As you may know, for many years I wrote for CBC Parents where I shared all kinds of recipes, kids’ activities, and parenting hacks. CBC is currently doing some major reorganization and at the moment, my posts are unavailable, leaving many of you searching for links that you use year after year. I’m not sure if my articles will eventually find new homes on CBC Kids, but in the meantime I’m happy to reshare them here so you can have what you need. Please reach out to me if there’s something you need and I’ll do my best to help! ♥︎
Father’s Day is just around the corner and this sweet little ‘Dear Dad’ book is a perfect, from-the-heart gift for little ones to make for their dads or caregivers. Included in this post is the Dear Dad version of the printable, as well as a Dear Daddy version, a Dear Papa version, and a blank version so you can fill it in with whatever name your child calls their special loved one.
Here’s what you’ll need to do this project with your child:
– our printable ‘Dear Dad’ pages
– coloured card stock
– a pair of scissors
– a single hole punch
– embroidery floss or twine
– a pencil
– a black fine liner
– pencil crayons
Alright, let’s get started, shall we? First up, you’ll want to prepare the basic card stock book. Whether you do this part, your little one does this part, or you do it together, is up to you. I always opt to let kids do as much as they can, but you know your child’s abilities and your comfort level best.
The very first thing you’ll want to do is cut 3 card stock pieces to size. Optimally you want the pieces to be 11.5 centimetres wide by 23 centimetres long.
Next, fold the 3 rectangular pieces of card stock in half to form a square book and punch one hole on either side of the centre crease.
Lastly, loop your embroidery floss or baker’s twine through the holes a couple of times and secure it with a tight knot on the outside of the book before trimming the ends.
With the base of your book ready to go, it’s time to get started on the most important part – the personalized pages about Dad. Again, how much support you offer your child during this task is completely up to you. My daughter’s been writing independently for a few years now, so I simply let her to it. When she was younger, however, I would have asked her to tell me what she wanted to say and I would have scribed for her. Do whatever works best for your kiddo.
Now, a few quick tips for this part of the project…
1. Have your child personalize their book pages before they’re cut out and glued onto the card stock base. This way, if a mistake that cannot be fixed is made, you can always just print off another sheet.
2. Ask your child to do all of their work in pencil first and then trace it in black fine liner. The fine liner will make the finished book look polished and give it some pop, but having everything done in pencil first means that mistakes can easily be fixed.
3. Don’t tackle all of the book pages in one sitting (unless your child is super focused and into it, of course). Spreading out the project over 2 or 3 sessions will allow your little one to do their very best work throughout the entire book and will keep the project light and fun.
When the personalized pages are done, cut them out just outside the dotted line and glue them into your pre-made book. Be sure to include the year on the last page or on the back of the book and your sweet, from-the-heart gift is ready to give!
My summer wish? Slower mornings that are still productive enough to get out of the house and have some fun before nap time rolls around at noon. Plus, with Brad home for the summer, a couple of hours to work each morning too… Hah! Too much to ask maybe, but we’re giving it a go and so far this morning routine flip chart has been super helpful!
Here’s the thing – while I usually work on all things blog / writing gig related from about 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. during the school year, I find that during the summer, I’m just more tired and less motivated at night… I don’t know if it’s because we spend a good amount of time hosting guests and travelling during the summers, but when we’re at home and without houseguests, I honestly just want to go for a walk, tidy the house, prep things for the next day, and then chill on the patio or watch a show with B at night. And since he’s off work for almost all of July and August, I figure that a couple of hours each day where Brad’s the go-to parent is a reasonable request, right? Not going to lie – he wasn’t super on board with the plan because a) he loves nothing more than sleeping in and would happily stay in bed until 10 or 11 everyday of the summer and b) because having to get up AND feed the kids breakfast and get them ready for the day is just something he’s not used to doing. But since making our morning routine flip charts, the kids are able to be more focused and independent, which I think has been helpful for everyone.
{This brilliant file folder idea came from this chore chart I saw on Pinterest back in the day, so I can’t at all take credit for that aspect of the project.}
Bahahaha – can we just stop for a moment and appreciate the hilariousness that is taking blog photos with a toddler?!? Gotta get in where you can, right?? Oh, Sam!
Alright, back to it. With all of our materials gathered, Sam and I got to work putting together his morning routine flip chart. First job? Colouring in his ‘job pictures’. As he coloured, we talked about each picture and what they meant and I helped him out here and there when he asked me to. (Don’t mind the pencil grasp… We’ll be working on that soon… He’s not shown a ton of interest in pencil / paper activities just yet, so I want to be very gentle with my guidance so as to keep his interest up when it does arise.)
