Make Your Own Play Dough

/0 Comments/in /by TeamEC²

Here’s a great recipe to make your own  inexpensive play dough.

Step 1. In a large pot, combine 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups salt and 6 teaspoons cream of tartar.

Step 2. Next stir in 3 cups of cool water into which you have mixed 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and food coloring of your choice.

Step 3. Then, while stirring constantly, heat over medium heat. Keep stirring until the mixture coagulates and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, or for about five minutes.

Step 4. Turn onto a cutting board and allow to cool slightly.

Step 5. Once it’s cool enough to touch, knead it until it’s smooth and has the consistency of play dough. Store in an airtight container.

Map Puzzles

/0 Comments/in /by TeamEC²

Make inexpensive map puzzles to help your kids learn geography.

Step 1. Paste any map (world, country, state, county) onto a sheet of poster board.

Step 2. Allow to dry.

Step 3. Cut into puzzle-shaped pieces.

For a map of the United States, cut along state borders. If you’re using a Canadian map, cut along the various provinces.  And for a map of a continent, for example – Africa, cut along the country lines.

You could also hand draw a map of your local neighborhood.  Then have your child color in the various houses and buildings before you glue it to the poster board. This will help them get to know their immediate environment.   And may help them find their way back home – if needed.

Lost Mittens

/0 Comments/in /by TeamEC²

If your kids keep losing their mittens, do this: Sew a button to each mitten and teach them how to button their mittens or gloves to a buttonhole in their coat or jacket when they take it off.

No buttonholes? Make two in a very secret but convenient place on the inside.

Table Talk is Valuable

/Updated /0 Comments/in , /by TeamEC²

Here’s a tip for young parents. Expose your kids to interesting dinner-table conversations.  Don’t just talk about kid-stuff.

Preschoolers who are exposed to adult level talk at mealtimes do better on vocabulary and reading tests in elementary school than those who are not. Make this your parent homework! Edith

Baby Powder Saver

/Updated /7 Comments/in /by Beth* R.

Baby powder comes out of the container too quickly, doesn’t it? It’s a manufacturer’s trick so we’ll go through it faster and have to buy baby powder more often.

Beat them at their game with one simple hack. Before you open any powder for the first time, cover half of the holes with a strip of decorative duct tape. Now YOU are in control of how much you use each time.

If you like my tip, remember to click ❤️!

Post-Dated Gifting for College Students

/0 Comments/in , /by TeamEC²

When our grandchildren began graduating from high school and heading off to college, we wanted to give them money each month during their first year of college.

So in their high school graduation card, we enclosed 10—$100.00 post-dated checks, starting with August of that year and ending the following May. We knew it would come in handy, not only for the grandchildren but for their parents, too. We figured the extra money each month might avoid a call home, asking their parents for a little bit more. Or, it might pay for something that was unexpected.

Our oldest grandson told us many times how he appreciated this. We have been blessed, always knowing how important we are to our grandchildren—because we have let them know how important they are to us.

Note: You could do this in any amount from $10 to $100.  And, if you don’t use checks you could always make a monthly electronic deposit.

Linda

 

 

Sneak Nutrition into Kids’ Meals

/0 Comments/in , /by TeamEC²

For a grandson who wants to eat only bread, pancakes, and macaroni and cheese, I have learned to sneak nutrition into his favorite things.

I make pancakes with mostly sweet potatoes or with multiple high protein flours (almond and quinoa), and I add pureed cauliflower and carrots into the macaroni and cheese. He doesn’t realize exactly what he is eating and gobbles it down. JEJ

 

 

“CAN” Party Theme

/0 Comments/in , /by Marsha Lane

A simple and inexpensive way to decorate for a children’s party or a ladies banquet is recycled cans!  There’s a variety of party games that can be made from cans….an old-fashioned tin can telephone (two cans attached with a string at the bottom), a hanging beanbag toss (featured picture), a pyramid of stacked cans to knock down …

bean bag toss

Brightly painted cans to be bowling pins and knocked down with a tennis ball.

Plastic

A milk can to toss ping pong balls into…

A blue suitcase

…and a balancing game with soda cans!  (Fill a large bowl with water, place a plastic plate to float in the bowl, then stack at least 5 cans and balance them for 3 seconds!)

stacked coke cans on a table

Gifts (door prizes) can be wrapped in the large #10 cans, too!

A group of items on a shelf

Let’s not forget about table decorations made from painted tin cans. Plus, party favors fit easily in washed & decorated tuna cans.   It’s easy to decorate the cans with paint, lace, etc.   Let your imagination go wild!