Next month will mark the second year of living in our not so new, new house, and we are just getting around to hanging things on the wall. Seriously. Part of the delay is attributable to uncertainty (and repeated testing) about where furniture should finally land, and part because some wall hangings required crafting. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to assembling inspiration boards for my office and my workspace is now approaching a cosmic level of awesome. Read on for the how-to; these boards would be great in other areas of the home as well.Next month will mark the second year of living in our not so new, new house, and we are just getting around to hanging things on the wall. Seriously. Part of the delay is attributable to uncertainty (and repeated testing) about where furniture should finally land, and part because some wall hangings required crafting. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to assembling inspiration boards for my office and my workspace is now approaching a cosmic level of awesome. Read on for the how-to; these boards would be great in other areas of the home as well.
I've long been a proponent of gardening with kids, but that wasn't the only reason I adored the hands on, tchochke-free garden(ing) party my friend Nicola (of teddy bear tea party fame) assembled for her daughter's sixth birthday party. You will totally want to copy this awesome idea.
Today, Kate shares a couple of leads for kids who go bonkers for balloons:
We've never been one for big birthday celebrations in my family, and we've kept my daughter's parties similarly low key. For her most recent birthday (her 4th), I wanted to do something special that would neither break the bank nor cause too much fuss, and settled on the idea of hiring a balloon twister. I love balloon animals, and find the people who make them to be artists with nerves of steel, always moments away from having a creation pop in their hands (and in front of their young audiences).
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Perri via Facebook:
Hello Boston Mamas, I'm (relatively) new to Boston and am looking for a great photographer to take some photos of my one year old. I'm looking for color and black & white, maybe some shots at Boston Common, and yes, at least one with the [Make Way for] Ducklings statues. Any suggestions?
I'm not sure what it is with kids and face paint, but when I mentioned to Laurel that there would be a face painter at Down:2:Earth, she immediately was on board about coming with me. Face painting was, in fact, our first stop at the expo and I was impressed with Jill Reed of Baja Face Painting. Friendly yet gentle in approach towards my initially shy girl, Jill queried Laurel on favorite colors then went to work on creating a fantastic full-face monarch butterfly with sparkling accents (to complement the costume Laurel put on in anticipation of said face painting).
This spring-like weather is utterly delicious, and if your kids want to create colorful flowers to match (while nature catches up), consider this Alex Toys Giant Paper Flowers Kit. My in-laws got this kit for Laurel and she loves the resulting pretty paper blooms. The kit includes an impressive quantity of colorful, decorative-edged tissue paper sheets + pipe cleaners (enough to make 30 flowers). Simply stack and accordion fold the paper, twist fasten with pipe cleaners, and fluff the flowers. It's a lovely, creative, and affordable away to have flowers all year long.
One thing I adore about my in-laws is that they dream up all sorts of interesting activities -- both crafty and every day -- to engage Laurel in during visits. Recently, in addition to introducing Laurel to a variety of awesome every day experiences, such as holding baby chicks, collecting eggs, and feeding horses (my heart breaks a little that I wasn't there to witness all of this), my father-in-law taught Laurel some classic magic.
One fun by-product of parenting is reliving games of my childhood with Laurel (oddly enough, I’m also looking forward to a second pass at learning math and history when Laurel hits high school…). And often times it’s the simplest and least expensive games and activities that offer so much fodder for fun and creativity.
Given Laurel’s insatiable appetite for art projects, it’s always fun to discover a new craft that captivates her. And currently, it’s weaving -- an activity inspired by a transfixing spin on a full sized loom at a downtown art festival this past summer. We recently bought Laurel the Alex Fashion Weaving Loom (you also can opt up a notch in size with the Alex Giant Weaving Loom), and though the packaging is marked for 7+ Laurel has no problem weaving once I set up the main (warp) threads. The kit comes with fantastically soft rainbow yarn plus some fun fringed yarn and this activity has engaged Laurel for impressively long stretches of time; she's super proud of the scarf she just finished. I just wish Alex sold more of the rainbow yarn separately, because Laurel’s itching to make a coordinating purse.
