DIY Traveling Art Supplies Book

Art Supplies Book To Go:

My 5 year old loves creating, coloring, tracing, drawing, you name it; we go through paper so fast in this house it's ridiculous. As my husband and I were gearing up for a trip with the kids, I knew we were going to need something to keep our budding artist busy while we traveled. I figured that having his stuff with him would do the trick but I didn't want to just toss all that stuff in his bag and hope for the best. I saw a bunch of different ideas on how to organize art supplies, like these from Color Wheel Meals and One Orange Giraffe 

Color Wheel Meals

One Orange Giraffe

but I know my child and after using something like this the crayons, markers and pencils would all be mixed together and dumped in the bucket, making it pointless. On top of that I wanted something that we could grab and go with as well as something he could put out of sight when not in use. I found this great notebook idea. It's an art supply notebook, good for traveling and your basic everyday organization as well. 

I bought a few items that I know he uses on a regular basis: Crayons, Markers and Pencils ($5.29)

I picked up 4 clear binder pouches that fit in a 3 ring binder ($1.88)

A spiral notebook of wide ruled paper with his favorite characters on the front ($1) and I found a random 3 ring binder in our basement (Free).

I started off by placing the different art supplies into each of the plastic pouches. This helps if you're using the notebook for basic organization, it keeps the supplies separate, neat and easy to put away.

I ripped the front and back covers off of the spiral notebook and cut the spiral fringe off so that I could use it as the cover to the binder.

I took a few pages of the spiral notebook so that he could continue practicing his letters and writing his name while we were away.

I added some plain white paper, a copy of the flash cards we've been using for him to learn his sight words, coloring pages that I printed from the internet and the rest of the lined paper. I ripped the pages out of the spiral notebook because the wire took up too much space and I really just wanted it for the Avengers cover. Here are a few shots of the final project.

Once all of the items were placed in the notebook I just made sure it wasn't too heavy for him to carry in his book bag.

You can definitely use less stuff, especially if you're traveling (8 crayons instead of 28, 2 pencil not 7) but my child doesn't listen when I say "color lightly, you're going to break the point" so we're bringing extra.

I used a small 3 ring binder so there's not tons of stuff  in it. You can get very creative with these notebooks and pouches if you use a larger 3 ring binder. Other art supplies you can stash would include:
Scissors
Glue Sticks
Pencil sharpener
Protractor/Compass
Paintbrushes
Chalk

Keeping Kids (or Pets) Safe With a Medication Log

If you've got a toddler at home I'm sure you've dealt with your fair share of colds and if you're not the only person caring for this child I'm sure you've had this conversation at lest once over the years.

I've been there and it's a little scary. All you can do is monitor your little one, make a mental note that you just carried out a parenting fail, pray that everything will be fine and be prepared to head to the ER if it's not.

To avoid making this mistake again, it takes a simple piece of paper and a minute of your time. A medication log posted in the area where you keep the meds is key to keeping your little ones safe from being over medicated.

A medication log can also be attached to the bottle in the instance that someone else is caring for your child in their home.

Some of you may be reading this and saying to yourself "why can't you just ask the person when the last time they gave the medication was" Of course that would work as well, if that person remembers the time and/or is currently available. But let's say they administered the last dose, the child is now solely in your care and your partner can't be reached at the current moment. You could do one of two things:

1. Wait until you're able to talk to your partner before giving your child another dose

2. Hope that it's passed the 6 hour time interval

Both of these things can be avoided with a simple medication log.

Take this same concept and use it if you have pets. A log could be kept for their medications or a simple fed/not fed sign near their food.

Hope this gives you some inspiration for your home.

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Our Wiggles Birthday Party

For my son's 2nd birthday we did a Wiggles theme but the group looks very different these days. If you have a kid who's into the original group, here are some ideas for a great DIY party.

We couldn't figure what to do for a piñata until we expanded our ideas. We decided to go with Captain Feathersword and a treasure chest.

I bought a basic treasure chest from Party City and just added the Wiggles logo,which I printed off the internet, to the top and sides.

For the rest of the decorations we just used Google images and The Wiggles colors of Red, Blue, Yellow and Purple. Here are some other party things we threw in.

For the cake I cut out this Big Red Car with an exact-o knife and mounted it on a piece of foil. We purchased a balloon cake from Costco for $15 and asked them to write only on the two top corners, this allowed up to put the cutout in the center,

We played pin The Wiggles on the Road by making a big 2 on on foam board and cutting out more Wiggles cars for each kid.

Hope this has given you inspiration for your own party. Search  the net and pull some ideas then put your own spin on it by converting those ideas to fit your theme.

Enjoy,

Niki

 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me). 

Bookcase Project for a Kid's Room

We were looking for a way to reduce the amount of clutter in the kid’s room so we got rid of the big bulky clothing hutch that housed their books, shoes, baby bibs and towels. Though the case could hold all of those items it wasn't visually appealing and it took up a lot of space in the room. With one trip to Ikea we purchased under bed storage for their shoes and we also found these really cool racks that we used for their books.

The shelves were actually in the kitchen area, they’re unfinished spice racks under the name BEKVÄM for $3.99 (wall anchors and screws not included)

We purchased 5 to complete this look.

The shelves took about 5 minutes per shelf to assemble but once they were all together we realized that the holes on the back were too small for the screws we had so we took a quick trip out to HomeDepot and purchased these smaller screws and anchors.

Without the trip to Home Depot, this was a 1/2 -1 hour job. The hardest part was getting the holes in the right spots and making sure the shelves were level. Once we got a system going, they were up in no time. 

