Toddler Time

"Homemade" Crayons!

This is super easy and gives new life to crayon bits!

Just take all your crayon bits, remove the paper, and arrange in your tins. You could get really creative with your color mixtures, but I made it pretty simple considering it was the first try. Note: I do not recommend "cheapo" crayons. It may have just been a fluke, but once they were molded, they didn't color anymore. So, stock up on the cheap Crayolas while you can!

You could use any shaped muffin tin or mold pan, I just happened to score a heart shaped one at the dollar store!

Pop in the oven at about 200 degrees.. just keep an eye on them! Once melted, set out until dried and molded. Mine popped out easily once cooled, so you shouldn't have any problems.

Perfect for little one's hands. I sprang for the Tadoodles a while back and trust me, they were not worth the money!

I will be using these for goody-bags and holidays. Very original and creative and I can't think of a kid who wouldn't love these!

Toddler Time

Another Toddler Time post for this week since I just got the pics from last week's activity and they turned out so, so cute!!

Meet my little sister, Hanlee, by the way :)

I hit the Dollar Tree and got foam shaped flowers (stickers), foam door knob hangers, and foam letters (also stickers) and sat the girls down with their supplies and a muffin tin and the fun began!

We talked about the colors and I worked with Monkey on matching the colors in each of the muffin tins.

So, $3.00 for an activity they had a blast with, an opportunity to work on our colors, hand-eye coordination, and memories and keepsakes that we will forever cherish!

Toddler Time

Tonight Monkey and I made a Froot-Loop Necklace. I thought for the most part I'd be doing most of the "work", but she was a great little helper! We "chatted" about the different colors and everytime I asked for red, she knew which ones were red! I am so proud of her! This will be a great activity to get her more and more familiar with her colors.

Mommy's Little Helper

She was so excited...

and that it was edible!

All you need for this activity is Froot-Loops (or Apple Jacks, Cheerios, etc.) and string!

"The most important seed I can sow in this life is my children, and the love and knowledge that I can bestow upon them and the help I can give them."

Thrifty Thursday

It's Thrifty Thursday over at one of my favorite blogs, Comical Coupon Cents. So, here are my finds from our local Just a Dollar yesterday:

The "Seedling Bible" is just precious! This will be great for "Bible time" since it's in story-book form, with lots of pictures, and it actually has little sidenotes which will help me in teaching.

The "Matching Items" is a flip book complete with pics and simple words. Just right for teaching a toddler.

And lastly, my favorite; old-fashioned, good 'ole alphabet blocks. Perfect for teaching colors, letters and words. The backside of the blocks also have shapes!

AND... drumroll, please:

HAIRBOWS! WOW! A buck! I make my daughter's hairbows, but I can barely get the materials for that price! And my little monkey can't seem to keep her white bows "white", so this was definitely an excellent find! (I also might add that in my 'pre-frugal days' I was known to frequent boutiques and buy these for as much as $12 a piece. I'm shaking my head as I type this. YIKES!)

If you have a local $ store, take some time to really stroll the aisles. I mean, really stroll. Some of it is just pure junk, but sometimes there's some really great stuff! Like once I found a "Take Out Menus" accordian file. To some it may be worthless, but for a new mommy it made the perfect baby shower gift! It was a huge hit! (And it was A DOLLAR.)

And start stocking up on little Christmas gifts as you see them, (especially for the kiddoes) because they will be gone! (My sister and I do this all the year through! Saves a lot of stress in December!)