Marie LeBaron is a blog friend who I have yet to meet in real life, but we share a passion for crafting and food and I so admire all of the crafty awesomeness she shares on her site, Make and Takes. And though Marie and my friendship is relatively new, her enthusiasm encouraged me to sign up with her and ten other bloggers for what no doubt will be a (somewhat insane) major bonding experience: a 200-mile relay run come spring (gulp). I’m thrilled that today, for the seventh installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, Marie shares easy yet engaging holiday crafts to enjoy with your kids.
I admittedly have a bit of a weak spot for creative and colorful educational toys (especially those under $10), so this weekend when Laurel and I picked up sticky mosaics (my go-to gift for elementary school aged kids) for a birthday party, I couldn’t help but say yes when she asked if we could buy this Orb Factory Mosaica toy. Produced by the same folks who make the awesome sticky mosaics, this compact tin includes 64 two-tone magnetic squares and an insert with suggested patterns (build right inside the tin to keep the tiles in place). Awesome for travel and also for encouraging spatial skills and quiet time at home, Laurel spent hours with this toy this weekend (Jon and I also couldn’t resist building a few patterns...), which allowed me to get to some much needed cleaning and organization in advance of hosting Thanksgiving.
Last month I guest posted about baby activities in Boston for the lovely ladies behind Rookie Moms. And today I’m thrilled to share some clever craft ideas from Rookie Moms co-founder Whitney Moss. Whitney offers three easy ideas to help you reinvent stained, outgrown, or simply worn out t-shirts. These solutions are perfect for breathing new life into old faves. Make it work.
Per my role as a March of Dimes mom (through which I will donate one post per month to pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, newborn, or general family topics), this month I wanted to share some tips on safeguarding your home; these tips are important to consider before bringing a baby home and while you have small children in the house. I extracted and adapted these ten tips from a home safety checklist guide prepared by the March of Dimes with the assistance of Dr. Ruth Etzel (Director, Division of Epidemiology and Risk Assessment, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and editor of the Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health).
One of Laurel’s favorite birthday gifts is the Connectagons Under the Sea set gifted by her grandmother. Blissfully gender unspecific, this building set includes 10 base coral pieces and 234 interlocking wooden discs that are vividly patterned with fish, coral patterns, and other underwater critters. The pieces are pretty to look at (I couldn’t resist sorting by color/type) and irresistible to play with (for all ages, clearly), whether you’re building vertical sea sculptures or – like Laurel – creating little rooms for dolls to play in.
All kids deserve to have music in their lives, and I love that there are ways to access music that don’t involve investing thousands of dollars in an instrument (as I did for my bow alone as an aspiring violinist). Among Laurel’s favorite birthday presents this year is the Schylling Blues Harmonica gifted to her by her musician uncle. Offering immediate melodic gratification, I can’t get enough of Laurel’s joyous expression as she blows and draws to make music. And in addition to the awesomely low price tag and easy music making, you can't beat the compactness and low maintenance of harmonicas.
Laurel always has loved putting pen (or marker, crayon, or colored pencil) to paper, and these days, whenever presented with activity books that include word searches, mazes, scene analysis, etc., she immediately gravitates towards the mazes. In my subsequent hunt for maze books, I was thrilled to find Kumon’s Amazing Mazes (a sequel to My First Book Of Mazes and My Book of Easy Mazes). Part of Kumon’s educational workbook series for kids, these mazes are happily challenging for growing brains (mazes increase in complexity with page count) and are beautifully illustrated and cleverly constructed. Next on my list: the animal, things that go, and around the world maze books.
Today, Kate recommends revisiting Maurice Sendak:
“When I was a girl, my father often read to me before bed, using voices, accents, and enthusiasm that I can only endeavor to imitate now that the years have passed and I am reading to my daughter myself. One of my favorite books to read with my father was Maurice Sendak's Higglety Pigglety Pop!, a chapter book about the existential searchings of a fluffy dog named Jennie. Even as a child I recognized that the book had a sadness to it, a poignancy, and that it spoke to its young readers in a way that was subtler and more complex than a lot of the other fare available for my age group.