Along with the cheer of the holiday season comes the drear of colder and wetter weather, making for long dark days stuck indoors. We cheered things up with some holiday games, including this fun Christmas twist on the traditional cup-and-ball favorite, Cup and Jingle Bell! Cup & Jingle Bell, A…
Featured Series
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It was not that long ago that artistic techniques were as prescribed as scientific processes or mathematical equations. Critics and instructors frowned upon artists who looked to create outside the confinements of traditional methods. Kandinsky was one such artist, and fortunately for all of us, ignored his critics. He wanted art to…
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Georges Seurat is famous for creating his own painting technique. Using hundreds of tiny spots of color, he created great masterpieces, with a technique now known as pointillism. While applying spots of paint to create an image may be a bit advanced for preschoolers, painting a picture with spots provides great…
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For ParentsPractical ParentingSleep Series: Infancy to Preschool
One Month Baby Feeding Schedule
by MeghanI never talked about sleep more than when I first had a newborn. And with my third newborn, nothing has changed. These tiny little people befuddle us with their sleep: are they sleeping too much? not sleeping enough? sleeping all day, but up all night? My experiences with my first…
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Art History for KidsCraftsFor KidsOutdoor
Studying Rousseau: Nature-Inspired Process Art for Preschoolers
by MeghanHenri Rousseau got his start painting professionally late in life. He once said he had “no teacher other than nature”. Taking a page from his book and the beauty that is New England fall, Big M (age 4), Lil’ M (age 2), and I decided to engage in a little…
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More than two decades ago, my mom settled the annual holiday battle between two local sets of grandparents by hosting a Holiday Brunch at our house Christmas morning. To make the morning preparation super easy, she would make an Egg Strata every year. Egg Strata is a breakfast casserole consisting…
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CookingFor KidsFor ParentsPractical ParentingReal Mom MealsRecipes
Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
by MeghanThis shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #YesYouCAN #CollectiveBias With 3 kids 4 and under, including a 2 week old newborn, the ONLY way I am serving up dinner these days is with my slow cooker. We would be starving…
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For KidsKids Party GamesPlaySkillsSTEAM
Spider Web Jumble: Fine Motor and STEM Games for Kids
by MeghanLooking for a little spooky, learning fun this Halloween? The girls and I had lots of fun this week with this Spider Web Jumble. It is a great fine motor skills challenge, and the simple set up makes for easy holiday STEM games for kids too. Spider Web Jumble Ever…
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Things have slowed down around here as we continue to dig out of boxes from our big move, and as I enter the last month of my pregnancy and sheer exhaustion has set in! But, we are still managing to do a few fun activities each week, continuing with our…
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Art History for KidsBook-InspiredCraftsFor Kids
Degas Dancers: Preschool Art Study of Models & Pastels
by MeghanBig M is my little bunhead. She began taking ballet at age 2 and has been tutu obsessed ever since! I knew she would be beyond fascinated by the next artist in our Preschool Art series, as we studied the Degas Dancers. Unlike many Impressionists who painted landscapes outdoors, Degas…
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At the beginning of the summer, my friend Clarissa at Munchkins and Moms shared this awesome Starry Night-Inspired Sensory Bin she made for her boys. As soon as I started brainstorming for our Art History for Preschool series, I knew I wanted to do one of our own. When researching…
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The girls and I are having so much fun with this Preschool Art series. I love the inspiration it is providing me in coming up with fun new activities, and I love all the support, feedback and excitement I am hearing from you all in response! This week, we continued…
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Last week, I kicked off our Art History for Preschool series. I started by sharing a great list of books to help you and your preschooler get excited about art, and the great artists. You will find many of our upcoming projects reference books from that list as our series…
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Art History for KidsCraftsFor KidsSkills
Matisse Goldfish – Exploring Masterpieces, Shapes and Colors
by MeghanGrowing up, my grandparents had a print of the Matisse Goldfish hanging in their breakfast area. The Goldfish and many other prints and reproductions they hung in their home were my first exposure to art as a child. Thirty years later, having seen many great masterpieces in person in museums…
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Art History for KidsBook-InspiredCraftsFor Kids
Painting with Scissors – Exploring Matisse Cutouts
by MeghanToday, we continue our Exploring Art History with Preschoolers series, sharing the first preschool reproduction using one of the masters’ techniques: Matisse Cutouts! Painting with Scissors – Exploring Matisse Cutouts This represents a number of firsts for us: the first Kids Activity in our Exploring Art History with Preschoolers series…
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Art History for KidsBook-InspiredCraftsFor Kids
Art History for Preschoolers – 40+ Books to Study Great Artists
by MeghanBig M is very artistically inclined. She has great imagination and loves to create. And, as I’ve discovered, she loves learning about real world topics, beyond just the usual preschool nursery rhymes, ABCs and dinosaurs (though we do plenty of that as well!). We recently decided to undertake an exploration…
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While pizza as we commonly know it may have first been invented in Naples, Italy in the late 18th century, it has become an American staple. And with a strong base of Italian immigrants here in our home state, and family-run establishments dating back to the early 1900’s, New Haven-style…
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For KidsFor ParentsKids Party GamesPlaySkills
Deck the Crown with Jewels: A Sorting & Dice Game for Preschool
by MeghanI’m interrupting my usually scheduled Tuesday Tips to bring you a special math activity for preschoolers as part of the Cool Maths for Cool Kids month-long blog hop, hosted by Peakle Pie! And no, that’s not a typo – Brits are fancy, and don’t say math. For the last and…
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ActiveFamily OrganizationFor KidsFor ParentsOutdoorPlayPractical Parenting
15 Ways to Remove the Grump From Your Day
by MeghanEvery parent has had one of these days… from the moment your child wakes up, they are crying about something. Or maybe you didn’t get enough sleep last night, and you are the one with the short fuse. Regardless of who the grump is, the day starts off all wrong,…
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Growing up in Texas, King Ranch Chicken Casserole is a household staple. It was my Dad’s favorite meal, and given the labor involved to make it, my Mom only ever made it during the summer when she was off from teaching. She used to boil a whole chicken, save the…