May 2009

Coloring Fun with Mandalas

We’re mostly the plain paper type of colorers around here – we like to do our own thing! However, my kiddos are loving spending some time with sharp colored pencils and simple mandalas. We all find it relaxing and rewarding to color these lovely geometric circular designs. (You can read more about the meditative use [...]

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Painted Cork Coasters

Hi everyone! Hope you had a lovely weekend. We are in serious summer vacation countdown mode around here! Here’s a simple project we did this weekend with some cork trivets I’ve had forever. You could do this with standard size cork coasters, too – I like that ours are oversized and thick, though, especially with [...]

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Experiment: Sink or Float?

Here’s an oldie but goodie from the archives – have a great weekend! Our girls have been very excited about doing experiments lately. To feed this interest, and to motivate me and my husband to keep providing these opportunities on a regular basis, we’ve started having “Sunday Night Science.” This week’s experiment involved exploring if [...]

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Thanks for the messy memories!

Shaving cream with paint is very fun and messy! So is finger painting and sandbox volcano building and batter mixing. And making playdough and squeezing glue and squirting water. Tomorrow is our last day at our parent-cooperative preschool. Both girls have gone there and we will greatly miss this unique and special place where kids [...]

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Color Diffusing Flowers

We have a beautiful new decoration hanging in our playroom: Natalie and I made this using Color Diffusing Flower Shapes, watercolors, pastels, and plain water in droppers and spray bottles. The color diffusing paper is similar to working with coffee filters, but a bit thicker and sturdier. For some of the flowers we did a [...]

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Read + Play: If I Built a Car

Hello all! Happy Children’s Book Week! I love pairing a great story with a fun activity. Here’s a story that was an instant hit in our house and continues to be a favorite: If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. This is a fun, imaginative story about a boy’s dream car. From a [...]

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Friday Feature: Mudpuppy Color Me Puzzles

Delaney is my puzzle girl.  When she was a toddler, she would line up the puzzles from one end of her room to the other.  Then, she would start at one end and work her way down the line, doing each puzzle along the way.  So, of course, she was super excited when I offered [...]

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Mother’s Day Interview

I am always jotting down the cute, silly, and unbelievable things my kids say, aren’t you? For the last few years, I have been lucky to receive Mother’s Day cards made at preschool that include my girls’ answers to questions about me. I just love seeing myself through their eyes — sometimes their answers are [...]

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Mother’s Day Cards – Making Prints

Natalie and I had fun printing some simple and sweet Mother’s Day cards for all the grandmas and aunts. (I’m hoping she saves one for me, too!) These were so easy and actually quite addicting. I’d like to sit down and make a whole stack myself! Here are the steps: 1. Make a frame using [...]

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