Making routines fun!

That whole bedtime routine can seem a little bothersome some nights, can't it?  Now that our kids are getting a little older (relative, I know) we're trying to let them take on a little bit more responsibility for their own self care (especially Ava who is six.  Wyatt still needs a bit of help but he wants to do what his big sister does).  I created routine charts for them with velcro pieces that they can place on the chart as they complete each bedtime or morning task.  All of the charts that you see below are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  I recommend printing blank ones, laminating, and then personalizing the tasks with a wet-erase marker.

I decided to go with a space theme for the bedtime charts, and then did something slightly different for both of their morning charts.  But I'm getting a head of myself.  The biggest obstacle we have as a family when trying to get just about anything done is:  can we find the supplies we need?  I decided to make Self Care Boxes for both of the kiddos.  Whether they're getting themselves ready, or if we're helping them, all of the required supplies will be right at our fingertips.  I purchased the bins and much of the contents from the Dollar Tree.  I printed the labels from my computer and laminated them.  Both boxes contain pretty much the same thing with one difference:  Wyatt's has hair gel and Ava's has hair ties.  The other items are a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, brush, flossers, wash cloth, timer, mini spray bottle, and band aids.  Does anyone else's kids go through bandaids like it's their job?!

For their morning routine charts, I made Wyatt's with a puppy theme (because puppies are his favorite animal).  I made Ava's with a panda theme (because pandas are her favorite animal).  I think I'm going to hang all of their charts inside our bathroom linen closet on the door so they don't travel too far and lose pieces.  This morning I awoke to the sound of velcro chart pieces being taken on and off and on and off and on and off.  Ava came into my room BEFORE 6 a.m. to let me know that she had completed all of her morning tasks. 

I can't believe how excited Ava was when I introduced the new self-care boxes and charts to them before bed last night.  She kept saying "This is so much fun!"  and "Wyatt let's clean up so we can put our first star on the chart!"  She spent an hour the following morning just taking the stuff out of her bin, laying it out in front of her, and then putting it back.  So far, developing consistent routines and new habits is going well.  I'll keep you posted.

Summer Bucket List

Every year I say we're going to make a bucket list.  We never do.  This year I saw some cute ideas using an acutal bucket and clothespins and thought that would be fun.  I decided to make one for us and one for a gift.  I picked up two galvanized metal buckets at the Target Dollar Spot (I know it's called Spot's Playground now but it will always be the Dollar Spot to me).  From Michael's I grabbed a sheet of summer themed stickers, some brightly colored clothespins, and labels.

For our bucket I used some clothespins and labels I already had (from a previous season's Dollar Spot shop) and saved the other clothespins for the gift version.

I put together the second bucket as a gift for a friend's birthday.  I purchased a few things to go inside the bucket to round it out.  I included bug spray, sunblock, glow bracelets, and sparklers.  I labeled a few of the clothespins, but left the majority blank so that they could personalize their bucket list.  I included a Sharpie and extra clips.  I think it made a great gift for $10!

When I introduced our bucket list to the kids, we started by reading the book And Then Comes Summer by Tom Brenner.  I love everything about this book.  The illustrations are colorful and unique, and the text truly captures the sight, sounds, tastes, and feelings of summer.  We also read  Let It Shine by Maryann Cocca-Leffler.  This was a very simplified book but good for littler ones.  We asked the kids to each list three things that they wanted to do this summer.  And we pulled from a Summer Bucket List that Ava had created in school.  The five items listed on that list:  Waterpark, Playground, Fireworks...  and... wait for it... McDonalds and Disney!!  Disney is not on our bucket list for this year and honestly, McDonalds isn't one I had planned to put on.  But we have a lot of fun things to choose from this summer and can't wait to get started!  What is on your summer bucket list this year?

Making time for learning

You are your child's first and best teacher.  That is what I'm always telling parents in my library programs.  Back when I just had one child, I would spend hours planning and writing out a lesson plan for the week for her.  When we added our second child to our family, we were lucky if everyone got a bath every week.  It was quite an adjustment figuring out life with two kids (I don't know how you mommas with more kiddos do it!), working full time, and keeping up with all the other life details.  But I LOVE doing activities with my kids, and being the one to teach them is something is my greatest joy.  So I push through and keep trying to find a system that works to juggle everything.

