QUICK AND EASY TIP FOR CHILDREN'S PUZZLES

Have you ever walked into a room and found your little one making a "mountain" of toys on the floor for no particular reason? Lately my son has been doing just that. Most days, the hour right after he wakes from his nap involves him playing quietly in his room watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I attempt to finish up some Thirty One business that I started while he was asleep.  The idea sounds easy enough right? Unfortunately within that small hour, my son manages to turn his room into a landfill; complete with every single piece of clothing in his dresser, all his books from his bookshelf, and most frustrating...every single puzzle he owns.  I walk into his room and for a second cannot process my thoughts because I am overwhelmed with the mess that I now have to help him clean up. Fortunately without much resistance he picks up his clothes and books and puts them away.  However the puzzles are another story altogether.

My 3 year old absolutely LOVES puzzles and we have tons of them.  When he was not even three yet, he was putting together 40-50 piece puzzles...which completely baffled everyone.  Not long after his 3rd birthday he was putting together 100+ piece puzzles. Naturally, the more puzzle pieces a puzzle has, the smaller they are.   So you can understand my frustration when he manages to dump five or more puzzles into a pile mixing them up together.  I usually spend 30 minutes at least trying to figure out what pieces go with which puzzle.  This takes up a lot of time that we could be doing something else, so I started doing something that I remember seeing when I was a child.

Although, I am sure this is nothing new and that many of you moms out there already had this idea. I just wanted to share because it has really saved me a lot of time in the afternoon.  Not only when my son manages to dump all his puzzles into one large pile, but also when he actually puts them together they end up spread out all over our floor and putting them away is much faster and easier now.  Especially when I find a stray piece laying on the floor somewhere.

This is so simple, I just assign each puzzle a number and write that number somewhere on the outer box or tin.  Then with a sharpie, I write that number on the back of each puzzle piece, so it's easy to see which piece goes with which puzzle.  Love it!



TIME PASSES BY SO QUICKLY....

Time sure does pass by so quickly these days.  It definitely does not seem like it has been two months since my last post.  Each day feels like it needs a few more hours, which is something that I think many of you can relate to.  The last two months have been filled with a lot of highs and lows, my Thirty One Gifts business has really taken off, we've begun planning our Walt Disney World vacation for the fall, and my son's upcoming 3rd birthday! Last week however, my feet were knocked out from under me when I found out that my father had a potentially fatal health episode that landed him in the hospital having Open Heart Surgery.  Nothing could compare to the feeling of relief when he made it through the surgery and did well enough to come home five days later. I feel so blessed and pray that he continues to improve.

As I mentioned before, we have decided to take my lil guy to Disney World in October and then subsequently visit Clearwater where I'm from.  We only recently decided to make the trip and I know in the Disney universe, planning a vacation only a few months before can be a real chore.  Disney Resorts are definitely starting to book full and finding a room at a resort we want was a little tricky.  Reservations for specialty dining have also been hit or miss this close to the trip.  We definitely want to take Colton to some "Character Dining" restaurants, and those types sell out months in advance. Our top two character dining restaurants were already completely sold out when I called and so I had to go with our second and third choices, which should still turn out to be awesome!  I know a lot of moms out there want to take their little ones to Disney and love tips.....I know because I am one. So I have decided to make several posts throughout my planning as well as when we return, about things I liked, didn't like, don't recommend, etc.  I always love reading blogs with tips and recommendations from real moms...because I am a real mom, not a travel agent! So look for some upcoming posts on planning my Walt Disney World vacation :)

When we decided to go to Disney, my husband and I planned on telling my son at his 3rd Birthday party (it just happens to appropriately be Mickey-themed this year).  Unfortunately, we made the mistake of talking to my mother about it while he was in the room and now he asks "Are we going to Disney?" constantly.  I needed to figure out a way to help him get through the next three months without driving us completely insane.  I thought about it for a while and decided that we would make a Disney related project or activity each week to keep him excited but not upset that we can't go right this minute.  I also decided to make a "Countdown to Disney World" chart that will start the first day of October. Check back soon for the tutorial!



Here's the first of our Disney-themed projects! A MICKEY MOUSE MUSIC MAKER. It was so simple to make and Colton loved marching around the room making his "music" and singing. Click HERE for the tutorial!

ST. PATTY'S DAY TODDLER ART

With St. Patty's Day coming up and rainbows being one of the common images of the holiday, I figured this would be a great chance to work with my son on his colors.  Building a rainbow picture is good way to go over the different colors and also to teach him to follow directions. I love doing activities together that keep him busy and not just sitting on the couch watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. And the best part about doing these activities, is that he has fun and learns new things every day!

