Make Your Own Beautiful, Affordable, Collapsible Dollhouse

Here’s a project I’m absolutely in love with!  Southern Disposition has the plans for an ingenious dollhouse she made from three ring binders, scrapbook paper, magazine pictures and a few found treasures.

It collapses to take up very little space, it’s utterly gorgeous, it’s green, and it’s super affordable.  She estimates she made hers for about $30 but she says you could easily do it for under $10 with a little creativity.

What a sweet holiday gift this would make. 

Head over for all the fabulous information.

10 Ways to Make Today Magical

Happy Monday!  Here’s a few ways to make a little magic with your kiddos this week….

1.  Make a paper hideaway.  Hang strips of crepe paper (or toilet paper in a pinch) from the ceiling in a corner of the kids’ room or the living room.

2.  Head to a pet store.  Spend some time with the fishes, birdies and beasties.

3.  Have the kids draw with markers or crayons just using their feet.  It may help to tape down the paper on the floor.

4.  Learn a song together and videotape yourselves singing it.  Be as flamboyant as possible!  Send the clip to loved ones and spread some smiles.

5.  Head outside to do a photo shoot.  Put the kids in charge of choosing how and where to pose!

6.  Make some of these lovely glue suncatchers. These ones are from tales from a corner house.

7.  Make jeweled princess bracelets. Crafts by Amanda shows you how to use cardboard tubes, felt, craft glue and some baubles in this child-friendly craft.

8. Leave silly notes in hiding places all over the house. It may take months for somebody to stumble on all of them, but it’s a wonderful way to break up an ordinary day to suddenly stumble on a note that says “Mama loves you” or “Kisses!  You must come give your grandma 18 kisses immediately upon finding this!”.

9.  Assemble a feast for the birds and beasties outside.  Leave it where you can watch them nibble. Ears of dried corn, peanuts in the shell, berries, seeds and sliced fruit are all favorites.

10. Got Friday off?  Spend the day together at  home.  Watch movies, pop popcorn, bake treats, make crafts, whatever.  Start the holiday season doing something you love with people you love.

Now I’m off to get started on approximately one hundred and five things on my to-do list.  And drink tea.  Lots of English tea with too much almond milk and sugar. 

Have a wonderful week!!!!!

Read Stellaluna Online with Your Kids Today

Pizza Hut’s Book It! program is celebrating National Young Readers Week by putting interactive books online all week.  Today’s book is Stellaluna.  Click here to go read it with your little one!

A free iPad app is also available in the iTunes store – search for BI! Book Week.

10 Ways to Make Today Magical

Happy Monday!  Sorry I keep disappearing for so long!  Since I didn’t have nearly enough things to keep me frazzled, I decided to take part in NaNoWriMo this year and I’ve been writing a book all month, too!  Fifty thousand words takes a bit of time, it turns out. 

In any case, here’s a few ways to make a little magic this week…

1. Grab some leftover Halloween face paints (or makeup) and do face painting with the kids.

2. Bake cookies for loved ones and decorate them with words representing all the things you love about them.

3. Sit and draw crayon portraits of each other. No artistic talent necessary.  Display the finished masterpieces.

4.  Bake no-knead bread together.  Gluten free?  Then make this one.

5. Make a fun portable hammock with a sheet and two grown ups
holding the corners.  Swing your favorite little person in the middle of it.

6. Hide funny little notes all over the house. See how long it takes for people to find them all.

7. Take fun family photos of your shadows.

8. Climb a tree together and do something up there (homework, read a book, sit and talk, have a snack…).

9. Look at the moon through binoculars.

10. Get a blank book and encourage all of the family members to write, draw, etc. it in every day or two as a sweet family memento.

And with that, chickadees, I’m off to a play date at a library and a stack of to-do cards bigger than my head.   

Have a magical week!

Singing in the Rain

I love this story!

A group of homeschoolers from Logos Public Charter School gave Rogue Valley Mall shoppers an early Halloween treat Saturday.

An flash-mob performance by more than 30 umbrella-wielding students — from third-graders through high-school seniors — drew an enthusiastic response that provoked an instant encore.

What fun!  Way to go, kiddos! 

 

Counting Sheep

Happy Thursday!  We interrupt this morning to bring you the following terrible math joke, courtesy of my hubby.

A farmer wants to know how many sheep he has in his field, so he asks his border collie to count them.

The dog runs into the field, counts them and runs back to the farmer.

The farmer says, “How many?”

The dog says, “40.”

The farmer is surprised and says, “How can there be 40 – I only bought 38!”

The dog says, “I rounded them up.”  

  Have a fun day!

10 Ways to Make Today Magical

Happy Tuesday!

I hope all is well with you and yours.  Here’s a few ways to make some memories with your kiddos this week….

1.  Make some playdough pumpkin faces.

2.  Make a spooky family message for the answering machine.

3.  Play Household Chore Bingo.  Add some silly ones too!

4.  Cancel everything and just hang out together.  Sit on the porch swing and talk, go for a walk, bake bread or sort through old pictures and do a scrapbook together.

5.  Make painted jar luminaries like these from Crafts By Amanda.

6.  Assign each family member the task of writing up 3 interview questions for the family.  Drop them in a jack-o-lantern or big bowl and put them in the center of the table to read during lunch.  Take turns drawing a question and answering it, then pass the pumpkin to the next person.  The questions can be silly (If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would it be?) or serious (What is something you did but later wished you hadn’t?  What is something you’re really proud of?).

7.  Take the time to write a letter to your child, just saying how much you love him and some things you’ve enjoyed doing with him lately.  Tuck it in a school book for him to find later.

8.  Go to a book reading at a local bookstore.

9.  Gather a pile of leaves and dive into them together.  Make a wild, wonderful mess.

10. Set up a picnic table or card table outside and have a fall picnic supper.  Light a Jack-o-lantern for a centerpiece and serve hot cider or cocoa to keep folks toasty warm.

Also check out my list of 50 fun ways to connect with your child in fall here. 

And with that, chickadees, I’m off to go on a fall walk with some small children and a Sharpie marker, and graffiti some fall leaves for passers-by! 

Have a magical week!