Learnterest...Pinterest

I have become officially addicted to Pinterest. I have tried recipes, DIY projects, and it has given me lots of ideas for things to do with the kids.

Below is something I "pinned" on Pinterest to do with the kids.

While the idea behind this game is really cool, I just do not have the energy, time, money to make something like this...so I improvised!

Introducing my cheaper, less energy expending, less time taking version:

This is our muffin tin filled with little things from around the house. We went through each little muffin cup and counted the things inside and then wrote down the number on paper. Double points for mom! I got them to practice counting and writing!

I filled the tins with boy things, girly things, random things. One of the cups has an envelope I found  in a desk drawer that was covered in stickers. They had to count the stickers on it! Make it interesting!

Engage those little minds!

Take Ten!

Life's little math lessons...

I'm always looking for "busy" activities for my kids to do by themselves so I can do things like shower without a fight ensuing. There is nothing worse than being in the shower and hearing your kids fighting in another room.

The activity I made up yesterday promoted math skills, matching skills, and playing skills. The kids liked it, I liked it, and it kept them busy for the ten minutes I needed.

Pull out the blocks or legos.
Tell the kids to divide them up by color and then count each color.
When you get back to the room, have them report the number of each color to you.

When I got back I was told there were 16 red blocks. That was as far as they got before they decided to build castles and cities.

To make it a little more math worthy, I took the yellow blocks and we did some adding and subtracting with them.

Example: Place a line of 6 blocks together, take away 3 and asked how many are left.  I asked: 6 blocks minus 3 blocks equals how many? They count what is left and answer.

Take Ten!

Easy peasy ABCeasy...

I made up a game for my littlest girl. She doesn't get much one on one time with me because her big brother and sister don't always nap. On this day, she woke up before they did, so we played a fun game of Easy Peasy ABCeasy. 

Yes, I made up that name and yes, I get to name it because I also made up this game. It's not anything special, but it was fun for her and she learned some letters along the way.

Get some ABC blocks, make a "castle" and let your little knock it down. Grab the blocks that fell, and name the letters. Repeat. And repeat again. Then do it again! Get the idea?

Your little one will love it! You will love it. Everyone involved will have fun, I promise!

Take Ten!

Play dough and PJ's...

What? You don't make play dough in your pajamas like we do?

This was the first time we've made play dough and it is surprisingly easy. We chose to make a Valentine pink play dough.

Supplies: Kindle set up on table with recipe displayed, oil, salt, flour, water, cream of tartar, food coloring

Here is the complete recipe with instructions: play dough recipe

Mix it all together in a pot, cook on medium-low heat until it clumps together and looks like play dough. It took a total of 15 minutes and voila! We had pink play dough!

The kids were excited, I was excited, even the dog was excited but only because he wanted to eat it. :)

Take Ten!

Valentinies...

My little valentinies and I made an art project this last week. It's hanging in our house, a cute Valentine decoration.

We got the idea from this website: www.meaningfulmama.com-check it out!

What we used: coffee filters cut into hearts, markers, and medicine droppers filled with water.

We colored the hearts, then dropped water on the colors and watched the colors "bleed" into on another to make a cool tie dye look.

I placed a big plastic bag under the project to cut down on mess...here are the hearts!

We're still working on teaching this little girl that markers DO NOT taste good...lol She still tries them every time.

Melanie holding up her all turquoise heart.

While the kids took naps, I used a needle and thread to make a heart chain out of their creations.

Then I hung them on our mirror...

Can you find a little boy in this picture?

Take Ten!