Our garden has more jumbo cherry tomatoes than we hardly know what to do with this year. So to keep things going all winter long we spent some time roasting them up. What I love about preserving my own food is having full creative licence over it. If I don’t like how it’s turning out…
Q-Kids: Plantable Seed Art
We decided to save seeds this year. You can read more about that here or how to here. But we had a little mishap in the process. Our seeds got mixed up. With kids this is bound to happen at times. So we did some sorting and came up with this fun project in the…
Q-Kids: Investigating Seeds
While some people’s goal with gardens is to store up food. Mine has been to teach our kids where food comes from, how it grows, and how yummy it is. As the season starts producing food the question comes up about seeds. My kids wonder, can we eat them? What happens if we don’t? After…
Q-Kids: Hand Kite
My kids love kites. I do not. As a parent who has to get the kite in the air, untangled, and gauge the weather the whole task feels daunting. So instead of a full blown kite we made these fun hand kites that can be used inside or out. All you need is: Shower curtain…
Q-Kids: Blue Jean Bunk Bags
We recently combined rooms for two of our kids. Let’s just say it’s going rough. It’s hard to share space when you’re young. To give each of the kids their own special space that was off-limits to the other I came up with this solution. Blue jean bunk bags. I took a pair of ripped…
Q-Kids: Fabric Fort DIY
If you’re like me you have a tablecloth or two that have seen better days (like way better days). I pulled out a cloth one that was not only stained but also frayed at the corners. Not ideal for much more than scrap rags. Instead I found my permanent markers, drew a scene, and let…
Q-Kids: Mermaid Money DIY
My girls are obsessed with mermaids. And unicorns. And glitter… you get the drift. So after a fun fourth of July we had a bagful of snail shells fished from the lake. I had the girls clean the shells (nothing like smelly shellfish to find later, uck!). I grabbed our stash of nail-polish and some…
Q-Kids: Edible Bird Feeder
With all this heat we’ve lost a bit of bread around our house. When I realized my bagels had gone bad I was so sad. I decided to take an opportunity instead. We have been bird watching hard core with all the other activities canceled due to quarantine. So this was a way to up…
Q-Kids: Unique Bouquet
My kids love to pick dandelions and about any other flower they come across on our nature adventures. The problem is that rarely do the kids pick the flower stems long enough to actually make a real bouquet with. So when I saw this fun craft I knew we had to try it out. Before…
Q-Kids: Nature Prints
It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to renew my stash of play dough for the kids. So each of the little tubs are getting dry and difficult to work with. There has to be a last use for play dough about to go bad. Here’s what I came up with. Nature Prints! Gather lots…
Q-Kids: Gourd Bowls
My kids are obsessed with Native American history and all things artifacts right now. I want to take advantage of their desire to learn in a positive way. We’ve done a dig site already and found a few things. We’ve searched a few local farm fields for arrowheads. We’ve visited a nature preserve focused on…
Q-Kids: Chicken Coop Club #5
Here is the final story in the Chicken Coop Club series. It’s a fun version on checkers with free printouts to play at home. I hope you enjoy it! Happy Questing!
Q-Kids: Flower Fun
I’m a huge fan of wildflowers. They are good for the bees and for the heart. So when I saw a field full of wildflowers at my father-in-laws I took the opportunity. With kids in tow we explored the field. We found daisies, purple clover ,and yellow flower I didn’t know. Here are a few…
Q-Kids: Flower Press
My kids pick a lot of flowers. Flowers destined to die before we can finish our walk and get them into water. It’s not that bad until the kids realize their handful of wonderful beauty is wilted and faded. Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine to…
Q-Kids: Chicken Coop Club #3 & #4
Sorry about the delay in posting these stories. I’ve fallen a week behind with good reason. I welcomed my new little one into the world this past week. I feel so blessed to have her here amidst all the world’s craziness these past weeks. Story #3 is all about the game of charades and you…
Q-Kids: String Hair Wraps
I grew up in the 90’s and hair styles were different. Top of the trends were hair wraps. I know you remember, don’t deny it. All you do is start with one of those little plastic hair ties that are super hard to get out and bundle up a small section of hair usually next…
Q-Kids: Chicken Coop Club Story #2
Week two of the Chicken Coop Club is now live! New feature this week is an audio reading of the full story. So print off the FREE activity page and listen to my story while you play with your kids. This week’s story is about the game of BINGO! I hope you enjoy it. Happy…
Q-Kids: Archaeology At Home
My kids are really into (read obsessed) with finding “ancient artifacts” ever since they saw the Let’s Go Luna episode about Egypt. We’ve been looking at the photos in a few of my adult books about archaeology. I thought that would satisfy them. Dear readers, they want more. So we went onto YouTube and looked…
Q-Kids: Chicken Coop Club Story #1
I’ve been working with the amazing Townline Hatchery to create a fun children’s tale series focused around raising your own poultry. This new series is called The Chicken Coop Club. These mini stories focus on living out the backyard farm while under these strange circumstances we are all subject to right now. Bonus being that…
The Perfect Page Turn
With picture book writing their is a real art to handling a page turn. You have to think through not only the words but the accompanying art on the pages. There are many amazing tools out there to help you envision what your story will look like with each turn. You can find a wonderful…
