Snow Themed Lessons for Preschool Music

With early childhood music classes I love using themes to help activate students' imagination and connect my lesson to the world around them. This time of year one of my favorite themes is snow! I use these music lesson activities with preschool, kindergarten, and younger self-contained special education classes and they have been a hit. Here are some of my favorite activities to use in snow-themed lessons.

1. Snow Songs

There are tons of great songs about snow but my favorites for this age group include: 

All of the Snowflakes (great for getting non-verbal students to vocalize, and a fun song that will get everyone singing! I use this song with 2nd grade for a composition activity as well- see my full lesson plans in the linked article)

I Have a Little Snowman (I use this to introduce and show notes going up and down with movement)

It's Wintertime (this song isn't just about snow but it does talk about snowmen so I often include it with my snow themed lessons- it's an additive song that includes a different instrument students can play for each verse)

2. Movement Activities

It's Snowing Outside (this song invites movement in the lyrics so it's easy to learn and great to reinforce steady beat and practice moving safely in space)

Winter Scarves (the linked video demonstrates scarf movements you can do to match the lyrics about snow- my students love this calming song!)

I Live Inside a Snowglobe (I have students sit and do motions while they sing the verse at the beginning, stand up when it says "shake it up" etc in the chorus and do the move to match the lyrics, and then sit back down when it says "and then the snow falls down". this is a great one for practicing following directions for students who are working on self control because they have to start and stop a lot throughout the song but in a fun way)

Snowman Dance (this is a great brain break type activity I like to keep in my back pocket when students are unfocused, a lesson just isn't going well, or I see they need to get up and move for a few minutes because students just follow along with the simple dance movements in the video)

3. Iconic Play-Alongs

I like using iconic notation play-along videos to get my youngest students to track notation and relate it later on to paired eighth note, quarter note, and quarter rest notation. I also use these same icons off-screen by printing out similar clipart and putting them up on the board for students to read while I point, or have students use them to create their own patterns too!

Snow Day (hat=quarter, mitten=eighths, blank=rest)

Snow! (skate=quarter, snowman=eighths, shhh=rest)

Snowman Village (hat=quarter, snowman=eighths, rest sign for rest)

4. Books

All of these are books that I pair with music lessons.

Froggy Gets Dressed (I use the lessons in the article linked here every year with Kindergarten)

Snow Music (perfect for adding sound effects with instruments and/or found sound)

The Snowy Day (a classic book that's great for vocal exploration)

I hope this gives you some fresh material to use in your early childhood lessons this winter! Many of these are honestly also great for older grades when you want something fun that's still musical but doesn't require a lot of brain power, so they're great to keep on hand no matter what age you teach! What other songs and music lesson activities about snow do you use in your elementary music classes? I'd love to hear more ideas in the comments. Want to see how I incorporate winter and snow themes into all my grade levels K-6? Here's my full curriculum for January with full lesson plans and all the visuals and materials!

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Q&A Home Edition

A couple of weeks ago I asked you all to send me your questions, and I got lots of great responses! Today I'm going to be answering the questions related to life at home, and I'll be answering the questions related to teaching and planning in future posts as well. For each question, I've put together a video answer to go along with the written one (to accommodate multiple learning styles, of course!). If you have more questions for me, I'd love for you to leave a comment- I enjoyed hearing from so many of you and would love to do more posts like these in the future!

1. I'd like to know how you organize/plan meals. Do you have a master list of supper ideas to choose from?

Meal planning has absolutely changed my life- I have no plans to go back to the weekly/daily "what are we going to eat?" moment of panic. My meal planner for dinners is set up so that I have a master list that I can quickly choose from each week, and it has worked great for me for the last 4 years! Here's my post that explains each of my meal planning systems (yes, there are multiple), including instructions for how to make the same meal planner I use for dinners (it's super easy!):

As far as the exact recipes I use, those have evolved over the years. Back when I started meal planning when I first went back to work with twin 18-month-olds, I had a pretty strict rule of no more than 15 minutes prep total! Nowadays I can handle up to about 30 minutes of cooking, which means I have a lot more non-crockpot options ;) If you want to see some of my favorite dinner recipes, here are two of my Pinterest boards to check out:

2. What do you pack for your own lunch for school?

Until this year, my lunch was almost always an afterthought (and, honestly, it was a neverthought pretty regularly- I had to scramble to find food to eat after realizing I had forgotten to bring lunch again so many times!). Usually I had leftovers, and I also tried to keep some grab-and-go things in the freezer, like these wraps, and these patties, in case I didn't have anything on hand.

