Category: ARTS & LITERACY
Easy Preschool Crafts – Stamping & Printing with Food
The sun is peeking out from behind the clouds and the air has a hint of warmth in it. All of those fun kid projects that you’ve been whipping up at the kitchen table have as much of an urge as you do to shake off a long Canadian winter and head outside to enjoy [...]
Easy Kids Easter Crafts – Bunny Boxes & Stained Glass Eggs
Ah, Good Friday. The kids are home from school. Hopefully, the sun is shining wherever you are and happy faces are sparkling too. If you are like us, getting around to Easter crafts with the kids has been rather, well, challenging. We’ve daydreamed about a Martha-esque scene of Spring delight. But, a quick reality check [...]
Easy Spring-time Crafts – Tissue Paper Butterflies
For much of Canada, winter gave it one last go this week and blasted us all with wind, rain and lots of snow. But, that doesn’t mean we have to stand for it. In fact, we are totally busy making sure home looks like a giant Spring garden full of butterflies and fairies, tulips and [...]
St. Patrick’s Day Crafts from Canadian Moms
St. Patrick’s Day and its lucky sentiment is nearly upon us and the kids are just electric about plugging into that pot of gold (actually more like the leprechauns and fairies) at the end of the rainbow. We love to celebrate the creative awesomeness of Canadian moms and one of our very favorite – Rebecca [...]
Valentines Day Crafts – Finger Painted Hearts
If there is one thing we have learned over the years around here, it’s that the 2-year-old crowd is seriously excited about doing just about anything that involves glue or paint or fun art – for about 15 minutes. As parents, setting up and getting everything ready to go takes just about as long. Having [...]
Kids Crafts – Easy Vintage Valentines Cutouts
The snow is softly falling (by the bucket loads) across most of Canada today. Many of us are in the midst of an unplanned day with the kids thanks to mother nature and the local school district shuttering schools for the day. I am mildly panicked as a lack of pre-planning generally results in mild [...]
Got A Picky Eater? A Reluctant Learner? Try The Rainbow Food Tray
Toddler-hood and picky eating are practically inseparable. For many parents, their kid’s lack of interest in just about any food put in front of them ranks right up there in the frustration department with refusing to sleep and melting down unceremoniously and without cause in the middle of the grocery store. Not. Awesome. There’s also [...]
Toddler Crafts – Inexpensive Magazine Collages That Get Them Learning Too
The big kids have gone back to school and there you are, at least mostly housebound in the freezing January weather with at least one wee person under 5 in tow. It’s mildly panic-inducing, especially since the winter holidays emptied the bank account and heading out to the craft store for some things to keep [...]
Homemade Holidays – Loving The Making Again
It occurred to me, as we put our lives into storage this past June and headed East, that maybe somewhere around November we’d be wishing that a couple of the boxes that made the trip with us were filled with holiday goodness. I’m all about traditions. Love them with incredible heartfelt goopy sorts of emotion. [...]
Understanding a Parent’s Grief: How to Support Family and Friends Who Face Child Loss
Editor’s Note: Losing a child is painful for a family and the people around them. Today, Avril Nagel is here to talk with us about the grieving process. Avril is a bereaved parent and the coauthor of When Your Child Dies: Tools for Mending Parents’ Broken Hearts. The book is a comprehensive step-by-step guide for grief-stricken [...]
Inspired By Gratitude – The Family Tree of Thanks
This Thanksgiving, we have so very much to be grateful for in our little family, with friends and our extended family from coast to coast. Our lives are filled with irresistible and sweet daily bits of joy mixed in with challenges brought our way to teach us how to navigate the wavy waters that are [...]
Books For Treats™ Canada – Feed Kids Imaginations This Halloween.
Find a giveaway. Host a giveaway. Learn more at www.booksfortreats.ca Books For Treats™ Canada – Beginnings: Books For Treats™ began with a simple idea from founder Rebecca Morgan – less candy, more creativity. It blossomed into an international movement to create a community of young readers through fun ways to connect to the stories of our [...]
6 Kids Books to Make the First Day of School Easier
I remember my first day of Kindergarten quite clearly. It was 1976 and my grandmother had made me the cutest ABC dress in the history of dresses. Oh, there was some drama – when my mother took me to get my haircut at the local beauty school and they had to cut most of it off [...]
Summer Crafts – Felt Ice Cream Cones
Since our big move across the country, I have been at a loss with how to keep the kids otherwise engaged. My craft bins either got donated to the Brooklyn Elementary StrongStart or locked away in our storage unit. Either way, all of my years of thrifting and picking up bits and bobbles that made [...]
Kids Crafts – Eye Dropper Painting
Summer on either coast of Canada means you are guaranteed of the need to fill more than a few rain-out days. When plans for the beach or the park or the trail get nixed thanks to Mother Nature, coming up with a project that is messy enough to keep kids interested and sane enough to [...]
