Games

I'm loving the whole idea of sensory tubs. And I find raiding my cupboards for items to fill the tubs strangely exhilarating. My husband must think I'm some kind of crazy when I exclaim things like "A half empty bag of dried lima beans...SWEET!" But I don't care because these tubs tot tons of educational pluses (shout out to fine motor skills) and they are so versatile and cheap to make. But best of all the tubs seem to have an awesome power over my daughter's short attention span.

Time to start filling the ol' summer bag of tricks with a few good ideas (that is if you treasure your sanity). Here's a cool project for making a CD case fimo labyrinth contributed by Teri of Giddy Giddy on Bloesem Kids. It's the perfect go-to summer project when things get hairy with the kids.

What happens to your Candy Land game when your preschooler learns all her colors? Does it sit on a shelf collecting dust waiting to be pulled out as a last resort on a rainy day? Does it get donated to the local Salvation Army? Does your 11 year old pull out the little gingerbread men making them General Grievous' henchmen set out to fight Jedis in the ultimate Star Wars battle?...No?...Well don't give up on the land quite yet!

A fall twist on the daisy chain these maple leaf crowns from Twigs And Toadstools are purely magical. Made entirely and only from maple leaves this is a fabulous trick to tuck into your magic mommy (or daddy) bag of tricks ready to be pulled out on that perfect autumn day.

Twigs And Toadstools:

Oh how I loves me the lists...Especially when I come across one chockfull of fun to be had...Great ideas I can tuck into my mommy bag of tricks and with summer around the corner I'm sure I'll be digging deep when things get desperate.

Cassi from The Crafty Crow has been doing a bang-up job dedicating the month of April to kid-friendly trash to treasure projects in honor of Earth Day.

If you're a parent and you rushed out and bought an iPad in the last few weeks, chances are you've already downloaded some apps for your kids to play. You may even be familiar with the "hidden object" games for the iPhone/iTouch -- there's quite a few of these "Where's Waldo" -style games in the app store. It's pretty straightforward: spot the hidden objects and solve puzzles and mysteries in lushly illustrated scenes.

Being recent East Bay transplants via Los Angeles we find ourselves making tons of road trips down south to visit our dearly missed friends and relatives. With our two kids in tow for the long (boring) haul up the good ol' 5 freeway it's really easy to fall into the electronic trap.

We've talked about Make and Takes' genius velcro ball and glove catch game before which we love, love, love. Marie LeBaron is sharing more velcro-catchy goodness by offering a new twist to her original idea.

It seems rather silly to me that I've yet to sew a few bean bags for my kid. True I'm a sewing junkie who just so happens to own a sizeable collection of fabric. And true I have a very active 3.5 year old daughter who loves to catch, toss and balance all sorts of interesting things and true we own this CD.