Learning to Tie with No-Sew Fleece Blanket

This is not a product review, but merely an eye-opening discovery that a simple kit complete with two strips of fabric can provide hours of learning and mother-daughter bonding.

One of my sisters gave each of my girls a No-Sew Fleece Blanket Kit.  As I began to help the girls make their blankets, I discovered what a wonderful lesson this crafting kit allowed.  My youngest has yet to learn how to tie her shoes.  This No-Sew Fleece Blanket kit got her excited about tying.  OK, she was tying knots and not bunny-eared shoe lace bows.  But, it's all part of the process.

Even though the moment my oldest daughter decided she wanted to make her blanket did not seem like the ideal moment to a mama with a horrible sinus headache at the time, we went to work.  

During the course of it all, I realized that this was more than just a headache-pounding mama and bouncing-off-the-walls-with-excitement daughter moment.  It was a teaching moment in knot tying!

Knot tying is one step in learning to tie shoes.  It's also a great skill to know for other crafting projects as well as even life-saving know-how if the situation arises.

Honestly, vacuuming the floor to prepare for the knot-tying fun was almost the hardest part.  Though, cutting the fringe pieces for tying comes in second and possibly surpasses the vacuum effort.

My oldest, oddly enough, just needed help with the cutting.  She then took over tying away.

Then, we got started with my youngest, who just turned 6.  I did the cutting even though she enthusiastically was willing to give that step a try.  After I had cut a few strips, I showed her how to make an "X" with the top and bottom fleece strips and then how to tuck one strip inside the newly created hole and then do it again to form the knot.

I even showed her how to tie an actual bow just so she got the idea of how her shoes should look one day when she gets the complete hang of this.

Ed Emberley's Drawing Books for Kids

The other day my 4 year old presented me with a drawing of an elephant. It was adorable! It was so cute that I assumed her older sister had done it. But, the 4 year old was the actual artist. Come to find out, she was following a book we picked up at the library on drawing animals from Ed Emberley. The steps this author laid out were so clear my 4 year old understood them. She cannot yet read, but she could follow these drawing instructions.



If you are looking for a fun way to entertain or even log some art hours with a book that also is rich in teaching handwriting skills, I highly recommend any of Ed Emberley's Drawing Books. Here's some more to check out:

Frustrated As I Try To Step Inside Hans Christian Andersen Thumbelina

When I was a child, I had a book about Thumbelina. Perhaps this story was charming to other children, but I couldn't get past the cover this particular publisher chose to display the story. On the cover it had a rectangle placed in the center of a flower stem. The rectangle was made up of a picture of Thumbelina with a clear plastic overlay. The overlay had ridges making the Thumelina picture appear to be 3D. As a child, this made me crazy as it looked as though you could truly step inside the rectangle to share with Thumbelina. I attempted in my childlike, wreckless manner, to get inside that picture. I kept tryiing until the entire plastic ridged square was scratched beyond recognition and almost detached entirely from the front cover.

Perhaps, as a child, I knew something that gets lost in growing up. I wanted to literally climb inside that story.

The other day, I was on email or conducting a search or some sort of online activity, and came across the term, "international Children's Book Day!" I wondered, what is this? I was not aware there was an International day for this. Though, I was aware there was a National Children's Book Week. So, I began my search.

I discovered, that it is in honor of the fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Andersen. The author wrote many stories that I just have taken for granted as being childhood stories that I imagine I must have thought just poofed out of the air because I never really stopped to consider who wrote them - Or, at least who wrote the original story.

Here's some great links to find out more about Hans Christian Anderson:

10 Facts Your Child Should Know About Hans Christian Anderson

A Free Download of The Ugly Duckling

Bunny Slippers for American Girl Doll Kit and crafts to Soothe The Soul

My son has been having issues getting his school work done. My 4 year old has been begging for mommy to play with her. So, today we took some time to simply reconnect and we made a ton of crafts.

We made little purses out of an old pair of pants. We made pom poms which we put on hair bands and my daughter added them to her boots. My 4 year old made a paper doll, and of course we had to have plenty of elephants for my elephant-loving daughter.

My favorite are the bunny slippers we made for Kit, my oldest daughter's American Girl Doll.

Do you think we can sell any of it on Etsy?

Gifts a Child Can Make To Give

If you're a parent, you've begun your journey once again of making your list and checking it twice to make sure your children get everything they asked for on Christmas morning.  But, while they await the opening of these gifts, children tend to get antsy.  If you fill their little hands with something interesting and fun to do, they are less likely to get into trouble.  So, why not take advantage of this childhood anxious energy and have your kids make Christmas gifts which they can give to their favorite teacher or grandparents or other family members or friends.  Here ar... From: Five Fun Christmas Gifts Kids Can Make