Thanksgiving is in just one week! I know that the day is filled with lots of preparations for the big meal, so the last thing on your mind is finding ways to keep your little ones busy. Am I right?! Today I have the perfect idea that is so simple to set up. I call it an invitation to create a turkey! Here's what you need for this activity: paper (I use white butcher paper) turkey cookie cutter marker things to decorate: feathers, jewels, pom poms, googly eyes, writing … [Read more...]
Pete the Cat – Thanksgiving Activity
We all love Pete the Cat! In this super cute book Pete realizes how much his parents love him and wants to do something special for them; to show them how much he appreciates them. This cute book is perfect for a Thanksgiving and family lesson. I have created a few fun learning activities that cover literacy, math, music, art & crafts, and character building with this sweet book! Literacy I have been teaching my daughter phonograms. I am using these letter blocks as we read through the … [Read more...]
The Importance of Play in Early Childhood
The early years are a time filled with play and non-stop learning. While we all know that children learn during play, it is fascinating to understand just how much brain development occurs during play and how it is really the medium through which young children learn everything. Here is a reminder of just some of the benefits, so that next time you start a fun activity with your children or watch them as they play in the garden, you can be reassured that what they are doing has amazing … [Read more...]
Thankful Tree Printable
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to count our blessings. When we focus on what we are thankful for, we cultivate a heart of gratitude and it helps us see beauty in the big and little things in life. There are so many great Thanksgiving activities for kids out there! I wanted to come up with my own idea that would be simple, yet purposeful for our family. That is why I created the thankful tree printable. I love the thankful trees and turkeys that I've seen on Pinterest and from fellow … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving History Activities For Kids
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. Are you a history person? I wish I was! I am determined to foster a love of history in my kids, so we start early in this family. Hands down the best resource for kids on the subject of Thanksgiving is Pete the Cat – The First Thanksgiving! It is interactive with flaps and also gives a great amount of history in short sentences. To enhance the retention of history I’d like to share what I have done to make this book come … [Read more...]
Puffy Paint Christmas Pictures
If you're looking for a fun holiday craft, you're in the right place! I'm excited to share my puffy paint Christmas pictures with you today! The best part is that it's simple and you probably already have the supplies at home for this. Don't worry, I'll supply the printable for you, too! Before I get to the recipe for this, let me share the five Christmas pictures I have in this printable: Christmas tree candy cane star ornament snowflake You can try all 5 of the … [Read more...]
10 Reasons to Choose Ready-to-Read Books
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Simon & Schuster. I was given free product and compensation for this post. However, the thoughts and opinions expressed are 100% mine. Isn't it exciting to watch your child learn to read?! I have three boys and watching my two older boys learn to read has been one of the highlights of parenting. It's simply magical to watch them learn to decode words, make meaning from text, and then eventually learn to read books on their own! Reading is SO … [Read more...]
Spooky Noodles Sensory Activity
Here's a super fun sensory activity that's great to do for Halloween or any time of the year! We LOVED playing with these soft, squishy noodles. All 3 of my boys enjoyed getting their hands in the noodles. And a few were eaten, too! These noodles are so much fun to hold and slip through your fingers! And tongs are super fun to use with them! Materials Needed: spaghetti noodles food coloring olive oil Ziploc bag Here's how you make … [Read more...]
Sight Word Readers for the Word “There”
Happiest Friday to you! I hope you all are enjoying the sight word readers I post every Friday! This week the sight word is "there". As you use these sight word readers with your child, I hope you see that they are starting to read words on their own! Watching little ones learn to read is so fun! In this download, there are these 3 booklets: The Garden In My House The Ocean Each of these sight word readers focus on the word “there”. They also use words that were learned … [Read more...]
Homemade Halloween Treat Holders
Halloween is so soon! I've been sharing quite a few ideas for this holiday, but I just had to share one more! These homemade Halloween treat holders turned out so cute and they would be great for a fall party or just a fun craft at home! I'm going to share four treat holder ideas. They all look different, but they all use two of the same materials: paper plates and string. All of these were made by taking a paper plate and cutting them in half. Then I stapled the ends of the string to the … [Read more...]