All About Me: Birthday Questionnaire!

Last week we celebrated with my daughter as she turned 5. She is our only girl, and she loves everything about celebrations and parties.

I'm trying to do a better job commemorating milestones while my kids are little, and one way to do that is by printing this simple page and filling it out with them every year. I enjoyed the special moments we shared while my sweet girl answered questions about her current tastes and favorite things;  I know it will be so fun to look back on her answers 5-10 years from now.  It is easy to add a few more personalized questions to this list as well.

Maddy already loves her All About Me and this page is a perfect addition.  I look forward to celebrating more birthdays with our special girl, and using this simple page to reflect on how she is growing and changing each year!
And in case you were wondering, it was a Zhu Zhu pet party--we had a lot of fun making these cupcakes together. Oh Pinterest, what did we ever do without you!?

Valentine's Day Activity: Scavenger Hunt!

Here is a fun activity for your little loved ones to enjoy during this special season of love!  My kids always enjoy a scavenger hunt or a quick list of activities to complete.  These hunts work well individually, or put your little ones on a team if they need help reading or completing tasks.  
Feel free to make up your own list if you have objects in the house (ex. write a story based on this candy heart saying!) or print this if you want to keep things simple.

This is the perfect time of year to shower our kids with plenty of affection in the form of many hugs and kisses!  Remind your kids (as always!) that you love them, and don't forget to be specific.  

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.  

~C.S. Lewis

**A Quick Reminder!**

We have two great giveaways going on right now.  

• The I SPY giveaway is open through February 2. If you have not commented yet--be sure to do it today!  These I Spy bags are adorable; be sure to check them out!

• Our 100th posts original painting giveaway will also be ending soon since we are very close to reaching 100 followers.  Check out all the details HERE!

Thanks again to all our faithful friends and followers and be sure to let us know if you have any Valentine's Day traditions or activities that have been a big hit with your kids!

Make A Memory: How I Met Your Mother!

If you are looking to start a new Valentine's Day tradition this year, here is a great idea!   Even though my kids are 6 and under, I know they will enjoy hearing the story of how my husband and I met.  We have never shared this story with our kids before; what better time of year to retell our own love story (with each other and with our kids!) than on Valentine's Day!
I know my little girl will particularly enjoy looking through our wedding album and watching our wedding video.  If you want a few ideas to jump start this fun Valentine's Day idea, here is a free printable for you to download!

This would also be another another great page to add to your child's "All About Me" book!

This is a simple way to spend time together as a family sharing stories and experiences that will help your kids begin to grasp what love is all about.  Have fun and if you have another suggestion or story about how this works out with your kids, please share it here!

Quick Lunch Love Notes: Valentine's Day Edition!

It's hard to believe, but Valentine's Day is less than a month away. Thankfully my kids are much too young to be frittering over the silliness that goes along with this Holiday, but whether it is February 14th or not, it is important to show my kids what LOVE is every day!


Several months ago I posted this idea about placing special love notes in your child's lunch.  I wanted to make a LOVE-focused printable as a way for us to share what love is with our kids leading up to a day when heart-shaped candy and flowers become symbols of love for us all.


Here are 20 printables for you to place in a lunch or on a pillow or beside a toothbrush as a reminder that Love never fails, and Love is kind.  These notes might open up a conversation about what love means to your child, what love means to  you, and most importantly who love is.  
For God so love the world.
God is love.

I hope everyone enjoys a special Valentine's Day this year, and may we show our kids what love is really all about!

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

(1 Tim. 1:14)

Seek and Find Christmas Activities: Recycle your Mail!

If you are like us, December is the one time of year when we scurry down to the mailbox full of eager anticipation.  We love to see who has taken the time to actually send a Christmas card or a gift in the mail of all things.  In addition to our personal mail, my kids are still young enough to enjoy looking through the colorful catalogs and Christmas ads that we receive on an almost daily basis.  So, this year I decided to save ours in a pile and put them to use!
If you have any bright Christmas ads around, it's time to pull them out. Some of my favorites (for this project) are Kohls, Target, Toys "R" Us, and Pier 1, but even Lowe's, Pottery Barn or Sears, etc. will work!  It's a shame to just throw away all these bright and colorful magazine pictures.


Game #1
My kids love the "I Spy" books, and anything that has to do with searching and finding hidden objects.  I came up with this printable to give them a way to dig through the magazine pictures and use their observation skills along the way. I also love how these games force my kids to work together to find things.  If your kids are older and you want to make a competition out of it, I'm sure that would be fun, too!  
Go here to print this out, give them a catalog and a pen, and the rest is up to them.  The beauty of this activity is they can take a pen or Sharpie and circle the objects along the way inside the ad--they aren't hurting anything since it is already trash!  If your child is not reading yet, tell her to find the objects pictured on the page by herself and then help her find the rest.  Also feel free to make your own list or add to this one!  There are MANY things to choose from in these ads!

