6 Christmas Craft Supplies Essentials For Kids

Christmas or any other holiday season and celebration is a good time to be crafting with kids. Crafting is fun for children and it also creates a bonding time for parent and child especially if you do it together. I've been doing Christmas crafts with my kids for years. We've got Reindeer Crafts, Santa Crafts and lots of Christmas tree crafts. We also made many homemade Christmas Cards. You can get lots of free templates or ideas from all over the internet for all sorts of Christmas crafts to do with kids. However, it would be really good if you had some Christmas Craft Supplies for kids. They will make your crafts really festive with just a little creativity.

Here are 6 Christmas Craft Supplies Essentials For Kids. You can use these Christmas Craft Supplies for kids to make all sorts of kids christmas crafts including homemade Christmas ornaments, Christmas cards, Christmas stockings and more. 

6 Essential Christmas Craft Supplies To Make Better Crafts That Come Alive During The Holiday Season:

1. K&Company Designer Paper Pad by Susan Winget, Penguin Christmas

Christmas themed paper are great for Christmas Crafts of any kind. You can use them for making Christmas Origami Projects, Christmas bookmarks, Christmas Cards with your kids. You can also use Christmas themed papers for your own Christmas scrapbooking projects.

2. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SCRAPBOOKING STICKER ASSORTMENT
Holiday Stickers are great for little kids who are making Christmas crafts. They can add the Christmas stickers onto cards, bookmarks and other Christmas crafts easily to instantly get a festive holiday craft with little effort. The Christmas craft will look great and your little one will be proud of his or her achievement. Christmas stickers are easy to handle and use and recommended for very young children doing crafts. You can use the left over stickers for your holiday scrapbooking. Christmas Stickers are also good for sealing wrapped up gifts.

3. 50 Assorted Christmas Stamps

Christmas or Holiday stampers are another easy to use medium for little kids. They are fun and will liven up any Christmas craft project by a child. Christmas stampers also make good Christmas Stocking stuffers for children.

4. Clever Lever Xtra Giga Craft Punch, Multi Shape Christmas
Christmas shaped craft punch or holiday theme punch are lovely for adding to projects. You can use the Christmas craft punch to punch out beautiful Christmas shapes on colorful Christmas papers and add them to your Christmas Crafts with kids. I love this holiday craft punch which punches out multi Christmas shapes with just one punch!

I also like the Martha Stewart Crafts Punch, Arctic Snowflake or the Christmas tree or gingerbread men shaped Christmas Craft punch.

5. 500 Fabulous Foam CHRISTMAS Self Adhesive Stickers
Like the other Christmas stickers, Christmas foam stickers are excellent for craft projects for children because of the delightful 3-D effect they product for the Christmas crafts by kids. I love foam stickers because they are easy to use and they turn out beautiful when applied to various kids crafts.

6. Adhesive Back Jewels
Finally, I like to add adhesive 3D jewels for my kids craft projects because I love bling bling. These bunch of adhesive jewels and gems will surely brighten up any craft project or holiday drawing with some bling bling fun.

Apart from the above 6 Christmas Craft Supplies Essentials For Kids, naturally you will also need the basic pen, paper, ruler, glue and scissors plus the optional glitter pen or glitter glue or jagged edge scissors, colored construction paper, pom poms, googly eyes, buttons, pipe cleaners, ribbons and more. With these Craft supplies stashed in your house like mine are in our craft cupboard, you will never run out of things to do on a rainy day indoors.

All these 6 Essential Holiday Craft Supplies For Kids are nice as Christmas Stocking Stuffers too.

Happy Crafting!

If you prefer a make your own Christmas Craft kit that comes with everything, then check the following holiday craft kits out. Here are a couple of my favorite make your own Christmas Craft Kits for kids including make your own Christmas Craft kit, make your own 3D Christmas Kit, make your own Christmas charm bracelet kit, make your own Christmas ornament kit and more.

Have you done your Christmas Shopping yet? You still have time. Here are my shopping guides for 2012.