This year, though, I finally caved and bought myself a lunchbox. It's just like my daughters' but slightly bigger, with bigger and fewer compartments. I don't know why it took me so long to do this but I am so glad I did! I now remember to pack my lunch, because I pack it with my daughters', my lunches are healthier because I pack mostly the same foods as I do for them, and because of the way my lunchbox is designed, I can still pack leftovers along with some of the same fruits and veggies as my daughters if I have something from my fridge to take. It's seriously the best of all the worlds.

I share my daughters' lunchboxes usually once a week on my Instagram account, and I occasionally show my own lunch in there too (although 3 lunchboxes can be a little hard to photograph well sometimes!). Here's one of those pictures so you can see what I'm talking about:

If you want to read more about what and how I pack healthy lunches for my daughters (and now for myself too!), here are some posts on the topic (and you may want to follow me on Instagram to see weekly lunchbox ideas!):

3. I would love to have my preschooler and kindergartner help out in the kitchen, but I'm terrified that little fingers will get cut! What utensils do you allow your twins to use? 

OK, so this is something that has been a work in progress for the last 3 years or so! ;) The main thing to remember is that they'll never learn until they get to practice. As scary as it is, at some point you have to- with lots of supervision and baby steps- let them try.

So about those baby steps.

1. When the girls first started "cooking" when they were about 3, I did all of the cutting/ chopping. I encouraged them to choose meals that didn't require too much chopping, like sandwiches, burgers, and fruit that can be pulled apart with your hands (bananas, oranges...).
2. When they got a little older and had more experience in the kitchen, I started letting them use a butter knife to cut very soft things like bread, melon (with the rind removed), hard boiled eggs, and bananas. They LOVED the responsibility and it was a great way to practice without worrying about little fingers.
3. Once they got the hang of the butter knife, I started letting them use a sharper, but still small, paring knife to cut things like hot dogs, cucumbers, and even apples (this is when they were around 4.5-5 years old). When they first started we did it hand-over-hand, then gradually I moved back a little, still with my hands basically hovering just out of their line of sight ;) One of the keys at this stage, I found, was to get them to understand that they had to pierce through the initial skin before trying to cut straight through.

My biggest tip for teaching knife skills: make sure whatever they're cutting has a flat surface so that the item is stable. I will cut the apple in half first, for example, and lay the flat side down for them to cut into slices. Cucumbers they can manage now, but when they first started I would cut those lengthwise too and lay the flat side down for them to slice. It makes the hand that's holding the food less important so they can keep it out of the way.

My plan for a next step, now that they're getting pretty handy with the little knife, is to get them a knife like this to use:

True story: my daughters' preschool teacher had a brother-in-law who was a chef, and he taught his preschooler son to chop with this exact knife. 

If you want to read more about how and why I have been getting my daughters in the kitchen since they were preschoolers, here are some posts on the topic:

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I hope you enjoyed reading and watching this Q&A session- I know I had a lot of fun putting it together and reading your questions! :)

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My Morning Playlist to Help the Kids Get Ready for School

Mornings can be tough when you're trying to get yourself plus several tiny humans out the door with all of the necessary belongings, full bellies, preferably fully-clothed, and hopefully not smelling too bad. Inevitably I find myself turning into a nagging machine, because I have to remind my kids of every single thing they need to do, and my daughters often get distracted or take a long time to get each thing done (because, you know, they're 5). What I've found cuts down on that constant nagging while still keeping us on track in the morning (and allowing the kids to get themselves ready instead of having me do everything for them)? Music.

Basically I've chosen certain songs to serve as timers and reminders for different tasks the girls need to get done every day. Rather than using an annoying and intimidating timer, using a song actually helps boost all of our moods too! I have these songs saved in a playlist on my phone so I can easily access them in the morning.

