Summer Ideas

Make your own Guess Who game using real family pictures!  This very clever idea comes from The Madsen Times.

I really liked this idea, of creating a summer bucket list...you know...a list of things to do with your kids for the summer.  Think up what there is in your area or what interests your family has to make it work for you!  I found the idea at Mommy Guru.

I love this idea of a handled towel.  So cute and so much easier for a child to carry their own towel.  These would be a great birthday gift!  Thanks Salty Pineapple for the tutorial and idea!!

Melissa from the Polkadot Chair shared a great idea for making a zipper pouch bag (for wet swim clothes) out of a shower curtain.  The tutorial was featured on 30 Days.  Seems like a very handy thing to make for the summer!

Sister Stuff featured a list of 100 things to do in the Summer.  Check it out for some fun ideas to do with your kids!

Money Shirt & Tool Belt Filled with Treats

I just came across a fun new blog called Craft Critters.  They featured 2 really cute and creative ideas for Father's Day.
1.  A Money Shirt...really people...who doesn't like to get money? 

2.  A candy tool belt pouch.  I love how this project turned out and how she made the paper look like leather.  Much better looking than just throwing some treats into a gift bag.  Very cute!!

M&M Tie

I saw this cute, creative (and inexpensive) Father's Day idea from Sugardoodle.  This idea was used as a gift for the dads at church, so it would be a great idea to use if you had a lot of gifts to give!  Here are the directions and a variation of the poem to be used.

DAD Pictures

Since pictures seem to be a popular idea for Dad's/Grandpa's on Father's Day, here are a few ideas that you might want to try out too...

From Sister Stuff:

And from Mommy Guru, here is the same idea but a different approach:

Just a thought, but I made something similar to these ideas for my mom one year for Mother's Day.  The mat of the picture frame said Grandma and I had 7 different grandchildren pictures to fill in behind the letters.  You could try something like that for GRANDPA too! :)  I love pictures...especially creative ones!

And speaking of pictures, try out this fun {FREE} site (Be Funky)...it allows you to edit your pictures in fun ways!  Check it out...could be fun!

Dad Keychain Ideas

With Father's Day around the corner, I hope to be sharing some ideas with you to motivate you to try something new for your dad or husband this year.

From Creative Itch, here is a mini tie keychain idea:

Here is another clever {washer} keychain idea from Helping Little Hands.  Love it!

Thank You Ideas Using Candy

Here were some other cute gifts I received on the last day of school. A candy gram:

A thank you card using candy:

End of the Year M&M Gift

Summer is here and that means that I am back. Ok when I said that I was returning to work full time, I had no idea just how crazy my life would become and how quickly too. I apologize for my long absence...full-time job, ball games almost every night of the week, an unexpected death in the family, still serving in the PTA and everything else life has to offer can sometimes put you a little behind. I did take lots of pictures of doors during teacher appreciation ideas and I hope to get things going on here again. Thanks for being so patient with me.
School ended last Thursday for my kids and I and I am in much need of a break! I received this super cute and clever gift on the last day of school from one of my students. If school hasn't ended for you yet and you are looking for an easy end of the year gift, here is one:

Fill a jar with M & M's and attach this note:

Green is for the inspiration you give me each day.
Blue is for your patience in showing me the way.
Orange is for the warmth and caring style.
Yellow is for the way you always make me smile.
Red is for my life that you have touched this year.

You're a very special teacher
just like this jar, that's clear.
You place knowledge in our children's hands
and melt into their hearts and lives forever.
You're a "Magnificent" & "Marvelous" teacher.
Thank you for being my M&M.

POP-ular Cookies

These have to be some of the cutest cookies I have ever seen! Check out Bake at 350 to see how to create your own.

Teacher Appreciation Card

Looking for a cute and free teacher appreciate card? Check out Cut and Create to download your own.

Some Bulletin Board Ideas

Here are a few pictures on bulletin boards I have taken recently.
For this, the students wrote a story and glued it inside a flower. They then illustrated a part of their story and glued that on a piece of white paper to the front of the flower.

A March bulletin board:

This was done for a Kindergarten class:

*Don't forget...next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. If you have any great ideas you want to share, let me know so I can feature you!

Earth Day Ideas

I recently got an e-mail from someone asking for some Earth Day ideas.  For those of you that don't know, Earth Day is April 22.  How do I remember you ask?  It happens to also be my hubby's birthday! :)  Here are some ideas I have come across...

Letter of the Week - Earth Day (E) from No Time For Flash Cards

Earth Day Muffins from No Time for Flash Cards

Earth Day poems from Classroom Jr.

Butterfly Feet

Construction paper
paint (any color)
black pen

Paint the bottom of the child's feet. Make imprints of each foot with the big toe facing outward and the outer edge of the feet touching each other. You will notice the results looks like a butterfly. It helps to clean one foot before you paint the other. 

