Pros and Cons of Stickers!

    Kids love stickers. Mine certainly do, anyway. I know I did! The poor walls and furniture in my childhood bedroom were covered smartly decorated in all sorts of colorful, sticky-backed shapes and characters. My Mama loved our creativity. haha! Really, you can do so much with them. They are simple and cheap. Think about it. Here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons:

Sticker Pros

• Awesome
• Pretty
• Benefit Fine Motor Skills
• Available in a plethora of colors, shapes, characters, and things
• Cheaper than dirt
• Easy to use
• Super fun

Sticker Cons

• Sticky
• Sometimes difficult to remove
• May rip easily and break your kid's heart
• Possibly terrible for the environment
• Inedible

 All this basically means that stickers are a win. Here's a bunch of ideas for having fun with them:

- Potty Chart (Easy peasy: Write their name on a plain sheet of paper and put it up on the fridge where they can see it with a few magnets. Let them pick and place a sticker for every successful potty trip. Just explain how it works!)

-  Practicing Counting  or "Tracing" letters

  
- Practicing making lines from left to right

- Make pretty things to send to friends in the mail

- Decorate the plastic wipe box

- Decorate your face OR your baby sibling's face

- Decorate ugly-ish furniture

- Just fill up a blank book or page for the fun of it! (Keeps the littlest ones occupied for a while)


For more craft ideas from other awesome sites check out pinterest.

By the way, I almost always take a peak at the dollar section at the front of Target. That's where I found these little LeapFrog activity books AND a booklet of 405 stickers for $1 each!

What do you (err . . . and your kids too, I guess) like to do with stickers?

A Quick List of Free Mail and Fun Printables

      It's COLD outside! My weather app reads 5 degrees Farenheit right now and that's up a bit from what it was yesterday at this time! If you're reading this I know you have internet access. Maybe you have some spare time on your hands. Maybe you're browsing while nursing a sweet baby.  Maybe maybe maybe!

    Well, when my husband was gone for a total 7 months when he decided to join the military I got really obsessed with sending and checking the mail. There aren't anymore handwritten letters now from my love because he's home (thank God!) but that was rough. Those days where no letter was there were so disappointing. We wrote a lot to eachother. Bitty Bug was only 2. She didn't understand but whatever I could read to her in those letters, I would. Even if it was simple things, "Daddy loves and misses you." and the like. Now, maybe it's our experience or maybe it's just her age or maybe a combination but she gets excited when I check the mail. She is thrilled to get something of her own or even if I let her open the junk. I started looking for ideas on how to get different things in the mail for her only to found out there's quite a few fun ways to get mail for your kids!

     Our current favorite is Lego Club Jr. You input your kiddo's name and info. Lego sends a cool magazine (either the normal Lego Club or the junior version depending on age) full of info on the newest sets, little games or activities, comics and more. The subscription is free and lasts for two years.

    Another something, that I just requested recently is the American Girl catalogue. Their beautiful dolls are well known. I never had a doll but I did love the books when I was young. The catalogue was fun to look through. I'm not sure we'll ever splurge on these dolls specifically but I'll definitely be on a search for the books once Bitty Bug and Sweet Pea are ready to read them.

    I've seen the Disney postcard thing on several sites and blogs but have yet to try it myself. From what I understand you (or your kiddo) send a letter to  Disney World or Disneyland and you'll get a "signed" postcard from the princesses or Mickey and his friends.

      Geoffrey's Birthday Club is a quick click and sign up for a birthday card (and coupon!) for Toys"R"Us. Check it out, you can also get a birthday phone call and go into the store for a birthday crown and balloon! 


     There's also the option of having them color a picture or write a letter to a friend or family member. Let it be a surprise or give the person a heads up so they might write back promptly! It's never too early to start learning how to do that.

