Activity Packs – Keeping the Kids Busy and Learning at the Same Time.

My 4-year-old is a very busy boy. He likes to be on the go all the time.  To avoid him getting into mischief if boredom hits, I have always carried a variety of activities and toys with us.

As school is fast approaching for him, I thought it would be good to create a few educational activity packs to play with.  I got the inspiration for the content from a visit to his new school.  So many great activities were going on in the prep classes.

Here is what I have created:

Sight Words

This activity helps children not only recognise letters but become familiar with sight words.

You can find printable lists and flash cards with sight words all over the net.  I used these ones from our state government website as they are written in the cursive font taught in Queensland schools. I printed each sight word onto coloured A5 paper and laminated them to create flash cards.  As there are 100 sight words, I have started with only printing 20.

I then purchased a heap of cheap wooden pegs and using a marker, printed the letters from each sight word onto the pegs.

I broke these 2o sight words up into 4 activities and placed them into large ziplock bags.

To play, Master O must peg the correct letter to each sight word flash card until he has created each word. The action of pegging the letter to the flash card helps develop his fine motor skills.

Colour Matching and Fine Motor Training

This activity helps children learn colours, their spelling, as well as develop their fine motor skills.

I cut out various coloured card and laminated them to create flash cards.  I printed each colour’s name on the card in permanent pen.

I picked up a bag of coloured match sticks, a container to hold them in and a pair of small  tongs from a variety store.

To play, Master O must pick up the matchsticks from the container and place them on the correct coloured flash card.  If I want to make things more difficult for him, I set up a stopwatch so he has to race the clock.  If he is feeling nimble, Master O can also use the tongs to place the matchsticks in patterns.

Master O thinks these activities are lots of fun and I love that they keep both his mind and body active. I have put together a few other activity packs, including some for my 18 month old that I will share with you soon.

Have a great day.

Documenting the Rhythm of My Children’s Day

My youngest is in a Kindermusik class.  We both love it.

Our unit is called ‘The Rhythm of My Day’ and so it was suggested that each parent put together a little book illustrating the Rhythm of our child’s day. What a great idea!  Not only is it a great book for them to read and look at now, it will be a great book to look back on as they grow older, to see how the rhythm of their day has changed.

So over the last week or so, I have been photographing the common place activities in my 18 month old’s day….the nap times, play times, teeth brushing, lunch, dinner etcetera.  I have also started to compile them in a scrapbook album I picked up for just a few dollars at Kmart. Even without my planned embellishments (I can’t help myself), it already looks great.

My 4 year old has also been interested in this project too.  Really, I shouldn’t be surprised.  Before he began Kindergarten, the centre gave him a picture book that outlined the ‘rhythm’ of a Kindergarten day.  He loved it and often recites the book as we drive to Kindergarten. When I suggested we make a ‘Rhythm of Oliver’s Day’ scrapbook, including pictures of him doing the activities, he was all for it.

Such a simple, yet fun, activity and keepsake.  I promise to share the completed books with you as soon as they are done.

Enjoy your day.

Dabbling in Freezer Cooking

After a visit to my favourite butcher who sells bulk meat, I dreaded the prospect of breaking the meat up into batches and vacuum sealing  it to be frozen.  I did however, feel slightly more enthusiastic about cooking.  So I set out to make some freezer meals.

I have at various times dabbled in freezer cooking.  I certainly loved the convenience of having ready-made meals when I was busy at work or when I was a new mum.  I didn’t hate the cooking days, in fact I quite liked them. So I wondered why I never really stuck to it and made an art of it.

I think in my case it came down to not having enough of a freezer meal catalogue.  In the old days I made the same things ….spaghetti sauce, lasagne, cottage pie, a curry or two and soups. Boring. If only I had looked to the internet for inspiration!

There are hundred of sites and bloggers out there praising freezer cooking.  Many have it down to a fine art – menu plans, recipes, shopping lists, cooking days, even providing sticker templates to print and  attach to your made meal.  There are thousands of amazing recipes out there to suit every taste and even cooking preference.  It really is an eye opener.

