Start a Little Booklet to Help Your Kids with Reading and Spelling

 

I had to blog this! As I have mentioned many times - my daughter loves to craft and make things all the time. The other day, she made this little booklet. She told me it was for her and me. So I said that we should write notes back and forth in it. I am trying to push her to sound out words by herself before she asks me how to spell things. I also want her to read as much as she can so this little activity was PERFECT for both of those things. Her little notes were so sweet!! I will keep and cherish this booklet FOREVER! This was so fun! My daughter loved it and she really did a great job sounding out her words!

 

 

 

Inexpensive Twist to Jingling Your Friends

We have always "Boo'd" our family and friends for Halloween, but wanted to start something for Christmas and found "You've Been Jingled" (you can make copies on www.beenjingled.com). It is pretty much the same thing as Halloween. Take this little note and some goodies to friends and families and ring on their door and RUN! You don't want them to know it was you. Then, they are suppose to keep it up and do the same thing with their family and friends.

The kids look forward to these activities each year. We added a little "twist" to ours. Along with some homemade cookies, we include a game for that family to play together during the holiday season! And, with all the great coupons out there for games, it is not that expensive to do. I just went to Target last night and they had 2 Elefun games on clearance for $4.98 and I used the $3 off 2 so that made them pretty inexpensive! You could even just give them a deck of cards and then print off the rules to some of your favorite card games to give with it. I think our lives get so crazy and hectic that to sit down and play a game anymore is sometimes forgotten. This way, a new game shows up at their door and we add a little note from our family: "Tis the season to spend with those you love. Here is a fun game for you to enjoy together! Happy Playing!"

Just a thought for the upcoming holiday season!

Shape/Halloween Learning Activity

The other day, we were going over our shapes and I decided that I would draw some different shaped jack-o-lanterns on our big piece of paper. The kids loved this and they had a fun time looking through our "pumpkin patch" (that is what I called the drawing of all the pumpkins) to find the different shaped pumpkins. We read a pumpkin story and then headed to the art table to do our activity (pictured below).

I took an orange piece of paper and make dots in a pumpkin shape around the paper. The kids counted all the dots first.

Then, they took an orange marker and followed it along each dot.

I told them to take their time so they didn't miss any of the dots!

This is what it looked like when they were done.

Then, to add more "shape" review, I had black triangles cut out and a rectangle for the stem (and of course a mouth). They took their shapes and glued them to make their jack-o-lanterns face.

Aren't they cute! And,  it was a great learning activity as well! Love those!

DIY Halloween Candy/Loot Bags

I found these orange bags at Michaels for $1.00 each. Today, we painted our feet and hands to make bats out of our footprints and hand prints. I used fabric paint and it washed right off when we were done. We hot glued some googly eyes on and I painted some ears on the bats. I also added the mouths and fangs. These are great because they can be used over and over again (at the grocery store, kids can use them at school, etc.) and most importantly, they are big enough that they can be stuffed with tons of candy on Halloween night! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Practicing Spelling Words is FUN!

I have to give credit to my husband for this one. He was going over our kid's spelling words and my daughter wanted to write with a marker so my husband went in my desk and grabbed a "window" marker. Gabrielle told him that she couldn't use that on paper, so he said, "write your words on the window!" Now, she asks to practice her words all the time! Way to go hubby!!!!

Easy Learning Fall Craft for Your Kiddos!

I have a bag of these foam leaves that we used for this project.

I cut the leaves like a puzzle and then had the kids use bingo markers to put dots on one side of the leaf.

On the other side of the leaf, I wrote the corresponding number.

The kids would count the dots and then have to find the correct number to put the puzzle leaves together!

We did it! We got all our leaves back together!!!

Bucket of Get Well Wishes

A friend of mine was having surgery, so I thought I would put a little gift together for her while she recovered. 

This is one of those empty paint cans that I decided to "jazz" up for this gift.

I cut scrapbook paper to fit the can.

I added a matching scrapbook paper to the top of the lid as well.

I made a little "tag". It says, "A Bucket of Get Well Wishes"

I added yellow ribbon to the top and bottom edge of the can. I also added felt flowers (with button middles) to the outside of the can.


Here are some of the contents of the can. 

The tag to this little nut mixture says, "breakfast in bed".

This is the Cashmere Glow lotion from Bath & Body Works so my tag read, "You will be 'glowing' again in no time".

A can of beer - "Here's to a speedy recovery. Cheers!"

A small bottle of antibacterial hand soap - "Keep the germs at bay without having to leave the bed."

Gum - "When your throat gets dry"

Cluster candy - "Indulge in some quiet time"

More chocolate - "Take 'pleasure' in a little down time"

Green tea - "Green tea to help flush your blues away"

Chapstick - "Because your lips always feel dry after surgery"

Small candle - "Peace and relaxation"

I also tied a bundle of magazines up and the tag read, "Catch up on some reading"

I just wanted this "bucket" to be a can of sunshine to brighten my friend's day after surgery. Most of these things you may have laying around your house. You can come up with sayings for "tags" for almost anything! I would love to hear what you come up with!