When it comes to learning activities with the kids, if you're like me, you get on Pinterest to look for a few ideas for your theme week, and then all of a sudden feel like you have to do ALL.THE.THINGS!  It's so easy to get overwhelmed with all of the amazing and fun ideas out there.  And if you're like me...  very quickly it all seems like too much and you end up doing nothing!  It's taken me a long time to find balance and to calm my "all or nothing" thinking.  These posts are to give you a few quick ideas that you can do with little prep.  Frequently I take my help from products that I can order with prime shipping from Amazon and are good to go.  Learning Resources has been a Godsend!  I'm a working mom who still wants to to do fun learning activities with her kids at home.  But I leave the house at 7:30 every  morning and don't get home until 6 p.m.  The kids go to bed at 7 and then my husband and I attempt to eat dinner.  And by then I'm too exhausted to cut, laminate, and glue.  There's not much time left in my day before I have to go to bed and get up and do it all over again.  And I don't want to spend the few days that I'm at home and not at work, prepping things.  I want things to be ready to go so when I have time I can spend it having fun with my kids.

When I buy toys that I plan to use for learning activities, I try to buy things that can do double duty.  Something that we can either use in different ways depending on which aged child is using it, or something that has multiple applications for all ages.  Could I make something similar for free?  Perhaps.  But my time is worth money, too.  And it could be the difference between doing something fun with my kids, or skipping it and doing nothing.

If you read my post from Camping Day 3, you saw how much I love the snapping cubes.  I thought I'd share my top five toys/products that are versatile enough to give you your money's worth in uses. Let me know in the comments below what is your favorite learning toy for your kids!


Number 1:  Learning Resources One To Ten Counting Cans Toy Set

Number 2:  Learning Resources Ten-Frame Treasures

Number 3:  Learning Resources Snap Cubes

Number 4:  Learning Resources Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set

Number 5: Hape Numbers Wooden Learning Puzzle


OK, I couldn't stop at 5.  Here's a bonus.  Number 6: Alpha-Bots

Making Reading Fun: Camping edition

If you read my Camping: Day 3 post then you know we bought the kids a new play tent for indoor fun (though it can be used outdoors, too). Today I found Ava in it with her lantern reading one of her independent reading books that I pulled for our theme week. Does it get any cuter?

Side note: We love Billie B. Brown! Have you read any of the series?  They are perfect for new readers who are ready for longer books but not full length chapter books.  The Billie B Brown books have about four chapters in each book.  The writing is large and easy to read and the stories are fun!  Miss Ava really responds to Billie B!  For her independent reading linked to our theme this week, I chose Billie B. Brown and the Midnight Feast.  Billie and her best friend Jack are camping in the back yard and can't wait to have their midnight feast of camping goodies...but are they big enough (and brave enough!) to have a midnight feast on their own?

A few other books that I pulled for her to read on her own during the week were Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping  and Humphrey's Creepy-Crawly Camping Adventure .

All About Camping: Day 5

It's hike day!  I'll be honest, I'm not really into hiking.  But my husband loves taking walks in nature and the kids love to go with him.  So I organized everything and the three of them enjoyed a lovely 90 degree hike while I stayed home in the air conditioning.  Most of what I put together we can use throughout the summer, as well as when we do actually go camping.  I made these hiking/camping scavenger hunt/bingo cards and paired them with dry erase markers from the Dollar Tree.

Each kid already had binoculars and a magnifying glass.  I got the bug catching kits at the Dollar Tree.  I made them each a nature notebook with first aid kit cases in a camping theme from Target's dollar section.  I just cut and stapled together some copy paper and added washi to cover the staples.  I added a label only because I had some leftover from another project.  I threw in some colored pencils we already had and they turned out really cute!

The kids (and my husband) had a great time!  A lot of fun, a lot of learning, and a lot of special moments took place.   This was the perfect end to our theme week.