Christmas Gift Guide For Whole Family

Christmas Gift Ideas For Kids 2012

Life Cycle Of A Butterfly Experiment For Kids

We often have a lot of caterpillars in our garden. However, I never thought of doing this little science experiment before till someone in my Facebook group suggested it. This is a fun and easy science experiment you can do at home with your kids to teach them about the life cycle of a butterfly. The butterfly goes through 4 stages to become an adult. They are egg, lava, pupa and adult.

This wonderful little science experiment is so easy to do and is an excellent way to teach young kids about the life cycle of a butterfly. This is what you will need for your experiment..

1. A see through container
2. Plastic cling wrap and rubber band
3. A caterpillar

First, you will have to catch a caterpillar. What type of host plants are butterflies attracted to? From our experience the Butterflies usually lay their eggs on host plants with leaves that give out a strong odor like lime leaves or curry leaves. They have also laid their eggs on a large fern like plant we have in our garden. Look for caterpillar droppings. This is a sure sign that the caterpillar is somewhere hidden among the leaves. Check for newly nibbled leaves. Then look for the caterpillars either on top or just under the leaves.

Once you find your caterpillar, pluck the leaf where your caterpillar is attached on and place it together with some other leaves in a see through glass or plastic container. Place cling wrap to cover the container and secure it with a band. Then poke some holes to let in air. The young caterpillar is brown and black in color.

Change or add new leaves every day and watch the caterpillar grow. My kids were surprised to see our brownish black caterpillar turn a bright green as it grows. 

As the caterpillar gets ready for the next stage in its life cycle which is the pupa stage, it will cling onto the side of the container and curl up a little. During the pupa stage, the caterpillar will be encased in a  silk like chrysalis. It is fascinating to watch the life cycle happening in real life. My kids and I check our caterpillar daily. 

Soon the caterpillar forms a chrysalis, then you wait for your butterfly to emerge. We waited for one and a half weeks. 

Finally the caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly. Here is a view of our butterfly from the side.

While, here is a view of our butterfly with its beautiful wings spread open. It is amazing to note and watch the changes unfolding. 

Finally here is the empty chrysalis. As soon as we removed the cling wrap, the butterfly took off and flew high up in the sky. We couldn't even have a chance to take a little picture of it. 

Pin the following image if you like this experiment. You can show them the butterfly quote too. "Just When The Caterpillar Thought The World Was Over, It Became A Butterfly" to teach kids to persevere and not give up just like how this experiment requires patience and waiting for the butterfly to emerge from its pupa.

Life Cycle Of A Butterfly Experiment

Your kids can still do the life cycle of a butterfly experiment even if you do not have a garden. You can do so with the Insect Lore Butterfly Garden. With this butterfly growing kit, you will receive a pop up mesh basket, 5 live caterpillars and food for the caterpillars so kids can have their own live butterfly garden of Painted Lady Butterflies. 

Tips For Buying School Bags

Here are a few quick tips for buying school bags. These tips for buying school bags should be especially useful for parents who are buying school bags for their children who are entering grade school or primary school for the first time.

1. Buy the right size - Remember to bring your child shopping and choose the right size. Not too small till it can't fit in enough books yet not too large for him to handle. It should also hold just the right amount of books and not more than that to protect his back. 
2. Check the school layout - Check the school layout and logistics before buying. Is your child going to be in a classroom on the ground floor or higher up. Consider roller bags for ground floor to take the weight of your child or a backpack for higher floors.
3. Consider the weight - Consider the weight of the bag with books and water tumblers. As a general guideline this weight should not be more than 10% of your child's weight. Get a lightweight bag. The weight of the bag itself should not be too heavy without books inside.
4. Choose the right kind - Roller bags or trolley bags, messenger bags or backpack? Choose the right kind of bag for your child after checking the school layout and with safety aspects in mind. Don't pick just any bag your child likes. 
5. Protect your child's back -  Get an ergonomically designed bag. Usually the back of the bag has a stronger and harder support. A waist strap should also be present to distribute the weight. Teach him the proper way to carry a bag pack. It should be carried using both shoulders and not on one side. You may even need to get two bags to distribute the weight. A backpack and a hand carry one.
6. Check the zippers - Sometimes this simple act is forgotten. Check the zippers and other parts to make sure they are all in good order before you buy.
7. Look for useful features - The bag should have enough compartments for water tumblers, pencil cases, or different places to keep exercises books, workbooks and textbooks.
8. Have comfort in mind - If buying a backpack, look for wide padded straps that are comfortable that won't press on or hurt your child's shoulders.
9. Durability vs price - While considering your budget, consider also the fact that bags that last for many years sometimes end up cheaper than changing cheaper bags regularly. Some better brands have warranties that allow you to change parts that come apart from wear and tear.
10. Long lasting style - Resist the urge to get the latest cute cartoon like the minions etc for your young child. You may have to change it when it goes out of style even though the bag may still be in good order.

