Best of the Weekly Kids Co-op from 2012

I know that I have said it before, but WOW 2012 flew by. As I look back over the past year of blogging, there has been so many exciting things that have happened. One of which was becoming a co-host in the Weekly Kids Co-op. It’s been a highlight for many reasons, but my favorite is catching a glimpse into what you guys are creating with your kids. There are so many creative mommy bloggers that link up and inspire me each week. Keep it up ladies, I love scrolling through the link party and seeing all your wonderful ideas! I am kicking off the New Year by looking back to the Best of the Weekly Kids Co-op from 2012. Thanks for inspiring me and I look forward to seeing where 2013 takes us.

Best Kids Ideas of 2012 – Blog Hop

Wow, 2012 has flown by! Not that long ago, I was putting together a similar post of activities from 2011. This year, I am excited to be a part of a wonderful group of talented kid friendly bloggers. We have joined forces to create a fun Best Kids Ideas of 2012 – Blog Bop designed to reflect on our/your favorite post from 2012.

Like many of you, I am struggling to narrow it down to just one post. We experimented, created art, made projects, played new games and learned so many things in 2012 that it is hard to pick just one post. Since one of our favorite things to do is create from our recycle bin, I decided to choose a post that our kids loved and used things we already had on hand.

My kids loved making these simple Rainbow Bubble Snakes. Bubbles are always a hit with kids, but when your turn your bubbles into colorful snakes, they become completely delightful!

Click on the image to take you to the full post on how to make your own delightful Rainbow Bubble Snakes.

Now it is your turn to share with us! We would love for you to share your favorite post or a fun highlight from 2012. Yes…you can only pick just ONE! I can’t wait to see what you decide to share. When you post your favorite link below, it will also show up the following fabulous kid friendly blogs:

52 Brand New ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ angeliquefelix.com – The Magic Of Play ~ At home with Ali ~ B-Inspired Mama ~ Blog Me Mom ~Boy Mama Teacher Mama ~ Busy Kids = Happy Mom ~ Carrots Are Orange ~ Caution! Twins at Play ~ Coffee Cups and Crayons ~ Confessions of a Montessori Mom ~ Craft To Art ~ Creative Family Fun ~ Creative Kid Snacks ~ Creative Learning Fun ~ Creative Playhouse ~ Creative with Kids ~ Cute and Peculiar ~ De tout et de rien: Activités pour le Préscolaire ~ Dirt And Boogers ~ Edventures with Kids ~ Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ The Good Long Road ~ Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails ~ Glittering Muffins ~ Go Kid Yourself ~ Growing A Jeweled Rose ~ hands on : as we grow ~ Here Come the Girls~ Home Learning Journey ~ Housing A Forest ~ Mama Smiles ~ In Lieu of Preschool ~ Inspiration Laboratories ~Inspired by Family ~ It’s A Long Story ~ JDaniel4’s Mom ~ Kids Creative Chaos ~ Kid World Citizen ~ Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers ~ Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ Laughing Kids Learn ~ Learn with Play at home ~ Lessons Learnt Journal ~ Life At The Zoo ~ Living Life Intentionally ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Love, Play, Learn ~ Loving My Nest ~ Mama Pea Pod ~ mama miss ~ Mamas Like Me ~ Mess For Less ~ Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas ~ Momma’s Fun World ~ Montessori Tidbits ~ My Buddies and I ~ My Little Bookcase ~ My Nearest and Dearest ~ No Twiddle Twaddle ~ Nurturestore ~ Octavia and Vicky ~ One Perfect Day ~ ourfeminist{play}school ~ Picklebums ~ Play Activities ~ Playdough to Plato ~ PlayDrMom ~ playful learners ~ playing with words 365 ~ PragmaticMom ~ Putti’sWorld ~ RainbowsWithinReach ~ Rainy Day Mum ~ Raising Playful Tots ~ Reading Confetti ~ Red Ted Art ~ Royal Baloo ~ Science Sparks ~ Scribble Doodle and Draw ~ Small Potatoes ~ Smiling like Sunshine ~ Sun Hats & Wellie Boots ~ Sun Scholars ~ Teach Preschool ~ The Educators’ Spin On It ~ The Fairy and The Frog ~ The Freckled Homeschooler ~ The Golden Gleam ~ The Imagination Tree ~ The Iowa Farmer’s Wife ~ The Outlaw Mom Blog ~ The Pleasantest Thing ~ This Reading Mama ~ Toddler Approved ~ Train Up a Child ~ True Aim ~ Two Big Two Little ~ What Do We Do All Day? ~ Connecting Family and Seoul

Handmade Cards and Gift Tags – Weekly Kids Co-Op #7

Last week I featured 8 festive Santa and His Reindeer ideas. This week I’m featuring crafts all about Handmade Cards and Gift Tags that were linked up from last weeks Kids Co-op. While your are busy wrapping the presents, have the kids make adorable cards and gift tags. It is a great way to personalize a gift, and help the kids feel involved. Plus hand made cards from kids are often the most treasured part of the gift.

