{Back to School Shopping - With Printable}

It's almost time for the kids to head back to school. My kids have grown quite a bit and need to do some serious clothes shopping this year.  I always try to fit lessons into the activities that we do and back to school shopping is no exception.  As soon as the kids were old enough to understand addition, I started involving them in making decisions about how to spend their school budget.

To Clean or Not to Clean?

That has been the question. Here at Smart and Trendy Moms, we are trying to figure out just how much to help our kids with cleaning their rooms. We'd love to hear what you require of your kids when it comes to cleaning up.

When you have kids, it goes without saying that you have tons of toys, sports equipment, and basically junk that needs to be organized and cleaned. We have been asking around and have discovered that things range from moms who don't have the kids clean anything to kids who are totally responsible for their own rooms and everywhere in between.

{"Mom's Sanity Saver Car Box"}

I've never been the best at planning.  It never bothered me much until I had kids.  When my daughter was little, I started out carrying a diaper bag; but as she got older, I started thinking, "We're only taking a quick trip to the store; I won't need the diaper bag."  So as you can imagine, it wasn't long before I found myself out with a wet, hungry toddler with no diapers, no snacks and a 20 minute drive home - total meltdown!

{Tips for a Happy Holiday}

On the Holidays, do stress and worry go hand in hand with food and family for you? Yeah, for us too. Here are some ideas I’ve come across that might help:

Keep It Real - To help reduce stress, set realistic expectations (and then be willing to let even those go) or even set your expectations a little bit low to start with. Have you ever gone to see a movie that everyone was raving about and then thought, well that was alright, but not worth all the fuss. Sometimes I think that happens because you’ve heard amazing stuff about it and built it up in your mind so much that it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype. If you build up the most fantastic, amazing day in your mind, it can’t possibly live up. Keep in mind that things won't be perfect; just relax and have fun.

You are Not Martha Stewart - accept this fact and move on.  That right there will get rid of a lot of stress and pressure.

Reconsider Tradition  - Don’t feel like you have to follow everyone else's ideas for the Holiday.  Two kinds of gravy, three kinds of cranberries, and three different kinds of pie is enough to stress anyone out!  If you want to start a new tradition or be completely un-traditional, you might want to try it. You probably want to let everyone know in advance on this one especially if you have a conservative family. And hey, it might get you off the hook of ever having to host a family dinner ever again, lol

Be Prepared - Get ready whatever you can ahead of time - clean rooms a day or so in advance (and banish the kids from those rooms), fix desserts salads breads and sides ahead of time. The less you have to worry about, the more you can relax and spend time with your family and friends.

Be Willing to Ask for and/or Accept Help - Have friends and family bring a dish to share and/or games to play - This can make things easier when it isn’t all up to you to provide all the meal and all the entertainment. This makes it as easier on you, and most people really like to help and participate.

Just Roll With It - If turkey takes longer to cook than you thought, your brother arrives late, or the rolls burned, just roll with it - don’t let little things ruin your day, just go with it, keep a sense of humor, and make the best of things.

Keep in mind that the meal does not define you. Your family and friends will love you ( or hate you :-)   ) regardless of the meal. You do not have to plan, cook, serve, and clean up perfectly and without any help. Don’t try so hard to impress anyone, just enjoy yourself and keep in mind the things you are thankful for.

Happy Holidays! . . . and good luck  ;-)







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{Homework Help - Developing Independent Learners}

In the kindergarten and first grade years, there is a lot of parent help needed for homework.  As they get older, they need less and less help. Developing good study habits is important for kids for later in school when they won’t ask or when you can’t help them -- I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember my high school geometry! lol

I have gotten a few bits of advice from teachers on helping kids with homework in a way that helps them become self-sufficient and independent.  Here's what I learned:

{Kitchen Clean Up Game – Kitchen Ninjas}

When my kids were in the 4 to 9 age range, they started to go into the kitchen and get their own snacks or drinks. That was great; I love that my kids are independent. What I didn’t love was the mess that they started leaving – cracker crumbs, puddles of milk and juice, smudges of peanut butter - it seemed like every time I walked into the kitchen, they had left a mess.

