Inspired Childhood: Simple Play Spaces

I recently saw Emily post photos of her play room in the minimalism + motherhood Facebook group and I knew I had to ask her to share the inspiration with you here. 

"My children play so much better, more peacefully and for longer periods of time when they are not lost in a sea of toys. There is also less clean up which is nice because I spend less time cleaning and more time with my family"

 "It has made a world of difference to have a play room full of open ended toys!"

"Physical clutter is mental clutter and it's amazing to see how much better my children play in atmosphere that is free from clutter. It's also made us appreciate quality over quantity"

"A favourite is our Melissa and Doug rainbow stacker. That thing gets SO much love here!"

You can find Emily on Instagram @raisingtherussos

20 Advent Calendar Activity Ideas

It's almost time to bring out our advent calendar.  Our calendar has been a happy tradition for us (I love traditions, especially around the holidays) but it includes mostly activities and experiences each day, instead of chocolates or gifts.  I keep a box with the ornaments, activity cards, books and other items that we use year after year, so that everything is organized and ready to go.

Here are 20 Advent Calendar Activity Ideas from my home to yours!

1. Random Act of Kindness - Each family member receives a small amount of money to go out and perform a random act of kindness for someone else.

2. Shop for a gift for children less fortunate - Place an amount of money inside so that your child knows his or her budget. Wrap it up together and take your gift to a local drop-off site for holiday giving.

3. Make an ornament or decoration - Include all of the materials, supplies and instructions for a small craft project.  You can find ideas on my holiday Pinterest board.

4. Watch a special Christmas movie with treats - There are so many great Christmas movies.  The DVD could be included in the advent calendar (if there's room) along with a package of un-popped popcorn and some candies or chocolates (or healthier treats, if you prefer!) If you don't have room in the actual advent calendar, leave a little clue to find the items. 

5. Hot chocolate made especially for you - include marshmallows, or wrap up the hot chocolate in special packaging. Find inspiration on my holiday Pinterest board. 

6. Today we decorate the Christmas tree - every year, part of our advent calendar includes special ornaments that we use year after year.  You could also include a new ornament - something that you've made yourself

7. Animals deserve a special treat too.  Today we'll feed the ducks - include a small bag of birdseed!

8. Christmas colouring book - You can buy an inexpensive book, or you can make your own out of free printable colouring pages.

9. Let's make a snowman - This is a great invitation to play if you have snow outside - otherwise, you can improvise and make an indoor snowman.  Find inspiration on my holiday Pinterest board.

10. Your special Christmas pillowcase - Our kids each have their own special holiday pillowcase that we take out each year.  It's a lovely tradition, so we include it with the advent calendar activities. 

11. Make Christmas cards -I love homemade cards, and try to get the kids involved.  You can include some blank cards, colouring objects and embellishments for an invitation to create.

12. Decorate the windows in your room. - Include window decals (can be used year after year) or paper and scissors for making paper snowflakes.

13. Listen to fun Christmas music - Include an age-appropriate Christmas CD (can be used year after year).  My absolute all-time favouite (from my childhood) is Dolly and Kenny's "Once Upon A Christmas"

14. Make a gingerbread house. - If you have room, you could include a small bought gingerbread house kit, or you could make a graham cracker house.  Find inspiration on my holiday Pinterest board.

15. Have a picnic dinner in front of the tree - they might find some of the picnic supplies under the tree that morning - a blanket, maybe a picnic basket and some fun Christmas dishes perhaps?

16. Read Christmas stories together - at our house, we have a whole container of holiday books. Early in the month, we include a card that announces the arrival of the holiday book box.  It's always exciting to have new stories to read.  If you don't own holiday books, you could include a trip to the library to pick some.

17. Go for a drive to see the holiday lights - this is a tradition that we look forward to every year. You could also do a neighbourhood lights walk together as a family.

18.  Bake Christmas cookies, or make cinnamon salt dough ornaments - the Oliver Bakes Cookies story card, included with Petit Mail holiday gift sets, would be the perfect thing to include with this activity.

19.  Make an ornament time capsule - this is something that I started last year, and I love it!  Using a clear plastic ornament, we write the year on the outside with a gold sharpie, then I ask the kids some favourite memories from the year.  We write them on small red pieces of paper and slip them into the ornament.

20. Make Your Own Wrapping Paper - use a roll of white paper, or kraft paper.  Include paints, or stamps - a great invitation to play, or activity to do together as a family.

