Make a Heart Garland with your Child to Practice Patterns & Stringing

Make a Heart Garland with your Child to Practice Patterns and Stringing for home preschoolWe’re practicing patterns right now in our home preschool, so I thought it would be fun to bring that practice in to practical use making a Valentine’s Day heart garland with the Bear. I found these felt hearts a few years ago on sale at Target, but your could easily make your own or grab felt hearts off Amazon and punch holes in them. We used red baker’s twine to string our garland, and the Bear also got great fine motor skill practice stringing and arranging his hearts.

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Active Indoor Play: Mini Trampoline and Jumping Activities

Active Indoor Play Mini Trampoline and Jumping Activities

Stuck inside with kids who desperately need to burn off energy? Yep, me too. We saw the long, cold winter ahead and bought our kids a mini trampoline for Christmas. It was the Bear’s big present and it has been a LIFESAVER. We were at my parents’ house for the holidays with 5 kids 5 and under, and we got our money’s worth that first week. The trampoline is super fun and helps the kids to be active indoors. The only issue we’ve run in to is that sometimes just plain jumping gets a little old. I’ve compiled a great list of fun activities to do on a mini trampoline (or on the ground if you don’t have one). Our mini trampoline has a support bar, which I’ve found is really helpful for kids under 5. If you want one for your kids, find great deals on mini trampolines here.

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Preschool Resources about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Civil Rights

Preschool Resources about Dr. Martin Luther King and Civil RightsHow do you talk to preschool kids about the Civil Rights movement and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr? Subjects like civil rights can be hard to cover with small children because you want to maintain their innocence and not talk about things that are too hard for them to understand, but still answer their questions and speak truth. It is important for kids to hear about standing up for what is right and American heroes like Dr. King. I’ve compiled a great list of preschool resources about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and civil rights to help you.

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Taste Safe Snow Dough for Toddler and Preschool Sensory Play

Taste Safe Snow Dough for Toddlers and Preschool

Living in Texas we don’t often get to play in the snow. The Bear knows what it is, but we haven’t had any yet this year. We decided to take matters in to our own hands and make sparkly snow dough to play with inside (and make our own tiny snowman). Because the Pearl Girl is still at the stage where she puts EVERYTHING in to her mouth (as you can see above), I knew I had to make taste safe snow dough. Read on to find out how to make your own, plus find fabulous snow dough ideas from the other 12 Months of Sensory Dough bloggers. Find more of our indoor play ideas here and preschool posts here. For more snowy fun check out my Indoor Snowman Building Ideas here.

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Active Indoor Play: Dance Through the Alphabet

Easy Ideas for Active Indoor Play - Dance through the AlphabetThe weather outside is frightful, and the indoors might not be so delightful if your kids are filled with pent up energy. My little ones are VERY active and when they don’t get to play outside we have to get creative. I’ve shared before about our dance parties and indoor obstacle courses. Today I’m sharing a new idea we tried this week as part of the Gross Motor Activities from A to Z Series with Still Playing School – lots of great ideas for active indoor play.  We’ve been working on the alphabet as part of our home preschool, and the Bear can now identify all of his letters. To practice them while getting some exercise we had an alphabet dance party. With the whole body involved, simple silly dancing becomes a gross motor skill development tool. It was silly, fun, and both kids really got in to it. Best of all you don’t need anything except a little creativity and music. Bonus: Enter to win a Parachute Pack to take active play to the next level. (more…)

The Best Kid Activities of 2014 ~ Crafts, Education, & Parenting

best-kid-blogger-posts-2014
With the new year fresh and full of possibility, I like to take a minute to reflect on the one just ended. This little blog has grown like crazy and I am constantly blown away by how many of you visit, read, share, and pin. I am so thankful for each one of you and for the way your support enables me to be home with my kids and have this creative outlet. Thank you. I am also so thankful to be part of a fabulous network of kid bloggers – moms, dads, grandparents, and education professionals – who partner to make each of blogs better together. We’ve joined forces once again to share the very best of our work from 2014. Each blogger has added their BEST post from the past year in one of the three categories below – crafts, education, and parenting.

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Three Ways to Celebrate Epiphany with Preschool Kids

Three Ways to Celebrate Epiphany with Preschool Kids

I’ve always loved the way Epiphany (the coming of the 3 kings/wise men) is celebrated in Spanish culture. Most Americans don’t make a big deal out of the January 6th holiday that is the traditional end of the 12 days of Christmas. I studied abroad in Spain in college and fell in love with the culture, and was *this close* to moving there in my mid 20s. I thought it would be fun this year to celebrate Epiphany with my kids and teach them about the holiday. This post is a part of the Christmas Around the World Series hosted by my friends over at Multicultural Kid Blogs. Visit the main page here and the Pinterest board here.

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Four Simple Ways to Use the Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet to Help Kids Learn, Play, and Grow


4 Simple Ways to Use your #FireHDKidsEdition Tablet

We are a few months in to our home preschool journey, and are always looking for new tools for learning at home. When I had the opportunity to review the new Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet I knew it could be a great fit for our family. Today I’m sharing four ways you can use the tablet to help your kids learn, play, and grow as well as how the Kids Edition Tablet works for us. Read on to find out more and learn how to get a FREE year of Amazon Free Time for your family. (more…)

How to Give Once-In-A-Lifetime Experience Gifts to Your Loved Ones

Give Your Loved One a Once In a Lifetime Experience Gift with Cloud9 Living

Holiday shopping can be stressful as you search high and low to find the perfect gifts for everyone on your list. This year consider thinking outside the box by giving experience gifts to your loved ones. Would your dad love to be a fighter pilot for a day or play a round of golf at PGA National? Would your sister love to learn to fly or have a private wine tasting with a master sommelier? Would your husband love to race a Ferrari or learn to sail? All of those experiences sound incredible, right? Cloud 9 Living makes it simple to give any of these or a multitude of other options.

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