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Home With Carolyn

Pantry Organization Ideas

Hello there! This month, we are letting some love into the messiest parts of our homes.  I have been diligently working on organizing these spaces in my home, and I would love to share with you what is working!

Are you trying to figure out a new way to organize your pantry that works for your family, or are you starting from scratch? Let me help you, so that you can find what you need more easily in your pantry.

Don’t have a pantry? Ask yourself if you are willing to give up a closet near your kitchen to convert into a pantry, or have a contractor come to your home to help you find a space that you could turn into a larger pantry. No budget or closet space available for a large pantry at this time? I would suggest you get an affordable furniture piece you like with shelves and doors temporarily until you can do the pantry of your dreams.

Check out some of these tips, and use the ones that work the best for your family.

1. Put Healthy Foods at Eye Level

Bake a lot? Put your pantry items right within arms reach. Have kids? Put those healthier snacks down at the bottom so they can get to it more easily. Wanting to eat more healthy? Put those items right in front of you when you walk in—at eye level. It does help. I unfortunately put my cookies at eye level, and then I ate too many of them. Don’t do that! Remember—healthy foods at eye level. It make take a few weeks, and you may shift things around.  That is okay.  You will find what works the best for you.

2. Put Bagged Food Items into Clear Glass or Plastic Containers

You can fit food items like chips, pretzels, raisins, cookies, various nuts, rice, spaghetti, beans, and more in these containers. The glass ones I ended up getting on Amazon come in three different sizes, so that helped.  I like how they have a bamboo lid that seals really well. I was nervous that some of my food items would go bad especially with chips, but I tested it, and it kept it all fresh. Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. I find myself now eating more almonds, peanuts, and cashews as well now that they are easier to get to. None of them broke either when I was shifting everything into the pantry.  I  have enjoyed how I can more clearly see what food items I actually have. It makes grocery shopping easier. I chose the Talented Kitchen labels (also linked on the bottom of this post).


3. Sit in a Chair When Organizing the Pantry and Take Breaks

Yes, it can be overwhelming going through all of the food you have in your home. I recommend that you sit in a chair when organizing your pantry when you can. I unfortunately was standing the entire time and bending over and over again. I ended up pulling a muscle with all of this pantry organizing (seriously), so just sit down and go one by one. Request the help of a friend for this since it can get overwhelming, and don’t overdo it.  Have your garbage nearby since you will need it for all of those boxes you will be opening.

4. Put Other Food Items You Use into Tall Labeled Baskets and Follow the Pantry Labels

After looking at all the food you have in your pantry, it can be overwhelming knowing where to start. Just start with the labels and go one by one. That helped me in the process. Following the labels helped to guide me into putting what I had into various baskets. Getting tired? Just close the door and go back at it later on in the day or the following day. It’s a lot of bending going through this process, so don’t rush. I always like to start what I finish, so I can tend to do too much at once. If you are like this as well, maybe just do one or two pages of labels at a time.

Are you wondering what baskets to get? I honestly had a lot of pretty baskets in my cart, but it was adding up and getting to be too expensive. Instead, I went to Hobby Lobby, and I found these white and blue baskets on sale at 40 percent off. This cut my bill down significantly, so my husband quickly agreed that we should just go with these baskets. It’s up to you what color and design of basket you want to use. You could also do baskets with lids. You could do black and white or all white or whatever you feel like! That’s the fun part! Do the style that you like. I always appreciate the Talented Kitchen pantry labels. They really do hold up over time as well. Get the ones that fit your budget and use a color that means something to you.

 

5. Use Clear Glass Containers For Those Spices

My last home didn’t have a place to put my spices besides squeezed into a kitchen cabinet. Many homes are like this. I didn’t really want to use my counter space either for one of those spinning spice organizers. I ended up putting all my spices then on a wall spice organizer inside of my pantry since I never felt like I could really see them too well in the kitchen cabinet. In our current home, we are blessed with this narrow pull out spice area. Whether you end up putting them in your pantry or kitchen, I would encourage you to try this fun project out! I enjoyed getting these clear glass containers and labels. I’ll also link it below for you. We’ve used them this way for three years now, and I love how they are still. They are pretty and practical plus it encourages me to use them more when I cook or bake.

Want to try out some of these ideas? Feel free to shop my pantry at the bottom of the article!

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Talented Kitchen 8 Pack Metal Basket Labels Clip On Holders
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Glass Food Storage Containers Set
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Talented Kitchen Pantry Organization Labels
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Talented Kitchen 140 Spice Labels Stickers
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AOZITA 24 Pcs Glass Spice Jars
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Home Projects

Let Your Light Shine Playroom

If only our little ones would stay little.  I don’t know about you, but I would love to freeze time right now.  I don’t want my son to grow up into a pre-teen quite yet.  I’m sure you feel the same way, so lets slow down and treasure this time we have with our children.

We can be more intentional about having face to face, undistracted time with them during these years. They want to spend time with us in these spaces.

Today, I would like to share with you where we are now in our ever changing playroom.  This playroom reorganization project has special sentimental value to me since it will probably be my last “little kid” playroom until my son is a pre-teen.  Because of that, I wanted to capture more of that innocence and childlike imagination.

Yes, the Playroom Will Change (Again)

I often have wishful thinking, and I imagine how this room could just stay the same for my son’s entire life.  This is just not real life.  Our children grow and change constantly, and with that our playrooms change and grow constantly. Toys move in and out as their interests change. I know that in a few years, our playroom will change yet again into a room for a pre-teen.  For now, I am going to enjoy this season.

BEFORE PICS

As you can see, we did have somewhat of an organization system already.  We had clear plastic bins that were mostly labeled, rolling carts which were also labeled, and then a place to display Legos.  All you see though are these organizers when you walk into the room, and it can feel overwhelming.

Our Goals:

  1. We want to put our toys in organizers BEHIND closed cabinet doors.
  2. We want to add some fun color to the room.
  3. We would like to make our playroom more of a Lego building area now that we are getting older and spend more of our play time inside building with Legos or with our engineering Eureka Crates. We want lots more open space to build.
  4. We would like to donate what we are no longer playing with at this point.
  5. I want my son to see faith filled sayings around him and be inspired to stay curious, imaginative, innovative, and kind.

