While Brad isn’t the type to whip up something crafty with the kids for Mother’s Day, writing for CBC Parents means that Miss G and I often get to create fun gift ideas to share on their site and of course – I directly benefit. ;)
In the past we’ve made an ‘I love you’ pillowcase (the sweetest, simplest thing) and a family portrait mug for Father’s Day, and this little ‘I love you’ teacup gift sort of combines the two.
It’s soooo easy that I’m hoping even those who consider themselves not at all crafty will give it a shot with their kiddos. The best part? {And this isn’t really usual advice from me, but} if you shop at a big box grocery store, pretty much everything you need should be there!
This summer, just before we left Vancouver for good, we were lucky enough to sneak in a birthday party for one of Miss G’s special little friends. We had been swamped with the move and we were living with next to nothing and sleeping on foams by the time we got around to putting together a gift for the birthday girl if I remember correctly, but we just couldn’t help but put together something special. {Miss G’s totally inherited my love of gift giving.}
Last fall, Miss G went through a huge ‘inventing’ stage. She loved nothing more than putting random bits and bobs together to create these elaborate structures and objects… It was SO cool to watch her imagination come to life. Since she was constantly rifling through our craft drawers and recycling bins to find what she needed {and often wanted help locating specific things}, I asked her if she’d like to help put together a DIY Inventing Kit – a collection of items that she could have organized and in one spot whenever the urge to invent struck – and of course she did! The result was this awesome kit full of colourful recyclables, materials, and adhesives, plus a couple of inspirational books.
Oh, the awesomeness that is the annual ‘cousins’ birthday’… A few years back, my sister-in-law and I came up with a plan that allowed us to celebrate all of our kiddos’ birthdays in person, despite living in different provinces {or on different sides of the world}. With all 5 of our kiddos having birthdays between July and November, we simply decided we’d do ONE celebration the one time we were guaranteed to be together each year – August long weekend in the Okanagan – and make it an official celebration of everyone! And that’s what we’ve done ever since. It’s super low-key… We sing a big ‘happy birthday’ song that includes everyone’s names, each cousin opens a special gift, and then we play or hang out or get on with whatever else we had planned. It’s something we look forward to each year!
Last year, Miss G’s very first year of school, was a doozy. Beyond having just left her home, friends, and most of her possessions in the Middle East to start over here in Canada, Miss G was also becoming a big sister after 5 years of being an only child and starting school for the very first time. When we got settled in Vancouver, we decided that we’d give traditional public school a try, despite the fact that we’d long decided that we’d homeschool if we were to stay in Kuwait. I had gotten excited about the possibility of homeschooling and wasn’t 100% sure about the decision, but after meeting what quite possibly might have been the greatest principal / office administrator combo EVER, we were hopeful it would be a great year. Our cautious and sensitive girl was even excited about Kindergarten!
My gosh… I can’t even believe that it’s already almost June. {I feel like I say it constantly, but honestly – I just don’t know where the time goes these days.} Of course June means Father’s Day, so my little miss and I have been brainstorming ways to spoil her papa this year.
After travelling all over the world with Miss G {hello 36 hour treks to and from Kuwait!}, a six hour road trip really isn’t a big deal to us. That being said, our little lady is a huuuuuuuuuuge talker, and sometimes you just need to have a moment of quiet {or a moment to talk to your spouse} while in the car. That, and sometimes our little Sam Jam just needs a moment of silence in order to fall asleep… Big sisters’ animated stories and ramblings are much too interesting to doze off to {obviously}!
After making a super fun, soap-included funfetti sugar scrub for Miss G last week, we decided that this mama needed a sugar scrub of her own too! My little helper and I hit the kitchen with some basic ingredients from our pantry and came up with an amazing smelling scrub that involves two of my very favourite things – COFFEE and being pampered!
