family rules

By Karen Brown

I came across this awesome, amazing, totally adorable “Family Rules” poster via the blog Whatever. I may have squealed in delight, I love it that much.

from Alexander Creative

Of course, the ones Ryan Alexander has in his shop have beautiful sayings that really ring true. But, you can also customize one for your own family with your own rules or family mission statement or whatever you like. I may have to revisit the book Three Big Questions for Frantic Families and get our family mission statement on paper just so I can have one of these made. It's a book I highly recommend...review coming soon.

He also has artwork for marriage and kids and just some other cool sayings like this “What Defines Us” subway art print. These would make great gifts.

from Alexander Creative

And if you head over to Whatever, she has a giveaway for a free print. Love me a good giveaway!

Do you have a family mission statement? What does it include?

Noonday

By Karen Brown

You’ve heard about Fair Trade, right? It’s the system of paying farmers a fair price for things we use every day, like coffee, tea and sugar. It’s such an awesome initiative and one that we try to support as much as possible. I’ve often wished, though, that more products had that Fair Trade label. What about clothes and shoes, or things for our home, or even toys for the kids?

I stumbled upon the Noonday website recently. It sells Fair Trade jewelry, scarves, bags, sandals, home décor and other gifts. It’s a company started by a husband and wife after a visit to Uganda. They wanted to adopt a baby from there and brought home some locally made crafts to sell to help pay for their costly adoption. Their story is a beautiful one; you can read about it here. I especially love how they came up with the name for their company:

When you satisfy the needs of the oppressed, your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10

The items in their store are beautiful. Many of these would make really lovely gifts. Here are some that caught my eye.

Kampana with Love necklace $38

Tague seed bracelet $28

Patchwork Clutch $34

Salad servers $24

Wouldn’t it be awesome if our kids grew up knowing what Fair Trade was? If, over dinner, we talked about oppression and treating each other fairly? If we had conversations about how they could be vehicles for change in our world?

Do you shop Fair Trade? What are your favorite website, stores or products?

Creation: Preschool Style

by Karen Brown

Around here, this week is back-to-school week. While my two oldest will be gone all day, I will be trying to come up with ideas to keep my little guy engaged and learning.

When my other two were preschoolers, one of the things I did that they absolutely loved was assign themes to each week. We then planned activities accordingly to reinforce what I was trying to teach. We started with a week loosely based on each day of creation. 

So for example, when we were talking about ocean animals God made we: visited the aquarium, went to the beach and saw baby sea turtles, glued seashells together and added googlie eyes to make our own “animals”, drew pictures of animals in the ocean with crayons and then painted over with watercolors, the kids earned ocean animal silly bands for good behavior, painted wood sea creatures from the dollar section at Michael’s, checked out books from the library on sea creatures and we may have watched Finding Nemo a few times. The emphasis was always on who made the animals, “Kids, who made this Loggerhead turtle? Yes, God made the turtle!”

Other ideas for weeks could be:

Day 1: Earth, Day & Night
• Shadow play with flashlights 

• Glow-in-the-dark paint
• Homemade sand playdough 

Day 2: Skies with Water Below
• Talk about the globe or play with globe “beach balls”
• Water play (we made a pvc “water park”), water ballons, go swimming
• Lay on your back and make animals out of the clouds 

Day 3: Sea, Grass, Plants & Trees
• Trip to the plant nursery or arboretum
• Apple or berry picking at an orchard
• Leaf rubbings
• Rake & jump in the leaves
• Plant wheat grass indoors & watch it sprout in just a few days

Day 4: Sun, Moon & Stars
• Phases of the moon chart
• Rhymes like “I see the moon & the moon sees me”
• Make constellations on the ceiling with glow in the dark stars

Day 5: Birds & Sea Creatures
• Visit a petstore and check out the fish and birds up close
• Visit the aquarium or the tidepools
• Art using craft feathers
• Go fishing

Day 6: Land Animals & People

• Trace the outline of the kid’s bodies, make handprint art
• Trip to the zoo
• Bake cookies with gingerbread men shaped cookie cutters & decorate
• Check out animals books from the library or the video series Planet Earth

This way of teaching your kids is really only limited by your creativity and imagination. Have fun with it and don’t take yourself too seriously.

What are your favorite ways to teach your children?

soul surfer

By Julie Wilson

Poster from Wikipedia

The other night our family watched the movie, Soul Surfer. It is a true story about a young woman who loves to surf. She lives in Hawaii, a perfect place for surfing to be a major part of her life. But after a shark attack changes her life forever, she is faced with a lot of questions.

Her faith in God is presented throughout the movie, as well as her family’s belief in God. After the attack, she is faced with the question, “Why?” She asks her youth minister why God allowed this attack to happen to her. How many times have we asked God that same question when faced with something terrible or something that we don’t understand?

This young woman, Bethany, has to find her purpose again. Before her attack she lived to surf, but you see throughout the movie how she changes. She goes on a mission trip and realizes there is more to life than just being a good surfer.

After the movie, we had a great discussion with our children. We talked about how Bethany’s faith helped her get through the most difficult challenge she had ever faced. We also talked about how God can take something terrible and use it for His glory.

I will say as a disclaimer, our girls ages 7 and 9 did turn away and not watch the part with the shark attack. We were being cautious, and we didn’t want them to be afraid. Overall though, we highly recommend the movie, it was a great starting point to have a discussion with our kids about how God gives us the strength to help us work through our fears and challenges.

