quick trick

magazines rock: creative, crafty, sneaky-learning fun

December 4, 2011

We are huge magazine fans over here. We love finding them in the mailbox, reading them, playing detective with them, crafting with them, and learning with them.  When they arrive in the day’s mail, it’s like a getting a little gift, just for you.  And when we sit down to read a magazine, it never [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: how to take great holiday photos

November 29, 2011

This holiday-inspired Quick Trick is a little somethin’ for the moms and dads out there who strive for that perfect holiday family photo that they may–or may not–choose to use on their holiday cards. Everyone has a different take on holiday cards–whether to send them or not, when to send them, and what the cards [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: have a. . . placemat party!

September 16, 2011

Every. Single. Day. We’re rocking a Placemat Party over here. At breakfast. At lunch. And at dinners at the kitchen table (because the kitchen table is so less fancy than our totally fancy-schmancy dinner table). It’s a seriously awesome party–reading, counting, talking about the states or dinosaurs or sea creatures or letters. This happy Friday [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: the fancy brush–avoiding tangled hair and tearful mornings

September 6, 2011

This Quick Trick is a little bit funny to me. It’s not about how to make the school year a success. It’s not about how to teach kids to tie their shoes. And it’s not about how to use magnetic letters or how to keep kids busy in line or how we force game-playing manners [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

fun with food: learning in the kitchen with kids

August 31, 2011

Over the last few years, we’ve had a ton of fun with food over here.  I love food, my kids love food, my husband loves food, and we all really love trying new things and making meals together. Little do my kiddos know that every time they don their aprons in the kitchen with me, [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

learning during lunch with muffin tin meals

July 6, 2011

We took it easy today, after a late night filled with a lot of sushi-eating and a slow and rainy morning. So after swim, dive, and mini-team, we zipped home, very much excited for lunch. And to spice up our day–and to get some guaranteed smiles and fully bellies from Maddy, Owen, and Cora–I whipped [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

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 [...]

Pin It
StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: how to teach kids to tie their shoes

May 6, 2011

This Quick Trick is admittedly a work in progress. While Owen hasn’t quite mastered tying his shoes yet, he’s getting there. Slowly. He expressed interest last summer to learn how to tie his shoes, but each time we sat down to try it, he balked. Now, as he’s only a few months away from making [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: library book parade

April 4, 2011

This Quick Trick is super quick, very simple, but it’s one of my children’s favorite parts of our library trips: the Library Book Parade. No, it’s not a parade around the house. It doesn’t involve loud drums, marching, or candy-throwing. It’s actually quiet–or kind of quiet–and really–nice. Here’s the skinny: Library Book Parade:  Rather than [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: fast-finger challenges with play-doh

March 23, 2011

Like so many families, we love Play-Doh over here.  And whether it’s the real-deal, packed-in-yellow-containers-Play-Doh or happy homemade-on-the-stovetop-playdough, it doesn’t matter–my kids love it just the same. They’ve even been known to love a total playdough flop. But what I’ve found is that even playdough time can be an opportunity for some super-sneaky learning over [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →

quick trick: fun with bows and gift wrap

December 27, 2010

Before we recycle what wrapping paper we can and throw away all of the plastics and trash from holiday gift-giving, I usually set some of the good stuff aside for a little fun and sneaky fine motor work for my kiddos. Gift wrap is expensive–and some of it is made well with great eye-catching graphics [...]

StumbleUponShare
Read the full article →