This post has been edited- the original post was meant to be lighthearted, but some people interpreted my tone as sarcastic. I'm sorry! It was never my intention. The purpose of this post has always been to share how I discern which Charlotte Mason recommendations I follow. For a new Charlotte Mason mom, jumping into
Yelling happens, but experts share why it won't get you the behavior you want and how you can react instead.
Easy Halloween garland made with potato printed ghosts.
I love this dream catcher craft for kids of all ages that starts with a paper plate honoring the Native American culture and the meaning behind authentic
Learn the alphabet and letter sounds in a fun and active way by jumping and tracing over chalk letters on the trampoline! A great way to get some exercise and learning outside at the same time! This can be extended or simplified for all kids from toddlers to school age and is so easy to...Read More »
Tracey Black is the founder for Don't Mess with Mama, a natural living blog, and author of several gluten free cookbooks.
Welcome to Kate from Crafts on Sea today. Kate shares a wonderful Valentine’s Day craft for Preschoolers today – Making fun Valentine’s Day SHAKERS. Super simple AND FUN for the kids. She join us on our journey of 31 Days of Love Series in 2015. Each day a different blogger brings you a Valentine’s Day Craft...
All about developing a love of reading in children, with inspirational quotes and recommendations.
We've worked our way through the alphabet to the letters E and F at school and momma decided to do an art project with the letter "E" with us. One of the only times we all sit calmly at school is when we are painting, so we did a basic printmaking project. Momma found an elephant template on Pinterest, enlarged it, and traced that on to posterboard. She also traced a capital letter "E" and a lowercase letter "e" she made in Word. She then cut out pieces of the posterboard so that each piece had a traced object on it (but didn't cut out the actual shape yet). At school, she squirted two different colors of blue and one purple fingerpaint onto the table in front of each of us. We then got to paint the actual table with it! We made designs, practiced a few letters, and mostly enjoyed making a big mess. Then we pressed the posterboard down onto our portion of painted table and made a "print" of what we had drawn. You would think momma would have remembered from our recent leaf marbling that the intent was to paint on the back of the traced object (so when she cut it out you didn't see any tracing marks). She didn't. But because she mounted the prints onto black paper, it didn't matter much (you couldn't see the tracing lines). Except for the small letter "e," which she had purposefully traced backwards with the intent of printing on the back of it. No worries -- we all loved the project so much that we did lots of extra printmaking and she was able to trace a small letter "e" onto each of our leftovers. Cam got to do this later in the afternoon at home and she loved it, too. By that point, momma remembered which side needed to be printed. Cam's favorite part was picking up the paper to see the print -- there were lots of "ooooohhh"s. I see lots of table painting in our future.
A beginning botany lesson for preschoolers to observe and learn how different kinds of seeds germinate.
Playing in the snow is so much fun! At the first sighting of any snowflake my kids are ready to bundle up, head outside, and make a snowman or have a snowball fight. There are however days when it is too cold to head outside, or there is no snow. Which is when I have the perfect activity for you. This Free Printable Snowball Gross Motor Place Value Practice First Grade activity is a great substitute for an outdoor snowball fight. Your kids will love practicing place value skills while getting some energy out at the same time!
A new form of mindfulness is springing up—and flying around.
I created a single Baby To-Go Bag back in June for one of Papertrey's Team Projects. You can see it here. Seeing absolutely no reason to reinvent the wheel, when it came time for me to actually go to a baby shower, I took the idea and ran with it. Thought I'd share another version today with you. Here's the project as a whole. I bought a basket at Joann's. It fits six of the canvas drawstring bags. Well, actually, we cut and made the bags to fit. They are probably 8x10 inches when made up. Large enough to hold a diaper and a travel size bag of wipees. There are two types of bags. The ones with the baby food jar (PTI's jar die) are labeled 1 though 3 (with the By the Numbers die). All patterns you see are fabric. You can cut fabric with your dies quite easily if you have fused Heat N' Bond onto the back. My mom did all the sewing for me. She did an amazing job. I love it when we put our heads together like this. The baby food jars hold a pouch of organic Sprout baby food, one of those fruit puree packets with a spout, a travel size packet of formula, a disposable bib, and baby spoon. For the onesie bags...same deal. They are number and there are three of them. The big onesie is cut with PTI's Onesie die. These bags have a diaper, a new onesie, and a travel sized pack of wipes. Come to think of it, a little travel sized bottle of hand sanitizer would have been a nice addition here. Next time. The idea behind these Baby To-Go Bags is that the parents can grab them and go when they need to get out of the house quick. They have all the baby essentials already to go. The numbers help you know when you need to take a few minutes to restock them. If you are bag number 3, it's time to get them reorganized again. And besides all that, the numbers are pretty cool to look at. Extra formula packs and disposable wipes are stored underneath the bags in the basket. For the decorating, I just cut a Mat Stack 4 die and stamped with the Mat Stack 4 Collection stamp, a duck from Night, Night Moon, and a sentiment from Inside/Out Sentiments: Baby. The matching card (it matches the onesies on the bag!) is again cut from the Shape It Up Onesie die and stamped with Polka Dot Basics, Little Labels, and a sentiment from Faux Ribbon. I used Aqua Mist and Harvest Gold cardstock here. All in all, a cute and very practical gift. I'd have been thrilled to get this and I hope little Anya Eleanor's mom loved it as well.