Children’s Books About The Sweetness of Farm Life
Editor’s Note: As the dog days of summer set in, it may just be time to trade an afternoon in the sun for some sweet books in the shade. Here are a few that make our OBE all-time favorite list. First reviewed in 2008, they are the perfect mix of fun, sweetness and classic goodness. [...]
Don’t Be The Grumpy Museum Lady This Summer
We here at OBE like to think of ourselves as pretty darn adventurous parents when it comes to the whole process of kids making art. Whether it be spinning paint, watercolors, sticky glue or paper mache, the fun of making anything is in getting all gooey in the process – right? Well, not so much [...]
Family Movie Review – Disney Pixar’s Brave
When our oldest daughter first saw the trailer for Disney Pixar’s new movie Brave, she couldn’t wait to wrap her head around a movie that was all about Scotland and magic and an amazing girl for whom adventure and following her own path were second nature. So, it seemed only natural that she and I [...]
Digging In The Dirt: Helping Kids Grow Their Own Garden
“ Might I,” quavered Mary, “might I have a bit of earth? Fans of “The Secret Garden” will recall orphaned Mary Lennox’s timid request of her uncle for space “to plant seeds in – to make things grow” on his huge English estate. What started with an ivy-covered door, revealed by a friendly robin to [...]
Across Canada in 10 Days, Day 8 – Digging Deep
Someone’s alarm in the room next to us went off at 5 a.m. this morning. Either they are serious hard sleepers or the last guests in that room left the neighbors a gift. Kids have made me a princess pea sleeper. I sat straight up in bed and knew I was up for the day. [...]
Across Canada in 10 Days, Day 3 – Big Breakfasts, Cowgirls & Dinosaurs (Oh My)
Predestined seemed the only word hovering in the air over Eastern Alberta on Saturday. Since what Mhari would consider the beginning of time we’ve found ourselves mega fans of all thing prehistoric and talking as a family about the journey to the Land Before Time. So, on the first of our scheduled down days, it’s [...]
Say What? Be Brite!
Mhari Rhiverson is back today with her latest kid-spiration, just in time for the sunshine and the warm weather. Be Brite – M Rhiverson Mhari’s creations are so popular she now even has her own store with t-shirts, buttons, mugs and other goodies with any of her inspirational illustrations. You can score Be Brite gear [...]
Say What? Be Yourself
Editor’s Note: If there’s one thing we love around here, it’s creative kids. That’s why it makes us way more than a little giddy to introduce to you budding writer and illustrator Mhari Rhiverson. At nearly 7 years old, she spends a whole lot of her time crafting other worlds and a little kid-created fun. [...]
Toddler-Friendly Crafts – TP Roll Painting
Crafts and the toddler crowd aren’t always a very positive combination. Add in an older sibling and the thought of putting them in the same room with things that don’t come out of the carpet is – well – daunting. Thankfully, the Comox Valley has folks like Maureen Wagner – who runs the Brooklyn Elementary [...]
5 Earth Day Crafts That Show Mother Nature Some Love
This Earth Day getting creative is more than finding another use for that empty egg carton. There are so many ways to make some serious art goodness in honor of Mother Nature. Let’s honor some of those goodies: We totally love this globe made out of a tuna can and glitter glue from Planetpals.com These [...]
Earth Day Books – Picture A Tree by Barbara Reid
This time of year is one of our favorites around OBE HQ for so many reasons. The flowers are blooming, buds everywhere and the smells of Spring make us want to run around in shorts and flipflops 24-7. It’s also the time when we get to give it up for Mother Nature as Earth Day [...]
Confessions of a Not-So-Crafty Mom
It was that last frantic week of school before Christmas break and I was running late to drop my son at Kindergarten for the day. Rushing through the door to his classroom my 2 year old daughter was the first to spot them. “Ooooooohhhhh…..Mamaaa….” she said, her tiny finger pointing to the ceiling. “Pritty..” Hanging [...]
Spring Kids Books – Eggs & Rainbows
When it comes to books that celebrate certain seasons, it has to be those beauties that are all about Spring with their sweet shades of yellow, purple and green, sparkly wonderment and of course a hefty does of Easter eggs that long live on our shelves because they are so darn – well – they’re [...]
Easter Crafts – Simple No-Sew Felt Finger Puppet Bunnies
We here at OBE HQ have been in a bit of a crafty slump. As parents, we all go through those super uninspired stages where a coloring book and crayons is looking as Monet as it’s going to get. The slump here, other than being attached to a life in which time not currently a [...]
Encouraging Toddlers To Get Artistic
When it comes to kids, making art is often left to the school-aged crowd. But, it’s actually toddlers who are masters of visual arts. They love to create and their imaginations are wide open. Give a tiny person a crayon and watch the world blossom. Toddler art definitely has its own unique patina and style. [...]
