Category Archives: activities for kids

DIY Dry Erase Books for Kids

Posted in activities for kids by

DIY dry erase books for kids

I’ve seen a few versions of this around the web, and I decided to make my own.

I picked up a couple of $1 flexible photo albums/brag books at Walmart and some dry erase markers.  My girls love markers, but, even though these things wipe right off the book pages, they do not wash easily from clothing and carpets.  So, the next time I’m at the store, I’m going to be looking for some dry erase crayons.

Anyway, the books themselves were a big hit with my girls.  My 18-month-old pretty much just scribbles over the pages, but, because even at these young ages they both have to have exactly the same things, I made the same pages for both her and my 3-year-old.

The only difference was the first page, on which I drew their names in dashed lines to make them easy to trace.  My 3-year-old LOVES this.

Then I created pages that had other activities, like mazes, lines to trace, and coloring pages that included learning opportunities, like shapes and counting.

I cut plain white computer paper into 4″ x 6″ and slipped them into the pages of the photo album.  The first 5 pages had activities, but then I filled the rest of the book with blank pages, so they could draw whatever they wanted on those pages.  In the future, I’ll probably add more pages of activities.

When the girls use them, I provide a paper towel for them to wipe clean the pages, but you could also use a small sponge or an eraser made for dry-erase markers.

DIY Halloween Felt Board

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by

DIY Halloween Felt Board

During one of my recent random wanderings of Michaels, I was passing the racks of felt and thought:  ooh – Halloween felt board!

Why not?

So, I picked up a few sheets of regular felt in orange (for pumpkins), white (for ghosts), and purple (for bats), and also a sheet of “stiffened felt” in black for the background (a night sky).

DIY Halloween Felt Board

I had a few scraps of felt left over from previous projects, so I grabbed the brown and yellow remnants, and cut a spooky tree and full moon from them.

All of the shapes, including the ones listed above, were all cut out by hand.

I considered drawing faces on the ghosts and pumpkins, or cutting out small pieces of felt to let the kids make their own jack o’ lanterns, but I decided I just didn’t want to find tiny, tiny pieces of black felt faces all over the house for the next month.

So:  no faces.  But I like the clean lines, so I’m happy with the decision.

DIY Halloween Felt Board

Felt sticks to felt, so you don’t need any glue or velcro or anything like that, but I do have to warn you:  the felt doesn’t stick firmly to the stiffened felt, so we played with this on the floor, instead of hanging it on the wall or fridge.

Still a lot of fun.  :)

DIY Halloween Felt Board

What kinds of felt boards have you used?

Check out my Halloween crafts from last year, and our new Chalkboard Pumpkins!

Chalkboard Pumpkins: Halloween Crafts

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by

This October, I decided to incorporate my daughters’ love of chalk into our Halloween activities.

The result?

Chalkboard pumpkins!

chalkboard pumpkins halloween and thanksgiving crafts for kids

These were so easy.  I started with a can of my trusty chalkboard spray paint, and picked up 3 foam “carve-able” pumpkins from the Dollar Tree.

Since the pumpkins were a bit porous, I did a few more coats than I normally would.  I placed them on some old cardboard, sprayed the bottoms first, then turned them over and sprayed the top.

Did 5 coats over the top half-ish.  Let the paint dry between coats, of course.  Then took them, and a box of chalk, outside.  Did some crafting in the fresh fall air.

chalkboard pumpkins halloween and thanksgiving crafts for kids

The girls spent a lot of time decorating their pumpkins.  Spent some time wiping off the designs with a damp paper towel, and then drawing all over them again.

The pumpkins are decorating our house now.  And they’ll be re-decorated themselves a few times before Halloween even gets here.  But, because they’re pumpkins, we’ll probably leave them out for Thanksgiving, too.

