I just saw this craft idea on Craft Gossip, and I can't wait to try it. My experience as far as crafting with kids goes is mainly with kindergarten-aged kids and up. I love crafting with my 2-year-old, but I feel like I rarely have good ideas that stimulate her. Also, I find that I spend 30 minutes putting together a project for her that she ends up spending 30 seconds completing. I think a more detailed version of this box would be so much fun for her. I'm thinking I'll decorate it like a flower box and let her create flowers on pipe cleaners to "plant" inside. She is going to love this! Hope it inspires you too.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Itty Bitty Crafting
I just saw this craft idea on Craft Gossip, and I can't wait to try it. My experience as far as crafting with kids goes is mainly with kindergarten-aged kids and up. I love crafting with my 2-year-old, but I feel like I rarely have good ideas that stimulate her. Also, I find that I spend 30 minutes putting together a project for her that she ends up spending 30 seconds completing. I think a more detailed version of this box would be so much fun for her. I'm thinking I'll decorate it like a flower box and let her create flowers on pipe cleaners to "plant" inside. She is going to love this! Hope it inspires you too.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Dying Pasta
It is HOT here in Texas, so I'm always looking for fun, creative, open-ended activities to while away our time in the air conditioning. Gluing seems to be a huge hit around here. I've been cutting paper scraps for her to glue. I also have used dried beans, lentils, and pasta. I ran across this idea for coloring pasta and thought I'd share.
What you'll need: pasta, food coloring, rubbing alcohol, and Ziploc bags.
Fill a Ziploc bag with pasta. Then add 1 tsp of rubbing alcohol and a half dozen (or so) drops of food coloring. Close the bag, and shake it until the color is well-distributed. This is a great step to have the kids help with.
Let the pasta sit in the bags for 15-30 minutes for the pasta to absorb the color. Then spread the pasta onto a cookie sheet to dry overnight.
I was skeptical because it seemed like the color would rub off onto our hands, but it hasn't at all. The rubbing alcohol wets the pasta just enough for it to absorb the food coloring, then it evaporates leaving the pasta completely dried and colored. This is an easy, cheap, and fun activity! We've used these for sorting, gluing, and as a sensory activity in a tub with scoops and measuring cups.
What you'll need: pasta, food coloring, rubbing alcohol, and Ziploc bags.
Fill a Ziploc bag with pasta. Then add 1 tsp of rubbing alcohol and a half dozen (or so) drops of food coloring. Close the bag, and shake it until the color is well-distributed. This is a great step to have the kids help with.
Let the pasta sit in the bags for 15-30 minutes for the pasta to absorb the color. Then spread the pasta onto a cookie sheet to dry overnight. 
I was skeptical because it seemed like the color would rub off onto our hands, but it hasn't at all. The rubbing alcohol wets the pasta just enough for it to absorb the food coloring, then it evaporates leaving the pasta completely dried and colored. This is an easy, cheap, and fun activity! We've used these for sorting, gluing, and as a sensory activity in a tub with scoops and measuring cups.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sorting
Here's a fun cheap/free activity for your little busybody to use up some of the hot afternoon indoor time this summer. Grab a handful of different-colored objects and a muffin tin, and let them sort by color. I used my button stash, and my 26-month-old sat for a solid HOUR sorting buttons! She's begged daily for a week to play with them again. With a newborn, I'm always looking for ways to keep her busy having fun while I'm tending to him. This was a HUGE hit. Other ideas for sorting: coins by type, spools of thread, crayons, milk jug caps, or even colored scrapbook paper cut into squares or punched with a hole punch. Happy sorting!Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Plan
Well, after posing a question on Facebook regarding meal planning and talking to some people who have planned meals for awhile, the plan is underway. My goal was to get started by the time my son was 2 months old. Today's his 2-month birthday, and tomorrow the plan begins!
I'm so thankful that my sister wanted to join me in this endeavor. Because we're both going in together, we're only having to plan half of the weeks. We're doing one seafood day, one vegetarian day, and homemade pizzas every Friday (thanks Tara!). We started a blog, Feeding our Families, to keep everything straight, so you're welcome to check it out, follow along, and/or contribute recipes. The way we're using it is to make sure the week is up well in advance. That way we can print the recipes, make our grocery list, and shop for up to 2 weeks at a time if we want. We can also spend time preparing food the weekend prior if need be.
Another aspect of the blog is going to be to compile recipes for freezer-friendly meals and desserts. This way it can serve as a resource if we have some free time that we'd like to spend making meals to freeze or if we want to have dessert one evening. Please feel free to comment with ideas for those as well.
As this is a work-in-progress, we'd love any input you have that might make things function more smoothly. But, for now, we've got a dozen or so weeks planned out with zero meals repeated so far! And we're really excited to be trying out so many new, delicious things. Here's to planning ahead and not playing the grocery game each and every evening!
I'm so thankful that my sister wanted to join me in this endeavor. Because we're both going in together, we're only having to plan half of the weeks. We're doing one seafood day, one vegetarian day, and homemade pizzas every Friday (thanks Tara!). We started a blog, Feeding our Families, to keep everything straight, so you're welcome to check it out, follow along, and/or contribute recipes. The way we're using it is to make sure the week is up well in advance. That way we can print the recipes, make our grocery list, and shop for up to 2 weeks at a time if we want. We can also spend time preparing food the weekend prior if need be.
Another aspect of the blog is going to be to compile recipes for freezer-friendly meals and desserts. This way it can serve as a resource if we have some free time that we'd like to spend making meals to freeze or if we want to have dessert one evening. Please feel free to comment with ideas for those as well.
As this is a work-in-progress, we'd love any input you have that might make things function more smoothly. But, for now, we've got a dozen or so weeks planned out with zero meals repeated so far! And we're really excited to be trying out so many new, delicious things. Here's to planning ahead and not playing the grocery game each and every evening!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Alphabet Pillow
(Photo courtesy of MarthaStewart.com)I just ran across this idea on Craft Gossip and think it is so cute! It's an easy sewing project that packs a learning punch. I can't wait to make this in colors that compliment my daughter's room. As a lover of letters, she would love this!
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