Creative and Curious Kids UPDATE!

I haven't been around in a LONG time!  So sorry to those who enjoyed reading Creative and Curious Kids!  We are still creating and learning in our household and hope that you are doing the same with your little ones. 

Here is a little peek into our lives....

July

 

 

 



August

 





September

 

 

 

 

October

 

 

 

 

Have fun learning and being creative with your kids!

Jen

 

Family Tragedy

I'm posting today for prayers for my family.  We lost my cousin, his fiance, and three year old child in an awful car accident. (news story)   His one year old daughter is fighting for her life in the hospital and their 11 year old has a cracked skull and broken arm.  There is also a 9 year old that needs your prayers for the loss of so many family members.  She was at summer camp during the accident.

 

 

I've set up a Memorial fund page to help with the financial burdens for the family.  If God puts it on your heart to donate, here is the link:

 Memorial Fund for Terry Cramer Jr.

 

 

Blessings,

Jen

Happy Father's Day!

I haven't been around this blog lately, but I thought I'd stop by today being it's a special one! Actually I came to brag a little about the BEST DAD EVER! He told me I was amazing each time I gave birth to all 3 of our children. Well, he has been amazing ever since. 
 

Over the years there has been...

• many kisses
• bedtime stories
• changing diapers
• inside and outside tents
• fishing
• hikes
• lots of hugs
• the most tickles ever
• hide and seek
• freeze tag
• drive in movies
• pancake breakfasts
• painted toes
• amusement parks
• zoo and museums
• pushes on swings
• parent conferences
• picnics
• snowball and water balloon battles
• campfires
• charades
• driving the kids here and there
• Camp
• painting
• swimming
• bowling
• piggy back rides
• playing pretend
• singing and dancing
• playing Santa and Easter Bunny
• building towers 
• roller skating
• birthday parties
• bed tucking
• and so much more!!!!!

 

Happy Father's Day to our special guy and to your Dads!

Exploring Bugs!

Spring weather mixed with a love of nature and curiosity equals .. bug exploration!

At a recent visit to the library, my little man was introduced to a book about pill bugs followed by a hunt outside of the library for  the critters.

I loved the preschool squeals as the children found and held pill bugs.  Ever since that trip, little man has been fascinated with searching for bugs during our times outdoors.  Below are some resources to enrich your little bug hunters at home!

ABC Bug Scavenger Hunt: free printable over at The Activity Mom.  I enjoyed creating this hunt for my children. 

Worm Activities: another recent post I shared over at The Activity Mom. Book suggestions and learning ideas.

Ladybug Songs: activity fun for little ones

I hope that these resources will be helpful!
Jen

Happy Easter!

from our house to yours!

Many blesssings,
Jen

God Gave Us Easter-Book Review

 

When sharing our faith with little ones, often there are certain concepts that can be difficult to explain.  Lisa Tawn Bergren does such a wonderful job sharing Christian themes in her books.  In the adorable story,God Gave Us Easter, Papa Bear shares the importance of Easter with Little Cub. Papa Bear tells Little Cub that Easter is even more important than Christmas. 

 

"Because on Christmas, we celebrate Jesus' birthday. But on Easter, we remember we get to be with him forever."
 

As Little Cub shares her excited about the Easter Bunny and treats, Papa Bear reminds her of the significance of Easter and that it is God who gave us Easter.  My favorite part in the book is when papa bear shares an example of a newborn chick breaking out of an egg and compares it with how Jesus was in a tomb, but didn't stay dead. 

I also adore the illustrations of the this sweet polar bear family created by Laura J. Bryant. I first discovered her work in the book- God Gave Us You.

My family truly enjoyed God Gave Us Easter. What a wonderful gift to share with our children on Easter morning!

More information and resources:
God Gave Us Easter Coloring Page
God Gave Us Easter- more information
Author's Website

Have you shared any of the books in this series with your children? I'd love to hear from you!

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Happy Easter,
Jen

Handprint Leprechaun

I found this adorable activity on Pinterest from Patties Classroom and knew I had to do it with the little ones. 