The picture frames are from Ikea, they have plastic covers instead of glass so they're safer in the kid's room. The toy box was purchased last year from Ikea also.

In all we spent about $25 on the shelf project alone, if you want to paint the shelves that will run you a bit more.

Hope this gives you some inspiration for your home.

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

For Boy Who Loves Tea Parties

My son loves to reenact scenes from his favorite movies, so when he asked me if he could have a tea set to go along with his play food set to reenact the scene below from Toy Story 3, I thought it would be an easy request to fill. 

Toy Story 3 movie- Bonnie introduces Woody to her other toys as they sit around a table near her play kitchen.

I figured I could find a simple, gender neutral tea set at my local Toys R Us but when we got there all they had were frilly pink and white sets with hearts, flowers or “girl themed” characters. Needless to say we didn't leave the store with any of those as my, then 3 year old, son turned up his nose and said "mommy those are for GIRLS". They learn gender stuff at such an early age but I was determined to bridge the gap so I went into my crafty mom mode and figured I could make him a set he would LOVE.

As I started to move boxes around just to be sure I didn’t mess anything I saw this set:

Here’s a picture from the website:

It’s a simple grey and white set that has a heart pattern on it but it’s molded into the plastic so it doesn’t stand out much. When I showed him the set he perked up a bit but was still skeptical because it had two girls on the front of the box. I saw that he wasn't very excited about it but I tossed the set in the cart knowing that I could jazz it up once we got home with the help of some left over stickers we had.

About a year ago I had purchased 2 sets of these stickers from Walgreens for $1.99:

They have the characters printed on clear stickers instead of white so that they will blend onto whatever surface they are applied to. I hadn't opened one of the sets so there was just enough stickers for me to make him a custom Toy Story tea set.

I waited for him to take his nap and went to work on my project. When he woke up I had the set laid out for him and once he realized what it was, he got so excited.

He played with it a lot in the beginning but after a year and his new love EVERYTHING Avengers, it only makes an appearance a few times a month. One day he asked his uncle if he wanted to play tea party with him and when his uncle responded "tea parties are for girls" he said, with conviction, "no they're not, anyone can drink tea, see look at mine." My 20 something year old brother looked at me and then back at the tea set, knowing he was just trumped, took a cup and played. When he takes it out he still smiles and gets excited about it and my heart beams to know that little by little I'm helping my son stand behind what he loves and get passed gender stereotypes. I'm sure it gets harder as they get older but for now he's still a little boy who loves tea parties.

Here are a few shots of my final project.

Making Learning Fun

Before I put my son into Pre-K I was worried that he would be behind seeing as though he had only been in home childcare since he was born. One school we looked at gave me the impression that they would push him too fast and he wouldn't enjoy learning, luckily we found the right school for him and he loves going (once he's there). Since he's started school, my love for finding creative ways to teach him has also resurfaced and I've been making things at home to supplement what he's learning at school. 

My newest love is creating word trace sheets featuring his favorite characters, The Avengers, other Marvel heroes and Doc Mcstuffins. 

Once you get the hang out it, creating these only takes about 2-5 minutes and you can save them to do over and over agin.

Below is the step by step process for how I've made these tracing sheets:

Step 1 Do a Google image search for the character you want ex: "Hulk coloring pages"

Step 2 Copy the image and paste it on a word document

Step 3 Go to this free handwriting website and create the text you want to add. Print style works best for little kids who are learning how to write and the Paragraph Print Worksheet is best if you want to do the alphabet. 

Step 4 Hit print on the worksheet creator but don't print it. Take a screen shot of the text you created by pressing the Print Screen button on your key board.

Step 5 Go to your Paint Program, paste the image and then crop it so you just have the text. Select the portion of the image you want to add and hit COPY

Step 6 Go to the word document where you have the image of the character and PASTE the text.

Step 7 Right click on the text and select "in front of text" from the text wrap feature. Do the same for the image. This will allow you to position the two images anywhere on the page.

Step 8 Once you have everything where you want it, save and print.

You can make lots of different sheets using their favorite characters and the hand writing site. I've done a sheet with the alphabet, one with his name and one with the numbers 1-20.

We read each letter first and then he traces them. Once he's done the "work" portion he gets to color his character and he loves it.

Take a few minutes and make a few for your little one.

You've Been Boo'ed

I'm not quite sure where the You've Been Booed phenomenon came from but when it comes out it catches on and it’s so much fun for kids and adults alike.

We were Boo’ed for the first time when we moved to our new neighborhood, I came home from work one day to find a small goodie bag and a note tied to my door knob. When I read the “You've Been Boo-ed” poem and directions it put a smile on my face and made me feel welcomed. Though it’s intended to be a kid’s activity I ran with it at home and at work, our son was only 1 at the time. We passed the Boo onto two of our neighbors but then I drove a few minutes away to two of my friend’s houses and Boo’ed them too J.  The next morning I made another copy and left it on a coworker’s desk along with a candy treat. The office got a kick out of it for the day, not sure if my friends ever passed it on though.

What you’ll need:

Candy or some other item that will make a person smile

A printer or copy machine

Stealth moves

Print out two or three of the You've Been Boo’ed Direction sheets/poem

And two or three of the I've Been Boo’ed sheets

Create a little goodie bag and then pick 2-3 houses to Boo. Go to each house and place the goodie bag and poem in your neighbors mailbox or right on their front door.

If you know that one of you “victims” will need a little help to pass the Boo along quickly, give them a hand and print out a few extra copies for them.

This can also work in an office setting if you work in an environment where it’s okay to have a little fun.

You can find more information at http://www.beenbooed.com/

Thanks for stopping by 

Niki

(If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).