AFTER PICS

So the playroom is done! Phew! I am glad I did this because now my son has so much more space to play!

Why This Works Better

  1. We donated toys we no longer were playing with so that we could free up space.
  2. We have closed cabinets now! We can hide organizers that were staring at us every time we came into this room. Closed cabinets are the way to go even with organizers behind them.  I wish I did this sooner!
  3. We have color and a personalized theme now. My son’s name means “bright light” and “bright personality/bright intelligence”, so this theme fell into place for who he is.
  4. We love building with Legos, so we chose to focus on displaying those while putting everything else behind closed cabinets.
  5. Faith-filled saying are important to our family, so going across our room are sayings we want our son to remember and hold on to as he is forming his identity.  These wall decals are also posted in my shop at the bottom of the page if you are interested in trying any of them for your playroom. They were easy to put up, and I think everything will be easy to take down when we change it out later on.
  6. Yes, this playroom will change probably again in three short years.  However, I am going to enjoy it while it lasts!  The nice thing about this is that everything will just come off the wall since it is all sticky wall decals.  I will be able to peel off the sticky wall decals, replace it with something else, and still use the cabinets either in this room or another room of our home.

 

  


Are you interested in redoing your playroom? If so, here are the steps we followed to help us along the way.

Steps I Followed

  1. Take everything (I mean everything) out of the room. As you do this, make a donate pile.  This may be overwhelming and tearful at times, but if you can get through this hard part, you won’t regret it later on!
  2. After you have your donations ready, take them into your car.  Make a pile in another room of everything else.  Tired? Take a break and close the door.  Keep your child’s bedroom nice and neat.  Put an “under construction” sign up on the door.  Allow your kids to have toys to play with while they wait for their room to be done.  Again, this may be overwhelming and tearful at times waiting, but it is worth it.
  3. My son then went through each bin he already had and put his mini toys into the mini toy organizer below I got him.  He LOVED this! He was so happy to finally have a home for his mini toys that were getting lost in the bins and larger organizers.
  4. Put all of your Legos (we had them color coded in organizers) into 4-5 large LEGO organizers instead.  This is where we are now with our Legos, and it is working better for us in this phase of learning.
  5. Throw out toys that are broken.  Make each organized clear plastic bin more intentional.  If you don’t have labels for them, you can use the labels below or make your own.
  6. Start putting together those new furniture pieces now. My husband put together the 4 new furniture pieces for me (thank you!) while I started putting up the wall decals.
  7. Slowly, start adding the organizers back into the room, but now put them behind those closed cabinets! Have a few empty clear bins as well behind those closed doors, so there is space to grow into as well.
  8. Reorganize those Legos that have been created on floating shelves and high up on cabinets.  Broken Legos that your child wants to still build can go into organizers in one of those closed cabinets, so they can get them out at a future time. I used baseplates (see below) which helped to stack Legos up higher.  We had fun putting the Lego people on the baseplates!
  9. I really do like the new white and colorful metal organizers I found on Amazon.  They are sturdy, and I think we definitely saved money going this route. I could have done built-ins, but decided to save money and make it easier.

Have fun reorganizing your playroom, and don’t give up when the process gets overwhelming. Stay focused on the end goal, and your child won’t want to leave their playroom when it completed!

Cheers!

Like what you see?
Shop my playroom below!

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Room Copenhagen, Lego Storage Brick Box – Stackable Storage Solution – Stone Grey
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Strictly Briks Classic Baseplates
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Yovkky Christ Wall Decals Stickers, Positive Religious Christian Home Bedroom Decor
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Vinyl Wall Art Decal – Let Your Light Shine
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Talented Kitchen 147 Playroom Organization and Storage Labels for Toy Bins
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Rainbow Wall Decal Large Wall Stickers Half Sun Wall Decals
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funlife Fabric Large Rainbow Wall Mural Stickers Peel and Stick
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Amazon Basics Swivel Foam Lounge Chair – with Headrest
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Sauder Cottage Road Storage Cabinet
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Novogratz Cache 2 Door Metal Locker Storage, Mint Cabinet
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Novogratz Cache 2 Door Metal Locker Storage, Yellow Cabinet
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Room Copenhagen, LEGO Brick Box Stackable Storage Containers
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IRIS USA 44 Drawer Sewing And Craft Parts Cabinet Organizer
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Curriculum

Getting Creative With Carolyn’s Curriculum Store

Welcome! If you landed on this page, you may be interested in finding curriculum for English Language Arts.  You may be a homeschooling parent or an educator.  Thanks for stopping by!

Just a quick FYI for you before you continue reading.  I have my Masters in Education in Curriculum and Design.  I been designing curriculum for English Language Arts over the past 18 years for grades 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12.  I have designed thematic units of study for literature, creative writing, research, argumentative writing, expository writing, grammar, drama, and public speaking.  Please note that most of the curriculum I have designed has not been published or posted online since they were designed for school districts.  At this time, I will be designing new resources as this year goes on and posting them in my curriculum store while I am on a career break.

In the meantime, you can find the beginnings of my growing curriculum store HERE. Additional resources will be added as the year goes on. I hope that this store is helpful for you as you look for more resources for English Language Arts!

Cheers!

 

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Organizing

Let Some Love In

It is time to let some love into the messiest part of our homes.

You know those places. The ones we hide from others. The ones that just keep piling up more and more.

Today, I would like to write about something that we are currently dealing with in our home, and I am sure you are too.  The word is CLUTTER. Clutter isn’t just stuff though.  It is often a reflection of what is in our hearts.

I feel like we are all very thirsty for more in life.  We want to be fulfilled and “feel full” with the stuff we have.  In the Bible, Jesus says that, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:13-15) My faith tells me that I can find that fulfillment in my relationship with God and not in material items.

Before you even start to think about the clutter in your home, check your heart first before moving on to it.  Sometimes, we are holding on to sentimental items or the past.  Sometimes, we are looking to feel more fulfilled by what we have.  Lets check ourself first and reflect before moving forward.

