Get past toy overwhelm! So, use the practical, unique, and fun non-toy gifts for kids ideas for birthday, Christmas, or anytime!

We need to understand that gifted children are not just “bright” – a highly subjective label. 15 signs of a gifted child--read on to learn.

75+ No Toy Christmas Ideas for your young child! Is your toy room overflowing BEFORE Christmas even starts? This is the gift guide for you!

When I wrote about giving away most of my kids’ toys before Christmas, I bet I made a lot of people wonder if I would be giving them replacement toys for Christmas. Here’s the thing – I never want to get back into that spot where I felt like I needed to throw away all their toys again! We still plan on giving them Christmas presents….with a little twist. WHAT CAN YOU GIVE INSTEAD OF TOYS? There are so many options for gifts to give that aren’t toys! Once I sat down and started thinking about it,

The most typical characteristics of gifted children. Check this list and discover if your child might be gifted. Learn what signifiies giftedness.

Send students home from their first day of school with a special name crown. Encourage family communication and begin building a classroom community as children start to learn each other's names.

Here are the best and most thoughtful gifts for adult children. When your kids are all grown, toys will no longer do the trick. So check out our gift guide!

Creative and clutter-free stocking stuffers, perfect for your minimalist Christmas. Practical gifts that kids will use and love.

Use these top 10 sewing patterns for toddlers to make the cutest gifts for your children. Easy patterns you'll want to try out now!

The best minimalist gift ideas and clutter-free toys for 2019. Take a peek to see my favorite clutter-free gift ideas that kids will love!

let students draw themselves on the inside and outsideFun and creative idea to get to know your students and for them to get to know each other!Powerpoint Available.

Kids will love how simple and easy it is to make pipe cleaner flowers for a fun spring craft or handmade gift for Mother’s Day.

Create adorable, plush panda crafts with our easy-to-follow Crochet Panda Amigurumi idea. Ideal for beginners!

12+ Free Toy Sewing Patterns For Kids, making a list of things to sew as gifts for kids. There is something for babies up through preschoolers!

When you're parenting gifted or twice-exceptional kids, you often feel lost and alone -- like nobody will ever truly get what you live on a day-to-day basis. I felt that way, and it's one of the reasons I created RLL in the first place... I hoped to bring other parents of tough kids together -- and to

Let Your Kid Have Fun In The Snow With This Knitted Child Yoke Sweater

20 ideas for teaching shapes to young kids, including fantastic toys that promote shape learning.

These easy homemade baby gifts are perfect for any new mom! You can DIY baby shower gifts quickly!

How to practice minimalism with kids by creating a minialist toy list to guide gift buying and limiting toys to those that provide the greastest...

This Bunny knitting pattern will help you knit a cute toy as a gift for an adult and a child, or for decorating a children's room. The file is available in English, Spanish and German. Please note that this is a DIGITAL item, includes pdf files. The tutorial is easy to understand and includes 15 pages of detailed instructions for knitting the toy (you will need a set of five knitting needles in the round) and step by step photos. !! The file has a printable version with out photos! Size of finished toy is approx. 27cm !For this project you will need: 1.Yarn : - Alize Alpaca Royal (100 gr/250 m, 15% wool, 30% alpaca, 55% acrylic) № 21 – grey № 55 - white - Etrofil Russtica (50gr/230m, 75% lama wool, 25% silk) № 0025 – for mustard dress. 2. a little bit of white, pink and black thread for a snout. 3. Any yarn for embroidering of the hearts. The thicker the yarn, the larger the hearts. 4. Safety plastic eyes with washers, in diameter of 6 mm. A 7mm size will also fit. 5. Sewing needle with wide eye. 6. Double pointed knitting needles in 2.5 mm. 7. Hook in 1.7 mm or 2 mm. 8. Holofiber for stuffing 9. Happy knitting

The 5 gift rule for Christmas is a tweak on the 4 gift rule for Christmas. It's the best holiday tradition I've ever seen. Frugal Family Fun for Christmas!

Sewing Tutorial - How to Make a DIY Weighted Blanket for Anxiety. It's surprisingly easy to sew a weighted blanket for children or adults!

