{un}crafty - easy kids art.

its not always easy to get the kids painting.  trust me {i know}.  as a stay at home mom, making the mess of painting with little kids can sometimes be the last thing you want to do.  but its ok to let go of that fear and help your kids create something they are proud of and had fun making.  it doesn't have to be a {huge} mess!

supplies you need:

garbage bags

acrylic paints {kids crayola paints work great}

paint brushes {or foam brushes, or old sponges}

paper plates

canvases {cardboard, paper - anything to else to frame}

i cut open a garbage bag so it lays flat to cover our table and pour paints onto a paper plate for each child.

then i let the kids use paint brushes and old sponges to make a masterpiece.  we used small canvases i had on hand, but any piece of cardstock or paper would work in a frame.

kids love to be creative and with the paper plates and garbage bag, my only clean up is washing out and paintbrushes or sponges i want to keep.  easy.

 this particular project was painting canvases to hang in baby sister's room.  she was about to arrive and the boys wanted to make something special for her brand new nursery.  its probably the most special part of her room!

let your kids create something for a new sibling, grandparents, or neighbors who are sure to love the special gift!

happy {un}crafting!

Tried and True Favorites

Here are a few of our favorite new toys after Christmas.  These are tried and true as they've been consistently loved and played with over the last two weeks!  Great toys worth sharing!

This is a new favorite for our preschooler.

Geo Shape Tack Zap by HABA

This is a great one-on-one activity.  For us, while the little boy sleeps, we can make new geometric shapes and pictures.  I help position the small tac and hold it while my 3 year old hammers away.  I love the quality and durability of the cork, shapes, and tacks.  Developmentally, this is a perfect toy for us right now!

Fun for the whole family:

UNO Moo Farm Animal Matching Game

Our whole family is loving this new game and we played it the whole of New Year's Weekend!  We can't get enough!  This is our favorite game for preschoolers so far.  Our 3 year old can understand and follow this simple game with ease.  Simply match either the color or animal to the one in the barn door.  Great for learning colors, animals, sounds - and that makes our 18 month old love this game too!  We received two of these games at Christmas and I can see why!  Its a hit!

Music Makers!

B. Parum Pum Pum Drum

There isn't really anything at this house that we love more than music.  Our kiddos love to dance, sing, shout, and create music all day long.  That is why I knew we should ask for a drum for Christmas (maybe a little bit of a crazy request now that I realize just how hard a 3 year old can hit a plastic drum!). We also receive two of these and I haven't decided yet if we will keep both or stock just one of these cute ensembles at our house.  This amazing, adorable brand of B. toys is available at Target and I'm so glad I've been introduced!  I will certainly be buying/requesting more of these toys in the future!  This totally awesome drum set comes with 8 instruments, an adorable patterned strap, and is great quality.  I'm in love with B. toys.  The drum's tag says, "B. joyful B. fun B. shaky B. musical B. heard B. you".  Words to live by?  I think so.

What are your new favorites?

My New Favorite Accessory

Ha!  You may have expected to see a stylish new pair of shoes, cute new handbag, or funky new necklace in this post, but NOPE!  My favorite new accessory is the potty chair!  My oldest son is about to turn three (gasp!) and will be starting a preschool program in September.  Along with preschool comes the mandatory potty training.  I thought the potty training would be my most trying experience as a parent, to-date, but (dare I say it:) its been smooth so far!

Advice: I have none.  I don't know what we did, but in less than 7 days, our son was full potty trained, without much prompting from us.  We introduced him to the potty over a year ago, letting him sit on it, play with it (yuck?), and go potty when he felt like it.  We didn't force anything because he wasn't too interested.  Then we got some cool big boy underpants and he wore them a couple times, but he wasn't too excited about that, either.  So, as you can imagine, I was pretty freaked out about the preschool potty training deadline looming overhead.

One day our boy woke up and when we asked if he wanted to wear big boy underware he said, "Sure!".  So we said, "Ok, grrrrrrreat!", and we ran with it.  That day he did all his business (#1 and #2) on the potty!  And that was that.  I'm pretty sure it was successful because we really did wait until he was ready.  Let's face it: we were ready a year ago - but he was not.

I've been super reluctant to call him "potty trained", worried about a relapse or something tragic like that.  But, over a month in, I think we're safe.  He even got his "potty present" yesterday after such a good job of doing the big boy potty.

Back to my favorite new accessory...

When we started really doing the potty thing about a month ago, I started toting the potty with us to the park, the store, playdates - you name it.  Leaving the house was like this:

Kids have shoes: check.

Car keys: check.

Wallet: check.

List: check.

....

oh yeah - Potty: check!

We kept it in the car, but we ran out of the store on several occasions to let him do his business where he was more comfortable.  By now, we have the public restroom thing down, so my new favorite accessory gets to stay home a little more.  I can't say I'm feeling too bad about that, it really wasn't going to go with my fall wardrobe anyway.