Christmas Tree Card from Simply Mommie
Two Christmas Cards Kids can Make from Mama Pea Pod
Rainbow Weaving from Magic Belles
Quick and Easy Christmas Bauble Present Tags from Zing Zing Tree
Christmas card craft station from B-Inspired Mama
Homemade Crayon Resist Gift Tags from One Perfect Day
Christmas Gift Tags from Simply Mommie

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

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

Check out this adorable Anthropologie inspired Pompom Wrapping paper we created.

If you don’t want to miss out on any of the fun we are having at Housing A Forest, make sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Google + and Twitter.

Dice Doubles Game

Are you looking for a fun game to play at your next Christmas Party or family gathering? This simple Dice Doubles Game has quickly become one of our family Christmas traditions. My kids look forward to playing it as much as the adults do! As you may already know from past posts, I love traditions…especially Christmas ones.

Set up of Dice Double Gift Game:

A small gift, gift card or simply money. If you are purchasing a gift, make sure it is suitable for everyone playing (including the kids).
Wrapping paper – LOTS
A pair of oven mitts
Bowl or shallow container to roll the dice into.

Before the party, place the gift in a box and then wrap it with MANY layers of wrapping paper. There is no need for each layer to be the same paper. This is a great excuse to use up all the roll ends that have been hanging out in your closet for the past few years:) You will want the gift to go all the way around the circle a few times so make sure there are lots of layers of wrapping:) My sister-in-law is always in charge of this game, and she wraps the gift while watching a show. This could be a great excuse to watch your favorite Christmas movie!

To play the Dice Double Game:

Have everyone gather their chairs into a circle.
Hand one person the dice and bowl and hand the person on their right the gift and oven mitts.
Explain that while the person is rolling the dice, the other person is trying to open as many layers of wrapping as possible while wearing the oven mitts.
Once doubles are rolled, that round is over and the dice and gift are passed one person the the left. That means that the person that was rolling the dice should be the next person to wear the mitts and try to open the present.
Continue this until the gift has been opened, and someone finds the prize.

Tips:

To make the game easier, you can use oven mitts with grippers (like on the bottom of kids socks to keep them from slipping). This works especially well when playing with younger kids.
Don’t use too much tape when wrapping your gift. Just a couple pieces per layer.
Use lots of layers of wrapping paper. The thinner wrapping paper is easier to tear off.
If you are playing with a mixed group of ages, it might be helpful to lift a tiny corner of the wrapping before handing it to a young kid. However you may have to be sneaky about it. If they catch you tearing the wrapping after doubles has been rolled, they will call you a cheater:) Opening a gift with oven mitts on can be very difficult for kids and we want them to enjoy the game too.

Have fun and enjoy each other this holiday season. I would love to hear what games you will be playing at your next gathering! Also check out these fun Minute To Win It Games, they are also fun to play with a small or large group.

If you don’t want to miss out on any of the fun we are having at Housing A Forest, make sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Gingerbread Man Patterning Activity

Simple Gingerbread Patterning Activity

I have a love of gingerbread men. They look adorable as crafts and taste yummy as cookies. Nothing makes a house more like Christmas than a batch of homemade gingerbread men baking in the oven. With that said, I love this fun gingerbread man patterning activity that we did the other day.

All you need to create your own gingerbread man patterning activity is:

2 gingerbread men cut outs
Jewels, buttons, colorful paper or fabric scraps, etc.

I was able to reuse gingerbread men that I created for Bree’s gingerbread birthday party. However, you can easily print off a gingerbread man coloring page or create your own gingerbread man outline for this activity.

Simply place a bowl of brightly colored jewels and your gingerbread men next to each other on the table. Invite your toddler to create fun patterns with the buttons on the gingerbread men. Patterning is a great way to introduce math to your little one. Plus when working with tiny objects like these jewels, you will be helping to developed their fine motor skills as well.

Here are a few different ways to use this simple patterning activity:

Create a colorful pattern on one gingerbread man and have your toddler copy it on the other gingerbread man.
Invite your toddler to create a pattern and then recreate it yourself. Kids love to have you mimic them:)
Work on color recognition and listening skills. Ask them to find a ________(color) jewel and place it ______(below, above, beside, etc) the ________(color) jewel.
Work on simple math skills. Add 4 buttons, 2 eyes, etc.
Our jewels are 2 different sizes. Add an extra patterning challenge by adding different size of jewels. Color, size and number can make for an exciting challenge.

We had fun playing with our gingerbread men. I would love to hear what you and your little ones are creating and learning together:)