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The Best Ideas of 2012: Kids & Family Activities

 

Happy 2013!!

 

I’d like to welcome the New Year by telling all of our readers “Thank You” for visiting us, leaving comments, & helping me to make this a better site each day — you guys are great! 

 

To bring in the New Year, I thought I would share the Top 12 posts from 2012 — the ideas and articles that were most loved by our readers.

If you missed a few of these, be sure to pin or bookmark them

for the coming year.

 

playground-scavenger-hunt

#12 – Playground Scavenger Hunt

A fun printable scavenger hunt to take along as you & the kids hunt for different types of playground equipment in your neighborhood, around town or on vacation.

 

 maps

#11 – Why Every Home Needs a Map

Not only chosen by our readers as a top post, but also by some great bloggers — learn about 7 fun ways to use a map in your home (fun, learning & geography wrapped into one).

Many thanks to Adam at Visit Flyover County and Gail with Best Blog for Kids Who Hate to Read for featuring the map ideas this year!

 

play-in-leaves

#10 – 17 Fun Fall Activities

Great ways to get outside and enjoy a fall ‘edventure’ or two!

 

chalk-parking-for-bike

#9 – 5 Easy Ideas for Making Your Home More Kid-Friendly

From parking spaces for bikes to putting more things at ‘kid-height’, here are some easy ways to change your home so kids can do more for themselves and enjoy their surroundings more.

 

creative-gifts-for-kids

#8 – 7 Gifts that Inspire Creativity

Whether your shopping for a birthday or the holidays, we’ve put together a list of toys that kids love to use to enhance their curiosity & creativity!

 

jingle-bells-not-elf-on-a-shelf

#7 – Finding Jingle Bells

Instead of Elf on the Shelf, we have a new idea for you — searching for jingle bells!

 

best-disney-movies-visit-disney-world

#6 – 23 Must See Movies Before Your Vist to Walt Disney World

Heading to the ‘happiest place on earth’?  You may want to catch a few of these recommended movies before you visit.

 

free-kids-online-books-audio

#5 – Finding Free Books Online: Holiday Edition

 A great collection of holiday favorites from a variety of free online book sites!

 

kid-umbrella-small

#4 – 12 Important Things to Tell Kids

A post that was the result of a big mishap in our house reminds us that we all have some words of wisdom to pass on to our children.

 

halloween-garland

#3 – DIY Halloween Countdown Calendar

This fun family craft can be used for almost any holiday (we just did ours at Halloween) and is also a fun way to countdown to a child’s birthday too!

 

 34-ways-fun-with-kids

#2 – 34 Ways to Be a Cool Parent this Summer

Fun & low-cost ideas for some great fun this summer — the kids will think you’re the coolest parent ever 🙂

 

free-kids-books-sign

#1 – Finding Free Books Online

Our original post on where to find free reading materials for your iPad, Kindle, laptop or other electronic devices — yep, totally free and lots of choices!

 

 

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Be sure to visit these other AMAZING blogs to learn about more great family & kids activities — lots of wonderful ideas to try with the kids in 2013!

52 Brand New ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ angeliquefelix.com – The Magic Of Play ~ At home with Ali B-Inspired Mama ~ Blog Me Mom ~Boy Mama Teacher Mama ~ Busy Kids = Happy Mom Carrots Are Orange ~ Caution! Twins at Play ~ Coffee Cups and Crayons ~ Confessions of a Montessori Mom Craft To Art ~ Creative Family Fun ~ Creative Kid Snacks ~ Creative Learning Fun ~ Creative Playhouse Creative with Kids ~ Cute and Peculiar ~ De tout et de rien: Activités pour le Préscolaire ~ Dirt And Boogers Edventures with Kids ~ Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ The Good Long Road ~ Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails Glittering Muffins ~ Go Kid Yourself ~ Growing A Jeweled Rose ~ hands on : as we grow ~ Here Come the Girls Home Learning Journey ~ Housing A Forest ~ Mama Smiles ~ In Lieu of Preschool ~ Inspiration Laboratories Inspired by Family ~ It’s A Long Story ~ JDaniel4’s Mom ~ Kids Creative Chaos ~ Kid World Citizen Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers ~ Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ Laughing Kids Learn ~ Learn with Play at home Lessons Learnt Journal ~ Life At The Zoo ~ Little Artists ~ Living Life Intentionally ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Love, Play, Learn Loving My Nest ~ Mama Pea Pod ~ mama miss ~ Mamas Like Me ~ Mess For Less ~ Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas ~ Momma’s Fun World Montessori Tidbits ~ My Buddies and I ~ My Little Bookcase ~ My Nearest and Dearest ~ No Twiddle Twaddle ~ Nurturestore Octavia and Vicky ~ One Perfect Day ~ ourfeminist{play}school ~ Picklebums ~ Play Activities ~ Playdough to Plato PlayDrMom ~ playful learners ~ playing with words 365 ~ PragmaticMom ~ Putti’sWorld ~ RainbowsWithinReach Rainy Day Mum ~ Raising Playful Tots ~ Reading Confetti ~ Red Ted Art ~ Royal Baloo ~ Science Sparks ~ Scribble Doodle and Draw Small Potatoes ~ Smiling like Sunshine ~ Sun Hats & Wellie Boots ~ Sun Scholars ~ Teach Preschool ~ The Educators’ Spin On It The Fairy and The Frog ~ The Freckled Homeschooler ~ The Golden Gleam ~ The Imagination Tree ~ The Iowa Farmer’s Wife The Outlaw Mom Blog ~ The Pleasantest Thing ~ This Reading Mama ~ Toddler Approved ~ Train Up a Child ~ True Aim Two Big Two Little ~ What Do We Do All Day? ~ Connecting Family and Seoul