Posts

Handprint Cactus Craft

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  This is a simple and quick one! Takes less than 30 minutes to prep and complete! You can do either paint or construction paper like we did! (If you do paint, use white paint to make the cactus markings when dry) Some of our other Hands on Learning and Learning Through Play Videos: Magic Paper Towel Paintings   Handprint Mother's Day Flower Bouquet Handprint Flower Pots What you need: - piece of plain paper, green Constuction paper (we use two shades) and a brown piece of paper - glue stick - white colored pencil - #2 pencil for tracing - scissors  - watch the  tutorial video ! Directions: 1. start by tracing your child's hand on the green construction paper, we made 4 but used 3 2. cut out the hand prints and cut out pots for the cactus to sit in 3. draw designs on the cactus (stars, dots, lines, x's) using the white colored pencil 4. glue the cactus down, then glue to pot covering a bit of the bottom.

Summer Handprint Activity: Lemon & Limes

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  This is a cute and quick one! I am starting to see most of these are mainly taking less than 30 minutes to prep and complete! We do have this template available on our TPT site! (That is until we figure out a better way to make them available!) Some of our other Hands on Learning and Learning Through Play craft links: Magic Paper Towel Paintings   Handprint Mother's Day Flower Bouquet Handprint Flower Pots What you need: - piece of plain paper (or our template from TPT here ) - yellow and green paint - green/black marker for the stem and leaf - watch the  tutorial video ! Directions: 1. print out the template paper "Squeeze the most out of summer" or grab a solid sheet of paper 2. paint your child's hand yellow/green and place on one side (or if using the template, under the stem/leaf) 3. using the green/black markers, draw in the leaf and stem (if not using the template) 4. voila!  Templates available for purchase on our TPT site! ( https://www.teacherspayteachers.

Butterfly Footprints

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This is a simple and quick one! Takes less than 10 minutes to complete! We did it for Mother's Day, but it can be for anything! We have done a few of these over the years! Some of our other Hands on Learning and Learning Through Play Videos: Magic Paper Towel Paintings   Handprint Mother's Day Flower Bouquet Handprint Flower Pots What you need: - piece of plain paper  -  finger paint   - paint brushes - paper towels to wipe feet - watch the  tutorial video !  Directions: 1. draw the body of the butterfly in the middle of the page 2. using whatever color they want and paint their feet 3. place their foot opposite to the butterfly to create the wings of the butterfly 4. let it dry then add eyes and a smile!

Kids Dig Kits!

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Alright so I know you have heard of dig kits before! But what are they? Watch the kids here or for the shark teeth, here and find out! Spoiler: They are various small clay figures that you dig into for treasure!   There are so many out there! We have done quite a few of them! Here are some of our favorites: Dino dig kits Mermaid dig kits Sea animal dig kits Shark teeth dig kits Gemstone dig kits Fossil dig kits While these are only a select few of the ones we have done, Amazon has so many options! OR basically any store (Target, Michaels, Walmart, Hobby Lobby) you enter, they most likely have something similar! Lets get messy!

Handprint Flower Pots

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This is a simple and quick one! Takes less than 30 minutes to prep and complete! We did it for Mother's Day, but it can be for anything! Some of our other Hands on Learning and Learning Through Play Videos: Magic Paper Towel Paintings   Handprint Mother's Day Flower Bouquet What you need: - piece of plain paper and a brown piece of paper -  finger paint  on a plate - paint brush - paper towels to wipe fingers - watch the  tutorial video ! Directions: 1. start by using green to make the stem and paint your child's hand 2. using yellow (or whatever color they want), make the center of the flowers with their fingers 3. select a different (or same) color for each flower and use their finger to place the petals 4. let it dry then add the pot shaped paper! you can add whatever message you want to the pot! 

Handprint Mother's Day Flower Bouquet

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  This is a simple and quick one! Takes less than 15 minutes to prep and complete! I did use Google to find the perfect looking stems for me and added my kids names in. If you are not super tech savvy, you can always draw the stems and write their names. EVEN BETTER let them write their names!  What you need: - piece of plain paper -  finger paint - paint brush - watch the  tutorial video ! Directions: 1. either draw or print out the stems. I used Google to find the image then PIXLR to add the name in.  2. paint your child's hand whatever color they choose 3. place their hand on the stem top 4. let it dry!

