This past Christmas, I had a lot of fun using the boys’ artwork to make gifts. This particular mug was a big hit. Click through to see its magic surprise.
Continue readingMorning Monster Mug!
Tag Archives: kids
Good Stuff: Podcasts for Kids (and adults!)
Interested in some podcasts for adults? Sarah shared her master list here.
Do you listen to podcasts with your kids? I love it as both a form of entertainment (screen-free entertainment!) and as another medium for learning. For all of the podcasts on this list, the kids think of these as purely entertainment, and I just love that the learning is a by-product.
This is a round-up of our absolute favorites after years of listening. We definitely can’t rank them, because that list would change daily. Over that time, our interest in the different shows ebbs and flows depending upon the boys’ interests, but we always come back to the podcasts on this list.
The episode length for these podcasts may be anywhere from 7 to 30 minutes long, which is great for listening when we’re running errands around town. When we’re going on longer road trips, I like to put on an audiobook because the playtimes are much longer. We’ll share some of our favorite audio books in another post.
Myths and Folktales
Nature and Environmental Science
General Science
Debate w/ a Variety of Topics
Historical Figures
Music
Growing Lemons in Colorado!
File this one in: Things You Never Knew Until You Had Kids (and they made crazy Christmas requests) category
Continue readingFirst Bikes for Kids
We originally published this post 4 years ago, but we’re re-posting it again today because May is National Bike Month. The weather’s beautiful, so get out there, get your kids on bikes, and get ready to make some memories!
There’s no doubt about it, we are a biking family. Did you see our ride in Rocky Mountain National Park? That was 4 years ago, but guess what? We just went on that ride again this spring!
Calder’s the intense guy you’ve passed in your car; the one riding up the steepest of mountains and making it look like it’s no effort at all. In my heyday, I biked all of Philly & Boston and was so proud when my car would sit unused for a week at a time.Thanks to the generosity of my mom, we were early adopters of the TAGA. When we moved to Boulder, C added an extra basket so that I could do all of my grocery shopping and errands via the bike. I have such fond memories of getting to know our new city by riding the bike paths with Alex! I would still bike everywhere if I could, but kids and living on the mountain make it a challenge. Continue reading
Waste Less Wednesday: Refillable Art Supplies
On Wednesdays we offer suggestions for ways to reduce your waste. You can find our full archive of Waste Less Wednesday posts here.
Like many of our Waste Less Wednesday suggestions, this one is pretty simple.
Continue readingNature-Focused Poetry Books for Kids
April is National Poetry month. Admittedly, I don’t think of myself as needing a special month to wax poetic (wink wink) about the nature-inspired poetry books that we love. But apparently I AM the type of person that needs a national initiative because I hadn’t put together a post sharing this collection until now.
There’s a wide variety of subjects on our list of favorites. Insectlopedia that focus on insects to Old Elm Speaks that highlights trees. One of my absolute favorites is When Green Becomes Tomatoes. But I also get so excited when someone will read Joyful Noise with me. Every poem in that book is written for two readers making one poem. It’s just a pile of beautiful poetry.
- Insectlopedia
- Winter Bees
- When Green Becomes Tomatoes
- Sing a Song of Seasons
- Joyful Noise
- Leaf Litter Critters
- Firefly July
- Old Elm Speaks
It’s supposed to snow in Colorado this week, so let’s dream of summer.
Field Trip : Botanic Gardens
*This post was originally published in October of 2017. We’re republishing it today as a reminder to everyone that botanic gardens are a great space for relaxation and inspiration.*
Have you ever been to a botanic garden? If not, it’s time to find one in your neck of the woods. You may be lucky enough to have one in your city or town, or you may want to visit one the next time you’re on vacation. Trust us, this is a field trip that’s equally entertaining for both adults and kiddos.
Getting Outside : Kids Edition
This post was originally published as part of an ongoing series where we share ideas, big and small, for getting outside. Our first post shared a few ideas for getting outside at every energy and adventure level. Sarah followed-up with suggestions for week-day doses of outside time. We also wrote another post that suggested taking advantage of the awesome national and state park programs.
We’re republishing the post because we realize that everyone is social-isolating at home with their kids for an extended period of time. With all of those hours together, this is the perfect opportunity to create new, healthy habits. Something we’re passionate about is spending time in nature with Alex and Luc.
Have you seen the headlines?
Honestly, this shouldn’t be that hard of a task, but in the craziness that is life getting outside with kids can be hard. Here are our tips for helping to get you and your kids out the door and into nature. Continue reading
Reading with Kids: Math Games!
These are some of our favorite out-of-print “thinking” books.
The back of the books say: “This is not a mathematic book in its usual sense; it is a book about thinking. It is about perspective, and about abstracting to look at things in a new way.” That simple description concisely explains why I love them. These books are unlike any typical math book.
Disappearing Ink
If you like this post, you should check out our cooking with kids series, our favorite nature books for kids, and our favorite kids’ camping gear.
Fun back story: the idea for today’s post was hatched during a trip to our favorite thrift store, which is slowly becoming “the infamous trip to the thrift store” because so many awesome items were purchased.
We stopped in on a whim to pick up some thermoses, but left with so much more, including a pair of spy glasses for Alex. One thing led to another, and he wanted to write notes in invisible ink. Snow was predicted for a couple days later, so I made sure that we had the supplies on hand, and this little activity made for a fun morning indoors!
You might be surprised to learn that you probably have everything you need to start writing secret spy notes tonight… Continue reading