Punched Paper Fairy Lights

When the Christmas tree comes down and the lights go away, I always get a little sad. In the dark of winter, those twinkling lights make such a difference! Before you put away all the decorations (or before they disappear completely from the post-holiday sale aisles!), grab a set of lights and make your own fairy lights to brighten your home.

What You Need

• Pretty Punched Fairy Lights Template
• White card stock
• Scissors
• Hole punches in various shapes or sizes
• Holiday lights
• Crayons (optional)

How-To

Step 1
Print the template onto card stock. The PDF contains two pages: one with punching guides and one that is blank. Cut around the light cover shapes.

Step 2
Punch designs into one side of the light covers, following the guides or making your own designs. Using hole punches of different shapes and sizes is fun and makes the fairy lights look more interesting. I used a 1/8″ and a 1/16″ punch on mine.

Step 3
Fold the covers on the dashed lines with the printed ink on the inside.

Step 4
Overlap the two tabs and punch a hole in the center using a 1/4″ hole punch.

Step 5
Depending on the size of your lights, you may need to make the hole a little larger with some partial punches overlapping the first hole.

Step 6
Gently push each light cover onto a bulb. They should fit snugly enough that they don’t slide off, but not so much that they tear.

Step 7
Cover all the lights, then plug them in and enjoy the glow!

For extra fun, decorate your fairy lights with children’s drawings. Use crayons on the blank covers and watch how your artwork lights up!

Happy crafting!

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Activities that High Five the Senses

I am always looking for new ways to expand my toddler’s imagination beyond the bandwidth of our wifi, so when I heard that the creator of one of my favorite blogs Fun at Home With Kids had written an entire book dedicated to just that, I literally raised-the-roof with excitement. Mother, visionary, and now author Asia Citro reached into the marrow of her imagination and pulled out a collection of tangible, screen-free activities to spark the curiosity of every member of the family. Always happy to sing her praises, I was doubly excited when she asked me to be a part of the project.

With the flip of a page, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids takes you from a land of dinosaurs and volcanic eruptions to the top of a technicolor ice tower laden with treasure. It’s filled with things that ooze, gooze, fizz, whizz and do things that you truly have to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell to believe. Here are a few favorites that have my entire crew captivated:

You don’t have to wait for a cloudless night to stargaze with this magic foam star recipe. Rainbows of color shoot across a soapy sky as stars froth and foam before your eyes. The more you move them, the more interesting the patterns they create.

Move over sand, salt castles are swiping up prime real estate around our house. Not only do kids get to construct these super cool salt sculptures, but as soon as color’s added, they become kings and queens of their own kaleidoscope kingdoms.

And once they’ve taken throne, fill the moat with polka dot soup! The whirling and swirling of colorful dots make this activity as simple as it is spellbinding.

In her usual style, Asia makes sure to show that water can be fun in all its forms. This rainbow ice tower lets kids conduct their own excavation. As the tower melts, it reveals hidden treasures, keeping little explorers digging and discovering for days.

We love that this scented homemade edible paint appeals to sight, smell, taste, AND touch. Combined with the ooh’s and ahh’s of everybody in the room, this one’s got all the senses covered!

Finally, we couldn’t leave you without something that celebrates the most wonderful time of the year. Magic puffing snow lets you host your very own, never-ending snow day. We don’t get much of the white stuff down here in Georgia, so this one’s got us extra excited!

To learn more about Asia’s family-friendly doughs and dyes, slushes and slimes, and to get an all-access pass to 75+ never-before-seen projects, purchase her book here!

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New Year’s Resolution Printable for Kids

Help your kiddos ring in the new year with some resolutions! This printable is easy to use and fun for them to fill out. Just have them draw a picture of what they resolve to do and as a bonus, they can draw what they would like to gain at the end of it! A great way to help them grasp the whole idea of a new year’s resolution!

Click here to download the printable. Happy New Year!

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Introducing Your Baby to New Fruits and Vegetables

When your baby has mastered the very fine purees and simple flavors most often introduced as the first solid foods, it's time to start incorporating new flavors into your baby's diet. When your baby starts to enjoy more variety, it's time to think outside of the box. Get beyond the typical apples and bananas and offer your baby some different and often overlooked fruits and vegetables that offer up tons of nutrition and plenty of flavor.

