HRM Parent Blog

It's National Literacy Day and we're celebrating with this super easy home made bookmark that's great for even the youngest kids to make. 

What you'll need:

card stock, scissors, hole punch(s), glitter, glue stick, ribbon, packing tape

Directions:

1. Cut paper into a rectangle sized to fit a standard book

2. Use glue stick and glitter to make a design on one side of the paper

3. Wrap bookmark with strips of packing tape so that it extends over the edges.

4.  Rub over top of bookmark to smooth and secure tape, especially around glitter areas. Use scissors to trim excess tape around the edges.

5. Use scissors or a corner hole punch, to decorate each corner of the bookmark. 

6. Punch a hole in the top of the bookmark and tie a piece of ribbon through the hole to complete the bookmark.

Happy Reading!

Of course, we didn’t have to go very far to find some fun and easy ideas that you can make today!  One of our favourite bloggers, East Coast Mommy is well underway on prepping for the holidays and has already shared 3 great ideas on her blog that we wanted to make sure you knew about:

Homemade ornaments – check out these cute felt stocking ornaments that are quick and easy to make.  Great for slipping into your holiday cards or tied to the outside of any present.  So fun.

Gift Tags: we love anything to do with recycling so of course we want to let you know about these sweet gift tags that East Coast Mommy made from recycled cardboard and paper.  Have fun using different coloured paper and cut-out designs to make your own personalized tags.

Finally, this one is so fun and will definitely help answer the question for how Santa can get in your house if you don’t have a fireplace. Who would have thought to leave a key for the big guy!?  Fantastic.

Thanks for the great ideas East Coast Mommy – you rock!

Ok, so I know we just got through the craziness of pumpkin carving, costume making and trick-or-treating but with less than a month until we start the countdown to the holidays, it’s a perfect time to start thinking about an advent calendar.

Here’s a few ideas to get you started.  The kids will love helping you create your own version and guaranteed it’ll be something you’ll treasure for years to come.  Plus, be sure to get creative and have fun filling it with more than just chocolate….trinkets, money, stickers, erasers and more.

Gather up all the old worn our jeans that are ready for the trash and turn them into this neat pocket calendar to hold all the fun favours.

Leave it to Martha to come up with this adorable set of matchboxes that transforms into a tiny tree as they are opened.

Mini envelopes that you make or buy are an easy way to create your countdown with this easy calendar .

If you like recycling – this is the calendar for you. Old magazines, cards or giftwrap are transformed into these sweet paper pockets to hold plenty of treats.

Who would have thought?  Check out this fast and easy advent calendar made out of a basic shoe organizer.

This one is just too cute and so easy, especially if you have lots of teeny unmatched socks that you’re still hoping to find the match for.

Finally, here’s the one we made a few years ago using felt, glitter glue and lots of tiny embellishments that we had so much fun collecting.  It’s pulled out every year and watching the excitement of our kids as they unveil the daily treasure will never get old.

I’ve been promising my kids that we could make a Halloween craft for a little longer than I want to admit, but tonight, I was finally able to follow through.  With cookie selling, dance classes, birthday party planning, making costumes and a cold that took a few of us off the grid for a few days – it’s been a busy month so far.  I’m sure there are more than a few of you who can relate!?

Nevertheless, as we giggled our way through playing with googly eyes, told stories about our day as we painted and got a little too silly making up other uses for the pipe cleaners, I was reminded again how important it is to make the time.  

So even though the girls have named these little guys Fancy Pantsy Spiders, I’ve secretly called them Reminder Bugs. 

Make them yourself and enjoy the fun!

For one spider you’ll need:

1 Medium size Styrofoam ball

4 Fancy thick pipe cleaners (we found ours at the Dollar store)

1 thin orange or red pipe cleaner

2 Googly eyes

Black Paint

Glue

Paint brush

Scissors

Paper plate

Wooden skewer

To make the spider:

1. Cover entire styrofoam ball with paint.  To avoid too much mess we put the ball on a paper plate and used a wooden skewer placed in the ball as a handle for easier painting.  Let dry.

2. Cut each of the 4 thick pipe cleaners in half to make 8 legs. Bend each leg at the middle and push into sides of the spider.

3. Glue on the eyes.

4. Cut a small piece of the thin pipe cleaner for the mouth and bend each end and push into the ball to secure.

5. My daughter suggested we make a web out of yarn as a home for these so we’ll see how that goes over the weekend!

These turkey crafts are too cute not to gobble them up the first chance you get! 

It doesn't get much better than this .  An adorable turkey and a great way to teach the kids about being thankful. 

Move over paper bag princess…and say hello to the paper bag turkey .  So cute.

Kids love tracing their hands and it makes for an even more personalized turkey!

This little guy is great way to recycle a toilet paper tube and is super fast and easy.

The kids will love choosing and folding their own paper colors for this fancy turkey.

Have the kids make one of these gobblers for everyone at your thanksgiving dinner table.

Paint, paper and some hands…no instructions required, this one speaks for itself.