This “sandpaper” letter set was made by Emily as a gift to her little sister — and Clara adores them! I have seen similar sets in pricey catalogs. We used 2″ felt alphabet stickers ($2.80) and 3″ wooden disks ($0.24 each x 26) from the craft store. For a grand total of just $9.04! Emily […]
Printable Bird House Play Set
January 10, 2011 by
I made some colorful paper bird houses as a fun decoration for the sewing room, and I love how cheerful they look — plus they were super-frugal to make! Wouldn’t they look lovely hanging from the ceiling of a child’s bedroom, a classroom, or even lined up along a nature table?? So cute! I quickly […]
Gum Ball Machine Craft for Tots
January 4, 2011 by
It’s no secret that we love to create projects that bring lots of COLOR into our household — they are so bright, cheerful, and they always make me smile! This particular project kept Clara happily occupied for a long time, and doubles as a prop for pretend play. I traced a large serving bowl onto […]
First Sewing Basket
January 3, 2011 by
I recycled an old basket and some other on-hand household finds to make up a sweet toddler-friendly sewing kit for Clara. It’s been a big hit around here, and it was practically free to put together! I completely under-estimated how ridiculously happy she would be to have a sewing basket of her very own, and […]
Top 10 Posts of 2010 — #4
December 29, 2010 by
We’re moving along with our countdown of the top 10 posts of 2010, and this next post was such a simple activity that kept the girls occupied for a good long while! Coming in at number 4…. Pretend Car Wash!! Inspired by Emily’s recent request for a car wash toy, both of the girls were […]
Giveaway — iPad plus Assorted Children’s Books from Target
December 16, 2010 by
Wow!!! There were SO many entries for this amazing giveaway! The giveaway is now closed — see below for the winner announcement! Have you heard of Target’s Read with Me program? This brilliant initiative is designed to help youngsters become proficient at reading by the end of third grade — an important milestone when kids […]
Spontaneous Montessori
November 16, 2010 by
While I was doing some work in the sewing room, Clara started playing with a pile of buttons. I added two empty yogurt containers and a pair of tweezers, and she had some impromptu Montessori-inspired fun!! This was a super-simple activity of just transferring the buttons one at a time, from one container to the […]
Around the Web – Apple Crafts
October 5, 2010 by
I’ll be traveling to NYC this week, but not to worry as I have several posts lined up. For today, I thought I would leave you with some really fun apple crafts to keep all the kiddos happily occupied. Have fun!! Learn how to make this fun apple garland over at I Can Teach My […]
Education Nation Week
September 30, 2010 by
Over at NBC they are celebrating Education Nation Week, which means all this week they will be featuring lots of helpful tips for school and learning! To help kick-start the week, I took a trip to the studios in Philadelphia to tape this fun segment featuring educational arts and crafts. The co-host, Heather, is a […]
FREE Museum Day
September 25, 2010 by
In honor of FREE Museum Day, an event sponsored by Smithsonian Media with over 1300 museums from across the country participating, we took a trip to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. It was awesome, educational, and frugal!! I printed out a pass for Mark and I to have free tickets, Clara is under […]
Bang on the Drums All Day
September 10, 2010 by
I can’t even tell you how much FUN Clara had with our make-shift drum table this morning! I laid out a bunch of old pots and pans, lids, and some wooden spoons on her play table. Then it was time to Rock N Roll!!! She experimented using the spoons as drumsticks, and later hitting the […]
Back to School Photo Name Labels
August 26, 2010 by
The girls and I had so much fun putting together these photo name labels, and they are perfect for labeling names on folders, notebooks, and other school supplies! I drew an outline of each letter of their names on a sheet of construction paper for the girls to color. For Clara, this was great letter […]
Stunning “Glass” Sculpture
August 12, 2010 by
The neat thing about this beautiful “glass” sculpture is that it is flexible and can be re-shaped again and again! Emily was so proud of her sculpture, and they are simple and frugal to make using materials you probably already have on-hand. I used wired cutters to cut a long piece of thin gauge wire, […]
Modern Wall Art
August 4, 2010 by
This modern wall art project was lots of fun — and very frugal to make! Added bonus — no mess! Start with a few colored masking tape…. …and invite your child to stick pieces of masking tape on brightly colored paper. For Clara, this was a fun way to work on identifying colors! Emily loves […]
Quilted Color Match Game for Tots
August 2, 2010 by
I sewed up this little color match game for Clara to practice identifying her colors. It ended up being a great quiet game for keeping both of the girls occupied while I was in the kitchen making dinner. It is so colorful! I sewed the color mat using pieces from fat quarters (very inexpensive), and […]
Elevator Fun
July 27, 2010 by
We did a bit of tidying up that involved several trips up and down the stairs. So we installed an elevator in our foyer! Problem solved! Added bonus — the buttons on the inside of the elevator helped with Clara’s number recognition. Suddenly, I had no shortage of helpers to make the trips up and […]
Nature Study Kit from Recyclables
July 26, 2010 by
This afternoon the girls and I went around the house collecting recyclables and put together a Nature Study Kit to enjoy some educational outdoor fun! There were lots of interesting containers to collect specimens — a baby food jar, a tea tin, a mint tin, and a leftover mesh bag from a sack of lemons. […]
Easy Garden Welcome Banner
June 21, 2010 by
After having done countless craft projects that involved tissue paper, I had been saving a rather large collection of tissue paper confetti. Since I’m never one to throw stuff away, I saved these bits of colorful goodness to recycle for other projects like this one! Our vegetables are starting to arrive in our garden, and […]
