I'm not so big on the spooky side of Halloween. That being said, when I saw these clothespin bats, I was all over them. I'm a sucker for anything having to do with clothespins (one of my favorite fine motor activities).

And besides, I got to spray paint clothespins black. Aren't they too too cool?

So basically, I printed out a template, we traced it, and cut out bunches of bats. Then Jack glued one bat to each side of every clothespin. That's it. (The instructions said to punch out eyes and glue the tips of the bat wings together. We skipped both of those steps. I thought the wings looked better unattached -- it gives the illusion of flying, in my opinion.)

Once Jack got the drift of the project he really got into the zone. It was interesting to watch him organize his materials assembly-line style. He said he was a bat processor. And, from the look on his face, I'm sure you can tell that bat processing is serious business. We do not take our bats lightly around here. 

When they dried, we strung some fishing line over the fireplace and Jack clipped the bats up. They make a spooky-cool garland and a super-cool fine motor activity. Happy boy. Happy mama.

At night the bats have been "flying away" (ie. mom takes them down and puts them in a basket) and in the morning Jack pins them back up again so they can sleep (being nocturnal creatures and all).

We've also found some other clever places to clip them, including on the light over the kitchen table (which casts a creepy shadow on the wall). I'm thinking they would also be great with letters on them, as in a garland spelling out H-A-P-P-Y   H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N). Or maybe clipped onto treat bags. 

Right now I'm trying to keep things simple so I don't drive myself batty. I keep repeating: simple is good... simple is good....

Here's wishing you a nice, not-so-spooky, simple Halloween of your own.

I've had this idea on my brain for a while, it was a relief to get it accomplished this past weekend. Does everyone dream of chalkboard-paint-covered-pumpkins, or is it just me?

It started out with a couple of (fake) pumpkins from the craft store that my sister Megan picked up for me (thanks Mega).

If nothing else, it was a perfect excuse to try my hand at making homemade chalkboard paint using this recipe. The secret ingredient is sanded tile grout, which I'm sure you will want to know where to find in small quantities. Truth be told it was as easy as calling my husband and saying, "Could you bring me home approximately two tablespoons of sanded tile grout?" and there it was. The guy knows better by now than to ask questions. He's memorized my answer: "It's for a project...." 

I grabbed a couple of pumpkin-colored paint samples from the hardware store (I'm trying to imagine a room the color of pumpkin pie. Can't quite visualize it.) I mixed up the paint and we got to work.

Pumpkins are surprisingly satisfying to paint. Who knew?

I admire Jack's technique and steady hand.
 

Especially since he's always working with a spunky little monkey on his back. Always.

And here are our write-on, wipe-off pumpkins on their way to dry. Making Jack-O-Lantern faces is fun, but with all of the parent-assisted carving, I feel that kids don't get enough of the face-making time. You know what I mean? So here's a perpetual pumpkin, ready for as many different faces as kids can dream up.

Tomorrow, bats.

I heart little red wagons. In fact, the little red wagon is, quite possibly, my favorite mode of transportation. But recently we found yet another great use for our trusty old vehicle: a magnet board!

Turned on its side, it's the perfect size and shape for sitting and building words with colorful letters. Who needs a refrigerator anyway? This is so bright and cheerful and playful-looking that I seriously doubt any child would mistake it for learning. Nope. Far too fun.

Sometimes I just put out a bucket of letters all by itself. And sometimes I put some starting sounds on one side and interesting word combos on the other.

What a kick to make your happiest words so easily!

Sometimes we play a game where we rummage around, pull out a certain number of letters, arrange them randomly, sound them out, and see what we get.

On this try Jack actually pulled the letters T-O-M-A-I totally by chance and arranged them in just that order. He sounded them out and gleefully hunted for a T and an O when he realized what word he could make. Incidentally, we also happened to be sitting just a couple of feet away from our little crop of tomato plants! Coincidence? I think not. I'm sure it was some garden fairies at work (or play!). Apparently they think learning is a blast too!

Let me know if you give it a try. The best part is, you probably have everything you need already!

Don't you just love this? Kathleen from the oh-so-inspiring Twig and Thistle sewed this love letter to her husband, complete with the ruled paper. When I saw it, I thought about how amazing it would be to take a piece of your child's writing and turn it into a keepsake like this.

What do you think?

What do you get when you take an old IKEA lazy susan, add some recycled jars, and toss in a bunch of art supplies and writing utensils?

a colorful buffet for kids with bright ideas...

                                        a carousel of creativity!

I've been putting this dizzying array of art and writing supplies (along with a big pile of paper) in the middle of the kitchen table most evenings lately, usually when I'm cooking dinner. It seems to draw Jack to the table (excuse the pun) and inspire some end-of-the-day self-expression.

