Preschool Games

Our Parents-As-Teachers Educator, Pat, is retiring at the end of this school year :(  The girls and I love, love, love her.  We are so sad to say good-bye, but we are very happy that she's going to have more time to spend with her kids and grand kids.

Every time Pat comes to visit with the girls, she brings lots of fun, educational games. It was a very raining week last week so the girls and I had lots of time for indoor games.  Here are a few of our favorites.


Milestone Challenge Game

I posted about this game last year.  It's so super fun that I had to mention it agin!  Click here for the details.

I Spy Jar

This is a great game for helping kids to learn colors.  All you need is an empty Gatorade bottle (or similar bottle with a large opening), a bag of white rice and some small, colorful toys.  

Add the toys to the empty bottle first and then fill the bottle with rice.   Don't fill it up too high; you want the kids to be able to shake up the bottle.  When a toy appears in the rice you say "I spy something pink" and the child has to identify the pink frog.  As the child begins to learn their colors you can have them take a turn "spying" while you guess.

What's Missing
This game helps boosts your child's memory.  You can increase the difficulty as kids get older or more skilled.  You'll need 4 small toys and a small hand towel.

Show your child each toy, then cover them with the small towel (I used a burp cloth, which I always have handy these days thanks to Clara and her recent onset of acid reflux!).

While your child is cover their eyes, remove one toy from under the towel.  Remove the towel and have your child guess which toy is missing.  Add one more toy once your child masters four toys.

I also found some other fun and educational preschool games on Pinterest that you can make at home:
1.  Popsicle Stick Counting

2.  Alphabet Spoons

3.  Feed the Penguin

4.  Flashcard Hide and Seek

5.  Bean Bag Toss

6.  Popsicle Stick Matching

And lastly, these are a few games that we purchased that the girls love to play:

1.  Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

2.  The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That Game

3.  Uno Moo

Do your kids have a favorite game?  Please tell me about it!

Preschool Birthday Party Favors

Last week I got to celebrate Ava's birthday with her at her preschool.  I love getting the chance to see Ava at school interacting with her teachers and friends.  Just as I suspected, she's a bit shy and a bit silly!

Ava got to bring a snack for the kids to eat on her birthday - Oreos and Lemonade!  She also got to give party favors to each of her school friends.  It's hard coming up with a birthday party favor that is fun for boys and girls, unique and inexpensive.  Last year, Ava and I made heart crayons.

It's debatable whether or not the boys were excited for the heart crayons.  Hopefully they appreciated the train erasers that I included with the crayons.

This year, my mom gave me the idea for Ava's party favors - punch balloons!  My mom buys these balloons all the time for family get-togethers and my kids and nieces and nephews LOVE them.  You can buy a bag of 16 balloons for only $6 at Party City!

I found some little initial cards at Party City (or you could make your own with card stock and maybe some birthday stickers) ...

I used a heart-shaped hole puncher to punch holes in each of them and looped the balloon's rubber band through the hole.  Then I wrote a little message on the inside and had Ava sign the cards ...

It was pretty simple and the kids seemed excited to get them!  Please share your ideas!  I have many more years of kid party favors to provide!

Earth Day Flower Pots and Garden Labels

To celebrate Earth Day the girls wanted to plant flowers.  We went to Michaels and picked out our flower pots and paint and the girls got to work.

 I happened to catch Sidney on camera the moment she got paint on her chin!

After they pained their pots and drip trays, they painted these wooden spoons which we used to label their flowers.  I used a black Sharpie to write on the spoons.

We let everything dry overnight. I also used a Pinterest tip to clean the paint brushes.  They said to soak the paint brushes in hot vinegar to help release the paint.

I heated the vinegar in the microwave in a glass and soaked the paint brushes for several hours.  It somewhat loosened the paint.  They said you may have to repeat the process several times....I may just buy some new brushes as time is not on my side these days.

The next morning, the girls and I went shopping at a local nursery to find the perfect flowers and some potting soil.  The main requirement was that the flowers needed to be pink (of course).  They finally settled on pink, purple and white Petunias.  We planted and watered the flowers...

And here's how they turned out!

Happy Earth Day!

Birthday Interview

I started the Birthday Interview tradition last year.  When I was reading it to Ava the other day, Sidney, who just turned 3 in March, chimed in with her own responses.  Hmmm....  I didn't think that Sidney was old enough to understand, but it looks like I was wrong.  I had to break up the questions and ask them over the course of a couple of days but she answered all of them!  I'm going to find a cute binder to store all the interviews.

