Cute Puppet Printables from Spring Time Treats

Spring Time Treats shares her cute stick people puppet printables for free!  Most of the printables are also in b&w if you have a kid that likes to color!  My son will love the Space Robots set. Make the puppets magnetic to play with on a metal cookie sheet. 

Browse Spring Time Treats to see lots of cute stick people and check out her Etsy shop too!

Printable Hidden Pictures Puzzles

You can play or print fun hidden pictures puzzles from Highlights Kids.  I'm adding some to my kids' Mazes and Mad Libs folders.

Mom, What's for Dinner?

 Our Best Bites • Tuna Noodle Casserole 

I didn't have any celery, mushrooms or dill and it was still delicious!  I mixed in peas for our veggie nutrition!

Real Mom Kitchen • Pineapple-Glazed Meatballs

I served this without rice and had sides of The Pioneer Woman's Mac and Cheese and tossed salad.

PBS Nature: Raccoon Nation Review

NATURE is a PBS program that's celebrating it's 30th season so chances are you've probably watched Nature at least a few times.  Nature is fascinating and very educational and in an hour you can learn quite a bit!

NATURE: Raccoon Nation was released in March.  It follows a new raccoon family with GPS tracking and high-definition cameras.  Raccoons are omnivorous just like us and they adapt well so they're having no problems fitting into city life.  I was amazed to see a raccoon open a door and a tent.  Their smarts are making life easier for them but more difficult for the areas they're calling home.  There's segments that show what raccoons are up to in parts of North America, Japan, Germany and Canada (Toronto is the raccoon capital of the world)-- eye-opening and a little frightening.  I really enjoyed Raccoon Nation and have a new perspective on the raccoon species.   

My whole family agrees that PBS Nature documentaries are cool and it's screen time I have no problem with! 

More animal titles we like-- NATURE: Kangaroo Mob, NATURE: My Life as a Turkey, NATURE: The Animal House, NATURE: Fortress of the Bears

Nature documentary DVDs make great gifts and are available to purchase at shopPBS.org.

Stay 'tuned' for a Raccoon Nation giveaway with more than one winner!! ☺

* Product was provided for this review.  This post was written by me and these are my honest opinions.

Easter Paper Dolls

▬  Jill from Sandy Toes & Popsicles has the cutest 'PEEP'er Dolls to print for free!  There are 16 outfits to dress your PEEPS in (Mickey and Minnie included) so they can be the coolest marshmallow bunnies around!  *image from Sandy Toes & Popsicles

▬  Tricia-Rennea has an exclusive set of free printable paper dolls that she shares on Tip Junkie. She's added more to the set since I posted about her Thanksgiving and Halloween dolls.  The Easter Collection has pretty dresses for Laurie, Leslie and Lisha!  You can find all the paper doll links on Tricia-Rennea's blog.

▬  Sarah Jane sells paper dolls in her etsy shop but her little Easter Paper Dolls set is free! The ducks are darling!

▬  Danielle's Place has a simple Easter Bunny Paper Doll with 4 outfits.

Rainbow Ribbon Bracelets

Inspired by the yarn bangles my daughter and I made a rainbow ribbon bracelet.  We used ¼" polyester ribbon-- 6 pieces about 7½" long each-- and hot glue (low temp glue gun) to secure each end of the ribbons to the plastic bangle.  Fun for St. Patrick's Day and spring!!

Add pink to the rainbow-- 7 pieces about 6½" long each-- for extra color and girlishness!


**linked to:
• Today's Creative Blog
• Tidy Mom
• Toys in the Dryer

Craft Stick Easel

Make a craft stick easel for your child's small paintings or drawings.  Find the Tiny Easel instructions on Family Fun.

Beautiful Yarn Bangles

Parents.com has a yarn bracelet craft that my daughter and I have been doing a lot lately.  We found an abundance of plastic heart bangles at Dollar Tree, Target and Walmart before Valentine's Day.   We've gone a little crazy since the yarn we like has a big selection of color combinations! 

Cut an 8' ½" to 9' piece of yarn.   

Length needed depends on weight of yarn (we use Peaches & Creme and Sugar'n Cream which are a medium 4) and size of bangle.  It's better to have too much than too little. 

Tie yarn around the bangle and cover the loose end by wrapping the yarn around it.

Do three or four wraps at a time-- tight and close together-- and then unwrap the hanging yarn from twisting around the bangle or you'll end up with a mess.

