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5 Ways To Keep The Kids Entertained This Summer

August 9, 2019 by

When summer comes along, it can be hard to keep your kids entertained all of the time. They are no longer in the routine of heading to school and doing fun activities on the weekend – they need to be entertained all of the time.

Extra activities

The good news is that we have put together some of the best ways that you can keep your kids entertained this summer. Keep reading to find out more.

Create Something Together

One of the best ways to keep your kids entertained is to spend some time creating something together. This could involve arts and crafts, or it could be as simple as baking a cake. Your kids will love getting their creative juices flowing and they will be happy with the end result. Make sure to check out a list of some of the easy recipes that you can bake with kids here. 

Visit The Zoo

Kids love animals and so you should think about taking a trip to the local zoo with yours this summer to keep them entertained. You can all see the animals up close and possibly even give them a feed. If you don’t have a zoo nearby then you should also visit the aquarium or a farm. Either way, your kids will be entertained, and this will work well. 

Take A Family Road Trip

Have you ever thought about taking a family road trip? This can be a great way of getting out and exploring with your kids and it will save you some money on a vacation. Of course, for a successful road trip with kids, you’ll need a large family SUV fitted with comfortable seats and plenty of space. SUVs with tray tables can also come in handy for when you want to share some snacks with your kids. Make sure to pack some games for the car to keep them entertained.

Arrange for Water Fun

What better can you think of than making arrangements for water fun to keep kids entertained and beat the summer as well? Water slides can be a great source of water fun. Not only is it a fun and exciting way to beat the summer heat, but it also encourages physical activity and creativity.

One can easily get customized small water slides designed that are suitable for indoor pools to install and ensure that from kids to adults in the family, enjoy the summers to their fullest.

Have A Backyard Sleepover

Another great way to keep your kids entertained this summer is to have a backyard sleepover. This is just like camping except you do it in your backyard and you won’t have to head off anywhere. Your backyard sleepover just needs a tent, some blankets and snacks for the night. You can play games and watch movies at your sleepover so make sure to consider this.

Be Tourists

Have you ever explored your own hometown or city as a tourist? This can be the perfect way to keep your kids entertained and it is definitely something that you should give a try. You can find plenty of sites that offer family discounts on tourist attractions so make sure to have a look at this. Your kids will love seeing the sights and you can get some great photographs. 

Keeping your kids occupied and entertained over the entire summer can be tricky but if you try out some of the ideas that we have discussed here, you should be able to achieve this.




5 Fun Art Activities to Involve Your Kids In

July 8, 2019 by

1. Rock Painting

Rock painting is one of the most fun and inexpensive art projects you can get your kids involved in. The canvas for the painting – rocks – are totally free and you will have a gala of a time hunting for the perfect rocks with your kids. After you have selected the rocks that you would like to paint – mostly the ones with a smooth surface works the best.

Craft

Set up a painting station – outdoors if you want. Rock painting is great for working outdoors because no paper is going to be flying around. So, it will not be a mess. You and your kids can paint the rocks and make characters out of them which can then be used for stories or playtime or just decorating your garden.

2. Crumpled paper art

Crumpled paper art is a simple technique and is not much different from your regular painting. I would say it works best with watercolor than acrylic, poster, or oil paint because watercolor is easier to move around and simple for kids to play with.

Crumpled paper makes even just running brush strokes on the paper turn it into a different design every time. Other than you deciding what colors to use and what to paint, the end result will always be a surprise to you.

3. Leaf wreath

Making a leaf wreath isn’t only an activity that you will enjoy while in process, you will also get to have fun preparing for it. Just like rock painting, you can spend time with your kids walking and talking and collecting leaves.

Then comes the process of making the wreaths and that is fun trying to decide what leaves to use, which color combo to go for. Do you want it close nit or spaced out? Let your kids decide how the wreath is going to look.

4. Paper mache

Paper mache is a great way to teach kids about recycling and also getting them into the habit of making best from waste. Teach them how to get the paper ready to be sculpted into whatever they want. You can teach them to make paper mache statues, utensils, dishes, and even jewelry. Once you have spent a messy afternoon making them.

You can have another play date painting the dried results. This is a great activity to spread out during the week. The kids also learn how to consistently work on one project over the course of time.