Game #2
This is a similar game but instead of circling the objects, let your child hone his cutting and pasting skills along with his observation skills!  Print this list, then give your child several catalogs, a blank piece of paper, scissors and a glue stick.  See if they can find the amount listed to the left (ex. 2 mugs of cocoa, 3 candy canes) or simply let them find one of each!  Depending on the age of your child, cutting and pasting 1 of each might take long enough.

Another fun Christmas catalog activity is to let your kids create some festive paper dolls or cut and paste a Christmas scene (fireplace, stockings, tree) into a room. My daughter LOVES doing this and is currently cutting and pasting her little Christmas room and family now.  If you want ideas on how to get started, check out this post.  Have fun making use of your colorful Christmas mail!

Free Printables: Pen & Paper Games!

So many exciting events, programs, and parties during the Christmas season. Not to mention shopping and appointments and road trips to visit family. Some of these can get a little long or tedious for children to sit through. Once the candy cane is crunched away, the doodling page is full, and the Christmas lights have lost their dazzle, these pen & paper games may help ward off the wiggles for a little longer!


The first game is a Scattergories type word game...scan the room for objects that begin with each of the letters, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Can be a competition with points scored for the number of letters in each word, and extra points for double words! Print it here.





Gingerbread Squares is a game you may remember from childhood. Requires 2 or 3 players, and they take turns drawing lines to connect the gingerbread men. Whoever forms a box with their line gets to put their initial inside. This is a great game to teach strategy to preschoolers--my 4-year-old loves it. It can be printed here.





Print a couple off and stash them in your car for some quick entertainment when an event or appointment drags out longer than expected!

Printable Gift Tags on Address Labels!

I am trying--TRYING--to stay on top of things this year.  Rather than getting bogged down by the many things to do this season, I'm hoping to tackle little things each day and enjoy many memories with the kids this year.


In the spirit of getting things done, I have most of my gifts wrapped already. And every year I get annoyed when I have to pay for the sticker labels that say "To" and "From" ...especially when I am wrapping multiple tiny gifts for my own kids. In previous years I have resorted to writing names directly on the paper with a sharpie, but this year I decided to print my own tags on printable address labels and voilà, it worked! 


If you have a packet of these address labels around the house, then you are ready to make 30 of your own Christmas stickers! If not, you can find Laser/Ink Jet address labels at any large retailer (Wal-mart, Target, etc.)

Simply go here and print this page on your label sheet (or on regular paper and use glue or tape!) and you have 30 stickers to help make your season simpler (and cheaper!)

I hope everyone is enjoying the memories and opportunities that are presented to us during this season. Don't forget to smile when you see 4 ornaments hanging from the same lowest branch on the tree and the needles that are slowly spreading throughout the house!

Thanksgiving Day Scavenger Hunt!

Today I am very excited to have all 3 kids home with me--no school!  We are gearing up to make some cut-out cookies and enjoy the rest of the day outside since we have been struck by a mid-November heat wave here in the Southeast.


Here is one last idea I had for some Thanksgiving day kid-fun.  Whether you need a few minutes to finish up your cooking or perhaps you want to send the little kids outside to burn off their sugary energy after lunch, this should do the trick.
  
If you have older cousins/friends who can help the little ones read, then you are in luck!   You can add your own things to the list, make teams, and come up with prizes or just let them have fun hunting.  The idea is to enjoy time with family and put that endless energy to good use.  Here is the printable version.

Have a great day with your family, filled with reminders of the blessings in your life! 

"Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting."

T-Minus 6 days until Thanksgiving.

If you are like me, you are marking down the days until Thanksgiving is here.  I am so excited to sit around the table with loved ones and eat delicious food and relish in an entire day devoted to Thankfulness.  We are truly blessed.
Kylee and I are working on several Thanksgiving day activities, but I wanted to go ahead and post a few today. The first is a printable that allows your child (with help from you!) to create an acronym of THANKS. Take each letter from thanks and choose something that you are truly thankful for this year.  Then sign and date it and place it in your child's "All About Me" book!  Find this printout here.

Another quick thought is to print out these place mats for the kid table on Thanksgiving day.  Your child will enjoy writing and coloring on his or her special page.  Provide a few crayons and pens and let them decorate while you are fixing plates and setting the table.  If you want to laminate it and use marker instead, that would also be great.  If you decide to let your child decorate this printable as is, then when the day is over, this would also be a great addition to his or her "All About Me" book!

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.  ~W.J. Cameron

All About Me: Taste!

Today we are wrapping up our conversation about the 5 senses. If you missed the previous posts, check them out now! Yes, we are talking about taste—it is normally our favorite and most enjoyable sense, but it is also the one we often take for granted!

