Write On!: Our New Writing Center

I just love finding ways to facilitate creativity in my kids. This weekend I reorganized our art and craft supplies and repurposed an old tv stand to hold everything the kids like to have free access to. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, since I didn't spend a penny on it and I think I have eliminated one of our clutter culprits. Tons of junk always landed on the top of this table. I had to sift through stacks of school papers, artwork, old mail, and random objects thoughtlessly laid atop this tv table, but it was worth it! I hate clutter!

Here are a bunch of pics of our new writing/creativity center:

I used the baskets we already had, so they don't all match, but they work for now!

The top view: I used an old serving tray to define the mail center. The cake stand is for new mail.

We now have a "Cards and Envelopes" basket, "Sticky Notes and Small Note Paper," and an old utensil caddy that holds freshly sharpened pencils, hole punchers, scissors, tape, pens, and a variety of paper pads. A pretty clipboard holds a stack of kindergarten lined paper.

The middle section (where the dvd player used to be) holds Ikea boxes of markers, crayons, and other essentials for writing and drawing. The lime green basket is for stickers. I put a sheet of "make your own" blank stickers in there in addition to tons of little chart stickers and round tag sale stickers.

The picture labels make it easy for our 3-year-old to find what she needs, but also has the words for our 6-year-old to practice reading. These little boxes are from Ikea and are the perfect size for our art supplies.

The bottom drawers hold stencils, colored construction paper, and a basket of sight words.

The kids know exactly where to put the mail when they bring it in. When they need a stamp on their envelope, it goes in the green pot for me to stamp it. I gave them some return address labels that we got for free in the mail...they love these! The basket in the back is our "Bird Watching" basket with binoculars, sketch pad, bird book, and colored pencils, ready to be carried outside on an expedition.

So far, this writing center has inspired lots of writing and creativity! Hopefully it continues to be a good clutter-buster, too!

Kid-Friendly Way to Celebrate the Season: CUPCAKE LINERS!

KID 2 was hungry before school, so we broke out the cute fall cupcake liners and filled one with raisins for her to nibble. They make great snack cups! I'm brainstorming other ways to use these cute seasonal papers:

• Craft Corral: great for holding glitter, googley eyes, pom poms, or whatever we're working with

• Same and Different: I have the kids sort and categorize little items like coins, beads, M&M's, etc.

• Lunchtime Helper: perfect size for corralling chips or pretzels on their lunch plates

• Flower Power: flip inside out and snip down the sides to make a paper flower for a seasonal collage.  Glue a button or pom pom in the center.

• Handyman special: hold the little parts, nuts and bolts in one spot as you assemble those awesome birthday and Christmas toys

Any other ideas? Kids love seeing the season reflected all around them and take joy in the small reminders we incorporate into their day.

The Best Nest!

We got this nest idea from montessori mama's post today and decided to get right to work building our own nests. We just read The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman, so we found materials similar to the ones Mr. and Mrs. Bird used to build their nest:

stocking string (yarn)

soda straws

hay (paper confetti and basket filler)

horse hair (pink Easter grass)

We started with the rolled-down brown paper bag (I helped with this step), and they painted glue inside their nests and up the sides. Then they went to town adding gobs of nest-building decor! We'll put Easter eggs in when they are dry (they also used gobs of glue!).

This was a fun and easy project!

Spring Planting Project: Upside-Down Tomatoes

A fun and easy spring gardening project to try with your little ones involves repurposing your plastic 2L soda bottles. Cut off the bottom, turn it upside down, punch holes around the top for twine or string (we reinforced ours with colored duct tape), and put a small tomato plant upside down through the neck of the bottle. Fill with soil, then water and hang in a sunny spot.

Enjoy watching your tomatoes grow upside down!

Time to Get a Timer?

Check out my list of great uses for timers with preschoolers over at MotleyMoms:

Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick...Brrrrrrrrring!

Old Jeans + Quilt Binding = Cute Apron!

This is the apron I made for my niece (age 9 1/2) for Christmas. She is very fashionable and loves to do cooking projects, so I knew she needed a hip little apron.

I save old jeans for various uses. These were my husband's old Gap jeans. I cut one back pocket for the top of the apron and used the front of the jeans as the skirt. Black quilt binding finished the edges and I used some cute polka dots for the sash. I also handstitched her first initial onto the front bib pocket, but didn't get a picture of that.

It turned out so cute, and she really liked it! Now I want one for myself!

Homemade Toy: Montessori Style

Here is our new practical life activity for November:

We painted these wooden beads this morning with cranberry-colored tempera paint. Both kids helped and they dried really fast.

I put them on a tray in a small bowl, set an empty bowl next to it, and demonstrated how to use our toast tweezers to pinch and transfer the "cranberries" into the second bowl.