Here are the songs I've picked out to use this year:

Getting dressed: Can't Stop the Feeling (Justin Timberlake)

Brushing hair: Better When I'm Dancing (Meghan Trainor)

Packing backpack and putting on shoes: Bulletproof (Citizen Way)

I love using music as a parenting tool- it makes mundane or difficult times so much more fun! Here's a post I wrote on more ways I use music as a parenting tool with young children:

Have you ever used music as a timer in the morning? What songs do you use? We'll be changing up our playlist soon enough to avoid getting annoyed (ha!), so I'd love to hear your suggestions :)

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Parenting Preschoolers: opportunities for choice

Parenting preschoolers can definitely be a challenge! With 2 preschool girls to parent mostly alone, the biggest thing I've learned is the importance of choice. One of the best ways to give young children a sense of independence and empowerment is to give them choices. And I've found that with my girls, the more choices they have, the less tantrums they tend to have, and the more agreeable they are when I have to give a directive. But when you know they aren't exactly equipped to make good choices for themselves, it can be hard to think of ways to give them choices! Today I want to talk about some simple, practical ways I've found to give preschoolers more choices on a daily basis.

This post contains affiliate links.

A lot of my original thinking behind giving my daughters more choices came from the book Parenting with Love and Logic, which I highly recommend. One of the principles they discuss in the book is finding ways to offer choices where either choice is acceptable (not preferable, acceptable!). Although as parents we often know better than they which choices will make them happier, more comfortable, or bring better long-term benefits, the key is to focus on choices they can make that won't hurt them or anyone else around them by offering options that are all reasonable.

With that thought in mind, here are some of the ways I offer my daughters choices on a regular basis:

1. Clothes

Yes, these are *actual* outfits my daughters wore to school this past year. No, they are not exactly coordinated (although current style trends seem to be more friendly to this sort of mixing and matching these days!), and yes, they are wearing knee-high socks over their pants. But they picked them out themselves, they were happy with their choices, and they were dressed appropriately for the weather and occasion. The key is to make sure they know how warmly and how formally to dress, and then give them free reign! I don't, for example, let them wear their floor-length dresses that their great-grandmother gave them to play on the playground, and I don't let them play in the snow in short sleeves (although they could wear a sweater over it or a long-sleeve shirt underneath!). But I do my best not to intervene when they pick out crazy outfits or wear pieces the "wrong" way- after all, when else can they be as creative with their clothing and get away with it? To be honest, I've gotten a lot more playful and bold with my own clothes because of them!

2. Hair

This is related to the first point, but it's worth mentioning for the girls: let them choose their own hairstyles and hair accessories! I honestly don't have time to do their hair much on school mornings, but when we do have time, especially on the weekends, the girls decide if and how they want to style their hair and pick out their hair ties, clips, or anything else they need. Having everything organized so they can get what they need without spilling tiny little rubber bands all over the bathroom floor is key here- read my post on how I organize everything below:

3. Meals

My daughters have been planning and making dinner once a week since they were about 4 years old, and we all love it. How much you can trust your preschoolers in the kitchen will vary with each child, of course, but any preschool can pick out foods and, at the very least, help with the preparation! Once again, the key to making sure it's a reasonably well-balanced meal is to give parameters- I tell them that to make a "good" dinner, they need to have a vegetable, a fruit, and some kind of "main food". Other than that they're on their own, which sometimes leads to some interesting choices but a lot of fun food adventures!

You'd be surprised at just how much kids this age can actually do in the kitchen. To read more detail about what my daughters do and how, check out this post:

4. Dishes

Even when the girls aren't picking out the food, they usually pick out their plates / cups / utensils. These plastic rainbow-colored dishes from IKEA are the BEST THING EVER, and I also have my "grownup dishes" in different colors from Fiesta. Plus they're much more willing to set the table when they get to pick out the colors of the dishes! ;) To see how I store and organize the dishes to make it easy for the kids to take care of them by themselves, check out this post:

5. A "last thing"

This one was a HUGE revelation for me. When it's almost time to leave the park (or other similar place where the kids are playing), I give them a few minutes' warning. Then when it's almost time to leave, I tell them to pick their "last thing". That means they each pick one more thing to do before they leave. It cuts down SO MUCH on the tantrums over not wanting to leave when it's time to go!

