I've been enjoying sharing some of the kids activities and projects I do with my kiddos each week. Feel free to comment with a link to fun activities you're sharing on your blogs (or even if you don't have a blog) as well! We'd love to check them out. :)

The following is an activity I found on Pinterest via The Hippie Housewife a while back and knew I had to try it with my kids. Kaelyn and Kaden LOVE to finger paint, but there are times when the mess is something I don't want to deal with. Thankfully for those days, this activity is a lot of fun and mess-free!

What you will need:

• a gallon size Ziploc bag for each child
• painters tape
• finger paint
• white paper
  

I got out a few colors of paint and asked each of the kids which colors they wanted to paint with. I then squirted a little of each one into the bag and sealed it (making sure the air was out). I then placed a piece of white paper under each Ziploc bag and taped them to the counter like this:
The white piece of paper makes it easy for the kids to see the colors and what they're "painting". I knew they'd have fun, but didn't realize how much they'd LOVE this activity! They enjoyed the sensory experience, as well as being able to mix the colors and see what color they made.
Kaelyn enjoyed using it to write letters and shapes with her fingers as well. It's great for practicing her letters, numbers, words, etc!

I am thrilled with how well the kids like this activity, how educational it turned out to be, and how easy it is to set up and take down with no mess. It's definitely something we'll be doing again and again!

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As I said a couple of weeks ago. I've made it my goal to share some fun activities that I do with my kids, here on my blog each week. Everything from educational to crafts and games. Feel free to share any links or activities you have done with your little ones as well. I'm always looking for new ideas! :)

With any activity, my kids love if it includes food. I have found that candy and cereal work great as a manipulative for counting, color sorting, etc with many different activities we do. The other day we sat down and decided to use Fruit Loops. I always try to find activities I can do with both kids at the same time, but still similar so Kaden isn't feeling left out.

Kaden has been working on recognizing his colors and sorting, so I printed out this fun idea found over at The Princess and the Tot and laminated it. He had a blast sorting the different colors and of course, eating a few as he went as well! It really made learning a lot of fun for him.
Kaelyn really enjoys making patterns lately. I though it would be fun to use the Fruit Loops for this as well. So, while Kaden was working on his color sorting, I got out these Color Pattern Cards that I found over at PreKinders.com a while back. I laminated them so they'll last longer.

Kaelyn enjoyed making different patterns with the Fruit Loops. She even started making patterns of her own without the cards which was great as well.

These are two simple activities I was able to do with both kids at the same time. It was educational, while fun at the same time. We'll definitely be doing it again!

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One of Kaelyn's favorite things about our old house was her bedroom. She loved the fun colors, as well as one feature in particular...her initials on the wall. She enjoyed telling me the letters almost every day and explaining what they stood for. Since that was not something we could take with us when we moved in September, I told her that we'd figure out a new way to display her initials in her room.

Once we got moved in and had her room pretty well put together...we decided it was time to get her initials up on the wall. Kaelyn was very eager to help me every step of the way which was a lot of fun. Since I'm planning to share some of the fun activities and projects my kids and I do together each week here on my blog...I thought this would be a fun one to share this week.

Instead of doing vinyl letters, we thought it would be fun to get creative and have something a little more colorful and fitting for her brightly colored bedroom. She and I went to Hobby Lobby, and as we looked around...I got an idea. We decided to make Shadow Box Initials. Here is what we got for the project:

• 3 8 x 10 Shadow Box Display Cases
  
• 3 pieces of scrapbook paper to match her bedroom (I got 2 pieces of one print and 1 that had more colors in it for the middle initial)
  
• 3 white wooden letters

I love Hobby Lobby because they are always having sales. When we bought our supplies for her Shadowbox Initials, we got 40% off or more on everything. It was a very inexpensive way to add a personal touch to her room.

I apologize for not having step by step photos, but the process is very simple. I first cut down each piece of scrapbook paper to fit the shadow box. If you've ever purchased shadow boxes from Hobby Lobby before, your might remember that they have pins that hold the paper that comes inside of them. I used the pins like nails, and once I had the scrapbook paper in place...I put the pins in and hung the letters right from them. It worked perfectly!



Each letter fits nicely in the shadow boxes, and having the colorful background really adds a fun splash of color and ties it into her bedroom nicely. She and I both had fun putting these together and love the way they turned out!!

Like last week, if you have any fun projects or activities you've done with your little ones...feel free to share with us in the comments section below. :)

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As a mom and former PreK teacher, I really love sitting down with my kids and doing fun educational activities together. Whether it's through the use of toys, manipulatives or other activities I have on hand (many of which are from my teaching years), I enjoy seeing them explore, discover and learn new things daily! I thought it would be fun to share some of the activities we do together here on my blog each week...and hopefully you will share ideas as well!

My 4 year old loves to learn. She enjoys the time we spend together daily doing different activities...especially those dealing with letters and numbers. One day last week she said, "Mom, can we do math?". We do many different activities with numbers, counting, sorting, one-to-one correspondence, etc... but most recently she has been interested in simple addition. As I thought about what we could do that day, I decided to pull out a bag of popsicle sticks. I had come across this neat idea on Pinterest and decided to simplify it to a level Kaelyn could easily do and understand.

On each stick I wrote numbers (including one stick with an addition sign and one with an equal sign). I then put the corresponding number of dots along the length of each stick to make counting/adding easier for her. She began by grabbing two numbers and counting the dots on each one to find how many total dots there were. Once she had figured out the total by counting them together, she found that number stick and placed it after the equal sign. It was a very simple, yet a fun and educational way to work on addition with her. It has been great for number recognition, counting, and more!

She also likes to take the sticks and place them in order from least to greatest as she counts.

How about you, do you have any fun educational activities you do with your toddler/preschool aged children? We'd love for you to share them with us!

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