Both kids LOVE this new toy! It's pretty challenging for our 2-year-old, but she really stuck with it, putting all 40 cranberries into the other bowl one by one.

When she was done, she reset the station by carefully dumping the cranberries into the first bowl...this was self-motivated. I didn't ask her to do this, but when she finished, she announced, "Your turn!" to her big brother. So sweet!

Check out Works-for-Me Wednesday for more great toy ideas!

Mmm, Mmmm, Good!

My friend Rachel recently loaned me a great cookbook titled Toddler Cafe, by Jennifer Carden, and I have to tell you, it's been fun trying some of her recipes! She even shares some recipes on her blog. Her book has beautiful, full-color pictures of many of her recipes, so it's fun just to look through it...I love picture cookbooks!

One cool idea was to use your waffle iron at lunchtime to make your own paninis. The kids LOVED this! The cheese melted inside and the bread got all textured like a waffle! I even sauteed some sliced apples in butter to go in them with the cheese...mmmmmm, so good!

Yesterday, we made "Peanut Butter Globe Globs" for our afternoon snack. The kids loved rolling this squishy stuff into balls and then coating them in crushed cereal. And they were tasty!

Today I think we'll try the "Toddler Truffles," which look like real chocolate truffles, but are actually made with black beans (and some other stuff!). I've had a sweet treat like this in Asian restaurants and they are GOOD!

If you have an opportunity to pick up Jennifer's cookbook, you won't regret it! I think I need to get myself a copy!

A Very Hairy Pair

The Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday bash is coming up! Here's how our little party favor experiment is going:


KID 1 filled each section of a knee high with grass seeds and soil from our compost heap, layering them in and then tying each section off to form a caterpillar (I did the tying). He then soaked it in a bucket of water and set it on a clay tray filled with water. After just 4 days, we had grass shoots! He can't wait to give his caterpillar a trim! Here it is:



For KID 2, we tried filling the nylon with soil, tying each section off, soaking it in a bucket of water, and then rubbing the grass seeds on top. Hers is pictured below on the right.



Both ways worked, but I think putting them inside the nylon with the soil is safest. Some of her seeds blew off as they dried. We tried sticking them back on, but only the ones on top stayed put.

If and WHEN her little birthday bash happens, each guest will make a Very Hairy Caterpillar and then we'll slip it into a plastic goody bag for them to take home. They will soak it in water at home and find a plate or tray to set it on and watch it sprout!

I'm thrilled that my idea worked! This will be a great hands-on activity at the party!

Materials required:

• old pantihose, cut into 2 foot sections and tied at the bottom
• rye grass seed (a 5 lb. bag cost us $3.75)
• some colorful pipe cleaners for the legs and antennae
• A bucket of water
• As take-home party favors, we got 12 goody bags for $1

This was so much fun and cheap and EASY!!! See more of my Very Hungry Party ideas here.

For more frugal ideas, check out this site...

Cheapie Challenge: Make-Your-Own Popcorn Containers

We decided we wanted popcorn for snack the other day when my nine-year-old niece came to visit us. On the spur of the moment, rather than grabbing bowls out of the cabinet, I thought I'd challenge them while they watched their movie and waited for their snack.

The challenge: Create a container for their popcorn using only the materials I provided.

Here is what I gave them:

• One square sheet of waxed paper
  
• A roll of transparent tape

Here are their creations...

Frugal, but fun!

Making Their Marks: Toothbrush Paintings

Why throw away an old toothbrush when you can paint with it? This one was fun for both kids. Just make sure it doesn't go in the mouth!

Check out more of our fun art ideas! Or check out Crystal's blog for more Frugal Friday links.

A Playspace That Works

I love creating kid-friendly spaces! Our playroom (an enclosed side porch Realtors technically called a "third bedroom," since it has a tiny closet) has been a work in progress since we moved in 2 years ago...for a few reasons:

1. As our kids grow and change, their playtime changes, too. Especially in the first few years! We've finally landed on some things that BOTH kids can play with, albeit differently, in their age-appropriate ways. Even my 9-year-old niece has a ball in our playroom...and it's designed with preschoolers in mind!


2. We kept reorganizing things to see what works best in this small space (an 8 x 5' rug just fits with a few feet of bare floor left over for the art table and chairs). Our goal: to create a space that both our kids can enjoy and then clean up...without a lot of adult intervention.


3. We had too much stuff in the playroom...it's been a process of elimination. What we're left with is a great selection of classic toys. We only kept what the kids actually play with, and we tried to focus on toys that will stand the test of time and accommodate their growing skills and imaginations. Coming Soon: Playroom Purge: The Toys We Kept

We are really blessed to have a playroom space completely dedicated to playtime. However, these ideas can be applied to any space you call a play space. We chose to put our son and daughter in one bedroom, figuring they can comfortably share a room while they are little. So far, we're happy with our decision, since we get to use the "third bedroom" as play space.

