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Pen Favor Valentine Cards

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This year, my kids all wanted to have pens for their classroom Valentine favors. I love how each pen choice is reflective of their personality.

An a-MAZING-ing choice by my puzzle-loving middle child. I purchased these Maze Pens on Amazon, but this Valentine would be great with just about any other pen/pencil or simply by itself!…

[CLICK HERE to purchase from my Etsy Shop]

My daughter’s choice, adorable as ever. I mean, what kid doesn’t love a Squishy? Would also work well with any other stress ball or squishy toy…

[CLICK HERE to purchase from my Etsy Shop]

And my oldest, engineer-brained son with his resourceful choice – a multi-tool pen with includes a touch screen stylus, ruler, level and mini screwdriver. These Valentine’s would also work well with a ruler favor..

[CLICK HERE to purchase from my Etsy Shop]

I ordered all of the pens online (links below!), printed the valentines on white card stock, and used washi tape to attach the pens to the back of each Valentine.

Happy Valentine’s Day! May it be filled with love, giggles and scribbles!

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Valentine’s Joke Teller

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The kids really enjoyed my Thanksgiving Joke Teller / Cootie Catcher, so I decided to create another one for Valentine’s Day. Great entertainment for their classroom celebration and perfect way to connect with friends and family over Zoom this year.

Click HERE to download the Valentine’s Day Joke Teller / Cootie Catcher from my Etsy Shop.

Click HERE to download the Valentine’s Day Joke Teller / Cootie Catcher from my Etsy Shop.

Continent, Country & Flag Identification

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Color Coded Continents Countries and Flags Puzzle Identification - Hands on Learning - projectsinparenting.com
Since my boys were 3 years old, this US Foam Puzzle has been a favorite go-to of theirs. At 1st it was just fun for them to put together, but as they got older it became a great learning tool. They are now familiar with most US states, their shape, general location, as well as some facts we’ve learned along the way.

Jacob has been asking about the difference between city, state, country and continent lately, so I wanted to come up with a hands-on way for him to understand the bigger picture. Since they enjoyed the other foam puzzle so much, I decided to purchase this World Map Puzzle with Flags & Capitals. Understandably due to size constraints, it doesn’t include EVERY flag in the world. If it did, I think that would be too overwhelming anyway. The puzzle has a total of 65 flags (based mainly on country size) which seems to be the perfect start.

imagimakemapologywithflags

The foam puzzle, flags and map provided are great. Unfortunately there is no ‘key’ to know where each flag goes. I was able to figure it out using the original sticker sheet, but both Jacob and Evan were at a complete loss putting the puzzle together without my help. To give them the independence of easily figuring it out on their own, I created a color-coded diagram showing all of the 65 flags and the corresponding country by continent. I also made a color-coordinating continent map for easy reference.

Click on image below for FREE Printable:

Hands-on Learning, Color Coded Continents, Countries and Flags - projectsinparenting.com
Hands-on Learning - Color Coded Continents, Countries and Flags - projectsinparenting.com

Once I gave them my diagrams (other than some adorably incorrect pronunciations) – easy peasy. Both Jacob and Evan were able to correctly identify 65 flags, place them in their corresponding country, and understand which continent they belonged to as well!

image2

I have no doubt this puzzle will be another one of their favorites – learning more as they grow and discovering new things each time they complete it.   🙂

Related: Color-Coded Beginner Piano Music Book
Related: Constellation Sticker Craft

“Without geography, you are nowhere.”

Documenting Baby’s 1st Year

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When I was pregnant with Jacob & Evan, my cousin told me about a new (at the time) website called Pinterest. I signed up for an account to start Pinning decor ideas for their nursery. Little did I know what a life-changing website it would become. Why did it have to be created AFTER I got married?!?! I came across so many crafty ways to document the boys’ 1st year and couldn’t wait to make something especially for them!

With so many ideas, I decided to photograph and create two different monthly comparisons – One with the boys together (because twin baby portraits are simply adorable!) and one with them alone (because they are, after all, individuals). In attempt to capture their personalities, I also included brief descriptions about them.  It was fun to reflect on each month’s little joys and take time to appreciate the small things.

Twins 1st Year Monthly Photo Collage with Keepsake Memories

Jacob:

Baby 1st Year Monthly Photo Collage

Evan:

Baby 1st Year Monthly Photo Collage with Stuffed Animal

Naturally, when Avery was born, I wanted to create the same monthly snapshots for her as well…

Baby Girl 1st Year Monthly Photo Collage with Keepsake Memories

Baby Girl 1st Year Monthly Photo Collage

I used Photoshop to create my images. If you do not have Photoshop (or any other photo editing software), a similar technique can be used with either of the following:

  • An online photo editor like PicMonkey that allows you to add a paragraph of text, and enables you to crop and edit your photo as well.
  • If you only want to insert a small amount of text, such as the month, AddText has a quick and simple process for adding a caption (downside = limited fonts and their website appears in bottom right of the photo).
  • If you have the images on your phone or iPad, there are tons of apps that allow you to add text. Imagic Text and Word Swag are ones that allow for longer text/paragraphs.

If you have any other suggested ways to add text to your image, I’d love to hear about it – please comment below.

Looking back at these photos, I had no idea they would trigger so many heartwarming memories (all too easily forgotten). It doesn’t feel like it during the day-to-day grind of picky eating, tantrums and poopy diapers, but it’s true when people say “they grow so fast”. I’m glad I took the time to create this project, as it really helped me cherish the little moments and capture their growth for the 1st year.

Follow me on Pinterest, for more fun ideas!

Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

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