Sleepover!

Pick a night and have a movie/sleepover.

It is so fun to stay up and talk to your kids.

Pick a new movie, get bundled up on the floor and have a fun night!

Make popcorn, or eat suckers!

Throw evening plans out the window and chill with your favorite little people!

Someone did not want to be in the sleeping bag! LOL

It is really fun to be a kid again. Even if it is only for one night!

Dramatic Play: Costumes Box

Every year, on September 30th I pull out the Halloween decorations (because my hubs won't let me do it earlier) and I pull out the old costumes and let the kids play with them for the whole month.

They are in great condition and a great change from the normal princess and police dress ups my kids play with all year.  This is also the time I go through the regular day dress ups and repair and wash them.

We went in the back yard and let the kids enjoy the first day of their Halloween Costume Box.

This also gave me just enough time to put everything out while they were busy "playing."

Even my 9 month old had some fun!

Happy Fall everyone!

Valentines - 1

Busy gettin' our Valentine's on!

My son (and me) made these cute things!

The teacher made the pink hearts with numbers so the class only had to write their OWN names on the Valentines. We incorporated into the valentine.

Original Idea found HERE

We just did our own version using paper I had on hand, and some punches I had here too.

The army guys were found at the penny section at Michaels.

So - $0.01 for 18 Valentines. Not to Shabby!

Snow Day Activity - Balloon Butt Pop!

My daughter had a mermaid party for her 4th birthday.  One of the activities was popping bubbles with your butt!  They had a fantastic time and thought - hey lets do this again when it's snowy and we can't go out!

You don't have to be dressed like a mermaid to do this activity.

Haha.

Some other variations I would do with this particular game is play music and when they heard the chorus try and pop it.

Play the ABC's on repeat and they have to try and pop it on their letter.

The possibilities are endless AND the giggles are contagious.

So fun!

Community Helpers - 7

I have a son who is OBSESSED with community helpers.  So of course we have dress ups AND vehicles for each job.

So we talked about the vehicles and who uses them and what they do.  Luckily we have all of the toold and gear for each vehicle.

Thanks to Imaginext - the coolest boy toys EVER!!

Not pictured is the mail truck, police motorcycle and trash truck.

Love this unit!

Community Helpers - 6

I made Community Helper Puppets.

Then I let the kids act out some scenarios that might include community helpers.

You can find some to print out HERE

Easy and fun! I laminated mine and each kid got a set to take home.

Community Helpers - 1

This month we are talking about my family's FAVORITE topic - Community Helpers. 

I am totally serious. I showed the "class" what I was talking about and as you can see...MY KID is thrilled!

Today we dressed up as Community Helpers.

 From the top.  Trash Man, Postal Worker.

Middle: Nurse, Doctor, Nurse

Bottom: Policeman and Fireman

Then we talked about what each of the helpers do.

 Because my family loves them so much, I had all of the appropriate tools that correspond with each helper.

 This was fun for everyone and it is good to role play/dress up every once in a while.

Schedule for Toddlers - 9

On Mondays I am going to have tips on what has worked for me with my many kids.  I have received emails about my daily schedule and so I am going to go in order every Monday.  Please comment with anything that you do or don't do or if this has helped you so we all can benefit from everyone's experiences.

7-8               Breakfast, practicing letters and morning review of the day.

8-9               Morning Task Sheet, get ready basically tidy up and morning chores.

9-10             Free Play w/Mom - No chore time slot...you will be amazed how much your kids will love this!

10-11           Quiet Activities

11-11:30       Clean Up

11:30-12       Lunch

12-12:30       TV/Show

12:30-3:00     Nap/Rest Time 

3-3:30           Snack

3:30-4:00       Read Books

4:00-5:00       Shake Sillies Out

This is our families favorite time of day. Even on days where my husband doesn't go into work - we still love this time of day!  I usually turn up the volume on our favorite CD or Mixed CD or even on the Music Channels.  WE dance like crazy and giggle and laugh.

While this is happening - I am making dinner, singing along (I'll admit it) dancing too! Haha.  I let them just go hog wild! We also love to go to the Library to pick out CDs just for this time of day!

We just recently purchased Just Dance I and II and kids for the Wii. There are several options for kids and Our family sometimes fight over who's turn it is.  But it is all in good fun.

This is perfect because my husband gets home between 5-5:15 and dinner is ready by 5:30.  I have plenty of time to prepare dinner and get it in the oven and my kids aren't hanging on me or begging for food (this used to be a problem for me)  They get to pick songs while I am chopping onions and occasionally I will run in and dance with them. :)  

Hope this Helps!

Pirate Ideas for Toddlers - 2

My kids basically slept in their silly stuff from yesterday.  So today we built a ship.

I used these:

They were 0.89 cents at Michaels in the foam section.

A broom stick, a laundry basket and streamers.

This would be fun for a pirate party for kids.

I let them decorate the pennants (flags) with markers.

Then we used the streamers to weave into the laundry basket.

They were very meticulous about the weaving and spend a lot of time making sure it looked just right.  It gave me some more ideas on boredom busters  because they loved this part of the activity.

Then we took to down stairs and played with it.  The kids made a plank with bathroom stools and then pushed each other around the house with it.  We attatched the flags to the broomstick and then taped it with packing tape to the basket.

Totally random fun and pirate themed. :)

Pirate Ideas for Toddlers - 1

My kids are IN LOVE with Disney Junior's Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

So a perfect opportunity to talk and learn about REAL Pirates!

Today is Dress Like a Pirate Day!
Here is what you need:  Paper Bag, Felt, Yarn, Scrap Fabric, Cardboard Box and Snow Boots (optional).

 Cut the paper bag down the middle, then cut a neck hole and 2 arm holes...try it on the kid...

 Decorate how you want. WE did dot markers since we haven't used them in a while.

 my daughter insisted on having the word side in the front.

 with the scrap fabric and felt and yarn make head wrap and eye patch.

 cut the flaps off a box and use that for swords.

 try it all on and go on an adventure!

 yikes!

 this is serious stuff folks!

Then run around the house for the next hour shouting pirate terms and giggle a lot.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

:)

I will be focusing on Pirates this week and Next...stay tuned!

Edible Snowmen

Mini Powdered Donuts, Pretzel Sticks, Candy Corn, Mini Chocolate Chips, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Pull and Peel Twizzlers. Whew!

We had a bunch of friends over for dinner and dessert and embraced the different age groups by doing a project/edible craft.

Peel the Pull and Peel Twizzlers

Then pass out 2 pretzel sticks, 1 candy corn, several mini choco chips, and 1 PB cup.

Peel the PB cups, but save the dark wrapper.

This is my 21 month old using her fine motor skills! 

Pass out the donuts (3 a person) and add eyes, nose and buttons

Wrap the licorice around the neck and add the hat.

then eat everything but the wrapper!

This took a good 30 minutes, but I had 6 kids so it might take less if you have a smaller group.

Ages 6, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1