From Puffs to Bowling!

I was in the toy store the other day looking for outdoor entertainment for the kids.  I came across a bowling set with 10 small plastic pins and 1 small plastic bowling ball.  The set looked like it wouldn't stand up to the beating my kids were bound to give it.  On top of its less than stellar design, it was $22.99!!!  Seriously?!? 

So I got out my thinking cap.  I had been storing the empty bottles from Gerber Puffs that my son loves to eat.  I found a whole box full of them in my garage and came up with a plan.  My daughter and I got out some Sharpies and went to town decorating ten emptly bottles.  After they were decorated, we set them up in the proper bowling pyramid and went to town knocking them down with a bouncy ball.  The kids loved it!!  The best part- it was FREE!! 

YoBaby, No Baby!!

My 1 year old son LOVES Yo Baby Yogurt.  However, $2.50 for a 4 pack was getting really expensive.  I thought there had to be a cheaper way.  I decided to buy a big tub of vanilla yogurt and a bunch of bananas and blend my own yogurt.  To my delight, I was able to make 4+ times the amount of yogurt for the same price!!  When purchasing a big tub of plain or vanilla yogurt, make sure you choose natural or organic yogurt so that you are not feeding your baby aspartame and other preservatives that can be harmful.  By making your own yogurt, you will save lots of money and you can mix your own flavors.  I think I may even have to eat some of his yogurt as a snack or for breakfast!  YUMMY!! 

Tooth Fairy Pouch

My daughter lost her first baby tooth tonight.  I didn't want her to lose it when she put it under her pillow and she wasn't too keen on the idea of the Tooth Fairy coming into her room while she was sleeping.  The solution?  We made a Tooth Fairy pouch.  It was simple and she was able to help make it.  We found some scrap purple felt in my craft closet and I cut a rectangle that was 6"X3".  I folded the rectangle in half to make a 3"X3" square.  She threaded silver rope through each side of the purple square, leaving some slack in the rope at the top of the pouch for a handle.  I found the silver rope in an ornament kit I had leftover from Christmas.  I cut out a tooth shape from some white scrap felt and hot glued it to the front of the purple pouch.  With a silver Sharpie I wrote "Tor's Tooth" on the white tooth.  I put her tooth in the pouch and hung it on her door knob for the Tooth Fairy!  Such a simple project and the best part is, it was FREE!  If you don't have these scraps laying around the house like I did, it would only be a few dollars at the craft store.  Felt squares are cheap and you can use yarn or ribbon which is also cheap.  The whole project should cost less than $2.00.  Happy crafting! 

A MATH GAME FIT FOR THE EASTER BUNNY!

Easter is just around the corner and coloring Easter eggs is one of our favorite traditions.  Once you turn those hardboiled colored eggs into your meal of choice, don’t throw out that egg carton!  It can be used for your child’s newest math game!  With a sharpie, the empty egg carton, and a couple of jelly beans (courtesy of the Easter Bunny), you can turn a simple Easter tradition into a fun way to learn math.  Take the empty egg carton and write the numbers 0-12 in any order on the inside of the individual egg compartments.  You could also write 0-9 with two wild card spaces for younger children.  Place the two jelly beans in random compartments and close the egg carton lid.  Have your child shake the egg carton and the jelly beans will fall into two different compartments.  Open the lid and have the child add, subtract, multiply, or divide (whichever math concept you are working on) the two numbers the jelly beans landed on.  This game can be modified to teach number recognition to preschoolers as well.  It’s a game the whole family can play all courtesy of the Easter Bunny.

Instead of writing numbers, you can draw shapes and/or colors in the egg compartments to teach preschoolers their shapes and colors.  Make multiple games each time you run out of eggs.  The kids will have a blast and be learning at the same time. 

ABACUS! ABACUS! ABACUS!

Torrance loves learning to add and subtract.  She was having trouble using her fingers for larger equations and at home we could use beads, candy, rocks, and other items to count out for her addition and subtraction homework.  I wanted her to be able to use some of these items at school when she was doing her math there.  However, handing a baggy of beads to a Kindergartener has trouble written all over it.  The solution: a small abacus made from popsicle sticks, dowels, and beads.  It is small enough to fit in Torrance’s backpack and desk at school, but large enough to handle the difficulties of Kindergarten addition and subtraction.  An abacus like this one can also be used for older children who are doing higher level math, and even used for multiplication and division.  It can be made with more dowels and beads if necessary and customized to the child’s liking.  Tor loves purple and picked out the star beads. 

To make the abacus you will need 14 popsicle sticks, 6 small dowel rods, beads of your choice (make sure the dowel rods are small enough to fit the beads), paint of your choice, hot glue gun, and a sharpie or paint pen. 

Step 1) Paint 6 popsicle sticks.

Step 2) Glue together 3 popsicles with a painted one on top of the stack.  Make 4 stacks of three popsicle sticks.

Step 3) Thread the beads onto the dowel rods. 

Step 4) Turn two of the popsicle stick stacks upside down and measure 1 inch rows, drawing guidelines onto the popsicle sticks. 

Step 5) Glue the dowel rods with beads on them to the upside down stacks of popsicle sticks on either end.  Make sure the dowel rods are glued to your guidelines so that they will remain equal distance apart.    

Step 6) Glue the remaining two stacks of popsicle sticks to the top of the dowel rods.  Glue the remaining two popsicle sticks to either end of the abacus. 

Step 7) Write your child’s name on one of the popsicle sticks. 

NO MORE MATH!

This week I am going to post some of my favorite math lessons that I have come up with for my daughter, Torrance, who is in Kindergarten and learning addition and subtraction.  She does pretty well, but I always like to provide extra help.  The last thing she wants to do after school or during vacation is more math worksheets so I had to tap in to what she does like to do and turn it in to a math lesson.  Torrance loves penguins and she loves anything artsy.  I decided to put these two obsessions together and came up with a color by numbers math lesson.  It was so easy to do and she loved coloring her penguins.  I downloaded a couple of penguin coloring pages from the Internet.  I chose four colors that would be the primary colors used for the pages and made a code (i.e, 2= red, 3= green).  In each section that should be colored red I put addition problems that would equal two.  In each section that would be colored green I put addition problems that would equal three.  I made two pages for her, with a total of 8 colors and 8 possible solutions to addition problems.  This is such a simple math lesson.  You can use your child’s favorite coloring book or even draw your own pictures and write the equations in the appropriate sections to be colored.

There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one!

I know what you are thinking, “Please, not another mommy blog.”  It seems like every time I turn around I find another blog from a mom on how to find deals, clip coupons, or save a dime.  What about some good old fashioned resourcefulness and creativity?  Social networks are overflowing with questions from mommies on subjects ranging from getting permanent marker off the walls, potty training a three year old destined to start Kindergarten in diapers, or helping their child improve their grades without yet another worksheet.  TIPical Mommy is the place to find all these answers and more.  I love employing creativity in all aspects of parenting my two adorable children and will share my newfound genius as it unfolds.  Of course, two heads are always better than one so feel free to send in your own tips and I will make sure to post them on the blog giving full credit where credit is due.  Together, we can navigate the murky and rewarding waters of motherhood!

“There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.”  Jill Churchill