Clutter Steals Our Joy

Clutter brings frustration, restlessness, and steals our joy.  It ends up piling up until we don’t recognize what we got in the first place.

But what about the latest toys, pieces of technology, or trends? We must first rethink what we are purchasing and ask ourselves if it will really be used. It is easy to purchase items impulsively so put your items in your cart, but don’t check out.  Sleep on it, and leave it in your cart. Sleep on it again, and maybe just leave it there for this month.

Here’s my tip for this month.

Besides the necessities of life, go on a spending freeze this month, and only purchase items that will help you organize what you already have.

When the sun goes down, what will be remembered about your home?

Will it be remembered as a place where there was love and contentment? Do you appreciate what you have, or are you still wanting more?

I know it’s so easy to get in the trap of wanting more and more and more.  Unfortunately, it just never ends since once you get one item, you just want another item.  Pull yourself out of this right now.

The Bible reminds me to, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”-Hebrews 13:5

Make it a priority this month to practice contentment.

I am making it a priority this month to remove clutter in two priority locations which I feel need it: the pantry (again) and the playroom (again). It can be frustrating to continue reorganizing a place that has already been organized, but don’t give up.  These two places continue to change, and we only have so much time to really work on them at a time.  I often felt when I was working long hours that I would never really get to finish what I wanted to organize.  Do you ever feel like this?

It’s a brand new year, and I find that winter is a perfect time for organization since we are inside our homes more.

Which room is the messiest room in your home that seems to be the most cluttered for you? I would encourage you to tackle that room first even if it takes you all month. I am just focusing on these two places.  Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many projects, or you may give up. Just choose 1-2 places you want to let some love in this month, and focus on those.

Let Some Love In

Early this month, I will be tackling our messiest rooms of our home which has been reorganized multiple times, and that is our playroom and pantry! What areas are you letting love into this month?

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Faith

A Longer Pause

How are you ringing in your new year?

What if we started ringing in this new season in our lives with reflection, gratitude, and prayer because perhaps it is time to take a longer pause this time.  It is likely we all feel disappointed, discouraged, and sad to some extent about the condition of our world, our families, and our culture. I think we are all grieving in one form or another.

As I ring in the new year, I reflect on Psalm 138 which tells me that that, “Although I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life”. I am thankful for that promise of God’s protection.  I also remember the promise that no matter what happens that, “the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me”.  This Psalm is packed with another beautiful truth when it states that, “your steadfast love endures forever”.  I give thanks for God’s steadfast love in my life and home and his faithfulness to my family and I.

Every season of our lives contain different stories that unfold more differently than we imagine. We meet one milestone or goal, but then something else changes.  There are so many unexpected twists and turns along the way, but there are also many surprises that are good. I believe that these good surprises are God winks to us reminding us of how much God loves and cares for us. There are so many answered prayers and even miracles we can’t even explain that happen in our lives. I think it is time at Getting Creative With Carolyn to remember those God wink times in our homes and lives where we have had those answered prayers.   I am grateful for these good gifts that  come from God. I want to challenge you and myself to reflect on those times of answered prayers and share them with others.

James 1:17 tells me that, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].”

Let us share our answered prayers that happen in our homes and families with those around us and encourage each other along our way.

Lastly, I wish the following for you and your family as you navigate into this next new season of your life.

“The Lord bless you, and keep you [protect you, sustain you, and guard you];

The Lord make His face shine upon you [with favor],
And be gracious to you [surrounding you with lovingkindness];

The Lord lift up His countenance (face) upon you [with divine approval],
And give you peace [a tranquil heart and life].” -Numbers 6:24-26

 

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Faith

Rest in Your Faith

I know it does not get any easier with the passing years. We hurt in places we didn’t expect would hurt. We find that we are disappointed more because life didn’t work out the way we had planned it when we were younger.  We work very hard in life and give it our best, but it doesn’t always pay off in our relationships with others because people are broken and imperfect.  We can’t control most things we wish we could control. We become more disappointed with our relationships with our family, and we don’t always know how to make it better since there is only so much we can do. We find that people are more unloving.

“Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.”-Matthew 24:12

I know there were times when I could not get through various parts of my life without my faith in Christ.  I knew it was then that God carried me through it and pulled me out of the crashing waves I got myself into.  When we give our restlessness and disappointments in our home and life to Christ, he will take that broken part of our heart and fill it with his joy, peace, and contentment.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened (by religious rituals that provide no peace), and I will give you rest (refreshing your souls with salvation).” -Matthew 11:28 AMP

Try it today.  Ask God to take your burdens and disappointments. I know I have had many disappointments as well, and I am offering mine to God each day I need to. I want to invite Christ into these broken places in my heart and into my home.

Allow Christ to come into your home and fill your home with His love. Home is a state of mind. We can find contentment in our home through our faith in Christ.

Psalms 127:1 says that, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”

We can design the most beautiful spaces, but if we don’t invite God’s love into these spaces, does it really matter?

Resting Looked Different For Me

I knew I had to rest, but resting for me looked different than I had thought.  It meant resting in my faith and choosing to rest in the creativity I had bottled up inside of me. It did not look hurried or rushed like many would think when you think of creative energy.  Instead, it looked quiet and peaceful.  It looked reflective and meditative.

When was the last time you reflected on your life?

Maybe, it is time to sit down and reflect. We have all been through so much over these past few years, and I don’t think many of us have taken the time to fully grasp what we experienced or reflect on what happened. We all need to take a moment and reflect to help us enter this peace.

“Peace I leave with you; My (perfect) peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. (Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.”-John 14:27

I am grateful for the peace I can find in my faith with my relationship with Christ.

What does peace look like in your home and heart right now?

I am aiming to create rest, connection, and community in my home.

It is time to rest. We must disconnect from our distractions so we can connect and reconnect again. Lets reprioritize our lives and let ourselves rest again.

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Education

Early Writing Tips

Don’t blink, or you may miss it! Your child’s writing skills may blossom sooner than you realize, or they may take more time to grow.  Remember, it’s not a race.  Don’t push your child into writing when they are not ready. Instead, get them started with drawing and coloring first. Once you see your child is taking off with coloring, they may be closer than you realize to writing words and sentences.

