Katy Jayne (age 4) shows off her sewing skills.
Like Jill said, when it comes to parenting I’m an Advanced Beginner. I’m reluctant to share much of my own parenting advice, but sharing resources and good advice from others, now that I can do.
What to do with all these Legos?
I know, they hurt to step on. One solution is a play mat that can be gathered into a bag, so all the of the Lego pieces are collected without having to pick them up. See how easy it is to make this Lego play mat from Tiny Happy.
Should siblings share a room?
Our kids will share a room, at least while they’re young. Kids crave company. Simple Mom shared insights about her kids sharing a room. (Be sure to see the thoughtful discussion in the comments.)
What do I do with an overly-energetic child?
Learn practical strategies for what to do when your child has a wild streak from Mommy’s Idea Book.
How to entertain a handful of kids?
My friend and I trade babysitting every Friday morning. Lane always comes home from my friend’s house with creative art projects, like a bouquet of paper irises that have petals made from hand prints. What will I do with the kids when it’s my turn next? I’m going to try this fun idea with ribbons and music from Make and Takes.
I couldn’t miss a chance to share this…
You know how simple ideas are always the best? I really love this easy method to make pancake letters and pictures. (If this were my great idea, I would never share the secret. I would just keep it to myself and let people think I had extra special pancake skills.)
About Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I will share a link here about things to do with your kids indoors. Where we live the winters are very cold and so we spend a lot of time indoors, which can make us all a little stir crazy! So I’ve compiled a list of 50 things to do indoors with your kids. Hope it inspires some of your readers!
Great resources for common parent questions, thanks!!!
http://www.serenejourney.com/2009/01/50-things-to-do-with-your-kids-when-its-50c/
Sherri (Serene Journey)´s last blog post..8 Tips For Effective Budgeting
I like the Lego play mat idea. My son loves playing with Legos and has quite a collection. We have a giant beach towel for him to play on with his Legos, and then we fold it up and place it in a really big plastic box. This also works well.
And those pancakes..how adorable! What a creative idea. I’m afraid mine would never come out looking that cute.
Thanks for the link.:)
Amanda @ Mommy’s Idea Book´s last blog post..Sophie’s Heart by Lori Wick
Keep in mind that “kids crave company” is a generalization, and not true for all kids. My DD is on the autism spectrum and her sleep issues combined with need for quiet when she got stressed, made sharing a room impossible for her as a pre-schooler. Parenting advice always has to be personalized and taken with a grain of salt.
My son has a huge collection of lego that he stores in a massive container we originally got halloween candy in. It has a flip-top lid is square and the perfect height for sliding under the bed. Out of sight, out of my foot? ;o)
Yes, for every general comment there will always be an exception, and personal needs should be considered.
Oh wow. I want to make like 10,000 of those ribbon thingies. E has given me a whole new appreciation for dancing while twirling something pretty.
Oh. And here’s a link to the origin of “Advanced Beginner” (which is a phrase I stole from author Melissa Bank) since I do realize it’s next to impossible to find anything in the archives of my blog. http://secretgenius.typepad.com/ohmyblog/2008/12/im-happythis-morning-after-getting-e-set-up-on-the-couch-with-her-little-cup-of-os-and-a-cartoon-yeah—-i-know-lazy-pare.html)
Heart Ya! Have a wonderful week!
How about something that you can use for matchbox cars? Instead of legos I have matchbox cars. There like stepping on skates!
When I was a kid, we had a matchbox car case, with a little pull-out plastic tray that had one spot for each matchbox car. It was kind of like an ice-cube tray for matchbox cars. Not that that’s helpful now, but I know at least they USED to make them.
We had those too growing up. So fun!
They do still make those. My son got one for Christmas and it is great. It holds about 100 cars and has sections for larger and smaller cars. We purchased it at Wal-Mart.
Amanda @ Mommy’s Idea Book´s last blog post..Sophie’s Heart by Lori Wick
Thanks for the tip on energetic kids–my 4 year old son has been cooped up all winter, so he’s rarin’ to go right now! I liked the tip about the legos too, although here it’s little cars that get stepped on.
alexis´s last blog post..alexis vega commented on the blog post ‘Book Club: Life Management for Busy Women by Elizabeth George’
It’s such a blessing to brainstorm other ideas. With my five ranging in age from 5-15, we have lots of fun things that we do, but I’ll share a simple one that I just posted about…tea parties all day long.
It’s the Little Things that are the Big Things.
http://inpassionatepursuit.blogspot.com/2009/03/tea-parties-all-day-long.html
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Our girls are sorta sharing a room . . . our four year old is sleeping with us for the time being, though. That won’t last forever. I loved sharing a room with my sister when I was growing up. So many fun memories!
I don’t know if this is a tip so much as it’s just a helpful link, but one great resource for finding great craft activities for little ones is Kids Craft Weekly – http://kidscraftweekly.com/index.html
Awesome links as always, Rachel! Hope y’all are all settled in the new place and that you are getting lots of rest and taking it easy, mama!
Megan@SortaCrunchy´s last blog post..As He Leads Us: On Marriage, Part Three
Thank you for the great links! There were a couple that were really timely for us.
I am wondering how all of the boy Moms do not have both legos and cars killing their feet? Seems like almost every gift our little guy has gotten since he was 6 months old has been legos, cars, and some sort of ball. And, AND I am convinced they act like rabbits while we sleep.
Laurel Plum´s last blog post..The Catherine Holman Folk Art Winner
Hey, Rachel! So fun to see my little’s picture on your blog! The dog got a hold of the sewing heart today. Many tears! I didn’t realize how much she was attached to it! I guess I should take that as a good sign that she takes pride in her work! Anyway, I’m planning a fun craft the next time Lane is with us too! It’s fun to work on them with the littles!