Source Say, Say Oh Playmate Say, say oh playmate, Come out and play with me, And bring your dollies three, Climb up my apple tree. Slide down my rain barrel, Into my cellar door, And we'll be jolly friends, Forever more - more - more! Verse 2 Say, say oh playmate, I cannot play with you, My dolly has the flu, Boohoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. Ain't got no rain barrel, Ain't got no cellar door, But we'll be jolly friends, Forever more,more, more,more,more. Miss Mary Mack Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack All dressed in black, black, black With silver buttons, buttons, buttons All down her back, back, back She asked her mother, mother, mother For fifty cents, cents, cents To see the elephants, elephants, elephants Jump over the fence, fence, fence They jumped so high, high, high They touched the sky, sky, sky And didn't come back, back, back Till the fourth of July, July, July Nobody Likes Me Nobody likes me Everybody hates me Guess I'll eat … [Read more...]
Paper Ring Count Down to Kindergarten
My oldest starts Kindergarten this year and I can assure you he will not let anyone forget it. He has been asking me "when do I get to start Kindergarten?" for at least a year now. Now that we're in the home stretch for the first day of school I thought it would be fun to make a "visual" for him so he could really understand how much longer until that big day. (Well, OK to be completely honest- my mom gave me the idea!) I made an old fashion paper ring counter for him. I found a cute school bus photo online and printed it out. Then I counted off the days until the first day of school and made a paper ring for each day. Starting last night he gets to tear off one ring before bed and when he gets to the school bus he knows it's school time! What fun! My mom even had a great idea to add to the "good ol' fashion paper ring"....mark off special dates along the way with big events so he has even more to look forward to. I added a special ring for "the state fair starts," "back to school … [Read more...]
The Evolution of the Dandelion
So my experience with my kids reaction to dandelions is similar to the way life changes much like the dandelion changes. Last summer my oldest brought me a handful of "flowers" for my kitchen. How could I resist such a sweet gesture? First, you see dandelions as pretty flowers you can pick for your friend, teacher, or mommy. As a child reaches the age of 3 or 4 they soon learn that life is about love. They want to share their love and show it to you by picking pretty dandelions for you. You drive in the car and hear them joyously shout out "look mom!!! Lots of pretty dandelions." They have yet to be tainted by the evils of the world and and they see things in such an innocent way. Source Next, you see dandelions as these beautiful fluffy things that blow in the wind. They are different and often they don't see them as the same flower as they once were. Much like a child grows, they change and become a little person, rather than a kid. Its different and often the … [Read more...]
Cooking WITH your kids
I know this subject has been touched on before by many people, experts, and blogs but I felt it necessary to reiterate the importance of cooking WITH your kids. Why cooking with your kids is important: Cooking with your kids teaches them the importance of eating together as a family Cooking with kids teaches them simple math Cooking with kids teaches them problem solving Cooking with your kids encourages them to try new foods Cooking with your kids give them a sense of accomplishment There are plenty more reasons but those are my favorites! My son and I made pizza together....it doesn't have to be complicated, just creative. We talked about fractions while making the pizza. He doesn't like onions or mushrooms on his pizza so we discussed that two halves of the pizza make one whole. He helped put the ingredients that he wanted on his half and the things I wanted on my half. The best part of the whole time was the conversation...we took time to talk about our day, what … [Read more...]
Make fun of cleaning
I've mentioned my grandma a few times before and how she was creative, clever, and fun. I have so many amazing memories of the "little things" in life that she turned into great things. Not long ago she passed away and while the pain of losing her is still raw I know that I am so lucky because I have so many wonderful memories to last me a lifetime. One thing that she made fun was cleaning. Yes, you read the right, cleaning! She loved to sew and she had sewn me an apron that she kept in the top drawer in her kitchen (right next to her towels). On Sundays we'd get up and she'd open the kitchen drawer and pull out my little apron and tie it on. It's amazing to me that a simple apron made cleaning fun. I thought it would be really neat to "pass on the cleaning fun" to my daughter. I made her a special cleaning apron that I now keep in my top drawer in my kitchen right next to the one my grandma made for me. When it is time to get some cleaning done I try and make a game or a race … [Read more...]
Coloring WITH Your Kids
The tag line of our Toys In The Dryer blog is "ideas for living in the moment with your kids." The whole purpose of this blog is to get you interacting and doing things with your children. We have a ton of fun and crafty ideas around here and we hope they inspire you. However...sometimes it's not about the super cool, crafty stuff...sometimes it's just about time with your kids. When was the last time you sat down and did something simple--nothing fancy, not a ton of supplies, not a lot of thought required? When was the last time you did a craft or activity with your children instead of supervising them. When was the last time you let your inner child out to play? (Thanks to Hubby for taking this photo while I enjoyed time with my girls) Early in this blog I did a post about cloud watching. It's a great, free and fun activity that allows you to spend time with your kids. Today, I'm encouraging you to color. I'm not talking about getting out the crayons/coloring books and … [Read more...]