Done! {You’ll notice that there’s an extra empty box on the printable… This can be used if you want to swap one of the jobs out for something that better suits your little one’s morning routine – just drawing a little picture, write in the name of the job along the bottom, and you’re good to go!}
Next up, I cut the job cards out just outside the dotted lines. While I did that, Sam worked on cutting up some of the scraps using his spring scissors. {Because cutting scraps into the teeniest paper shards is still scissor practice after all, right? HAH!!}
Next, I opened up the file folder and set the job cards out in the order I thought made most sense for how our mornings go, but obviously these can be put in any order that works best for your fam! Because the file folders I bought had some text on the inside, I opted to use them inside out, so you’ll notice that I’ve placed them on what is actually the back of the file folder here. Once I had them placed and spaced how I wanted, I glued the job cards down using a glue stick.
At this point Miss G joined us to make a morning routine flip chart of her own… She doesn’t ‘need’ one like Sam does and is very used to getting ready for school in the mornings either on her own or using her morning routine jaror morning routine chart, but I find that a) having a visual does help her stay focused and on track and b) switching up the visuals every now and then helps to keep things fresh and interesting.
With all of the job cards glued down, I used a ruler to draw straight lines down from in between the job cards to mark where I’d need to cut to create flaps.
Then I trimmed the bottom of the file folder off {making sure to leave enough space to add a magnet above each job} and cut along the lines I had previously drawn to make the flaps.
Next up, I measured out one inch chunks of magnetic tape, ensuring I had 14 magnets total.
Then I adhered one magnetic strip above each job.
In order to get the placement bang on, I stuck a second magnetic strip {magnetic side down, sticker side up} on each of the adhered magnetic strips, then removed the sticker backing one at a time, and closed the flaps, pressing the magnets down firmly to ensure a good stick. (Does that make sense?)
Then I added “Sam’s morning routine” to the top of the chart…
And trimmed off the excess file folder at the top.
This is what it looked like once done and hung on the side of our island in the kitchen and I’m happy to report that it’s been a total hit. His morning routine flip chart has totally let him take charge of getting ready for the day and even though he does need help with a few of the tasks, he’s able to be the one driving the process, which I think is really empowering.
He just checks in with his chart to see what’s up next…
Goes and does it…
And then returns to close the flap!
Ready to make your own morning routine flip chart?
Creating a seasonal bucket list of things we’d like to do is sort of becoming a thing for Miss G and I… and I love it. Last year we created this Holiday Bucket List full of all the things we wanted to do throughout the winter holidays and although I didn’t create a digital version, this spring we did the same – only in handwritten form. Our most recent one is this printable autumn bucket list that is currently hanging on the wall in our main living space.
The bucket list includes everything from splashing in puddles to making autumn spice play dough to doing a good deed and taking a family bike ride.
Ours is hung right above the kids’ table that’s turning into a bit of a nature shelf with all of the lovely autumn treasures Grae and Sam have collected while outdoors. It’s low enough for them to access it easily and it’s nice and big as I actually printed it on 11 x 17 paper to make it just a little more kiddo-friendly. {I just took the file down to my local Staples print shop and printed directly from my phone to an 11 x 17 which cost me around 15 cents if I remember correctly.}
No surprise that Grae’s the one who stays on top of updating it and we’ve actually already checked off a pile of items on the list.
That being said, we’re pretty low key about our bucket lists… If the things happen, fantastic, but we certainly don’t stress about completing each and every activity / task. It’s really just there to give us ideas should there be a time when we’re looking for something fun to do and don’t have anything in mind already.
Our space is quite minimalist {okay… maybe ‘stark’ would better describe it} and filled with loads of white with little bits of brick, grey, black, so our black and white minimalist version is a perfect fit, but if you like a little more colour and whimsy in your life, I also created this pretty pastel fall bucket list for CBC Parents:
It doesn’t include quite as many tasks as the black and white version does, but sometimes less is more, right?
And if you’re looking for a custom fall bucket list? My friend Stesha of Stesha Rose. tipped me off about Belle Bucket – a company that creates beautiful minimalist bucket lists that can be printed out on architect’s paper so they’re HUUUUGE.
