My kids love to keep track of what books they've read. We made these cute bookmarks so they can write down each book. Print the bookmark on cardstock so they'll last longer! When they're filled you can laminate them for longer use. Perfect for their summer reading list!
Download the printable here.
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My kids haven't been watching much TV lately but they play a lot of games on the ipad or their old leapsters. Right now they're really into playing Life on the ipad. That was one of my favorite games as a kid, so I get it. Fun game. But is it so great that you should play it two hours a day? No, not really.
If you're like me you may want to limit your child's screen time (ipad, video games, TV, etc). You could just use a timer and a set amount of time each day or you could do something a bit more fun.
Enter the Screen Time Express tickets. Earn these by completing your daily tasks without whining or complaining (see the free printable chore chart). How you use them is up to you! Hand them out daily or weekly. Give as many as you like. As long as you're consistent with enforcing no screen time when they run out of tickets this system will work well!
Laminate them if you want or just print and cut. There's a place for a name so you can be sure they aren't being traded as a commodity. Unless you're fine with that!
Do you have kids that complain they're bored and don't know what to do? Post a list of ideas! Often they just need a little reminding of all the great things they CAN do instead of playing games or watching TV. Here's a fun list to get you started:
There are so many great things to do! I'm sure if you sat down with your kid(s) to brainstorm they could come up with 100 possible fun things they like to do!
How do you limit screen time at your house?
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If your kids are like mine, they tend to be a bit messy and prefer to do most anything other than put their shoes away or clean their room. With four children, our house can go from perfectly clean to looking as if it was ransacked by thieves within five minutes. It's incredible. Please tell me you can relate so I feel better.
Teaching kids to clean doesn't have to be like banging your head on a wall over, and over, and over again. Though it will be if you let it. But anyone can teach their children to take responsibility and clean without resorting to nagging or whining (them or you).
If you tell a younger child o go clean his or her room it might not get done how you would like. Be specific. Say, "It's time to clean your room. First, go pull everything out from under your bed." Then once they've accomplished that they can move onto the next step in the chore. Tell me your kids stuff things under their beds as well.
Continue reading “Teach your kids to clean (printable chore chart)” »
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My dear friend, Kara Noel's mother broke her leg before Christmas. She is still young, not yet 60. Breaking a leg should be no problem. Unfortunately,breaking a leg has been anything but no problem. Since that time she's been through a series of nightmarish health scares, surgeries and comas. She is still in the hospital, critically holding onto life. As you can imagine, it is difficult to watch a friend go through this with her mother. I can only imagine what she is going through. From having a healthy mother one moment, to one whom might not live through the day, the next. The thing about Kara Noel is that she has a HUGE heart. I repeatedly asked how I can help her (did I mention she has 4 little kids??). While her mother is in a coma hoping to make it to the top of a kidney transplant list, all she asks me for is to make something for her mom's nurses. Seriously. For the nurses. Are you crying yet???
So I made something. It wasn't much, but I made cookies. Horribly inadequate under the circumstances but that's what I did for her. Chocolate chip cookies for each of the nurses. And as I tried to figure out how to package them it hit me. They needed something else.
Continue reading “Saying THANK YOU to nurses and doctors (free printable card)” »
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I love the idea of interviewing your children every year. I know they would love reading their answers in the future. I made a quick interview form that older kids can fill out themselves or you can write younger children's answers in for them. This All About Me This Year printable is on our to do list today! What a great way to kick off the year!
You can download this PDF file at my dropbox for free HERE. (updated to add My Favorite Toy)
Do you keep track of your child's likes and dislikes throughout the years? Have you found a fun way to keep these memories?
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