Thanksgiving Activity Placemat

My son Jacob and I were talking about Thanksgiving coming up and he tells me “I’m looking forward to your activities”. I paused, not understanding what he was talking about and asked “What activities?”. He replies, “Like your Thanksgiving Joke Teller“….. While I was happy he appreciated my efforts last year, I felt bad I hadn’t come up with anything new for this year. Not wanted to let him down, I decided to design a Thanksgiving-themed placemat with fun activities including a maze, word search, how-to-draw and one of their favorites – a secret decoder message to solve!

Click HERE to download the Thanksgiving Activity Placemat Printable from my Etsy Shop.

Advertisement

New Year’s Eve Activity Sheet

As a simple New Year’s Eve activity for the kids, I created this printable activity sheet. Similar to a restaurant kids menu, I thought they can work on this at dinner. Figured it will give them a holiday themed challenge, as well as some fun topics to discuss. 🙂

New Years Eve Printable Thumbnail

Click on above image or HERE to download free printable.

Happy New Year!

“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” ― Brad Paisley

Super Simple Snowflake Sticker Craft

Super Simple Snowflake Sticker Craft - projectsinparenting.com

Last year I hosted a Christmas party with 12 kids. How did I keep that many little ones occupied with a craft that didn’t end up with a huge mess?? — STICKERS!

Using only these cute foam snowflakes and rhinestone gems from Amazon, each kid was able to create their own shimmering piece of art! (Individual gem packs are usually available at your local craft store)

This year, I still had left over snowflakes and rhinestone stickers, so we combined them with some glitter glue for a little extra sparkle!

Super Simple Snowflake Sticker Craft - projectsinparenting.com

With a little bit of water, these snowflakes also stick great on glass / windows. The kids love wetting them down the back and playing with them on our sliding glass patio door. 🙂

“We are like a snowflake all different in our own beautiful way”

DIY Heart Breaker Valentine’s Day Cards

heart-breaker-valentine-banner

‘Tis the season for roses, hearts, Cupid and the age old tradition of spreading love with thoughtful Valentine’s Day cards!

Avery is currently obsessed with decorating herself in adhesive bandages, like they are a fashion accessory – so I picked up some holiday themed bandages to use for her classroom Valentines (one of many amazing finds at the Target Dollar Spot!). I created and printed the below Heart Breaker Valentine’s Day Cards and attached the bandages with double-sided tape.

heart-breaker-valentine
Click HERE to download free printable.

Now my adorable little heart breaker is ready for her 1st Valentine’s Day celebration at school.  🙂

Related: Mermaid Valentine Printable
Related: Unicorn Valentine Printable

Color-Coded Beginner Piano Sheet Music

color-coded-beginner-piano-sheet-music-free-printables-projectsinparenting

The other day, Jacob was jamming away on his toy piano singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ – eyes closed, head bopping, slamming random keys on the key board…  I loved the enthusiasm and figured the boys are probably old enough to start reading beginner sheet music, so I decided to put together a few songs for them.

I am by no means a musician, but I did play piano back in the day and remembered some of the basics. I wanted to keep it simple with what I feel is a reasonable goal for toddlers and preschoolers: Find Middle C and play a simple song with one finger (not at all insisting on proper finger placement). I’m not trying to raise Mozart – I just want them to have fun and become comfortable with the basics of sheet music while doing so.

POST UPDATE: I originally cut down circle dot labels I had on-hand (as seen in my photo below), then upgraded to these Color Coding Dot Labels which coordinated perfectly. Once we upgraded from their Fisher-Price Keyboard to an electronic piano, I created these Removable Color Coded Piano Key Labels – Now the colors coordinate exactly and I love that they have a less harsh, easily removable adhesive.

Using the color-coded labels, I created coordinating sheet music for a couple of their favorite songs. Click on below sheet music image to download a FREE printable.

twinkle-little-star

mary-had-a-little-lamb

For more song selections and coordinating color-coded sticker labels, please visit my Etsy Shop.
9 song pack

As simple as that – now my boys understand the concept of reading and playing music on the piano. With or without an accurate rhythm on the keyboard, watching their faces and sense of accomplishment after completing a song is absolutely priceless!

color-coded-beginner-piano-sheet-music-projectsinparenting

Related: Star Wars The Imperial March Beginner Piano Sheet Music
Related: Color-Coded Beginner Piano Music Book

Save

Save

Save

Save