Ocean Cups With A Twist

blue jello mix
gummy fish
crushed graham crackers
Teddy Grahams
gummy Lifesavers
Sea creature crackers
paper umbrellas
clear plastic cups

This is the blue jello ocean cups with a little twist. Mix the jello according to the package. Pour the jello in clear plastic cups and add in gummy fish (you may want to wait until the jello starts to firm up a little so the fish don't all sink to the bottom). Let the jello set in your refrigerator. Once set, take finely crushed graham crackers and sprinkle along one side (on the top) of the jello cup to resemble a beach. Next take a Teddy Graham and insert half way in a gummy lifesavers. You may want to pre-stretch the lifesaver so the bear will fit in easily. Then, stick the feet of the bear in the jello. This should look like a bear with a float around it's waist floating in the water. Then, add a bear to the sandy area with a few starfish crackers. Last, insert the umbrella at an angle in the beach area.

OR

Rice Crispie Earth
rice crispy type cereal

marshmallow cream
butter or margarine
foil
pizza pan
food coloring
water
small container
new children's paint brushes
plastic baggies

Prepare a rice crispy treat mixture by combining rice crispy cereal, butter or margarine and marshmallow cream according to the recipe on the box of the cereal. While the mixture is cooling have the children place baggies on their hands and coat the baggies with margarine. Now that the mixture is cool enough to handle have the children press the mixture onto a foiled covered pizza pan. Mix food coloring and water into a small container. One container with blue color and the other with green. Have the children "paint" the ocean blue and the land green. When the earth is complete cut and eat.

Where Have I Been?

Some of you may be wondering if I have disappeared off the face of the earth or if I am on vacation in some remote location where Internet cannot be found. The truth is, life has been crazy busy for me lately. (Not that it wasn't before!) I think that I have mentioned this before, but this is the first year I have returned to work...part-time, working at my kids' school. It's been great for me! For half of the day I have been able to be part of my older 2 kids' life at school, come home at lunch and spend the afternoon with my 2 younger kids.
About 3 weeks ago I got a call from the principal who said that one of the 1st grade teachers just found out she had a brain tumor and wanted me to fill in for the rest of the year. I agreed to the job and have loved being back in the classroom. The problem is that it hasn't left me much time to do some things I am use to...blogging...cleaning the house...etc. Thankfully I have a great family who has been helping out and forgives me when I slack!! I will continue to post on this blog, but since I am still getting into a new routine, please be patient if it isn't as often as I was able to before! Thanks!!

CVC Egg Puzzles

I had good intensions to get this posted before Easter, but since it is still spring I guess this idea could still work.  I found this CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) Egg Puzzle at My Montessori Journey.  Click on my link, and it will take you to the post where you can print yours off for FREE too!

In my picture, the eggs had not been cut apart, yet but you get the idea.  I thought this would make a great literacy center or teaching activity for a child learning to read.  Who doesn't love puzzles?

Easter Egg Nest Treat Idea

Last week I was in charge of making the Easter treat for the Young Women of my church. My mother-in-law helped me come up with this idea:

You may have seen a similar ideas for making nests using Chow Mein noodles?!?  These were made with scotcheroos.  Make a batch of scotcheroos (see below for recipe) and press them in a muffin tin.  Melt chocolate (I used melted chocolate chips) and pour over the top. While I was waiting for the scotcheroos and chocolate to set up, I colored some coconut with green food coloring for grass and added 3 jelly bean eggs to each nest.  Next, I popped the treats out of the muffin tin and individually wrapped each nest with a note that said...Hope you have an EGG-cellent Easter!

Scotcheroos Recipe:

1 c. light corn syrup              6 c. Rice Krispies cereal
1 c. sugar                             1 c. butterscotch chips
1 c. peanut butter                 1 c. chocolate chips

Measure corn syrup and sugar into large saucepan. Cook over med. Heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into greased 9 x 13 pan. Set aside.
Melt chocolate & butterscotch chips together in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand firm. Cut into 1 x 2” bars and serve.

Have I mentioned before my LOVE for peanut butter and chocolate?  Oh my...these things are addicting!
Here is another very similar idea using no-bake cookies from All Things Heart and Home.

Easter Egg Matching Activity

I recently made this matching activity for my younger kids out of Easter eggs. I bought a pack of 18 eggs from the dollar store and knew I wanted to do something with them, aside from using them for only Easter.
First, I made a set using numbers (1-10). My 4 year old had to match the number to the correct number of dots for a match.

An easier version, was to match the same shape for a match. Circle with circle, triangle with triangle, etc.

I separated all the eggs and put the halves in a basket. The kids had to dig through the basket to find the matches. My 9 year old son came into the room awhile later and decided to turn the game into memory. The kids then set up the eggs in rows with the numbers and shapes facing away from them. One at a time, they took turns picking an egg and seeing if it was a match.

*When making this activity, make sure to not let the eggs match up in colors! Separate all the eggs first, put them back together with a non-matching color and then write on the eggs.