gross motor skills

5 easy ways to raise earth-friendly kids

April 20, 2012

Really, nothing about raising kids is easy. I so know this to be true.   I think I’m pretty honest about my own on-the-job struggles, and most people I talk to are pretty open about how difficult a gig this parenting thing is. But I think that raising three earth-friendly kids has been relatively easy. [...]

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quick trick: keep. those. LIDS!

April 2, 2012

How many of you have recycle bins that are nearly overflowing by the end of the week? I know ours is, despite all of the recyclables that I ‘rescue’ for various cool and creative learning fun.  But before I toss anything into the recycle bin, I take off the lid (if there is one), throw [...]

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secrets to a fabulous, at-home fairy princess spa party

March 29, 2012

Cora has spent literally the last six months talking about her March birthday party. She talked about the party every day.  Every. Single. Day. For the last six months.  (Maybe longer.) This was going to be her BIG #5 bash–actually her first really big par-tay–so we were all pretty excited. It morphed from a Barbie [...]

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number hunt 2.0: hide, seek, and name numbers!

March 20, 2012

My sweet Cora has had some trouble with identifying numbers–especially those tricky teens. So I pulled out one of Maddy and Owen’s faves from a few years back, printed out some extra sheets, found a bunch of teeny, tiny chart stickers, and got psyched for homework time. We’ve done several variations of our Alphabet Hunts [...]

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best of teach mama countdown: #6 — learning with recyclables

January 7, 2012

One of these days I’m going to share where and how we store the recyclables that we manage to save from the big blue bin over here. But until then, I’ll share the #6 most popular teach mama post of all-time: how to use recyclables with kids–get fun, crafty, creative. I think people have responded [...]

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new for us friday: LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus (& giveaway!)

November 26, 2011

As much as I have had a ton of success with LeapFrog products and love nearly everything LeapFrog, I knew that I needed to outsource a bit when it came to really taking an honest look at one of their new-to-me toys, the Peek-A-Shoe Octopus. Luckily, I have a ton of awesome pals whom I [...]

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leafy, outdoor alphabet letter hunt

October 19, 2011

It’s very leafy over here. With tons of huge trees dropping leaves at about a million per minute, our yard and house is covered. But before I pulled out the ole rake, I of course had to capitalize on the potential for a leaf-party and challenge Maddy, Owen, and Cora to a backyard leafy alphabet [...]

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new for us friday: help for classroom parents — letters, party ideas, & volunteer spot

October 8, 2011

It’s almost Halloween time, which means that all around the world, Classroom Parents will soon be a-scramblin’ for Halloween party ideas. And then they’ll be scramblin’ for Valentine’s Day party ideas, and then they’ll be scramblin’ for springtime party ideas. At least I was, last year–and I was only a co-room parent. This year, I’m [...]

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alphabet letter splash–keeping cool with the abc’s

July 19, 2011

Who says playing with the letters of the alphabet can’t be a fun and exciting outdoor activity? Who thinks that all letter-learning involves a pen and paper? Who knows a kid who doesn’t love using a water squirter to hit a target? Not I, not I, and not I. I’ve found that just like when [...]

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gettting ready for kindergarten: summertime prep

July 16, 2011

We’re almost exactly at the mid-summer point, and before we know it, the new school year will be upon us. Ahhhhhhh! So with my sweet Owen heading off to the wilds of Kindergarten this year (wah!), I thought it would be worthwhile to share a few things we’re doing over here to get our big [...]

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quick trick: how to use recyclables with kids–get fun, crafty, creative

June 8, 2011

With summer right around the corner and kids home a lot more than usual, many of us need to keep a few tricks in our back pocket for rainy days or those occasions when we feel like we might lose our minds. This Quick Trick is certainly a keeper; it’s all about what kinds of [...]

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