Avocados. Avocados are an excellent early food for babies. They have a silky, smooth texture that only requires fork mashing, rather than real pureeing. The mild flavor is very often a hit with babies, and avocados are loaded with the good fat that babies need.

Kiwi. Kiwi also has a naturally soft texture so it is easy to mash to the correct consistency for your baby. While kiwis may be a little sour for your baby at first, they are a wonderful source of vitamin C.

Melons. Melons such as cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon are great fruits for your baby to try. Again, they have a naturally soft texture so they are easy to chew. Cantaloupe is packed with vitamins A and C. Honeydew is also a great source of vitamin C and watermelon has lycopene, vitamin C, and vitamin A.

Cherries. Bing cherries, chopped into tiny pieces, are another great fruit for your baby to try. Cherries provide vitamin C and potassium.

Broccoli. Because of the naturally firm texture of broccoli, it is sometimes overlooked as a baby food. Removing the florets and chopping them finely, however, makes broccoli a great vegetable to mix in with another puree such as carrots. Broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse providing vitamin C, fiber, iron, calcium, potassium, and folate. The gassiness that broccoli often gives adults, typically does not translate to babies.

Spinach. Spinach can be pureed alone or mixed with other purees. Because it has a rather strong flavor, your baby may like it better when mixed with something else. Spinach is packed with nutrients including Vitamin A, C, magnesium, folate, and iron.

Summer Squash. Your baby probably already likes butternut or acorn squash, but what about yellow summer squash? This vegetable provides vitamin C and has a mild flavor that many babies love. Just make sure you leave the skin on and chop it very finely.

Corn. Corn too is often overlooked as a vegetable because it is sometimes considered to be a grain. But with vitamin C and fiber, and a naturally sweet taste, corn can be a nice addition to your baby's diet. Be sure your baby is accustomed to chewing before trying smashed corn kernels.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes are acidic so make sure your baby is a little older (8 or 9 months) before incorporating tomatoes into his diet. Chopped tomato makes a great finger food. Tomatoes are full of lycopene, vitamins A and C, and potassium.

When feeding your baby make sure you consider all that your grocery store produce section has to offer, not just the same old fruits and vegetables. Introducing your baby to plenty of new flavors from a young age will help her to be open to new foods for a lifetime, and will give her the ultimate in good nutrition.

DIY Tangrams Puzzle Game

Puzzle games are fun for all ages, and they can be a great way for families to share a few moments together, or perhaps keep siblings and cousins occupied at family gatherings. Add some creative thinking to the mix and you’ve got a classic! In fact, tangrams have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years.

If I’m being completely honest, this simple game has always been difficult for me to grasp, and yet, I’ve seen young children excel at it. Get your kids thinking and creating, and hopefully they’ll have better luck than I do!

What You Need

• Printable Tangrams Puzzle Game template (download here)
• Magnet strips or printable magnet paper

How to Play

Print the tangram squares on card stock or magnet paper, then cut them apart. Print the puzzle designs and answer key on regular paper or card stock.

If you’re not using magnet paper, you can add strips of magnet to the back of the pieces, and use them on your refrigerator or a magnet board. But they’re just as fun when you use them without magnets.

To play, choose a puzzle design and try to figure out how to arrange the tangram pieces to form the design. Sometimes it’s trickier than you’d think! If you get stuck, check the answer key.

Try out the different puzzles, working together, or on your own. After you’ve finished the designs in the download, search online for more (there are HUNDREDS!), or create your own!

Traditionally, tangrams is played with only the seven shapes that make up the original large square, however, it’s lots of fun to combine several sets and use them for making other designs. You don’t even have to make them fit like puzzles. Think of them as flat building blocks!

Happy crafting!

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How to Sleep like a Baby

It’s 3:00 a.m. where are you? Most people would probably be asleep. However, for a large majority of people, it is near impossible for them to get a good nights rest. Without it, they are unable to focus well, they have low energy, and let’s face it, they are usually in a not so good mood. Is there anything that the sleep deprived can do in order to help give their body the much needed sleep it needs? Aside from counting sheep, which rarely works, try some of the suggestions below.