This blog post is very important to me since I have been teaching adolescents writing for almost twenty years.  While teaching adolescents how to write essays is very different than teaching early writing, it still requires the same ingredients- modeling, modeling, and more modeling coupled with patience and some fun!

I would encourage you to have your child attend a preschool and kindergarten program even if it is just part-time to allow them to have more practice with structured activities that will help them with their early writing skills.

Early writing takes time just like riding a bike.  It will come, but it will take some practice.  When learning how to ride a bike, we will keep falling until we get it, but once we do, we take off!  The same goes for early writing.  Here are some tips that I recommend for teaching your child how to write.  I will write another blog post about helping your teenager write those essays in another post.

Start Small

I don’t know where your child is right now in their writing journey, but just start small.  Color, color, and color some more.  This will strengthen your child’s motor skills for actually writing.  Do some drawings as well.  Check out my blog post on “At Home Winter Activities for kids age 5-6” since there will be some tips there for art to get you started.  Yes, I would start with arts and crafts first and get into writing out their shapes. Once your child can write out their shapes and have stronger motor skills with holding a colored pencil, they will be ready to start writing out their letters. This is when things start connecting.

Write the Alphabet in the Sky

Remember that your child is growing in their motor skills and still learning how to hold a colored pencil and marker.  Be patient with them.   Maybe they aren’t quite ready to write out their letters yet, so I would do tracing at this stage until they are ready.  Trace, trace, and trace some more! Trace in different colors and do some fun drawings on the side! Write the alphabet in the sky by holding our your pointer finger and writing a letter in the air with large strokes.  Have them do it with you so they get used to the movement.  When they get to their paper, remind them of how we “travel” with our letters such as “up the mountain” or “down the hill” or “in this circle” or “back again”.  By doing this traveling with letters together, they get more comfortable with the strokes of writing. I did this with my son just for fun, and I think he just thought it was silly.  I had fun with it!

Use a Mini Whiteboard

Once they have drawing, coloring, and their shapes down, allow them to practice on a mini whiteboard with their letters.  We would do this after breakfast each day with our sight word flash cards. Don’t do this on an empty stomach either.  I always do these types of activities after eating or with a snack! Our favorite lately is hot cocoa with homework which always helps!

Add a Writing Wall

I got large white board sticky decals on Amazon and put it up in my son’s playroom. We had fun drawing, doing simple math, writing words for the day, practicing our shapes, and writing out letters or words.  It made it more fun! Sometimes, we just played tic-tac-toe or made up stories to draw.

Combine Art and Music with Writing

You won’t regret this.  Make art and writing go hand in hand.  We would usually draw something then write about it.  I would model it for him on his chalkboard easel and remind him of how the letters looked. I would also play music in the background.  We enjoy the Study Instrumental music on Pandora.

Try out some art with writing then! Believe me, look how cute this is?! At age five, my son really took off with writing. Kids are also really good at reading music notes at this age.  Get them also looking at music notes gradually at this age as well!

I have to admit that the one thing I truly appreciated about the closing of schools is that I was able to teach my son how to read and write during this time.  I would have never been able to really do this if schools didn’t shut down.  Of course, I could have done some of it, but it wouldn’t have been the same. After teaching for eighteen years with writing and reading with my students, it was a pleasure to get to teach my son in his early years of learning how to read and write.  If this isn’t your thing, don’t worry since they will pick this up more from the instruction they get from their preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teacher.

I modeled writing for my son on his chalkboard easel and used white boards and lined paper, so it wasn’t anything complicated.  I would encourage him to do tracing before writing everything out. My son does cursive now, but this is how he learned when he was four and five. So precious!

Use the Sidewalk for Spelling Practice

We always enjoy sidewalk poetry with our students, so why not try spelling words out on the sidewalk? We did this with his sight words as well, so he got more used to interacting with those words.

Get Them Writing For Their Gifts to Others

After my son’s Frosty party when he was five, I told him I wanted a paragraph for Christmas as my gift.  I knew he was still five and learning his sentences, but I thought he could be up for this challenge since he was picking things up so quickly. He was very proud to present me with his first paragraph! I am happy to report that he does a writing for me now every Christmas and birthday ever since this started at age five. I’m not sure how long this tradition will continue, but I would be happy momma if he continued writing for gifts to others as he gets older.

Here were his first paragraphs at age five. So sweet! Anything to sneak in some writing, right?!

Your child may be interested in writing letters as gifts as they start writing more.  Let them gift others with their writings!

Use a Santa Mailbox and Create a Letter Writing Station

In the spirit of giving (writing), let us encourage our kids to write over their winter break with a mailbox! We have been exchanging letters for years now over the holidays with inspiration from a Santa mailbox and a winter wonderland.  It can be any mailbox.  In preschool, they had a pretend post office and would send each other cards of drawings, so I thought I would carry this activity home with letter writing.  We set up snowflakes in our hallway and a letter writing area.  I just get some envelopes and cards, glitter, stickers, and we are ready to go! This will help your child to practice their writing more plus do a fun activity that will strengthen your relationship.  Even now at age eight, we are still doing this tradition with exchanging letters back and forth. Don’t forget to always include lots of cute little stickers as well and cards/envelopes in your letter writing station because they will go through them very quickly!

 

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Education

Early Reading Tips

I do believe that one of the most important things you can do for your child is read with them. After teaching literature for almost twenty years to adolescents, I truly treasured the time I had teaching my son how to read.  It was so different than teaching my students how to analyze literature.  There isn’t anything like this.  To me, it meant everything.

At age four (almost five), we started the reading raceway program I did as a child.  It is an old reading program where you race your car through the raceway chart as you learn how to read using a set of 50 or so phonics books! You can do this with any phonics reading program. Don’t get caught up too much in what you use for your phonics- based reading program. As long as it is a phonics based approach, that is all that really matters.  Your child is not going to learn to read too well guessing what they are reading based off of the picture.  They need to be able to sound out the words.  As long as they are sounding out their words, that is where they need to be at this stage.  Don’t get discouraged if you haven’t started yet or done much with this yet.  It is never too late to start.