Experiencing God’s Creation

By Julie Wilson

A couple of weeks ago my family and I took a trip down to Hannibal, MO. We went to explore and take a tour of the Mark Twain Cave. My kids had never been in a real cave before, so they were all pretty excited.

It was awesome! Our tour guide did an excellent job telling us stories about the cave and giving fun facts about it. She even made all the kids jump when she turned off all the lights to show us how dark it truly is in the cave, and then yelled really loudly as she was telling a story in the dark.

When we got back to my sister’s house that night we were all still buzzing about the cave. It was a great opportunity for us to talk about the beauty of the cave and how awesome it was that God created it. A lot of times we don’t stop to recognize the wonder of God’s creation and His detail, but this was one of those moments when we had a great conversation talking about how much we do appreciate God’s magnificent creation and were just in awe of Him.

The next night my dad took all the kids outside to do some stargazing. He had his binoculars and all the kids took turns looking up into the sky. My sisters live out in the country, so the brilliance of the stars there is unlike what we see living in the city.

This was once again another opportunity for us to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. I encourage you to find times this summer with your family to experience the beautiful world God graciously gave to us. What are ways you have done this in the past? 

Under Three

By Anna Hamman

Recently I read a newly published book for families with children who are under three years old. It is beautiful in its simplicity. It is mostly black and white photographs exhibiting two children playing and experiencing all kinds of things. There are captions to go with the images that give you simple ideas of how to play and encourage learning with your young child. Most of its message, however, is told through images.

In a world of so much parenting advice and toys and gadgets that can sometimes be conflicting in advice or overwhelming, this is a really simple book that is a refreshing reminder of how important play and simple low-cost or no-cost experiences with your children can be. I really enjoyed reading this and taking in some new ideas for play and learning with my 14 month old. There are so many possibilities! Take a look at the preview and the reviews on the website.

What are some of your favorite play experiences or games with your one to three year old? 

 

Free Fun Fridays

by Karen Brown

If you live in New England, don’t miss Free Fun Fridays offered by the Highland Street Foundation. 

Free Fun Fridays are an opportunity for children and families to attend local museums and attractions free of charge. There are literally 36 different places to visit including the Boston Children’s Museum, Franklin Park Zoo, MFA, Plymouth Plantation, USS Constitution, Museum of Science, and others.

What a great way to spend some family time together!

Fountains and the Beauty of Water

By Anna Hamman

As an early childhood teacher and a mum, I am always amazed at how water can be one of the most entertaining and educational experiences for children of all ages. From little hands running through cool or warm water, to tipping water from one container to another repeatedly, to jumping in a whole swimming pool of water, water has a quality that both calms and excites children.

Now that it is warmer in Boston, there are many water activities that one can do at home with small children using few resources.

Recently my 13-month-old and some of her buddies have been discovering the joy of fountains. On a hot day, I pack an extra set of clothes, sun-cream and a towel and walk to a water fountain in a park to play. For my daughter, sometimes watching and listening to the water and observing other children playing in it is as much part of the learning experience as actually getting wet. This is all part of the process of learning about the world around you as a toddler.

Here are three great child friendly fountains we have enjoyed in Boston that you might like to visit on a hot day. Some of them have rubber underneath to prevent slipping and all are pretty safe in that they are built to have the water drain away immediately. On a hot day, I have seen older kids play in them for hours.

•Dana Park (Cambridge)

•Park on the corner of Hingham St and Memorial Drive (Cambridge) 

•Park on the corner of Milk Street and Atlantic Avenue (Boston)

For the locals...Boston Harbor Islands

By Karen Brown

Now that school is out, our family is getting ready to make our Summer Get-to-Do List.  We have found that if we aren’t intentional in how we spend our time together creating memories, the summer blows past us and we are back to school before we know it. (More coming soon on creating your own summer list!)  One activity we are sure to add is visiting the Boston Harbor Islands.

If you are local to the Boston area, this deal would be a great way to spend to spend some family time together hiking, fishing, swimming, camping, or just relaxing on the beach.  Travelzoo is offering half-price ferry rides to Spectacle and Georges islands through the end of the summer. 

This deal must be purchased by Monday, June 27 at 8pm.  Check it out here! 

sing along

By Anna Hamman

I recently started taking my baby daughter to the Cambridge Public Library. If you live in the area, or even if you don’t but want a nice morning out, Cambridge Public Library is great for kids. There is a large newly-renovated floor dedicated to kids, a mat for babies and several free sing along and story times that are designed specifically for young kids and babies too. I really enjoy taking my daughter to the “Lapsit” class (for not yet walking-aged children) where you and your baby sing nursery rhymes with actions. There are free classes for toddlers and preschoolers, too.

The library is a really nice space to hang out in and read some new books. It also has a park in the front if you need some gross motor action in between reading sessions. I have found that there is a nice community of parents there, some of whom I have continued to catch up with outside of the library. Check it out!

 All rights reserved by The Cambridge Public Library

Bumkins Waterproof Bibs

By Anna Hamman

If you have a baby like I do and recently started feeding solids, you should check out these great bibs. I got sick of using the cloth bibs and seeing how easily they stained. These Bumkins bibs are great for babies ages six months to two years. They are made of a plastic material, and are light and easy to scrunch up in a bag if you go out. They can be wiped off easily and then chucked in the washing machine after a few wears. They dry quickly and they have good Velcro so your baby can’t pull them off easily. They sell a pack of three on Amazon, and here is their website. It may sound simple, but my hope is that products like this will help me cut down on the loads of baby laundry, so that I can spend time with her doing more meaningful things.