Printable Postcard for Kids

NJ and I love working on snail mail projects together.  It's a wonderful opportunity for us to have mommy-daughter time, plus we get to be creative.  We enjoyed our recent preschool Pen Pal exchange so much that I've been wanting to try other ideas to encourage letter-writing and discovering the joys of snail mail.

FREE Printable Postcards

With this month's Petit Mail postcard theme being recycling, I created a printable postcard template that can be glued to recycled cardboard - the front can then be decorated ANY way you want.  Try collage, painting, drawing - the sky is the limit.

Don't you love how they turned out? These free printable postcard templates, feature Petit Mail characters Oliver and Olivia.  Just sign up below to receive two free DIY postcard templates.

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Tips for Making Your Own DIY Postcard

You can divide this project into several parts, depending on how much time you have.  We made ours over 2 days.

The first day, we put together our postcard and NJ decorated the front of the cardboard with her own original design.

The second day, she decided who she wanted to send her postcard to, and wrote her note on the back. She is so much more motivated to practice her writing when we are working on projects like this!

Hope you have as much fun making your postcards as we did!

Happy Snail Mail,

Alison

Fairy Garden Gifts for Kids

Fairy Garden Gifts for Kids

I'm a big believer in non-toy gifts for kids.  Gifts that spark imagination, play, creativity and maybe even some learning!  Recently I've been inspired by Fairy Gardens, what a magical gift idea for a child.  Uncover inspiration here for your own fairy garden gift - including both DIY and pre-made options.  

Build-Your-Own Fairy Garden Kits

Kits allow a child to build his or her own fairy garden using a variety of creative supplies. Here are a few gorgeous ideas to make your own fairy garden gift kit, or purchase a ready-made kit filled with fairy garden supplies. 

Left: DIY Fairy Garden Gift Basket from How Does She
Top Right: DIY Fairy Garden in a Box from the Asylum

Bottom Right: Fairy House Kit in a Box from The Magic Onion

Gift a Fairy Garden

Another option is to gift a pre-made fairy garden.  Here are a couple of my favourite ideas - I love both of these ideas because they can be used both inside and outside. 

Left: DIY Teacup Garden - a full tutorial for creating this pint-sized fairy garden from Life is a Party. Right: This gorgeous little fairy garden from FairyElements is the definition of sweet.

Fairy Door Tours

I love the idea of gifting experiences - local business Fairy Door Tours in St. John's, NL takes children and adults on an enchanted woodland walk looking for fairy doors. We loved our tour, filled with opportunity to leave small treasures for the fairies, including sending notes in a fairy-sized mailbox (which of course is our FAVOURITE!).  If you do not live in our area, check your local region for similar ideas!

How can you make an experience gift memorable?  

Pair your outing with a fairy or gnome dress-up costume, a book about fairies, or a fairy garden kit.  Take photos during your experience and present an image in a special frame after the fact as a reminder of all the fun.

You can find more non-toy gift ideas and inspiration here. 

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Top image by my amazing friend september

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Kids Dinosaur Fossil Dig

Need some inspiration for your own kids dinosaur fossil dig at home?  

Kids Dinosaur Fossil Dig

Here are some images from our sandbox fossil dig last year.  NJ enjoyed it so much she's still talking about digging for fossils.   The full instructions for making your own fossils and dinosaur bones are included with the subscriber link for Oliver Learns About Fossils. 

Want to jump-start some fun learning about dinosaurs and fossils?  

Order the Oliver Learns About Fossils Petit Mail story postcard (or a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription) and the perfect invitation to learn will arrive addressed to your child in the mail in a bright, fun envelope.

Your story postcard will introduce the concept of fossils in a simple and fun way.  Reading together, your child can learn how fossils are created, then, the possibilities are endless.  Use your story postcard as the inspiration to learn and explore at home.  

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7 Creative Non-Toy Gift Ideas For Kids

It seems like many of the conversations I have with other moms lately revolve around the STUFF we are trying to get rid of.  

For the past year, I've been on a decluttering spree and a move toward simpler, more minimalist living and for the past few years, my mind always comes back to KIDS GIFTS AND TOYS.  I try to maintain some level of control over what comes into our home (within reason), and we donate old toys on a regular basis.  

I don't know about you, but my kids don't need much.  They play happily for hours with the simplest of things - what they really want is for someone to engage and interact with them.  I always cringe a little on the inside when I hear other parents talking about their playrooms full of toys that never get used....it feels so wasteful. 

