This article was originally published in the January / February 2021 issue of The Good Life, the in house magazine by Nature’s Fare. You can see all of my Nature’s Fare articles here.
No matter how old you are, having a journal practice can be a really wonderful part of self-care. Journalling allows us to reflect on our days, process our feelings, work through emotions, and practice gratitude, all of which contribute to emotional well-being and self-awareness.
And children can experience all of these benefits from journalling too! This daily reflection journal for kids and tweens is free, printable, and especially great for those who are new to journalling.
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!
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.
With the end of the school year quickly approaching, it’s already time to start thinking about teacher appreciation gifts and this year we’ll include this ‘Thank you for being my teacher’ print-out with a purchased gift. We’ll probably mount it on coloured card stock or put it into a pretty frame of some sort, but wouldn’t it be amazing if every child in the class made one and we had it bound into a book?! Oh my heart! A full class book would make for such a beautiful, meaningful gift.
We’re officially into the last week of school and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Miss G had another absolutely fantastic teacher this year and for that, I’m incredibly grateful. In our experience, the teacher really does make {or break} the school year, and her teacher this year certainly made her {our!!} year a positive, happy one. Despite being new to the school this year, Grae made loads of friends, was happy to go to school each day, and got to take part in all kinds of really cool process-based, collaborative, and creative projects.
While we’re still working on putting together a little gift, Grae’s had this sweet little thank-you-for-being-my-teacher printable ready to go for weeks now and I just think it’s so simple and sweet.
First, let’s start with the draft. How much or how little you support your child through the process of completing the bullet-point lists and sentences will depend on their reading and writing skills, as well as how ‘kid-made’ you want the finished project to be. In my opinion, invented spelling is awesome and perfection is overrated, but either way, the one thing I would suggest is having your little one complete the project in pencil first. This way mistakes can easily be fixed and changes can be made. You know your little one best, so sit down and work on this together, or let them do it completely independently — or a little bit of both — it’s up to you!
Once you and your little one have reviewed the draft, invite them to trace their pencil lines with a black fine liner. While this step is optional, I do think it makes kid-printing pop and the overall project look super polished.
Now that the words and drawings have been traced in black fine liner, give it few minutes to set (so it dries completely dry), then allow your child to gently erase the extra pencil marks.
Lastly, invite your little one to add some colour to their project. Of course the drawing of your child and their teacher can be coloured in, but encourage them to also colour the banners, the little arrows and even the page border.
Once it’s coloured, that’s it! Your beautiful ‘Thank you for being my teacher’ poster is ready for gifting.
And if your school principal is leaving like ours is {don’t even get me started – I don’t think I’ve fully accepted it just yet}, check out this ‘Thank You for Being My Principal’ printable Miss G has also been working on.
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.
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.
Call me crazy, but I’m sincerely looking forward to packing school lunches for Miss G. Although she’ll only be attending Kindergarten half time, we’ve discussed whether to pick her up before lunchtime or after, and we’ve decided that picking her up after lunch might make for a better transition. We’ll see how things go of course and re-evaluate a few weeks in, but that’s the plan for now at least.
Truth be told, I’ve never loved the name ‘busy box’. Or ‘busy bag’ for that matter. It’s ridiculous, I know, but I think I associate both with the term ‘busy work’ from my teaching days, which to me, is basically work {often of very little value} that keeps kids busy and out of the teacher’s hair. Not my cup of tea. I figure that if a teacher is going to expect her students to engage in some sort of activity or work, it shouldn’t simply keep them busy {that’s a waste of time} – it should engage them, challenge them, and teach them something worthwhile along the way – right?? Well, after looking at many, many activities labeled as busy boxes or bags, I learned that most of them do all of those things. Most of them are fun, playful, and help little ones build on some sort of skill {or multiple skills at once}. And yes, they are easy to pull out during times when you’d like your little one to play quietly and/or independently {while you shower, during restaurant and doctor’s office waits, during quiet time, etc.}, but that’s only because you’ve taken the time to prep the fun in advance – not because they’re anything like boring busy work. And so, because I’ve finally made peace with the term, here’s our first busy box – a LEGO patterns busy box. ☺
