Activities Category
Celebrate Dr Seuss’ Birthday with Your Kids
Today is Dr. Seuss’ birthday and what better way to celebrate than through a party and reading to your child? We have a few ideas for making your Dr. Seuss birthday celebration fun and educational!
Dr. Seuss Party Decorations
- Make Cat in the Hat party hats
- Decorate your wall with trees from the Lorax. Just take this finger paint art craft and make it on poster board.
- Make a Dr. Seuss themed birthday cake. We love these ideas inspired by his books! Be sure to sing happy birthday!
- Have green eggs and ham for breakfast with this easy recipe.
Dr. Seuss Party Activities and Crafts
- Play pin the green eggs and ham on the plate. Simply cut out a plate, green eggs and green ham from construction paper and hang on wall like pin the tail on the donkey.
- Do a Dr. Seuss word search with your children or make your own!
- Have kids sit in a circle, read words from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and see how many words they can come up with that rhyme. i.e. – Cat, Fish, Dog, etc.
- Color Dr. Seuss coloring pages and talk about which character is your favorite and why.
- Make bookmarks with Dr. Seuss characters. Encourage your kids to draw their favorite character. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
Make sure you have storytime and read your kids’ favorite Dr. Seuss books. Have fun celebrating the author who has taught thousands of kids how to read!
Fun Finger Paint Craft for Kids
Finger painting can be fun for kids and babies. It allows babies to begin to create art – always a plus for imagination and creativity – and the symmetrical designs helps children learn about mirror images.
What you need:
- Non-toxic finger paint
- Construction paper
- Newspaper or drop cloth to cover painting surface
What you do:
- Squeeze various colors of finger paint in different sizes on one side of construction paper
- Fold the paper in half
- Have your child press down on the paper with her foot or hand. She can rub across the paper to spread the paint. If you are doing this with a baby, just have baby sit on the folded piece of paper to spread the paint.
- Open the paper to see the symmetrical designs
- Allow paint to dry
We love how your baby can create art that will be a wonderful keepsake for years to come.
7 Money Saving Tips When You Have Kids
Having a baby is expensive, but the cost doesn’t end when you pay your labor and delivery bill. Kids have a way of depleting your bank account very quickly, but these 7 money saving tips can help keep you in the black.
- Samples – Don’t be afraid to ask for samples. Your pediatrician often receives samples or coupons from manufactures for everything from formula to diapers to lotion. Don’t be shy, your pediatrician will be happy to share.
- Clothes – Don’t buy a lot of baby clothes in advance. Baby won’t need much more than the white hospital shirts for awhile and you never know how fast baby will grow. Newborn clothes may last all of a week because your baby may hit a sudden growth spurt. And don’t bother with baby shoes. Baby isn’t walking so no need for shoes.
- Two in One Furniture – Look for baby furniture that does more than one thing such as a bassinet that is also a changing table.
- Rewards Programs -Babies R Us, Pampers, and more have reward programs where you receive special coupons and freebies. All you have to do is sign up via email. The savings are worth the 2 minute sign up.
- Classes – Ballet, art, and other classes can get expensive. Check out your library for free story-time and classes where you child can learn and have fun for free!
- Field Trips – Most museums, zoos and cultural centers have a monthly or weekly free day. Check websites to see when you can take your child to one of these places for free.
- Car Bag – Keep a child care bag in your car in case you forget your diaper bag or something from it. It’s more expensive to have to buy diapers, snacks, etc. on the fly.
We also love Thrifty & Chic Mom and Coupon Mom for great coupons and savings!
5 Simple Ways To Have Fun with Your Kids
At times our lives seem so over scheduled – play dates, soccer practice, ballet, homework, jobs, errands and the list is never ending. We thought on this fun Friday we should stop the scheduling for one day and enjoy the simple ways we can have fun with our kids.
- Box Discovery – Look around your house for large box. Have fun imagining what it could be. Can you cut holes in it and make your little one a race car? Can you turn it into a house complete with drawn-on curtains? Can you cut a hole in the side, put objects in it, then have your child put her hand through the hole and guess what objects are in the box?
- Drawing Time – Get paper and some crayons. Draw a line – curvy, squiggly, straight – and have your child draw a picture using that line in the picture. Have your child draw a line for you and enjoy becoming a Picasso with your child!
- Tissue Fun – Pull out a lot of tissue paper from your wrapping paper supply. Sit on the floor with your baby and let him pull and rip the paper. You both will giggle in delight as he discovers and laughs at the sound. We recommend using white tissue paper so when he puts it in his mouth, he isn’t sucking on dye. Make sure baby doesn’t choke since he will try to eat it as he explores with his mouth.
- Bean Drums – Put some beans into different size containers with lids. Use lentil beans, black beans, peas, etc. Start your own band with your kids using the filled containers as shakers, drums and more!
- Laugh Machine – Lay on the floor with your kids. Everyone puts their head on someone’s tummy so you are all connected via tummy. If you have a baby, place your baby on your tummy so she can join in the fun too. Go around the “circle” saying “ha”. Everyone says it one time, than twice, than three times until the room is filled with giggles. We guarantee even your baby will be giggling by the end.
What simple ways do you have fun with your kids?
Storytime with the Lorax
We are very excited that The Lorax is coming to theaters, but nothing can capture imagination like reading Dr. Seuss’ original The Lorax book. We have often talked about the benefits of reading to your children and we love that Target Stores support this.
This Saturday all Target stores across the country are having a Dr Seuss Storytime reading of The Lorax. We applaud Target’s Read Across America program. Reading opens a child’s imagination and you can take that even further with these easy crafts & activities to go with a Lorax celebration. Get ready for a treeriffic (ok a little corny) fun with your kids.