So I came up with the “Kitchen Ninjas and Samurai Mom” game. My kids loved ninjas at the time – they knew how ninjas were sneaky and never left any trace that they had been someplace. So I told the kids that they were going to pretend to be Kitchen Ninjas. Every time they went in the kitchen to get a snack, they had to be sure to clean up any mess and leave no trace so that Samurai Mom didn’t know they had been there.

They loved this game and would start laughing and quickly wipe up if “Samurai Mom” were heading in that direction. They loved outsmarting Samurai Mom. We even kept score on a paper on the fridge – ninjas would get a point if mom couldn’t see that they had been in the kitchen, and Samurai Mom got a point if a mess was left. Samurai Mom always gave advance warning of her approach; the clean counters were waaayy better than points  :-)

Unfortunately, my kids have outgrown this game, but I thought I would pass it along to see if it might work for you and your kids.

One of the things that I think got my kids really excited about this game was that we had read the Magic Treehouse Series Book #5 - Night of the Ninjas in which Jack and Annie hang out with ninjas and escape a samurai.

Good luck and please leave us a comment to let us know if this one works for you or any other ideas you have.  Thanks.

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{The Chore Cup}

I am trying a new idea at my house. I get tired of my elementary aged kids fighting over chores. I hear a lot of : “It’s not fair! I vacuumed/dusted/took out the trash/insert-chore-name-here last time.”   In an effort to curb the fighting, I am trying a Chore Cup. I don’t remember where I heard about the idea, but I figured it would be a great time to try it as we are adjusting to the new back-to-school routine.

What you do is put the chores on popsicle sticks and put them into a cup. At chore time, each child pulls out a stick and does the chore on the stick. I am trying a color coding system since my son hates some chores that daughter likes and vice versa. So some chore sticks will have a green dot for my sons chores, some a pink dot for daughter, and some will include both dots for either. I suppose the colored dots could also be used to label them for age (like pre-school chores on the orange dotted sticks, middle schoolers on the red dotted sticks.)

In order to make it fun, I also am including some other things that aren’t chores like play your favorite video game for 10 minutes, run a lap around the yard, draw a picture, etc…
I’ll keep you updated with how it works out for us.  If you try it, let me know how it works in your house.



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Pegs - A Way of Organizing Your Kids (Even When You Aren't)

So I was just about at my wits end with having to repeat things over and over to my kids and tell them every little thing that they needed to do. Have you been there?

One of my kids was having some “homework issues,” and as a solution, her teacher suggested a schedule of doing homework at the same time everyday. Now, I’m not good with schedules and routines. In my family, we just really aren’t “stick to the schedule” types. If you are, that’s great -- and you can probably stop reading this – yeah, that includes you, Jennette :-)  (She's the organized one of the two of us).  

Sight Word Paper Chain - Printable

Here is an idea for a way to help kids who are working on sight words - make a sight word paper chain. As they learn new words, they continually add links on to a paper chain that represents the words they know.  Sometimes that boost of confidence that they get from seeing what they know can really help.

Each of the links that will become the chain has one of the words that your child is working on listed on it. You can even use the links as flashcards to study the words. When you child has mastered a new word, he "earns" that link and gets to add it to the chain.  Seeing the chain grow as he learns new words can be a great way to build confidence with reading!  Image the sense of accomplishment your child will feel as she sees the chain growing and wrapping around the walls of her room!

Here are printables for the first hundred sight words from the “Fry Sight Word List.” (You can of course just cut strips of paper to make your own too. Pretty scrap-booking paper makes a nice chain.)

Sight Word Paper Chain– “Fry List” The First Hundred Words

1-10
11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

61-70

71-80

81-90

91-100

If anyone is interested in printable links for another level of sight words from the Fry List, send me an e-mail.

See more about sight words and a list of games in this post.

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Breakfast Butterfly - Go Ahead, Play with Your Food

I love having fun with food, especially at breakfast when my kids often need a little encouragement to wake up and start the day in a positive way.  My son and I made a french toast and scrambled egg butterfly, and he loved it. 

We cut the french toast into quarters for the wings, formed the body, head, and antennae out of scrambled eggs, and added ju-ju bees for eyes.  I think chocolate chips would be cute for eyes, but my son wanted ju-ju bees.  Simple and fun and he had a smile on his face while he cleaned his plate. 

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New Rainbow Brite Interactive Website

I was so excited when I learned about the Rainbow Brite Interactive Website. Talk about memories. This was the must have toy of my time. I am totally excited to introduce my 2 girls to this.
I think that this is a great site which features animated videos, coloring pages, wallpapers, games and more! All of these fun activities are free!