As it is coming into winter here in the Southern hemisphere, I am keen to get the slow cooker working.  I found whole sites devoted to creating frozen baggies of ingredients, that you defrost and pop into the crock pot to cook.  Really, who thought you could make crock pot cooking even easier than it already was?

The more I traversed the sites, the more I was beginning to be sold on the idea of freezer cooking.  I don’t know that I would have the majority of meals out of the freezer as I like to eat a fresh, clean and raw as possible, but it definitely has benefits.  It undoubtably saves money as you can shop the sale items and use seasonal produce.  You are less likely to resort to expensive take out on the days when you don’t feel like cooking.  I can see there would be less washing up and probably less food waste.

So if you are keen to dabble in freezer cooking like me, here are some sites that are worth a visit.

Money Saving Mom - Huge recipe selection and some great printables for those organising freaks, like me.

One a Month Mom – Everything you need to be a freezer cooking genius.  Menu plans for all sorts of dietary needs including paleo, vegetarian and baby. Heaps available for free on the site or become a member to receive ongoing menus and recipes.

Who Needs a Cape? – Make 40 meals in 4 hours! Lots of crock pot freezer recipes here.

Life as Mom – Lots of tips on how to freezer cook and every month a new cooking plan to follow.

I have also started to pin some of my favourite freezer meals.  You are welcome to follow along here.

So what did I cook and freeze the other day, you ask?

Healthy Butter Chicken – I used a fantastic spice mix from this company

lasagne

Chicken enchiladas

Slow cooker braised lamb

Pear and raspberry coconut bread.  Yummo! I will share this recipe with you soon.

If you are interested in freezer cooking, be sure to follow along.  I intend to do a lot more freezer cooking and I will share what I make on here.

Have a great day.

 

Cute Bedroom Art

I was lucky enough to have some kid-free time today to have a browse of the shops.  One store I love to have a look in when I am unhindered by children is Typo. It has great stationery and homewares and is very well priced.

After picking up some great pens on sale to do my Project Life journaling, I was drawn to their range of freestanding letters and letter canvases.  It is ridiculous how much I love typography.

I couldn’t leave without picking up these cute little canvases to pop into the master bedroom, which is getting a little bit of a revamp at the moment.

The letters and symbols are printed on burlap and strung on a canvas frame.

I picked these three up for $10.  I probably couldn’t make them for this price.  However, what a fun project it would be to make your own if you had leftover materials and supplies on hand.  Print or stencil your letters or symbols on your fabric and staple it to canvases or frames.

Until I find the perfect home for these, they will sit on the low boy in the bedroom.  Cute.

 

Time for a Change

The other week I was just not feeling the ‘vibe’ in my lounge room.   The room needed a change.  I needed a change.

Before I had a chance to spiral into a lounge room funk, grab the credit card and hit the shops for a new look, I pulled out the sewing machine.

One of the easiest decorating changes that can be made in a lounge room is to add new throw cushions.  They can change the whole feel of the room on the smallest of budgets.

I had bought some great material some time back in red and aqua.  I loved the patterns and the colours were perfect for the lounge room.  The red was already the highlighted colour in the room, but the blue could help tie in the tones of the photo canvas collage hung on the wall.

Before I really had time to think about it, I had run up 5 envelope cushions.  You can read my tutorial on how to make these easy pillow slips here.

I like the two patterns and colours together. The aqua and white has really given the lounge a lift.

A few days after I threw together the new cushions, I was at Ikea and picked up this warm aqua throw for next to nothing.  It should help to keep us cozy as the cooler weather sets in.

So on a little budget, with just a bit of time invested, I was able to give the lounge room (and myself) a lift.

 

 

Thumbprint Easter Egg Sign

Yesterday I showed you the cute thumbprint Easter egg cards the kids and I made for their teachers.  You read about that post here.

As we had such a ball making them, we decide to also make an Easter sign for our entrance using a blank canvas.

A bit of stamping, some paint and a few stickers later and it was proudly on display on our hall table.  Cute

And don’t you just love the moss bunny? He has been my favourite addition to our Easter decorations this year.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

 

Easter Craft: Thumbprint Easter Egg Gift Cards

I came up with this cute card design to accompany my kid’s teachers’ Easter gifts.