Lastly, happy shopping for your child's school bag.

Summary of the above school bag buying tips can be found below.

A Little Boy's Imagination

Last night my boy showed me a BM Karangan that he wrote for school. I had a good laugh when I read it. He is one imaginative little boy. I'm posting it here for keepsakes so I can show it to him when he grows older. :)

It says...

Kasut Terbang

Saya mempunyai sepasang kasut terbang. Kasut terbang itu berjenama Nike. Kasut terbang itu menggunakan graviti dan api yang tidak mengeluarkan asap. Kasut terbang itu pula boleh menjadi telefon bimbit, rumah, iPad atau komputer riba.

Kasut terbang itu terbang dengan cepat. Oleh itu, saya hanya menggunakan satu minit untuk pergi ke luar negara. Setiap Isnin, Selasa, Rabu, Khamis dan Jumaat, saya menggunakan kasut terbang itu untuk pergi ke sekolah. Saya sangat gembira kerana dapat datang ke sekolah dengan awal. Saya berasa amat sayang dengan kasut terbang itu. Saya menjaga kasut terbang itu dengan baik.

Translation..

Flying shoes

I have a pair of flying shoes. Its brand is Nike (lol). The flying shoes works on graviti and fire that does not produce smoke (wow, environmental friendly. haha). The flying shoes can turn into a hand phone, house, iPad or laptop computer. (rotfl. That's my boy! That is really very like him.)

The flying shoes flies very fast. That is why it only takes a minute to go overseas. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (According to him, he could not remember what 'weekday' is called in Malay), I use the flying shoes to go to school. I am very happy to be able to go to school early. I love my flying shoes very much. I take good care of it.

Mooncake Festival 2013

This post is rather late because I have been preoccupied with other things. This year Mooncake Festival fell on a Thursday night. The kids have a holiday on Friday so it was just right. They could stay up to play lanterns. 

As usual, we used our recycled lanterns. Now that they are older, they are more interested in playing with fire candles. 

They still have two lanterns each, recycled from 2-3 years ago. A classic fish, a bird and a butterfly lantern plus a Ben 10 lantern for my boy.  The boy is also slowly outgrowing his Ben 10 lantern. Time sure flies.

This year the fish caught fire so I guess we will have one less lantern to recycle next year.

After we're done playing with candles, the kids will have a shower and then everyone will have mooncake for supper before we go to bed.

This year is was rather cloudy, so we only got to see blurry images of the full moon.

My husband said that the kids are getting too old for this but I think otherwise. You are never too old to play with lanterns and candles and to prove my point, sure enough, a courting couple soon passed by and they too sat down and played with candles. :)

Basic Craft Supplies for Kids - Ideas on What to Stock and Keep For Kids Crafts

Image Credit: Faber Castell Big Fun Crafts

If you child likes to do art and craft projects, I would suggest that you have the following available at all times. Keep them stocked and available and at a place where your child can reach easily. These will provide hours of fun on a rainy day or a cold day inside.

Craft Supplies for Kids Checklist - Stock these!