Click here for a link to my Interview questions.

Hello Kitty Birthday Party

Ava asked to have a Hello Kitty party for her 5th birthday.  I'm not sure why.  She's never shown an interest in Hello Kitty before.  Maybe because it's pink?  Anyway, I was very happy to find that there is a TON of Hello Kitty stuff out there.  Seriously.  A TON.  Did you know you can buy Hello Kitty kitchen appliances??!!??  Target sells Hello Kitty microwaves, toasters and rice cookers, slow cookers and even mini fridges!  I had no idea that Hello Kitty was such a big deal.

There are also a lot of cute ideas on Pinterest if you're looking to have a Hello Kitty party for your kids.  Here are some pictures from our party.

Table Centerpieces

I found a bunch of pink pails and filled them with Blowouts.  Then I surrounded it with party hats, confetti and Hello Kitty cut outs that I color copied and pasted on pink foam flowers.

Birthday Cake

I'm sure you can make a cute Hello Kitty cake but you can't beat a $15 half sheet from Walmart!

Hello Kitty Head Bands

I found white head bands and red bows at Michaels.  Then I found stiff, white felt that had a peel-off adhesive back.  I traced ears on the felt, cut them out and wrapped them around the head band.  I used fabric tape to stick the bow to the felt.  I practiced first with paper.  It took me a few tries to get the ears to be the right shape.

Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty

I used poster board and card stock to make Hello Kitty and the bows.  To make everything symmetrical, I folded  large piece of paper in half and drew half of the shape, then I cut out the half shape on the folded piece of paper, unfolded it and traced the whole shape on the poster board or card stock.  I also traced around the bows with a pink Sharpie to give it more shape.  I took everything to Bradburns Parent Teacher store to get it laminated so it could be used again.

Balloon Pinata

This was by far the big hit of the party.  The kids had the best time popping the balloons and finding the tiny prizes inside.  to make a balloon pinata, buy several 12" (or larger) balloons.  Cut the top off of a large plastic bottle to use as a funnel.  You want the opening of the bottle to be large, but not so big that you can't wrap the balloon around it.  I used a SoBe Life Water bottle.  Also, when you purchase your prizes, be sure that they're small enough to stuff through the funnel.  Party City has lots of good options.  I put little toys, Starburst candy and Hello Kitty confetti in each balloon.  Then you just blow up the balloons and hang them from the ceiling.  The kids used tooth picks to pop the balloons.

Birthday Wreath

Ava painted her #5.  This has been the best wreath - it gets a lot of use.  Click here for the tutorial.

Ava's Year in Photos

I printed out a bunch of pictures of Ava over the past year and displayed them in the shape of a #5.  I taped the extras on our kitchen cabinets.  The kids love to see and remember all the fun things that they did over the past year.  I try to include pictures of Ava with the people who will be at the party too.

I found even more ideas on Pinterest that I didn't have time to do.  Click here to see my Hello Kitty Pinterest board.

This is Five

Five …
   Sleeps with her Teddy and brings him everywhere
   Loves stickers and temporary tattoos
   Squeezes into size 2T pajamas 
   Helps with chores
   Insists on tagging along on mundane errands
   Has best friends
   Sings along with songs on the radio
   Refuses to wear socks
   Cannot wait to lose a tooth
   Wants to be brave but still hold your hand
   Knows the rules and tries to follow them
   Listens to reason
   Plays pretend with her stuffed animals
   Will do almost anything for a treat
   Is gaining independence
   Tolerates her little sister and adores her baby sister
   Giggles at potty jokes
   Believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
   Has so many questions and needs to clarify everything
   Wants to make a plan and confirm the plan again and again
   Tries to make you laugh non-stop
   Is learning to spell and so proud of it
   Can do simple math and is so proud of it
   Plays board games and card games and loves to win
   Struggles sometimes with being a “big girl”
   Wants to be an artist and a mommy when she grows up
   Asks if there are toys in heaven and can she take Teddy too
   Can swing all by herself
   Talks and talks and talks and…..
   Believes her stuffed animals have feelings
   Will let you know when you hurt her feelings
   Loves her grandparents

"Five is a big deal.  Five goes to Kindergarten and reminds us that while we thought this day would never come and we thought we’d be elated to finally have some free time, we are actually sad to realize that school gets more of your time than we get.  Our heart aches over the passage of time.  Five shows us how fast it goes."

Five years old and full of fire.