Don't Eat Casper

I found this game last year or the one before...but my kids LOVE it. If you haven't the game Don't Eat Pete, you should have that for your kids, too!

I found it at executivehomemaker.com

Halloween Balloons

Kyla and Nathan had fun decorating some balloons with a permanent marker:

Pumpkins:
So Nathan popped his before we could hang it :(

Ghosts:

Cats:

Witch Faces

Simple...a nice way to talk about shapes.

Spiders

These have been one of the kids favorite Halloween crafts:

Skeletons

I saw this idea somewhere....thought it was cute. The kids liked them.

Halloween Chain

Kyla did this one all by herself. It added some Halloween Flair at the bottom of our stairs.

Sucker Ghost Garland

Kyla drew the faces on these ghosts and we hung them on some clear thread. I used white cloth instead of the traditional kleenex.

Free Coloring Pages

I love that I can print FREE coloring pages for the kids....and they can pick them out! This is esp. great around holidays when I just want a few holiday pictures for them to color. Here are some Easter ones the kids picked to color this year:

So here are my favorite links:

http://www.coloring.ws/

Fisher-Price (Little People) pages

http://coloringpages.nick-magic.com/

http://www.kidscolorpages.com/coloringpages.htm

http://www.coloring.com/pictures/choose.cdc

Alphabet Coloring Pages
LDS coloring Pages

Countdown to Easter

Kyla kept asking for a countdown to Easter...so we created one!

I let them color large Easter Eggs however they wanted and then we numbered them and hung them on the wall. I then cut out 2 bunnies and let them each color a bunny to move down the numbered eggs on the wall. They have LOVED it!!

*I got the template for the bunny from the family fun website. We added cotton balls to the tails...it made them fun!

Don't Eat the Peep Game

I am excited to have just found this printable Easter version of Don't Eat Pete, which my kids have fun playing! It prints in black and white so you can do color matching games, too!
Find it here at My Little Gems.


It even comes with directions printed on it, in case you haven't played this fun game before!

Handprint Shamrocks

I found this idea at family corner and knew how my kids would love to do it...with paint to make handprints! They loved making these!!

I think handprint crafts are super fun...

Valentine's (Learning) Game

This has been used several times at our house this month: I used cardstock and a heart punch to make these. I got the general idea from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman and adapted for my kids.

Kyla has been adding with her fingers, so this was a fun, new way for her to try addition. She did great!

Homemade Valentines

Since the kids love to create and decorate...we HAD to make our own Valentine's this year. I loved this idea from Martha Stewart on folding a heart into an envelope. The kids thought it was really fun and they were so excited to deliver them!

Heart Crayon Shaving Sun Catchers

This is a messy project, but it is really easy and the kids love seeing the colors melt together and they look neat hanging in the window. I found this idea on Skip to My Lou.

What you need:

Iron

Crayon Shavings

Wax paper

Regular paper

Use some broken or scrap crayons and shave them in a pencil sharpener. Cut out hearts out of wax paper (you want to cut 2 at a time so you have matching hearts for the front and back) Let the kids drop different colors of crayon shavings on one of the sheets of wax paper.

Top with 2nd wax paper heart. Cover with paper (to protect your iron) and heat just until crayons are melted.

"Heart" Man

We've made these every year for Valentine's Day...

The kids like drawing the faces and they are easy to assemble.

Classic Snowflakes

There isn't much to say about making the classic snowflakes from paper, and every year we make some. This year was really fun...we hung them from the ceiling in the hallway and suddenly the kids were filled with laughter. They pretended to be in a snowstorm, catching snowflakes, built a pretend snowman, and Kyla put on her ballerina gear and "ice skated" up and down the hall. It totally made my day! I love their active imaginations!

Window Snowmen

We don't have real snow and Kyla has been dying to build a snowman...so I came up with this and they kids have loved seeing them everyday on the window. I used two circles made out of construction paper, then covered them with contact paper. I gave the kids cirlces, carrot noses, snowflake buttons, and lots of white tissue paper cut into squares. The contact paper was super sticky and the kids had fun putting the faces and buttons on, then dumping on the "snow". I cut away the excess contact paper and hung them in the window. They look really neat when to sun shines on them!