Archive for June 2011
I love Link & Learn and the community of bloggers that come back week after week and if you have been too shy to add your post please add it this week, there are no rules just link up your best post of the week and check out some of the other stellar links added.
Have a great week and if you haven’t signed up for our Summer Reading Challenge – it’s a great way to keep learning and spending some quiet time with your kids …and you could win an Amazon.com gift card too!
Summer is here and it’s time to celebrate with some good books. Last year we started a tradition of Summer Reading with our kids. This year we are counting up how many books we as a community can read, because reading is rad ! I will post reminders to fill in your tally sheet and at the end of the summer ( August 26th)you will automatically be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card from amazon.com so you can buy more books to share with your kids.
You may enter one tally sheet per week per household , read more books, get more chances to win! The tally sheet is your contest entry as well more than one entry per week per email will be discarded. The prize is fun but we all win when we read with our kids.
I will be posting reminders every Saturday. The tally sheet weeks are as follows please only submit once per week period :
June 3-9th , 10th -16th , 17th- 23rd , 24th-30th
July 1st-7th , 8th-14th, 15th- 21st , 22nd-28th
July 29th – August 4th
August 5th-11th , 12th-18th , 19th -25th.
The winner will be drawn on the 26th of August.
So simple . So Important . So rad!
Fill Out Your Tally Sheet
Need some new book titles? Check out our book reviews.
I have had lost of requests for a printable – I am away so I haven’t had time to make one but this one from The Crafty Classroom is great !
These are so simple to make but really beautiful. You could use the technique to make garlands , add flowers to invites and even make brooches. One tip: the labels peel off easily but if they are saturated in paint it gets tricky, so try not to gob it on the middle.
- Gather your materials you will need some paint, dot labels ( from stationary aisle), cupcake liners in different sizes, brushes, card stock and double stick tape. Ignore the ribbon- at first I was thinking I’d make a garland.
- Start by putting the circular labels in the middle of the liners.
- Paint. I had so much fun painting these , crafts are so relaxing.
- Let dry.
- Peel off the center to reveal a uniform middle for all the flowers.
- Tape some of the smaller flowers into the middle of larger ones.
- Tape flowers onto the card stock. I think I may frame it.
I’m always on the lookout for crafts that don’t involve a lot of…well, anything. I want something that is easy to set up, supplies I have around my house and something my kids can do without a lot of supervision! And this, my friends, fits all those qualifications and more!
All you need is some crayons (check!), glue stick (check!), scissors (check!) and assorted envelopes (check!). So far, so good.
Let’s begin with the animal puppet. Take a long envelope, seal it and cut it in half.
With the open side down, snip off the two bottom corners. (Save ‘em! We’ll need them in a minute.)
Now, turn the envelope around, color it pink, glue on those two snipped bottom corners and you have a pig! How cute is that?!
We made mice and frogs with this same idea (just round eyes and ears instead of triangle ears). You could make a whole zoo this way!
Our next puppet is a caterpillar. Or maybe it’s a snake. Or just a crazy little monster. It’s whatever you want it to be! Just take a square invitation envelope, fold it in half and cut off the outside top corner. Then make a “V” cut in the middle.
When you open the envelope up (flap down!), you can stick your hand in, push two fingers out and you have a little puppet with antennas!
Aren’t they cute? The one on the left kinda looks like Lord Voldemort, doesn’t he? Oh, well. My daughter thought he was cute!
So, next time your kids are hanging at your office or you need to write some bills, grab an envelope and start a puppet factory!
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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!
