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First Day of School
Wow it’s September already and school is starting. I made a few printable activities to help my kids celebrate their first day of school and wanted to share them. There are free coloring pages that can double as photo props for the first day. There is also a printable banner and some fun cupcake toppers. Everything coordinates with the printables I made for their last day of school last year and is free to download below. Feel free to download, print the grade you need, and save the rest for future years. My kids love coloring and often hum while they complete their coloring sheets. It’s fun, calming, and helps…
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Princess Jasmine Birthday
Recently we transformed our home into magical Agrabah to celebrate my daughter’s 4th birthday. This is how I created a whole new world complete with flying carpets, genies, and magic lamps, using a small budget, little time, and everyday supplies. Decorations: I used clear fishing wire and hung up the kids’ dancing scarves that I purchased years ago from Amazon. These are a favorite from all the storytimes we used to attend at local libraries and schools. They are great for sensory play as well as for encouraging movement and singing songs. I used more fishing wire to tie little bits of yellow curling ribbon at the four corners so…
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Baseball Party
A few weeks ago, we threw an end of the year celebration for my son’s little league team. It was my husband’s first year coaching baseball and the team did amazing! With most people around us being double vaccinated, we also felt much safer about hosting. This was also before we knew about the Delta variant. The kids were just so thrilled to have people come into our home and not just drive-by. Decorations: I always start by looking at what we already have to turn into themed decor. White glitter Christmas ornaments that I used as pearls for my daughter’s mermaid birthday became baseballs with the addition of a…
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Last Day of School
I made a few printable activities to help my kids celebrate their last day of school. There are free coloring pages, a banner, and some fun cupcake toppers. Everything is free to download below. Hope it can be useful and fun for your kids too! Feel free to download, print the grade you need, and save the rest for future years. My kids love coloring. My youngest two like to color in the morning after breakfast to start their day. It helps them to wake up and have better focus. My oldest two like to color after school while they wait for dinner. It helps them to settle down and…
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Earth Day Printable Activities for Kids
Here are a few simple and fun activities to help kids observe Earth Day. There is a free coloring page, continents suncatcher craft, and felt board activity. Everything is free to download below. Hope these printables and ideas can also be useful for your home or classroom. My kindergartener always requests coloring sheets to pass out to her class so I made the above coloring page for them. The kids colored and we discussed how they propose we can help our planet. This year, in an effort to create less waste as a family, we moved to using cloth towels instead of paper towels. We talked about the importance of…
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100th Day of School
Last week, my kids celebrated their 100th day of school. Even though they usually love dressing up, my daughter (in kindergarten) and son (in second grade) refused to dress up as 100-year-olds or to even wear a shirt with 100 pasted things on it so… I made some printable photo props because kids love making silly faces for the camera as well as anything on a stick. This file is best printed out onto cardstock, cut, then taped to a wooden dowel, skewer, or chopstick. We used a mix of large craft sticks and chopsticks. Your child can enjoy posing with their gray hair, glasses, hearing aids, and dentures. Also…
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A Little Mermaid 6th Birthday
My daughter was born just a few weeks after Christmas. It has always been a challenge getting her birthday all ready and special for her. In the past, I got lucky using many Christmas decorations we already had up for her Frozen 4th, and even last year… using a lot of Christmas lights and lanterns for her Tangled 5th. But this year, little miss no nonsense wanted an Ariel birthday. I scoured what we already had… Christmas ornaments and ribbon, tissue paper, plastic tablecloths leftover from past parties, shells from our vacation at Siesta Key once upon a time, and this is what I came up with for her party…
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New Year’s Day
Happy New Year! Here’s to a better 2021! In the past month, many of my former colleagues including my husband, received the COVID-19 vaccine. Honestly I can’t wait for it to be my turn. There are plans here of the kids returning to in-person schooling soon. They are excited as they miss their peers. 2021 has got to be better right?! Today we are starting off the new year with a clean slate. I made the kids some new reward charts for positive behavior modification or as I like to refer to it… goal-oriented bribery. This is free to download below. This file is best printed out and laminated. I…
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Penguin Place Value Printable Activities
It’s already December and only a few weeks away until Christmas! We have been getting into the spirit lately with winter and holiday themed learning activities. Today, I am so excited to share with you some recent printable activities and crafts that I created for my kids inspired by the book, Penguin Place Value, written and illustrated by long time educator, and now also childrens’ book author, Kathleen L. Stone. Penguin Place Value is a short story told in rhymes about a penguin family who catch fish all day to sell in their store. They have a small tray that can only hold nine fish. When they catch any more,…
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DIY Star Wars Birthday Party Drive-By
Last week my son turned eight and little pumpkin turned one. How time flies! In the Vietnamese culture, the first birthday is a HUGE deal with wedding-size family gatherings and a ginormous roast pig but who am I kidding… I love making every birthday a big reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, due to the current pandemic we couldn’t host our usual large gathering but that didn’t mean we couldn’t invite our wonderful extended family, friends, and neighbors over to help us wave, honk, and celebrate in an out-of-this world birthday drive-by. Invitations were sent out with pictures of the birthday duo, inviting everyone to join us in the dark side for…
