After doing our tape maze of numbers. The maze stuck (yes, pun intended) around awhile. On one of those 'no-nap' days, Henry and I kept busy (while George was napping) with blocks and the tape maze and made a Block City! Henry and I added blocks around the tape maze. The tape posing as the streets of the block city. It became our town, with landmarks that we have in our ...
Archives for 2012
It’s Playtime! Get Moving Indoors!
This time of year... Even though its been a mild winter in Iowa. We're still itching to get outside more and run! We're finding creative ways to burn off energy in the house. And so our some of our It's Playtime playdates! I love the ideas that you guys have been coming up with to get active indoors. (Crafty Moms Share: Indoor Snowball Fight!) We have snow. But its not ...
16 Valentine’s Celebrations from The Heart Project Party!
Earlier this week, Cathy of NurtureStore and I hosted a very hoppin' Valentine's Day party for The Heart Project! A bunch of moms joined the party and swapped ideas for Valentine's Day, including family celebrations and traditions, as well as recipes and crafts. Cathy shared yesterday a few of the Valentine's crafts and recipes that party-goers chimed in with. Today, I'm ...
It’s Playtime! The Heart Project Features
The Heart Project has been kicked off great. A week into it and we've raised well over our initial goal over $1,000 for the American Heart Association. We've now re-evaluated our goal, and lifted it to $2k, will you help us make it?The Heart Project is a book (The Heart Book) full of heart projects for kids to do! So many great ideas to get crafty and artsy, even get the kids in the ...
Valentine’s Day Art: The Kids’ HeArts
I'm not sure what it is about this Heart art that I like so much. Maybe its because both the boys did it together. Or maybe its because I found out how nicely Henry can cut and follow a line. Or maybe its just because its close to Valentine's Day, and love is in the air. Collaboration seems to be the key around here lately. I've been collaborating with other ...
It’s Playtime: Some Favorites
Sometimes I just like to look through It's Playtime and find some great ideas to bookmark (on Pinterest) for the kids to do. Okay. Most of the time. That's what I do. Here are a few that I'm pinning to do with the boys in the near future. (Lessons Learnt Journals: Paperclip Number Match) First of all, I love the addition of the button to the paper clips! It makes them ...
‘In Memory Of’ Collaborative Kids Art
100 Acts of Kindness. Toddler Approved has a series on it, with many ideas for kindness and how to instill it in our children. While we're trying to do our acts of kindness, teaching what kindness is to a three year old seems tough at times. By acting kind to each other, and leading my example, is the only way I can figure out how to teach this concept. To contribute to the ...
It’s Playtime! Activities for My Toddler
This year is the year for George. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. He's 16 months right now. So he still can't do a lot of the activities that Henry and I get into. We have a lot of time to ourselves, just the two of us. Some nice Mommy and Me time. But we rarely set out to do something. We just play. I want to start getting him involved. Be hands on with him. I ...
Valentine Craft for Kids: Strings of Hearts Chandelier
A learning Valentine craft for kids to this Valentine's Day! String up some pretty (and easy!) hearts to your dining room chandelier and it'll set the mood with every meal. I cannot tell you all the levels of learning that Henry worked on when making this chandelier of hearts. Counting Patterning Cutting Threading Sequencing Just to name the obvious ...
Counting Blocks While Building Towers
Counting blocks on their corresponding numbers. We always have a lot of fun with counting. And a lot of fun with blocks. Have you checked out the 44 activities using blocks for preschoolers? How do you get a preschooler boy excited about learning? Bring in the big machines. By bringing in Henry's everyday love of farming into activities, especially learning activities, he's ...
Preschool Activity : Building Structures
This post is written and shared by Emma at Science Sparks. A simple, fun activity to do with a variety of ages and skill levels. And you probably have everything you need right in your pantry! When I brought out the spaghetti and marshmallows I think my children thought we were having some kind of weird and wonderful (to them) dinner!In actual fact we were looking at structures ...
It’s Playtime! Science Experiments for Preschoolers!
After doing our lava lamp experiment, I've been on the lookout for more fun with science! Especially experiments that my preschooler will find fun to do! Here are a few experiments I found just on last week's It's Playtime! from my playdate friends! (Science Sparks: What's Heaviest?) A great experiment from Science Sparks. Find out what's heavier! This is a concept I need to ...
Melted Crayon Art: Crayon Shavings
I've seen various ways to make melted crayon art around, so we wanted to make one ourselves using crayon shavings. Henry, Grandma and I made some pretty art with crayon shavings! And it was fun to do! The crayon shavings are what makes this art so pretty, but it also gave Henry some time to work on his fine motor skills. Henry did his own pile of crayon shavings ...
Parenting: Be your Child’s Advocate for a Better Education
A post written and shared by Melissa at Imagination Soup. Melissa shares a few tips and strategies of what worked for her on how to handle being her child's advocate for a better education. See what Melissa recommends to do. It started with preschool, but I made excuses. Then, it happened in public elementary school. Several times and I ran out of excuses. Terrible ...
Collaborative Heart Project Fundraiser
I am putting together a collaborative fundraiser between bloggers. This is a heart project because all proceeds from this fundraiser are going towards the American Heart Association (AHA). If you are a blogger and would like to participate, please read through the details below and email me with your interest at handsonaswegrow(at)gmail.com. This is Valentine's season, so ...
It’s Playtime! More Snow Activities!
We're getting snow tonight! Time to get busy with some of those snow activities I posted about yesterday! And here's five more snow themed activities! So, now you have 37 snow ideas for the kids to do! The It's Playtime! players have been getting creative with their snow activities since no one seemed to have any snow. (My Oatmeal Kisses: Poofs of Snow) No snow? Make it! My ...
Parenting : On Motherhood
Were you a natural when it came to motherhood? I wasn't. Read on to hear the story of Angelique of AngeliqueFelix.com, on becoming a mother. A wonderful post is written and shared by Angelique at AngeliqueFelix.com - The Magic of Play "I am not afraid, I was born to do this" - Joan of Arc, heroin of France The beginning Before you start reading this post, you should know that I ...
Learning to Let Go of Creativity Control
Ever feel like this project just isn't turning out? Let go. Remember the process. A post written and shared by Ali at At Home with Ali. Learning to Let Go Doing art projects and crafts with young children can drive anyone crazy. Paint going everywhere except on the paper, glue on fingers and in hair, mountains of glitter spread out for no purpose, oil pastels having their ...
It’s Playtime! Indoor Activities
Its that time of year. When we all duck our heads and hibernate for a couple of months. Granted, we try to get outside as much as we can. But most days its not for long, if at all. So... What indoor activities can we do on these cold days coming up? (Really, its been pretty nice here lately, I can't believe its in the 40s in January in Iowa...) (Make Do & ...
Learning Activity: Cutting Snowflakes
Henry's been on a cutting kick lately. Since its winter, I decided to take advantage of this and cut snowflakes! I tried my best to make this as preschooler-friendly as possible. We used coffee filters for our snowflakes. Coffee filters are easy to cut, plus they're already round! And they were really easy for Henry to cut. He didn't struggle cutting through them at ...
Best Projects for Kids from 2011
Happy New Year! Cheers to 2012! Let's remember 2011 though, shall we? I'm not going to flood you with all my favorite posts, I shared my twelve favorite activities last month. I also won't bore you with the most popular kids projects, as most of them are collections of play ideas. But, I am going to share our most popular project from 2011.Here's our Best Project for Kids from ...