Engaged and Entertained Without Electronics

My daughter has become the child who often asks, "Mom, can I have your phone?" while we are traveling in the car or at the grocery store. She is looking for a source of entertainment and something to keep her mind engaged. Here is a great article about when it is appropriate to let you child use electronics.

http://www.somedayilllearn.com/streaming-movies-for-kids/

I have nothing against her using it occasionally since I keep a collection of educational apps on there for her. I keep a limit on electronics and TV time so occasional usage (short periods of time, a few times a week at most) is all I allow. I do also admit, if I am trying to focus on driving or get my shopping done quickly without interruption having that there for her to use is rather convenient.

However, as a child I was forced to use my mind to create my own entertainment and I think that is part of the reason I am creative today.

Part of me wonders, as today's society looks more and more to electronic devices to provided educational material and entertainment for our children are they going to lose some of that ability to use their imagination?

When my sister shared this Etsy shop with me and wanted to share it with all of you. Felt boards are a simple product that can allow your child tons of creative options. Allison creates some super adorable boards and characters. Just keep them in your car or bag and when your child is looking for entertainment they can create and tell their own scenes and stories over and over and again.

Felt boards allow unlimited imagination in creating a scene.

 

 

What adorable carrying case!

Perfect for a pirate story.....

Or for someone who loves to tell fairy tales.....

And how CUTE are these little arctic animals!!!

Allow your child to relive their favorite family memories by recreating the scene.

Lots more at the Etsy shop. Hours of endless, reusable, mix and match fun.



Link to Allison's Shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BusyKidActivities?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Doc McStuffins Costume

Since my daughter received a Doc McStuffins  doctor to kit for Christmas she has been asking for a "doc costume". Here is the adventure that was "making the doc costume".

I started out with an old halloween costume of my husband that I thought would be easer to modify

than starting from scratch with material and a pattern.

I took of 1/2 the length of each sleeve, about 5 inches off the bottom and a 4 inch section of the back. 

I re-hemmed everything and it fit pretty good.

Next challenge, covering up the adult words on the costume. Not swear words, but adult humor using to create a Dr. Name that would not be so appropriate for a child.

As you can see by the picture on the left, the iron on idea didn't work so well….







After some brainstorming I decided to use 'patches' to cover up the wording and then put on a new Doc name tag. But while doing so i ended up accidentally swing the sleeve shut, so had to rip it out and resew it.

After some frustration I fixed it all and was on to the next thing. Iron on transfer decals.

Notice that these images are printed incorrectly.
They should look like a mirror image when printed
 so when they are ironed on they look correct. 

I love the Avery Inkjet printable transfer paper! Its a budget saver. A few clip art pictures from the internet, print, and iron on.




Remember to flip the image before you print! (Thankfully I realized this ahead of time.)

These images are ironed on upside down so if you don't flip the image before you print it you will end up reprinting the images a second time.

Here is the final image. My daughter was thrilled. Even though it was a bit of a challenge and took about 2 hours longer that I intended… I'm glad I did it.

My February Project

I found a project. Well, I found an idea and I am making it into a personal project for the month of February!

I was inspired by a Pintrest post that lead me to this website:

 http://www.iloveitallwithmonikawright.com/2010/06/happy-anniversary.html

On her blog Monika Wright created the most darling little book with all the letters of the alphabet and one each one wrote a message to her husband and presented the whole thing as an anniversary gift.

What a great way to express your love to a person.

My anniversary isn't until Nov and I'm sure I'll forget…


But the pin I took this from
suggested that this would be a
great activity for a dry erase board
in a home during the month of February.



26 letters… 28 days…
that give me 2 days leeway if I forget… 
gears turning…




I can do this!

 I have a newly painted chalkboard door (post coming soon) that I walk out of each day.

Why not challenge myself (and my family) to think of something positive each day based on a letter from the alphabet.

So during the cold month of February follow along with my and my ABC adventure.
Better yet, join in!

My goal is to post a blog (it may be short, but it will be there) and share the letter of the day and my word or phrase.

Share your ideas here on the blog or on my Facebook page.

I can't wait for the fun to start!

Snowman tealight

This year I wanted to give a small but cute little gift to some friends and co-workers. I was inspired by the many versions of snowman tea lights I'd seen on Pintrest. 

Start with battery powered tea lights, black puff paint, ribbon of your choice, and black construction paper. (Not pictured, scissors and hot glue gun.)

Cut a length of ribbon approximately 12 inches long. Fold in half and tie a knot about 2 inches down. This will be the hanger.

Put a dot of hot glue on the side of the tea light and adhered the knot. 

(After telling a friend about my burnt finger tips she suggested suing glue dots. Genius! I will be doing that next time. Also, it would make this craft much more kid friendly.)

Next tie the ribbon around the sides of the tea light and secure with glue.