One thing important to mention, is that we did initially play with these outside, but they’re really indoor decorations because of the material the pumpkins are made from.  But you could always use something different if you want to display them outdoors.

chalkboard pumpkins halloween and thanksgiving crafts for kids

chalkboard pumpkins halloween and thanksgiving crafts for kids

And just for informational purposes, here is a photo of the half-finished pumpkins, to give you an idea of what they looked like while they were being painted:

chalkboard pumpkins halloween and thanksgiving crafts for kids

Have fun – and let me know if you try it!  :)

Oh, and here are our Halloween crafts from last year!

Plus, read about the Digital Wasabi Tape I used in this post.

This project was featured at:

Sweet Bella Roos

Pretend Play: Makeup

Posted in activities for kids by

pretend play make up compact for kids

I’m a big fan of pretend play.  I mean, kids do it anyway on their own, and it’s just so much fun to watch them play with toys you helped create.  For example, I made a whole set of post office/letter carrier pretend play items.

And my girls love pretending to put on makeup.  I don’t wear a lot, but they always want to put on moisturizer, foundation, powder, or even Chap Stick.

But I don’t really like them to wear actual makeup.  They don’t need to be clogging up their pores at 1 and 3.  And I think it’s important for them to understand that they don’t need it, because they are beautiful without it, BUT they want to be like mommy.  So:  pretend play.

I used one of my old compacts from the Clinique City Base Foundation line, that they no longer make.  I’ve been using it for years, since I’m all about convenience.  They now make something called Even Better Makeup, which is similar, so you could use that, too.

They look like this:

Clinique City Base Compact Foundation (photo: Viewpoints.com)

Clinique Even Better Makeup (photo: Bloomingdales)

I transformed a compact from which all the makeup had been used, cleaning out the remains of the makeup and letting it dry.  Then I cut down some sponges we had on hand (you can pick up makeup sponges at a drug store), using one brown one to represent the makeup and one white one to represent the sponge that comes in the compacts.  That way it would look just like mommy’s compact.

Both girls like to play with it, and there’s no mess!  I’ll be making a second one when I’ve used up my current compact.

Here’s my daughter playing with it (while the post office set is also spread across the floor):

pretend play make up compact for kids

Letter K: Free Alphabet Worksheets for Kids

Posted in activities for kids, alphabet activities, free worksheets & printables by

Here is a list of links for all of my free worksheets for Letter K Day.

Letter K Printables

If you’re new here, please read the Introduction to the Alphabet Activities first!

Here are all of the printable PDFs for the Letter K.  They are free for home and classroom use, but please don’t sell them.

K is for Kangaroo and Kin

K is for Kangaroo Kisses

K is for Karate

K is for Kitten Knitting

K is for Koi

K is for Kooky Kites

Follow me on Facebook and Pinterest to see my latest posts.

Have fun!

Roaming Rosie Signature

Free Kid Activity: Chalk on Construction Paper

Posted in activities for kids by

drawing with chalk on construction paper free activity for kids

Okay, it’s not technically free because you have to buy the chalk and the construction paper, but if you’re like me, those are things you had on hand anyway.  So, kinda free.

The photo shows some ice cream-shaped chalk that I bought for our Letter I Activities.  We were doing something else with the construction paper, and the chalk was nearby.  My 18-month-old started playing with the chalk, so I showed her she could scribble on the construction paper with it.

This works best on dark paper because of the contrast, but it also works on lighter colors, so you could let your kids play with a variety of colors to experiment with the results.

And this is a great project because chalk washes right out of clothing or off of carpet or couches or whatever else it gets on.  Easy clean-up is always a benefit.

Especially great for rainy autumn or snowy winter days!

500 Footprints Later …

Posted in activities for kids, musings, wanderings in the world & web by

I’ve posted in the past about being amazed at the popularity of a pin.

This pin recently topped 500 repins, which is pretty cool.  But the weird thing?  I’ve found other pins about this article, altered photos in fact, that weren’t pinned by me at all.