First, start out by examining your bedroom for sleep distractions. Sleep distractions would be such things as clutter, the color of the paint, the noise level, etc. If your room is painted in bright, electrifying colors, you may want to consider painting it a soothing cool color. A pale green or a soothing blue would be good choices. You can’t expect to be able to sleep if the paint in your bedroom is so bright that it looks like an airport runway.

If your room is cluttered, consider scheduling a spring cleaning day and get rid of all those unwanted sleep thieves. If a room is cluttered, it gives our mind more things to focus on and think about during the night instead of sleep. Your bedroom is supposed to be your sanctuary, and let’s face it, who wants piles of bills or junk mail in their sanctuary? Not too many people.

As far as the noise level goes, this is different for each person. Some people enjoy some form of noise while they sleep and may even purchase a noise machine, while others have to have quiet. If you fall into the latter category, try purchasing some heavy drapes to see if they block out any of the unwanted noise. While the drapes probably won’t get rid of every unwanted noise, you will notice a big difference.

Next, try not to exercise before going to bed. I’m not saying don’t exercise at all, because exercise is good for us, but we all know that exercise releases endorphins which amp us up. You can’t expect to be able to go to sleep if you feel like you could run a marathon. Try to keep exercise to either early in the mornings or to around four hours before bedtime. This will give your body time to calm down and will help you to drift off to sleep much easier.

Another suggestion to help you get a good nights sleep would be to take a nice warm bath just before you are ready to go to bed. The warm bath will not only help you to relax physically, but it will also give your brain some time to unwind as well. It doesn’t have to be a long bath, just 10 or 15 minutes should do the trick. As you are letting the water out of the tub, picture your troubles and cares being washed down the drain. A mind that is not burdened with troubles is a mind that can easily drift off to sleep.

Lighting is another issue that effects sleep. If your bedroom window lets the light of a nearby street light into your bedroom, you might want to try some of those room darkening curtains to eliminate that problem. If you can’t find any or can’t afford them, try putting a quilt up instead. If your curtain rods are sturdy, they will usually hold up the extra weight of the quilt. Either of these two things will help darken your bedroom and help you drift off to what could be the best nights sleep you’ve had in a while.

Of course, don’t forget to flip your mattress every so often to keep it from getting worn. However, if your mattress is not in good shape and you can’t afford to buy a new one (because we know they don’t come cheap), consider buying a mattress topper. This will give you the sense of a new mattress, but will cost you a fraction of the price. Toppers come in a variety of styles, and it is up to you to find the one that suits your needs.

The last tip, try and keep the temperature in your bedroom at a comfortable level. You don’t want the temperature too hot or too cold. You want it just right. Again, it is up to you, as an individual, to decide what your perfect temperature is. Try these few tips out and see if they help you get the peaceful nights slumber your body has been missing. Pleasant dreams sleep deprived.

DIY Ice Cube Garland

Oh, how I love beautiful play! Especially during this time of year. This ice cube garland takes the beauty of the season and turns any space, inside or out, into a winter wonderland. Not only are these strands of colorful ice mesmerizing to look at, but they’re super simple to make and not to mention, seemingly defy the rules of nature!

What You Need

• Ice cube tray
• String
• Scissors
• Water, colored water (dyed with food coloring), and/or glitter

How-To

Estimate the desired length of string, add several extra inches, then cut the string.

Leaving some length at the end, lay the string over the ice cube trays and press the string down into each cube area. Use one finger to press the string deep to the bottom of each slot while another finger holds the rest of the string in place.

Once all the string is in place, fill the trays with water (colored or plain) and/or glitter. Carefully move the tray to the freezer and freeze until solid.

Remove the tray from the freezer, pop out the cubes, and quickly start decorating. Be careful not to pull too hard on the string!

We like to hang our garland on the trees around our house and from the railings of our porch, but really these things can go anywhere!

If temperatures are cold enough where you are, I’d suggest making these one afternoon, leaving them outside to freeze overnight, then unfolding and decorating with them the next day. To keep everybody’s hands warm and dry, fill large water bottles with water inside the house, then take the craft outdoors.

Have fun with the kids and get some icy cool decorations while you’re at it!

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