This past weekend I was blest to be the recipient of a spa treatment care of Scrubbing Bubbles.  Holly, blogger of June Cleaver Nirvana, invited me to join them at the Four Seasons!  Boy, was I spoiled!  I had never had a facial before.  I loved having no kids for three hours part, lots of uninterrupted adult conversation and the peaceful setting!  My favorite part however was the facial and the nifty mask I got to wear.  The heavy feeling on my eyes made me so sleepy (either that or …

I got the idea to create cereal box puzzles from a lady at my church.  She was discussing how her kids learned early reading skills through interacting with and recognizing brands, that this “recognition” was the first step for them in sight reading.  One of her children has special needs and helping that child learn to recognize brands has helped make her more independent as she can now go get “her” cereal, etc.  We’ll feature more of Mary’s ideas later, but for now, here is an activity that my preschoolers …

My kids love to paint and I hate to waste stuff.  Every Spring we weed through the cabinet under the bathroom sink and get rid of all the expired lotions and what-not.  Sunscreen isn’t effective if it is old (and one of my kids burns badly – I learned this the hard way!).  So what will we do with all the old lotions and sunscreen?  Make our own Finger Paint!
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What you need to make your own lotion-based finger paint:

Old containers of lotion or sunscreen
Tin to hold the paint
Food coloring

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We used …

This pouring activity was a HUGE hit with my preschoolers!  I was inspired by my friend Jen, from TV-Free Toddler Time.  I love her blog!  She has so many simple entertainment ideas from years of experience raising ten kids.
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What you will need to pour with you kids and keep your sanity:

A variety of different sized containers
A big sheet to limit the mess and hopefully salvage some of the wheat
A big bucket of wheat

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Jen used rice, you could also use dirt, a box of instant potatoes, dried beans, etc.  We just …

I love feeding the kids a nutritious breakfast.  I also love teaching them independence and watching my preschoolers have a sense of accomplishment when they “make Daddy’s oatmeal”.  It’s precious!  Here are a few of the ways we have fun with our morning oatmeal.  Do you do anything to make breakfast more interesting?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
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The kids get to pick their own packet – Better Oats has quite the variety of flavors – and dump the oats and water into their own bowls.
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Sometimes, they …

As my younger children napped, one of my preschoolers and I grabbed a bunch of little items and played a game of “What is missing?”  using our used Easter Egg casings from the weekend’s festivities.
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How to create your own “What is Missing?” Game:
We used Easter egg tops, but I bet you could use old cups or even sippy cup lids.  Basically, you want something to cover up each item.
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A mix of ten or so small trinkets or items.  We had a figurine, a horse shaped eraser, some candy, a button, …

This recipe makes a massive batch, but using the tips from our101 Canning Series, you can can several pints – We filled 5.5 pint jars – enough to gift to family or friends and top icecream sundaes for most of the year! This is such rich and yummy fudge!
Ingredients needed for fudge:

5 bags of chocolate chips – we used Dark chocolate for the rich flavor and antioxidants!
2 Cans sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Can evaporated Milk
2 tablespoons of butter

Get your big crockpot out, put the chocolate in, turn heat on …

Liz, from A belle, a bean & a chicago dog, has a terrific preschool geography project she does with her daughter.  We are thrilled to feature her activity in a guest post today (in her own words).
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My oldest is 4, and she starts off every morning with, “What day is it?”, followed by, “And what special thing are we going to do today?” As you can imagine, she keeps me on my toes.
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One of the cartoons she enjoys is Toot & Puddle.  Toot and …

For today’s Fantastic Friday Shout-outs we’d like to recognize a math game, a DIY math puzzle and several sites that have been referred to us as resources for our kids to learn early math skills online.
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We discovered a terrific math game from Shirley, a homeschooling mom over at Preschool Activities.  It is great for teaching both addition as well as subtraction.  I bet you could even adapt the “Number Spider” for upper level math as well!  Basically, you write the answer in the middle and all the “legs” are the …

Does your preschooler love foamy bubbles?  Last year my kids and I went to the town square where the kids were amazed to have discovered a prank (here’s a picture of the Quirky kids with Bubbles).  Some kids (I’m assuming) dumped soap suds into the fountain and there were bubbles everywhere!  Since then we have always wanted to re-create our own foamy bubbles.  Thanks to Brooke  from The Parents and Kids for inspiring me with a bubble recipe.  We adapted it slightly with glycerin to create, well, not quite …