Skills

The Nutcracker is more than just ballerinas and tutus!  The battle scene features the Nutcracker and his army of toy soldiers versus the Rat King and his minions.  Today, I’ve recreated this battle with a fun Nutcracker game on a cinnamon stick tic tac toe board! The Nutcracker Series Welcome…

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…

My preschooler and toddler suddenly find themselves with a lot of free time on their hands.  Breastfeeding a newborn leaves them to play independently multiple times a day.  I could park them in front of screens each time, or I can prepare amusing busy box entertainment they can access and…

The Peanuts Holiday movies are one of my favorite holiday traditions.  I remember watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas each October, November and December for as long as I can remember.  And I have loved passing this tradition on to my kids… albeit when…

Big M is on her journey to reading!  It is so exciting to watch and her enthusiasm for letters, sounds and recognizing words is contagious.  At preschool, they have a letter of the week each week – last week was ‘C week’.  She has to bring in a picture that…

We have another great round-up of kids activities for you today on Instagram, courtesy of #KidBloggersofIG.  This week features 12 awesome Halloween activities, crafts, and snacks just in time for Halloween week!  The girls loved our contribution, and have played with it every afternoon for the last 4 days: Halloween…

Sometimes our projects are invented out of the need for distraction!  This weekend we made one of my favorite family outings – to the pumpkin patch.  And of course the girls immediately wanted to carve our pumpkins as soon as we got home.  To buy us another week before turning…

Do you have a farm set laying around that your kids don’t play with much anymore?  Breathe fresh life and inspire an afternoon or more worth of activity by adding the elements to a sensory bin!  With a newborn at home, I am on a quest for quick, easy and…

Looking 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…

While Big M may look just like me, emotionally we are night and day.  Though she is little, not unlike other kids her age, she can be very emotional, highly sensitive, and it sometimes takes very little to set off big feelings. We recently discovered the book, The Pout-Pout Fish,…

I am super excited to be participating in Crafty Kids at Home’s A-Z of Pretend Play series.  All month long, a different blogger will feature a different letter of the alphabet with a pretend play activity.  Today, we are sharing F is for Storytelling Finger Puppets.  I am endlessly amazed…

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…

Growing 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…

Happy Friday, y’all… and welcome to another edition of We Love Weekends!  Sadly, this is also my last installment – but not to worry, the rest of my co-hosts will continue to carry on this great weekly link-up for all your family fun.  I have loved getting to know many…

I’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…

TGIF, y’all!  Welcome to another edition of We Love Weekends!  If this is your first time joining us, welcome to Playground Parkbench – I’m Meghan, the Playground Parkbench Guru.  Mom to Big M (almost 4), Lil’ M (almost 2) and M3, coming this Fall.  I write aboutparenting tips, mommy sanity…

Last month, on a trip to the local playground, I observed my 3 year old’s first encounter with bullying.  Sure, young kids often don’t want to share toys, but this was different.  This was her approaching a group of kids, most of which she knew, to play, and being told…

If you have ever seen Lil’ M wield a paintbrush, you will understand why we take many of our crafting activities outdoors when weather permits.  At almost 2, she has a fierce independent streak, wants to do it herself, and when I try to help, she gets mad and paint…

I am super excited to join in Study at Home Mama’s 31 Days of Kids Kitchen Activities this month.  The girls LOVE to help in the kitchen and run to pull in chairs as soon as I start putting ingredients on the counter.  I love to encourage them given all…