I feel like a little girl again when I say OMG I can't wait for the release of the Rainbow Brite fashion doll collection will be available in February 2010 at Toys R' Us and Target (you can check website for availability http://www.rainbowbrite.com/). And watch for Rainbow Brite, her two loyal friends Moonglow and Tickled Pink, and their companion horse friends: Starlite, Shimmer and Sunriser.

Hope you all will check it out! A really fun place.

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Monoface - Online Fun

My kids were totally entertained by this site. It’s called Monoface. It was originally a Holiday card by the advertising and design agency Mono. They took photos of their employees (some making funny faces) and have put them together in one face. Some silly, bizarre, and funny photos result. You click on the different parts of the face and switch them out to make new faces.

Sounds simple, but my kids loved it. I saw lots of smiles and giggles. After clicking on the parts of the face for a while, the kids found the randomize button that randomly puts a new face together. Then they started trying to find all of the parts of one person’s face to see what one of the people actually looked like. Some good entertainment on a cold winter day.

If you want to check it out, here’s the link: http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html








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Fish Finder Math Fun - Kids Math Game

Looking for an idea on how to get your child to study his or her math facts? This is a math-practice game that you and your child can make.

Your child lines up two numbers in the two upper bubbles and the answer appears in the large bubble. It is currently set up for addition, but a blank printable is available so you can make your own quiz sheets for larger number addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.

Here’s the "set up" instructions:

1. Print the fish page and the quiz sheets from the list at the bottom of this post. (You will need the "Fish Page" and at least one "Quiz Sheet")

2. Have your child color the fish page

3. An adult should cut out the three bubbles on the Fish Page marked “cut out bubble”

4. An adult should cut a flap of paper (approx. 2 inches square), fold back just at the edge, and glue above the large bubble (This will cover the answer, heavy paper works best for this so you can’t see the answer through it.)

To use

Have your child move the fish page over the quiz sheet until two of the white bubbles line up in the upper bubbles. When two numbers are in the top bubbles, you child tries to answer the problem, and then lifts the flap to see if he is correct.
Younger children will sometimes have a hard time lining up the bubbles at first. It helps if you make sure they understand that the small bubbles will be white, and the big answer bubbles are gray.

Printables
Fish Page
Quiz Sheet 1
Quiz Sheet 2
Blank - Make your own - Quiz Sheet







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Kid's Sight Word Game - Concentration

Most of us have played the little matching game with the photos (Hasbro calls it Memory, when I was a kids we called it concentration). You can play the same game with sight word flashcards.  For Sight Word Concentration, you will need two copies of each sight word flash card that you want to work on.
You will need the words you want to use in pairs. I like to use a minimum of 8 cards (4 pairs). Lay them out in columns and rows facedown. On your turn you turn over two cards, saying each word as you turn it over. If your cards match, you pick up the cards and put them in a pile in front of you. If they do not match, you turn them back over, and it’s the next person’s turn.

This is great because your child has to look closely at the cards trying to see if the words look alike. For unfamiliar words, they will need you to help them say the words as they turn them over. This is a great one for learning new words, but I always try to have one or two relatively familiar sight words so that my kids don’t get overwhelmed.








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Kid's Sight Words Games - Go Fish

For Sight Word Go Fish, you will need two copies of each sight word flash card that you want to work on.
I like to use a minimum of 17 pairs (34 cards total) for this one. You can use more.

To play, you deal 5 cards to each player. The rest of the cards go in the middle of the table. On your turn, you ask another player if they have a particular card. (“Mom, do you have to “and” card?”) If the other player has the card, he gives it to the player who asked. If not, then the other player says “Go Fish” The asking player draws a cards from the deck. If the player gets the card he asked for, from the other player or from the deck, he gets another turn.
When you get a match, you lay them down in front of yourself. The player with the most matches wins.
This game can also be used to work on counting and greater than and less than. “Good counting, if you have 9 pair and I have 8 pair, which is greater?”






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Sight Word Path Game- Dice Variation

Here is another variation on the Sight Word Path game.
In the original sight word path game, you have your child lay the sight words flashcards out in a path, choose their favorite car/animal/little doll etc. and as the toy walks down the path, it “reads” each word.