Trim the ribbon but leave a little bit of hanging. This will be the snowman's scarf.

Cut a hat from black construction paper. I did not use a template. I just free handed it and sized it till i was happy. Once I was satisfied with the size I used it to cut the rest of the hats. 

Glue the hat on the top of the candle in front of the loop. 

Use the puff paint to make eyes and a mouth for the snowman. 

Now you have cute little snowmen ready to give away.

Kcup Elf Legs

I needed a quick gift for a coffee loving friend, but wrapping a box of K-cups just didn't seem festive enough. I used the fact that "Elf" is this persons favorite holiday movie and ran with the idea.

1.) use a small piece tape and make a mini roll and stack 4 cups together. Repeat so you have two stacks.

2.) Cut a 12x12 piece of card stock in half into two 6x12 inch rectangles. Use a Cricuit machine (or you can cut out by hand if you are really good) two elf shoes. These measure about 2" by 3 1/2"

3.) Lay the cuts on their side and roll them into a tube.

Wrap them so that the top of the paper is even with the top Kcup. The bottom cup should stick out.

4.) Tape the shoes onto the bottom of the 'pant legs'

5.) I taped the legs together so they would stand.

Here is my dog being very curious about these elf legs standing in the kitchen.

Here you have a fun set of Kcup Elf legs for the coffee lover in your life this holiday season!

Thankful For The Teacher

I wanted to give my daughter preschool teachers something little and cute for thanksgiving to show them how thankful we are for all that they do. 

Start with cellophane wrapping, individual cups of carmel dip, a large apple, ribbon, and some paper. 

Cut some of the clear wrap and place the carmel cup and the apple on top. 

Pull up the wrapping all nice and pretty and tie it with a decorative ribbon.

Ahead of time I cut some coordinating pieces of card stock and then traced the letters out lightly in pencil so that my daughter could write the message for her teacher.

Punch a hole in the "card"

Tie the card to the package. 

I for one think this is such a cute take on the 'apple for a teacher' idea!

Do you have any fun teacher gifts you have made?

Construction Party

A friend of ours had a construction themed party for their 3 year old son. The decorations were out of this world! She said that pintrest ideas gave her some inspireation and she filled in the rest with her own ideas. 

It was sooooo cute I asked her if I could photograph some of the items to share with all of you. 

So here is a peek at a Construction Birthday Party. 

When you entered the party there was a great traffic barricade made by Michelle's father and the black tape of the sidewalk made it feel like a street. 

Inside the kitchen was construction central with construction themed signs she purchased, handmade tissue paper balls in coordinating colors, toy construction equipment, and themed food. 

All the food featured fun labels that tied it into the theme

 and the use of black polka dot ribbon made it pop.

Clementines: Boulders         Wrecking Balls: Gum balls
Lumber: wafer cookies        Nuts and Bolts: Chex mix

Below are more  examples of themed food. I love how the tortilla chips were placed in the dump truck, construction cookies (forgot to ask where they were made) and of course, cups of dirt with worms and all. 

Bottom left picture show the favor bag that was passed out. A little shovel tied inside
of a bag with Reeses Pieces and a tag that said "I Dig You".

Michelle did a great job using the traditional yellow, orange, and black construction  

colors to tie in the theme and make it bright and festive. 

Even the utensils were tied into the theme. Each set of utensils were tied together with ribbon and a little "tools" label. 

In this last picture you can see that the fun continued outdoors. A sandbox with bulldozers to play with and a cut out to take your picture in. Also in the picture you can see the little yellow hard hat on the ground. Each child that attended got a hat with their name written on it. 

Way to go Michelle. This was on the best decorated theme parties I have ever been too. I look forward to seeing more of your creative ideas! 

Halloween Decorations

I love to decorate for Halloween. I used to go way overboard but the last few years I have found that keeping it simple is much easier and makes me just as happy. Here is a peek at my front porch. 

This witch is one of my favorite things. My mother in law saw the idea in Martha Stewart magazine and had her husband make it. He made one for me as well. He simple drew it on plywood, cut it out, and painted it black. Mine is about 5 feet tall and is hinged to fold in half for easy storage. On the back are two hooks that a metal pole slides through and into the ground to hold the witch up. Under the hand is a little hook that the lantern attaches too.  

I found a plastic black cauldron to set in front of her and have orange lights it is so it "glows" at night. For added fun I also put purple lights in the lantern.

Above is my little pumpkin patch. I picked up the sign from JoAnn's many years ago. It is versatile because it works at halloween with the spiderweb. After halloween the web and Jack-O-Lanturn (not carved yet at time of this picture) will get tossed out and I keep the gourds and uncarved pumpkins sign since they are still make with the seasonal decor.  These will stay out through Thanksgiving day. 

P.S. the mum in the container should be more colorful but it is a bit dry because I haven't been faithful at giving it water. Oops.