Category Archives: DIY

Hairstyle Spinner

My daughter LOVES to put her hair in a ponytail (I have no idea where she gets that from…. it’s not like my hair is in a ponytail every single day!!) I try to do new hairstyles with her but she always insists on the same thing. So I thought I would make choosing a hairstyle more of a game. I used this old spinner I had and wrote different styles on each of the colors. I wrote ponytail, bow, braid, leave it down, and mystery (that is Mommy’s choice)- but you could add your favorite styles instead. Every morning my Boo spins it and whatever it lands on is the style for the day. So far it has worked pretty well and she won’t let me do her hair without using the spinner first!

You can tell I have been busy crafting- I have white paint on my nails! Lovely, right?

Happy Teaching!

DIY Telephone Number Bracelets

I saw this idea on Pinterest and fell in love! While my daughter has her phone number memorized, I wanted her to correlate the memorized numbers with the written digits. We have a ton of pony beads- and while I would have much rather used beads with pre-stamped numbers, I grabbed what I had and Boo and I started creating!

Materials needed:
beads (we used plastic beads- if you have number beads then this project will turn out much cuter!)
string or pipe cleaner
sharpie (in case you don’t have number beads)

Super easy telephone number bracelets (blurred out the number- sorry, I don’t want prank phone calls 🙂

On each bead, write one digit of your phone number. Then let your kids put their phone number in order on the string (or pipe cleaner). And voila! You are done! Of course you could do several extension activities- such as add the area code, see how many 2 or 3 digit numbers they can create using the digits in their phone number, using a separate phone allow kids to practice dialing their number, and of course listen to this fun song: (This is actually how my daughter initially memorized her phone number!)

Here are some additional resources to help your little ones learn their phone numbers:
squidoo: free worksheets for kids to learn to write their telephone number
KidPhone: helpful app to teach your kids their phone number
bright hub education: fabulous list of ways to help preschoolers learn their phone number

Teaching your little ones their phone number is SO important for safety reasons- hopefully some of these resources will help you accomplish this task!! These bracelets would be great to take anywhere your kids might get lost- amusement park, fair, zoo, airport, beach, etc!

Happy Teaching!

Fall Bucket List

It’s time for fall! YAY! I love everything about this time of year and wanted to make sure we accomplished everything fun fall related- so we created a Spooky Pail List! I am excited to share our ideas!!

Yellow and Orange popsicle sticks in a festive Halloween pail

Just like our summer bucket list, I color coded our activities. I decided to keep it simple- completing our summer list got to be a bit of a chore- and while we didn’t complete it we still managed to do about 100 activities! It was WAY too intense. This is what I came up with- and yes, I only used fall colored popsicle sticks which I purchased at the Dollar Tree (that store is my one true weakness).

Yellow Popsicle Sticks (food and treat ideas)
fall cookies
pumpkin pie milkshakewe had this last year and it was SO good- even my husband who hates pumpkiny food liked it!
bake pies
caramel apples

other Yellow ideas that we MIGHT do:
homemade chili
homemade bread bowls
caramel apple cider
plus 50 more fall treat ideasthey look SO good!

Orange Popsicle sticks (activities)
nature walk/ hike
corn maze
pumpkin patch
hay ride
football game
apple orchard
city’s annual pumpkin walk
play in a leaf pile- and take pictures
“boo” our neighbors (so if you happen to be my neighbor and you are reading this- kindly disregard what I just wrote)
leaf art
decorate a pumpkin
scary movie
13 Days of Halloween countdown
Mummy on the Move

other Orange ideas that we might do:
spider ring hair
sprouting pumpkin seeds inside a pumpkin

We are going to be adding Brown Popsicle sticks to our container in November- these will be our Thanksgiving related activities.
Here are some ideas:
thankful rolls
thanksgiving countdown activity for kids- looks super cute!
little turkey cookies
yarn ball thankful turkey

Hope you all have a wonderful fall! Happy Teaching!