Lorax Tree Art
What you need:
- Cotton balls
- Non-toxic paint
- Pipe Cleaners
- Non-toxic marker
- Non-toxic glue
- Construction Paper
What to do:
- Talk to your children about why trees are important, what they are used for & how important it is to take care of them.
- Have your child put his/her name at the beginning of this sentence on the construction paper, “(child’s name) listens to the trees.”
- Give your child several cotton balls & pipe cleaners cut into various lengths.
- Have them dip a cotton ball in the paint and then swirl it on the paper to form a tuff-top tree like in The Lorax.
- Glue pipe cleaners on paper to form the tree trunk.
Try these fun tree related activities from our friends at National Wildlife Federation to complete your Lorax celebration.
What is your favorite part of The Lorax?
Legoland – Affordable Educational Fun for Your Child
One of the many wonderful LEGO animals in LEGOland
I’ve driven past LEGOland countless times not knowing the treasure that was behind those doors until last week. LEGOland Discovery Center is an indoor attraction that is truly your passport to a LEGO world of color, creativity and fun. I went with my 6 month old and my sister. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at how stimulating, educational and fun LEGOland was from the minute you walk through the discovery doors. The best part? It was super affordable! An entire year pass is only $40.00 or a one-time visit as little as $9.00 when you book online. You can’t get into any amusement park or museum for those kind of savings!
From the start LEGOland is an adventure. Enter LEGOland and you are treated to:
- The most amazing skyline view of Chicago complete with a working LEGO El Train!
- The LEGO jungle complete with a path that takes you though moving LEGO animals. True to LEGO’s educational style, the path has fun facts and questions about the animals.
- A 4D cinema where you can reach out and touch the stars
- A behind the scenes making of a LEGO
- A roller coaster ride on your very own dragon through the Medieval LEGO castle
- A giant LEGO room where you can make your own LEGO creations (they have a special section for the little kids with Duplo blocks)
- And much, much more.
Baby K’s favorite part was the giant foam Lego blocks only found at LEGOland. She didn’t want to leave!
Baby K LOVED the giant LEGOS
There are many places you can bring your family, but few are as fun, affordable and perfect for the whole family as LEGOland is. We are going back with our friends for Toddler Tuesdays where there are special activities only for Toddlers. LEGOland really thinks of everything, but don’t take our word for it, come see for yourself!
Easy Rainbow Crafts and Recipes for Kids
It may be cold and gloomy out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have rainbows and fun indoors! We had a lot of fun with our Kolcraft Kids as we had an indoor rainbow day complete with rainbow crafts, food and fun!
Rainbow Crafts
Indoor Rainbow Rice Sandbox
Rice after it has had food coloring added
What you need:
- Rice
- Vinegar
- Food coloring
- Aluminum foil
- Containers
- Cookie sheet
What to do:
- Put 1.5 cups of rice in each container
- Add 1 – 2 tbsp of vinegar to each container
- Add a few drops of food coloring
- Shake, shake & shake the containers some more to fully coat the rice in food coloring
- Put aluminum foil on the cookie sheet
- Place rice on cookie sheet & put in oven at 150º for 10- 15 minutes
- Take out, place in large, wide container that isn’t too deep & let your kids have fun in their indoor “sandbox”!
Rainbow rice ready to dry in the oven
You can also put black, white & red beans in a container and have “bean sand”.
Other fun rainbow crafts, recipes and ideas that we did with our Kolcraft Kids ranging from 6 months to 7 years old!
- Rainbow finger painting – put hands in non-toxic finger paint, and place hand prints in semi-circle forming a rainbow. Alternate colors to make a rainbow. We love this as a keepsake of our child’s hand-prints.
- Rainbow crayons – this easy craft, recycles old crayons into rainbow crayons!
- Rainbow fruit cake – this yummy treat is a tasty way to teach your child about the rainbow.
- Rainbow outfits – let your child pick out his/her clothes for the day. We can guarantee it will be a rainbow sensation outfit.
Enjoy your rainbow filled day!
Happy Valentine’s Day
Wishing you and your families a very happy Valentine’s day! We will be spending Valentine’s day with our children making some treats and fun crafts.
How will you be spending Valentine’s Day?
3 Fun Super Bowl Activities for Kids
Your children don’t have to be bored during your Super Bowl party. These three games can make sure they have fun so you can enjoy the Super Bowl without the constant chorus of “I’m BORED” going on in the background.
- Pin the football – Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, each child has a football. They try to ‘pin the football through the uprights or get it in the receivers hands.
- Team hats – Have some construction paper or foam, non-toxic glue and a few other art supplies so they can a hat supporting their favorite team.
- Festive pom poms -Make your own pom-poms using whichever team’s colors you are cheering for by gluing streamers or tissue paper to a large popsicle stick which you can buy at a craft store.
What fun Super Bowl crafts or activities do you have for kids?
Sesame Street Bucket Game
This game is lots of fun and easy to do!
What you need:
- Red Bucket for Elmo
- Green Bucket for Oscar
- Pink Bucket for Abby Cadabby
- Blue Bucket for Grover
- White Construction Paper
- Black Construction Paper
- Various Orange & Yellow Construction Paper
- Tape
- Ping Pong Balls
What To Do:
- Cut white and black paper in circles in the shape of the character’s eye
- Cut orange & yellow paper for the character’s nose
- Tape eyes and nose on front of bucket
- Put buckets in a line one in front of the other (For those who grew up in Chicago, it’s like Bozo buckets.)
- Have children stand behind a line on the floor & try to throw the ping pong ball into the first bucket, second, etc. Depending how far they get is what prize they receive.
