A Little Festive Fun

Want to have a little online holiday fun with your kiddos?  There are some really sweet sites that let you virtually decorate trees, make gingerbread houses, cut snowflakes and more.

Technology Rocks. Seriously has a fantastic roundup of gingerbread man fun storyboards, activities, interactive sites, printables and so on like these:

Then there’s the snow round-up of fantastic activities like these:

There’s the Christmas tree decorating roundup with fun links like these:

And oodles more! 

Be sure to check out the rest of the site for all sorts of great printables, educational games and other fun.

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

 

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A Little Playful Inspiration

Have you visited the blog Let the Children Play ?  I find myself frequently pinning Jenny’s lovely posts because they are so wonderful for simple, magical, child-led fun.

Here’s a few examples that have inspired me for our lazy days at home…

“This sunny day we set out a couple of shallow boxes and containers filled with sand, along with a basket of goodies to create little worlds.”

series: how to create an irresistible outdoor playspace for children

“Within the Reggio Emilia schools, great attention is given to the look and feel of the classroom.  Just feast your eyes on some of the wonderful images of Reggio Emilia inspired preschools I have found lately…”

A space of comfort and privacy:

 

A space of beauty and wonder:

 

“We are smack bang in the middle of another potion mixing frenzy…”

I subscribe to Let the Children Play by email, and it’s lovely to have these simple and whimsical ideas dropped into my inbox each morning.  I highly recommend going over and taking a peek.  Click on Popular Posts to see some of the viewer favorites, but don’t stop there.  Click on related pages at the end of each blog post and you’re likely to find more than you can possibly keep up with to inspire you.  🙂

Happy Thursday!

Playscapes!

My goodness, we’ve been busy lately!  I’m dreaming of winter just because it will be an excuse to be stuck inside for a while.  🙂

Here’s a blog that’s been captivating me and I just had to pass it on…

Playscapes ~  I’m in love with some of these play structures!  They’re just works of art.  What child wouldn’t love to play in these?

But it’s not just playgrounds.  There’s also nifties like a link to this entire book of playground structures you can build with tires (swings, water tables, tunnels, tables and chairs, a dragon…)

And whimsical things like this water funnel wall in Germany.

What a delightful blog!  It’s definitely going to the top of my regular reading list.  🙂

 

Positively Orphaned

It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be an orphaned child, but add an HIV diagnosis to that and things get even gloomier.

Enter Positively Orphaned.  This inspirational blog gives readers opportunities to help these children, from small (children post what they’d love to have, such as roller skates or a guitar) to large (profiles of children who are awaiting adoption).

The site offers a wealth of information like:

• Grants and funding available for adoptive families
• HIV medical information
• Children in need of homes
• Foster families looking for sponsorship
• Summer camps for HIV kids
• Foster and adoption web sites
• Family blogs of others who have adopted HIV kids
• Fact sheets
• Lists of books, films and organizations with more info
• Health resources
• A list of HIV orphanages
• Links to humanitarian organizations
• Videos
• Information about supplementing health care costs
• Sites to sponsor an HIV child
• Articles and personal stories about adopting HIV orphans

All children deserve a magical childhood.  Thanks to this wonderful blog for helping that happen for more children around the world.

Wall Ball!

You all know by now how much I love marble runs and such, especially homemade ones.  Here’s the granddaddy of them all in my book.

He gives all the simple instructions too.  Now we have another summer project to add to the list!

Parenting and Puddle Jumping

“I love my daughter’s fierce, irrational puddle jumping. Every day she teaches me a little more about being authentically alive. Sometimes it means hurrying us along before the rain starts, sometimes it means hurling our favorite shiny, black shoes in the grass and returning to the puddle for another round.”

Here, go visit Eros-Allegra Clarke to read the rest of this lovely post!

My own little puddle jumper (or one of them!)…

Easy, Beautiful Suncatchers!

I am in love with this darling idea from tales from the corner house!  This is just white glue and bits of glass and plastic baubles.  Brilliant and beautiful!

You Are Beautiful

Have you been to this fascinating site?  For four years, these folks have been spreading this message around the world.  You can even get your own You Are Beautiful stickers for a SASE or download the slogan.

Check out the installations around the world and all of the ways they’ve spread their message.  What a fun project to do with the kids!

Here’s some pics from our own photo shoot with the slogan…

Happy Wednesday!

A Few Good Things…

… that have caught my attention lately:

• Here’s a super simple, inexpensive spray you can make to clean fruits and veggies at home:

Susan Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, developed a solution that is an effective disinfecting procedure to clean those conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables. It is non-toxic and inexpensive, and can also be used to sanitize your kitchen counters and food preparation surfaces such as wooden cutting boards. She simply uses white vinegar (or cider vinegar) and 3% hydrogen peroxide (the same as found at the drugstore). Put each solution into 2 spray bottles. Spray your produce (or work surface) with the vinegar and follow with the hydrogen peroxide. Then rinse the produce under running water or wipe the surface with a clean, wet sponge.

(source)

• Yahoo’s Healthy Living section has this simple chart of 9 food ingredients to avoid, what they do and why they’re bad.  This is great info if you’re unclear why brominated vegetable oil is added to soda anyway or you want something concrete to convince your mother-in-law that yes, food coloring really does cause hyperactivity and other problems for lots of children and there’s a reason to stop filling your kids up with red Kool-aid and Skittles.  😉

• I’m really enjoying the Let the Children Play blog from a preschool teacher in Australia.  Much of the focus is on how to make outdoor spaces good for children, especially related to nature and the senses.
• Likewise, I’m loving irresistible ideas for play based learning, also from an Australian preschool and also focused on outdoor play spaces for children.

(photo by irresistible ideas for play based learning)

Any neat blogs or sites or ideas on your radar this week?

Make Your Own Seed Tapes!

I’ve posted links to homemade seed tape instructions before, but I especially liked these simple instructions using newspaper strips and flour paste.  The packaging is so pretty too!  Head over to Giver’s Log for the tutorial.

Have I mentioned how much I love, love, love spring?  🙂