Click on the "ST. PATRICK'S DAY" page under the HOLIDAYS tab to see more.



COFFEE FILTER SHAMROCKS

For Valentine's Day, my son absolutely LOVED making the coffee filter hearts. (You can see the post here. ) So, I figured I would let him make shamrocks the same way for St. Patrick's Day! Colton loves any excuse to play with markers and I love any excuse to get him to sit still. Not to mention that these shamrocks turned out super cute!

 

To see instructions for this activity, check out the "ST. PATRICK'S DAY" page under the Holidays tab.



COFFEE FILTER VALENTINE HEARTS

There is nothing that I love more than spending time doing activities with my son! He loves exploring new items, textures, and concepts through hands on play. And the things that he has learned from them are amazing! Not to mention that I have gotten some really cute keepsakes in the process!

For Valentine's Day this year, I wanted to have Colton make cards for his grandparents and I wanted to go beyond the normal, give him some paper and crayons and let him color one. So I decided to come up with something that he could do that was different and fun!  Last year, I saw something on Pinterest about coffee filter art projects for toddlers.  I searched through my boards and couldn't find the pin (possibly because I have thousands of pins), but I thought how hard could it be to figure it out myself.  And they turned out awesome!

 

 

Visit my "HOLIDAYS" page to find this activity and more!

HALLOWEEN QUIET BOOK PAGES

Here are some of the Halloween/Autumn Quiet Book Pages that I have completed so far. I think they came out super cute. Please click on my Kid's Korner or Holiday (then Halloween tab) to see the rest of the pages!

QUIET BOOK PAGES - PART TWO

I have been so busy lately that I have been neglecting my Quiet Book pages.  I have completed a few pages in the last couple months that I haven't gotten around to posting yet. So now I am. I am in the process of completing several more now so I will be posting them as I get them finished.

Click on my Kid's Korner tab to see all my new pages. :)

AUTUMN TREE ART

I love having different activities for my son to do during the week so that he's learning and playing at the same time.  And to be honest it gives me a chance to have him sit still for a few minutes so that I can do the dishes, vacuum or get a load of laundry done. I also love that I always have something he created to hang on my fridge. :) I want to give him something to make that had to do with Autumn so I thought what says Fall better than a tree with different colored leaves?!

Find this cute toddler activity under my Kid's Korner tab :)

My Quiet Book Pages - Part 1

I've been working for a while on a Quiet Book for my son.  I have to admit that this is definitely a time consuming project but it's pretty fun at the same time.  I did a lot of "blog surfing" for ideas before I started and came across some really good pages that i wanted to include in my book.  I also pulled out my creative side and came up with some of my own ideas as well. Click on my "KIDS KORNER" tab to see my first pages.  I will post more as I complete them :))



MINI FELT BOARD

Every child should have a felt board to play with.  It teaches them about colors, shapes, and creativity.  My son spends so much time playing with this that i'm going to have to make more pieces for him.  I have a large one for home and this "mini" one for in the car and diaper bag! It's a great toddler busy bag activity!

Click on my "Kid's Korner" tab to view this great busy bag idea!

ICE CREAM COLOR MATCHING

I am currently focusing on teaching my son his colors and i just love using this activity.  It uses a fun ice cream theme in order to build toddler matching skills. It's also a great busy bag activity and i will be bringing this one along on vacation for sure!

Just click on my "Kid's Korner" tab to see how i made this activity. :) 

SHAPE SORTING ACTIVITY 1

Teach your child all about shapes and colors with this Shape Sorting Activity.

Click on my "Kid's Korner" tab for this activity :) 

CHARACTER PUZZLES

This is probably one of my favorite activities that i have made so far. Let your lil one practice their matching skills with their favorite characters!

Click on my "Kid's Korner" tab to see this super fun activity!! Happy matching!

WIPE CONTAINER FUN!

My son Colton will spend so much time pulling every single wipe out of the container and rip them up into little pieces. Not only was it wasteful but it made such a mess. So i made this wipes container filled with fabric scraps, which entertains him just as long without the waste and the mess!

Click on my "Kid's Korner" tab to see what you need to make this :)

BUTTONS AND FELT - COLOR LEARNING ACTIVITY

Let your child learn their colors and practice using buttons with this fun activity. Very easy to make! This is also one of the activities in my Toddler Activity Bags :)

Click on my Kid's Korner tab to find out how to make this! :)))

DYED PASTA ACTIVITIES

Teach your toddler all about colors, pattern making, and sorting with dyed pasta. It's super easy to make and there are tons of things you can do with it. 

 Click on the KIDS KORNER tab and search "Dyed Pasta". Happy learning!