Easy Garden Welcome Banner

After having done countless craft projects that involved tissue paper, I had been saving a rather large collection of tissue paper confetti. Since I'm never one to throw stuff away, I saved these bits of colorful goodness to recycle for other projects like this one! Our vegetables are starting to arrive in our garden, and what better way to welcome them than with this garden welcome banner. It's quick, easy, and even the littlest crafters can make it with great results!!

I cut out letter-frames of construction paper to spell out the word "welcome" and placed them right-side down on a sheet of clear contact paper. Then I invited the girls over to decorate the letters with all that fun confetti!

For Clara, this was a great exercise in letter-recognition and fine motor skills. She was so proud of her letters!

Emily thought the bright colors would make the plants feel as though our garden was one big fiesta!!

I added another sheet of clear contact paper sticky side down to sandwich the letters in-between. She used binder clips to attach the letters in the right order to a length of laundry line -- great spelling practice and the binder clips helped challenge her pincher grasp too.

...and now our garden is starting to look a whole lot more colorful!

Indoor Herb Garden Update... Sprouts!

When we woke up this morning, we were greeted by these.....

.... sprouts of basil from our indoor herb garden!! To celebrate, we read the book Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. What a fabulous find this book turned out to be, and I highly recommend it if you have any junior gardeners in your household!

Then, we decorated picture frames by gluing beans to them. (This activity came straight from the book above.) There are so many fun gardening activities mentioned in this adorable story. Emily loves gluing things, so this was really fun for her!

We're looking forward to more sprout celebrations soon!

Junior Stamp Collecting

This little gem of an activity was inspired by a recent package that arrived for Mark all the way from Hong Kong. Emily was enthralled with the stamps, so I thought I would introduce her to my old stamp collection from when I was a kid. My dad has a much larger collection, so it must run in the family. Stamps have since have become her tiny treasures, and she takes excellent care of them.

To start your own stamp collection, first cut the envelope around the stamps. Soak in very warm water for a few minutes to allow the adhesive to come loose. Gently peel the stamp off of the envelope with tweezers, and transfer to a paper towel with the printed side facing down.

Allow the stamps to dry completely, and then add to your stamp book. You can use hinges like these, or collectors binder sheets like the ones we used. There is even a Beginner's Stamp Collecting Fun Kit!

This is a great introduction to world geography, and a super-frugal hobby for just about anyone. You can bet we'll be keeping a close eye on our mailbox for any unusual stamps!

Eliminate Plastic Bag Clutter with this Easy Craft

We recently borrowed Ed Emberley's Picture Pie (Ed Emberley Drawing Books) from our local public library, and it inspired this quick project for a plastic bag organizer that uses an empty tissue box!

We used a large circle cutter to cut all the pieces quickly and easily. Then Emily chose a design from the book and copied it by gluing down the pieces of construction paper on the side of the box. This activity encourages fine motor skills, since she could only use tiny dots of glue on each piece.

She was so happy with how it turned out! She couldn't even wait for the glue to dry before stuffing it full of plastic bags.

Geometric designs are very appealing to Emily now (see here), so I have a feeling we'll be doing more projects from this book! Plus, now our plastic bags are so organized!

Simple Tip to Reuse Workbooks

We go through several workbooks in this household, so I was trying to come up with an easy way to reuse them and save them for when Clara is a little older. This seemed to work the best, and it's also very frugal.

To reuse sheets from a workbook, tear out the pages, and place them in plastic sheet protectors. Your child can write on them using dry-erase markers.

I found that the marker doesn't wipe off on their hands, but it easily wipes off of the sheet protector using a felt eraser!

Now we get a lot more mileage out of those workbooks!

For more "Family Friday" links, visit HomeEverAfter.com.

Write to Grandma Kit

Emily loves writing letters to Grandma, so we put together a little letter writing kit to encourage this important task! This is a fun way to celebrate Grandparent's Day (Sept. 13th). Somehow I had accumulated a tremendous amount of stationery over the years, and Emily enjoyed going through my collection to pick out cards and pretty paper for her kit. We added some crayons, stickers, and I pre-addressed all of the envelopes for her. Everything fit neatly inside an accordion style file folder.

I used some index cards to make up flash cards just for letter-writing with words like Dear, Grandma, how, love, miss, you, are, going, doing, day. This gives Emily extra spelling and handwriting practice, and she can piece together her letter with very little help from me.

She was so proud to write her letter to Grandma all by herself!

This post is linked to Family Friday.

Look What Came in the Mail!

A few days ago, I signed Emily up for a letter/artwork exchange with a 3 1/2 year old girl named Lu from 4 Crazy Kings. Mama King has a fabulous blog over there, and it is definitely worth checking out. Emily was so excited to receive her letter, and quickly went to work on a special project to mail back to Lu! Hint - it involved paper marbling, one of Emily's favorite activities.