5. Shaving cream marbling painting

This is a fun activity preferably done outside. What we do is get a tub and put in some shaving cream, you then have to put in some paint and swirl it around with a toothpick making a marbling effect. You can use any color combination and swirl it to your heart’s content just let the paints remain streaky.

Place the paper on top and let it stay for a few seconds and then pick it out of the tub. When it dries the paper has a cool marbling effect. You can scrap off the access shaving foam from the paper to have a smooth marbled paper.

This paper can again be used for crafting so the kids are making their own decorative paper. The paper can be used as gift wrapping or can also be used to make greeting cards.




Decorating a Boy’s Room

March 20, 2019 by
Boys room

In order to create an original arrangement for a boy’s room, you need a lot of creativity and knowledge about children’s needs and development. The interior will have to serve several different functions. It should be both educational and entertaining. Essential design elements for a boy’s room include multi-purpose furniture and decorations such as a sports poster. However, you should also be careful not to overdecorate the space. Here’s some helpful advice on how to arrange a child’s bedroom.

Boy’s room arrangement 101

room arrangement

You’ll find more sport-inspired posters here: https://myloview.com/posters/by-category/sport/

When decorating a space of this kind, make sure to follow a few basic decorative rules. They will make your child feel more comfortable in their room and improve their overall well-being. In addition, they will also help your little one focus and have a positive impact on their cognitive abilities. According to these rules, a perfect boy’s room should be:

  • ergonomic (the desk should be of appropriate height and size and the distance from your child’s eye to the computer screen should be between 20 to 40 inches),
  • convenient (use multi-purpose, minimalistic furniture, as it allows you to quickly refresh the room or easily rearrange it to create more space),
  • clean (choose those types of flooring, paint, and wallpaper which can be easily cleaned),
  • safe (if the room features an entresol or gym equipment, make sure that there are soft panels on the walls and a wall-to-wall carpet or cushioned flooring),
  • comfortable (the floor should be soft and pleasant to touch and should act as an insulator; complement the design with furniture and accessories made of natural materials, such as wood and wool.)

A child’s room usually includes several distinct areas. If the interior is very spacious, you can physically divide it using partition walls. Otherwise, you may want to differentiate particular areas devoted to playing, studying, and sleeping using colors.

A blaze of saturated colors or soft pastel hues (?) – ideal colors for a boy’s room

Room color

If the interior is already full of fantastic decorations and accessories such as a sports event poster, a rope swing, or model planes, the design needs to be complemented with appropriate colors. Consider using the 70%x20%x10% rule. 70% of the space should be dedicated to a dominating color, 20% to a supplementary color, and 10% to a contrastive color. Beige and gray are incredible candidates for the dominating color (white isn’t the best idea, since it gets dirty easily.) The supplementary color should also be rather soft. Consider pastel hues of green, light blue, or purple. As far as the contrastive color is concerned, you can’t go wrong with navy blue or maroon.

The perfect choice of color often depends on the child’s age. For younger boys, it’s better to use softer, pastel hues. Teenagers will definitely find stronger, expressive colors more appealing and maybe even wish to have their ceiling painted as well. If you want the room to look neat and modern, decorate the walls with a geometric wallpaper or wall murals depicting your child’s favorite cartoon characters. Remember not to go overboard with the decor. The color scheme should be limited to 3 or 4 colors.

Quintessential accessories for a boy’s room

Room accessories

If you want to help your child develop their cognitive skills, there are a few types of accessories that you should consider:

  • labyrinth wall murals which improve concentration and may also include other educational games,
  • illuminated alphabet boards, featuring letters that can be rearranged to form words,
  • hobby-related decorations, such as a sports poster.

If you want to encourage your child to spend more time outside, it might be a good idea to introduce elements such as a baseball glove, a basketball, or rollerblades into the arrangement. Put these items on display so that they’re easily accessible. Participating in sports activities has a beneficial effect on our health but also satisfies other needs such as the need to be part of a group or to be accepted.




Fruit Painted Rocks #craft #kidsinthekitchen

July 25, 2013 by

Don’t we all have pretty bowls and vases on our kitchen table filled with fruit, flowers and other lovely centerpieces. On our tables I have a bowl of fresh produce and on the other table I have a tray filled with junk. I’m talking about coupons, sunglasses, notebooks, beads and business cards. It’s the catchall for the room.