Make It Cuddle Time

Your child just wants to spend time with you and cuddle, so use this time as a cuddle time.  Whether you are working or at home, they just want to lean against you, drink their milk, and cuddle.  This is what made reading time natural and magical for us throughout the years.  It was a never a chore; instead, it became a special bonding time I was able to cultivate throughout the years. I really enjoyed nursing my son for almost two years, so when that ended I was sad that it was over.  Reading time then started to become cuddle time.

Go Slowly

This is not a race.  Every child is so different.  What works for your friend will not work for you.  Use this time to build your relationship with your child.  We did one phonics book at a time slowly.  We did not rush through the books.  I did not move on to a new book until we mastered the phonics book we were working on.  Sometimes, we would stay on one book for a month.  Don’t feel like you have to rush.  Enjoy this time with your child while they want to spend time with you. For our Sing, Spell, Read, and Write reading raceway program we did,  each of our books targeted a different sound (th, ch, ea, etc…) with stories focusing on the sound.  Each book built upon the next book, so we went in order from book one and then forward. We did go through the entire program and finished it around age six.  We never rushed it or put too much pressure on our son with it. This way, reading never became a chore for us.

Make it Part of Your Routine

This ended up becoming a positive learning experience for our son, and he loved it! We made it an every day part of our routine.  You may be wondering how.  I would get ready for work around 5:30 a.m. (I am never a morning person, but I made this a priority) then at exactly 6:15 we would eat breakfast together as a family and read together at 6:30 before I started work.  I know this seems early, but he was a morning person, and he did best at this time.  Also, I had to get to work. I didn’t call it reading time.  I called it “mommy cuddle time”, and he wanted to do this since he knew mommy was starting work after this.

Read A loud to Your Child

We have the power as parents to build lifelong learners who are curious, imaginative, and love to learn.  Listening to a screen read to them is just not the same.  They want and need to hear your voice, the way your giggle, the way your voice goes up when you are saying a character’s lines, and the way you pause and think through your reading.  There is a reason I did reader’s theater with my students over almost twenty years of teaching; it works.  Children enjoy interacting with the text.  They enjoy hearing various parts read in different ways.  They enjoy acting out the text.

When my son was an infant, toddler, and preschooler, I made it a priority to read to him 3 times per day (early morning before work, late afternoon after work, and before bed). When my son was around five and learning how to read, we would also then do mommy cuddle time again in the evening before bed with an additional reading time.  However, this second reading time was me reading to him modeling it for him.

Find Your Favorite Books

There are so many fun books to read with your child.  We made it a priority to go to the local library every two weeks.  Scholastic is also a really great place to find books. We really appreciated the Berenstain books and Dr. Seuss during these early reading years.

Do a Countdown to Birthday/Christmas With Books

Each Christmas, we do a countdown to Christmas day with one book per night in the month of December.  I would go visit Ollies to purchase inexpensive books, but as the years have gone on, I have hand selected books from Barnes and Nobles and Amazon for my son to read.  You can also do a countdown to your child’s birthday with one new book per night leading up to their birthday over a week time span.  Sometimes, we forget to buy our kids books since they are using their school’s library or their local library.  It’s also nice to build your library at home.

Try to Not Use Screens For Reading

In my opinion, screens are not a good idea for early reading.  The teenagers I taught did not like reading on a screen either.  They would always ask for a book copy of what we were reading. Unfortunately, so much of the reading kids are doing now in public school is on a screen since the public schools are not buying hard copies of books as much anymore.  Everything is on a screen.  After almost twenty years of teaching, I have found that reading on screens often causes inattention, irritability, boredom, and restlessness in my students.  They need and want to interact with the text.   While there are wonderful educational apps out there to help with reading, I would limit those to no more than 10 minutes at a time especially in these early years of reading. We did not use reading apps or screens for reading, and we still don’t use them.  My son is in the habit of reading before he goes to bed, and I’m very grateful it is not on a screen or it would interfere with the sleeping he needs for this time of growth in his development. Kids will be bombarded with screens everywhere they go. Try to not use screens for reading, so your child will not develop more hyperactivity and restlessness.  If your child’s teachers are using screens for reading, ask them for a hard copy of the reading.  I always provided hard copies of everything for my students so that they were not forced to read their books and complete their activities all on a screen.

 

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Event Planning

Crazy About the Crayola Factory

Today, I will sharing with you more information about the Crayola Factory.  I hope you can make the visit someday soon while your child is still young! I think it is definitely worth it to make this trip a priority while your child is under the age of seven.  We went when my son was five, and I am grateful we got to enjoy this experience together.

Here are some activities you can do while you are there.  Enjoy!

Have a Crayon Made In Your Child’s Favorite Color

His favorite color was yellow at the time, so we had a yellow crayon made with his name on it.

Enjoy their Indoor Playground

It’s not all coloring.  There is an indoor playground for your little one to also get their energy out while you are there.

Enjoy Painting, Coloring, Swirling, and Creating

My son really enjoyed the drip art where you you can use melted crayon wax to draw.  We ended up getting one as a gift that Christmas from a close friend of mine.  Drip art was something we never tried before, so it was fun to try a new creative art activity!

Check Out the Interactive Hands-On Activities

If you are thinking your child needs something more hands-on then just coloring, please check this out because there are multiple hands-on activities there to enjoy! They have four floors of interactive play activities! We enjoyed the rainbow rain where you enjoy virtual wax rain falling around you.  You can also splash your own boat through a very large water table in their water works station.

Don’t Forget to Meet the Crayola Characters

There are lots of opportunities to capture some photos here with the Crayola characters. Enjoy taking photos of your little one at this age since this phase goes by so quickly!

