Ocean In A Bottle

In an attempt to keep my kids entertained and engaged this summer as well as retain some of my sanity, I'm trying to stick with simple activities and projects that don't take too much time to prep.  This ocean in a bottle experiment completely fascinated my kids and they kept coming back to it throughout the day to shake their bottle up and watch the glitter swirl and the water and oil separate.  It took me less than five minutes to gather the supplies and five minutes more to help each of them create their own ocean in a bottle.

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8 Colorful Hands On Activities for Kids

If your kids are anything like mine, they are very hands-on.  They love to do whatever I'm doing, whether it's gardening, baking, crafting, building, etc.  This is why I try to come up with activities that they can do most, or all of it, by themselves.  It's exciting for them to create something and it builds autonomy which is an important skill as they get older and need to figure out problems for themselves.  Over the last couple of years since my kids were old enough to appreciate and enjoy it, I've done a handful of really fun and colorful activities.  These are tried and true and my kids ask to do them over and over again.

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The ULTIMATE All Things Valentines Round Up

Less than two weeks ago, an idea popped into my head.  It went something along the lines of, "Holy crap!  Valentine's Day is going to be here in a month!  I need some new ideas, yummy recipes, crafts, printables, beauty... I need all things Valentines!"  I hopped on a few Facebook groups and asked my blogging friends to submit their Valentines posts for what I hoped would be an ultimate Valentines round up.  I didn't just want crafts or recipes.  I wanted something where I could find a ton of different ideas centered around Valentines all in one place.  And that, my friends, is how this post came into being.

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Mommy Style Monday: Water Beads

There is something about January that I really dislike.  If my daughter's birthday wasn't during this month, I would be totally fine to just get rid of it all together.  I'm not sure where you live, but here in Utah we tend to get a lot of cold, overcast, snowy, rainy, slushy days in the winter.  My kids live for the outdoors, so wintertime is hard on them (and me).  I am a warm weather, sunshine loving person and can get a little bit of seasonal depression during this time of year.  I've found that staying busy is a big help and trying to rotate through a variety of activities helps my kids from going too stir crazy. *wink*

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3 Fun Ways to Paint with Toddlers and Preschoolers

As a stay-at-home mom, I'm always trying to come up with fun activities for my kids to do beyond coloring and Play-Doh.  Not that there's anything wrong with these things, but my kids get bored of them pretty quickly.  And when they get bored, what do they do?  Bug each other.  Which in turn bugs me.  So it makes everyone a lot happier if I have a few new activities to offer, especially during the winter when it's cold and we're stuck inside and even when it's summer and it's hot outside. *wink*

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Kid Science: Elephant Toothpaste

As much as I love the summertime and the sunshine and letting my kids play outside, there comes a point every day where it's just too hot and we have to come inside and cool off.  I made a commitment to myself that I would try to have a balance between structured time and unstructured time this summer, but I haven't been doing as well on the structured time with my kids as I would like.  So at the beginning of the week, I decided to do a little experiment that I've had on my mind for the last little while, but hadn't gotten around to: elephant toothpaste.

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American Fork Canyon: Granite Flats Campground

When I imagine going up the canyon, I think of narrow, winding roads with thick trees and brush all around. I think of cozy little picnic spots nestled in the trees and a river or stream flowing nearby. This is probably due to the fact that I grew up living within a short driving distance of American Fork Canyon in Utah.

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46 Ways To Have Fun This Summer {plus a FREE printable}

I am totally one of those people who LOVES to-do lists.  I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction when I put a little check mark next to something that is on my to-do list and sometimes I even add things to my to-do list that weren't there when I first made the list, just so that I can check it off.  Eat breakfast?  Check!  Brush teeth?  Check!  Make sure kids eat their veggies at dinnertime?  Double check!  ('Cause ya know, I have two kids...) *wink*

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Bubble Snake

The weather here in Utah has been pretty crazy lately.  It will be sunny and 80 degrees one day and the next will be rainy and 60 degrees.  My poor kids ask me every morning if it's going to be a warm day outside so they can play in the yard.  Thankfully, today the answer was yes and they were outside as much as they could be playing on the swing set, jumping on the trampoline or splashing in the water.

