My beautiful niece is getting married in June, so I threw her a bridal shower last week. She’s in school out-of-state, so we have to fit all the wedding details in when she comes home on break. Feather Your Nest Shower I had fun decorating with a bird’s nest theme, and she got tons of gifts […]
Life Science & Hands-On Learning
Learning Life Science Science is all around us, and we definitely take advantage of that. There are all sorts of opportunities to incorporate science learning into our days, and hands-on experiences create a spark that creates enthusiasm. Hands-on learning doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, and many spontaneous occasions arise that make it easy […]
Creative Writing Activity: Chopped
My oldest son is a writer, and now my niece has caught the bug as well. They love to go on Skype together and collaborate on stories and scripts. When we visited my brother’s family over Christmas, the two of them sat side-by-side with their laptops almost the whole time, working on a book and […]
Teaching Analogies
Teaching critical thinking skills begins early, and Animalogy: Animal Analogies by Marianne Berkes, illustrated by Cathy Morrison, is a fun way to introduce analogies to young kids. Sylvan-Dell publishes some of the finest books on the market for both classroom and home reading. Animalogy keeps kids interested and intrigued as they study the beautifully detailed illustrations of […]
Kids Cook: Party Food
My kids love to help in the kitchen, especially at holiday time. These party food recipes are kid-friendly and yummy, and we’re making them for our Christmas party: Pepperoni Pinwheels 1 package crescent rolls 4 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup shredded Italian/4 cheese 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning 1 package pepperoni Use […]
Craft: Recycled Gift Bags
Easy 5-Minute Craft Have you seen how much gift bags cost? If you save shopping bags, it’s really easy to gussie them up and turn them into “homemade” gift bags. Just pull out some acrylic paint or ink pads, stamps or stencils, and your imagination. You can make a homemade stencil by cutting out designs […]
Homemade Christmas: Peppermint Bark
Homemade Peppermint Bark Peppermint bark is a favorite delicious holiday treat! Unfortunately, a certain retailer thinks it’s worth a fortune! We have a simple recipe that the kids can help make, and even though we won’t have the cute designer tin, the end result is yummy. Ingredients: 1 bag dark chocolate chips 1 bag white chocolate chips […]
Praise God for His Creation
A conversation with my son, age 3: W.-“Mommy, did you used to go to work like Daddy?” Me-“Yes.” W.-“Were I in your tummy?” Me-“Yes.” W.-“Was Bean [his baby brother] still up in Heaven? Was God making him?” Me-“Yes.” W.-“Wow, Mommy! You know, when we all die and we go up to Heaven, […]
Craft: DIY Cereal Box Tents
A few bounty hunters and ewoks wanted to go camping with us last weekend, so we made them some tents to bring along with their playmobil camping gear. Using cardboard from a cereal box, we cut three rectangles, taped them together to form a triangle, and then used the end as a template to cut […]
Camping With Kids
It’s camping weather in our neck of the woods–warm days, cool evenings, chilly mornings. We head out to the state park, set up the tent, stock firewood, tell scary stories, toast marshmallows, cook hot dogs over the fire, and rent a canoe. After several camping trips with our kids, my husband and I learned to […]
Nature Journal: Garden Spider
Strewn across the rosemary, a series of webs glisten in the morning sunlight. We find three woven tapestries, but where is she? We keep searching and observing the patterns in her web and notice a small downy feather sticking to it, along with bits and pieces of leaves and needles. As we scan the lengths of the […]
Easy Homemade Pesto
Cooking from the Garden Though our garden has about fizzled out for the fall, we still have basil growing strong. I cut a bunch of it over the weekend and made my first-ever pesto to put in my freezer. It was easy (key for me,) and it tastes great on sandwiches, pizza, and pasta. Basil Pesto […]