Be sure to stop by her blog and check out her creative classroom ideas!

Jen

Flower Gem Activities

Aren't these flower gems lovely? The toddler that I care for adored them and played with them for the longest time.. scooping them back and forth into little containers. 
 
So great for those muscles in her little fingers.  Anytime I post about things like this, keep in mind that some of the learning materials are small and should be supervised.  You can find these flowers at the Dollar Tree.  (table scatter)

Other ideas-
Patterns
Counting
Sorting
Decorate play-doh
Add to Spring Sensory Bin
Decorate a Frame for DIY gift
Get outside.. hide them in the grass and have a flower hunt

Any more ideas for these flower gems? 
Jen

Ll is for lion...

Sometimes the cutest ideas are the ones thrown together at the last minute, like this lion craft. The kids loved how their lions turned out.  We did this craft for our letter Ll day.  Very easy.. all you need is a paper plate, construction paper, glue and a marker.  I used a pink streamer for the tongue but you could use pink construction paper or felt. 

 

You can help them put the glue around the rim and then press the strips onto the plate or they can glue each individually.  It would depend on your child's attention span.  Also, I cut the strips ahead of time, but an older child may enjoy cutting their own.

More Ll fun...

 

I taught them the Ll sound and we sang a La La lion chant to help them with the sound as well.  Also, we went on an Ll hunt.  I made 5 lowercase and 5 upper case Ll's with construction paper and hid them around the room. 

Enjoy creating and learning with your little ones!
Jen

Simple Shamrock Activity

Yesterday we had a green day! We explored a green discovery bin, played with green play-doh, and made these cute green shamrocks! Such an easy activity to throw together. 

 
Materials: Green construction paper, green paint, and a Q-tip

I drew the shamrocks by hand and then cut them out. You can also print out a pattern and trace onto your green construction paper. Although I show the kids how to do little dots with the Q-tip, they tend to want to just paint with it. Either way, it is great for fine-motor development and play. Jen

Simple Heart Collage

 

I love activities that I can throw together in a couple of minutes but that are fun for the kids!  For this heart collage, we used left-over scrapbooking paper and pink and red construcitons paper.  Give your little one a glue stick or Elmer's glue if they like to get sticky!  I cut the scrapbooking paper in little squares with my fancy scissors.  For older children, they can cut their own scraps if you'd like to work on that skill as well.

 

Love how they turned out.  These two were made by an 18 month old and a 3 year old! 

 

Happy Valentine's...

Jen

Homemade Valentine Decor

                                            

Last year, I noticed that I didn't have enough decorations for Valentine's Day.  So I knew that I would be creating something new this year to make things a little festive. 

 

 

I created Valentine heart garland  with scrapbooking paper and construction paper.   I also made two candle holders with heart gems, a cinnamon/vanilla candle and a glass container. (all Dollar tree finds) 

 

 

 

I'm happy with the way it turned out and the kids were all smiles!

 

Happy Valentine's..

Jen



Hands-on Heart Activities

 

Last year, I found these hearts at one of my favorite places to shop for learning materials..The Dollar Tree.  I used them for a Valentine Sensory Bin.  This year, I got them out for a baby that I care for.. she's 9 months.  Above, you can see her trying to problem solve to get the hearts on and off of the bears.  Great baby thinking activity and helps to strengthen those itty bitty muscles in her developing fingers. 

 



The 18 month old that I care for above enjoys hiding them in the small rice bin.  Little Man age 3.. enjoys using them in his rice bin as well.  I hide them in the bottom and he goes on a heart expedition!

5 more ways to play with hearts..

Sorting by color.  Cut out three large hearts.. Red, Purple, and Pink.  Have your tot place the heart bracelets on the matching construction paper heart. 

Counting- how many pink hearts can you find?  how many red?

Patterns.. Pink, Purple, Purple, Pink....

Toss... Cut the top off of an old milk carton.  Can your child toss the hearts into the container?

Tracing... Have your child trace hearts on to a blank sheet of paper.  Use different colored pencils.

Happy Valentine's....
Jen