The future is our youth, and investing in their education is a strategic move for all of society.
This is an interview with a kid photographer who provides lots of tips how to empower our kids thanks to photos.
I get that being a mom is hard work on a daily basis. As mothers, we are expected to provide support, advice, and nurturing while still managing the house and our own careers. The days spent providing comfort and support can be long, tiring, and overwhelming. But what if I told you that there is one simple trick that could change all of that? It’s true. One small shift in my thinking has not only changed my approach to mothering but also changed my life for the better. In this blog post, I will share with you the story of how this one simple trick has transformed my mothering mindset and opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me as a mom. If you're still feeling harried as a homeschool mom, maybe adding a daily schedule will help? If you missed the previous post about the freebie, you can find it here. No More Feeling Burdened With One Simple Phrase When times are tough or you feel burdened, my MOST IMPORTANT TIP FOR THE HOMESCHOOL MOM (or any human being, for that matter!) is extremely simple. It's actually incredibly easy. Ready for this? Change just ONE word in all of your thoughts and what you say. Instead of saying
A wonderful volunteering experience of 7 moms and 7 teenagers in Africa. How it all started and what happened with teenagers volunteering in the summer.
Playing sports stimulates healthy habits for the individual family members as well as the family as a group. Find out the best sports for toddlers, kids, teens, adults and seniors to enjoy together.
Transform your homeschool experience with these five key steps. Covering aspects from goal setting to incorporating varied learning styles, this blog guides you through practical approaches to ensure a successful and rewarding homeschooling journey.
You keep calling out your kid’s name but the sound of your voice hardly registers or you get a one-word answer, “coming”, but your child stays put, game controller firmly clutched in his hands; his undivided attention fixated on the screen and the game playing on it. Sound familiar? Right at that minute, you’d like …
Kids can make something pretty incredible when they pool their talents.
So one day before the art show, we managed to pull together and pull off one of our biggest collaboratives to date: our Legacy Mosaic Mural! This big honkin' mama-jama was created by my first thru thi
Kids can make something pretty incredible when they pool their talents.
Hot on the heels of the SHEIN influencer scam is the newest contender- the fake Benefit Cosmetics collab scam. I was excited to skim my e-mail this morning and see a message from Benefit Cosmetics …
Wanna check out our school-wide collaborative? All the details can be found here:...
Magic happens when kids work together. From pudding paint to catapults, these collaborative group art projects for kids will be a hit in your home or class.
Keeping your kids entertained can end up taking more time and money than you have available. This list of 40 kids' activities is easy on your budget and
On Using puzzles to teach kids about the world. There are many things kids can learn from puzzles besides patience and the importance of matching patterns!
Art of Giving is hands down my favorite art event all year, and it was my 5th time to participate as an artist. The event takes place in a plastic sheet covered room at Dell Children’s Hospital. Kids and artists team up to make art and local businesses sponsor the collaborative art pieces made at
An article about why should we add humor at home and how! Recommendation of best Funny Family Board Games to purchase to bring laugh to your family.
Rarely does a technology come along that provides nothing but benefits. But that’s precisely what collaboration tools seem to offer.
You keep calling out your kid’s name but the sound of your voice hardly registers or you get a one-word answer, “coming”, but your child stays put, game controller firmly clutched in his hands; his undivided attention fixated on the screen and the game playing on it. Sound familiar? Right at that minute, you’d like …
Playing sports stimulates healthy habits for the individual family members as well as the family as a group. Find out the best sports for toddlers, kids, teens, adults and seniors to enjoy together.