For the playroom, I took my cue from my son's preschool classroom. It, too, was a very small space, and it had to accommodate TEN three-year-olds! If Miss Ann could do it, I knew I could turn our small space into a kid-friendly place for two!

And like most preschool classrooms, our playroom is organized into "centers," which thrills my son to no end. We have the dress-up center, housekeeping, trucks and blocks, art table center, manipulatives (puzzles, stacking toys, beads, and sorting shapes), a music center, and lots and lots of children's books. I was thrilled when the puzzle rack I ordered arrived...slowly, but surely, each thing in the playroom finds a special home!

Because space (and money) is limited, I've had to get creative with our storage. As I went through the kids' bedroom closet, weeding out anything I could, I added this old diaper organizer to the pile of donations...until my practical side won out. I thought, "Surely I can find a way to use it somewhere in the house!" It became our music center, handily organizing and displaying our instruments for easy access.

Eventually, we hope to have built-in storage in the playroom, complete with pull-out trays for musical instruments, like my resonator set from the Musikgarten company. It's beautiful and deserves a special place of its own. For now, sadly, it rests on the floor beneath the diaper --I mean, music--caddy.

We may have mismatched shelving units, some tall, some short, but the space serves its purpose where it counts: at the eye level of a preschooler!

Rhythm Shakers

One activity that both our kids enjoy blends art and music: making and decorating their own rhythm shakers. We had so much fun with this, we did it again with friends for our 4th of July parade, and again for a MOPS Jamboree playdate!

You will need:

• Empty containers: No glass, please!
  
• Stickers or colored tape
  
• Noisy fillers
  
• Measuring spoons
  
• Funnel (you can roll a piece of paper)
  
• Hot Glue Gun
  

1. Start with a couple of empty containers from the recycling bin. Clean, dry plastic bottles work fine (soda, water, milk jugs, popcorn seed jars, condiments, all shapes and sizes work fine, as long as they still have a lid or top...we even took the label off a white acetaminophen bottle), coffee cans, salt containers, etc.
   
2. Decorate the containers: We take the labels off, when possible. Stickers or colored tape are easy and fun. Markers work well on cardboard containers, like salt or oatmeal cylinders. You could even decorate your own paper label and tape it on.
   
3. Offer some different noise-making fillers, one type per container: a bowl of dry rice, a bowl of dry beans, small jingle bells, small pebbles, popsicle sticks, popcorn seeds...anything that will make a great sound inside the container.
   
4. Just a tablespoon or two of filler is plenty for a shaker...this isn't going to deplete your rice or beans supply. Consider buying some just for crafts; they make great cheap collage material! A funnel helps younger kids get more filler into their bottle and less on the floor! We made one out of paper.
   
5. Hot glue the lid on, so no accidental spills end the fun too soon. Just keep the hot glue gun out of reach of small hands.
   
6. Notice with your child how each container sounds different. Talk about the different sounds. Why do you think the beans sound different than the rice? Is the rice louder or softer than the other materials? Etc.
   


7. Put on some music or just sing a silly song and jam with your rhythm shakers!

Cheap Art: Beautiful Junk

We LOVE art time around here, and with two preschoolers who don't understand the concept of "use it sparingly," we really burn through our supplies quickly. So in order for my kids to be creative, I have to get creative with materials. Okay, the coffee mug on the end is what gets Mommy through our beautiful art sessions in the morning!

Here is our "Beautiful Junk" Art Box (these are for collages, inventions, or whatever inspires them):

My 4 1/2 year-old son loves the empty containers for creating cool stuff like rockets, robots, food for his kitchen, etc. For a while, he saved every cereal box for his unnamed "project," piling them all over the kids' craft table, until I finally had to dump them in the recycling bin in the dark of night.

Hey, you know you do it, too! My husband and I are like the sneaky nighttime bandits when it comes to purging junky toys, favorite WAY-outgrown clothes, and random collections of things: rocks, sticks, acorns, boxes, etc.

Anyway, back to our beautiful junk. We use the pasta for stringing on necklaces or adding to a collage. I try to find interesting shapes and colors. We also have a bin of pasta tubes...I'm not sure where that one disappeared to.

My mom, a former preschool teacher of 12 years, picked up some Easter basket filler when it went on clearance one year and gave it to my son for his art projects. He LOVED it! It's the paper kind, not plastic, so it glues onto paper really well (and it won't hurt if my toddler gets a bit in her mouth...it happens!) Now I pick up a couple of bags of Easter grass/filler after Easter every year...it's super-cheap.

Do you have any frugal favorites for art time?