Parenting preschoolers is no easy task- I hope these ideas will make your life a little bit easier! How do you give your littles opportunities to make choices for themselves? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below :) And please stay in touch- sign up here for the Organized Chaos Newsletter and I'll send more timely ideas and helpful resources straight to your inbox!

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Top Tips for Traveling with Young Children

Traveling with young children can be so frustrating but so much fun too! Having grown up traveling all over the world, and now having taken my 5-year-olds on several trips over the last few years, here are my top tips for staying sane and having fun on your next trip with your kids, whether it's on the road or in the air!

Planning for the trip:

Packing for air travel:

Packing for road trips:

Entertainment (for any type of travel!):

I hope you found some new ideas to make your next trip a lot smoother! What are your favorite tips for traveling with young kids? Leave a comment below to share your favorite tips! :)

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Pre-Packed Bags for Family Outings

Taking kids out of the house is a lot like planning a military operation. You have to make sure you have all the right gear, you have to think ahead and plan for all eventualities, and figure out the most efficient way to manage any movement. And inevitably, in the madness of trying to get everyone out the door without screaming, you leave something behind and your perfect plan goes out the window.

Am I right? 

I am terrible about forgetting stuff when I leave the house. I think I left my packed lunch sitting by the front door 4 or 5 times this past school year. But one thing that has helped me worry less and be better prepared when we go on outings and errands is pre-packed bags. There are lots of ways you can use this strategy, so I wanted to share some ideas with you today!

I use pre-packed bags for those outings that 1) require a good amount of specific items, and 2) are things we do regularly but not every day. Obviously every family has different things that fit into that category, but for me that includes a beach/ pool bag, and a church bag. The idea is to have everything you need for that outing already packed in a bag so that you can just grab and go rather than rushing around the house reciting your packing list over and over, trying to find everything. 

For the beach/ pool bag, I have:

• sunscreen
• pool passes
• beach towels
• swimmies
• plastic bags (for wet clothes etc)

In my church bag, I have:

• snacks / mints
• coloring supplies
• quiet activities

Depending on what you do as a family, you might have a fishing / hiking bag, soccer / ballet / music lesson bag, or... you get the idea. Whatever the outing is, pre-stock your bag with items that stay in that bag rather than taking them out to use for other things, even if that means having to buy double (I have a separate sunscreen bottle that stays in my beach bag, and one for regular use). 

The bag you put everything in is important too! I actually use my old diaper bag as my beach bag now, because it has waterproof, insulated pockets and cleans off easily, plus I can wear it as a backpack. Perfect for the beach ;) 

I love being able to just grab and go for those regular outings rather than hunting around and packing a bag every single time! Do you have any bags pre-packed for certain family outings? What do you keep in them? Tell me about yours in the comments below!

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Travel Tips with Kids: DIY Sticker Activity Sheets

I'm back with another tip for traveling with kids, and today is all about providing some easy, cheap, and engaging entertainment (that doesn't involve a screen)! We all know stickers are pure magic, but I wanted something a little more exciting than just stickers on plain paper, and I honestly haven't been that happy with the "sticker activity books" I've purchased in the past. This easy DIY is my solution!

It's not the most complex idea but it allows plenty of room for creativity and imagination! Here are the supplies I used:

Because I'm taking the girls to Disneyland this summer, I went against my normal avoidance of character merchandise and got a bunch of sticker books with different Disney characters. Everything else I already had: dry erase markers, laminating pouches, and a few pictures of different background scenes I printed from the internet.

The idea is to give kids the tools to do some creative storytelling by giving them lots of different stickers with different objects and characters, and background scenes with a variety of locations (I have a jungle, underwater scene, village square, ice palace, ballroom, and an outdoor picnic area). Of course you could change this up to match whatever your kids are interested in- get some animal stickers and print a zoo, farm, or pet store scene; use car stickers with a city scene.... you get the idea.

