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My kids love all sorts of creatures, even those that totally freak me out . . . like snakes! But despite my fears, I’m okay with them coloring snakes and other fun rainforest inhabitants. I hope your kids enjoy these rainforest coloring pages as much as mine do.
Rainforest Coloring Pages to Print: For more fun animal coloring pages, check out these zoo animal coloring pages to print and jungle animal printables.
We went letterboxing yesterday and I couldn’t wait to come home and share this idea with all of you! What is letterboxing you ask? According to Letterboxing.org,
According to AtlasQuest.com,
According to my daughters and their friends, letterboxing is awesome!
Here’s What You Need to Go Letterboxing:
Here’s How You Go Letterboxing: 1. Decide where you want to go letterboxing. Letterboxing is available all across North America and the world! To find locations near you, use the search page on Letterboxing.org or the search page on AtlasQuest.com. 2. Print out directions to the letterboxing location. 3. Print out the letterboxing clues. Letterboxing clues are like scavenger hunt list ideas. 4. In addition to the list above, pack drinks, snacks and even a picnic lunch if you want to make a day of it! 5. Once you’ve arrived at your letterboxing location, follow the directions to your starting point. This is usually a place to sign in so people know you’re on the trail to help ensure your safety.
6. Read the first clue! Since we had four kids with us, and eight clues, we let each kid read two clues.
Actually, we had five kids with us if you include our 16 month old, but she was just along for the ride!
7. Follow the directions to find the hidden letterbox. On our outing, the kid who read the clue got to be the leader.
8. Once you’ve found the letterbox, usually hidden under a rock or leaves behind a tree, open the plastic box and take out the rubber stamp. Since this activity is friendly to the environment, there is never a need to dig a hole in the ground, dismantle a rock wall or do any other serious alterations to find the letterbox.
9. Press the stamp you found in the letterbox onto your ink pad and then press it firmly in the small journal you brought. You may also want to write down the date and location you found the stamp. Then take your “signature stamp” and stamp the book included with the letterbox. Sometimes, there is only a book for you to leave your “signature stamp” in at the last clue.
10. Carefully put the stamp back in the box and replace it where you found it. Be sure it is well hidden and protected from the elements. Most letterboxes will be stored in a plastic bag for this reason. Our letterboxing excursion included eight clues, while others may have only one or two clues. If possible, it’s great to pick a letterboxing site that has enough clues for each kid to find one. Since it was a beautiful day, we enjoyed the multiple clues and extended hike. There is even indoor letterboxing for those who prefer indoor activities or for those days when it rains. So the next time you’re looking for a great family outing, I highly recommend letterboxing! When I think of Spring, images of plants, trees and the color green come to mind. So I thought it would be fun to do an activity that answers a question at the root of the matter . . . how do plants grow? This simple planting activity shows kids in just a matter of days how plants grow. Really!
What You Need To Answer the Question How Do Plants Grow:
How to Answer the Question How Do Plants Grow: 1. Place small stones in the bottom of a plastic cup until one inch of the cup is filled with stones. 2. Add potting soil to the plastic cup until the cup is about 3/4 of the way filled.
3. Use your finger to create a hole in the soil about one inch deep. 4. Sprinkle a handful of wheat grass seeds into the hole in the soil. 5. Cover the seeds with a little potting soil. 6. Add water to the cup until it rises half way up the layer of small stones. 7. Place cup by a window. Within a few days, roots will begin to grow. By the end of a week, grass will be visible at the top of the cup. By the next week, the grass will be so long it may need a trim!
This planting activity helps answer the question “how do plants grow” by showing kids that plants grow when you add water and sunlight to seeds in soil. Then you wait. Luckily wheat grass seeds grow quickly or this activity would be as much fun as watching paint dry! Spring has finally sprung and it’s so nice to see all the flowers in bloom! So I was inspired to come up with a craft involving flowers because my girls love making paper flowers.
What’s Needed for Making Paper Flowers:
Steps for Making Paper Flowers: 1. Cut flower petals from the construction paper. To save on cutting, it’s easier to fold the paper into thirds before cutting out the petals. 2. Cut out one section of the egg carton for the center of the flower. 3. Poke the end of a chenille stem through the center of the individual egg carton and then bend the end of the chenille stem to secure it to the egg carton. 4. Poke the other end of the chenille stem through a flower petal cut from the construction paper and move the petal along the chenille stem until it touches the egg carton. Repeat this step for each flower petal. We put eight petals on our flowers, but anywhere between five and eight petals works. These flowers make great Mother’s Day gifts too! Every year we do a lot of Easter activities together as a family. Our Easter activities include coloring Easter eggs, making Easter crafts for kids and hosting neighborhood Easter egg hunts every year. What started off as me hiding a few Easter eggs for my kids, has evolved into a neighborhood Easter tradition!
Although we used to go to local Easter egg hunts, I decided to begin hosting Easter egg hunts at our home when I saw that some children left the town Easter egg hunts disappointed because in the mad dash of dozens of kids, they only found a few eggs or none at all. Easter activities are supposed to be fun for all kids, not just the fast ones! So I decided to run my Easter egg hunts a little differently. Every child who comes to our Easter egg hunts finds the same amount of eggs. How do I guarantee that? Do I become the Easter egg police? No. It just takes some organization and a lot of different kinds of plastic Easter eggs! Here’s how I make sure the kids who come to our Easter egg hunts leave happy. 1. I buy ten eggs of various patterns, including polka dots, flowers, stripes, pastels, solids, metallic, speckled and even eggs that look like footballs and soccer balls. (Since the number of kids who come to our Easter egg hunts keeps growing, I have created additional patterns on plastic eggs by buying solid colored eggs and using a permanent marker to add patterns like stars, asterisks, triangles, etc.) 2. I assign each egg pattern to a specific child and write it down. (Now that my girls are older, they like to pick the egg pattern they want and then assign patterns for their friends.)
3. I buy small treats and toys and put one or two in each egg, including candy, stickers, bouncy balls, tattoos, rings, erasers, and whistles. I’ve also included quarters.
4. I buy Easter gift bags for each child and label them with their name. Then I draw on the bag an Easter egg with their pattern so they know which egg pattern they are to find. 5. Then of course I hide over a hundred plastic eggs around my yard! I wait to do this until about an hour before the hunt so the sun doesn’t melt the candy inside the Easter eggs. 6. When the kids arrive at our home, I hustle them in the door so they don’t look around the yard and spot eggs before the Easter egg hunt begins. 7. I remind the kids that each of them gets to find 10 Easter eggs and that they’re only to find the Easter eggs with their pattern. I also tell the kids not to tell each other if they find someone else’s Easter egg. I know it sounds like a crazy control freak is running this hunt, and that may be true, but the kids absolutely love these Easter egg hunts! They not only know the rules already, but appreciate them because everyone gets to hunt the same number of Easter eggs at their own pace. So if you’re looking for a fun Easter tradition to do with your family and friends, I highly recommend Easter egg hunts where every child goes home happy! |
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we had because it included the ink pad.)
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