Arts & Crafts

One of the best ways for kids to learn is through play!  And you can easily introduce some formal learning (such as math and science) by using everyday play things.

In our house, the kids are always more likely to practice math or enjoy spelling practice if we connect the activity with a fun game or one of their favorite toys.

Four-leaf clovers and rainbows are all the rage this week! Just check out any elementary school hallway, art room or any aisle at your local Target — you’ll see they’re all decked out for St. Patrick’s Day.

Discover & Explore is also celebrating the luck ‘o the Irish this week with these fun & fabulous activities shared on last week’s linky.

When is a book not a book?

When it’s an inspiration for a really awesome activity!

As I was browsing through the Discover & Explore linky from last week, I was blown away by some of the great ideas that were inspired by kids books.

You don’t need a lot of fancy instruments to create beautiful music. 

In fact, kids can make so many types of instruments on their own AND using items you would either recycle or throw away.

We had some absolutely gorgeous and wonderfully creative ideas shared at this week’s Discover & Explore Music linky.  So grab that recycle bin and get started!

We’ve already had our first taste of winter and the temperatures were brutally cold!  So I am ready to find a few new ideas before the next snowy day blows in from the west. Now, I’ll admit that no matter how snowy or cold the day, I do like the get the kids outside for …

We must have a BAZILLION old crayons in the house! 

I kid you not — old crayons from previous school years, the small packs the kids get when we eat out somewhere, crayons that we’ve received in treat bags at birthday parties — a bazillion crayons.

I really love this time of the year because there are so many natural items that can be used in craft projects and decorating.  Last week’s Discover & Explore linky highlighted fun ways to create with natural items and I was blown away with the creativity of some of the projects — and yet, they …

What a fun week!  So many great pumpkin ideas and activities were shared on the Discover & Explore linky — it was really hard to choose which to feature.

So I thought I would share a little bit of everything pumpkin — crafts, activities, art, learning and a great recipe too!

  We really enjoy using natural items to create and craft, especially in the fall.  And of course, if you’re using items from nature for a project, you should really hang out outdoors to DO the project! There were some wonderful Outdoor Nature Crafts shared at last week’s Discover & Explore the Forest linky — …

All I can think of while I write this post is “Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o” — funny how music always creeps in on you and gets stuck in your head 🙂

Last week’s Discover & Explore Fun on the Farm linky turned up some really fun crafts that can be paired with great kids books for some ‘hi-ho the dairy-o’ fun (sorry, just couldn’t resist). 

And we’ve included affiliate links if you’d like to check out the details on any of the books too!