Research Paper - ADHD and Nutrition

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 Alright, so this was a research paper I completed April 2024 for a topic of wellness of my choosing. I selected ADHD and nutrition. I researched the topic for six weeks and this was my final submission for the course. I figured that sharing my research could be helpful to someone else.  The topic I have chosen is nutrition and diet as it relates to health. Specifically, the relation that nutrition plays on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its symptoms. “Over the past 30 years ADHD has been recognized, assessed, investigated, and treated around the world” (Hinshaw & Scheffler, 2014). There is no secret that artificial ingredients and synthetic colorings have been around for decades. In today’s society, what we consume typically includes both natural and artificial ingredients. “Diet has been an environmental factor of long-standing interest in ADHD” (Pelseer et al., 2020). ADHD, typically more associated with school-aged children, is usually addressed through med

Magic Paper Towel Paintings

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Alright, so after talking with various people, it was decided that each activity deserves its own post. Also because it is less work to find exactly what you have come here for! So lets get into it! Also, (hopefully) all activities will have links to YouTube so make sure to follow us there as well to see the fun! Sometimes they will be posted before the blog! I will post them under the what you need since it is like a tutorial! You need 3 things and there are 5 steps only! Setup is only the time it takes to collect the materials and you can make as many as you want! Once the paper towel gets wet, the colored image shows through like magic! What you need: - paper towels - markers - tub with water - watch the tutorial video ! Directions: 1. fold the paper towel in half 2. draw on the front side a simple image in black marker 3. open the paper towel. you should see the outline that bled through. Color! fill in your drawing, give it color, make it creative! 4. fold it back in half 5. place

Three Years In! (the new house) Update!

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 Alright so we have been in our new house three years now!! This is the update from  the post 'Some Exciting News'  So if you have kept up over the last three years then you will understand where these things have lead! If not, visit  'The Chicken Project'  for our adventure with chickens and  '2021-2023 Updates'  that basically have lumped everything together since I took a little break from blogging! (Ill add the individual links as I get them published!) So, when we bought the house, there was a pool in the middle of the backyard with no real room around to enjoy unless it was only a few people. So we extended the concrete pretty quickly but now, we are working on redoing the remainder of the yard! Aside from the grass which is set to be fake grass hopefully soon! The chickens have gotten an extension for their coop too! As for the front yard, that changed real quick after we bought the house and we removed 2 of the 3 areas of rock and made it grass! Hallowee

Activity and Fun Things for Kids! - Q1 2024

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 Hey!! So I was sitting here thinking about how to share some of the things we have found or done that are perfect for kids! And I de used maybe a quarterly post, not too soon and also not a long span either. I think four times a year is good, your thoughts!?!?  Alright let’s start! It will be a picture, link to either a video of it and/or where to get one and short description of it and how my kids liked it. This will be probably longer than I will do since I have other unpublished posts with ideas right now, so I will lump them together here.  1.   Dollar store items usually are able to keep the kids entertained for at least half an hour.   2.   Crafts for craft stores - here we have Hobby Lobby and Michaels, where we can by little craft packages that contain various small crafts including pompom crafts, toilet paper roll crafts, pipe cleaner crafts, stained glass art, sand art, wood crafts, ceramic crafts and so many more!  Amazon  even has so many!  Mindware  on Amazon also has so

Reward Ideas for Kids

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So, Logan has had behavioral issues in school due to his ADHD. He is now over half way through First Grade. The school does a great job keeping us informed which we LOVE! But at home, after school is usually when his medicine wears off. So we have been trying to find ways to help keep him motivated to behave. I know this sounds weird but if you do not have a child with severe ADHD, it may not make sense to you. Logan bounces off the walls and could outrun the energizer bunny on steroids.  Back to what I was saying about rewards. I guess these ideas can be used for whatever you want. I know some of these we do use for chores and things too. (As always, I will link in videos as I can or things that we have used!) Sticker Charts: we have used these on and off, specifically these reward sticker journals , they come with many varying chores and tasks with quite a few blank to fill in yourself if needed. Then its listed out Mon-Sunday and 7 task columns. There is a goal and reward box. I lov

Easter Craft Ideas

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 Alright! So let’s start this real quick with I decided to create a YouTube Channel for my crafts, baking and what not! So subscribe here please!! Thanks!  I will add crafts overtime so check back soon!  Alright these little Paper Bag Easter Bunny Craft was a ton of fun to make! Video to the quick tutorial is here . But the steps are simple!  Draw triangles on the sides that it will gather when tied  Draw the ears Cut the lines Add eyes, nose and whiskers Fill with grass and put candy or eggs Use a cute ribbon to tie it shut  Add the fluffy bunny tail!  Peep Dot Paintings  were fun and a bit messy! Since we did not have circle foam painters, we improvised and did wood glued to q-tips! Simple and easy to do! Cut out the peep shape, take it down and paint!  VIDEO HERE !          Foam craft kits   were one of Rosella's favourites! She loved making them! We pick them up at our Hobby Lobby but you can get them so many different places! Video here !