or Classroom

It’s all about spring and the green with these bulletin board ideas which include blooms, butterflies and clouds.   Top to bottom these ideas for the home or classroom will but some spring into your decorating.

Great green grass

Sure you can use green construction paper or even go three D with Easter grass or you can let your toddler get in on the work and make a magnificent field of greens with fingerpaints.

Blooming bushes and flowers

Stickers and tissue paper are features in these blooms as well as teach your little one some manipulatives and fine motor skills.

Butterflies brighten any spring bulletin board.

You can buy or create butterfly shapes in either cardstock or craft foam. Now how can your toddlers personalize their butterflies?

It’s fun to make clouds on a rainy day.

Spring may bring more sunny days but there are usually plenty of cloudy days too. Cut out blue cloud shapes on your heaviest paper and bring out those cotton balls.

Get the all the ideas and complete instructions when you continue reading Spring Bulletin Board Ideas for Home or Classroom.

 

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March 4, 2013

The ease of an easel and get free Melissa and Doug easel paper

melissa and doug free easel paper

My girls love to be artists.   Our easel gets a great deal of attention as they use colored chalks on one side, playing teacher and drawing, the white board to practice math homework and then, to them, the most important part of the easel is the easel paper.  With easel paper they get to color, draw and explore all their creativity using paints, markers, glitter, glue, crayons, stickers and more.

Related content: Free Preschool Lesson Plans: Learn Fine Arts Through Paint

While we enjoy our IKEA Easel, I do wish Continue Reading …

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December 17, 2011

Hot gifts for tweens: Mosaic Charming Chandelier

This chandelier that girls will make and decorate is right out of a fairy tale but right on target skill wise for eight and nine year old girls. I can attest that even girls up to 12 years old enjoy making and displaying this Charming Chandelier. This is my hands down favorite creative gift for girls for Christmas 2012. This unique gift is going to light up the life of many young girls at only $17.00 at Amazon.com for 1200 plus crafty pieces. Continue Reading …

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December 2, 2011

DIY holiday greeting cards: A family affair

Create your own greeting cards. Everyone has the greeting cards from last year.

Pull out your scissors and the new Crayola Tools that enable you to cut out shapes.

You or an older child can also use an exacta knife. Cut out all those things you love about the previous few year’s cards; the stars, the snowman, the Santa’s, the houses, whatever you like.

You can even cut out the statements on the inside or use these holiday quotes or Bible verses of your own choosing. On solid colored or white paper, you can use cards stock or scrap booking, I find the cardstock works best . Pull out your craft glue, lay out the fronts of the cards and start glue.

Want to add more dash and flair? Use paint markers or glitter glue sticks.

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September 29, 2011

Gifts for 8 & 9 year olds: award winning Illustory

Illustory is a kit with paper and markers that allows young kids to write a story and illustrate it on special paper. That sounds nice but what’s really cool is that then kids can mail in the pages in a prepaid envelope for their book to be published and returned to them. This gift is perfect for eight year old girls and boys who’d love to see their name in print but aren’t old enough or savvy enough for internet publishing. This unique gift gets 4 and one-half stars from shoppers on Amazon.com. The few who rated it low basically said you can find this service online. I agree but maybe not everybody wants their eight year olds using online services and at just under $20.00 it’s a great gift for creative kids.

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September 27, 2011

Gifts for 8 & 9 year olds: Best Mosaic Kit

Mosaics are a fun process with an awesome product. Mosaics really require using those spatial relationship skills that are needed progressively in reading in math. Think of mosaics as the ultimate puzzle. There are a lot of mosaic kits that use geometrics shapes and magnets that are great for younger kids but not sophisticated enough for this creative age group who looks forward to finishing and showing off their creations. With 13 fun posters and over 7,000 mosaic tiles this gift for eight and nine year olds is picture perfect for Christmas 2012 and priced right at around $12.00 at Amazon.com.

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September 25, 2011

Gifts for 8 & 9 year olds: The USA Color Chart

Are you looking for an educational gift this year that will just keep on giving?  Since kids will be mastering the states and capitals beginning in the third grade and continuing through the fifth grade, this 40 inch x 28 inch fold out map with activity book and markers is an extra smart gift for third graders and up. Kids can get creative coloring in the map while learning geography.  At around $10.00 at Amazon.com this U.S.A. Color Chart is a big bargain gift for  eight or nine year olds.

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September 21, 2011

Easy Play Dough Recipe

1 1/4 cups water

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1/2 cup salk

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup floor

food coloring, natural coloring or scents if you like (like beet juice to make it red and cinnamon for scent).

Combine all ingredients in a pan on the stove. Cook until playdough like consistency. Store in an air tight container.

Gift Idea:  Divide out into portions.  Add a small cookie cutter to the container.

 

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July 31, 2011

Family Road Trips 101: markers or crayons?

When you are trying to entertain kids during travel, which is better? Markers or crayons?

Sure there are many brands of washable markers on the market. The issue though is the tops. They fall. People who are strapped in car seats can’t reach them. They roll under seats, get lost and markers dry out. One issue with crayons is that they can melt in a hot car. Another issue is the little pieces of broken crayons and the marks they make. Another issue with crayons is the little bits of paper from the wrappers that almost always flutter around little artist. The best bet: The crayons that are encased in plastic holders. There’s no paper and no breakage. They can be purchased at Staples or on Amazon.com. I also like the Melissa & Doug triangular crayons for younger kids. There’s also no paper and they are hard to break. As great as they are, limit the number per person. Is there really any reason for one child to have 24 colors for coloring in the car? They should go in the child’s backpack when not in use.

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June 2, 2011

3 Unique homemade Father’s Day gifts to make

My friend Kelly, also a writer an mom offers these three unique gift ideas that you can make with your children for Father’s Day! Find out how to make skip, dance, smile and say “cheese” to create these gifts.

 

Continue reading : Unique Father’s Day gifts for dads of little girls (though I think any child could make them)

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