Aside from all that, it's nasty cold outside across most of the US right now. Coloring is one of the easiest ways I can manage to get my crazies to sit down, calm down, and be slightly more quiet than usual for five minutes. If you're looking for coloring pages or activity worksheets check these out:

Random House Kids
   From Eric Carle to Lowly Worm to Thomas the Tank Engine. There are puzzles, crafts, and coloring pages for all those classic favorites.

Crayola Pages
   A personal favorite resource. There are coloring pages and craft sheets for almost any subject under (and including) the sun.

Nick Jr. 
   Offers lots of free printable coloring book pages of all their TV characters. It's easy to find your favorites, like Bubble Guppies or Dora, and print away!

PBS KIDS
   Just spin the wheel, select your kid's favorite cartoon, and you're likely to find several printables! Curious George is one my girls love.

National Geographic
   This is a really cool "print n go" coloring book of realistic looking animals.

Education.com: Dr. Seuss
     A 20 page activity booklet based on the world of Dr. Seuss. Totally free to print at home. It includes math and phonics. This is recommended for kindergarten to first grade and up.

FEMA - Fire Safety Booklet
   Here's a printable PDF on fire safety. It's geared towards little kids with some of the adorable Sesame Street characters sharing basic instructions.

A Few Things for Your Travels

Here's a bunch more things I found to share! This goes along with the last post about road trips but there's plenty you might want to check out whether you have travel plans or not.

#1

Spotify! (referral link) If you don't all ready use this awesome application you should try it. There is a great selection of music. You can get a free 30 day trial of premium so you can listen to music without ads and offline. Who doesn't love listening to "What Does the Fox Say?" 30 times on a road trip?! (my goobers certainly will)? *

#2

Audible.com The modern version of books on tape. Click the link to make your way to a free download! You just need an amazon account. There's a free 30 day trial and one free book each month. *

#3

Dave Ramsey Audiobooks for $5 or less! 

We <3 Ramsey. His advice has saved our poor, greedy butts lots of times. We hope to be debt free by continuing to follow his methods. There are even some MP3s oriented towards kids like "Battle of the Chores" and "A Special Thank You" recommended for ages 3-10.  These are regularly $10-20.

#4

From iTunes for the Kiddos:

Baby Animals (free)

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (free)

Fingerpainting Pinterest Craft!

This was FUN. And, it was EASY.

Here is the original.

I didn't use canvas or regular finger paint. We used crayola color wonder paper and finger paint.

I fixed up letters with blue painter's tape and put that over the paper then just let them have at it. A spare piece of cardboard I keep for things like this meant I didn't even need to wipe up the floor (much).




 Notice the cute toes of an eager toddler. I frustrate her muchly when I'm trying to get pictures of anything like this. She's always ready to get on with it!

 I barely let it dry for 10 seconds before taking the paint off. The nice thing about the crayola paint stuff is that it doesn't really drip and it dries fast anyway.

FIN!

It's kind of adorable. I didn't get any pictures of the actual painting, sadly. They need some serious refereeing when it comes to art and craft supplies. If I could just give them an empty white room and all the paint, markers, and crayons imaginable there'd likely be no space untouched. Think the inside of Rapunzel's tower in Tangled. haha Definitely . . . .

So there you have it! I'll either frame it for their room or put it in the "keep" folder for the kid-art scrapbook I honestly intend to put together someday.

Toddler Activities

I've been searching all over for ideas to keep my toddler occupied. Color wonder and puzzles are life savers. My toddler loves them. But, this spring and summer I want to be out of the house or outdoors as much as possible. Here is what I've found:


The Splash Park in Rogers (near the recreation center)

The Park on Horsebarn Road (Rogers) -- this is our favorite park all ready 

Crystal Bridges - Art Days (supposed to be offered starting in April)

Storytime at a local library (Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale, Fayetteville) -- Check their websites or calendars for details

I've been looking for a not-too-expensive class to enroll my almost-2-year-old in but it look like anything worthwhile will have to wait until she is 3 or 4. All of the above are FREE.