I was inspired to make these paper puzzles after reading the post by S.B. of, S.B. Creatively, she took advantage of the summer sun to create a mat where her kids practiced letter identification. We adapted it to create a few puzzles for my youngest. We created one with alphabet magnets and another with different shaped blocks from around the house.

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How to make a bleached puzzle?

You need construction paper.  The cheaper the better.  I used high quality art paper the first time and it didn’t bleach well.
A sunny …

I am on vacation, not camping, but at the beach – whoohoo!  Kristina, from Amenity Home, has graciously offered to guest post for us today!  She takes her preschooler camping regularly – something I admire.  I am a bit worried about what my kids could get into; I love the tips and ideas she has for ways to make camping enjoyable and safe for our kids.
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There is nothing better than camping with a preschooler. My little boy is four-and-a-half and we’ve been on nine camping trips so far. Every one …

We needed a solution for the itchy bumps left by mosquito bites.  My preschoolers love being outside and as the weather warms they are learning to share their backyard with these pesky bugs, and while we got a bug zapper and have fewer bugs than previous years, they kids still get bit by mosquitoes.   I thought of this at first as a placebo.  We were in our bathroom and the scratching began.  We sprayed sore throat Chloraseptic Sore Throat Spray on a cotton ball and held that to the bites.  …

With the weather warming up outside my kids and I both enjoy being outside!  That said, there are times when I have to encourage them to stay outside.  Remember our Boredom Buster Dice?  We made a new one full of activities they can do outside.  Whenever they complain, “Mom, but I don’t want to ride my scooter – I wanna come inside.”  We roll the dice and see what fun activity we get to do together. Here are just a few of the activities the kids and I thought of …

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 …

This is a super simple activity I remember playing when I was a kid.  Basically, we created a stop/go sign and one person got to be “in charge”.  When the sign said go we ran around like crazy banshees!  When it said stop, we’d stop.  Super simple!  Kept them entertained for quite awhile.  I even got a morning “quiet time” as a result of all our running!  I have some resting preschoolers this morning.
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What you need to make your sign:

Paper towel roll (I think we used the insert from our …

These were originally going to be bugs, but then my daughter began naming them after her pretend friends.  At least her pretend friends now have “faces”.  Maybe you can have fun creating pet rocks, pretend rock friends, or paperweight bugs.
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Needed:
Rocks
Old Toothbrush (to clean the rocks)
Paint (acrylic is best)
Embellishments (pom-poms, eyes, etc.)
To do:  Scrub the dirt off of your rock, paint them and embellish.  Have fun creating a world of rock creatures.
Have fun!

If your kids are like mine they are obsessed with birds.  The cooling winds of fall bring lots of birds, mostly crows, through our yard.  Z loves watching the birds congregate on our fence.  Today we created pine cone bird feeders to feed the birds on their southern trip.
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Materials needed:

Pinecones
Ribbon (we used strips of fabric)
Peanut Butter
Wild Birdseed

First you lightly coat the pine cone with the peanut butter.  Next you roll the pinecone in the seeds till it is coated.  Intertwine your ribbon around the pines of the pinecone and hang …

We love our town and it’s yearly street fair.  The kids and I are looking forward to next weekend using the festival as a way to engage and interact with my preschoolers.  Here are ten ideas that we are planning to use to interact with our youngsters at Celebrate Roanoke, or any other local fall fair:

Play where’s Waldo, only pick a clown or someone in costume.  Have your children tell you whenever they spot him or her walking around.
Count the number of people you see dressed in historical garb.  How …

This activity is appropriate for a wide variety of ages and offers lots of opportunity for learning.You’ll need: tray of some sort (ice cube tray, baby food freezer tray, egg carton, muffin tin etc) colored paper.
Put a small piece of colored paper in each section of the container.  Make sure that colors match things that your child will be able to find outside.   Children then get to hunt for various colored things to match.
Learning opportunities:

if you include multiple shades of the same color in your activity you can talk about …