I used the laminating pouches to laminate the background scenes so that we could reuse them. Hopefully this will help us avoid any arguments over who gets to use which ones!

Tip: if you stick the stickers on the back of your hand before using it, you'll remove some of the adhesive and make it easier to take off without ripping the sticker!

I left the back of the paper blank so that the girls could color with the dry erase markers and make their own backgrounds (or just draw whatever they feel like):

Depending on your children's ages, you could also put some pre-made activities on the back side, like letters for them to trace, crossword puzzles, tic-tac-toe boards, hangman board, mazes, and more.... the options are endless! If I have more time before our trip I'll probably print some ;)

What are you taking with you on your trip to keep the troops entertained? If you're planning a trip with young children this summer, here are some other posts I've written on traveling with kids:

Safe and happy travels, everyone! :)

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Travel Tips with Kids: Rainbow Snacks!

As we gear up for summer travel, I wanted to share a fun tip to help pass the time on long trips with kids (whether you're on the road or in the air). It helped make my road trip with two 4-year-olds much more enjoyable last year and I plan to use it again when we fly across the country in a few weeks!

*this post contains affiliate links*

I came up with this idea because 1) I love focusing on the color of foods- it has made my daughters much better eaters and it makes everything more fun (and usually healthier too), 2) I know that on long trips it helps to have things to look forward to throughout the trip, and 3) when it comes to travel you can never have too many snacks.

The basic idea of Rainbow Snacks is to pick 1 food item to go with each color of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink (you could add white as the "clouds" if you need another one) and pull them out one at a time in rainbow order for everyone to eat, spaced out over your trip.

Step One: Set Your Schedule
The first thing to do is figure out how many colors you'll need (depending on the length of your trip). If you have a 3-hour trip, you could do 6 items (one every 30 minutes) by ending with purple, for example. For preschool age, the 30-minute time worked really well. For older kids you could space them out more, even one each hour, for longer trips. The main thing is to try to have a predetermined time for each one so that everyone can anticipate when the next one is coming!

Step Two: Choose Your Foods
The second step is to choose one food for each color. I tried to have a mix of fruits and vegetables, protein and/or savory, and 1 or 2 sweet treats, but making sure I only included things that everyone would *actually* be excited about (my kids are great eaters and they'll usually eat asparagus for dinner without complaint, but I don't think they would get that excited if I pulled it out as a "special surprise" on a road trip!). Here's a list I came up with, but obviously there are any number of options! Remember to think about package colors and not just the color of the food itself.

Step Three: Prepare Your Foods
You'll need to have each food packaged in its own container so you can pull each color out separately. I put everyone's food for each color in one container for everyone to share, but you could obviously package every person's food individually if it's hard to share on the trip. I have a collection of reusable snack bags (like these) that I used for this because a) I can package each food in a bag of the same color so I know which is which and b) nobody can see the food inside. As long as you can keep track of which is which though, the packaging is obviously not too important.

Step Four: Have Fun!
One thing that made the snacks even more fun was having everyone guess what each item was going to be before we opened it! It just built up even more anticipation. If you have packaging that isn't see-through, you can pass the package around for people to shake and feel too ;)

Of course there are a few extra considerations you'll need to be aware of if you're flying- basically you'll want to make sure everything is contained and that you don't have any liquids. Here's a little more detail on that if you're flying in the United States. All of the foods I've mentioned here should be safe to bring through airport security.

How do you make long trips with young children more bearable? Leave your tips in the comments below! I can always use more ideas and I'm sure other readers would appreciate your tips too! If you want packing tips for traveling with children, here's my post on that. Happy trails everyone!

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Books to Help Little Kids with Big Emotions

While there are many things I absolutely love about 3-5 year olds, the overwhelming bursts of emotion they go through on a daily basis can often be.... well.... challenging to deal with. Similar to puberty, kids this age usually to go through a phase where their emotions are often more than they're equipped to handle. Today I wanted to share a few books I've found that I think have really helped my girls to better process, understand, verbalize, and respond to their emotions.

*this post contains affiliate links*

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck

I pretty much love every book Sandra Boynton has ever written, and this one is no exception. This one is great for the younger crowd. I found it really helpful for developing the girls' emotional vocabulary and helping them understand that having different feelings throughout the day is normal. Here it is on Amazon if you want to check it out.

Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day

My girls adore this book. It is written from the perspective of a young girl- probably 5 or 6- responding to different events and triggers and talking about how she feels. It touches on everything from not liking her curly hair, to friendship problems, to family dynamics, school, and so much more in a totally relatable way. My girls really got into this one around 4, but I think they will continue to love it for the next few years. The best part is the little spinner at the back that lets kids change the main character's facial expressions. It's a great way to start identifying the facial expressions that match different feelings, which is perfect for developing empathy. Here is the book on Amazon. 

Allie All Along

This is great for slightly older (school-age) kids. It explains how to handle anger appropriately with concrete strategies kids can use to calm down, and it emphasizes that it's ok to feel angry sometimes! Here is the book on Amazon. I actually use this book in a music lesson for kindergarten as well- here's my post on that lesson.

Two Homes

This one is specific to children dealing with separated parents but it has been so beneficial for my girls! The book is written from the child's perspective as he describes some things that are the same and different at each of his two homes (mom's house and dad's house) and ends with the conclusion that no matter where he is, he is always loved by both parents. My girls ask for this book over and over again and I know they are absorbing the message! Get the book on Amazon here.

Double Trouble for Anna Hibiscus

This is another "special issue" book that talks about a preschool-age-ish girl who gets twin siblings and feels jealous about all of the attention that the babies are getting. But even though my girls haven't had that experience, they still got a lot out of this book- one of the things I love is the way the book describes the adults reacting to the main character's emotions and how they all adapt. Also a nice bonus that it features characters from Africa! Here is a link to the book on Amazon. 

I hope you find some new books to love on this list! Do you have any other favorite books to help kids learn about their emotions? Share them in the comments!

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Top Games for Young Kids the Whole Family Will Enjoy

Family game night is a great way to spend quality time together having fun as a family, but finding games that the youngest family members can enjoy, without boring the rest of the family, can be a challenge! I've found some gems over the last couple of years that will keep everyone happy though, so if you have young children at home like me (ages 3 and up), grab a couple of these and get playing! :)

*this post contains affiliate links*

I'm listing these in order from the games accessible to the youngest kids (from around age 2 or 3 depending on the child) to those that are best for preschool age and up.

1. Busytown

This board game is awesome because nobody is playing against each other but it's still competitive- all of the players work together to try to race the pigs! It's also a game where, if they have a keen eye and a little patience, the younger kids can often outperform the grownups ;) And of course it doesn't hurt to have Richard Scarry's illustrations and characters! You can get it here on Amazon. 

2. Old Maid

This classic is a great first card game for little ones. I bought my deck of Old Maid cards at the Target dollar spot last year, but you can find them in lots of stores or get a deck online here. 

3. Go Fish

I found this card game was a little bit harder than Old Maid for my girls at first, but once they got the hang of it they loved it! You can use a regular deck of cards to play (just take out some of the numbers to limit the number of cards each player starts with), or get a deck here.

5. Uno

I was surprised at how quickly my girls picked up this game, and how much they love it! When we first started playing, we all put our cards out on the floor instead of hiding them so I could help them figure out what to play. When they were younger I had to remind them what the special cards did (reverse, draw two, skip etc) but they still figured out pretty quickly how to find a card to play next by matching the color or symbol (great practice in identification!). This is another game available pretty readily, but here's the classic card deck on Amazon if you want to buy online.

SIDENOTE:

These card holders are SUPER helpful when you're playing card games with young kids! It makes it so much easier for kids to hold a set of cards without showing everyone else what they have. My parents bought these for the girls, but I've seen them at Walmart, Walgreens, and a few other places. Here's the same thing on Amazon.

6. Dominoes

There are so many games you can play with dominoes, but when we first started playing (when the girls were 3.5 years old I think?) we would just split up all of the dominoes amongst the players and then take turns adding onto the starting domino in the middle by matching the numbers (another great way to practice identification!), adding on to any open side on any domino. Once the got the hang of it, we started playing more standard domino games, which they love too! This set on Amazon has colored dominoes like mine, which I found was really helpful in the beginning when the girls were first learning how to match the numbers.