All about homeschooling prior to kindergarten!
Industrial-Scale Egg Production—Masquerading As Organic? (14 Photos) Small and Medium Scale Egg Production with Permanent Housing—Minimal-Excellent
Materials Needed: Red, Pink, White, Black Construction Paper Scissors Glue Black marker Folding Card Template Start by cutting out two big red and pink hearts from construction paper. Cut the pink heart in half to
Free Alphabet Poster, 8 pages, pictures and letters, just pictures, matching phrases, just letters, just uppercase, just lowercase, colour or b and w
Here’s a simple center you can set up at home or in the classroom to help children explore emotions and learn about feelings! Are you following our Creative Play Pinterest board? The Importance of Exploring Feelings One of the most important things I try to teach my children is to understand and name their …
I do not really know where to start. This month has been an amazing personal journey for me. I have long harbored this idea of an e-lab for mamas to celebrate the mundane and embrace the wild creativity that comes with being a parent. The 30+ women who joined me were kind, open and so smart. They gave me so much hope for the future. There are some amazing kids on their way to change the world - just wait! I wanted to share a few reflections from the month, in hopes that they might be useful to you and your project too. Mainly, I think I have finally answered a question that I have asked myself many times over the years: How do I know I am on the right track with something (a project/ideology/idea)? I have decided the following: 1. If you quickly and easily enter flow while working on your project, that is the one! Don't stop - you found it! When you are in flow, time slows as you become completely absorbed in your work. You feel refreshed and energized when you are done. It is an optimal state to aim for when working/playing. You know you are doing the right thing if it gives you energy. While working on this lab, I would often work until 2 or 3 in the morning, relishing a quiet house and time to think and write. Amazingly enough, I still woke up refreshed and excited to do more. The more I did, the more energy I got! 2. Ideas beget ideas. Constantly being stuck for ideas or inspiration (beyond a short term funk) is a sign that you might not be on the right track. The more ideas I have, the more ideas I have. Does that make sense? It reminds me of the morning glory vine on my back porch. It struggled for a while, but as soon as it started blooming, it exploded. And each blossom turned to 5 seeds that fell into the soil below and then even more morning glories grew. It is exponential! 3. You stop caring what anyone else thinks. As soon as the fear of embarrassment has left the room with its friend perfectionism, you can focus on your work and not your perceived idea of how anyone else is judging you. Being true to your vision, bolsters your confidence and makes the people who do not support you melt away to the sea of their own discontent. They become so inconsequential. And lastly, the empowerment of purpose comes not from a successful project, but from simply embarking on the journey. Walking fully into your passion is where all your power is. It does not matter what happens after that, as long as you put yourself out there fully, you will reap the benefits and confidence. You will be changed.
Fun and easy Winter Sensory Bin for kids
3 beautiful stories of how Mom guilt tried to take over & 3 steps you can take to remove it from your life and keep it from coming back.
Crafts and games like these won't let the rain soak up all the fun
Not sure how to include handwriting skills in your toddler or preschoolers day? Come get some hands-on, fun ideas!
Then I take a step back, take a deep breath and remember the secret to raising happy and successful children doesn't have to feel like rocket science.
Are you sick of complaining, tears and struggling to have a good homeschool day? Then Sarah Brown's Do It Yourself Homeschool Journal is just what you need!
A simple butterfly craft for young toddlers and babies to do with your help this summer.
A complete scary scale rating of monster books for children from super silly to slightly scary.
These water blaster games are perfect for school picnics, summer birthday parties, or lazy afternoons at home. What a fun way to beat the summer heat!
Race cars are constantly zooming past my feet at our house. I get so frustrated when I accidentally step on them! Ouch! This week I decided to embrace the chaos and use the cars (and
St. Patrick’s Day Math Worksheet And Counting Activity Pack Greater Than Less Than Equal To, Before And After, Missing Number, Counting, Addition 3 Worksheets and 2 Counting Mats The 3 worksh…
Learn how online standardized testing can help with your homeschool portfolio. Discover an affordable & easy to use resource for your homeschool family.
Here are are few top number games for kids that are often taught in the classroom. All of them I have used myself at one time or another. These games aim to improve a child’s skills and work towards consolidating their understanding of numbers. The beauty is that most of them can be […]
Have a rising second grader this year? Help them practice literacy with our Back to School Noun Practice for Second Grade activity!
Second graders will love this pumpkin engineering opportunity! Comes with NGSS alignment so it can be used in the classroom or at home.
