Author Archives: Tammy

I Love You This Much Card

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Please welcome Chaiti Jain, who will be guest posting on Housing A Forest today.  Chaiti has a passion for paper crafting and is sharing a simple card that your kids will love making.  Read on to see how she created this adorable I Love You This Much Card.

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Children love to create and what better than engaging in some fun craft activities. Crafts inspires creativity and helps the child to focus and complete a set task. And for parents the sense of satisfaction they get when their child makes something for them is beyond words.

Here I am going to share how to make a super easy ‘I Love You Card’. Kids can make this card for parents, grandparents and friends to tell them how much they love them.

What you’ll need:

  • 2 Sheets of paper
  • Scissors
  • Sketch Pens
  • Glue

Step 1: Start with tracing both the hands of your child. Use a scissor and cut out both the traced hands.

I love you Card

Step 2: Now cut a strip of paper and divide it into equal squares. Write ‘THIS MUCH’ with each letter in each square on the strip.

I love you Card

Step 3: Next, fold the strip into an accordion style using the square lines as guides.

I love you Card

Step 4: Write ‘I LOVE YOU’ on the front side of one hand cut out. Decorate the rest making a design of your choice. Use stickers, crayons or sketch pens for decorations.

I love you Card

Step 5: Stick the ends of the accordion strip on the back of each hand cut out.

I love you Card

You are done! Simply stretch the hand cut-outs and read ‘I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH’. This is an adorable DIY card and is really easy to make. Keep a few of these cards ready and give it to loved ones on special occasions.

Chaiti Jain

Yellow Giraffe | Toy Tasting

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Thanks so much for sharing Chaiti.  You have inspired me to create special cards with my kids.  What a sweet way for kids to show their loved ones how much they care.

Ice Cream Math

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I am so excited to have Katie from Gift of Curiosity guest posting on Housing A Forest today.  Did you print the set of Insect Do-A-Dot Printables that she shared with us last time?  They are still a favorite around here.  This time she is sharing a fun Ice Cream Math game, that I know your little one will love.  I absolutely adore her blog, so make sure to stop by Gift of Curiosity and say Hello!

…………………………………………………………………………Ice cream math || Gift of Curiosity

I’m Katie from Gift of Curiosity, and I’m so excited to be back at Housing a Forest to share a fun ice cream math activity I created for my kids – and that you can download for free!

Ice cream and summer are two things that just seem to go together in my mind. As the weather has warmed up, our family has been been making lots of dairy-free banana ice cream to enjoy. Yum! To capitalize on my kids’ love of (banana) ice cream, I created this simple ice cream scoop counting math activity to work on number recognition and counting skills.

Ice cream math activity version 1

The first version of the game requires kids to count the number of dots on each cone and place that number of scoops on top. I made this version because XGirl doesn’t yet recognize her numbers, but she is perfectly capable of counting.

Ice cream math 1

Although this version includes cones with 1 to 10 dots, I started XGirl off with just the first three cones to help her get a feel for the activity and to keep it fun and appropriate for her skill level.

Ice cream math 2

She loved creating her own ice cream cones, and after finishing her three, she asked for more. I hadn’t actually prepared additional cones or scoops for her, but I promised to prepare some more for her at a later time. 🙂

Ice cream math 3

Ice cream math activity version 2

The second version of the ice cream scoop counting math activity includes cones with numbers on them.

Ice cream math 4

The free printable includes cones with numbers 1 through 20, but on this day I gave QBoy only numbers 1 to 5.

Ice cream math 5

He, too, quickly finished his cones and asked for more. 🙂

Ice cream math 6

Having both of my kids ask for more cones with higher numbers means that this activity must have been a big success!

To download your copy of the Ice Cream Scoop Counting Game, click here.

And if you enjoy these printables, I invite you to check out the other printables I have created by visiting my printables page.