7. Quirkle

This one works the same way as my made-up domino game by matching shapes and colors, but requires a little more strategy! This is a great game because young kids can get the hang of the rules pretty quickly but older players can enjoy the strategy that goes into getting a high score. Here's where I got ours.

8. Bananagrams

I know what you're thinking- this can't possibly work with young kids! But trust me, if they are starting to work on beginning CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant), they will love this (simplified) game! Basically we use the letter tiles to take turns making words. We each start with 7 tiles and lay them out so everyone can see, then on each person's turn they try to spell the best word they can think of. Usually I will tell them a word they can spell and they try to figure out how to spell it with their tiles. When they're a little older, we'll start working on connecting the words together like the traditional game. Here it is on Amazon, but this is another game I see in stores a lot.

9. Whoonu

This one is fun to play with the whole family because it reinforces everyone's unique personality. The only adaptation for pre-readers is that you'll obviously have to read the cards for them, but otherwise it's easy to learn and fun to play for any age! Here it is on Amazon, but check around and see if you can find it used somewhere. 

I hope you find some new games to enjoy with the whole family on this list! Have fun!

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Dinner Recipes for Kid Cooks

I've talked before about how I got my daughters started cooking dinner once a week. When it comes up every now and then in conversation, the first question I usually get (after the initial look of shock) is, "What do they make?". Of course every child will have different levels of experience, fine motor skill, attention span, interest, etc, but I thought I would share some of the meals my daughters often cook (and have been cooking since around the age of 4). If you're looking for some ways to get your kids involved in the kitchen, these meals are a great place to start!

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1. Tacos

Tacos are great because you can put almost anything in them, and the ingredients are easy to prepare. The girls put each ingredient in its own bowl and set everything out on the table so each person can make their own tacos. Add some tortillas and dinner is served!

Some of the ingredients my daughters often include:
Vegetables: avocado, carrots, spinach, bell pepper, canned corn, canned black beans
Meat: chicken (cut into bite size pieces and cook in a frying pan with some onion powder and/or salt), ground beef or pork (cook in frying pan with onion powder and/or salt), hot dogs (cut into bit size pieces and cook in a frying pan- yes this happened, and it wasn't as terrible as it sounds), shrimp (cooked in a frying pan- they only did this once but it was awesome)
Other: shredded cheese, salsa, cilantro

2. Sandwiches

The girls love making sandwiches to order- peanut butter and jelly, tuna salad, and ham and cheese are usually the choices, and they are easy for the girls to put together (once I open the can of tuna for them). They've recently started making grilled cheese as well! Usually the sandwiches are accompanied with some fruit and maybe a cooked vegetable too.

3. Macaroni and Cheese

Of course we can't forget the boxed mac and cheese dinners! There are some reasonably-healthy options out there now, so we stick to those brands, but the girls pretty much have this recipe memorized now and don't even need my help reading the directions on the box! This meal usually comes with a fruit and/or salad as well ;)

4. Meatballs

This recipe for baked meatballs is easy to put together- it's basically just meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasoning. They love rolling the mixture into balls, and although they do need help getting them in and out of the oven, they can do the rest of the preparation themselves. These are usually served with dipping sauces (ketchup, bbq sauce, etc) and some sides.

5. Pizza

Although they can't quite get the dough stretched out enough on their own, the girls can do the rest of the pizza making on their own. This is another recipe where they can have fun with the toppings too, and a great way to get lots of vegetables in- the different colors from the vegetables make the pizzas more fun! ;)

Of course there are many other meals that they've made over the last couple of years, but these are some of their favorites that most kids can make (almost) all on their own! If you're looking for more kid-friendly recipes, my girls love this cookbook:

If you've never given your preschooler control of the kitchen, I highly recommend it. It's a great way to give young kids more independence and responsibility at home in a way that is fun and exciting! Read this post for more tips in getting started:

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The Best Gift a Child Can Give

When my 5-year-old girls are celebrating a birthday or special holiday that involves everyone giving gifts, they usually make a card or picture to give. It's simple and quick, it's 100% from them, and the receiver genuinely enjoys the gift. But sometimes the girls want to give something more, and that gets tricky when they don't have any of their own money to spend and they don't have a whole bunch of time to work on a more complex handmade gift. A few months ago I came up with a new idea for what they could give for those occasions that I wish I had thought of ages ago (and will be requesting for my birthday this year myself!) and I wanted to share with you all because it has been such a hit.

