I have always loved word search puzzles. When my daughter started bringing them home from Kindergarten I was so excited that she seemed to like them as much as I do. The word searches she brings home from Kindergarten contain sight words that she has learned. I thought it would be fun to make her a personalized word search puzzle that contained her own name and other family member names along with site words that she knew. I Googled "make your own word search" and came across this website. It was the best one I found because you can choose how many letters you want in each column and row and you can also choose to overlap words or not overlap words. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Nutty's reaction when she realized that her first, middle and last name were in her puzzle! She thought it was the coolest thing in the world! Making your own word search puzzle is a great way of teaching your children their sight words and building their confidence. Personalizing … [Read more...]
Plates In The Dryer Recap
Our Plates In The Dryer event was a HUGE success! We had a great turn out and fun was had by all (at least we hope)! OK, so it started out a bit rocky...Lindsi and I were late for our own event!! How embarrassing for our first ever IRL (In Real Life) event!! Blame Lindsi's truck's great way of breaking down and fabulous traffic on 494 (notorious for being stop/go traffic). However, when we walked in (only 9 minutes late) and saw everyone having fun, we knew everything was ok. Huge shout-out to Jamie's friend Pam for helping us not be even later by picking up the Caribou coffee for us! And, yes, that is a Toys In The Dryer plate made for us by the staff of Color Me Mine! (Jamie's daughter and husband) It was as fun for us to watch the kids painting the pottery with their parents as it appeared they were having. It was also great to get to meet some of our readers and interact with other local bloggers! We painted pottery, socialized, ate delicious cheesecake from … [Read more...]
Gardening with your kids
For Earth day the kids and I decided to plant our veggies for the summer! It was GREAT fun! Last year was our first year growing our own veggies and we learned a lot. We learned that weeding is VERY important, we learned that the deer will not leave our garden alone without a little electricity (insert evil snicker here) and we learned that we did not plant ENOUGH of anything. This year we decided to add a few more (OK actually 24 more) crowns of asparagus to our crop. This time next year we will have asparagus coming out of our ears and I cannot wait (and neither can my kids)! We just finished planting three varieties of lettuce, radishes, onions, red potatoes, green beans and peas....and to top it all off we have room left over for a few tomato plants! I am....oops I mean the kids are, SO excited! Source Gardening with my kids last year changed the way they looked at vegetables. They actually enjoy them now. There is something magical about plopping a few … [Read more...]
Paper Beads
A few weeks ago I saw a girl at work making something interesting during her down time. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I'm making paper beads. You've never heard of paper beads?!?" Nope, I had never heard about them nor had I seen them until that day. She showed me how to make them and told me my girls should be able to do them too. So...we tried it! To do it yourself, you'll need: Magazine pages (or similar paper) Something to cut strips with (scissors work fine but they take a long time) Glue (preferably glue sticks) Pencil for little kids or a q-tip for older kids String Step 1) Cut the magazine pages into long triangular strips. The fat end should be no wider than 1/4 to 1/2 inch then tapering to a point. For smaller, fatter beads, make the fat end even smaller. Step 2) Spread glue over one side of a paper strip. Which ever side you spread the glue on will be the side that shows on the bead. Step 3) Wind the paper strip … [Read more...]
Make Your Own Kites
We've had some beautiful spring days over the past few weeks. My girls have seen some kites flying around during these nice days and have expressed some interest in having a kite of their own. I decided that now was the time to make a kite with them that might actually fly. We've made kites in the past...small ones of computer paper, straws, and ribbon. None big enough to attempt to actually fly...until now... To make a kite of your own you'll need: Newspaper Some kind of string or ribbon Glue Straight sticks about 2-3 feet long Step 1) Look for sticks. We found a jackpot on a fallen tree branch in our neighbor's yard! Step 2) Use your string to tie the sticks into a cross. You'll want the horizontal stick to be slightly shorter than the vertical stick. Step 3) String your string around the sticks. You may have to cut small notches in the end of the sticks to help the string stay in place. Step 4) Unfold your newspaper and cut a pattern to match … [Read more...]
Mancala Easter Style
Mancala is a game that I loved to play when I was little, and still love to play today. I didn't know the name of it however, until a few years ago. My family always called it "The African Stone Game". I have yet to get a real Mancala board for my own family but I do think Nutty is old enough to learn how to play. That's where this Mancala Easter Style comes in! I was playing with an empty egg carton and some jelly beans working on another project when suddenly I realized that the egg carton and jelly beans looked like a Mancala board! I tripple double counted the holes in the egg carton and on a couple of Mancala boards I found on the internet, and yes, they did match! Yahoo! I can now teach Nutty how to play Mancala! Here's what you'll need to teach your kids how to play: Egg carton Jelly beans (24 to be exact) Glue (optional) Paint (optional) Ok, a few disclaimers before we begin: 1) The following pictures are a reinactment soley for the purpose of this … [Read more...]