He likes that he has a big selection of self-serve materials, and I like that everything's tidy and not at all overwhelming.

I also love that I can easily slip it into a kitchen cabinet when we're done using it. The lazy susan makes it super-simple to retrieve specific things as needed ("I need a red crayon to color a fire truck!"). And tucking it out of sight when it's not in use is a surefire way to peak a child's attention once it re-emerges. When you keep stuff out in the open all of the time, it becomes like wallpaper, fading into the background. But pull this out of the cupboard and just watch as your kid gives drawing and writing a whirl!

Who could resist?

This may sound a little, um, geeky, but I really miss card catalogs. Don't get me wrong, I love the convenience of popping over to my library's website to check if a book is on the shelves, or request a title from another library. I think that' s cool.

But I also remember the fun I had as a kid fingering through card catalogs. Especially the surprise of happening upon an interesting title or book description while you were searching for something entirely different. If you're at all bookish, like me, you know what I mean.

So when I discovered this clever card catalog generator, I got a little giddy. I decided to use these little bits of library nostalgia to send my boy on a treasure hunt of sorts, making a game of cracking the library's "secret code," while teaching him to navigate those irresistible stacks of page-turning goodness.

So I used modern technology (the card catalog generator + my library's website, open in two side-by-side windows on my computer) to whip up some authentic-looking cards, using the actual library call numbers. We have been bringing them to the library with us and are having a blast using them to track down our chosen titles.

The added benefit of this little bit of advanced planning is it is helping to keep us slightly more organized. Jack and I have a tendency to be very distractable in the library. This results in armfuls (yes, armfuls) of books, each one on a different fascinating (to us) subject, all of them seemingly unrelated. Girders and cranes. Knot-tying. Race cars. Cargo ships. Ocean mammals. When we return home laden with so many books, we wind up not finishing them all, so we renew our favorites (we renewed the knot-tying book was three times in a row!). Not to mention that it's hard to keep track of so many books, leading to the inevitable overdue fines. ($3.60 on the last visit. Aargh.) Can anyone relate?

So, long story short, our cute cards force us to focus, and make our library habits a little less haphazard. Bonus.

By the way, what books have you been hauling home from the library lately? Any recommendations? More info to come on what else we've been checking out, renewing, and overdue-ing these days.

Happy reading!

Jack loves writing capital letters. Why shouldn't he? They are made up of such simple shapes, many of them have similar movement patterns, and they all line up neatly next to each other instead of dipping down low or reaching up high like those pesky lowercase letters do. What's not to love?

But, when it comes to writing his name, I want him to learn to do it right, right from the start.

Once they're writing, kids write their names ALL the time, everywhere they can. With all of that repetition going on, you want to make sure they aren't getting into any bad habits. Because, as we all know, bad habits are hard to break. Not to mention that it's a real bummer to get to school and be told that you have to re-learn how to write your name. Kind of hard on an emerging writer's ego, if you know what I mean.

Enter the name slate -- an easy way to set kids up for name-writing success.

The name slate is a simple-yet-smart way to encourage children to practice writing their names. On the top of the slate is a permanent example of the child's name written with the first letter capitalized and the rest of the letters lowercase. Below is blank space to practice. It's that easy!

Materials:

8 x 10 chalkboard (found at most craft stores for a few dollars)

white acrylic paint

piece of chalk (small, to encourage a strong, steady tripod grasp)

little scrap of cloth (for erasing)

The basic how-to:

Write your child's name (with proper capitalization and spacing) in chalk at the top of the slate. Paint over you chalk letters with white acrylic paint. Let dry thoroughly. When dry, show your child how they can write their name, wipe it away, and write it again as often as they like. Ask for an autograph (kids like that!).

I know it may seem as if I'm kind of wacky for little chalkboards but truly I am. They are just so forgiving. A sweep of the hand or a wipe with a cloth can make any mistake disappear as if by magic. And knowing that your marks are so easily erased seems to make all the pressure and perfectionism that comes along with learning to write disappear as well.

And, hey, when kids become name-writing pros, they can just chalk it up to experience!

Try it... (and let me know if you do!)

We spent one day last week organizing colorful widgets for a craft workshop:

{super-cute animal beads from here}

{and a rainbow assortmant of cut up straws}

Apparently, Jack was inspired by this beadazzling bounty. He set to work for hours (no understatement) making baubles and bangles for his lucky mama. Good fine-motor fun.

Look at how serious he is about pushing those little widgets on to pipe cleaners.

And check out his toe-curling concentration.

Sweet, sweet stuff.

Have you gotten any sweet somethings from your little ones lately? Please share!