Cooking with Kids

There really is nothing that a child can’t do in a kitchen save for carving a turkey, deglazing a pan, slicing garlic and dropping ravioli into boiling water. All right, so maybe it is not terribly wise to have a kid for a sous chef but there is a wonderful world of opportunity waiting for children in the kitchen (and not just opportunity to get hurt – I know that is what you were thinking!) On Sunday, my nearly three-year old lady helped me peel apples and a pear. We also snuck in a taste test. She closed her eyes … Continue reading →

House Cleaning Family Fun

Now that is an odd title, isn’t it? I know what you must be thinking, really I do. The phrase “Whoo-hoo! Time to clean!” never comes out of your mouth, not with an honest smile on your face anyway. And wait a gosh-darn-minute, how the heck are chores ever going to be fun for kids? Also, you may be saying to yourself “I cannot even think about getting anything clean, let alone orderly with my children running around the house.” Valid points, for sure. But as crazy as this notion may seem, you are indeed able to get your chores … Continue reading →

A Night of Taking My Own Advice

I experienced a handful of my previous Family Fun posts all in one evening and it was not premeditated; my night just morphed into a living, breathing family fun blog. It was superb! Before my workday came to a close (yes, a real desk job) I finally remembered to visit the websites of Gustafer Yellowgold and Justin Roberts and printed off about a dozen coloring pages for my daughter to enjoy. These are two of my gal’s favorites right now and I knew that each musical act had a sizable freebie section of their web pages. Problem is, I kept … Continue reading →

Game Night – It Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated

We’ve been meaning to start a game night for a long time. I enjoy playing games as a family, and I know games provide all sorts of educational opportunities. But mainly, I know it’s important to have fun as a family. We just haven’t found a good time to have game night. During the week we are too busy with homework and work and scouts. By Friday we are beat. Saturday night is our movie night, and Sunday night we are busy getting baths, finding shoes and backpacks and preparing for the upcoming week. But last night, even though we … Continue reading →

FUMBLE!

In honor of the NFL’s big game this weekend, our family is playing a lot of a game we like to call Fumble! To begin, we find any ball lying around the house. Our favorite to use is actually not a proper ball at all, but a cat toy. It is a little plush, bouncy blue and black soccer ball that is perfect because of its small size (about that of a small Clementine) and overall elusiveness. The game starts simply enough, with my daughter and I tossing the ball back and forth pretending to play basketball or football (or … Continue reading →

Wash Tubs , Play Dough Containers & Shoe Hangers – a Few Clever Craft Storage Tools

I have always been an avid crafter. I love to paint, create with clay, draw and build. Needless to say, I have a pretty chaotic craft room, or as my husband not-so-politely calls it…a “crap” room. My craft room became even more cluttered when my daughter turned three. She definitely got my crafty…(and slightly disorganized) genes. Suddenly my already crazy craft room was also filled with preschooler essentials like coloring books, crayons, beads, buttons, tissue paper, and left over toilet paper rolls. In an attempt to regain order, I came up with a few creative ways to store all of … Continue reading →

Getting Creative At Home

You may have noticed that I often tend to focus on creative ways to play at home, as a family. That is directly related to the fact that we are not the over-scheduling types, leaving us plenty of time at home together to be silly and find interesting ways to entertain ourselves. On a recent Sunday morning, my daughter and I were on my king bed playing with Mr. Potts and the rest of the Chitty gang. She was pretending that they were going potty, taking naps, going down slides and having a picnic. As she was coming up with … Continue reading →

Early Morning Fun

My daughter is close to moving into her own big-kid bed, but for now she is still sleeping in a crib. As such, she calls out “Daddy, I’m awake!” in the A.M. and then, as has been tradition since a very early age, we three snuggle in bed for a good long while (although this can never really last long enough!). It is the best part of the day, without a doubt. We have a couple games we like to play in bed which are fun and help to extend this amazing time we share as a family. The Baby … Continue reading →

Fondue Fun

Make dinner tonight a Fondue Feast for the whole family! Start with melted cheese served with apples slices, crispy bread cubes and celery and conclude with molten chocolate along side strawberries, brownie bits and cookies. In between, serve a traditional meal or go all the way with cook-your-own meats, poultry and veggies and cooking oils. What kid, big or small, doesn’t love to dip food into sauces, dressings or creams? Fondue presents an opportunity to dip EVERYTHING without the sideways glances or comments you might get otherwise. Personally, I do not care for the “upscale” fondue restaurants. The high prices … Continue reading →

Build an Indoor Fort

Yes, you can buy indoor tents, castles and forts. These mass-produced nylon edifices can rise up from a crib or bed, often featuring television cartoon characters, or they are simply erected on the floor. They are usually available in the shape of castles, sun domes, etc. But where is the fun in that? Plus, they are often rather costly and frankly there is just no need to throw your money away on such a toy. I guarantee that you have enough materials laying about your home right now to make a stellar fortress/castle/cave/tunnel/igloo/whatever your child wants to pretend it is. … Continue reading →