When it's all wrapped, cut excess yarn and secure end with a little super glue (do this near top, not inside, of bracelet or it will scratch when worn).  A little hot glue works too but I prefer super glue.

 These beautiful bangles would be perfect as a party favor or a party craft.

** linked to:

• Sew Can Do

• The Girl Creative

• Blue Cricket Design
• Tidy Mom
• Fireflies and Jellybeans

Heart Healthy Exercise Game Printable

Marie from Make and Takes shares so many easy and fun ideas for kids.  Last year I saw her Heart Healthy Exercise Game and knew it would be fun for my daughter's 2nd grade Valentines party.


I wanted each kid to have their own game board.  My husband drew simple stick people for me because I don't draw, not even stick figures. I printed the game boards on card stock.

Just like Marie shows I cut out little felt hearts and hot glued them leaving a 3/4" opening.  I took felt and fun foam scraps for the kids to decorate their beanbag before filling it with beans or rice.  The beanbag activity was first and then the game was played in group rotations.  At the end of the party the kids had a fun game to take home! 

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Here is my redesigned Heart Healthy Exercise Game board.  If you would like to download it for free click the link below the image and it will take you to google docs.

Heart Healthy Exercise Game printable

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RECIPE: Nut Germ Crunch

This is my kids' favorite after-school snack.

NUT Germ Crunch

• a recipe from me •

Ingredients:

graham crackers

Nutella

whipped creamy peanut butter

toasted wheat germ

Directions:

Spread a layer of nutella on cracker.  Spread a layer of whipped p.b. on cracker.  Sprinkle wheat germ on top.  Nutty, crunchy and so yummy!  Betcha can't eat just one! ☺

I put wheat germ in a spice bottle so it's easier to sprinkle.  I whip the peanut butter in large amounts and store it in a Nutella container.

We also like Nutella/p.b./wheat germ on bananas, apples and popcorn.

Read articles about wheat germ on Livestrong.com including toasted vs. untoasted wheat germ.

Kids' Card Game Holder

While playing card games like UNO my son lays out his cards face-up and tries to shield them from his opponent.  Now he can hold his cards like a big kid because Adapting Creatively shared how to make a simple holder with two CDs (offset) and super glue.  It works great, costs nothing and I like to use it too.  A Gamewright card holder is over 5 bucks.



 *post contains affiliate links

Mom, What's for Dinner?

These three delicious main dishes are in my recipe file for life!

This past Friday and Sunday I made Hawaiian Haystacks from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  That tells you how easy and delicious I think this recipe is.  NO cream of chicken or mushroom soup as an ingredient-- hooray!  I'm showing my own picture because I actually took a picture (the next day as I was enjoying leftovers).

My daughter ate two bowls of this Ultimate Beef Stroganoff {Slow Cooker} from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  NO cream of chicken or mushroom soup as an ingredient-- another hooray!

One afternoon I made my husband and I Skillet Turkey Tetrazzini from Real Mom Kitchen.  I think the kids would have liked it but there was only enough leftover for my husband's lunch the next day.  We were hungry and it was yummy!!

Joseph's Lullaby

MercyMe's "Joseph's Lullaby" is a beautiful song.

It's one of my favorite spiritual Christmas songs. 

Buy it on Amazon.

*post contains an affiliate link

Career Paper Dolls on Education.com

There are 20+ free, printable, black-and-white Career Paper Dolls on Education.com!  There's a boy and girl to dress up with the outfits.  You have to sign up to be a free member before you can download.

Drawing and Doodling

My daughter really enjoys art in any way, shape or form!  We already think Ed Emberley's drawing books are wonderful but I came across two Joy Sikorski drawing books that she loves!  My daughter didn't get her art interest from me, I'm not even good at doodling (it was fun to do in a boring school class though)!

Printable art fun:

• Free Usborne doodling downloads
• Nick Jr. Doodle Doodle, Guess and Draw

Free online art lessons:

• Ed Emberley's drawing book sampler
• Free drawing lessons from Joy Sikorski
• Step by Step animal drawing lessons
• Learn drawing for kids on Kids Front
• How to Draw Funny Cartoon Animals

Digital art fun:

• Digital Doodle Pad on My Digital Masterpiece 
• Digital Canvas on art.com
• Color, paint and draw on ABCya!