One of their favorite things to do outside is blow bubbles.  We go through more bubbles than almost anything else they play with.  (This could also be due to the fact that they tend to spill the bubbles...)  While my son was napping, my daughter and I made a little contraption that when you blow into it, a stream of bubbles comes out the other end.  We call it a 'bubble snake'.  It's really simple and costs practically nothing to make.

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Kid Science: Growing Seeds In A Bag

A few weeks ago, I thought it would be a good idea to get some starts going for our garden.  I bought some soil and those little biodegradable pots and used some seeds I already had and then planted two of each kind.  I made sure they were watered, got plenty of sunshine during the day and brought them in at night because it was still pretty cold.  This lasted about three days.  One afternoon, we had a crazy windstorm and guess what got left outside.  My little plants.  My daughter discovered them and came running inside with tears streaming down her face: "Mom!  The seeds!  They blew over!"  She was really sad about it.  Sure enough, there was dirt all over the patio and no seeds to be seen.

Since then we've had some snow and rain and sunny days and I haven't attempted to start any more plants, not sure if it was really springtime yet.  One day, I remembered a time in first grade starting seeds in a plastic bag using a wet paper towel to keep the seeds moist, then sticking it in the sun and watching the seeds sprout.  Duh.  Why didn't I think of this before?  (Answer: Probably because even though I've had a garden for the last few years, I'm still an amateur gardener.)  Turns out this is actually a viable way to start seeds for your garden and not just an elementary school experiment.

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The Easter Story: Easter Egg Activity

I feel like this year has been kind of a weird year when it comes to holidays.  First, we had two holidays in a row in February, with Valentine's Day and then President's Day the day after that.  This month, we have St. Patrick's Day and then 10 days later is Easter.  It doesn't leave much time to enjoy the holidays when they are all smooshed together like that.

BUT...I really like to at least try and enjoy each holiday for what it is before moving on to the next one.  That's why I was so excited to find an Easter activity that was given to me by a friend in college.  I've kept it for the last 10 years or so because I really wanted to do it with my kids, but the oldest is just getting old enough to understand that holidays generally have more meaning than just getting little gifts and candy.

Easter is easily one of my favorite holidays.  I love what and who it celebrates and I love that it comes in the springtime.  My hope is that through this activity, my daughter (and eventually my son) will be able to learn the reason we celebrate this holiday, especially since it is so central to our faith.

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60+ St. Patrick's Day Activities and Coloring Pages

I think St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday!  There are so many activities that make it enjoyable, especially for kids.  My daughter hasn't quite decided if she likes leprechauns or not though... Oh well!  I hope you enjoy this fun round up I've got for you today.  There are activities and coloring pages galore.  So take a peek and see what you like!  (Click on the link below the picture to be taken to the page.)

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12 Fun Ways to Teach Your Child the Alphabet

This post originally appeared on Muddy Little Toes where I was previously a co-contributor.

One of the first songs I remember singing to my daughter was the alphabet song.  I'd sing it while changing diapers, in the car, during bath time, waiting for dinner...pretty much all the time.  When she was about 20 months, she started singing the song on her own with a little help here and there.  By the time she turned 2 years old, she knew the song and could recognize some letters (mostly the ones in her name).  Currently, she is 3 (turning 4 in January) and she knows all the letters by sight, can write about half of them, and knows 3/4 of them by sound.  I'm not telling you this to toot my horn or say that I'm a great teacher when it comes to letters.  But there are some tools I've used that have proven to be successful for my daughter, and my son is starting to catch on as well (he is 18 months).  Check out the list below and see if anything catches your eye!

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Kid Science: Dancing Rice

This post originally appeared on Muddy Little Toes where I was previously a co-contributor.

How are you surviving the winter?  After snowing all day yesterday and racking up another 10 inches of snow, I am so ready for spring to come.  Only 47 days left!  (But who's counting?)  You might remember a fun activity I shared a couple of months ago called Color Explosions involving baking soda and vinegar. (If not, you should totally check it out because it's so much fun!)  I thought I'd throw another baking soda and vinegar experiment out there for you and your kids to try out!  This activity takes basically no prep time at all and uses ingredients you already have at home: water, rice, vinegar, baking soda and food coloring.

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Homemade Gak

This post originally appeared on Muddy Little Toes where I was previously a co-contributor.

