The trees are up in the kids bedrooms and they are ornament obsessed! They decorate their bedrooms trees with homemade ornaments each year and have been asking to make more ornaments since we made our angel ornaments last week. So yesterday we made popsicle stick snowflake ornaments! We started by gluing three craft sticks on top of each other (above) to form the snowflake shape. We used these funky shaped ones we had leftover from making mini … [Read more...]
Christmas Kids Craft: Angel Ornament and Picture Book
The Tomie dePaola book we chose for this month's Virtual Book Club for Kids, Country Angel Christmas, got us into the Christmas spirit a little early this year! The kids loved the story and asked me read it to them multiple times this weekend. It is a beautifully illustrated tale of the year the country angels planned the Christmas celebration. The older angels were busy making preparations, but there seemed to be nothing left for the three … [Read more...]
Kids Art Activity: Discovering Dali
It's time for Kids Get Arty! We participated for the first time in September and had a blast drawing pet portraits in the style of Brooke Churchill. I was completely blown away by how fantastic the experience was and still cannot believe we waited so long to join in! For November's challenge we decided it was time to FINALLY visit The Dali! I have been wanting to go since we moved here 2 years ago, but was worried the kids weren't quite ready. Now … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving Kids Craft: Torn Paper Turkeys
Looking for a super easy, super fun Thanksgiving craft? Have kids of different ages and can't find something that can keep all occupied? Well, you are in luck! One of my kids' favorite Thanksgiving crafts--torn paper turkeys--may just be what you're looking for. Torn Paper Turkey Supplies: Scraps of paper in whatever color you want. Googly eyes Scissors--unless you are really, really good at tearing out turkey shapes! Your … [Read more...]
{21 Days of Gratitude} Why I’m Thankful for Reading
I was so excited when Mari at Inspired By Family shared her idea for the 21 Days of Contagious Gratitude family challenge and I couldn't wait to sign up. I have always loved Thanksgiving, even as a child I liked the coziness of the holiday and the chance to share how thankful you are for what you love. Today's gratitude prompt is a skill/talent you possess. As soon as I saw it I knew what I was going to write about. Reading. I am … [Read more...]
Math Fact Practice: Flashcard Passport Game
My first grader has to learn all sorts of math facts this year and so far this fall has been working on addition. The kids study their flashcards throughout the month and their parents are supposed to quiz them periodically and sign whether or not they can answer them quickly and accurately on their homework sheet. Holding up flashcards got boring very quickly so last month we played a fire hose game to "put out" the correct answers. It was a hit … [Read more...]
Create a Thankfulness Tree
Every year since my oldest daughter was born we have recorded the things we are thankful for in some way. There is something about stopping to write down the blessings in your life that makes them that much sweeter and more appreciated. We've done this in a couple different ways, but last year's was one of our favorites and the kids can't wait to do it again this November. We created a huge 6 foot tree out of torn and crumbled paper bag pieces on … [Read more...]
Pumpkin Man: A Family Tradition
For me, fall means leaves and leaves mean a very special family tradition. I grew up in upstate NY and as soon as the leaves began to fall we knew that soon it would be time to make our Pumpkin Man. My grandfather would bring over the Pumpkin Man supplies and send us out into the yard to gather the most beautiful fall leaves that we could find. And gather we did. Leaves are abundant in NY and in the fall our front yard was full of gorgeous, … [Read more...]
