Feb 17

Inside Winter Games for Kiddos

Hey, Friends! If you have been with me for a while, you know that we moved from Illinois to Florida last month. Quite an event with three little boys, if I may say so…! What exactly does one do to keep those kiddos busy while trying to pack and unpack an entire household?? The answer is GET CREATIVE and KEEP IT SIMPLE! I didn’t have a lot of time or resources, so here it what I came up with…

Balloon Tennis!

I used paint stirrers, balloons, paper plates and tape. This kept the boys busy for such a long while batting the balloons all over the living room, up in the air and back and forth to each other.

Straw Races!

Using straws and cotton balls, the boys raced across the kitchen floor, lots of giggles from this one!

Cheerio Stack-Up!

Stick a few Spaghetti sticks into a ball of playdough. Stack-up as many Cheerios as possible on each piece of Spaghetti. Great for fine motor skills and the boys made it a contest!

Milk Jug Catch!

Three boys, so three milk jugs with the bottom cut off, each with a ball. The boys threw and caught and chased!

What simple games do you use to keep your munchkins busy?? ~Kelly

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Oct 27

31 Days of Homemade Holidays! Day 28: DIY Lacing Cards

With three young boys at home, I am ALWAYS looking for good ways to keep their little hands busy. Today’s project will do just that!

Day 27: DIY Lacing Cards!

Supplies:

Dot paints, Christmas colored cardstock, scissors, hole punch, laminator sheets or clear contact paper, round shoestrings or yarn

Have the kids cover the paper with the dot paints. Just an FYI…these say washable, but it didn’t really want to come off my kid’s skin. Washed out of their clothes okay, though.

When the paints are dry, cut out shapes such as Christmas trees, stockings, stars, snowmen, etc.

Run the shapes through the laminator or cover with contact paper. Cut off the extra plastic and then punch holes all around the outside of each shape.

Now you are ready to play!

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Sunday Showcase

The Better Mom

Oct 25

31 Days of Homemade Holidays! Day 26:Photo Bookmarks

Today we are making a simple gift with a big impact for the book lovers in your life! Day 26:Photo Bookmarks!

Supplies:

Pictures of kids hanging (like off the monkey bars) or just standing with their hands over their heads, scissors, ribbon, laminator or contact paper, hole punch

Cut away the entire background of the pictures leaving only the cutout of the child.

Run through the laminator or cover with contact paper. Cut off extra plastic. Punch a hole between the hands on the pictures and add a ribbon. A perfect gift for the avid reader in your life!

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Sep 04

First Day of School 2012

Anyone else start school today? Ready or not, today was our first day and it actually went amazingly well! My oldest is in Third grade this year, next in line is in Preschool and my littlest guy has his hands in everything to “help.” We are using most of the same programs as last year so we were able to transition pretty smoothly.

My preschooler was by far the most excited to start. He is four years old and wants to learn to write his name this year. We are using a program called “Happy Phonics” that uses a lot of games to teach. My oldest boy is seven and was not quite so excited, but really concentrated and worked efficiently today. And my youngest little munchkin, who is almost two, wants to be a part of it all. Whatever the bigger boys are doing he is determined to do, as well!

So all in all, a good first day of school. Just in need of some fine tweaking of our schedule to keep everyone busy at the same time. My husband is taking on a little more of the teaching load this year as we try to get our business up and running. So I will be teaching math and phonics/literature and my husband will teach history, science and art. We will come together as a family for our Bible studies and then whatever else we feel the need to add this year.

My favorite part of homeschooling is that I am getting a second chance to learn the things I didn’t learn or understand the first time around. And I also LOVE being there for the “Ah-ha!” moments when my children are learning and discovering new things. If you are interested to know what programs we use, I am going to be posting a page at the top of my blog with pictures and information, hopefully get that up this week. Any homeschoolers out there? What is your favorite part of the day?