Creativity Festivities Link-Up and This Week's Highlight

I had so much fun checking out everyone's links last week that I thought maybe you'd want to do another round this week! :) You are all sooo creative and I just love the ideas that you come up with!

This Week's Highlight: Saving The Family Money


Picture from Saving The Family Money

Now, I'm wishing that I had seen this one about two weeks ago before I bought a corkboard! Saving The Family Money has a posting HERE with how you can make Magnetic Fabric Bulletin Boards! These would be so amazing for your playrooms or mudrooms for keeping family activities/schedules in one area! I am not the craftiest person but I am definitely going to add this to my list of things to attempt to create! With keeping your eyes open at Thrift and Second Stores, you should be able to make one of these at a fairly reasonable price!

Thank you to all who shared their creativity last week! Now remember, these can be anything such as recipes, crafts, activities you do with your kids, anything homemade or just any idea of how to stretch your money or live a little bit more frugal. All I ask is that you do not post deals here. Please see my right sidebar under "Weekly Deals" for link-ups there. If you don't have a blog, please be sure to leave a comment with your crafty ideas. You can always email me your craft/photo to be part of the weekly highlight.

Bloglight's On You: Lost In Pizzaland

As a Mom of a Toddler, I am always looking for new activities for us to do throughout the day. Well, my all-time favorite blogger has some great ideas on her blog Lost In Pizzaland. Now, why is she my fave? Because she's my older sister! :)

She was over at my house one weekend telling me all about the things her and my niece had been doing together. I told her she needed to start a blog and share since so many of us are looking for things like these. So there we were trying to think of her blogname and we were busting up laughing when she decided on one I threw out to her. It's a funny family story, that she shares in her sidebar.

What's her blog all about? She does weekly themes that you can do with your kids. She'll give you a supply list to look for and then the activities/crafts you can do. She also includes games, snacks and related books to look into.

Now, she's just starting out and doesn't have as strong of a computer background but she's catching on fast. You know how it is trying to figure out the quirks of Blogger! :) She's still working on her format but I think she's doing a great job. (especially considering the poor thing has to work off dial-up access, since some trees obstruct her high-speed capabilities!)

She shares so much information for each week that you could almost stretch it into a whole month, if you did a few a day! I've already got a few of her activities on my list of to-dos with Nathan. She also does a Bake/Cook/Make Saturday, adding a baking/cooking idea to do with your little ones. I'm loving her lion cookie idea she found. (Pictured above)

I'm still amazed at how many ideas she's gathered from books, library/school activities and just her own creativity. So if you are looking for some boredom busters, check out Lost In Pizzaland!

To My Sister: Congrats on Your New Blog! I wish you all the best and hope you end up loving it as much as I do! Proud of you, Sis! :)

Play & Learn: Hide and Seek ABCs

I often get asked what types of activities I do with my son to play/learn since he's hitting that toddler age but not quite old enough for pre-school. So I thought I'd share a few with you at random. This one is what I call "Hide and Seek ABCs." Now as with any activity, you can make this as frugal as you want. But I had a feeling that it would be a favorite of his so I put a few $$ into it.



What you need:
~A large piece of felt
~Two boxes of flashcards. You'll find these in dollar bin areas.
~Velcro pieces
~Tape

Now you can make this really frugal by using cut-outs from magazine/newspaper ads, but you need two sets. And you could always just lay them on a table/floor but we had fun hanging them up. Just keep your eye out for 50% off craft store coupons and the materials won't cost you that much.



I threw our felt piece over a banister in our living room. I had previously put velcro pieces on the back of two sets of letters, up to the letter I. I wanted to work in smaller segments. I hung up the one set and had Nathan check out what was there.




Next, I had him turn around while I snuck around the playroom hiding the other set of letters that I put small pieces of tape on, too. This way, I could hide them on places other than just flat surfaces. He was giggling the whole time! :)



I came back and said, "On your Mark, Get Set, GO!!" and he ran around the playroom finding all the flashcards. I'd give him hints like, it's under, over, on top of, behind, etc. so he'd learn directional terms, too. As he'd find one, I'd tell him to go and hang it up underneath the matching card. While he was walking over, I flipped the card over to show him the letter on the back saying, "Letter A" and then showed him the picture of the apple on the other side saying, "A is for Apple. Find the Apple."

We started this one a few weeks ago and he loves it. After he finds all the cards, he claps his hands and says, "More! More!" After several rounds, I have to tell him we'll do more another day! I often use it as a reward when he's been good or just a little something for him to look forward to the next day, when he goes to bed.

Here's hoping you have just as much fun playing this with your little ones!