All about Camping: Day 4

I wanted to have the kids help me make some snack mix to take on a short hike I was planning for the weekend.  They had been begging me all week for the Cheez-its and pretzels they saw me buy.  They were excited when the time finally came to open the boxes!  I like the Scrabble edition of the cheese crackers because it is a great literacy tie in when you pull out a letter you can try to think of word that starts with that sound.  It makes a great game that everyone can play and can be adapted to any setting.  I knew it would add a fun component to snack time on our hike.  Small stick pretzels are the same kind of literacy fun.  You can build letters with them!  On a hike they're perfect.  "I see a ladybug.  What letter does 'ladybug' start with?  Who can build it with their pretzels?"  To the pretzels and cheese crackers we also added a bag of trail mix.  The kid worked together to mix them up and portion them out and were more than happy to be the first taste-testers!

I am loving this tent so are the kids.  It made a perfect place to test our their snack!  Even our cat likes it.  :)  You can easily slide the two floor rods out and then fold the tent flat and store it under the couch.  It takes two seconds to pull it out and slide the rods back in to set it up.

All about Camping: Day 3

In yesterday's post we had a lot S'MORE fun than we intended!  Today our Schylling Mega Tentcame from Amazon and boy did we have two excited kids on our hands.   Oh, who are we kidding, I was excited, too!  Probably for different reasons than the kids, though.  I'm excited to have a tent that we can use for multiple purposes and themes, but that is easy to take down and store.  I thought a perfect book for our tent day would be Maisy Goes Camping and the kids, my three-year-old specifically, loved it.  This, of course, prompted all of those stuffed animals that seem to keep multiplying in my kids' closet to make their way out to the living room.  I decided to tie in a quick math activity today.  Of course we counted all of the animals that they put in their tent, and even worked in a little addition and subtraction for my six-year-old (side note:  this was a great way to clean up--If we have 16 animals in the tent, and Mom makes you return 6 to the closet, how many are left?  Answer, in case you were wondering, is;  too many!)  I made an Animal Shape Match activity and both of the kids actually enjoyed doing it.  I had Wyatt work on the color version with velcro dots, matching up the shapes, and then they both did the color and cut version.  I cut the shapes for Wyatt and he glued them on.  Then I pulled out this measurement activity for Ava (and Wyatt enjoyed playing with the blocks) to play around with measurement.  These Learning Resources Snap Cubes are one of the most versatile learning products that I've bought.  I purchased these nearly four years ago and we use them all the time when we do school at home.  Plus the kids just have fun building with them.  I originally planned to also have the kids use their Learning Resources Play Tape Measure but I forgot that they had broken it and we had thrown it out.  So instead Ava used our snap cubes to measure how many units long each animal was, and then she also sorted the version with the snap cubes printed on them by number.  She had fun and it got us talking a little bit about measurement and units of measurement.  We finished with Steve Jenkin's book called Actual Size to see how big some animals were in real life, compared to how I represented them in my cards.  We also got silly talking about which of these animals we might see when we were camping (Note:  we better NOT see the world's largest spider)!

All About Camping: Day 2

If you missed yesterday's post, be sure to check it out and see what we did for our first day of Camping Week.  What is camping with out s'mores?! We read Curious George Goes Campingbecause that naughty little monkey just resonates with my spirited little kiddos!   Since George is toasting marshmallows at the end, what better link than s'mores?  To explain how s'mores are made, we played this sequencing game.  Ava enjoyed this activity, but it was too difficult for Wyatt.  Their favorite thing was playing this S'mores Shape Matching Game that I  made.   We played it cooperatively and took turns drawing cards from the center to see how many s'mores we could complete.

All about Camping: Day 1

We decided to do a camping themed week of learning and play in preparation for taking our kids on their first camping trip this summer!  I have long been a fan of Learning Resources products, but when my son got this New Sprouts Camp Out set for his 3rd birthday, I knew it would make a great addition to a themed learning week for both kiddos.  We read the book Into the Outdoors and set up the "campfire" from the Camp Out set and gathered round.  I placed these storytelling prompt cards in the camping bag from our Learning Resources set and we created our own story.  We took turns pulling cards out of the bag and adding it to our story.

These storytelling cards are available to download for free in the month of May.  There are 28 cards and there are so many things you can do with them!  Visit my TeachersPayTeachers store for more.