Yarn bombing (or yarnbombing) is a type of street art also known as yarn graffiti (or knit/crochet graffiti), but different yarns are used instead of paint or chalk. (You can read more on Wikipedia HERE). I am a big fan of yarn bombing; on my Pinterest profile, I have a board dedicated to such yarn street …
Awesome LEGO Learning Activities
Our little family is getting quite accustomed to creative collaboration (see here, here, here) but making art with a nineteen month old toddler is quite the adventure! We spread out all of our supplies on the floor. I like to have a variety of things on hand- watercolors, markers, colored pencils and crayons and I let Lucy pick whatever she wants to work with. Then we both get to work creating. I try to stay away from showing her how to do things- instead I encourage her to explore the supplies and let her direct the process. Typically I will mimic what she does (scribble, paint, splatter, etc) until we have a nice messy background. We get into a nice little groove... but after about 15 minutes things start to get very interesting! There is drawing on her toes, her legs, and hands and sometimes her face, the floor, then back to the paper, her pants, my toes, my hands and then back to the paper. We get into another groove- this is my favorite part because I love a good mess (and have been known to enjoy drawing and painting on myself too). This continues for another 15 minutes. Then I begin to draw over the top of our messy background. This is about the time when she gets restless and climbs into my lap. (FYI messy color and scribbles made by a toddler is a perfect background for doodles and drawings!) And then she's had enough and climbs onto my back to watch over my shoulder. I can fit in about 10 minutes of drawing with her on my back and then it's time to call it quits. I spend a little time drawing and painting on my own and then I cut up the paper and use it for all kinds of projects- this weekend we created Mothers Day cards with it. The process is not always easy (hello short attention span), nor the way that I typically make art, it doesn't last for very long and there is a HUGE mess to clean up but the time spent together is just about the best kind of creative fun that an artsy mama could wish for!
Stuck at home with nothing special on your to-do list before you turn 20? Discover the ultimate 100 bucket list ideas for tweens and teenagers!
Check out this interview with mama Ceren Lee, home tour, and pictures.
Becoming a mom has been one of the most inspiring and profound things to happen to me as an artist. And the older Lucy gets, the more fun it is to share all kinds of creative experiences with her. While I am not an expert I have been creating with this kid since she was born and over time and lots of trial error, I continue to discover new ways to foster her creativity. Once in a while I like to share some of my favorite tips and insights about creating with a kid and with mothers day right around the corner I thought it would be appropriate to share some more of my favorite tips for creating with a kid! MY PHILOSOPHY: As I have mentioned in the past it is important for both my husband and I to include Lucy in as many creative projects as possible. At 2.5 years old this kid has witnessed me making art every day since she was born. And while it makes no difference to us if Lucy grows up to be an artist, we do want her to be a creative thinker. We feel that including her in our daily art-making process is one the best ways we can teach her to do this! MAKE TIME: Making time to be creative is so important for anyone at any age. Even even though I make art for a living, we have a busy life and still have to find ways to structure time for creating with a kid. The way that works best for our family is incorporating Lucy into the projects that we already have to tackle. If I am heading to the studio, I take her along. If my husband is working on a drawing project, he sets her up with her own drawing project. Over time she has become very accustomed to participating in creative tasks and loves making art along side of us. HAVE PATIENCE: I am not gonna lie, I struggle at times with patience when I am creating with Lucy. Letting a toddler be expressive and go wild with paint and art supplies is INTENSE and can be really frustrating and messy. But the practice of letting go and giving her creative freedom while enforcing some boundaries, is slowly making me a more patient person and a better mom. I know she won't be a toddler forever and some day (maybe) she won't try to paint the couch or draw on the cabinets or spray me in the face with water. Until that day comes I will continue to try and be as patient as possible! ENCOURAGE INDEPENDENT THINKING: While it would be really easy to show Lucy exactly how to pick colors or mix paint or draw a flower, I believe one of the most important gifts I can give her is the freedom to think and create independently. Yes, there are times when I have to fight the urge to correct or make something for her but I always try to limit showing Lucy the "right ways" to create. As an artist, I know all too well that there is only one time in your life that you are truly independent and free from expectations and rules in creativity and that is when you are kid. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX: While it is easy and pretty standard to hand your kid a box of crayons and a piece of paper, I say mix it up and try letting them create with different materials and supplies. We will draw and paint on anything- from cardboard boxes to noodles to rocks and sticks to old furniture to paper of all sizes. The result is that Lucy gets crazy inspired and excited about trying something new like painting inside of a shoe box or drawing on a leaf and spends a lot more time exploring new materials. EMBRACE THE MESS: This is a little easier for me because I am a messy artist and when I am creating I need to get swept up in the moment and let the mess happen. With that said, there is no mess like the mess that a toddler makes- but embracing the process and giving your child permission to explore materials and get messy is a wonderful way to foster and encourage creativity. I use drop cloths and old sheets to cover anything and everything that could get messy. COLLABORATE: Collaboration with a toddler is much easier said than done (hello patience) but working with Lucy on the same surface has been a process that has helped both of us learn from each other. I like to keep a couple of large canvases around that we always work on together. The paintings in the photos above are pieces that she and I have been slowly working on together for the last year. We layer, draw, scribble and paint over things. She knows when we show up at the studio that these paintings belong to both of us and always grabs my hand and leads me over to paint together. ALWAY HAVE SUPPLIES ON HAND: In our family it is important for us to have a lot of supplies on hand. I keep paper, crayons, paint and pens in just about every room of the house (and in plain site) because I know at any given moment one of us will may have the urge to create. When the moment strikes you gotta take advantage- I want Lucy to know that if she has the desire to create she can grab her things and get going! You can read about my favorite supplies for kids HERE HAVE FUN: The most important advice I can give is to have fun creating with your kids. Making time to share the joy that comes with the creative process is one of the best gifts you can give to a child! This post is collaboration with the Creative Council by UGG Australia Photos by Alisa Burke and Andy Gunthardt My shoes: Cayha Woven Lucy's Shoes: Aubry Metallic P.S. I am SUPER excited to share that I have designed some exclusive Mother's Day greeting cards for UGG Australia stores! The cards will be an accoutrement to any in-store purchase over $100 from May 1st- May 11th. Head on over HERE for more information!
Looking for gifts and toys to teach diversity to your kids or grandkids? Here are top 10 including card game, matching game, dolls, building game...
A Kids Art Quilt Full of Paper Snowflakes
Na een flinke boswandeling komt je kind met heel wat herfstbladeren thuis. Perfect om samen te knutselen! Hier vind je inspiratie.
Free Printable Firework Flextangle
Here you can find top 14 gifts for young magicians. You have a grandchild who loves MAGIC so this is for you to pick from! All sorted by PRICE!
An article that explains the benefits of having a dog, the responsibilities kids can take on &benefits they will get. Also provides Best DIY Dog Toys to buy
¡Fácil, divertido y económico! Descubre en todo lo que se puede transformar algo tan sencillo como un simple cartón de huevos.
Toyota, Wade, and Leta collaborated on 'Paint Your Own Path' in 2022 which created tension with stacked items on the verge of collapse.
Vijf weken thuiszitten met kinderen: dat vraagt om aardig wat creativiteit. Met deze 12 inspirerende activiteiten blijven je kinderen zeker geëntertaind.
Mindfulness is one of the most popular terms you are likely to come across when looking for strategies and methods to improve mental resilience and alleviate stress. Despite its popularity, people harbor several misconceptions about this refreshingly simple yet astonishingly effective method of introspection and inner engineering. The first faulty assumption is that mindfulness is …
Mindfulness is one of the most popular terms you are likely to come across when looking for strategies and methods to improve mental resilience and alleviate stress. Despite its popularity, people harbor several misconceptions about this refreshingly simple yet astonishingly effective method of introspection and inner engineering. The first faulty assumption is that mindfulness is …
No one's too old for some fun, especially when it comes to lego! Discover the benefits of lego therapy and the best 5 lego sets for seniors on the market.
Wish You Knew How To Get The Kids In The Garden More?? Grab Your Download Download this for free by signing up to our Growing Healthy Kids Family, so I can send you weekly posts, advice
Playing sports stimulates healthy habits for the individual family members as well as the family as a group. Find out the best sports for toddlers, kids, teens, adults and seniors to enjoy together.
