Modern Parents Messy Kids

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Storytelling 101

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This is little Zee, 21 months old, wearing his paper cat ears and clutching a paper tail during one of our paper tear-and-tell sessions. Are you guys any good at making up stories for your kids?  As much as I'd love to weave intricate tales for my little ones, I just don't seem to have an aptitude for it.  If you're in the same boat, don't despair, we have a wonderful guest poster today all the way from Singapore to help us out.  Along with some really helpful hints on storytelling (at the … [Read more...]

Creating Art with Nature

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I've been really inspired lately by a concept known as "invitations to play".  The steps involved are about as simple as they come:   Find some interesting materials Lay them out in an appealing and accesible way Watch the children be drawn in like moths to a flame Recently I decided to try the technique with a mix of art materials and found nature objects.  To add to the fun, I set everything up in our playroom while the kids were napping and just left it there for them to … [Read more...]

Play: DIY Body Paint

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A few weeks ago C finished up his first year of preschool and they had a little carnival to celebrate. (I'm not even going to talk about the mini panic attack I had at the realization that my baby will be heading off to real school in a couple of years - nope, not gonna talk about it.)     Anyway, a few of C's beloved teachers offered up their face painting skills at the festivities and I asked the kids if they'd like something painted on.  At the time they only had eyes for the … [Read more...]

Life-Size Building Blocks

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Happy Monday everyone. I'm pretty thrilled to be able to announce today that Allison of All for the Boys will also be joining the MPMK team as a regular contributor. If you've been paying attention, then you already know I'm a fan (featured her here and here). As you'll see from today's post, her ideas are spectacularly fun but also remarkably simple. You really won't be able to resist trying them out at home.     It's no secret that we love forts, tents, and hideaways … [Read more...]

Simple Print Making

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I can't believe it's already Wednesday, short weeks always seem to wreak havoc on my schedule. Plus today was C's last day of preschool (Aggh! He must stop growing. Right. This. Minute.)   Anyway, no more school means it's time to start stocking up on ways to engage the kids over the summer. Kaley's gorgeous DIY play dough post was a good start and I'm at eHow this week posting on another kid art classic: bubble wrap print making.  Did you ever try this when you were young? The results … [Read more...]

Yarn Bombing!

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Have you ever had a day you weren't really looking forward to, for one reason or another, but actually turned out to be really great?  That's exactly what happened to me a few Fridays ago.  We had C's dental appointment and I decided to bring S along so she could get the feel of the place for when her turn arrives.   The idea of trying to keep her still while making sure he was relaxed was already worrying me a bit that morning.  To add to what could have been an awful series events, upon … [Read more...]

Science at Play: Part III

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It's been a busy, busy weekend on the homefront.  Gorgeous weather led to some impromptu yardwork and spring cleaning along with lots of playing in the sun and a family picnic in the backyard. All that means two things: I'm up way too late writing this so I'll be keeping it brief and the nice weather has me thinking about summer.   What do these two things add up to?  My third science at home roundup. (Because it's a relatively quick post and I know from past experience you'll love … [Read more...]

Easter 2012 Aftermath

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Now that Easter has come and gone, I wanted to remind you of this post from last year on exactly what to do with all those plastic eggs. I also thought you might be interested in how our water bead eggs went over. Of course, it should be noted that due to their size they can be a choking hazard so please never leave them alone in the presence of small children who might be tempted to eat them. This morning I let the kids break them apart over some big bowls set out on towels.  You can see … [Read more...]

A No-Mess Painting Technique

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I'm at momtastic this week sharing my favorite new painting technique.  S and I picked it up at toddler group and it was a big hit.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still all for getting messy but it's nice to have some tamer creative activities to draw from.    When I was plotting this project in my head I envisioned using paper cut into egg shapes to make some pretty Easter decor.  When it actually came down to it, everything was so spur of the moment that I couldn't harness C's excitement long … [Read more...]