The kids were able to get involved and we had a lot of fun completing them.  Give them a go yourself.

What we used:

Blanks cards – we purchased ours or you could make these from card stock

A variety of acrylic paints

Paintbrush

Coloured textas

Green paper

scissors

How we did it:

Taking the first colour, I painted each child’s thumb and got them stamping.  I directed the kids to stamp away from the very bottom of the card – you will see why later.

Before we used the other chosen colours, we washed and dried our hands.  This helped to keep the colours crisp.

Once the thumbprints had dried, we used textas to decorate the eggs and to add a greeting to the card.

Taking a strip of green paper, I cut out a zig-zaggy section of grass.

Using some glue, we secured the grass to the bottom of the card.  As we had positioned the thumbprint eggs further up the card, they appeared to be hiding in the grass.

And that is it.  Relatively quick and easy to make and they look gorgeous.

We have attached these cards to a bundle of mini eggs for each of the kids’ teachers.

As we had such a fun time doing this, I have dreamt up other uses for fingerprint Easter eggs. Tune in tomorrow to see them elsewhere.

Easter Craft: Fingerprint Chicks Revisited

Today the blog has hit a time warp.  This is a post from last Easter, but it is such a fun craft, we will be doing it again.

The lead up to Easter is one of my favourite times of the year.  I think it has a lot ot do with the weather and the fact that the mornings are crisp but the days are warm with clear, blue skies (well, maybe not here at the moment).  It may also have to do with the fact that I am absolutely addicted to Hot Cross Buns.  I am NEVER the one who complains about the fact the grocery stores have packets of buns for sale on Boxing Day.  However, I always feel if you blink you will miss enjoying the lead up.  With the craziness of the Christmas/New Year season you seem to just get back into the ryhthm of life and Easter is at your doorstep.  So it was Friday just gone that it dawned on me that I had only 2 weeks until the Easter Weekend.  I had not even thought about Easter at all.  So I seized the day and created a craft project for Master O and I.

Last Christmas I fell in love with the Fingerprint reindeer  Bianca at A Little Delightful  completed with her son.  Taking inspiration from this and these cute little chicks you find everywhere at Easter time,

I created a fingerprint chick project.

With little time or effort, I designed and printed some placecards for our Easter table.  Then with some yellow paint, Master O fingerprinted the cards. 

When they were dry, I added the chick’s features with black and orange felts.  To make sure they were going to be sturdy and last if we wanted to use them next year, I laminated them.

I think they are super cute.  Tomorrow we plan to make some matching cards and present tags.

Easter Craft: Fabric Rabbit Artwork

Here is a simple and easy Easter artwork to make to grace your mantel.

You may have seen versions of this about the traps, there is really no wonder, as it can be whipped up in no time.  It can also be made on a budget.  I made mine using, and reusing, items I had sitting around the home.

Here is how I did it…..

I attached my background fabric to a piece of cardboard using adhesive spray.  The rabbit silhouette, which I cut out using a template I found on the net, was also attached to the artwork using adhesive spray.  I was going to leave the rabbit as is until I came across a yo-yo I had left over from another project.  A bit of glue later, my bunny was jazzed up.  To learn how to make your own yo-yos, check out the tutorial here.

Once the glue was dry, I popped it in a frame and placed it on my sideboard. Done!

Easter Craft: Rabbit Napkins

Here is a quick craft project that will pretty up your Easter table – rabbit napkins.

Firstly, I printed out a rabbit silhouette from the internet.  I traced this silhouette onto some scrap fabric, then cut out the rabbits.

I used a straight stitch to attach the silhouettes to my napkins by sewing around the inside of the rabbit’s outline.  I am far from perfect on the sewing machine, but I just went slow around the curves and it turned out more than satisfactory.

And that’s it.

You know what I love about this craft idea? It can be tailored to all sorts of holidays or events.  What about a flower for Mother’s Day, a tie for Father’s Day, Pumpkins for Halloween or stars for Christmas? I am going to have to keep my eyes open for great sales on napkins during the year, I don’t think I could bear to unpick those cute little bunnies.