Connect with Your Kids — Outdoor Play

I’m so excited about this week’s Connect with Your Kids post!! You can find it at Joyce’s amazing blog — Childhood Beckons. This week we’re featuring 10 Simple Tips for Outdoor Play, just in time for Earth Day, along with some of our favorite outdoor games and activities. Have fun enjoying some quality time outdoors with […]

Special Storytime

For a GREAT time, pack up some of your favorite books, a few tasty snacks, and a picnic blanket. Visit your favorite park for some outdoor storytime fun and make some lovely memories with your kids!! Stories don’t always have to be read indoors, you know. Extra bonus points if your books happen to be […]

Sunday Snapshot — Priorities

Last week, there were piles of dirty dishes in the sink, mountains of laundry, and our kitchen floors were a bit… shall we say… crunchy?? I worked hard to ignore all of that, so I could take Clara to the park to do this: You might say we were procrastinating, but I prefer to think […]

Curb Appeal on the Cheap

Want to add some curb appeal to your home without breaking the bank?? You can! And in just 3 easy steps!! Step 1: Sweep up the sidewalk to remove any dirt or debris.   Step 2: Make some sidewalk chalk stencils with heavy cardstock paper (Hint: Old file folders or pieces of cardboard from empty […]

Wordless Wednesday — Icy Ornaments

    I’ve added this post to: Outdoor Play Party @ Mama Pea Pod

Sunday Snapshot — Adventures in Geocaching!

Wishing you and your family a lovely weekend full of adventure!!

Nature Crafts and Activities for Kids You Will Want To Do RIGHT Now

Nature crafts and activities are a great way to enjoy the outdoors with kids, promote sustainability, and encourage little ones to conserve. Added bonus — many times nature provides us with free art materials! Here are some of our favorite simple, beautiful projects from FFFB and around the web that will make you want to […]

Adventures in Bird Watching!

Recently, I took Clara on an educational (and frugal) field trip to Hawk Mountain, a wildlife sanctuary open to the public year-round. It was a fantastic way to spend a beautiful Autumn afternoon! There is a modest trail fee, which is totally worth it, but Clara was free since she falls into the 3 years […]

Sunday Snapshot — At the Pumpkin Patch

Wishing you and your family a fun (and frugal) weekend filled with Autumn treasures!!

Cheap Thrills — Feeding Ducks

For a fun time that won’t break the bank, visit your local fish hatchery to feed the fish and/or ducks. Ours sells bags of fish food for just $1. Not sure how to properly feed the ducks? Princess Clara will show you how — in just 3 easy steps!! Step 1: Sprinkle a bit of […]

Wordless Wednesday – Teddy Bear Picnic

Simple Pleasures Saturday — Apples!!

Wishing you and your family a weekend FULL of simple pleasures!!!

Catch the Comet

Using some leftover scraps of felt in lots of bright colors, I sewed a super-easy comet ball that has been used for several games of catch around here! I have seen much more expensive versions in toy catalogs, but it was a lot cheaper (& more fun) to make our own. It is SO much […]

Posing with Plexiglass

For a fun time, frame a sheet of plexiglass with duct tape to take care of any sharp edges. Go outside, and draw on the plexiglass with dry erase markers to make “enhancements” to your environment!! In a very short time we had beautiful flowers growing out of the lawn, backyard trees full of red […]

Kickin’ it Croquet Style

Kids need to burn off some of that extra energy? Have some old pool noodles on-hand?? Then it’s time to make up your own kick croquet lawn game!! Cut pool noodles in half down the middle (we reused the ones from our awesome marble run), and each pool noodle is enough to make up two […]

Nature Drawing – Seasonal Trees

When I was in second grade, I had a lovely teacher (Thank you, Mrs. Barnhart!!) who would take a few minutes every season to let us go outside and draw the same tree throughout the year. This proved to be a simple, but very effective lesson in art, weather, and science. At the end of […]

Colorful Spray Painted Fabric

Looking to a fun way to impress guests at your next dinner party? Need a colorful way to dress up meal time, and a fun project to keep the kiddos entertained? Then this project is for you!! Start with the cheapest (most boring) cloth napkins you can find, pre-wash and dry (no fabric softener)…. Fill […]

How to Make Sponge Bombs

Here is a quick and easy tutorial to show how to make sponge bombs! Sponge Bombs are a great alternative to water balloons. There are no messy balloon bits to clean up, and the sponge bombs can be used again and again. These sponge bombs are great for active playtime fun all Summer long! How […]