A few months ago, I started to look for creative non-toy gift ideas for kids and put together a Pinterest board with ideas that inspired me.

There are other posts out there with non-toy gift ideas for kids, but they all seem really generic, like "a zoo membership" or "a subscription".  I wanted to come up with some really practical, creative ideas that are a little more specific. My hope is that you find these inspiring, and that you can use some of these ideas for your own gifting this year. 

1. Make a DIY KIT set inspired by the child's interests.

My niece loves to make her own cards, so this year, I decided to give her a DIY card kit. I've been gathering many more DIY gift kit ideas from other blogs over on the Non-Toy Gifts for Kids Pinterest board, including puppet kits, art kits, cookie kits, dramatic play kits, science kits, sewing kits, fort kits and so much more!

2. Plan an outing to pick out a special new outfit. 

We gratefully receive 95% of our kids clothing passed along from other families that we know.  For me, this is fantastic because the clothes is all in excellent condition and we save a fortune in clothing costs.  However, it means that our kids don't go clothes shopping very often, making it a special treat.  This year, for NJ's birthday - part of her gift was to go to the store and pick out a special "birthday outfit".  She absolutely loved this.  I chose a store where I knew the clothing was affordable and she picked a new dress, shoes, hairband and sunglasses.  

3. Choose an affordable, engaging subscription

Our favorite is Petit Mail of course.  Many subscription boxes and services are a lot of fun, but can be QUITE expensive once you add shipping costs.  Petit Mail story card subscriptions cost $6 per month for Canada and US mailing addresses (a little more for International subscribers) and inspire imagination and creative play.  Each month, read along with the adventures of Oliver + Olivia and connect as a family with science projects, nature exploration, art ideas, dramatic play and more. Ideal for ages 3 - early reader. 

4. Dress Up Costumes

Dress up costumes could be store-bought or handmade.  Think hats, shirts, masks, animal tails, capes and more.  This gift could be one elaborate costume, or a whole dress-up box full of accessories.  Your gift will provide hours of imaginative, creative play.  You can find some DIY costume ideas on the Non Toy Gifts for Kids Pinterest Board

5. A custom-made piece of clothing, especially for them

Find a local dressmaker, or a maker that inspires you to make a custom piece of clothing for a child in your life.  OR, make it yourself!  This could be a dress, a hat, a costume of some sort (see number 4!), Make it into an experience that INVOLVES them in the process, not just something that you do behind the scenes.  Take them to a studio to get measured, have them pick out the colors or designs they like the best.  

6. Photo or Memory Albums

Our daughter  NJ (age 5) loves looking at photos of herself when she was younger. If you have a child in your life that you spend time with and regularly take photos of, don't underestimate the value of something like this, even for fairly young children.  

7. A sleeping bag, pillow, flashlight and book or movie

Need I say more.  You could also include a coupon for a sleepover at your house, or a night of camping out in the backyard.

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How To: Nature Walk With Kids

Inspired by our Oliver Goes Camping Petit Mail story postcard, we've been going on a lot of simple nature walks this month. 

There are so many benefits to nature walks, including: 

• getting outside
• connecting with your kids
• exploring with your kids
• learning about the world around you

I love the beautiful simplicity of our nature collections. 

If this is something you don't normally think of, it's so simple and kids LOVE it.  Every weekend NJ now asks if we can go for a nature walk. 

Here are some of my simple tips 

How To: Nature Walk With Kids

1. Wear comfortable footwear

2. Bring a small bag, box or container for carrying your treasures

3. Take your time - this is not a walk for cardio exercise (at least not for you), it's a VERY leisurely stroll.  Go at their pace (sometimes painfully slow) and enjoy the process

4. Encourage your kids to keep their eyes open

5. Don't pick plants from other people's gardens

6. Keep it Simple - start in your own neighbourhood - a walking trail or park (if you have one nearby).  If they enjoy nature walks, you can expand into other areas of your city or town as part of a special outing

7. Name and describe things for your child - if you aren't sure what something is, try looking it up together when you get home

8. Have fun - if your child is enjoying the process, great.  If not, try again another day

Another option is to try a PHOTO nature walk.  Bring a camera with you and let your kids take photos of the things that interest them.  Kids LOVE cameras.  I'll be sharing more tips for our nature photos walks soon.

You can find more inspiration to GET OUTSIDE on the Camping with Kids Pinterest board.

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