Lisa at Tip Top Designs says that she and her daughter Carmen have added a twist to this game. In their twist, you use a pair of dice. You roll the dice and your child moves his or her car along the path. Whatever word the marker lands on, if your child reads it correctly, you remove the word from the path.

I love this  variation because by using a pair of dice, it allows you to also work on math skills since they have to add the two numbers together and count in order to know how many spaces to move.  For younger children, you could always say the math problem aloud.  I imagine this one can be done as a path or, depending on the number of flashcards, you could arrange the cards in a circle or square.

Thanks to Lisa at Tip Top Designs for this variation. Please leave a comment to let us know how this variation works for you and your child.






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Fishing for Goldfish Snack

Fishing for Goldfish

I’m not sure where I first saw this one, but my kids have loved it for years.
You put pretzels (the straight kind), goldfish crackers, and a bit of peanut butter on a plate.

The kids eat the snack by “fishing.” They dip the end of a pretzel in the peanut butter and then catch a goldfish by sticking the peanut butter end to it.  It makes for a quick, fun, and fairly healthy snack that they will love.

TIPS
• Those with peanut allergies can substitute cream cheese to get the fish to stick to the "pole."
• Warning- never give a young child a gob of peanut butter as it is a choking hazard.

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{Christmas Kid's Craft - Reindeer Food and Holder} + (printable)

This  is a fun Christmas Craft of  reindeer "food" to sprinkle on the lawn for Santa's reindeer to eat, and a cute little reindeer holder to hold the bag of food until Christmas Eve.  Here's instructions for both projects:

Reindeer Holder to Hang onto the Reindeer Food 'til Christmas Eve

This reindeer holds your bag of reindeer food until Christmas Eve.

Supplies

• 1 piece of construction paper (brown or tan or funky reindeer color of your choice)
• Smart and Trendy Printable for eyes, antlers, etc
• Crayons or markers, scissors, glue, tape

Steps

1. Fold the construction paper lengthwise, and cut down the center.
2. Fold in the corners at one end

3. Make a fold about an inch down from that

4. Print the Smart and Trendy Moms Reindeer Food Printable (click here for the printable)
5. Color and cut out the pieces on the printable.
6. Glue the pieces onto the reindeer (antlers are glued behind so they stick up over the back)
7. Tape the bag of reindeer food into his mouth so the reindeer can hold it until Christmas Eve when it's time to spinkle the reindeer food on the lawn.

Reindeer Food

You leave cookies out for Santa every year. Why not make some “reindeer food” to sprinkle on the lawn for Dasher, Dancer, and the rest of the team?

Here is the recipe:

• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 2 teaspoons of cake decorating sugar ( It’s coarser than regular sugar. You can also use glitter – it looks pretty, but it’s not as environmentally friendly)
• a paper heart for love (a heart printable is included in the reindeer holder directions)

Add the ingredients to a plastic sandwich bag and shake to mix.
Then on Christmas Eve, you head outside before bed and sprinkle it on the lawn for Santa’s reindeer to eat.

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Sight Word Path - Game for Kids to Study Sight Words

This is a twist on the standard flashcard method and worked well for my son to get those first 100 words.  (What are Sight Words?)

Instead of just flipping through the flashcards over and over, he takes the words that he knows and lays them out to make a path down the hall. We go through the couple of new words that we are adding a few times (the regular flashcard way) until he starts to “get” them. Then, we mix them in with the others in the path.

He chooses his favorite toy (usually a car or a little plastic animal) and the toy drives/walks/hops down the path and reads each word as it lands on the card.

We make a big deal over how long the path is getting and, wow, if he keeps practicing it will go all the way down the hall. He loves this. He practices so much longer and with a much better attitude than if it were just flipping through the flashcards the normal way.

The toy also “reads” the words as it picks up the cards when we are finished. (Extra practice and clean up all in one!)







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{Hand and Feet Reindeer} – Kids Christmas Craft Project

This is a simple and fun Christmas craft project that requires very little supplies.  The reindeer are made from construction paper using your child's, or your own :-) , hand and foot prints.

The kids love doing this as a family project where we each make one. They love hanging mom and dad reindeer and the kid reindeer on the wall. It’s fun to see the personality that each of us give the reindeer. Some years the kids have made hats and scarves or earrings or used the “googly” eyes from the craft store.