Number Wheel

Finding fun and educational toys for preschool age kids to do in the car, at church or at home can be a challenge. I found a fun idea for a number wheel and thought I would give it a whirl!

This number wheel will help your preschooler recognize numbers, count, match and practice fine motor skills. What you need is:

• a copy of  a pie chart divided into 10 with dots representing numbers, printed on card stock (one can be found at the bottom of this post)


• Laminator (this is optional, but will really help your number wheel last much longer)


• 10 clothes pins


• A fine tip permanent marker

After you print, cut out and laminate your number wheel you need to number your clothes pins. I chose to put both the number and dots on one side and just the number on the other.

The whole thing fits nicely in a quart size ziploc bag.

Linking up here:

Just a girl



 

Summer Daily Schedule

Summer is almost upon us! Our last day of school is Thursday. We have loads of trips and activities already planned, but the day to day that we're home I wanted something fun for the kids to look forward to. I came across this idea on Pinterest and was taken to one of my favorite blogs: Somewhat Simple. The idea was originally posted back in June of 2010 when she was featuring some summer boredom ideas. I wanted to rework it  a little bit. I think it's perfect for my kids!

Each weekday there is a different theme that allows you & your kids to plan the week ahead. My kids like to know what's coming. I wanted to be able to write it down for them (and me!) to see what we had planned. So I made it into vinyl and added the words off to the right.

I put it on the top of my fridge and now I can simply use a dry erase marker and write down our weeks activities!

When the summer is done I will take down the words (make something Monday, etc) and use it as my meal calender!

For those interested in a paper copy I have a down-loadable version as well.  This is my first time doing this, so be kind. It would be simple to print and write in each week, or laminate and reuse!

Summer Daily Schedule

I'm linking up here:


 

Magnetic recipe cards

I am constantly printing and reprinting the same recipes off my computer and I finally was tired of doing it! This was my solution-Magnetic recipes cards!!

I used Powerpoint to make my recipe cards. They're very simple, yet just enough to be decorative!

After they were printed, I cut each recipe out and glued it onto a piece of scrapbook paper slight larger than the largest recipe.

Here they are all lined up ready to go!

Next I used a dab a glue on the back and put a small magnet (from here) in each corner. I made sure that all of the magnets lined up and were in the same position.

Then each card got laminated!

After trimming off the excess they were ready to go. They will be stored on the side of my refrigerator all in a nice stack.

When I want to use a recipe it will fit perfectly on my stove:

I love that they can be wiped off when there are spills and they all stay together in one place!

Here are some links to some of my favorite recipes that I like to have on hand:

Banana-Oatmeal Bread

Soft Wrap Bread

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Sunday Best

I read (or skim) a LOT of blogs. Mostly craft and cooking blogs that I have found over the years. There are also a few websites that I frequent as well. One of those websites is Sugardoodle! If you are a member of the LDS church it is a wonderful resource for lessons, activities, crafts, etc. This time of year in our faith we are preparing for General Conferece~two days of listening to our General Authorities speak, teach and inspire us. It also consists of 12 hours of watching church for our children! Getting them to stay interested and entertained can be a challange, but here are some helps. Sugardoodle posted a few great conference packets to help us out:

Here are the links for: A Youth Packet, Senior Primary, Junior Primary & Nursery . There is also a wonderful page devoted to General Conference.

So break out the snacks, cuddle up on the couch and be inspired as you listen to our Prophet speak!

Organize your embroidery floss

I saw this super cute printable originally at Ucreate and knew I needed to print it up right away! The original is from Wild Olive.

Here's what my embroidery floss looked like before:

I printed the bobbins out on regular white cardstock and started cutting them out.

Here's the result!

What a great way to organize!!