A few months ago, my daughter decided that she no longer needed a daily nap.  It was a sad day for me.  Both my kids were taking naps at the same time everyday and I had all sorts of time to myself.  It was amazing!  But at 3.5 years old (at the time of the original post), she napped longer than a lot of kids I know.  While I miss my "me time", it's also been fun to have some one on one time with my daughter.  It's also encouraged me to come up with some additional activities for her to do to keep her occupied for the extra hour or two besides coloring or stickers.  So when I found a recipe for some homemade Gak, I knew I had to try it out.

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150+ Christmas Coloring and Activity Round Up

The last few days in our home have been filled with crying, whining, fighting, cabin-fever crazy kids.  It seems like the closer it gets to Christmas, the more the bad behavior increases.  Maybe we are all just sick of being with each other day in and day out since the weather turned really cold and we are stuck indoors more often.  I am usually a pretty patient mama, but lately I have been prodded and poked and pushed to my limits.

One thing that I always have in the back of my mind is trying to come up with new activities to keep my kids entertained.  Since my kids are still small, they need more guidance and instruction when it comes to the activities we do.  My daughter is only in preschool but her teacher follows the same schedule as the school district, so the kids are out the whole week of Christmas.  This can lead to less merry and more scary when it comes to everyone being at home together.  So I thought that doing a fun round up of Christmas/winter coloring pages, activities and crafts might be just the thing to keep us all sane.

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Reindeer Day

There is something so magical about reindeer.  Maybe it's the thought of them flying through the air pulling Santa's sleigh.  Or Rudolf's red nose.  Whatever it is, my kids can't get enough of them.  So I decided to put together a couple of fun activities and create a "Reindeer Day" for them.

My kids are still fairly young (21 months and almost 4), so I had to keep it simple.  We spent a total of about 3 hours doing these activities over the course of the day, however, if you didn't want to do reindeer activities all day, you could choose any one of these, or split it up across a few days.

Hand Print Reindeer

My kids loved this activity!  They are super hands on and don't mind getting a little messy, so paint is right down their alley.  They thought it was so fun to create a reindeer using their hand prints and some paint.

Step 1: Gather your supplies--We pulled out some blue construction paper, acrylic paint (white, red, brown and black), googly eyes, red or black pompom balls, bells and glue.  You will also need a foam brush, paper plate and paper towels or baby wipes.

Step 2: Squirt some brown paint on your paper plate, grab your foam brush and paint the palm of your child's hand (just one hand!).  If they are old enough, you could let them do this part themselves.  I had to make sure and use a little more paint on my kids' hands since acrylic starts drying quickly.  They thought this part was so funny and kept squishing their hands to feel the paint.

Step 3: Have your child press their hand onto the paper and push on the fingers to make sure the paint touches the paper before lifting it off.

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Winter Bucket List {plus a FREE printable}

I'll be honest: I don't like winter.  I don't like being cold.  In my ideal world, it would only snow on Christmas Day and then melt the next day.  Oh, and it would be 85 degrees outside at the same time.  I'm just a warm weather girl.  BUT don't think that means that I don't try my best to embrace the season and everything that comes with it.  I have a lot of wonderful memories surrounding winter: My husband and I met in the fall and dated during the winter.  Our first date was ice skating and hot chocolate.  We got engaged on New Years Eve.  So while I don't like the cold, I do my best to bundle up in cute clothes and think about the things that make winter fun and magical.  Now that I have kids, I see how excited they get when they see the snow falling, put on their snow clothes and run and jump and play and lay down in it.  After all, I grew up in Utah and I still live here and there are some things that I actually love doing during the winter.

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23 Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages and Activities Round-Up

One of the hardest things about Thanksgiving is the waiting.  Waiting for everyone to arrive.  Waiting for the food to cook.  Waiting for everyone to gather and get settled at the table.  And as hard as it is to wait as an adult, it's even harder for kids!  So to help keep everyone happy, I've done a round-up of free Thanksgiving coloring and activity pages for all ages so you don't have to do anything except print them out.  Just remember to bring the crayons.

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Glow in the Dark Bath Paint

You know those glow in the dark stars that every kid growing up in the 80's and 90's had?  I remember wanting them so much that I asked for them for my birthday and was so excited to get them!  I put them up all over my walls and ceiling and would rearrange them into different shapes or the initials of my latest crush.  Now that I have kids of my own, they are just as fascinated by things that glow in the dark.  So when I found a "recipe" for glow in the dark bath paint, I was excited to try it out with them.

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