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The Joy Parade

Create. Inspire. Love.

Easy Letter Play with Alphabet Stamps

by thejoyparade

21 Aug

With Jack being three, we’ve begun to take on a little bit of homeschool preschool. We’re not using a strict curriculum or even a set schedule, it’s mostly just following his interests and his lead and getting him comfortable with school-like activities, pre-literacy skills, shapes, numbers, etc.

Today’s activity was a real hit! We had purchased a jar of alphabet stamps from the fun in a jar collection by Recollection (available at Michaels) earlier this summer. I’m unsure if this item is still available, but I found this gorgeous option on Amazon for only $7.96 with free shipping for Prime members! I’m tempted to get one of these for the boys since it has both upper AND lower case options, as well as numbers and some punctuation as well.


Jack enjoyed spelling out his name and Aidan’s with the stamps, as well as copying words from his Melissa and Doug See & Spell puzzle set by stamping each letter on his paper. It was great to see how comfortable he was getting with the idea of sounding out letters phonetically into words without the frustration of needing to write each individual letter.

Some quick and easy ideas for incorporating alphabet stamps into your own homeschool routine or letter play:

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Bright Ideas Tagged With: art for kids, crafts for kids, favorite things, homeschool, hyperlexia, jack, learning at home, letter play, parenting, preschool

Easy DIY Watercolor Project for Preschoolers

by thejoyparade

20 Apr

My sweet mama has a birthday coming up soon, so Jack and I set up some super inexpensive supplies we had on hand and made her a piece of art I know she’ll treasure. This project is super simple and Jack needed very little instruction other than “try to fill up all the white with your colors” and he was happily entertained at the table for longer than Im usually able to keep him in one place.

All you need for this project are:

* Thick Watercolor Paper
* Washable Watercolor Paint Palette
* Brushes
* Scrapbook “Thickers” Letter Stickers
* Cup of Water
* Paper Towels (for blotting and clean up)

Instructions:

1. Decide what you want your art piece to say. We opted for “Happy Birthday GRANDMA love JACK”


2. Place scrapbook thickers onto your water color paper. Make sure to press them down all over so they have a tight seal.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Bright Ideas, Crafting, DIY Tagged With: art for kids, craft, crafts for kids, diy, kids craft, preschool art, preschool craft

$20 Made Me “The Best Mom EVER”

by thejoyparade

22 Apr

A simple $20 investment each month has named me, and I’m quoting here, “the Best Mom EVER.”



You heard it here first folks: I am officially the best Mom EVER. I hope I get some sort of trophy or certificate or something. Now, the best mom ever title may already be claimed, but you could absolutely be named the SECOND best mom ever… and that’s still pretty good, right? How, you may ask, can this oh so coveted title be yours? Enter the amazing folks over at Kiwi Crate.

Kiwi Crate is a subsccription box company with four different offerings: Koala Crate, which is designed for the preschool crowd, Doodle Crate, which is designed for girls over the age of 8, Tinker Crate, which is science and engineering projects ideally designed for kids 8 and up, and their main box Kiwi Crate, which is designed for kids in the 4-8 range. (Aidan’s Grandma has recently and generously subscribed him to the Tinker Crate, so we’ll review that service another time.) Inside the box is a magazine for the kids, and the supplies and instructions for not one but two projects that fit whatever the theme of that months box is. Within the magazine and some of the added materials are instructions for additional projects you could complete as well, often with supplies you likely have in your home already. They even included a page of pieces to cut out and use to make the box itself into a play stove! When all is said and done you could easily get a weeks worth of activities out of this one box if you did everything they included.

Our first box was a baking theme. Because it was our first box ever, our kit came with two extra items: a chart where Aidan can proudly display sticker badges he receives for each box he completes, and a bright green pair of children’s safety scissors, so that we always have a pair handy for future projects. Normally we would spread out all the fun things in his kiwi crate over the course of a week or two, but for the purpose of this review we headed out to the front porch to enjoy some unseasonally gorgeous Oregon weather and to demonstrate just how amazing this service really is. I could talk about our crate all day, but I’ll let the pictures do the talking instead.

(If you decide to sign up for Kiwi Crate to try it yourself, you click any of the photos in this blog and use the code KC25 on check out to get 25% your very first month! Best of all, you can cancel anytime, no obligation to go past the 1st month or to be “on contract” for any length of time, so it’s no risk to give it a try. The code works on Kiwi Crates other boxes, like Tinker Crate, as well!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Kiwi Crate Family Brands >>

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Filed Under: Crafting, My Favorite Things, review Tagged With: Aidan, art for kids, favorite things, gifts for kids, kiwi crate, kiwi crate review, subscription box


Stephanie Tait is a mother of two, currently living in Salem, Oregon. After walking away from a successful portrait photography business she launched her personal brand, for which she is now a full time author, speaker, and blogger, sharing her unique style of whimsical photojournalism paired with her humorous and heartfelt musings on life, faith, pain, and parenthood.

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