Archive for June 2010

Congrats Sharon Ross !
You are this weeks winner of my Alphabet Crafts eBook! No Time For Flash Cards readers have read well over 3000 books with their children in just 3 weeks of the challenge ! If you want to join in , it’s not too late every week is a new drawing, you just need to fill this out by Monday at 12am PDT . For all the details check out the rules and what you can win!

Is it time for a vacation ? A road trip to somewhere fun? Hotels, Grandma’s or maybe a beach house? Either way packing is never fun but it can be easier with this great travel sized craft supply box. This travel craft box is small but holds all he fun you need and can be packed easily into a suitcase or into your car this summer. I packed a similar one for my week in Washington DC, it was just me and three kids for most of the day , no tv , no car so these basics were our life savers!
- Gather your materials. You will need:
- A container. I like this medium sized ziplock container. It’s cheap, it’s just the right size and if something happens to it, like it gets left at the Holiday Inn, no biggie.
- Next I have an old stained but thick place mat. The benefit of using a cloth one is that the fabric absorbs paint, markers etc.. and it’s less messy as long as you don’t care if it gets rather colorful.
- Next add markers and crayons. I just put in the colors my son always uses, space is at a premium so this pip squeak markers are perfect!

- Paint- water colors are great , throw in an extra brush. Use the plastic cups in your hotel room for the water container.

- Add Play-doh and some popsicle sticks for making sculptures, and cutting the Play-doh.

- Scissors and glue. You will want scissors that are sharp enough for an adult to use but small enough for a kid.

- If there is extra room – glitter glue, stickers or pipe cleaners are great options.

- For the paper I added a handful of construction paper colors and lots of plain white paper .

- Put them in a file folder and this fits great in the front zipper of suitcases or even your carry-on. Or in a car in the pockets behind the driver or passenger seats.



Now you can take your craft supplies with you for those moments of downtime no matter where adventure takes you this summer.
Red, Blue and White play dough: we used our favorite play dough recipe. We also added glitter to the white after they played with it the first time. The recipe is super simple: 1 cup water, 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 2 TBSP oil and coloring( for this i used sugar free jello! smells so yummy! but you can use food paste or coloring, kool aid or paint.) stir all the ingredients till smooth,cook on med heat till it pulls away from the
pan, cool for a bit, knead still smooth and play!
Shannon blogs at Welcome To Our Wonderland where she share’s books and sometimes activities to go with the children’s books. She taught prek for 11 years and become a stay at home mom 10 years ago when her oldest was born.

Time to get in your forms. List all the books you have read ( at least 10!) with your child this week , fill in this form and you will be entered to win a copy of my eBook Alphabet Crafts as well as get an entry for the end of summer Amazon.com gift card giveaway. To be included in this week’s contest you need to fill the form out before 12am on Monday June 14th PDT.
Need more info? Check out the details.

This weeks spotlight is on Constructive Moms Blogger Program and the company putting it all together Constructive Playthings. I am often asked to be a part of PR for companies , provide giveaways and do reviews, to most I politely decline or pass it along to another blogger. I want to keep No Time For Flash Cards about learning, play and discovery not selling my readers things unrelated to that . I am not against being a part of all programs I just admit I am picky. This company fits my blog, their toys are high quality , promote learning and they even sell arts and craft supplies ! One of the biggest requests I got from my reader survey was that you all wanted more giveaways, so you will be happy to know that in this program I will be reviewing and giving away toys on a monthly basis! My son is all kinds of excited, I showed him their website and I think I have my Christmas list done!
I am not the only blogger involved there are 11 others who will also be providing honest reviews and awesome giveaways. So check out their blogs , we are a diverse group and I am eager to see all our takes of the different products.
Lee http://www.mysentimentexactlee.com
Karen http://3garnets2sapphires.com
Keri http://www.toyqueen.com
Melissa http://www.consumerqueen.com
Dwan http://www.mommadjane.com
Tennille http://www.feistyfrugalandfabulous.com/
Jody http://www.mommymoment.ca/
Lisa http://www.crazyadventuresinparenting.com
Gina http://www.wrestlingaddictedmommy.com
Bridgette http://www.thenotsoblog.com/
Kimberly http://www.raisingolives.com
I am really excited about this and hope it ends up being a wonderful way for me to spoil my readers who I appreciate so much!









