With just about two weeks until school lets out, I am faced with the inevitable truth that my kids will soon be home with me, and I will be tasked with what I like to call a “Herculean feat”: keeping them entertained, while not killing each other. Sure, they’ll be doing some camp time here and there, but with plenty of down time on the calendar, it’s a ripe opportunity for them to do something that’s productive and that doesn’t have to follow a set schedule. Ah, the beauty of unstructured time!…What is that, anyway? After hearing so much about ‘brain drain’ and ‘summer slide,’ I figure it’s my job as a parent to keep them intellectually challenged and mentally engaged even when they’re not [&hellip
eco-friendly crafts Archive
Both of my girls have a flair for the dramatic. Whether they’ve inherited their parents’ passion for plays or have innocently been bitten by the theater bug, they adore putting on shows and having my husband and I as their hostages…er, captive audience. And because we are always on the lookout for toys and other fun stuff that can appeal to 4- and 8-year-olds, especially ones that are imagination-driven, we couldn’t resist Green Kid Crafts’ One World Puppets. Delivered right to your child’s door, this box is teeming with all the supplies needed to fashion paper doll puppets from repurposed materials. It comes with eight recycled cardstock dolls, an entire wardrobe of cardstock clothes (we love the vintage print romper!), wood craft sticks (in a [&hellip
My 7-year-old told me she didn’t have to flush the toilet this week…in honor of Earth Day, that is. So, in the name of science, we’re doing our part to conserve energy and save the planet. Just don’t hold me to that type of bathroom etiquette! Instead, we’ve got our hands on 2 Birdie Banks, an all-in-one environmentally-friendly craft kit that gives more than it takes. It comes with 2 makeshift banks (fashioned from recycled paper) that kids can outfit with coin slots and lids before decorating them with colorful squares. Using the included sponge brush, kids can easily affix the paper tape with glaze and wait a while for their creation to dry (the kit is designed for ages 6 and up, so younger, [&hellip
Getting my daughter to write thank you notes isn’t an easy feat and from what I hear, it only gets more challenging with age. But short of bribing her–hey, I had to write my fair share of thank yous when I was a kid, and we just did what we were told–I wondered if there wasn’t a way to make this chore a little less arduous. Well, score one for Smens scented pens. These are the grown-up cousin of Smencils, an equally refreshing line of colored pencils that make practicing ABCs a treat for little noses. Each pack contains 10 uniquely named pens with cool monikers like Aloha and Banana Fo Fana. We can’t decide what we like best about Smens: the fact that they [&hellip