Negative leaf print by one of my second grade students earlier this year. Hey, guys! This post has been very popular on my blog...if you are interested in other leaf-y projects, look at my Leaf Relief project and my Pressed Leaf Project as well. Thanks! I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in Tennessee, we are experiencing spring-like weather. For the most part. I mean it did snow the last two Saturdays (and, in Tennessee, "snow" means just a few flakes and a couple of inches) but the other day it was 78 degrees. Crazy, right? For that reason, I've got touch of spring fever. You too? Well then you might enjoy this leafy printmaking project I did at the beginning of the year with my second graders. It's simple, scientific, beautiful and fun...okay, enough talking about me (!), on with the lesson. For this project, you'll need the following: gelatin, not Jell-o. Most grocery stores carry a brand called Knox which sells in boxes of 16 pouches. cookie sheets printmaking brayer, sold at most craft stores printing ink variety of leaves paper Print pulled from the same printing tray, this time the positive version. The night before you begin, you'll need to prepare your sheets of gelatin. To do that, bring about 3-4 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, whisked one pouch of gelatin into the pot. You don't want any clumps of gelatin, so whisk like there's no tomorrow. You'll end up adding about 12-15 pouches of gelatin into that one pot. Sorry, I'm not into exact measurements. Which could explain a lot about my cooking. If there are any remaining unwhiskable clumps, remove them with a spoon. Pour mixture into a cookie sheet filling it about 1". Leave uncovered over night. If you see any bubbles in the cookie sheet, pop them or remove with a spoon. For my class of 20 students, I made three trays. Pulling the first print always managed to get oohhhh's and aahhhh's aplenty. The following day, we were ready to print. The surface of the gelatin was squishy yet very firm, perfect for holding our printing ink. I think I can explain this best in steps, so here you go: Using a brayer and printing ink, cover surface of gelatin in ink. Place leaves onto the ink-covered cookie sheet with the veiny side down. I don't recommend using anything with pine needles because that will puncture the gelatin. But experiment, you never know! Once leaves are in place, lay paper on top of cookie sheet and rub (er, we call it "massage") the paper. Pull paper off, as you see in the above photo, and viola! You have your first print! Notice how clear the gelatin looks. All of the ink that was once on the tray is now on the paper. I love her dainty fingers pulling up the second print. So sweet. Now for the second print: Gently remove all of the leaves from the tray. It's best to pull them out by the end of the stem. Place a new sheet of paper over the now-empty cookie sheet and rub. Pull second print which will be a positive image of the first. Looks like a black and white photo, don't you think? Once both prints have been pulled, re-ink the tray and begin the process all over again. With a class of 20 students and 3 pans of gelatin, about 10 kids were able to print per half an hour class. The pans of gelatin can last about two days with an endless amount of printing. I tried to cover the gelatin and keep it for a little longer, but condensation droplets created strange little craters on the surface. If left uncovered for too many days, it begins to dry and crack. For that reason, if you plan to do this project for longer than a couple of days, you'll just need to prepare more gelatin pans the night before. Our second go-round of printing involved using white ink on black paper. Just as pretty. This project is so easy and the results so stunning that everyone is successful. I've now had a couple of craft get-togethers and this is always a hit. Once those leaves start growing in your neck of the woods, I do hope you'll give it a shot! I love the photo negative quality of this print.

Anyone who knows me, reads this blog, or uses my resources knows that I am passionate about differentiation. I think that is because I grew ...

The best open-ended toys encourage exploration and critical thinking in kids of all ages, according to research, parents, and pediatricians.

17 Darling, Practical, & Custom Handmade Baby Gifts- great handmade baby shower and baby gift ideas that won't break the bank. Tutorials, classy, etc.

This is the easiest tutorial for a burp rag you could make! Only three steps, and they are the best DIY burp rags!! Great for easy baby gifts, too.

To make a new mom feel special, skip flowers and give her one of these meaningful new mom gifts that are for her, not for the baby.

Don't give your kids the latest gadget! Read here to find 15 non-toy meaningful gift ideas your kids will cherish that won't break the bank.

Learn all about differentiating the products that your students complete as part of their learning journey. I'll define it for you, give you some important tips, show you an example of how I did this in my gifted classroom, and I'll even give you a list of ideas you can use in your own classroom.

Pipe cleaners are a versatile craft material easily obtainable if not already in your craft supplies at home. Kids can make all sorts of pipe cleaner crafts, and they're also perfect for learning activities such as STEM projects or fine motor activities. Kids can even make little toys to play with using pipe cleaners! Below

Easy free crochet pattern for a seamless top-down raglan sweater for babies and kids. One-peice, Top-down construction. Video Included.

Yup, I just used the G-word. Did you cringe just now, when you read it? To be honest, I still cringe a little too. As the mother of a profoundly gifted and twice-exceptional child, I think that gifted is a terrible label; it brings to mind images of beautifully-wrapped packages with neatly tied bows. Our gifted reality is sometimes beautiful but complicated and challenging and anything but neat. When folks hear the word gifted, they tend to make assumptions.

If you'd like to give a more personal, meaningful, special gift to your toddler or preschooler, this list of handmade gifts for toddlers has the answer!

I’m wrapping up my final blog posts of the year and getting ready to take December off from blogging and being a little business owner! I’m a little obsessed with art (if you havenR…