Preschool: 3-5 years

For those who have been followers for a while, you know we are gearing up to move into our forever home.  After two years of searching, another 6 months of designing and contract negotiating, followed by another year of construction, it looks like we are finally moving this month!  And…

Last week, the Ms and I upheld one of our favorite summer traditions: strawberry picking!  We went with a group of Big M’s friends from preschool.  If you are local to Connecticut, Jones Family Farms has a great, family-friendly set-up, and if you go this week, you’ll just catch the…

Last week, we went strawberry picking with a group of Big M’s preschool friends.  It was a productive outing, and we came home with over 8 pounds of freshly picked strawberries!  Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing over 50 different ways to put all those strawberries to use, but one looked so…

Most of our ‘projects’, as Big M likes to call them, are targeted toward the preschool aged child, and I modify them so that Lil’ M, at almost 2, can participate as well.  This week, however, I set up a fun, July 4th Sensory Play activity just for Lil’ M……

Happy Friday, y’all!  If you’re new around here, I’m Meghan, the founder of Playground Parkbench.  I write about parenting, household tips, and at-home activities for kids.  Every Friday, I partner with four of my fellow bloggers to bring you We Love Weekends, an open forum for our favorite family-friendly bloggers…

You know the aisle at the grocery store that always has all the seasonal specials?  Like pumpkin puree in the Fall, baking supplies at Christmas, and marshmallows and Hershey bars in the summer?  I am a sucker for that aisle.  And as much as I love S’mores, when marshmallows are…

How many of you love Instagram as much as I do?  I will admit to being late to the Instagram game… until I started Playground Parkbench last Fall, I never used it.  And now I am hooked.  Scroll through beautiful images, no ads, easily scan and search by fun hashtags,…

Nothing says summer like July 4th and red, white & blue! The girls and I have been in the patriotic spirit this week, first making festive stained glass decor, and then, at Big M’s request, tiaras, or as I prefer to call them, Liberty Crowns!  We made some jeweled tiaras…

Happy Friday, y’all!  It’s time for another edition of We Love Weekends – a chance for all our favorite family-friendly bloggers to share their great ideas with you for inspiration to help you and your family love the weekend too.  This week, we are our featured favorites from last week’s…

One of my favorite crafting mediums is contact paper – it’s the great age equalizer for craft activities, that allows Lil’ M, my 22 month old, to participate as easily as Big M, my 3.5 year old.  This is a huge sanity saver since Lil’ M wants to do everything…

Every 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,…

Nothing provides more entertainment at our house during warm weather than bubbles.  And after three summers of blowing bubbles until I was breathless, Big M has hit an awesome milestone: she can now blow her OWN bubbles!  However, this leads to Lil’ M wanting to as well, and mostly she…

Happy Friday!  And welcome to another We Love Weekends link-up, featuring content from family-friendly bloggers around the web to inspire you and your family to love the weekend too!  Be sure to check out our favorite picks from last week, a Summer School Ideas for Preschoolers round-up. Last Weekend Summer…

It’s the same thing every late afternoon… I start to get dinner ready, the kids are cranky and hungry, and insist on being right under my feet in the kitchen.  I try to let them help as often as I can, but sometimes, there just isn’t time for that, or…

 I received a complimentary Encourage Play box to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. As you may have guessed from our post on the Importance of Play yesterday, I am passionate about play for my girls, both free play, as well as organized projects.  I also…

When your mom is a kindergarten teacher, you hear a lot about the massive changes sweeping public education, impacting even the youngest of students.  You start to pay a lot more attention to these changes when your own children near the age of entering kindergarten.  And while research has documented…

Last week we had beautiful, perfect pre-summer weather: blue clear skies, sun for days, and that temperature that is warm enough for water play, but not so hot you are melting.  I promised the girls a pool day in the backyard, and of course, that morning, Lil’ M woke up…

Happy Friday… and welcome to We Love Weekends!  A place where our favorite bloggers from around the globe link up their best family-friendly content to inspire you and your family to have fun together and love your weekend. Last Weekend Last Saturday had been highlighted on our calendar for a…

I’m a gift giver… I love everything about it.  I love brainstorming for the perfect idea, going out shopping to find it, and especially love putting it all together in the perfect package (back in my broke college days, I was known to spend more on wrapping than the gift…