I thought this was such a terrific, inexpensive, and interactive way to teach children about culture and geography. We quickly pulled out a map so I could show Emily where Lu lives and some other neat facts about their state. It was so much fun! Thank you, Mama King and Lu, for such a fun afternoon!

Slacker Saturday -- Bug Hunt

Bug hunting is probably one of Emily's favorite activities. Even if it's raining outside, she likes to hunt for bugs inside the house! I think she inherited this bug-loving gene mostly from Mark. Although when I was a kid, I was known to have a fascination with caterpillars, but I think most kids are naturally curious about creepy crawlers. I gave her a mason jar, but those twist top ziplock containers work very well too. She gets lots of use out of her magnifying glass, and we try to identify any bugs she finds. 

One thing we don't do is keep the bugs for very long. I always tell her they need to go outside to be with their friends. 

This little activity can keep her busy for a long time.

Happy bug hunting!

Jar Matching

It still amazes me how much of our inspiration comes from our recycling bin. For Emily, this is like an endless supply of free craft materials! For this matching activity, you will need jars of various sizes with different sized lids. We used jars from apple sauce, salsa, yeast, baby food, and artichoke hearts. Wash jars throughly with hot soapy water and remove any labels. When the jars are dry, invite your child to place the lid on the corresponding jar, and sort by size. Emily enjoyed practicing opening and closing the jars, and nesting the lids too. 

Slacker Saturday -- Pouring Practice

Just before Emily went off to bed tonight, I set up a quick and easy pouring activity for her. This sort of transfer activity is very Montessori-inspired, and it was good practice for her. Start with a small pitcher and a medium sized bowl. Fill the pitcher with dried beans and have your child practice pouring into the bowl without spilling any beans. Next, try dry rice into a small bowl or cup. When your child has mastered pouring the rice, try pouring water into an even smaller bowl or cup. Emily asked if she could practice this some more tomorrow!

Frugal Fun with Music

This afternoon we made musical instruments from recyclables. This was a big hit and Emily is still making lots of new sounds with her drum, guitar, and shaker. We made the drum with an empty oatmeal canister. If you saw this post, you would understand why we have a lot of these!

This version of a guitar was made with an empty plastic chocolate container and some rubber bands. Emily liked the sound this made, and it was so easy!

This one was probably her favorite -- a shaker made from an empty paper towel roll, some wax paper, rubber bands, and filled with some dry beans.

Have an idea for a recycled musical instrument that I forgot to add? I would love to hear about it! Leave a comment and share your ideas with us!

New -- From PBS Kids

Emily alerted me to a new find on the PBS Kids website, one of her personal favorites. PBS Kids.org just released a new online learning tool called PBS Kids Play, an interactive virtual activity center that adjusts to your child's individual level and tracks development with custom progress reports!  It is primarily geared towards kids ages 3-6 years old.  You can sign up for a free 15 day trial (no credit card needed).  To learn more, click here.  Subscriptions are $9.95/month, or you can get a better value by signing up for a year at $79 (which works out to about $6.60/month).  

Some of the key features include:

• One account provides 4 personal learning profiles.
  
• All games address national educational standards.
  
• Kids discover and advance at their own pace.
  
• New content every week keeps kids engaged.
  
• Timer option to limit playtime for each child.

To order a gift subscription, click here. In case you were wondering, 100% of net proceeds are used to fund PBS Kids programming.

Get Ready to Read Skill-Building Activity Cards

Get your FREE set of skill-building activity cards here.  These are filled with great ideas to bring literacy skills into your home and daily routine.  They are free and easy to print out, and all 36 activity cards are available in Spanish or English.

Free Online Learning Games for Kids

If you are looking for ways to keep your child busy this winter, why not try some online learning games?  My daughter Emily (4) is a trained professional high-tech toddler.  Here are some of her favorite sites that offer free online learning games that your child is sure to enjoy.  

1. PBS Kids.org --  This is Emily's all-time favorite site.  Games feature Clifford, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Curious George, and more.
2. BBC CBeebies --  Similar to PBS Kids, but with different games.
3. Discovery Kids --  Teach your child about animals, history, and science.
   
4. Ready Set Learn --  This is worthy of bookmarking.  The penguin is really cute!
5. Nick Jr. --  If you have a Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, or Ni Hao Kai-Lan fan, this is the site to check out.
6. myNoggin --  Although this is not free, they do have a free 7 day trial period that is worth considering.
7. FisherPrice Online Games --  Games for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
8. PlayKidsGames.com --  Lots of free online educational games for kids grades K-middle school.
9. Kaboose FunSchool --  Fun games including "Michael, Michael, Go Recycle".  
10. National Geographic Kids -- Has videos, games, activities, and stories.