"Not a Box" Linky Party: Biome Box

I got the idea for this linky party after reading the book “Not A Box” with my daughter: a cute story about a rabbit who uses his imagination to turn an ordinary box into anything but a box. This post is all about using cardboard boxes in a fun and creative way!

Here is the cardboard creation we came up with:

This was a rainy day art project that consisted of painting 9 different biomes so my daughter’s animals could have a home. We just happen to own tons of small plastic animals. And it just so happened to fit PERFECTLY with our new learning unit on animals! 
I grabbed one of the boxes from our move (which just happened to be a box of my teaching stuff).  I opened the box so it was laying flat on the ground. 
After the box was flat, I drew 9 different biomes on the board: city, farm (both of these are totally anthropogenic, but thats where pets and farm animals live!), desert, wetlands, grasslands/savannah, tropical forest, alpine, temperate grasslands, temperate/coniferous forests (we are combining the two on our board), arctic, and marine- with a sandy beach for some of those invertebrates! After I had sketched out the outlines for each biome, Boo and I set to work painting. And yes, I craft on the floor. Not the best idea, I know…at least we didn’t spill paint on the carpet!!
We then added the animals to the correct biomes. I propped up the alpine biome (with a shoe) to make it more realistic- this way baby mountain goat can actually climb the mountain! 
Side shot of our biome box

Now it’s your turn! Submit any and all your cardboard box creations!! I have a mountain of boxes just waiting for some of your good ideas 🙂
And here is a link to my cardboard creation pinterest board– I am excited to pin your ideas!

Happy Teaching!

DIY Lite Brite Board

Ever since I made a light box (read more about it here) I knew I wanted to do something with all the lite brite pegs we have all over the playroom floor. I have been thinking HARD about how exactly to pull it off when inspiration hit me. OK, more like a piece of cardboard….

We went to Ikea today to get some bookcases. After my husband opened up the box to start putting them together, I noticed that encased in all the plywood was a beautiful, thick piece of corrugated cardboard. Perfect for a Lite Brite board- something we could add our pegs to and easily take on/off our light box. It was as if Destiny knew that we would buy bookcases and threw in a future lite brite scrap just for us. 🙂

Once I realized it was the perfect material for us to use, I set to work playing with lite brites. I made some mistakes (ginormous holes) as you will see in the pictures below… but I was just experimenting to find the best way to make a lite brite board!

Materials:
Light Table/ Light Box (read here for more details)
Lite Brite pegs
Corrugated Cardboard (can be found in packaging stores or Ikea!)

To Make the Lite Brite Board:
Mark one side of the cardboard with a “B”. This will be the back. It is important to remember which side is the back, since the holes made in the front are different.
Take a lite brite peg. On the backside push the peg all the way through the cardboard until it makes a little hole on the other side. For us, we just had to push it until the peg was flush with the cardboard but the thickness of your cardboard may be different.

Back of Lite Brite Board

Once you have made several holes, turn the cardboard over to the front side. Find the small holes and push in just the tip of the peg, so the top part is sticking out (just like in a real Lite Brite).

Front of the Lite Brite Board

Once I made a few random holes and saw how cool it was, I set to work making this semi-educational for my daughter. I wrote her nickname mirrored on the back and marked spots where I wanted to put the pegs.

Back of Lite Brite board getting ready to add Lite Brites.

Turn the board over to see the word “Boo” marked by tiny holes (not big enough for a Lite Brite peg yet).

 Insert just the tips of the pegs into the tiny holes.

Pretty soon you will see something like this… your very own Lite Brite creation. Boo will have a great time writing her name with these colorful pegs!

While I initially just played with it on top of the light box, you could also lay it against the side of the box. I also added another piece of cardboard on top to dampen the light in the room a bit.

One of the coolest thing about having a Lite Brite board (as opposed to the actual manufactured toy) is that you can turn it around and see the back. It was more cool than the front! The picture just doesn’t do it justice…. it was like little pits of color. Can you imagine the fun Christmas displays you can make with these in your window? 

 Here is a pic of just the holes- without the pegs its still pretty neat!

