This is the time of the year that we're all thinking about organization. So today I'd like to bring back I had a few years ago and see what you guys think... Turning the (often underused) dining room into an art room for the kids. Here's my original argument for the change.... I finally did it - I got rid of the old green couch (which was essentially a glorified dog bed) in our play room and replaced it with the mother of all tables and some clever storage benches. Thus creating the … [Read more...]
Our Favorite Play Doughs and Slimes to Keep Your Kids Busy
Yesterday a good friend group texted me and a couple of our other mom friends to ask for our favorite DIY play dough recipe. Of course, I immediately replied with a link to our famous Jell-O play dough. A few hours later she texted a photo of happy kiddos and my other friends were chiming in what a life-saver this recipe is when kids are home from school and there are lots of hours to fill. A light bulb went off and I realized all of you might also benefit from a reminder about our best … [Read more...]
Quiet Time Trick: Make Calming Lavender Play Dough
We've talked about the amazing benefits of play dough. We've shared the best play dough recipe ever. We've even made play dough toolkits. So we can all agree that we love play dough. But did you know that it can also be used as a great calming activity for kids? By adding the soothing, calming properties of lavender to our favorite playdough, this activity is sure to calm even the wiggliest of kids on those long summer days. … [Read more...]
Best Play Dough, Slime & Other Sensory Activities for Kids
It's no secret we love DIY play dough, slime, and other sensory activities around here. Hands-on play not only leads to increased creativity and fine-motor development (which is important for things like writing), it's also a fabulous boredom buster. Play dough and sensory boxes are some of our go-to activities when the weather is bad or mom needs some time to pay bills, do laundry, etc. Recently the folks over at eHow's Mom Channel asked me to roundup some of my favorite playtime posts … [Read more...]