Recommended Schedule for Visiting

There are four floors of fun in the Crayola Factory.  I recommend that you arrive right when they open in the morning and enjoy their first few floors with those activities. When you need to, take a break and have your kids play in their indoor playground then get back at it and enjoy more of their activities.  When you need another break, enjoy their Cafe Crayola. We had a light lunch here while our son was working on more coloring. You won’t need to leave for lunch so then you can go back and finish exploring the Crayola Factory.  At the end, definitely visit their Crayola Store.  This was fun to explore and purchase some gifts for Christmas. You can also pick up your Crayola Experience souvenir photo at the photo pick-up.  They also have a snack shack and ice cream food stand, so don’t worry about packing snacks unless you want to. They do have a nursing room as well in case you need to use that. Of course, check out their website HERE for more information.

I hope you can make this trip! Enjoy!

 

 

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Elementary

At Home Winter Activities and Learning (Age 5-6)

Boundless energy. Amazing curiosity. Giggles and smiles. These are precious years.

I absolutely loved age five and six with my son since he was growing by leaps and bounds at this age! He really took off with writing, reading, drawing, and Legos at age five! It was so exciting to watch him grow in so many ways at this time.

So are you looking for some fun at home winter activities for those early elementary school years during age five and six? I would highly recommend that you do more learning activities at this stage, but that is my teacher self talking!

While I will post some more structured activities here, don’t forget to do those spontaneous unstructured times where your child can continue to enjoy imaginative play. We find that spur of the moment unplanned activities are very enjoyable for our son, so don’t forget to NOT PLAN because sometimes in the mean time of not planning, a lot of fun will come your children’s way!

Here are some planned activities we have done from age five to age six during winter at home.  Maybe, you can try some of them out, but don’t forget to not plan as well since that can also turn out well. Enjoy!

Have Conversations About Your Morals and Values

Yes, talking is an at home winter activity.  One that people don’t do enough of with so many screens surrounding us each day so lets be reminded to just talk first! Lets be reminded to have those important conversations about our morals and values. Do you find enough time in your schedule to really talk and have a genuine and authentic conversation with your children? Lets make it a priority and add this one to one of our at home winter activities because it is so crucial!

We find our hope, our purpose, our morals, and our values in our faith in Christ.  Being present and sharing your faith with your child is so important at this age as they build their morals and values.  The most important work you will do will be within the walls of your home.  Be sure to instill those moral and values to your kids. For us, it is Christianity, and we trust God to fulfill his purposes for our lives.

Make the Garage a Playzone!

I know not all of you have basements, so if you can, make the garage a playzone.  I did this during the pandemic so we could feel like we were outside, but we would be shielded from the wind! We set up our Legos out here on tables.  We also would paint out here and play basketball for hours.  I even set up our hot tub in the garage (not kidding), so we could swim in the winter!  As you can see, the hot tub was a lot of fun! I never made the temperature too high since I wanted my son to enjoy it safely. We put padding in the garage during this time as well, and I hung up large photo backdrops on the garage walls to make it more festive.

Take Advantage of All That Snow and Enjoy Homemade Hot Cocoa

It is really just the simple things in life that are worthwhile. It doesn’t take any planning to set up these activities.  Sometimes, we are just blessed with these opportunities.  Are you taking advantage of them?

We had the best sledding hill in our prior neighborhood.  The neighborhood kids loved meeting up at the hill and having a good time. It was a blast going up and down the hill!

Keep That Inflatable Set Up In Your Basement

We loved this as the years went on!  It didn’t matter how icy it was, we always had a place to get our energy out and have some fun!

Continue to Enjoy Drawing/Coloring/Painting/Crafting

Set Up Pastels and an Easel

I just got some pastels and easels from Michaels and thought we could try this out together.  We enjoyed trying this out making some drawings.  It is messy, so I put down a disposable table cloth over my table.  Definitely worth it to try it out if you haven’t before.

Learn to Draw Using Kids Art Hub

At age five, my son really took to drawing thanks to Kids Art Hub.  We did this for 10-15 minutes max on various days.  I am not a very good drawer, so this amazing family gives step by step directions to kids so they can learn how to draw in a fun and easy way!  I am very grateful to Kids Art Hub for giving my son a confidence to draw and be creative! After they draw, have them write about it.  I would always make writing go hand in hand with drawing at this age to make it more enjoyable.

Have a Coloring Day

I am talking about an entire coloring day where you color for hours upon hours with a lunch break of course and then make books out of your coloring pages.  We loved these days, and we would just staple our little books together of all of our coloring pieces. We got more inspired to do this after visiting The Crayola Factory (more on that in another blog article).

Play With Puzzles

This one was one of our favorite ones.  It was nice since it also taught the different parts of the body!

Take Photos of All Those Masterpieces

At age five, we got our son his own little camera. This is the age when we really started taking photos of Legos we built, creations we made,  and drawings we did.  I ended up taking those photos and making a Shutterfly photo album of his creations.  It’s enjoyable looking back at his creations he made in the photo album.

Keep on Playing With Those Legos

My son really took off at age five with building Legos.  He absolutely loved it.  He would spend all day long playing.  This was since schools closed down, and he would quickly finish his work and have nothing left to do.  I would try to give him around 4 hours worth of activities to do while I was teaching my 260 students online.  Yes, it was challenging since he had nothing to do each day for around 4 hours.  He would fill this with Legos, reading, writing, and playing.  My husband and I would take turns spending time with him with structured activities I set up for him.  We must have spent around 2,000 dollars on Legos at this time! (not kidding)

Get More Involved in Playing Instruments

At age four, my son started playing both the piano and violin with lessons.  From age five-eight, he took off with playing these instruments at home.  He would just go into our music room and play.  Often, he wasn’t even reading notes, but he was playing a song he heard form a movie or on the radio.  This playing of music was more spontaneous and by ear.  He did start reading music at this time, but we also wanted him to be able to experiment with playing music by ear. Be sure to try out Piano Maestro App since it will help your child to play more easily when they start out!