Hmmm…

Well, it’s weird, but hey, technically they all lead back to my Salt Dough Footprint Heart article if you follow the “source” links…

Oh well.  The information is free.  Universal.  Heck, I didn’t even come up with the idea.  I originally saw it at The Imagination Tree.

But I guess that’s what the internet is all about.  Sharing.  Ideas.  Community.

Sharing ideas with your community.

Ideas should be free.

Free Kid Activity: Painting Newspaper

Posted in activities for kids by

painting on paper

Sometimes you need something simple, quick, and super easy (and free) to entertain your kids.

We came across this activity by accident, but it’s actually great for a variety of things:  sensory play, cause and effect, keeping them distracted so I can wash the dishes and fold the laundry….

Things like that.

To start, lay out some newspaper on the floor – preferably tile, as this wouldn’t work so well on carpet or wood.  Concrete would work, too.  Or an outside wooden deck.

Then, hand the kids some brushes – we used both regular paint brushes and foam brushes – and small plastic cups of water.  Not too much water, tho, unless you want a lake in the middle of your kitchen.  Just enough to let them draw designs on the paper.

Challenge them to draw certain shapes or to write their name if they know how.  Then stand back and watch their inner artist bloom!  :)

Exporation Bottles for Sensory Play

Posted in activities for kids by

Oh, how babies love noise!

Big noises, little noises, repetitive noises…

So, kids make noise.   As mothers, this is something we know.  It’s also something we come to love (sometimes).

What I guess I’m trying to say is, sometimes we can make it fun.  For instance, I made these “exploration bottles” for my girls a little while back, but never got around to posting about them.  And, not only did my youngest daughter love them (who was probably about 8-months-old at the time), but her big sister (2 years her senior), loved them, too.

exploration bottles

exploration bottles 2

They’re kind of musical in a way, especially since there are so many options when it comes to filling them.  I used some two kinds of beads and some pom poms – all from the dollar store.  I put them in dried out water bottles in the 16 oz. and 8 oz. sizes.  I also added a little hot glue to the caps (after the photo was taken) to make sure that the contents wouldn’t end up in my daughter’s mouth.  Like everything else she gets her hands on.

I’ve also seen them done where you fill them with water, so the kids can watch the stuff float around.  I like what I did, because each bottle made a different sound when you shook it.  And yes, even the pom pom bottle made a sound, just a very light and swooshy one.  It’s great for comparison, especially with my older daughter.

Have you done something similar?  Let me know!

Purple Pancakes

Posted in activities for kids, food & flavor & recipes by

The weekend is almost here!  How are you going to celebrate it?

How about purple pancakes???

Now,  I do try to avoid adding a lot of food coloring into my kid’s diet, but every now and then, color just makes things fun.  Of course, these pancakes would also work without the color, if you prefer.

purple pancakes

purple pancake patterns

So, what you see in the photos is that I used Bisquick to make these pancakes.  I stirred in a little purple gel food coloring, and then poured the mix into a squeeze bottle.  To make this successful, you have to make the batter a little thin.  Otherwise, it will get stuck in the nozzle.  So use a small whisk or a fork to make sure there are no big clumps.

Then, heat up your pan or griddle and grease it like you normally would for pancakes.  And then:  the fun begins.

The squeeze bottles allow you to draw pretty much any shape you’d like.  As you can see above, I drew some hearts, but also some “swirls” in crazy patterns.  The swirls were especially fun to eat.  Especially with your hands.  :)

But, I also like to say that all food is finger food to toddlers.  Honestly, as long as my kids eat, I don’t care if they use their hands.  As long as they’re eating, they could use their toes.

Anyway, to achieve the best results for solid shapes (hearts, stars, etc), draw the outline first and then quickly fill it in.

And remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect.  Your kids will love you anyway.  Plus, older kids will probably want to get in on it.

To spruce up the pancakes, add a little cinnamon to the batter.  Or sprinkle some chocolate chips or small blueberries over them after you’ve drawn your shape on the griddle, but before you flip them.

Have fun!  And if you tackle this food art, please let me know what you make!