We are back to school this week! I’ll be posting more regularly again over at my homeschooling blog, Early Bird Homeschool, if you would like to follow-along with our learning adventures this year.

Enjoy the last two days of August!

Quote of the Week

Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time. {Leo Buscaglia}

Fun Activities & Projects

Practical Life Skills: Letting Your Young Children Help With Household Tasks :: Simple Kids

Fabric Book Cover Tutorial :: Sew, Mama, Sew!

Crafting Letters ~ Snail Mail :: The Mother Huddle

Room Service Menu (for home) :: by little hands

do it now :: Camp Creek Blog

Back to School Mini Notebook Tutorial :: One Charming Party

Art Tips & Techniques :: Crayola

What We’re Reading

Mmm…chocolate… We’ve been enjoying a stack of chocolate-inspired books from our bookshelf and the library, which makes for some delicious bedtime reads. I’m thinking The Chocolate Touch would be a great read-aloud chapter book to start next.

Creative Products

Have you seen these puzzles? I saw them at our local toy store and they look SO cool. Each puzzle has three different puzzle piece sizes, so everyone in the family, from littles to grown-ups, can work on the puzzle together. Isn’t that neat? They are totally on my wish list!

Playful Picks (August 30, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Quote of the Week

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. {Thich Nhat Hanh}

Fun Activities & Projects

Plants in a Jar watercolor resist :: Art Projects for Kids

Printable Counting Games (Car Race, Fish out of Water, Dino Blast) :: Mathwire

Incredible Hoop Glider :: Science Bob

Animal-Inspired Recipes for Kids :: San Diego Zoo

What We’re Reading

We love author/illustrator Lisa Campbell Ernst. My girls are especially enjoying her retold fairy tales right now – Goldilocks Returns and Little Red Riding Hood – A Newfangled Prairie Tale. I just adore her illustrations, too!

Creative Products

Seasonal Friends Lacing Dolls

Stained Glass Frames

Zootles Magazine

Kids' Colorful Print Art Clips

Playful Picks (August 9, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Happy August! Are you still savoring summer or are you feeling the pull of back-to-school and fall? We’re hoping to do a backyard campout this month and fit in as many swim days as possible.  We are looking forward to fall a bit, though, with some pumpkin seed planting this week.  Fun!

Have a wonderful week!

Fun Activities & Projects

I haven’t linked-up in a while, so some of these are from earlier this summer.  Lots of great stuff for a summer day of play!

Painting Around the Hole :: The Artful Parent

Make Some Tracks (for ping pong balls!) :: Scribbit

Backyard Bird Poster :: The Toby Show

Lava Lamp Reaction :: The Science Mommy

Wafflepalooza :: Mom Advice

Kid’s Carpentry: Pencil Block :: Pink and Green Mama

Simple Tools for Scientific Discovery :: Simple Homeschool

S’mores on a Stick :: Skip to my Lou

What We’re Reading

These are the books – some from our bookshelves, some from the library – that I keep finding on the couch in the evenings.  They must be the favorites right now!

Diary of a Spider

Big Sister, Little Sister

Freckleface Strawberry

Dogs

Mermaid Dance

The Jellybeans and the Big Dance

Playful Picks (August 2, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Happy First Day of Summer!

Fun Activities & Projects

Make giant bubbles or tree blocks with inspiration from Childhood Magic

Weave a jump rope from socks and tights – find the how-to at Family Fun

Check out these fun ideas for themed kids’ gardens at kidsgardening.org

Find 50+ homemade popsicle recipes gathered at Tipnut

What We’re Reading

I find most of the American Girl books to be a bit over my girls’ heads at ages 5 and 7, but Lanie was perfect!  My girls loved this story, especially because Lanie is a nature-lover.  Lanie’s aunt studies bird calls, and now my girls want to learn to identify birds by their calls too.  Fun!

Which leads me to my next book pick….

We don’t have this bird song book yet, but it’s definitely on our wish list. We have looked at it in the bookstore numerous times. A certain soon-to-be-6-year-old might be getting this for her birthday!

Creative Products

Sand & Water Mills

SandSac

Playful Picks (June 21, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Hello, hello, hello! It’s great to be back in this space. I wish I was writing this post from a totally-unpacked house, but we’re not quite there yet. Such is the joy of moving!

The girls are pretty settled in their rooms though, with freshly-painted walls calling out for new artwork. Sounds like a perfect summer project!

Since Father’s Day is almost here, this week’s Playful Picks are all about celebrating Dad – enjoy!

• Rootbeer Tour for Dad @Giver’s Log – our Dad would love this, especially paired with vanilla ice cream for root beer floats.

• Clever saw-shaped Father’s Day card @that artist woman

• Handmade book featuring 25 Things We Love About Dad @snackpicks (by Marie of Make and Takes)

• Father’s Day Free Printables round-up @Living Locurto

My first contributor post at Simple Kids is up today. It’s all about gifts kids can make for Father’s Day. It was a fun one for my girls and I to put together – I hope you’ll check it out!

