ABC and 123

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Clever Father's Day Gifts to Make and Give

The air is warmer, the leaves are back on our trees, the kids are counting down the days until school gets out, the plans for Memorial Day festivities are ready to roll and my mind if full of ideas we'd like to add to this year's Summer Fun To-Do list. It doesn't hurt to start thinking about some Father's Day gift and card ideas either! Here are a few cute suggestions to get your gears turning!

Turn your left over Altoid tins into adorable mini toolboxes like these from Alpha Mom.

Use the Soda Can Cover-up printables on The Idea Room to create a special case of cola and coasters for Dad.

Tatertots and Jello presents Dad with a tee-rific round of golf.

The kids at Four Crazy Kings used images from old magazines to make this Motor Trend Dad of the Year card.

Katherine Marie Photography has come up with some clever uses for chocolate on Dad's card.

Send your father's day wishes with a sweet treat in the form of Father's Day Candy Bars, Melissa from Max and Ellie has even made up a PDF for you to download filled with all the candy related messages and ready to print out on standard sized labels. Doesn't get much quicker or easier!

Kaboose has a cute I Love You Daddy poem and card idea.

Sarah at the Fifth Street Palace and her son made this fun fish gift bag, perfect for her fishing guru dad!

Ramblings of a Crazy Women shares the step by steps for putting together a Father's Day acronym card.

Mama Jenn made this decorative saying hanging with her daughter for her husband.

Dollar Store Crafts suggests an idea for framing a personalized word collage.

Running short of time? Try this Father's Day Coupon book from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Boys of all ages will love the outdoor adventure ideas in Jen Murray's new ebook, KidVentures! Make it a Father's Day gift for dad and a summer full of fun for all the guys in your family!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Snowman Suggestions: Math, Snacks, and Sensory Exploration

I am "snow" in love with this winter-y sensory bin activity from KatherineMaries.com. This must visit link also features some great snowman crafts and activities.

H is for Homeschooling shares some other ideas for a snow themed sensory bin.

Preschool Alphabet has a picture of a healthy snowman snack idea.

The kids at Under the Big Top practiced their names by making snowman with every letter.

Swamp Frog First Grade made a downloadable snowman to practice fact families.

Fabulously First Grade has another version of a snowman themed fact family practice activity.

Tons of Fun used the idea of stacking a snowman to practice number ordering.

Teacher Time 123 suggests building a paper snowman to practice measuring length and diameter.

Somewhat Simple is offering a free printable for one of our favorite dice games, this version is Roll-A-Snowman.

Pitner's Potpourri put together an activity to combine drawing snowmen and practicing multiplication facts.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

Children who know how to a foreign language will have many advantages as they grow older. To increase the new language readers and speaker’s abilities, practice and creativity will enhance learning.
St. Valentine is around the corner and I decided to make a new set of Spanish cards

for your word wall.

What can you do with these cards? These are some ideas:

Word walls cards can be used:

To provide reference for children during their reading and writing.
To support the teaching of important general principals about words and how they work.
To provide a visual map to help children remember connections between words and the characteristics that will help them form categories.
To foster reading and writing.
To promote independence on the part of young students as they work with words in writing and reading.
To develop a growing core of words that become part of a reading and writing vocabulary.

You can also sort words by:

the number of letters
the number of syllables
the number of consonants
the number of sounds
if they have a certain vowel
if they have a certain rhyme
if they begin with the same letter

Download word wall cards here

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Show and Tell #117

Gift of Curiosity linked up to our last party with a free printable valentine pack.

Growing Book by Book suggests 28 topics to get your family talking at the table this Valentine's Day.

Sparkle and Splatter shared how they put together a mailbox for their valentine's

It's Your Turn

If you are new to Show & Tell or need a quick recap, here are the rules:

~Post your favorite lessons, crafts, traditions, kid friendly recipes, field trip recap, learning games, experiments, DIY organizational projects, holiday related activities, or Ah-Ha moments.

~Direct link to your post, not your home page.

~Include a link back to us or include our link button in your post or sidebar.

~Please try to visit and comment on at least three links. This adds to the positive collaboration that makes our learning cooperative a success!

~Each week we will feature three links from the previous week's party.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Packing a Valentine Lunch with Heart

Then She Made adds some fruit to the Valentine sweets with this heart shaped pineapple and kiwi sucker.

Little Nummies made adorable an Sweetie Tweetie that could be a special addition to a heart day lunch.

I love all the bento lunch suggestions for Valentines day.

{Bento Mama}

{Bento Lunch}

{Bento Mama}

{Mommy Kiki}

For the kiddo who will eat a boiled egg in their lunch consider serving it in a heart shape like this one from Life is a Gag, Make it Fun.

Add a riddle or two when you pack that Valentine lunch box. Teach Mama has a printable full of heart-y jokes.

Mom on a Mission put together a printable of lunch themed love notes to add to your child's meal.

Or perhaps, create a love note of your own on the heart themed printable note paper from Chickabug Blog.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Share Your Heart

The celebration of all things love and hearts begins in our house on February 1st. This weekend has been full of Valentine books, hanging hearts, and designing Valentine cards for classmates. There is a special seasonal shelf in our living room that has transformed itself into a wall of warm, fuzzy reminders of love.

After decorating our own walls my six year old daughter and I spent some time chatting about the things that make us smile. Our wishes and our favorites came to life as we created individualized additions on the virtual Wall of Hearts.

The designing process is a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day and show some heart for friends and loved ones. The hearts created on the interactive wall are later incorporated into the design of the reversible box wrap packaging that holds lovely Our Generation friends, like this sweet Valentine.

Sandie

Sandie, is the newest addition to the Our Generation line of dolls and books. Dressed in pink and accessorized with hearts, Sandie is an extra sweet February friend. As a company, OG is committed to encouraging girls to build an extraordinary generation, while still encouraging them to enjoy being kids.

If you are looking for a way to share your heart, or make a young girl's heart smile, this February consider adding your own design to Our Generation's wall of hearts, or adding Sandie to your doll collection.

Disclosure: It is always my pleasure to write about Our Generation. Their dolls our stylish and durable, and I appreciate their commitment to encouraging girls to build a community they love. I am thankful for the sample doll they sent to us and share my opinions about their company and their product honestly.