DIY Stamps for Kids: Ideal for Busy Bags and Quiet Time

Rachel Peachey
January 16, 2017
Crafting / Education

Kids love stamps. There’s something so satisfying about creating a perfect drawing on paper using stamps. They can be combined to create something fantastic and unique. Somehow, kids never grow bored using stamps.

It’s hard to find regular old stamps around here (in Guatemala). Most of them are made for teachers and have something like “Excelente!” written on them. So, I decided to put together some DIY stamps for kids…specifically for Peanut with some of his favorite things. I put them together for his birthday. He was thrilled!

These DIY stamps for kids are ideal for throwing into a busy bag for church, a meeting or long car ride. You could also break them out when you need a bit of quiet time at home. Peanut loved getting these out while his sister was napping – which was perfect timing. He was quietly busy, and his sister didn’t get in his way trying to ~~destroy~~ play with them as well.

How did I do it?

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What are Sensitive Periods and How Can You Use Them? Montessori Applied to Parenting

Rachel Peachey
December 6, 2016
Blog / Education

It must be some sort of rule. All toddlers seem to LOVE water play. And have you ever noticed how at a certain stage, babies become determined to move on their own, struggling until they achieve the ability to walk?

These are examples of sensitive periods.

Throughout childhood, children experience a number of sensitive periods. Some last for years at a time, and others may only last several months. Montessori coined the phrase “sensitive periods” to refer to times when children have an especially strong motivation and interest to learn about a particular subject or master a certain skill. In her observations, she discovered that many children share a lot of the same interests around the same time in their development.

How Can You Use Them?

As parents and teachers, we can take advantage of these sensitive periods to help guide our children’s learning. A perfect example is language. Montessori noticed that children experience a sensitive period in language from birth through about age 6.

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A FREE Snake Book for Kids and Snake Unit Ideas

Rachel Peachey
November 25, 2016
Education

I’m preparing some more educational materials for Peanut since we haven’t placed him in preschool yet. Maybe in 2018…we’ll see. For now, home is the place to be for learning!

If you know Peanut, you know some of his favorite things are dinosaurs and snakes. Insects and other reptiles are also high on his list. So, I decided to come up with a snake study unit. In this unit we will use or do:

A snake book for kids
A mini study on the biggest snake in the world
A measuring project
Worksheets and coloring sheets
A snake counting activity
Snakes around the world with the continents

Ready to rock it?

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Thanksgiving Stencil Painting – A Sensorial Activity {Free Printable}

Rachel Peachey
November 7, 2016
Crafting

Paint + homemade paintbrushes + stencils + 2 kids = FUN! and some lovely Thanksgiving stencil painting art!

Because painting is so much fun, I decided to focus our Thanksgiving craft on using some simple stencils. I drew some simple designs, a pumpkin, two leaf shapes and a turkey of course. So, ready to have fun? Here’s how you can repeat this Thanksgiving stencil painting activity with your own little ones.

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Top 5 Thanksgiving Crafts to Do with Your Kids

Rachel Peachey
November 4, 2016
Crafting / Education

Crafting and food are the two most essential pieces of holidays for me. Without crafts and decorations, I can’t quite get in the mood. And food, well, I think that goes without saying! Since our family lives in Guatemala, I have to double up the Thanksgiving celebrations and crafting efforts because I’m the only one who celebrates it! So each year I push forward, make a big meal, do Thanksgiving crafts and decorate to spread the festive feeling to our extended family.

I’ve scoured the internet and Pinterest for some new Thanksgiving crafts to add this year. Since Peanut is 3 now, he’s getting pretty handy with crafts and seems to enjoy them quite a bit! The challenge is now to keep my 1-year-old baby girl from destroying everything. She’s getting quite handy with scribbling now, so hopefully the new crayons we bought will keep her busy.

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A Dinosaur Quiet Book for Peanut

Rachel Peachey
November 1, 2016
Crafting

Peanut has a ~~small~~ BIG obsession with dinosaurs. We have lots of little model dinosaurs around the house as well as some skeleton models we’ve put together. Don’t even get me started on the number of dinosaur books we have. It’s an impressive collection for a 3-year-old.

So, when thinking about creating a quiet book for Peanut, the obvious theme was dinosaurs. Roar! I hope you enjoy seeing what I came up with! It was a lot of fun, and took FOREVER to finish. I started the book just before my daughter was born and didn’t finish it until much after…like at least 6 months later.

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Story Retelling with Clifford {FREE PRINTABLE}

Rachel Peachey
October 26, 2016
Education

The Clifford books have got to be some of my favorite children’s books out there. Luckily, my son is also a fan. Norman Bridwell nailed it with the big red dog, his antics and constant efforts to do the right thing with a side of “oops!” These are great stories. If you haven’t read them with your child yet, I recommend you head to the library and check out a few. Then, you’ll be ready for story retelling with Clifford!

Story Retelling with Clifford

Because we enjoy so many Clifford stories at our house, it seemed like the perfect choice for story retelling work. This time, rather than paging through one of our Clifford books to retell the story like Peanut did with Swimmy, we made (drumroll)…..puppets!

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reading-story-retelling

How and Why to Teach Story Retelling to Your Child

Rachel Peachey
October 24, 2016
Education / Library

“Again, please!” says Peanut. “You want me to read Swimmy again?” I ask. “Yes, I like this book,” says Peanut. After about 5 times through, I’m kind of bored of Swimmy, although it is a fantastic book. I suck it up and start reading again. This time, I pause as I read, leaving space for Peanut to fill in the words, just testing to see how much he remembers. We’ve begun story retelling! (more…)

Dropper Painting: A FUN Preschool Activity

Rachel Peachey
October 14, 2016
Blog / Education

What's more fun than painting? Dropper painting. If your little one has already become a pro at using a paintbrush, why not add in another interesting element? There are many…

Peanut working on his ABC Book

How to Teach Your Child the ABCs and a FREE ABC Book

Rachel Peachey
October 12, 2016
Education

My little peanut has shown quite a bit of interest in learning his letters at the age of 3 and a half. We've pursued his interest by using Nell, which…