Well, I’m excited to say that we’ve officially made it a full 3 months home from the NICU without baby bubba getting sick! According to our nurses, the first 3 months {and especially the first 4 – 6 weeks} are the most critical as far as keeping little NICU babes healthy and bug-free, and I’m so glad we were successful. During those first 6 weeks, we really avoided taking Sam to public places as much as possible, and though we’ve loosened up quite a bit since then, we’re still all about the hand washing in this house. It’s such an easy thing to do and since it’s the best way to keep germs at bay, we’re going to keep on it. After all, we don’t want baby bubba getting sick now any more than we did in the first 3 months – having a sick baby is awful!
For the last week and a bit, Miss G’s been having a total blast experimenting with all sorts of open-ended science activities and challenges…
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And it’s all because of this book – The Curious Kid’s Science Book by Asia Citro. We are big fans of her first book, 150+ Scree-Free Activities for Kids {which actually inspired us to create a taste-safe sensory play kit for a friend last year}, and this second book certainly does not disappoint! What I think I love most about it is that it really gets little ones into the scientific process {but in a totally organic and child-led way} – asking questions, testing different methods, making observations, making adjustments, re-experimenting, and coming to conclusions. What I also really love about it is that at 5 years old, Miss G is very capable of leading many of these explorations completely on her own, giving her a huge sense of pride and independence. Win!!
So, when I asked my good friend what her little guy was into a few days before his birthday party and she responded with, ‘He loves doing science experiments!’, there was no question what we’d put together for him. A DIY science kit it would be!
Luckily for us, Asia {the author of the book} has made this part extremely easy by providing a list of the most common materials needed to do the experiments in the book both on her blog and on page 28 of the book itself! And in case you’re wondering, most of what’s on the list is really easy to find either at a grocery store or at a dollar store.
Here’s what Asia recommends including:
salt
sugar
corn syrup
cooking oil
vinegar
lemon juice
baking soda
pinto beans
food colouring
coffee filters
plastic cups, short and tall
zip-close bags
straws
masking tape
cotton balls
cotton swabs
dish soap
potting soil
children’s safety goggles
We took a few liberties with our list, but included most everything {save the darn children’s safety googles that I waited too long to go out and find!} and also included one of Miss G’s favourite science tools – plastic pipettes. In the case where something came in a monstrous size bag that we felt was excessive for the size of our kit, we simply re-packaged the goods into smaller sets / bags and used some funky washi tape to pretty things up a little bit.
Admittedly, neither Brad nor I are huge Star Wars fans… But Miss G? Well she’s recently become one thanks to this Cosmic Kids Yoga video. {Hah!} So when she heard that the birthday party we’d been invited to this weekend was Star Wars-themed, she was absolutely thrilled. Of course, when I asked what she’d like to get the birthday boy as a gift, she threw out ‘A STAR WARS PLAY DOUGH KIT!!!’ almost immediately {sorry friends, I promise to get her onto a non-play dough gift giving kick very soon} and then I realized how over my head I was…
Today was Miss G’s first birthday party back in Canada and she was thrilled that a) it meant she got to finally see one of the friends she’s missed terribly while away, b) that it was princess-themed and involved art, and c) that it gave us the perfect excuse to create a ‘princessy’ gift.
Miss G and I made several little portable craft kids for her friends in Kuwait, but when we got back to Canada last summer and wanted to create something similar for she and her cousin to take along on our house boating trip, we had zero luck finding carrying caddies like the ones we’d always found easily in the desert.
I’ll say it. I’m obsessed with all projects/crafts/gifts that include kids’ handprints. Alright, and those that involve footprints too. I can’t help myself. They’re just so sweet and having special pieces stamped with Miss G’s handprints means that I get to freeze time and always have a reminder of how little she once was.
Okay, so I admit it – we’re a bit play dough kit obsessed over here. We can’t help it. Play dough is something that we play with on a daily basis and having pre-made kits filled with dough and interesting loose parts makes it really easy to delve into the fun – everything that’s needed is right there in a container waiting to be taken out! It also means that Grae can easily help herself to a kit and have a fun activity pre-prepared for independent play times, which I love.
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