1. Paper (Keep plain construction paper in different colors stocked up and get specialty papers in different designs for occassions. Crepe paper is great to have around too and so are transparent colored paper.)
2. Glue (Basic and a must)
3. Scissors (Can be normal scissors or craft scissors for cutting wiggley lines. Get blunt scissors for young children)
4. Stickers (Very easy to use for young children)
5. Rubber Stamps (Very easy to use for young children)
6. Glitters (Glitter Glue or Glitter Pens. Pens are easier for younger kids)
7. Ribbons (You can keep ribbons from hampers and recycle them for crafts)
8. Craft Punch (Great ones to have are teddy bear and heart punch or border punch. Snowflakes are beautiful too)
9. 3D Embellishments (These are like stickers. They are self adhesive and come in materials like felt, beads, lace, sequins and rhinestones. They are easy to use and lovely to look at. Not suitable for very young kids because of choking hazzards.
10. Rulers (Basic)
11. Erasers (Must Have)
12. Color Pencils (Basic)
13. Crayons or Color Pastels (Basic)
14. Paints and Paintbrushes (Nice to have)
15. Colored Pens (Should Have)
16. Googly Eyes (are self adhesive and fun!)
17. Pipe Cleaners (wonderful medium for crafts but be careful about sharp points)
18. Colored Pom Poms (lovely for making 3D art or animal pom poms)
19. Beads (Beads aren't just for necklaces and bracelets. They can be added to other craft projects too

Matching Girl And Doll Dresses

For every little girl who loves dolls, having one that dresses up in the same dress as her is a dream. I am sure a doll with matching girl and doll clothes will be on the wishlist of many little girls this Christmas. They will also make good gifts for birthdays and just for fun.

Recognizing this, a company called Dollie & Me came up with a line of matching dresses for girl's and their dolls. I just love this concept and I love the dress options at Dollie & Me! The variety of garments for girl and doll for playing, partying, and even sleeping is amazing. The miniature doll garments look exactly like the girl's dress and are so cute and adorable!

In 2009, Dollie & Me collaborated with Madame Alexander to create more affordable 18 inch dolls for its line of doll and girl's matching clothing so you can find cheaper 18" dolls to wear these matching doll and girl garments.

This post features a whole range of Dollie & Me matching girl dresses with matching doll garments. I hope you enjoy browsing and find something delightful to surprise a little girl.

These party dresses look too good on a doll but never too cool for a little girl.

Mind Mapping For Kids

Recently my girl was asked to draw several mind maps for her grade school assignment. She didn't know where to start so we searched online for mind mapping for kids and found some great articles and mind maps for kids. I especially liked the following ones. I think the are excellent to explain what are mind maps, the benefits of mind mapping, show some example mind maps and then try with some free printable mind mapping templates.

1. From BrainTraining4kids.com by Tony Buzan we found a lovely mind map showing How To Mindmap For Primary School Kids. You can view the step by step process or see the actual mind mapping process as well. Excellent and easy for kids to understand and follow.
2. I also like the picture of the left brain right brain here from drawmeanidea.com for explaining to kids why we mind map. The rest of the article is a bit heavy for children but the picture of the brain in this article is just right for explaining to kids the benefits of mind mapping and making use of both left and right brains for maximum learning impact.
3. To see a sample mind map by kids, go here for some mind mapping samples for kids. I especially like the life cycle mind map. (You will have to scroll down a little to view it).
4. Finally, your child can draw his or her first mind map either free hand or if you prefer you can download free mind map templates from My Mind Map.

I hope you enjoy this article and have fun mind mapping with your kids.

How To Help Young Kids With Their School Projects For The First Time

If your child is doing a school project for the first time and you are not sure how to help them, I hope this mini post on how to help young kids with their school projects for the first time will be useful.

When I first had to help my children with their school projects, they had no idea what to do  and I did not know where to start. It had been years since I had done any school projects myself and I had forgotten how. These days they also do a lot more projects then we did years ago.

For a young child just doing a school project for the first time, they will not be sure what to do. The school may have told them to do a project on a subject matter but may not have told them HOW to do it. This was the case with my children. The first few times they did projects, they did not have any plan. The process was really slow and tedious. They had to find information from newspapers, magazines, the internet and include them in their projects but they had no idea where to start.

Finally, I found a method that helped them see the project from beginning to end. It helped a lot. I drew them the following project plan. I think it is very useful for young kids to be able to picture what they are supposed to do.