Whew… After a long, snowy winter here in the Okanagan, I *think* spring might actually be here and I can’t tell you how good it feels! We arrived home on Good Friday after a week in Vancouver to find nearly all of our snow gone and despite the fact that it briefly snowed on both Easter Sunday and Monday, I feel like we’ve officially turned a corner. Sunshine, warmer temperatures, and little bits of green beginning to appear after months of snow and grey skies? Yes please!
In celebration, we spent a good part of our weekend outside… We brought the kids’ bikes out, set up our trampoline, did some yard work, and best of all – we did our very first nature activity of the season – a spring texture hunt! I can’t tell you how sweet my two little nature explorers were out in the yard searching for different textures with their clipboards in hand.
Now at 2 years old Sam absolutely didn’t need a clipboard or printable to collect / record his findings, but because he wants nothing more than to be exactly like his big sister at the moment, I decided to make him a modified spring texture hunt printable too and thank goodness I did! The moment he saw Miss G with her pencil and page clipped on her board, he shouted his go-to, ‘Too! Too! Sam too!’ and was pleased as punch when I passed him a clipboard of his very own.
I’ll share both down below, but for Grae I designed a more open-ended observation sheet that allowed her to sketch out the nature items she found plus come up with her own words to describe their textures. For Sam, I simplified and gave him boxes pre-labelled with texture words. Now for his recording sheet you could very well have your child draw the items, but Sam’s not there yet of course and in an effort to keep it as tactile and simple as possible, I decided that we’d help him glue his nature items right onto his sheet {which actually worked out really well}.
Kids, clipboards, and a glue stick in hand, we headed outdoors to see what we could find as far as interesting textures in nature go.
Needless to say, nature is FULL of all kinds of amazing textures and finding a bunch of different ones was a breeze right off the bat. I followed Sam’s lead and went off into this little corner filled with rocks, shrubs, a tree stump, and our little patch of remaining snow and together we gently touched things and talked about how they felt on our hands. I will say that while the whole clipboard part of this activity is totally unnecessary for little ones like Sam, the actual touching and describing part is fantastic. He carefully ran his little hands over the items and listened so intently as I used words like ‘bumpy’, ‘rough’, and ‘hard’ to describe them – so awesome for his vocabulary development!
Miss G immediately got to exploring, feeling things along the way, and recording the ones that really stood out as having an interesting texture on her observation sheet.
She really enjoyed coming up with words to describe the different textures and many times she had several words to describe a single nature object. This very cool leaf, for example, led to words like, ‘fuzzy’, ‘soft’, ‘furry’, and ‘tickley’, though in the end, she decided that its softness was its most prominent feature when it came to touch.
Sam actually really enjoyed adding to his observation sheet too. Brad or I would put a thick layer {or little clump} of glue down in a box, and he’d run over with his nature item and really press it on to ensure it would stick.
More than anything this was just a fun way to display his little collection of nature items he was so proud of.
Now I will say that not all of the nature items the kids found were necessarily ‘spring’ items (the crunchy brown leaves that have been hidden under the snow since fall, for example), but I decided that that really didn’t matter. It’s spring, the items were found during spring, and that was good enough for me! If you were doing this activity with your kiddos or students and wanted the focus to be specifically on spring items, however, you could of course specify that.
This whole idea, believe it or not, was inspired by a show the kids have been watching {and loving!} lately called SCOUT & The Gumboot Kids. Have you seen it before? Now if you know me, you know I’m not a huge fan of television for kids, but my kids do enjoy watching a show now and then {Grae especially} which leaves me bouncing between Netflix and Common Sense Media trying to find something that is not only appropriate, but also hopefully little bit inspiring or motivating too? {A tall order, I know…}
Well, I’m so glad I came across SCOUT & The Gumboot Kids. In the series, Scout, a sweet and smart mouse introduces the Gumboot Kids to a collection of clues that leads them outdoors to uncover the wonders of nature… Things like sunflowers filled with seeds, echoes, falling acorns, shadows, and constellations – all of the most important things!
Our spring texture nature hunt was inspired by this episode, The Soft Rock. Take a watch and let me know what you think. Easily my favourite thing about SCOUT & The Gumboot Kids is that the episodes truly inspire you to get outdoors with your kiddos – and how many television programs do that?! I also really love that each episode includes a mindful moment {something Miss G has been practicing since Kindergarten} and music by Jessie Farrell that is actually really enjoyable {because we all know that not all kids’ music is – hah!} I also really like that the episodes are around 5 minutes each and best of all? At just over two and at 7 and a half, both Sam and Grae find the shows interesting and engaging – win!
