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.

 

 

A Bedroom for a Dinosaur Loving Boy

It occurred to me the other day, as I was giving Master O’s room a quick tidy, that I hadn’t shown you all the changes we made in his room.

Towards the end of last year, as Master O’s 4th birthday loomed, we struggled to find him a present.  We really didn’t want to buy him toys as we knew he would receive more than enough as gifts from the family.  I really had no inspiration until I found myself staring absent-mindedly into a store window while waiting for my sister.  As she arrived and I turned to leave, I realised what I had been staring at…..the cutest range of dinosaur linen and accessories on a fantastic sale.  There and then I decided his present would have to be a dinosaur room makeover.

The day before his birthday party, while he was a daycare, I set about transforming his room.  Previously it had sported a nautical/pirate theme which I shared in these posts here and here, but this is what it looked like on the morning I started the transformation.

After a good clean up and rearrange, followed by the addition of  the new duvet cover, matching cushions and bunting, the room looked a lot fresher.

I added a few other nick nacks that suited the theme, like these cute bookends.

I had already added a padded cushion to the Trofast toy storage units to make a reading seat, but now I could see how well my colour choice matched with the linen. You can read about how I made the seat  here.  A little rearranging of the Trofast tubs I already owned enabled me to bring the colour green into this area of the room as well.

I had tried to purchase some artwork for the walls in time for his birthday but I couldn’t find anything that matched the colour scheme. Master O didn’t mind, he was chuffed with the transformation.  The walls remained blank until about 3 months ago when I returned to the linen store and found a matching dinosaur canvas in stock.

So with one wall decorated,  I thought I might have to make something for the other wall – but what?  On holidays last month I came across a stall that sold all manner of dinosaur cutouts,  2D and 3D.  The were amazing and so well priced that I had to be restrained.  I purchased 2 x 2D cutouts and after a bit of spray paint, attached them each to a canvas.  It was a such a simple art solution and they really do pop with their shiny bright orange paint.

The other purchase I made was 3D pterodactyl.  After a couple of coats, also in the bright orange paint, I attached him to the ceiling.  I was concerned that he might be a bit scary for a 4-year-old, woken in the middle of the night, but Master O has entrusted the pterodactyl with the task of keeping him safe.

So after stalling for nearly 4 months with the artwork, the room is pretty much complete now.  Master O received a couple a big dinosaur figurines for his birthday and Christmas that fit in perfectly with the colour scheme so they now reside on top of his Trofast unit and look very much at home.  We also picked up a hat stand shaped like a tree on sale at Target.  It is the perfect place to hang his Kindergarten and library bags when it is not some how involved in some imaginative dinosaur play.

This really has evolved into the perfect room for our dinosaur loving boy.  What are you favourite themes for little boy’s rooms?

Birthday and Anniversary Calendar

Last week I received a member’s $10 birthday voucher to spend at Kikki K – a truly divine stationery store with some amazing organising products.  So today I popped in, excited with the prospect of finding a little project to do. I know….. I am crazy.

I ended up buying a birthday and anniversary calendar.  Absolutely perfect.

There are always dates that I struggle to remember or fail to transfer into my new diary or calendar.  There is a constant stream of new additions to the family and friend’s families that I don’t want to forget. This will hopefully be my saviour.

I love that I now will never ‘lose’ an important date, it will just remain on the calendar for future years.  I also plan to include anniversaries of special, yet different, events I don’t want to forget.  I love recalling and putting favourite events in context like,  ”It was 6 years ago we took off to Italy” or “It was 7 years ago today we bought our house”.

After a little session of filling in dates I did know and writing a list of dates I needed to find out,  I hung the calendar in the office on my noticeboard.

I know I will see it everyday here and hopefully I will always be on top of special events.

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 Decorating and Activities

I don’t know about you, but it scares me just how fast Easter is approaching. It seems to sneak up on me….every year!  Over the weekend we completed a few fun projects that have helped get us into the Easter spirit, so I thought I would share them with you.

The boys had fun hanging some egg-shaped decorations along with this cute ‘Happy Easter’ banner.

I ‘helped’ (although the correct term would probably be ‘cleaned up after’) the boys as they painted some plaster Easter decorations to display about the house.

I experimented with my chocolate lollipop mould and made these cute bunny shaped ones.

This week the boys and I are decorating some props for our Easter Egg Hunt and making some more chocolate creations.  I hope to share them with you soon, but until then, take a look at some of my other Easter posts……

Click on the images to link to the post.