So I've written a few times about my daughters' gift giving over the years. You can read about why I think it's important to encourage young children to give their own gifts in this post, where I also talk about another gift-giving idea I still use that involves the more traditional buying-of-a-thing-at-a-store. But my one hang-up with that idea was that inevitably you end up purchasing a certain amount of (sorry kids) junk. I think the idea is still valuable for what it is, and will probably continue to use it at Christmas time when they are getting gifts for lots of people at once, but I want to limit how much we inevitably end up contributing to the circulation of stuff that ends up eventually in a landfill. 

What do kids have to give when they don't have money? Themselves. Their time and their company. For my dad's birthday a few months ago, I had the girls give him a "coupon" for a date by writing on a piece of paper, "I want to take you to ______" and having them choose where they wanted to go (one chose the library, and the other chose the ice cream store). It was still simple to make, and pretty cheap too, and still gave the girls the opportunity to think about what the recipient would enjoy. 

Let me tell you, it was the best thing ever. My dad, of course, was thrilled, and the girls could see that clearly when he opened and read his gifts. And having that one-on-one time with a loved one that they normally don't spend time with alone was so exciting for both sides. Added bonus for the girls: they loved being the one to take the money/ library card in their own little purse and being in charge of purchasing the ice cream/ checking out the books (and I loved that they were learning how to do those things independently too)!

If you haven't yet, I encourage you to have your children give the gift of quality time the next time the opportunity for gift-giving arises. It's a win-win-win-win-win for everyone involved. And if you know a single/divorced parent, especially one with multiple children, make arrangements to allow their kids to give the gift of quality time by helping the kids make the coupons and throwing in babysitting for the other kids as the gift from you. I really hope this becomes something of a tradition in my house, because I LOVE this idea!

Do you encourage your kids to give gifts for birthday and holidays? What do you have your young children do when they don't have the money to actually buy their own gifts? Have you ever had young children give the gift of one-on-one time? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments!

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DIY Family Game: Rainbow Scavenger Hunt

I'm always looking for new ways to have fun with together with my 5-year-olds at home this time of year. Whether we're home because someone is sick, or stuck in the house during a snow storm, I love to find things to do together that we can all enjoy, but so often end up getting tired of doing the same things over and over again! I threw this game together for my daughters' rainbow-themed birthday party last month, and I had no idea that it was going to be such a hit- the girls are still begging to play it every chance they get (almost two months later). If you're looking for a fun game to play with the whole family, this is a great one- there's little to no cost and anyone can play (even toddlers)!

The rules are pretty simple. One person is selected to be the "hider"- that person takes each of the colored "drops" and hides them while the other players wait in another room. We always try to stick the drops on items of a matching color (so the green drop on something green and the purple drop on something purple, etc) but if you have younger kids you may want to start by placing them on contrasting colors. Once the hider is finished, each of the other players takes a sheet with all of the colors on it and something to write with and goes to look for the drops. If they find one, they leave it there without saying anything and circle the drop on their paper. The first person to find all of them wins! If you want to mix it up, have players race to find a row of 3 (like BINGO) instead of finding all of the colors.

This is a great way for little ones to practice identifying their colors, and the older kids have fun trying to camouflage the drops to blend in with the surroundings. We specified at first that all of the drops had to be visible without having to move anything, but we've eventually evolved to making any spot fair game- some of them get really hard! It's like an Easter egg hunt without worrying about forgetting where you put that 30th egg.

If you want to try this game with your kids, you'll need:

writing utensils (enough for each player)
9 cut out pieces of paper in "raindrop" shapes (one of each color on the game sheet)
printouts of the picture below (set your printer to print the image full-page and in color)

What are some of your favorite games to play as a family when you're stuck in the house? I'm always looking for more ideas- share yours in the comments below!

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