Have Your Own Gingerbread Party

Host a Small Frosty the Snowman Party

At the age of five, we hosted a Frosty the Snowman party for his kindergarten friends and cousins for my son’s “sleep under party”.  This occurred right before the pandemic started right before school closed (literally 2 1/2 months before). A sleep under party is when everyone comes in their pjs around 6:00, but then instead of sleeping over everyone leaves at 8:00.  Just the way I like it!  We gave the kids and parents breakfast for dinner with Greek Yogurt Pancakes and homemade crockpot hot cocoa which was absolutely amazing then showed them the Frosty the Snowman movie.  It was definitely a fun experience and just took a little planning. I am happy I hosted it because who would have known that everything would have shut down shortly after this?

Host a Countdown to Noon (New Years Party)

We counted down to noon with a small little gingerbread making party this year with the cousins.  It was fun and enjoyable! I made it pretty easy besides the balloon garland which took a little more time.

Host a Valentines Day Kid Party

This was just another excuse to get cousins and friends together to enjoy some new memories together! I know they enjoyed getting together and playing after a few long months of winter.  Here are some activities I did for that time hosting.

Exercise Together Using the Mirror

The Mirror allowed me to workout at home when I was teaching from home during the pandemic.  I could do a workout before and after teaching my classes which was very convenient, and now that gyms have been reopened for a while, I still enjoy using it on a weekly basis.  I enjoy the “Family Fun” workouts on it to do with my son.

Continue Baking Together

Continue Making Those Forts

My son really enjoyed his camping bed fort which we had up during this phase.  He would play in it for hours, and it made him feel more secure and safe in his bedroom as he started to gain more independence.

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Parenting

At Home Winter Activities (Toddler/Preschool Years)

Today, I would like to share with you some at home winter activities we did during my son’s toddler and preschool years.  This a very busy time with a little one’s high energy. I hope that you are able to enjoy some of these with your family as well.  Feel free to also check out my Pinterest page as well for more at home winter activities HERE.

Here are some fun ideas we did, and I have to admit it has been fun going through these old photos as well!

Make a Pretend Garage Mechanic Shop

When my son was four, we set up a pretend garage mechanic shop in his closet.  His idea! Who would have known this would be so much fun! He would write down the cars and what was wrong with them then he would fix them with his pretend tools!

Get a STEM Club Monthly Subscription

We did  the Amazon STEM club during my son’s preschool years and then the monthly Kiwi Crates.  It was always fun to get a new one in the mail to put together! KiwiCo also has their Panda Crate and Koala Crate for this age. These would take hours to put together during those long winter months, so they were great to have! I love any learning toy that teaches problem solving and critical thinking.

Play With STEM Toys

A lot of parents get tired of the clutter of toys.  I would highly encourage you that the next time you buy a toy for your child that it is STEM toy.  These are awesome for learning.  I don’t think of these as clutter at all.  I have really appreciated toys that promote learning and innovative thinking. To me, these are definitely not clutter.

Make Your Own Instant Snow

Start Playing With Legos

There isn’t really an age to begin playing with Legos.  Just start! My son really started playing with Legos at the age of 4 as you can see in the below picture. These are some Legos he built then.  My husband also loves playing with Legos as well, so they spent hours doing this over those long winter months. At this time, we had his Legos organized by color. He has continued to love it over the years so much! Check out my article on Legoland if you are interested in visiting there!

Host a Cookie Decorating Party

This was easy to do! We just invited my son’s cousins and friends at preschool and made the sugar cookies in advance.  When the kids showed up, all they had to do was decorate the cookies and bag them up! They also looked so adorable in their mini hats! This was a fun memory!

Make Your Own Pretend Restaurant

We made a sign for our restaurant and everything.  It’s always fun eating pretend food all day, right?! I brought out my muffin pan as well to make it feel more real with playdoh muffins.

Make a Snow Sensory Bin for Painting

There were days when it was too icy to play outside, so we brought the snow inside our garage for painting! This was a lot of fun to do. Kids will just keep asking to play outside, and they don’t always understand that it is too icy to play outside.  This solves that problem right away.

Make a Corn Sensory Bin With Farm Animals

This fun idea came to me since my son loved going to the local farm to play in their corn! I thought I could do that at home, so I just put some corn in a bin and some farm animals and toys from Tractor Supply.  It was a fun activity to do in the basement and on our patio!

Set Up an Inflatable Bouncy House In Your Basement!

I must admit I questioned this while making this purchase, but I was so glad I did since he played in his inflatable bouncy house for hours and hours during those long winter months when it was too icy or rainy to go outside.  We would throw the ball back and forth in the bouncy house as well, and this was definitely one of our favorite activities during those long winter months!

Do a Giant Coloring

There were days when we would sit together and color ALL Day! Enjoy all the coloring and fun together.  Michaels also sells these fun life-size coloring projects that will last for days!

Make Your Own Pretend Racecar To Push Around the House

Good workout for this one! I had fun pushing my son around the house with this one.

Decorate your door together.

You can find these type of doorman decorating kits at Michaels, one of my favorite stores for crafts!

Make Homemade Peppermint Playdoh

Homemade playdoh is so much better than playdoh bought at the store, and it’s great for gifts for the cousins as well! I enjoyed playing with it as well.

Make special pancakes!

We have done lots of special pancakes over the years.  They are always special around the holidays. They don’t always look the neatest, but that is the fun in making them!

Go On Stuffed Animal Walks

This was a common activity for us, and it was always fun!

Music Time Together

This has always been a priority for us even now.  You can spend hours and hours playing music together even if it is with fake instruments!

Snow Activities

There are so many fun winter activities to do at home with snow from making snow angels to making igloos, shoveling, making snow angels, and painting snow!

Make lots of forts!

Forts come in all shapes and sizes.  We have made plenty throughout the years.

Encourage Make Believe/Imaginative Play

I ended up making four costume bins for my son since he loved dressing up so much in various costumes.  I would also save his non-scary Halloween costumes and put them in the dress up bin as well for more fun imaginative play.

Make Your Own Homemade Ornaments

We made our own homemade gingerbread ornaments at this time, and we loved it! We still have them to put on the tree, and they still smell great! There have been other ornaments we have made as well throughout the years using popsicle sticks, glitter, beads, other crafting materials, and Legos.

Have Fun Baking Together

Train Fun

We always enjoy playing for hours with trains.  We would also go on a local train ride each winter for their Santa train ride.

