September 14, 2011

Birthday Countdown Stand

My "baby" will be turning six later this month!  She's super excited, I'm finding it hard to believe.  A couple months ago, I came across this cute Flip Recipe Organizer at Positively Splendid.  I'm not nearly organized enough to keep all my recipes together, but I thought the concept was perfect for a countdown.  I followed Amy's great tutorial and it came together really quickly.

 Our new Birthday Countdown Stand was an easy little project (and I got to use a power tool!), my daughter LOVES it, and I no longer have to answer "How many days till my birthday?" multiple times a day.  


Here's what you'll need:

* acrylic picture frame/sign stand (mine was 5x7")
* decorative papers and/or embellishments
* two 1" binder rings
* drill with a 1/8" bit
* painters' tape or masking tape

Here's what to do:

1.  Measure where you want your ring clips to be at the top of your frame.  I made mine about 3/4" down and in 1 3/4" in from the sides.  Place a piece of painters' tape or masking tape over that part of your frame (to prevent cracking when you drill) and drill two holes using the 1/8" bit.

I only had really narrow tape on hand, but it worked just fine.

 2.  Gather your decorative papers and embellishments.  I just used some of the tons of patterned paper I have left over from my short-lived scrapbooking days and printed up the words and numbers on my computer.



3.  Cut your main pieces to 5x7" and then assemble your pieces.  Punch two holes at the top to correspond to the holes in the frame for the ring clips.  Slide your completed design into the frame.  (Mine's nothing fancy, but I wanted to finish before my daughter came home from school to surprise her. )


4.  Make your number cards for the countdown.  Because we'll only be using this for a couple weeks, I didn't laminate them.  However, if you're making a countdown stand that will be getting a lot of use, laminating for durability might be a good idea.

 
5.  Attach your number cards in reverse order using the binder rings and you're ready to countdown.




I know this Countdown Stand will continue to be used for all my kids' birthdays and special occasions.  It'll be super easy to swap out the design and whip up some new number cards ~ expect to see a Halloween one soon! ;)

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Jack-O-Lantern shirts

This is a pre-blogging project from last year, but it turned out so cute I wanted to share it for anyone looking for an inexpensive and easy Halloween project!


Check out this adorable group of Jack-O-Lanterns!

My kids and their cousins last October.




What you'll need:

* Plain orange t-shirts for each child (you can get them on sale at the craft stores for just a few dollars!)
* Black fabric paint or acrylic paint 
* Freezer paper (found in most larger grocery stores near the plastic wrap and aluminum foil)
* Templates of Jack-O-Lantern faces ( I used the printable ones HERE)
* Paint brushes
* Piece of cardboard or newspaper for inside the shirt

Here's what to do:   

(For step-by-step instructions with photos, see my other freezer paper stencil projects HERE,  HERE and HERE)


1.  Trace or print the jack-o-lantern face onto the paper-y side of a piece of freezer paper.  (If you cut your freezer paper to 8.5x11" you can run it right through most printers.  Just make sure you have the paper set up to print on the paper side, not the waxy side)

2.  Cut out the inside pieces of your pumpkin face, then iron the stencil waxy side down onto the front of your t-shirt.

3. Slip a piece of cardboard or several sheets of folded newspaper inside the shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through.

4.  Using a foam brush, paint over your stencil.  It works best if you brush from the paper onto the fabric so it doesn't bleed under the stencil and you do a couple light coats rather than a thick, gloppy one.

Everyone hard at work (disposable lab coats make great smocks!)

Painting carefully.

The kids chose from a few different designs.


"Pop Pop" helps my youngest with her shirt.
5.  Once the stencils are fully painted, set the shirts aside to dry.  Depending on the amount of paint used and the size of the design, it'll take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours.


That's it!  Cute Halloween shirts for just a few dollars.


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September 13, 2011

BANG! ( A fun flashcard game )

 As your children go off to school, you'll often find that there are certain skills that they'll need to master with accuracy and speed.  Whether it's letter sounds, sight words or math facts, if they are able to recognize the correct answer quickly, it's much easier to move on to the next challenge.  For some children, they seem to pick up the skills almost intuitively on their own.  For others, some extra practice will really help them be successful.  In many cases, simple flashcards will do the trick.

When I was a teacher, I often played this game "BANG!" with my students and they LOVED it.  Now, I'm using it with my youngest daughter as she starts kindergarten.  It's super simple to make and lots of fun to play.  You can play with two players or twenty, students, older siblings and adults.



Here's what you'll need ~  an empty container, some blank index cards, and some markers. 

I used a coffee can and some 3x5 index cards.

If you'd like, you can decorate your can with scrapbook paper, stickers, etc.  (I just mod-podged on a "BANG!" label I made up and some scrapbook paper.)



Next, make up your flashcards.  You can do letters, words, multiplication facts, anything that needs practicing.  

I wanted to practice sight words with my daughter, so I just cut my index cards in half and wrote words from the Dolch Word list.  ( If you're not familiar with the Dolch List, it's a list of 220 of the most commonly used words.  Because they occur so frequently and they're often difficult to "sound out", it's very beneficial to be able to recognize them on sight)

You'll also want to make up a few cards with the word "BANG!" on them. 


( NOTE:  You can also find printable flashcards for the Dolch words on the links I included above and print them onto card stock.  However, I found it's just as easy to write the words out by hand since I had to make the BANG! cards anyway. )

Next, just put your cards in your container and you're ready to play.  


HOW TO PLAY:

1.  Players take turns reaching into the container and pulling out a flashcard.  If they can read the word aloud correctly, they get to keep the card.  If the player is incorrect, the card goes back into the container.

2.  Continue taking turns, reading and collecting correctly answered cards.

3.  If you pull out a BANG! card, you must put your whole pile of cards back into the container!  

(It's a great way to keep the game exciting and level the playing field.  Even if Mom or an older sibling could correctly read all the words, all they have to do is pull out a bang card and they're back down to zero.)

4.  At the end of a specified length of time, whoever has the most cards is the winner!

** A few tips **

* I like to start with a small group of flashcards that the child knows fairly well, and just one or two BANG! cards, then gradually add more flashcards and more BANG! cards.  The length of time you play and ratio of BANG! cards to flashcards is up to you.

* Sometimes if it's just my daughter and me playing, I'll purposely pull out a card, hold it up and read it incorrectly.  She loves catching me making a mistake and it helps her to really pay attention even when it's not her turn.

* To practice phonics skills on words that can be "sounded out", check out these Word Family Spinners made from paper plates.


HAVE FUN!



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