This buckle, clipping toy kept my toddler (17m) entertained for hours! I was inspired to make this one morning at the park, when all the other kids were playing with the slides and the swings and the two toddlers at the park were hunched in deep concentration over a stroller, buckling and unbuckling the straps.  This is a great addition to our activity bag, especially as we were anticipating a long cross-country road trip.   I am so thankful we made this, this and the “I Spy Shaking Bottle” were …

Liz from A Belle, a Bean and a Chicago Dog, reminded me about the joys of letting our kids explore.  We have a camera for the kids to use, one of our old ones, but it has been up on a high shelf for quite sometime.  Kids love documenting events with photos and I love how Liz created a scrapbook with her daughter.  I should do this with my kiddos, just as soon as I can find the cable to remove the pictures their camera has been collecting.  Till …

I loved discovering these homemade wooden houses and building blocks!  They are so colorful and inspirational!  My hubby is going to have to replace a portion of our fence soon and I am already daydreaming about the scraps we’ll have and the fun blocks we’ll get to make!  This is even more fun as this post has a trail.  I love how the internet helps inspire us and how we can take someone’s idea, tweak it and then someone else can come along and re-tweak the same concept.  The beginning …

I first found out about Shakey Bottles from a stay-at-home Dad/friend, he made them for his son to enjoy and also gave them out as gifts.   I loved the concept and have had my eyes peeled for a number of weeks, looking for the perfect bottles!  I finally found some at during a trip to a salvage grocery store.  Whoohoo!  Time to make our Shaking bottles!  Hopefully these will help entertain our youngest during a long road trip coming up.
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What you need to make your own Shaking Bottle Toddler Toy:

Some …

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 …

Who doesn’t have a matchless sock hanging around the laundry pile?  Sock puppets are easy to make and a ton of fun to play with this is a great way to inspire creativity and use those lone socks!
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What you’ll need to make a sock puppet:

A sock – the more colorful the better!
Stuffing – or a few cotton balls
Buttons
Yarn
Felt

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What we did was stuff the stuffing into the heel of the sock to create some “puppet ears”.
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For the eyes we cut our circles of felt, then used the button in 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 …

Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun!  What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp.  Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand.  All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub!  I will warn you though, they were covered in sand when they were done!  The “clumping qualities” exist on clothing too – haha.  This was messier than regular sand, it didn’t just brush off until it was bone dry (aka when …