Craft it Up!

We really enjoyed the spiral art maker! It was definitely messy, so I recommend doing this in your basement or garage.  We have lots of white furniture, so I can tell you nothing got ruined in all of our craft making times!  We also had fun with sand art, clay, stickers, markers/crayons, and lots of glitter of course. Use your basement or garage if you are worried. We visited the Crayola Factory as well a few times over the winter months.  More on the Crayola Factory in another article!

Enjoy Those Riding Toys and Balls Even In the Winter

We had a toy tractor that was given to us as a wonderful gift from my in-laws and a toy jeep that was given to us as well.  You can enjoy these riding toys in the winter all bundled up as well.  Just don’t go out on ice obviously. If you have room in your basement, the kids can ride them down there as well! They are a lot of fun for kids. Also, don’t feel like you can’t bring out the balls in the winter! Just bundle up!

Make Fun Snacks Together!

Play Board Games

Work On Writing Letters, Shapes, and Name

At age four, I taught my son his letters, shapes, our address, and his name plus we started reading our phonics books with the Reading Raceway program and slowly writing sentences after I modeled writing it for him! It was so much fun teaching him during his preschool years. He learned very quickly and was easy to teach.

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Elementary

Screen Free At-Home Winter Schedule (Elementary Years)

Those long winter months—you know what I am talking about!

The pent up energy, the running around the house, the jumping and leaping… I only have 1 child, so I can’t imagine the noise you may have with many little ones bursting with energy.  I am sure there are a lot of pillow forts!

So let me offer one suggestion: don’t let your kids say the word “bored”.  Tell them it is a bad word.  Ever since my son has been young, I have not let him say the word “bored”.  He said it once when he was three, and I told him that was a bad word.  He never said it since then (thank God).  I know this sounds silly, but I do think it changes things. I never realized how grateful I am that he doesn’t say that word until I was around another child who kept saying it over and over again in the midst of a fun activity.

When your child says, “I’m bored” give them a musical instrument, a board game, a puzzle, or have them run around outside in the cold with their gloves and hat on of course.  We make it priority to bundle up every single day (except on rainy days) after homework time for around 30 minutes to an hour before it gets dark.  I often don’t want to go out since it is so cold, but making this a priority is important to our son so he can play outside!

Today, I would love to share the schedule we have followed for years now that works for us.  This schedule has been great for my son’s elementary school years. We do not use iPads or have screen time.  We do make movie night Thursday night, but we keep the rest of the weekdays TV and screen free.  This makes a huge difference as well! Screens actually can make us more “bored”.  Really?! Yes, so try to commit to a plan where you are implementing less screen time! Screen time will just make your kids more frustrated, restless, inattentive, and bored in the long term.

Here is the schedule we follow during those long winter months AFTER homework is completed without using any screens (except on Thursday).  It changes during the summer due to more outside time, plus there is no school.  I will share my summer schedule later on in another blog article.

Each Weekday

Every day after school, we will do homework and a healthy snack/drink right away as soon as he gets in the door.  This homework time usually lasts us around 40 minutes lately.  After this, he knows he can go outside and play! We go outside together and play usually until it gets dark.  After that, we have specific activities we try to commit to each evening.

Here are the themed nights we aim to follow during our school week. This has been great during this season of our life (elementary school years). I know it will change though when my son gets involved in more sports as the years go on.  For now, I am enjoying this short phase!

Monday: Baking/Cooking and Game Room Night

This evening, I try to make it a priority to include my son in preparing our meal or baking something fun.  At the close of the night, we will often go into the game room and play ping-pong, basketball, foosball, or ice hockey.  I’m grateful we have these games in our basement to play with especially during the winter months! We got the smaller version of ping-pong, foosball, and ice hockey since it is less expensive and takes up less space.

Tuesday: Game Night

This evening, we will go upstairs to our game area in our hallway and pick out 2 games depending on how long they take.  Our favorites lately are Life, Monopoly, Yahtzee, or Checkers. If I don’t make this intentional, it won’t happen. We have so many hand me down board games, so I try to make it a priority to do this once a week. That’s why having it each week like this in this structured format helps me to follow it more closely. There are also some amazing learning games for spelling and math, but I will share that in another blog article.

 

Wednesday: Music Lesson/Playing Music Together Night

I know not every child plays an instrument, so you could turn music on more intentionally this evening.  If your child is interested in the piano, you could get them a keyboard and set up the Piano Maestro app which will teach them the notes in a child-friendly way that is easy to follow.  I highly recommend the Piano Maestro app.  My son started using it when he was four, and it gave him the confidence he needed to keep going with learning his notes.  You could also find a music teacher to start lessons and see how it goes! The best time to introduce music to your child is when they are in their elementary school years.  You could even just set up a little microphone for them to sing along. This has to be intentional since we often get too busy.  This evening my son has violin lessons, but in the extra free time we have together I will play the piano, my husband will play his saxophone, and he will play his violin or keyboard with us.  This proves to be a fun time where we can all play music together before/after his violin lesson.

Thursday: Movie and Chore Night

My son enjoys being able to pick out a parent-approved movie this evening and having popcorn! We go all out with the popcorn and icecream this evening since we don’t do this on the other week nights. We don’t usually have time to finish the entire movie though (it carries into a Saturday usually). It’s relaxing for us as well since we are usually pretty tired by this day due to the demands of work and home. We find our son is usually pretty tired by this day as well due to all of his homework he does leading up to this day. We also try to do one or two of our chores this evening before the movie that don’t take much time even if it just putting our laundry away or picking up toys.

Friday: (usually changes)

This night changes depending on family plans, so I leave this night open for anything we may want to do together.

I hope you find this schedule helpful as you build in more family time that is intentional.  I can’t say we follow it perfectly each week, but we aim to do most of it.  Don’t feel like you have to follow a schedule down to all the details either.  Just do what works the best for your family.  Many evenings we are extremely exhausted from work, so we will try to do what we can here even with little energy.  Our son will often remind us what night it is when we forget.

This schedule definitely has helped us get through the long winter months during the week. Let me know what works for your family!

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