Looking forward to getting back to regular posting – see you again soon!

Playful Picks (June 14, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Quote of the Week

Life itself is the most wonderful fairytale.
~Hans Christian Andersen

Fun Activities & Projects

Make a kid’s art smock from a hand towel – so clever! (@Pink and Green Mama)

Create a child’s sewing basket for your own child or as a lovely birthday gift (@The Toby Show)

Print leaves on fabric – and then use the fabric for a skirt.  Beautiful! (@The Artful Parent)

Stitch a burlap sampler project (@Teach Kids Art)

What We’re Reading

Silly animal stories are always popular in our house – here are some of our all-time faves:

Have a great week!

Playful Picks (May 24, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Quote of the Week

I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.

-Georgia O’Keeffe

Fun Activities & Projects

I have so many great posts starred in my blog reader right now!  My girls are always asking to “make something” lately, so here are a few make-something ideas to do with your kids, using things you probably have around the house.

CD Spinners (spinning tops made from CDs) @ Journey Into Unschooling

Twig Easels (using twigs, of course!) @ 5 Orange Potatoes

Kid’s Art Portfolio (repurposing a box) @ Mom Tried It

Making Cute Garden Markers (using spoons) @ The Magic Onions

May Day Flower Baskets (paper weaving with magazines) @ Made by Joel

What We’re Reading

I have been helping the girls “collect” ideas for telling, drawing, and writing their own stories. Picture books are always great springboards for new ideas and stories! Here are some of the books we have been reading, retelling, and expanding on lately:

Creative Products

A few fun finds for you to check out this week – I am totally in love with those window blocks that you can fill with whatever you want!  Awesome!

Wool Felt Art Kit

Refillable Window Blocks

Gathering a Garden Game

Watercolor Pencils

Playful Picks (April 26, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

Today is author Beverly Cleary’s birthday and National D.E.A.R. Day, which stands for Drop Everything and Read! We already spend lots of family time reading every day, as I’m sure most of you do as well. I’m planning to make our family reading time extra-special tonight – we’ll be snuggling in bed to read with hot cocoa and flashlights!

Other fun family reading times could involve:

• setting up an outdoor or living room picnic
• building a blanket fort and crawling in with a stack of books
• taking a drive and listening to an audio book together
• fixing a meal or snack that pairs with a favorite book

A few other reading-related sites you might be interested in:

If you are raising boys, you should definitely check out author Jon Scieszka’s site, Guys Read: “Our mission is to motivate boys to read by connecting them with materials they will want to read, in ways they like to read.” Great book lists and resources there!

James Patterson’s ReadKiddoRead.com is full of book lists, author interviews, and tips all geared toward helping kids become lifelong readers. You can find high-interest book recommendations for a variety of ages, as well as a great “If you love this book, then try….” list of books following each review.

I always add books to my library list after reading the wonderful book review posts at The PlanetEsme Plan Blog.

Here are some of the selections from our read-aloud stacks lately. What are you reading and enjoying these days?

Playful Picks (April 12, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

It’s technically still Monday here… better late than never for this week’s Playful Picks.  Hope your week is full of play!

Quote of the Week

Don’t go with the flow, you are the flow.

~Sugi Tanaka

Fun Activities & Projects

With the nice, springtime weather on its way, we are getting ready to move our art time outside and get messy!

Papier-Mache Bowls (including a recipe for homemade papier-mache paste) at Art Projects for Kids

Beanbag Splat Painting at let the children play

Loads of slime, putty, goo, and gunk recipes at About.com: Chemistry

Sharpie Pen Tie Dye at Steve Spangler Science

What We’re Reading

Activities involving experiments, inventions, or messy concoctions are super-popular in our house right now! We’ve found a few books on our bookshelf and at the library that are great for inspiration and ideas:

Creative Products

Sunprint Fabric Squares

Lowercase Dough Stampers

Playful Picks (April 5, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!

This week, I am ordering our butterfly garden and live caterpillars – we are so excited! I never get tired of watching the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. I have been gathering up a basket of butterfly books, puzzles, and crafty things for my girls to explore – hope you enjoy this week’s collection of fluttery butterfly fun!

Quote of the Week

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Fun Activities & Projects

We are planning to make these paper butterfly specimens in origami boxes this week – I can’t wait! (@Art Projects for Kids)

I’m a sucker for handprint crafts! Ramblings of a Crazy Woman has a great example of the classic handprint butterflies.

There’s a great selection of butterfly-themed art, literacy, and math activities at Making Learning Fun.

If you have a little one that loves cutting paper, try the Eric Carle-inspired collage butterflies at preschool daze.

What We’re Reading

There are so many wonderful fiction and nonfiction books about caterpillars and butterflies – I’m sure your library has a variety to choose from.  Here are a couple of our favorites – do you have a favorite butterfly book to share?

Creative Products

Butterfly Life Cycle Puzzle

Wooden Butterfly Shapes

Butterfly Garden

Butterfly Ball

Playful Picks (March 22, 2010) is a post from Let's Explore. Thanks for subscribing!