With this plan, I was able to explain to them that they need the following for their projects:

1. The project must have a cover. On its cover, they had to include the following information: title, name, class, date and name of teacher.
2. The project needs a content page or index. This index must be prepared last of all after numbering the pages. Write the page number beside the heading to prepare the index page when all the pages have been completed.
3. Then they must have a rough plan on how many pages they want the project to be. Each page can have a heading and these can be grouped together with a separate cover for each.
4. They can prepare sub-covers for sub-topics along if they want, sort of like different chapters of a book.
5. Finally, a summary of the whole project and what they feel about it brings the project to an end.
6. Last but not least is the very important part on attributions by citing their sources of information.

I find that many teachers do not emphasize the importance of citing sources. Many children end up copying and pasting whole pages of information from the internet  without even reading or understanding them amounting to plagiarizing content. I tell my daughter she MUST cite sources and not copy content in bulk. She tells me that her friends who copies content and comes up with beautiful pages of copied content gets more marks for their projects than she who writes most of them in her own words. That is really very sad but I insist that she does it and that she reads and understands the content. Otherwise the purpose of doing the project in the first place, the process of learning is lost.

Here is a simple way to help explain to children why they must cite sources when doing school projects and respect copyright. Check out the Interactive Tool from Cyberbee.com to teach kids about copyright.

For the young child doing projects for the first time, you may find that they enjoy designing the cover most of all, so let them have fun with it. Get colored pens, glitter pens etc so they can get creative while learning.

Another tip for parents helping kids with project. Don't do it for them! Show them the way so they will be independant in the future. It will help them and you too.

Free Animal Printables For Kids

Recently my son was looking for some information on the Amazing Animals of the World for his Grade school project. We were delighted to find many wonderful sites that offer free animal printables for kids. I will share some of those we loved the most.

1. Free Animal Printables from National Geographic Kids - You can find one of the best free animal printables for kids here. First, you can do a quick search for the animals you want to discuss or read more about with your child. Animals are displayed in easy to find picture thumbnails. You click on the picture to find our more about the animal. Once you are there you can click on the tabs which include facts and photos of the animals, videos and sounds, a location map on where you can find the animal. You can even send an e-card with a picture of the animal and of course the best is the free animal printables for kids. All you need to do is click on the tab that says "Print This Creature". Each printable comes with a picture in the form of a foldable collector's card, a map and facts about the animal. They are comprehensive but also very interesting for kids. Five stars rating for this site.

2. Free Printable Animal Fact Sheet From World Animal Foundation - You can also get free printable animal fact sheets from this site. Animals are listed alphabetically so you will have no problem browsing and finding the animal you wish to know more about. The animal printables are in pdf file format and comes with pictures and interesting facts about the animals including the animal description, lifespan, food, habitat, behaviour, offspring, threats and how to protect the animals. Very nice. Four star rating from this blogger.

3. Fun Animal Facts For Kids - Not exactly a printable, this site offers fun animal facts for kids. I like that the facts are in point form and are kept interesting for kids. The animal facts come with a picture of the animals and the fun facts in point form all in one page, so you can printscreen if you prefer to read them off screen. You will find the more common animals listed with pictured thumbnails but if you scroll down the screen you will find more fun animal facts for kids. As the title suggests, the facts are kept fun and amazing. Kids will enjoy reading the fun facts. They are not boring at all.

4. Animal Profiles From ThinkQuest.org - The first thing that greets you on this site is a world map. Click on the map to find different animal profiles from different parts of the world. This will lead you to links to the animals from that part of the world. Click on the link to find the animal profiles. It comes with a picture of the animal plus its profile including its size, habitat and habits, food and feeding plus some cool facts. You will also need to printscreen to read offline if you prefer.

5. Free Animal Printable Sets And Worksheets from Anglomaniacy.pl - Although intended for those learning English as a second language, these free printable animal worksheets are excellent for all kids. There are 26 printable animal sets organized from A-Z here. The printables are in pdf format and are extremely fun for young children. You can choose to print either the animal facts or the animal activities or both. The animal fact sheet includes a cute rhyme or poem about the animal at the end of the facts. The animal worksheets and activities include animal wordsearch and word scramble game. They come with answers and cute cartoons images of the animals. Great for younger kids.

I hope you enjoy this compilation of where to find free animal printables for kids online. These amazing animals of the world printables can be used by older kids for school projects or can be read together and discussed with younger kids. Older kids can read on their own but it is always more fun to read together with a parent.