Katie ~ Gift of Curiosity

Gift of Curiosity | Facebook

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Thanks for sharing Katie!  Ice cream is a favorite here, and using it to create a fun Math Game is such a great idea!  Don’t forget to stop on by Gift of Curiosity and tell her you saw her post on Housing A Forest.  We all love comments and I know Katie would love to hear from you:)

Here are a few of my favorite posts from Gift of Curiosity:

Summer Learning and Playing

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I love seeing all your creative ideas linked up to the Kid’s Weekly Co-op each week.  We are enjoying a summer packed full of fun and I’m sneaking in a little learning too.  Last week’s kids Co-op had a number of fun activities perfect for Summer Learning and Playing that I can’t wait to try with my kids.  Our “full” summer just got a little more packed:)  Love it!

Summer Learning and Playing

If you were featured this week, feel free to grab a Housing A Forest button.

Come back every Thursday to see if your creative ideas were featured and link up any new ideas! (I will be using one image and a link back to your blog.)

Weekly Kids Co-op

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Helicopter Seed Dragonfly Craft

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I am so excited to have Kimberly from Learn Create love guest posting on Housing A Forest today.  I adore her blog and I know you will too!  As you know we love creating with nature, and I immediately fell in love with Kimberly’s simple Helicopter Seed Dragonfly Craft.  Read on to find out how she created them.

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Helicopter Seed Dragonfly craft ~ Nature craft for kids

Helicopter seed dragonflies are a classic craft with minimal material requirements. If you have a maple tree nearby, you should be able to find these seeds in abundance. They are bright green in the spring and summer, and turn brown a few days after they detach from the tree.

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly craft ~ Nature craft for kids

We always enjoyed throwing handfuls of them into the air and watching them spiral back to the ground. We also made lots of dragonflies with the seeds and twigs.

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly craft ~ Nature craft for kids

I did this craft with my daughter a few days ago and she really enjoyed it! She remembered the printable dragonfly craft we made a while back and was excited to do this one. We only made one since a storm was coming in (we do our crafts outside), but it turned out really cute! Instead of doing a plain stick with the seeds glued to it, we took it a step further and made our dragonfly more colorful.

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly craft ~ Nature craft for kids

Materials Needed (for each dragonfly) – 2 complete helicopter seeds, 1 twig, colorful string, paint, glue, and a paintbrush, fishing line (optional). Tiny googly eyes would be cute, too!

What to Do:

    • Paint your helicopter seeds. We used the end of the paintbrush to add little dots to our seeds. Set aside to dry.
    • While your helicopter seeds are drying, wrap your string around twig and secure the end by tucking it under a piece of the string that’s already wrapped. You can skip this step and paint the twig – that would be cute, too!
    • Once the seeds are dry, glue them on top of the twig.
    • If you have tiny googly eyes, glue them on now.
    • If you want to hang your dragonfly, tie a piece of fishing line (or other clear string) to it and hang it up. We will do that when we make more.
    • That’s it! This craft is so simple and fun – your little one will love it!

Helicopter Seed Dragonfly craft ~ Nature craft for kids

Kimberly ~ LearnCreateLove

LearnCreateLove | Facebook Page | Pinterest

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Thanks so much for sharing Kimberly.  I adore these little Dragonflies, and I know my kids will too.  What a great way to explore and create with nature.  We all love comments, so why not pop over and visit LearnCreateLove and tell her how much you enjoyed her post on Housing A Forest.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from Learn Create Love to get you started:

10 Cool Summer Activities

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It’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op link party again!  I am hoping the sun is shining where you are, because I am about to share 10 Cool Summer Activities your kids will love linked up from last weeks kids co-op.  They are all based around water play and are prefect for beating the heat and having fun.

10 Cool Summer Activities

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If you were featured this week, feel free to grab a Housing A Forest button.

Come back every Thursday to see if your creative ideas were featured and link up any new ideas! (I will be using one image and a link back to your blog.)

Weekly Kids Co-op