{US friends, you can watch by subscribing to Curious World or Kidstream. You can also subscribe to Kidstream via Amazon or Comcast Xfinity.}
In addition to SCOUT & The Gumboot Kids, I was lucky enough to preview two ‘spin off’ shows – DAISY & The Gumboot Kids {a crafty version filled with nature DIYs and led by SCOUT’s best friend DAISY} and JESSIE & The Gumboot Kids {a fun music-focused version featuring the talents of the same artist, Jessie Farrell who just released her third children’s album, Sparkle & Shine} and both are every bit as wonderful and inspiring as the original! Fun fact: SCOUT & The Gumboot Kids has won several awards both here in Canada and internationally, and while DAISY & The Gumboot Kids is brand new, it’s already been nominated for both Canadian and international awards too!
Alright, now back to our hunt…
Here’s how things ended. Grae probably could have kept on texture hunting for another hour or so, and Sam found a bunch really cool nature items but was ready to move onto other things before his collection sheet was fully complete – perfectly age appropriate in my opinion.
If you’d like to try this activity with your kids or students, feel free to use our printable observation sheets:
Enjoy your time outdoors with your little ones and be sure to check out The Gumboot Kids series when you have a chance!
And if you already have little SCOUT & The Gumboot Kids fans like I do, be sure to check out their new merchandise line. Miss G and I recently picked out a few things and she’s anxiously awaiting their arrival in the mail!
This post is sponsored by The Gumboot Kids. As always, all opinions and stories are my own and I only ever share things that we truly enjoy.
One of the things I try really hard to do as a mama is make to carve out a little bit of time each day to spend just with my little Miss G. It’s usually not a ton of time, but being that she was our one and only for more than 5 years, I think it’s important. Sometimes we read together, sometimes we read side by side, sometimes we chat, sometimes we colour, sometimes we watch a show, and sometimes we work on a project together… The list goes on, but a few nights ago, we sat at my computer together and created a holiday bucket list filled with all of the things we hope to do while she’s on break from school. {I can’t wait!}
My goodness. How on earth is it already the end of November?? Seriously though. I feel like it was just Halloween and now we’re already gearing up for Christmas holidays. This year, after the rollercoaster that was last year’s Christmas, we’re keeping things simple. Like super simple. We’re going away to a cozy little cabin just the four of us, we’re skipping actual presents and doing stockings only, and we’re not doing much of anything – we’re just going to soak up our first Christmas as a family of four with both of our babies at home with us. I can’t wait.
Thanksgiving weekend is almost here and I couldn’t be more excited! Back in Kuwait, we always hosted a huge potluck feast for our Canadian friends {I think we had about 35 people in our apartment last time around, hence why Miss G wore her noise cancelling headphones} and when in Canada, we’ve usually gone home to the Okanagan to celebrate there.
Oh my goodness… It goes without saying that our lives were totally turned upside down last November when our sweet Sam surprised us with his arrival 27 weeks into my pregnancy. We were absolutely blindsided and not the least bit prepared {hello, nursery that was still being used as a catchall room after our move home from the Middle East}. Add onto that a long NICU stay for Baby Bubba, us discovering that my appendix had ruptured {therefore causing the premature birth} a couple of weeks after his arrival, a 10-day hospital stay for me, us eventually bringing home a teeny tiny boy who screamed for several months, surgery for Sam, and then a pretty low-key summer with Brad at home, and to say that we’re just now starting to get into a groove as a family of four wouldn’t at all be an exaggeration. 10 months later, I’m still figuring out this mama of two gig. Wheeew.
September’s in full swing and with both Brad and Grae back at school, we’re getting back on track after a pretty laid back summer… Efficient mornings, weekly meal plans, early bedtimes – they’re all happening {and going pretty well, thankfully}.
As much as I’ve been willing it not to come, back to school is just around the corner. Truth be told, I’m not ready. The rushed mornings, not seeing my girl for most of the day, helping Miss G emotionally work through all of what goes on at school… It just doesn’t sound like a ton of fun compared to the leisurely mornings, outings and adventures, and laid-back days we’ve been enjoying this summer. That being said, this year is a new year and I’m hopeful that Grae is going to have a wonderful teacher she connects with and feels comfortable with, which would be a total game changer for us. My ultimate hope? That she enjoys Grade One and is excited to go to school! {*fingers crossed*} Oh, I so hope she does.