If you really think about it, and if you ask your child to really think about it, the sense of taste is truly amazing. Why do foods taste different? Why doesn't everything taste like a blade of grass or a piece of cardboard? Does taste serve any purpose in the big scheme of our overall health, or is it simply a wonderful perk?

Our mouths are actually made up of almost 10,000 taste buds—on our tongues and all over the inside of our mouths. Although taste is the weakest of our 5 senses, it is amazing to think that as saliva breaks down foods, the receptor cells (in our taste buds) are sending all kinds of messages to the brain explaining the flavors exploding in our mouths. If it weren't for taste buds, we would not be able to enjoy eating at all. Although your child may not enjoy eating broccoli or salmon at this stage in the game, remind him that if it weren't for taste buds, a cookie and meatloaf would be interchangeable.

Our amazing taste buds tell us four things: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. These sensory areas are located at different places on the tongue and mouth. 

Another amazing thing about taste buds is that everyone has a different sense of taste, and our taste—likes and dislikes, actually change as we get older. This is why adults are able to eat foods that a baby would never eat. Babies have many more taste buds than adults and as we grow they become less sensitive. Our unique sense of taste shows an awesome creativity; we are born loving sugars which naturally promote energy and growth. We are also born disliking bitter tastes which protects us from eating poisons. Isn't that mind-boggling? I wonder how many other protective features in my body I take for granted.

What can we do to share this amazing sense with our little ones? Start by observation. If you still haven't purchased a magnifying glass, you should add it to your wish list! If you have a magnifying glass around, pull it out and let your child take a closer look at your amazing tongue and mouth. Have her describe what she is seeing. You might want to use mouthwash before this “fun” activity! If you don't have a magnifying glass, head to the bathroom and check out your magnificent mouths in the mirror together. 

What do you see? Describe the bumps (buds), the shapes, and the colors in detail.

When you are through staring at each other's taste buds, take a minute to talk about your favorite food combinations. Warm chocolate chip cookies with cold milk? Gooey pizza and a fizzy drink? Salty chips or a crunchy apple? See if you can get those saliva glands to start working!

There are many different activities that you can use to experiment with your own “buds” or have a taste test at home. One suggestion is to pop some popcorn, divide it into several small bowls or cups and season them differently.  Try using salt, sugar, cheese, garlic, or anything else you have in your spice rack to sprinkle on the popcorn. Let your child try to identify the flavors and see what they like or dislike about it.

Next, prepare a mini-feast of sample snacks ranging from sweet and salty to bitter and spicy to downright grody. Have your child test the foods, then describe how each food tastes. Also talk about food textures.  Record (or have him write) his reaction along with a drawing of the sampled food. If your child is older, you may want to blindfold him or her!

Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert is a great book about taste if you want to read more with your child.

After you have finished your sampler platter, print this page for your All About Me book to record your child's memories! Find it here. 

**More Mud:

Talking about taste is a great reminder of the intricacies of our created human bodies. A great passage for further review is Psalm 139:13.

 For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,I know that full well.

Finally, if you are looking for a way to record a funny story, a hilarious quote, or a memorable moment with your child, here is a page for you to print and add to your child's All About Me book! Someday he might appreciate reading about the time he decorated the house with Desitin, or the time she was convinced flying unicorns were first in line for the ramp of Noah's ark.

All About Me: Touch!

Next in our study of the 5 senses is Touch. The sense of touch is different from the other senses in that it is located all over the body, not just in one specific part. Along with the face, neck, lips, tongue, hands and feet, fingertips are one of the most sensitive areas of the body. In fact, each fingertip has about 100 touch receptors! We put our fingers to the test in a few different ways today.

The awareness of one sense is increased when we can't use other senses. For our first activity, we sat down at a table, and I blindfolded each child. Then I handed them an object and gave them a minute to feel it. As they ran their fingers over it, I asked them to note the shape, the texture, whether the same texture was on all of it or part of it, the size, etc.



I tried to find things they were not very familiar with. After a minute, I took back the objects and removed their blindfolds. Then I gave each a piece of paper and pencil and asked them to draw their best interpretation of what the object was like.



Afterwards, we had fun comparing the drawing to the actual object and talked about what they felt and imagined in their mind's eye. Turns out they both knew what their objects were--so they did a pretty good job with their drawings!



Next, I gathered some objects with different textures and hid them under the couch cushions: a piece of sandpaper, a soft piece of cloth, a hard marble, a cold ice cube (in a baggie!), cotton balls, a pokey leaf, a smooth book.



The kids took turns reaching in without looking, and I asked them to describe what they felt. It was fun to see how many describing words or adjectives they could come up with.


Finally, we worked on this Touch page for our All About Me book.