Constellation For Kids

My girl is studying constellations at the moment so I'm collecting interesting resources from the web that teaches kids about constellations. Here are a few resources for teaching constellation to kids that I found.

constellation

1. Firstly, I found a nice introductory video from Videojug on What Is A Constellation? (embedded above)
2. Next, I found interesting Constellation Stories or Constellation Legends from http://www.tcoe.org/ The constellation stories from the Greek Mythology will really interest children learning about constellation. What better way to remember a constellation than by reading the story behind it.
3. Finally, there is this really interesting blog that offers a lot of useful Constellation Printables including Constellation Flashcards and Constellation Sky Maps.
4. As a bonus, I also like the Constellation Word Search and Constellation Crossword from here. http://www.science-teachers.com/constellations.htm

With an introduction to constellations in the form of a video, follow up by interesting constellation stories and finally free constellation printables and constellation games. These are excellent resources homeschooling parents can use to teach their kids about constellations.

Selamat Hari Raya 2013

Selamat Hari Raya 2013 and Happy Holidays everyone. Remember to drive safely when you balik kampung.

Banana Mom Helps Her Child With Homework

This is how a banana mom helps her child with KSSR Homework. The std 3 boy takes out his Chinese homework and says "Mom, I have to go on the internet and search for P.Ramlee and then write something about him."

Great! No website was given. So what do we do now? If you search for "P.Ramlee" you will be rendered search results in English and Malay. Very good. Very good, indeed.

Here are the steps we have to take to complete that homework.

1. We check P.Ramlee in Chinese. It is "Bi Nan Li" Wonderful!
2. So use an online Chinese Character to find each of the characters "bi", "nan" and "li"
3. Then we put them all together (by copy and pasting one by one) and do a google search for "Bi Nan Li" (比南利) in Chinese.
4. Aha! We're getting somewhere. We get search results in Chinese BUT we have no idea what it says.
5. We take a random paragraph and do a google translate and some were talking about unpaid taxes, some were about some fruit whatever!
6. Finally we found one that talked about his career. Excellent!
7. The boy settles down to copy and says "Mom, that is in traditional Chinese"
8. So we get a Traditional Chinese to Simplified Chinese converter and converts the paragraph.
9. Homework is completed at last and mom pulls out her hair!

Feeling annoyed. What a waste of time!

Every Child Should Have A Book

I believe that every child should have a book because books opens doorways. Books are exciting. They take us to another world instantly. Some children have the privilege of having books, as many books as they like but there are many underprivileged children who do not have that chance.

Last Christmas, we went to MPH and we bought two books for two children. We were allowed to choose from names and homes to decide who and where we wish to give the books to. We got the children to choose and write on the card. The kids chose their favorite Enid Blyton books, then they wrote "We like this book very much. We hope you like it too." Then the books were wrapped up and sent to the home for that boy for Christmas. The kids and I imagined the boy opening his gift and we hoped that he would like it.

Today, I wish to tell you about a children's book publisher which will give away one book for every one book that is sold. Magicbird Publishing has set up the One for One Initiative. So far they have donated 1359 books to various beneficiaries. You can read more about that initiative here.

Here's how you can help. Buy a book. It is as simple as that. For every book bought, one will be donated to the underprivileged. If you love books, love your children to read books and believe that every child should have a book, you can help by buying a book for your child. So hop on to the site and have your child choose a book and remember to tell your child about the initiative. Tell them that a book will be donated when they buy a book. If your child is not a reader, perhaps that may be the catalyst to drive him to read. If he is a reader, he can just enjoy the book like the many others he probably has and he may be happy with the idea that another child will have the opportunity to read a book too.

Simply by buying a book, you get to do many things all at once. Your child can enjoy the book. You can teach your child about the joy of giving and an underprivileged child will receive a book. Isn't that wonderful? And you don't have to wait for Christmas to do it.

The books can also be purchased at the Borders bookshop.

How To Draw Butterflies

I love those How To Draw books. You know the kind that shows you how to draw a picture step by step. That is because I am not really very good at drawing. However, the How To Draw type of books gives me an idea to work with. I can follow the step-by-step instructions, then add a little dash of something here and a little bit of something there and voila I have a pretty picture.

