Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Wisconsin

It's towards the end of March and Illinois is finally trying to warm up. The snow is almost completely melted and if you look close enough, you might be able to find some flowers trying to break free of the frozen ground to make the gray and brown landscape beautiful and green again.

To celebrate the warming weather, we traveled to the Milwaukee County Zoo. My mother-in-law has a family pass that allows for grandchildren, children, and a couple of guests to visit pretty much whenever we want so long as it's within the year of its purchase. The pass even covers parking and that in itself can be expensive.

Paint In A Bag- A Mess Free Activity For Your Child

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My kids are messy when it comes to arts and crafts. When they were younger and even more clumsy, I used to rip a head and arm holes into garbage bags and throw them over my children's heads so they could wear them and the bags would act as aprons to keep their craft off of them. Then I would lay table clothes on the floor under them so that clean up was easy and efficient.

How to Make a Sensory Bottle

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I love sensory bottles. I love to shake them up watch as all the glitter and other objects swirl in them and head to the bottom.

When my oldest started having difficulty at school and then at home, I became particularly interested in them as a way to time time outs with hopes that they would be an easy and painless way to get my son to settle down and listen.

10 Learning Crafts to Do With Kids

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I've been a stay at home parent for four and a half years. Over this time, I try to do my awesome mommy thing and do projects and crafts with my kids to help them learn. As an expert, keep my kids out of trouble, mom, I've had experience with Pinterest and looking things up. I've compiled a list of my top 10 favorites crafts. Most of these I've tried and the others look promising. I hope you're able to enjoy. (Click the links for instructions on how to make some of these crafts.)

1.  Paper Chains  This was my favorite thing to do around Christmas time. It was super easy to make and it helped you count down the days until Christmas. Teach your kids counting, colors, how to use scissors and patterns. Click the link to learn how to make a paper chain.

2. Bake cupcakes! Grab your favorite box of Betty Crocker or use a family recipe. Have the kids help you measure out the ingredients to learn measurements or just how to help. When the cup cakes are done baking and are ready to be topped, make some vanilla frosting, divide it into bowls, and add food color to each bowl for different color. You can teach your child colors in a fun edible way and if you want to add sprinkles or other toppings, you can also teach your child to count along.

3. ABC Magnets! What's nice about magnets is that they can stick to your refrigerator or dishwasher. Have your child play with them and try to spell them out. They can play with them while you cook dinner or you can use them on some metal sheet pans. Encourage them to remember the letters and try to sound out goofy word concoctions, they'll get a laugh out of you trying.

4. Paint in a Bag- I wasn't sure how my kids would like this, especially my older kids, but they really enjoyed moving the paint around and mixing the colors. On the plus side, it's also mess free! Click the link to learn how to do this.

5. Peanut Butter Play Dough - Kids can learn all sorts of things when they play with play dough. It's even better when it's peanut butter! You can add chocolate chips or other edible ingredients to count with or to help sculpt. Play around with shapes, teach about size. If your child is allergic to peanut butter, try this one. You can color this, so that's a plus, but I'm not sure on the taste. 

6. Make a bird feeder! I've made my bird feeders with pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed. It's super easy, you just tie a string around a pine cone or apple stem, layer it with peanut butter, roll it in bird seed, and then hang it up outside.  Teach your child how to take care of other creatures and sit and watch the different kind of animals that come by to eat from it. 

7. Colored Pasta- I haven't done this one yet, but I definitely want to try. This is such a great idea! you can teach your kids about colors, teach them math by adding and subtracting, and when you're finished, you can teach them motor skills by making jewelry. 

8. Sensory Bottles- Help your child learn texture, colors, density, and more with these Do It Yourself sensory bottles. 

9. Ornaments! I'm not an artist, but I try to do something creative each year with my kids to hand out to grandparents or to keep for myself. My favorite one to do is the salt dough hand print ornaments which is in the link above. This doesn't really teach your kids anything, but it's a nice keep sake to have.

10. Go outside and explore! This isn't a craft, but it is a great learning experience. Watch bugs and look at the clouds. Discuss the color and texture of the leaves and talk about the temperature. The outdoors has a never ending supply of learning tools.

   Tell me which crafts are your favorites or which ones that you like to do with your kids that aren't on this list. 

8 Fun Things to Do With the Kids This Summer

Summer time is coming which means that school will be getting out for the summer. For a stay at home mom, this could be exciting because the kids will be home to play or, if you're like me, you may not know what to do all day to keep the kids happy and entertained. I've come up with a list of things that are cheap and easy to do that could keep the kids entertained for a little while.

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1. Water Balloons- On a really hot day, have a water balloon fight. Stores are now selling super easy to fill water balloons that tie themselves. You could fill them up over two different laundry baskets and place them on either side of the yard or outdoor area and have at it.

2. Chalk- Our backyard is fenced in with a wooden fence. I know that some parents will not like this idea, but I let my kids write on our fence with chalk. The kids have the whole area to make stories or draw and it can easily be washed clean with a good rainfall of a hose. If you would rather not let your child draw on the fence, sidewalks work too. 

3. Jump Rope- I remember spending so many hours outside with a jump rope. It was even better if It was a long one and we could take turns with jump rope rhymes. 

4. Gardening- One of my favorite things to do in the summer is gardening. I made a raised garden bed on the other side of our fence in our driveway. You can always put one in your yard (which is more sensible), but our dogs like to dig up things, so it's away from them. My kids love to garden! They love being able to water the garden and once the vegetables or fruits are ready, the kids feel proud to pick them. This is also a good way to get them to eat healthy foods. They want to eat what they grow. Another plus: It's a great learning experience.

5. Go to the park- If you're brave enough to take the kids, they could spend all day there. I usually take the kids either early in the morning or a little bit in the afternoon when the park isn't as busy.

6. Pitch a tent in the backyard- This will provide shade for you too. The kids will love running around in there and can run in and out as they please. Then, when it gets dark, you can decide if you want to sleep out there for the night.

7. Have a picnic. Set a blanket or table cloth outside and eat outside. It's different from what the kids normally do and it will feel special to them.

8. Crafts- The last idea is just plain old crafts. You can find many that you can do outside like building a bird feeder or even paint something. I like to tie dye clothes as well. It's fun to do it outside because you don't have to worry about dying something you don't want to. This is a craft the kids and I did yesterday- it may not look pretty, but they had fun!

Haha- I really needed the right kind of paint brush for the words.

Related Post- 10 Learning Crafts to do with kids

I hope that I gave you some new ideas for playing outside and keeping busy during the summer. What other ways to you keep you and the kids entertained?

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