that's a wrap

I saw this idea on the web somewhere and knew that I wanted to start this tradition with my own children.  When they finish kindergarten I will purchase this book for them.  At the end of each year I will ask their teacher to write them a message, eventually filling the front and back covers.  By the time they graduate they will have a keepsake of memories from all of the special people who helped them get to whatever place they are going.  This year I purchased one for my daughter.  Her sweet teacher already signed it and I can't wait to show it to her on the last day of school.  Do you have any fun traditions that you do on the last day of school?  I would love to hear more about them.

that's a wrap

As the end of the school year approaches lots of children have year end projects and/or exams.  I always find cute packages of pencils at Michael's craft store.  Wrap up some with a ribbon and tuck them into your child's backpack.  They will "get the point" that you love them and are thinking about them.

leprechaun trap

We were asked to work as a family to create a leprechaun trap for my daughter's class.  We took a tiny birdhouse that cost $1 at the craft store and turned it into a tiny house/trap for a leprechaun.  My daughter painted it brown and covered it with moss.  We stuck a pot of gold inside the house and made a ladder out of sticks.  We also put a rainbow and gold sign in a miniature terra cotta pot.  We had fun coming up with a story to go along with it about how the leprechaun would climb up the ladder and fall into the house only to realize that the gold was fake and that there is no ladder inside to climb out.  This would be a fun activity to do for a fairy party too!

frosty the snowman

These are the ornaments we made yesterday at my daughter's holiday party at school.  They came out so cute!  They are painted on a mini art canvas that I found at Joann Fabrics.  The kids used their fingerprints to make the bodies for the snowman and then toothpicks to add the details.  We used a glue gun to attach the ribbon hanger. You can find more detailed instructions here.

deck the halls with boughs of holly

Yesterday I went in to my daughter's kindergarten classroom to share some Irish Christmas traditions.  I focused on holly since that is a common decoration used in Ireland during the holidays.  You can read about what I did last year here.    This year I decided to have the children make tiny hanging arrangement with fresh cut holly and greens.  I used recycled baby food jars and tied some green floral wire around them as a handle.  I loved how the children came up with the great idea to float the holly berries in the water- it looked beautiful! After they made their arrangements they choose ribbon to tie around the jar and also used some tiny cards (that were punched with a holly cutout) to write Merry Christmas in Gaelic.  For the snack I made some holly wreaths with m&m berries.  We listened to some Irish Christmas music and it was a really fun way to spend the morning.

simple snacks

I know a lot of parents are looking for quick and easy snack ideas.  I am too!  I have three different Halloween parties to contribute to this year.  Most of the schools often ask parents to bring in some fruit and/or something salty in addition to the sweet treats.  Here are some easy ideas, dressed up for Halloween!  I first saw this great idea which was to use a permanent marker to draw faces on the clementines.  When I shared the idea with my friend Krista she took it one step further and used stickers to make the pumpkin faces.  Since I couldn't find the face stickers this year I decided to use the masks and think they came out darling.  I found the tiny popcorn boxes at Marshalls and just used microwave popcorn and threw in some candy corn and placed a green spider ring on top.  The last treat is the easiest of all, munchkins!  I went to my local Dunkin' Donuts and picked them up and put them in little cupcake liners.  Easy.

teacher gift

Just like last year, we contributed money for the teachers year end class gift.  And, just like last year, I also gave them a little something special from us too.  This year I gave them each a small cube of Vera Bradley paper (my daughter signed her name on the first sheet) and a flower pen that we made and stuck in a terra cotta pot.  I included a note with this quote: "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust
It was just our little way of thanking the teachers for all they have done to make our daughter love school.

color wheels

A few years ago I used this project to teach my daughter about colors. I used round cardboard circles and had her paint them in different colors. Then she went on a treasure hunt around the house and found items that were the correct color. I used my glue gun to hold everything in place. Just the other day my daughter found some of the wheels we had made and asked if she could make more. Now she is using them to teach her younger brothers about colors. When he gets a little bit older I will have him look for things in these colors and glue them right on to the wheels. I also saved a few colors for him to make all by himself. I got this idea from a friend who taught nursery school. She had all of the kids in the class bring in an item for the color of the day. The wheels were covered in fun little trinkets and it was really fun to look at all of the different objects that made up each color. I plan to hang these in our playroom for everyone to enjoy.

back to school

(photos courtesy of Barnes and Noble)

My daughter started pre-school last year. Since it was her very first experience with school I wanted to make sure that it was fun and so I did everything I could to make sure that she had a smooth transition. Luckily her school organized home visits but, I also asked her teachers if she could go to visit her classroom before school began so that she could also become familiar with her new space. In addition to becoming familiar with her teachers and classroom I also read her lots of books about going to school (a few of our favorites are pictured above.) I also had a special back to school dinner the night before her first day, that I will share later in the week, along with a teacher gift idea for the first day. I thought for sure that there would be some tears on her first day of school....but there weren't- from either of us!

alphabet adventures

Two years ago I thought it would be fun to start teaching my toddler about the alphabet. I choose one letter a week and we did activities and took field trips ( alphabet adventures) based on the letter. For "A" we went apple picking, stamped with apples, baked with apples, etc. For "B" it was a trip to the butterfly museum (notice the butterfly on my daughter's shoe). "C" was for cows and chickens at our local country fair and "D" was a trip to the dinosaur museum. I tied in books, cooking, and crafts and I think we both had a wonderful time. My son was just a few months old when we started, and so we never ended up making it through the whole alphabet. I didn't mind. Maybe some day I'll try to start it all over again or do a word of the week instead.

**I even used this idea for my Christmas gifts that year. Luke got a gift certificate to go see the lions at the zoo and Teaghan got a gift certificate to make a teddy bear. I also included small activities to go with the gifts. **