I gave Sabreena and Shae a task to make something pretty for the table.  They hunted under our deck for very specific shaped river rocks and made a this bowl of fruit.

The first thing they had to do was wash all the dirt off of the rocks and set them aside to dry. A couple minutes in the sun is all it took.

river rocks

The girls brought out all of the acrylic paints plus some kid friendly washable poster paints, tons of brushes like these ones  and protection for my table. They wrote down lists of all the fruits and veggies they thought they could paint and started mixing colors.

Shae went for her favorite fruits first, strawberries and blueberries. Sabreena went for more elaborate designs like corn an squash. Hours and hours went by and they were still sitting there painting rocks to resemble something completely new and beautiful.

Painting Rocks-Corn #kidsinthekitchen

painting rocks #kidsinthekitchen

Did you have fun in the “kitchen” this week? Did you try a new food or a new kid friendly restaurant? Did your littlest ones use their snacks to count to 10? We invite you to share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen.

Come join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together, enjoying it and learning something along the way.

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update.

Linky Rules, #kidsinthekitchen

#KidsintheKitchen Weekly Linky

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TShirt Tote Bag #ExpressYourself #CBias

May 5, 2012 by

I was recently asked to come up with a craft for the #ExpressYourself campaign using Elmers Painters Paint Markers and fabric. The fabric part got me stumped. I thought I’d make Shae a cute shirt, draw a flower or fun saying on it but what’s so original and creative about that. Then it hit me, go DIY with it. I stood in the middle of my living room at a pile of laundry and I got the idea of making a t-shirt tote bag.

I’ve seen tutorials before and figured this would be easy. I got the kids in the car and headed to Walmart to find the Elmers Painters Paint Markers. It actually took me a little while to find them and I got worried that they didn’t carry them but finally found them with the acrylic paints and stencils.
walmart craft aisle #expressyourself elmers #collectivebias
I chose the Sherbet collection in Medium Point. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do to the bag but figured medium point was a safe option.  Instead of purchasing a box of set colors all with the same point you can always buy individuals.  Priced @ $1.97 each at your local Walmart it’s a cheap craft supply when you only need one to two for a specific project.  My Walmart didn’t have a ton of bright color choices.  I almost bought the silver and gold Painters Paint Markers but figured I would wait to see how my project came out.  I’ll be getting more colors next visit to Walmart.
walmart painters paint markers #expressyourself elmers #collectivebias
Setting up my project took longer than the actual crafting but wait till you see what I came up with.
I scoured Rob’s t-shirt drawer and found an earthy green tee that he never wore. I grabbed my sewing machine and other tools and set out to get it done early in the morning.  The bag itself literally took minutes. Simply sewing shut the bottom of an inside out tee, cutting off the sleeves and making a larger opening was all it took to get a great bag. The trick here was to give it a unique and fun design with the Elmers Painters Paint Markers.

tshirt tote bag tutorial diy step by step craft project

I figured since the bag already had a “green” feel to it being a neutral color and a recycled/reused item I’d stick with the crunchy theme and go for a tree. I drew out a couple trees on paper to get the right look and size and them totally free-handed it on the bag.

elmers painters paint markers drawing shirt craft

elmers painters paint markers flower craft

A large brown tree with pink and purple flowers on a handmade upcycled tote bag is my final project.

handmade tote from t shirt upcycled recycled craftThese markers were so easy to use I let my 4 year old make her own upcycled tote bag but an old tank top sewn shut on the bottom. She copied mommy’s design and drew a tree with flowers.

painted tote kids craft

As she did her craft I did a quick second craft for myself; a decorated vase. This is the perfect size for thumbtacks, paperclips or even buttons.  It only took minutes and was simple.

painted jar craft project

Elmers Painters Paint Markers can be found at your local Walmart and other retail locations.  At about $10 for a pack of 5 it’s a small investment for tools that can be used for almost any project you may have.  As you can see from above these Painters Paint Markers easily go on fabric and glass but can also be used on wood, plastics, ceramics and more.  They are now a staple in my craft supplies closet since they are a cleaner and easier option than paintbrushes and tubs of paint.  Stay connected with Elmers and all of their other crafty supplies and projects on Facebook and Twitter.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric”




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