activities

DIY Gifts for Kids

August 21, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

There is no a greater joy in life than having children of your own; getting to nurture them, watch them grow into amazing people and guide them through life. Once in a while, during birthdays, holidays, when celebrating milestones and achievements with your child, gifts are an exceptional requirement to show how much you appreciate them and how proud are you of them. Luckily, gifts do not need to be expensive, they have to come from a place of love, and what better way than to make them yourself?

Here are Some gift ideas that you can DIY at home for your kids…

Cardboard Box Castle

Children love stories about royalty and fairy tales such as sleeping beauty, the beauty and the beast, Jack and the Beanstalk, so you can be sure they will be delighted if you turn one of the stories into something real like creating a castle. They are quite easy to make at home, and if you do not know how to do it, there are always videos online guiding you on how to go about it. You do not need much stuff, just cardboard, a few trinkets for decoration, glue, confetti for decoration and a few more things to make the castle beautiful for your kid.

Treasure Chest

Kids develop interests as fast as they drop them, and most of these interests are inspired by stories we read to them or the cartoons they watch. Hunting for treasure is a fun activity for your kids, and you can create a treasure chest for them to store souvenirs they find and keep as they grow for them to reminisce about when they are all grown up. It is also inexpensive; you can use card boxes or cereal boxes to create a dome-like chest and paint the outside of it to resemble cool treasure chests like those of pirates – your kids will love it.

Child’s Tool Belt

If your children (either boys or girls) like building stuff, then a tool belt for them will come in handy. There are a lot of detailed tutorials on the internet on how to make one with things lying around the house, especially fabric and sewing kits; and line the belts with plastic tools – so that they do not hurt themselves – such as hammers, spanners and wrenches. Watch your children play pretend with the tools and enjoy pretending to fix things around the house; you never know; they could be future engineers.

Felted Stuffed Animals

For parents who are tired of buying many gadgets and tech toys, a stuffed animal is another way to go, and they can easily be crafted by hand. Make your kid’s favourite animal into a stuffed toy using only felt wool, a pair of scissors, sewing kit and a steam iron; adding appendages like ears and wings and noses will make the stuffed toys quite adorable. They are inexpensive and simple to make, and your children will want to cuddle up with them during nap time.

Conclusion

Home-made presents are inspired and thoughtful, fun to make, made with love and a personal touch, and save on money. Wrapping your kids’ gifts will give you and them the satisfaction of tearing into the packaging to discover what is inside; just because they are made at home does not mean they cannot be wrapped. This is precisely why The Works have this amazing offer of 3 for £2 Cards and Wrap to make sure your gift looks neat and ready to be open.

Free Summer Activities for Kids

August 6, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Can you believe it’s already August? The new school year may be right around the corner, but there are still those last few weeks of summer to enjoy. As the summer progresses, you might find the kids start to get a little bored and restless around the house.

There are plenty of super fun summer activities you can do with your kids without breaking the bank. In fact, there are plenty of free activities you can do to keep the kids busy, and your wallet full!

Go Hiking

Hiking is a fun, free, and active way to spend time with your kids. Not only is it a great way to see the outdoors and get some fresh air, it’s also a great way to work some physical activity into your family’s routine. You can hike through community trails or routes near your home. Do some research online to find great walking trails near you.

Go For a Bike Ride

There really is nothing like riding bikes through the neighborhood. If you don’t have an ideal neighborhood for bike riding, take the kids to local parks or community trails for bike riding. Like hiking, this is another great way to work moderate exercise into your kids’ routine, and teach them to enjoy playing outside.

Hit Up a Public Pool

Even if you don’t have your own pool, you can still take the kids swimming pretty often. Take the kids to your nearest public pool (or better yet, beach!). Kids really do love to swim, and many community pools will have a free public swim where you can take your kids to enjoy a few hours of sun and swim.

Host a Backyard Olympics

This is a fun one – have your kids invite some of their friends over and host a backyard Olympics! Split the kids into teams and organize some fun events like: three-legged races, egg and spoon races, water balloon toss, and any other fun outdoor games you may think of. These olympics can take up a few hours and you can do them as frequently as you like.