You can print it here. I cut some pieces of fabric, sandpaper, shiny posterboard, and bubblewrap, and they glued them above the right describing word.



A couple of books you might want to find on your next library trip are: Find Out By Touching by Paul Showers and My Bunny Feels Soft by Charlotte Steiner.


And of course, touch is very important through hugs and cuddles, so be sure to give out lots of those today!

All About Me: Smell

It is 5 Senses Week here on The Mud Pie Makers, and today we are thinking about our sense of Smell.

To get our Sniffers engaged, we first walked from room to room in our house, looking for interesting things to smell. In the bedrooms, we sniffed the clean bed-sheets, crayons, and stinky shoes. In the bathroom, we smelled the soap, the toothpaste, and the shampoo. In the living room, we stopped to sniff the fireplace, and in the laundry room we compared the smell of dirty and clean laundry.

  The kitchen had lots of good things to smell...we pulled out fresh fruit, spice jars, chocolate, a cut onion, coffee, and garlic.

  Later we went outside to enjoy some outdoor smells. Someone was burning leaves...definitely a favorite smell of fall! We also got down to smell the dirt and some flowers.

After all the smelling, we talked about memories of smells. Were there any smells that made them remember a trip or special day? Did smells ever make them hungry, or make their mouth water? Were there any odors that made them want to get away quick?

Finally, we settled down on the couch and read the story of The Gingerbread Man. Mmmm...does anything smell more delicious than baking gingerbread??

  Afterwards, each of them got to decorate their own Gingerbread Man on this printable page here. After coloring and filling in other favorite smells, we placed glue on the tummies of the gingerbread men and they sprinkled some ginger and cinnamon spices onto it.

 

We let it dry awhile, and then it was a yummy scratch 'n' sniff page to put in their All About Me book. You can get more printables here and some ideas for starting an All About Me book for your child here.

  Have fun enjoying what the nose knows today!

All About Me: Seeing!

Shamefully I admit that I waited until today to start our "All About Me" books from Kylee's great post back in May!  It all started here.


This week I am going to start a book with my 4-year old daughter, as a way to incorporate some pre-school learning and bonding time! Kylee has all the details displayed on the blog if you want to know how to get started.  I am also working on some printables in case you are looking for some uniformity in your book, or if your child is not writing yet.


Today we are going to work on the first page of our "All About Me" book, which will include a self-portrait.  Some kids enjoy drawing more than others, but even if your child is not a budding artist, this is a great opportunity to help him/her learn about seeing and observation.  So, as we launch our 5 Senses week, encourage your child to observe and see as much as possible during this exercise.  


If you have time to head to your library or if you already have this book on hand, Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see? by Eric Carle is a very appropriate book for this project.  This adorable book will boost their creative thinking and help your child focus on understanding what it means to SEE.  Plus it's just a great book.


The first page of our "All About Me" book will look like this.  If you want to print your own, go here!  I have several other printables started and will continue posting them throughout this week:

To get started, I set up a mirror at the table.  Unfortunately I could only find a gigantic full-length mirror--a smaller one would have been better!  I encouraged my daughter to draw what she was seeing.  Kids tend to draw portraits based on a stick figure image in their mind as opposed to what they are actually seeing. For this project, I really wanted her to SEE her eyes, nose, mouth, hair and encouraged her to describe what she was seeing as she drew.  I would also encourage them to start with a pencil, but then use LOTS of color for the finishing touches. 

This is also a great time to introduce basic size and proportion to your child.  While she is drawing, ask her simple questions:  Are your eyes bigger or smaller than your mouth? Is daddy's face bigger or smaller than the baby's face?  This will help your child SEE, as opposed to drawing only from imagination, although drawing solely from the imagination is also a wonderful activity!

Next she drew a lovely portrait of our family! This printable is here.

The first two pages of her "All About Me" book are finished!  Next, I will hole-punch and place them in the binder.

**More Mud:
If you want to take SEEING to the next level, take your kid(s) outside and inspire them to really SEE!  Have them pick out several things, then observe them closely.

Ex. A mushroom!

My daughter asked to go get a magnifying glass. It really helped us see even more closely!

Ex. Observe all the textures in bark on a tree!

After we finished observing outside, we came back inside to finish our next page in the "All About Me" book. This page is all about seeing!  Have your child draw, describe in writing, paste or tape objects (a leaf, a blade of grass) onto this page. If you want to print this page, go here.

**In addition to all the learning that goes along with SEEING, this is also an opportunity to discuss the wonders of our created world.  Take the time to ask a few questions: Look at the details in this bark, leaf, mushroom.  Could you make that? Isn't it amazing? Suggested references are Genesis 1:1, Psalm 104:24-25, Colossians 1:15-16, Job 26:7-9, 11-14.  

Enjoy a fun time of observation with your child making your "All About Me" book this week!