Our light box has been so much fun- there are so many different ways of playing with light. So if you happen to have lots of Lite Brite pegs laying around- consider making a board and using them on your light box!
Happy Teaching!

DIY Light Box and Teaching Ideas

Oh, the wonder and magic of playing with light! I have wanted to make a light box for awhile, and I finally set the goal and got it done. I had no idea that there was SO many different (and educational!) things you could do with light!

Light Box Materials:
Clear plastic under-the-bed Rubbermaid container
2 fluorescent lights

To make the light box, I just turned the Rubbermaid container upside down with the 2 lights inside. It isn’t anything fancy- but it was SO easy!!

Light Box Manipulatives:
Colored accent gems, transparencies (teaching manipulatives I used with an overhead projector), dry erase marker & sheet protector, geometry mirror, microscope slides & magnifying glass

There are tons of different ways to play with a light box. I am going to list some of our ideas- enjoy!

Science:
Pull out your old microscope slides! A light box is a perfect way to view ’em! It’s also a great way to view x-rays.

Looking at a fruit fly with a magnifying glass and our new light box

Math
We made lots of designs with pattern blocks. Boo and I also played and sorted money, made shapes with our geoboard, spun the colored spinner, and created symmetrical patterns with our geometry mirror. With the exception of the mirror, the rest of our math light box manipulatives are old overhead projector teaching materials. And since overhead projectors are on their way out in lots of schools, I bet you could snatch some of these up for a great price.

Geoboard designs and colorful spinners
Geometry mirrors- they are such a fun math manipulative! It’s a great tool for teaching symmetry!
Playing and sorting dollars and coins
Art
We used our pattern blocks to make colors. It was a fast way to show that yellow and blue make green! 
Literacy
I grabbed a dry erase marker and a sheet protector and Boo and I had fun reading words! We played a simple game where a predator was trying to get Boo’s stuffed animal and so we had to read the clues to figure out who he was and what he intended to do if he caught us. 
Reading and writing words
And of course, we did a LOT of free play.

Boo playing with 2 geometry mirrors and accent gems

A big source of light-play inspiration goes to Play at Home Mom– she has some “bright” ideas on her blog! 🙂
I would love to hear about your light play! Now to figure out how to make a “Lite-Brite” with our new box….
Happy Teaching!

M&M Patterns

My daughter and I made some simple patterns today with our Valentine M&Ms. I was worried about them rolling all over the place when the idea came to me to put them in our corn on the cob dishes (from the Dollar Tree- I am addicted to that store and might need some intervention!) It’s a simple solution that I thought I would share!

And when the pattern is finished, the candy is already in a dish that holds just the right amount of chocolate that my little ball of energy should be eating.
Happy Teaching!

Date Night Kits

Let’s face it-my life revolves around my daughter and I love it. Poor hubby has been left in the shadows!  I made him some date night kits for Christmas to help build our relationship.♥
Each themed date night is organized in a manilla envelope with a card of instructions and some of the materials needed. There is also an extra envelope that holds additional ideas for dates on strips of paper.

Here is a list of our themes and a brief summary. Click on the theme to download the date night card. Each date night card has a list of materials needed, the plan for the evening, and an “additional ideas” section to further extend your date.  I created these just for our little family, so you will see some references to my daughter.

