There are many potential themes for the songs we sing with our lives. We can sing songs of accomplishment, songs of anxiety, songs of self-sufficiency, songs of overwhelm, songs of hurry, songs of importance, songs of the almost good. But allowing our song to be one of praise suggests an anchoring, a steadiness throughout the chaos that is life. Praise is the song that is appropriate for every occasion, when other songs become irrelevant. It suggests that for every circumstance, we turn to the God who is present and faithful and enough. It suggests that even when life is hard, God is comfort. That when life is good, God is the…
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8 Valentine’s Day Activities and Crafts
Children have made Valentine’s Day significantly more fun for me. Both as a nanny and parent, it’s been fun to incorporate that theme into some of our day to day activities and make some keepsake crafts that I’ve been genuinely happy to put on display. I wanted to collect some of our favorites from this year to share with you all in one place. All of the activities are suitable for toddler and preschool aged children. Several of the crafts would also appeal to school aged children. They’re ones that I imagine we’ll return to each year with new inspiration and skill sets. Color Sorting—We did the same color sorting…
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Free Valentine Cards Printable
The boys are still drawing and painting almost daily, so I made a printable collection of 12 Valentine cards for your little ones (or you) to decorate and spread a bit of love. Graham is getting to the fun age where we can make a card with a particular person in mind and I can ask him what he might want to say in the card. One of his Valentines to his dad read, “Dear Dad, I love you so much. You are very clean. Would you like to go on adventure with me?” Those are some of my favorite cards because their innocence shines through so clearly. A few…
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Genesis 1:31 | Memory Verse Collection
This month we’ve been exploring the creation story and delighting in the fact that God is one who creates good things. We slowly unpacked the story of creation: from chaos, order; from nothing, life; from darkness, light. I crave rhythms that remind me to speak truth into Graham’s life because I know how prone I am to forgetfulness. But I am also leaning into impromptu moments of speaking truth over him as it comes to mind. Today before nap time was an instance, “Did you know God loves you? The same God who made the stars and the moon and the flowers made you and calls you good. I love…
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DIY Alphabet + Number Playmat
We do number and letter activities often and so I wanted to create an inexpensive, but durable mat for number/letter matching, recognition, and counting. I ended up making this simple mat with a rug from Ikea that had never found a good spot in our home. I was super pleased with its simplicity and the boys have enjoyed playing with it. Right now they mostly enjoy the counting side and have shown exceptional preference for counting edible things, like Cheerios. But I like that it’s pretty open ended in how it can be used and can continue to be used down the road for more advanced activities as well, like…
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Wooden Color Rounds
My dad cut down a bunch of logs for me last spring as a set of natural blocks for Graham to play with outside. While he was at it, I had him cut me several of these wooden rounds as well. It’s not difficult to cut up a log if you’re the sort who feels handy with a table saw, but if you’re not the sort who is comfortable with saws and sharp things and don’t have someone in your life who is, they do also sell wooden rounds at most craft stores. I just rolled our Christmas tree outside and I’m thinking some more wooden rounds might be a…
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Wooden Color Blocks
It may come as a surprise to a lot of people who know me, but I actually do love color! However, I am admittedly quite picky about it. When introducing colors to our little one, I wanted them to be vibrant and beautiful. I wanted them to be something I also enjoyed looking at and playing with alongside him. So, this was a fun project to be able to create the shades and hues that I wanted with the remainder of the block set we used for our wooden letter blocks. I’d like to expand these colors as Graham gets older to do even further gradient sorting. But for now…
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Revelation 21:5 | Memory Verse Collection
As we begin afresh with another year, I’m thankful for the promises of newness we find scattered throughout our lives. Each new year. Each new season. Each new morning. With every sunrise, I see this verse displayed and am filled with gratitude that we are made new in the same way the days are made new—over and over and over. I find this act of being made new to be less destination focused and more a matter of process. There is beauty waiting not just at the end, but also in the becoming, in the unfolding of that beauty along the way. I find encouragement in the way that after…
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Color Sorting with Yogurt Cups
My love for recycling yogurt containers in play based learning continues to grow and grow. It makes such good sense. It gives extended life to single use plastic. It cuts down on the additional plastic of which many store bought toys and learning materials are made. They’re not an eyesore. And they’re free! If your little one is expressing interest in color recognition and sorting, this activity is a super simple one to add to your learning times. (To make this activity even more simple, you could also replace the painted pasta with pom poms or other loose parts for sorting.) MATERIALS Assorted Dry Pasta Assorted Colors of Acrylic Paint…
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4 Free Advent Resources for Families
In my years as a nanny, I’ve spent a lot of time searching for Christmas and Advent activities and resources that would invite us to a place of remembrance together without feeling too rigid; activities that weren’t too expensive and that wouldn’t leave behind excessive clutter. Over the years I’ve collected the following resources and wanted to gather them all into one central location to share with you: Rob Wilson Nativity—I love the illustration style and design of this nativity. I first found it last year and we simply cut out the pieces and glued them to Cheerio boxes to make them sturdier. This year I cut them out and…