So, I am very pleased to do a review of this How To Draw Butterflies book by Amit Offir. At just $2.99 for an ebook you can learn How To Draw Butterflies in various positions. Can you spot the one I drew? I added my own flower based on some other drawing I found in the book.

The book gives you step-by-step instructions on How To Draw butterflies, some in flight, some perching on a flower. It also shows you a color sample of the picture so you have an idea how to color it. This is great for kids or even adults who like to draw like me. Parents and teachers will also find it useful for teaching kids how to draw in a fun and easy way. Kids can learn to draw in a very short time and you will learn how simple changes can make different drawings just like I did.

My girl loves the How To Draw Butterflies book too. She is studying hard for her tests right now, so I decided to surprise her with this ebook. My son will probably like the How To Draw weapons one that is available by the same author. Besides butterflies and weapons, you can also find How To Draw titles for Fashion World, Dinosaurs, Musical Instruments, Fantasy World, Space, The Farm, Wild Animals, Birds, Garden, Food and a whole lot of other interesting titles. They are also available in a package.

Why not give one a try. There is a free title available called How To Draw Cool Stuff. You can download it for free here. If you like it, you can try it before buying some other title that your child likes.

Encouraging Creative Thinking In Kids

Each night before we go to sleep, we will have a little game.

We call the game "3 sentences". Each person will make 3 sentences. The first person will make 3 sentences to start the story, then the next person will make 3 sentences to continue it until it is time for bed in which mummy will make the last 3 sentences and end with "and now it is time to go to bed. The End."

Sometimes the story we make up is about us and current events that affect us. Sometimes it is about something that we read. Sometimes it is about something totally fictional and nonsensical. Whatever it is, it always ends in fits of laughter.

Bed time is always a fun time. Previously, I always stressed over how little sleep the children are getting and how they should go to sleep as soon as possible so when I turn off the lights I always just tell them to "shut up, no talking".

Now, I find that chatting or playing our 3 sentences game is the best time and it doesn't take more than just 10 minutes. So why stress over 10 minutes? The children go to bed much happier and easily after that.

Homemade Hari Raya Crafts For Kids

Today is the beginning of the fasting month. Hari Raya will soon be upon us. Time to get the kids crafting to get them in the mood for Hari Raya. For non-muslims, teaching kids to make Hari Raya Crafts is the best way to teach them about other cultures.

Here are a few homemade Hari Raya Crafts kids can make at home.

1. Homemade Hari Raya Card For Kids

With some cut-outs, a little sequins and lots of imagination, kids can make this homemade Hari Raya card to give to friends, teachers and relatives. You can find the instructions for this card on Kiddyhouse.com Ramadan Crafts section, along with some other card ideas and designs or you can create your own design.

2. Toilet Paper Roll Oil Lamp

I love this cute little toilet paper oil lamp Hari Raya Craft for kids. Older kids can make this Ramadan Craft on their own while the little ones can get some supervision from mum. Check out the easy step-by-step picture instructions posted by blogger and crafter from Crafty Crafted.com

3. Weave Your Own Hari Raya Ketupat From Ribbons

You can also get your child to weave their own Hari Raya Ketupat from ribbons. Check out this awesome video by sshahidah. She has made the weaving process look so simple. Amazing how to video you simply must watch and try with your kids. 

In addition, you can Make Your Own Batu Seremban so that everyone can have a good game of Five Stone during the Hari Raya holidays. 

Selamat Berpuasa to all my muslim friends.

Planting Activity For Kids - Planting Flowers Part 2

I finally found out what is the name of the pink flowers we planted in our Planting Activity For Kids - Planting Flowers Part 1

We were delighted to watch this flower grow from one to a bunch earlier.

Over the next few days, we saw a new bunch. To our delight, it was a different colour, white this time.

Next, we got a darker shade of pink flowers

Then we had several shades of pink

We were so delighted, we ran out and bought more seeds. We found out the flowers are called PHLOX. We hope to see purple and red flowers in our bunch.

We bought several other seedlings to try out too.

Here is our next planting flowers from seedlings project. Our Sunflower seeds have sprouted! Can't wait to meet our English Daisies and Petunia too.