Prehistoric Date: Completely inspired from my dinosaur loving daughter- this date takes place at the dinosaur park while afterwards eating a spaghetti dinner sans utensils. And no computers/cell phones/ anything electronic during the date. Can we do it?
Service Date: Service brings people closer together, so why not incorporate it into the date night experience? This date centers around donating our talents, material items, and time to others. FYI: one of the additional items is to do the Kmart layaway challenge. This is inspired from this story, where anonymous donors are paying other people’s layaway accounts- especially toys and clothes purchased for impoverished parents. Incredible, right?
Play Date: Unsure of what this date is about? Pretending to be a kid again! Playing games like tic tac toe, MASH, jump rope, hopscotch, and hide and seek.  The menu for this date: peanut butter sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.
Random Date: This date is driven by chance. (hmmm- does that make sense? I shouldn’t be posting after midnight! Geez!) Flipping a coin, rolling a dice, and using a colored spinner will decide the outfits/restaurant/dessert for the evening.
Blind Date: No, this is not a date with someone you don’t know… it’s a date in the dark! Choosing an outfit, eating dinner, and decorating cookies needs to be done while blindfolded.
80s Date: Inspired from our childhood… blizzards, pizza, and a good 80s movie.
Digital Date: This is the date I am most excited about- not because it will be the most fun, but it is TOTALLY something my geeky hubby will enjoy. And I do blog, so therefore I myself am somewhat geeky :).  This date is a nerdy movie/pizza/video game night with a twist. No talking. Only texting. Unlimited texting may be a requirement for this date- especially if you decide to play go fish or another game!
Night Under the Stars: Great time to learn about the phases of the moon and constellations! This will be a spring/summer date spending the night under the stars roasting marshmallows and gazing at the sky. And maybe even pitch the tent out in the backyard.
Musical Date: Oh, the sweet sounds of music! The plan is to play Name that Tune with the iPad AND live performances using kazoos. This is a perfect time to watch a musical and sing along. 🙂
Game Night: Not your typical game night…. take a variety of board games, mix them all together, and create new games. I thought it might be fun to watch old game show clips on Youtube, too 🙂 The avid gamers might enjoy this challenge: try and play at least one game from these categories: card game, board game, dice game, word game, children’s game, and brain game.
Color Date: This would be the artistic date. We plan on playing the skittles game (similar to the M&M game) because of all the colors (hence the theme name) and creating works of art for each other.
Class Act: The teacher in me just HAD to do a scholastic date! Sharpen your pencils, because a written exam is involved…as well as making carmel apples. Yummers!
Mission Impossible: This theme is centered around things we love about our church missions. We both served in Toronto, so it is pretty much a Canadian date with doughnuts, hockey, and reading through our old mission journals. I didn’t include the date night card here because everyone’s missions are different, and not everyone has served a mission… but if you are interested in seeing a copy of this date night card email me and I will gladly send a copy your way!

Have a fun Valentines Day! Enjoy!

Valentine Mailboxes

Valentines Day is coming up! Yes, I am excited!!! And not because I am expecting flowers or chocolate (although hubby if you are reading this post I would love them!) I absolutely love celebrating the holidays with children. There are so many fun ideas and creative projects that are out there (thank you Pinterest), and I delight in seeing the excitement in my daughter’s eyes.

We have LOTS of Valentines plans this year. One of the new traditions we are starting is sending each other love notes throughout the month of February. I found these cute mailboxes in the dollar section at Target and I already had the pink mailbox letters.

Although the letters have a sticky back, I added a little krazy glue to ensure they would stay. So far so good….

I put the finished mailboxes on some candlestick holders. I think they turned out really cute and I am excited to start using them! And the entire project cost me three bucks- while the messages that will be left inside of them will be priceless 🙂 
Cheesy, I know.
Happy Valentines Day!

Dollar Store Valentine Handprint Plate

I am really excited for Valentines Day! My daughter and I recently made a handprint heart plate. It is super easy, cheap, and I think it looks pretty darn cute!

Materials:

  • red paint
  • white paper
  • pink tissue paper squares
  • glass plate from the dollar store
  • modpodge/ foam brush

Using red paint, have your child stamp their handprints in a heart shape. Then cut out the paper in the shape of a heart.

Turn the plate over (so the back is facing you). Put the heart facedown on the back of the plate. Then modpodge it on until the heart sticks to the plate.

Modpodge the tissue paper squares on to the back of the plate to fill in the gaps. Be careful not to rip or tear the tissue paper during this process.

After the plate was covered in tissue paper squares, I modpodged a paper on the back of the heart that has my daughter’s name and age.

Follow my handprint art board on Pinterest for more ideas:
It is always so fun to craft with my Boo and make something that will always remind me of her. 🙂
Happy Teaching!
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