What is Halloween without some skeletons? Using about 4 pipe cleaners (chenille stems) and a little piece of craft foam, you can make a little skeleton. (these go with along with our other kid crafts from pipe cleaners -seen below) Here are our favorite skeleton stories that are perfect for young children: Shake dem Halloween Bones […]
Max’s kindergarten harvest party:  1. Fall / Halloween Bookmarks 2. Ghost or pumpkin bagels (cream cheese and raisins) 3. Owl goodie bag (filled with pre-done treats) 4. “pin” the nose on the pumpkin  PUMPKIN WEIGHT – Purchase a 6-7 pound pumpkin, weigh it on your bathroom scale, and record the weight. Ask the […]
Tips on BTS safety, health, making the adjustment, and more! Back to School Tips Back to School Tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Covers many topics: the first day; backpack safety; traveling to and from school; eating during the school day; bullying; child care before and after school; and homework and study habits. Also […]
  Scissors Card stock Glue Markers  To make one, first cut a 1 3/4- by 8-inch strip of colorful card stock. Holding the strip horizontal, fold each half of the strip down at a right angle at the strip’s center, as shown. Next, use shapes cut from colored paper or card stock to […]
 PICTURE THIS: a family outing that’s great for all ages, affordable, and (shh!) educational too. Sound too good to be true? Not if you’ve got a digital camera and a sharp eye for letter shapes, as my family recently discovered they have. My 10-year-old, Ava, and 5-year-old, Harry, loved going on an I Spy […]
 These colorful, perforated window decorations can really brighten up a room when sunlight shows through all the pinholes.  Card stock Corrugated cardboard Pushpin Thin string or thread  To create one, simply cut a sun shape out of the paper or card stock and place it atop the cardboard.  Have your child pierce […]
Letter X is a very unreliable letter that make the sounds:     /x/ as in x-ray     /ks/ as in six     /z/ as in xylophone 1. Present a capital and lower case X to your child. See if she knows the name of the letter and the sound it makes.  This is a tricky […]
Materials: Plastic eggs, small dinosaurs and “sand goop” (recipe below).  “Sand Goop” Recipe 1 cup sand 1/2 cup cornstarch 1/2 tsp. alum 1/2 c. water.  Cook on medium heat stirring until thick. Cool to touch.  Put dino into the plastic egg and cover with “sand goop”. Place in “nest”. On Monday, talk […]