Turn Your Living Room Into a Home Theater

Family movie nights are always great for night time, but movies are also a great way to spend a rainy day when the kids get a little stir crazy all cooped up in the house. Make it extra exciting by printing out movie ticket templates online and giving them to the kids. If you don’t have a printer, you can make your own homemade tickets.

Pop some popcorn and give the kids some snacks to make the experience super authentic. If your kids have play money, you can have them “pay” you for their tickets and snacks to sneakily practice some math skills while you’re at it!

Host a Book Club

Reading is always a fun way to pass the time, and helps your child’s mind develop. If your kids got a summer reading list at the end of the last school year, turn reading into a fun activity by hosting a book club! You can provide snacks and a list of fun reading questions about what they liked most about the book. Asking insightful questions will help your kids engage with the books.

Hit up your local library to get the books for free!

Color

Coloring isn’t just for little kids! The influx of adult coloring books has given way to plenty of free printable coloring pages for adults and children of all ages. You can print the pages for free and color to your heart’s content. Coloring is great for rainy days or when your children need to relax and calm down.

Bonus: If your kids are big Disney fans, check out the Disney Family page of free Disney crafts and printables! Disney updated this page with plenty of fun (and free!) printable and craft ideas for families.

Sponsored Post by Brittany McGourlay – Content Manager – freebies.com

Trying Something New as a Family

March 17, 2014 by Painter Mommy 2 Comments

This is a guest post…

As a family, things can get boring when you eat the same foods and do the same things day in and day out. It is good to change things up a bit and try new things. Experiencing new things leads to children becoming more open minded.

There are literally hundreds of things that a family can consider as a new activity. With something new to try each weekend, children will have something to look forward to. This can be anything from trying a new waterpark to going to a different type of restaurant.

Try New Foods

Children and adults alike can be picky eaters. Most of the time when someone says they don’t like something, it’s because they’ve never tried it. Try a new restaurant that has ethnic food.

Italian is the easiest food to incorporate into something new. Flavors, spice levels and ingredients used vary from nationality to nationality. Consider exposing the family to Chinese, Asian, Mediterranean, Thai and other cultural delicacies.

If you are able, visit a family or tapas style establishment. This will allow you to order a few different items to share. Children can pick and choose what dishes to try and which ones to wait for another day to taste.

Ways to get children to try new foods:

Allow them to order their own meal
Ask for vegetables to be raw
Cook with them at home, letting them pick the ingredients
Go to a kid-friendly restaurant and let them see other kids eating the same foods
Attend a buffet-style restaurant where they can pick their own items

Incorporate Family Exercise Time into your Routines

Exercise is important. If it is done as a family, and mixed in with other activities it won’t seem like a chore. Make up a few different playlists to exercise to.

It is a good idea to go for a bike ride at least a couple times per week. Each family member can use their own iPod or music to bike to.

With an exercise routine, incorporate some of everyone’s favorite music. They will work harder when music that they like comes on. Equal calories can be burned by each member of the family using this tactic.

Make exercising out to be a game. The more fun it is, the more likely the children will be to get involved. Exercise games can also be used to get chores around the house done faster.

Discover New Activities

Consider taking the family on a treasure hunt. These are fun activities that get everyone’s minds thinking. You can view some options if you click here to see what you might be able to expect.

With a treasure hunt, some options are customizable. This helps a family to make the experience an absolute pleasure. It can be items geared toward children, movies, music or something local.

Other activities to consider include:

Painting classes
Horseback riding lessons
Sports
Crafting

Watch a Different Type of Movie or Television Program

If you do not watch television together as a family often, give it a try. Set a schedule based upon each member’s favorite shows. Watch them together rather than separately.

What this does is help families to understand each other’s likes and personalities better. Families are generally separated when it comes to television. Watching a variety of programs helps educate and stimulate the brain in different ways.

You may find that you like a television program that your children find entertaining and vice versa. This is an ideal way to create family bonding time. Hold a discussion following each program to get each other’s opinions.

Consider trying new things and add some diversity to your family’s lifestyle. There are educational opportunities in everything you do. Learn a new trade or skill together, play board games or just try a new food.

Family activities broaden the horizons of each member. For some, it is going outside of their comfort levels a bit. Most of the time, trying something new leads to a new hobby.

What happens when families partake in activities together is that it creates a tighter bond. You will learn something about each other. It is a time for each family member to express their personalities and interests to each other.