Category: kids

Three Tips for Teaching Preschool Kids to Brush Their Teeth

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Three Tips for Teaching Preschool Kids to Brush Their Teeth #naturalgoodness #adLike every transition we’ve gone through with our kids, I’ve spent so much time worried about how to transition our preschool son to big kid toothpaste. His dentist recommended the switch months ago, and I just couldn’t figure out how to teach him to brush and spit the toothpaste out. He is almost four, so I finally quit procrastinating and bought big kid toothpaste. We chose Tom’s of Maine Silly Strawberry Fluoride Toothpaste because I’ve loved and trusted Tom’s of Maine products for nearly 20 years and it is the perfect fit for our family’s quests to live green. Within a few days, the we had the whole brushing and spitting thing figured out and I realized I’d wasted time worrying about nothing. Read on to find out our three easy tips for teaching preschool kids to brush their teeth to make the transition easy and painless for your kids.

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Three Practical Tips for Dressing Kids on a Budget

Kids are a blessing and a gift to parents and family, but they can be expensive. There are so many ways to save money on your child’s wardrobe to help you make it through these fast growing years without breaking the bank. How many times have we had a child outgrow an outfit before they even get a chance to wear it? Very rarely do my kids actually get to wear something until it is worn out. They grow too fast! Spending a ton of money on kids’ clothes just doesn’t make sense when you are on a tight budget, but there are ways to dress your kids well without spending a ton.Three Practical Tips for Dressing Kids on a Budget

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Clean Mud Bubble Dough – The Easiest Sensory Dough Ever

Making Clean Mud Bubble Dough with Kids - The Easiest Sensory Dough  Ever

We love to play outside, but sometimes need fresh ideas to get the kids engaged. They’ve been really in to bubbles lately, so after making a DIY bubble solution with dish soap and water I was inspired to try a new twist on clean mud dough. Play dough of all kinds is so much fun and give kids a great sensory experience, but making it yourself can be a challenge. This recipe for clean mud bubble dough is pretty much the easiest sensory dough ever and creates clean bubbly fun for your kids. It takes only 3 ingredients and about 5 minutes, plus the clean up is super simple as well. Ready to have some bubble dough fun?

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Preschool Name Recognition and Writing Practice with Sidewalk Chalk

Name Recognition and Writing Practice with Sidewalk ChalkWe work on lots of preschool skills at home with our kids, all while having fun. Our almost four year old loves to learn through play, so I try to make our home preschool activities an exciting adventure rather than boring and stiff. We’ve worked on pre-writing skills all year and it has been really fun to see his handwriting skills develop. Lately we’ve been doing preschool name recognition activities to tie in with the writing practice so that soon he will be able to write his own name. We love to play with sidewalk chalk outside, so I combined the skills practice with play to help him learn to recognize his name and practice writing it.

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Kid Art: Turn a Used Cardboard Roll in to a Telescope and Sword

Kid Art Paint a Cardboard Tube to Create a TelescopeHave you noticed how kids will turn something bound for the trashcan in to a treasure? At our house, this most commonly happens with cardboard rolls from paper towels and toilet paper. The Bear (almost 4) loves to turn them in to swords, binoculars, and telescopes. We don’t use a lot of paper towels, so whenever we run through a roll he gets really excited to make an “eye scope”. Usually the roll becomes a telescope until it is too bent to see through and then transforms in to a sword. Paper towel rolls get taped together and made in to “knock-ulars”. For this spring’s 60 Day Junk Play Challenge, we decided to take a few of our old paper towel rolls and turn them in to special works of art.

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Easy Ways to Give Your Kids a Green Childhood

Easy Ways to Give Your Kids a Green Childhood - Natural Parenting Hop

Raising kids to appreciate and care for the world around them isn’t easy in our society that loves instant gratification, constant entertainment, and disposable everything. We want our kids to become adults who appreciate the earth, take responsibility for their effect on it, and work towards conservation for future generations. We believe that it is our responsibility as their parents to teach them about nature and how to love it and care for it. Today I’m sharing a few easy ways we work to give our kids a green childhood.  April is Earth Month, so this year I’m joining with a group of bloggers for a series on Natural Parenting and Green Living. Join us we celebrate Earth Month and help each live a greener, more environmentally responsible life. We are far from the greenest family on the block, but we are working to become more eco-friendly every day.

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Teaching Kids to Give

Giving our money, time, and love to others is an outpouring of God’s love for us. Teaching our kids to have giving hearts is important to us, because it will enrich their lives and help them to be people of gratitude rather than entitlement. Teaching kids to give can be a challenge, but it is worth it. We talk about giving, model service in front of them, give them opportunities to serve with us and each other, and try to lead by example. This week I got the kids involved in a giving project for my very favorite non-profit outreach ministry (YoungLives – a Christian outreach to teen moms & their babies), and tied it in to a story from The Jesus Storybook Bible.

A Lesson on Giving with Easter Eggs

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Jonah and the Whale Hide and Seek Game

Playing a Special Game of Hide and Seek to Bring the Story of Jonah and the Whale to Life for Kids

We’ve loved reading the Jesus Storybook Bible with our kids and creating interactive play ideas to bring the stories to life for them. Today we played a game of hide and seek to give them a new perspective on the story of Jonah and the Whale. You can read the activities we’ve done to go with the stories of Samuel and David, the Tower of Babel, and Moses and the Red Sea. Read the entire series with activities for all 40 stories in the Jesus Storybook Bible Interactive Play Series here.

Reading the Jesus Storybook BibleWe read the story “God’s Messenger: Jonah and the Big Fish” from the Jesus Storybook Bible together, and then played a game of hide and seek. The Bear would hide while Pearl Girl and I looked for him, then we swapped. After several rounds, I brought the game back to the story.

Here’s what I asked him: Did I find you every time? Yes. Did I ever stop looking for you? No. Why did I keep looking for you? Because I love you and never want to lose you. God feels the same way about you and He felt the same way about Jonah. When Jonah ran away, God even used a storm and a big whale to bring him back because God never wants anything to get between His children and Him.

It seemed to really make sense to him, and it was a super fun way to spend a morning.

A Jonah and the Whale Hide and Seek Game to Bring the Bible Story to Life

 

How do you bring the Bible to life for your kids?
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DIY Outdoor Obstacle Course Play Ideas for Kids

We are so ready for spring and getting back to our daily outdoor play routine. While my kids play independently pretty well outside, sometimes an activity or a little direction helps to get them moving. We often set up DIY outdoor obstacle course play for the kids using our existing lawn furniture and their outside toys. The course never looks the same and they are always up for racing around, climbing, jumping, and competing. Today I’m sharing how we set up outdoor obstacle course play as part of the Outdoor Play Challenge. Check out the rest of the Outdoor Play Challenge at Building Blocks and Acorns and grab a free printable play calendar with a whole month of fantastic outdoor play ideas.

Turn your yard in to a DIY obstacle course for kids (more…)

20 Ideas for Toddler and Preschool Easter Fun

Toddlers and preschool kids are the perfect age to get excited about decorating eggs and having egg hunts, but there are so many more ways to create toddler and preschool Easter fun for your young kids. I’ve gathered 20 of the best activities and crafts for toddlers and preschool kids to help you celebrate Easter with your little ones. BONUS: Did I mention the $1500 GIVEAWAY? That’s right, 3 winners will each get $500 a piece to make their spring a little hoppier and you can enter at the bottom of this post.

20 Ideas for Toddler and Preschool Easter Fun

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