Dice, Decks, and Boards: Hoot Owl Hoot!

This is a non-sponsored post. I am sharing my opinion with you regarding this product because we have enjoyed it in our household. Affiliate links included.

My children received several new board games from family recently.  So far I think my favorite one is "Hoot Owl Hoot!" which is a cooperative game for two to four players, ages 4+. The game, produced by Peaceable Kingdom, has received a Parents' Choice Silver Honor award and a Best Toy Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio.

Instructions are printed inside the box lid thereby preventing one from losing them over time. The game includes one game board, one sun token, six owl tokens, and fifty cards.

The instructions clearly explain the setup (three levels: beginner, intermediate, and challenge level), how to play, and provides strategy hints and tips.
 

The company Peaceable Kingdom is also committed to creating games which are safe for families and the environment.  It is stated "all of the plastic parts in our games are made using a corn-based plastic."

My four year-old found it really easy to understand the directions and eagerly helped the owls make it to their nest before sunrise. My two year-old even played quite successfully with my help. And because the game does not take long (about 15 minutes) to play, no one lost interest and we could play several times.

The only change I would make is making each owl a bit different looking so it is easier to reference them with my children.  For example, each could be numbered, a different color, or some other such difference.

I would recommend this game to families of young children.

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Busy/Quiet Boxes - Five Little Fishes

After discovering the idea of busy or quiet boxes online, I scoured Pinterest for ideas that I could put into action in order to promote my toddler's imagination and quiet activities.

If you are unfamiliar with busy or quiet boxes, they are quite simple and can be implemented in a number of ways. A box can be created for each day of the week (or just the weekdays), bags can be created for each separate activity so you can pick and choose when to share certain activities, or bags can be created that can be taken out to restaurants and shopping trips.

My son and daughter really enjoy Little Baby Bum, in particular the song Once I Caught a Fish Alive. So when I saw a felt fish activity someone else had created (Hawkins Family Blog), I knew that I needed to create a modified version for my toddler. So even though the song only has one fish being caught, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to encourage counting.

I used material that was already purchased for my Christmas Tree Activity. I cut a background of blue and white felt to represent the clouds or waves atop the ocean, tan for the sand, brown and black rocks, different green shaded seaweed, and fishes of five different colors.

Resources 

The Hawkins Family Blog 
ABCkidTV - Nursery Rhymes - 12345 Once I Caught a Fish Alive

   

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Raccoon Rumpus

This is a non-sponsored post. I am sharing my opinion with you regarding this product because we have enjoyed it in our household. Affiliate links are included.

One of the games my children recently received as a gift is Raccoon Rumpus by Educational Insights. It is a "game of color, costumes, matching, and memory!" for two to four players of ages 3+.

The game includes four raccoon cards, twenty costume cards, one jumbo color die, and one jumbo costume die. The English instructions are printed on the inside of the box lid, which is great because it makes it hard to lose them.

There are two games ready for your children to play.  The main game requires you to roll both dice and collect costumes for your raccoon.  The second game is a modified memory game using only the color die.

We have played the featured game several times as a family and enjoyed it. My four year-old has even played the main game by himself and had fun.

The raccoon cards are nicely produced along with the rest of the materials.  My only note is that the games might last a longer time than some children's games because one might roll and need to remove all their costumes several times.  (The object of the game is to be the first to collect five costumes on your raccoon.)

I would recommend this game to families with young children.

Crafts: Valentine's Day Tree

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My children always enjoy using multiple materials when creating crafts, so for one of our Valentine's Day Projects we made a tree using Magic Stix Markers and hearts cut from recycled wrapping paper.

Materials 

• Paper
• Magic Stix markers 
• White glue
• Hearts of various sizes

Steps 

1. Gather all of your materials.

2. Trace your child's arm and hand on the paper.

3. Allow your child to color the tree.

4. Have your child glue the hearts onto the tree in place of leaves.

5. After the glue has dried, proudly display your child's tree in your home. 

Resources 

Nifty Mom's Heart Tree Craft for Kids 
Our Everyday Harvest's Valentine's Day Heart Tree (Preschool Craft)
The Art Kit's Valentine's Day Paper Chain 

Crafts: Christmas Tree Ornaments

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Each year, my children have been making ornaments as presents for their godparents and grandparents.  This year, we made Christmas Trees.

Materials 

• Craft sticks
• Glue 
• Small pom-poms
• Sequins 
• Holiday themed foam shapes 
• Construction paper 
• Scissors
• String or ribbon 

Steps 

1. Gather all materials.

2. Distribute materials.  We have these trays that were perfect to hold the kids' pieces.

3. I let my children pick out a certain number of pieces to attach to their trees. 

4. Glue three Popsicle sticks together in a triangle/tree shape.

 

5. After the glue has dried, glue on your decorations.

6. After the glue dries for your decorations, attach strings to the back so you can hang your trees.  If you want them to look more like trees than ours turned out, don't forget to add the trunks!

Resources 

Fun Craft Kids' Popsicle Tree Ornaments 
One Little Project's Glittering Popsicle Stick Christmas Trees 
Frogs and Fairies' Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree Ornaments
Housing a Forest's Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree Magnet 

Busy/Quiet Boxes - Funny Felt Faces

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

After discovering the idea of busy or quiet boxes online, I scoured Pinterest for ideas that I could put into action in order to promote my toddler's imagination and quiet activities.

If you are unfamiliar with busy or quiet boxes, they are quite simple and can be implemented in a number of ways. A box can be created for each day of the week (or just the weekdays), bags can be created for each separate activity so you can pick and choose when to share certain activities, or bags can be created that can be taken out to restaurants and shopping trips.

This activity was based upon the idea of creating faces out of pre-cut felt.

I decided to create two skin tones (for now) as well several hair styles, eye colors and shapes, noses, and facial hair. I used green felt left from my Christmas Tree Activity for the background and sewed plastic canvas inside to provide some shape and stability.

In the future, I would like to create additional hair styles in different colors and additional mouths to show different emotions.

   

  

Crafts: Veggie Tales: Stained Glass

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Since our toddlers are really enjoying the Veggies Tales series, we decided to create both Bob and Larry as stained glass art for the windows. They also looked great for our birthday party.

There are several examples online but I wanted to use the materials we had in the house so our creations are modified.  

Materials

• red tissue paper
• green tissue paper 
• glue 
• permanent markers (black) 
• overhead transparencies 
• scissors 
• tape 

Steps 

1. Draw or trace your characters onto one sheet of the transparency paper. (I recommend just tracing them all in black.  The tissue paper will add the necessary color to your creations.) 

2. Tear or cut the tissue paper into small pieces.  Your children can help you with this step if you wish. 

3. Spread glue onto the reverse side of the transparencies.  (You want your image to be opposite.)

4. Attach the appropriate color tissue paper onto the transparency.

5. After it is dry, you can cut it out. Trim it to cut off the excess paper.

6.  Attach a second blank sheet onto the back to create more stability. 

Resources 

I Can Teach My Child's Bob and Larry (Stained Glass)

Veggie Tale's Official page had a link to templates on their page (I used their stained glass activity and their coloring pages as templates. They change what free activities are available, so check back often.) 

   

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