Valentines Crafts – Printable Valentines for Kids
Walk into any grade school classroom right now and the patina is rather striking in the pink and red department. There are little heart-shaped folders taped to desks just waiting to be filled with the anticipated cache of love notes that will come tomorrow. Most parents can see it now, four Disney princess valentines, three [...]
CV Literacy Week – Fun Ways to Get Literate With Art
Happy Monday and welcome to Comox Valley Family Literacy Week. Folks all over the Comox Valley will be hosting events at schools, clubs and organizations throughout the week with everything culminating in a bit of a literary extravaganza on Family Literacy Day this Friday. Here at Our Big Earth, we are big fans of getting [...]
Women, Why Are We Bullies?
Let’s face it, more than likely we’ve all done it – excluded another woman for whatever reason, abandoned a friend because she didn’t fit what we thought she should be, turn on someone because the group turned on her too. We may not want to hear it. But, women are vicious and cruel to each [...]
Children's Book Review – In The Land of Merfolk & Fairies
I have always been in love with stories that take the reader on a magical adventure. As a kid, I remember loving The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis because I was convinced that the mountains around my childhood home transformed into Narnia after a frosty snow. It’s those kinds of books [...]
Family Crafts – New Year's Eve Crowns
New Year’s Eve is one tricky holiday to get the family involved with. Most of the long-standing traditions of the event portion of it revolve around activities not meant for kiddos, and generally the big project for this day is finding a baby sitter that doesn’t mind an extra late night. But, around our house, [...]
Santa's Got An E-mail (And He Reads It)
It’s Dec. 15 and every year we get to this point where my oldest daughter asks me if she can still send Santa her list. Ummm, well. She’s OK with just telling the Santa at the Mall. But, really, she wants the letter back from him that confirms he’s out there. Thankfully, Canada Post has [...]
All This Talk of Family Holiday Traditions
While I always have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head this time of year, it is often combined with a heavy dose of reality that the holidays are lovely…and stressful…sweet…and incredibly frustrating. Getting everything done while still keeping that bit of magic from leaving the room in a fit of sugar-induced craziness is, [...]
Christmas Crafts for Kids – Felt Tree Ornaments
It may be the end of November. But, every mom I run into these days is still in relatively massive denial that Christmas is about a month away. Getting ready for it is going to be a race to the finish this year. Thankfully, there are lots of fun ways to get the kids involved [...]
Christmas Crafts – Download A Homemade Holiday
Good Morning. We here at Our Big Earth are very excited to offer a great new way to get the OBE content you need and want in one convenient, organized and easy space as we launch our Our Big Earth downloads. The team is working hard to curate the best of more than four years [...]
Toddler Board Books – Touch and Feel Animals
Books are something that even the smallest of people in our house has as much access to as she could ever want. Our wee one is constantly pulling books off of the shelves, checking out the pictures and – of course – occasionally tearing the pages our of them as well. We’ve definitely tried to [...]
Winter Seasonal Classic Children's Books From Sweden
Over the last couple of years I have become a huge fan of classic Swedish children’s book authors such as Astrid Lindgren and Elsa Beskow. Their warm stories combine the magic of imaginary creatures who make nature come alive and an old world charm that is both soothing and familiar. In our house, their stories [...]
Crafts for Organizers – Fabric Covered Recipe Binder
Editor’s Note: This great project to get you all organized for your holiday baking and making first appeared on Our Big Earth in September 2009. As we start thinking about the holidays this year, the first thing I think about is where are all of my recipes. Instead of digging through drawers for hours on [...]
Treat Your Kids To A Book (or two) Today
Happy Halloween! This is definitely one of my favorite holidays every year and we here at OBE are extra excited today as the first Books for Treats celebration gives kids and families a fun alternative to candy. Local residents, businesses and organizations are joining in the fun, handing out books to kids of all ages [...]
Rainy-Day Activities for Kids of All Ages
Of course it’s a Pro-D Day, the kids are home from school and it is pouring down rain today. There may have been a bit of sleeping in. But, that is about as relaxed as today is going to get for most of us. Here are a few ideas for those Fall rainy days when [...]
Halloween Lanterns – the 2011 Take On An Old Fave
When it comes to Halloween, one of our favorite projects and annual family traditions is creating something to light the path up to our house. There’s something extra spooky, yet warm and inviting about a beautiful, glowing front sidewalk and the big kid and I have had tons of fun over the years coming up [...]
Books to Recreate Traditions of Food, Handcraft, Celebrations and Stories
There is something so full of comfort, warmth and a sense of those who came before us that comes with celebrating the festivals of the seasons, creating home-spun handcrafts, telling the stories of gnomes, elves and little creatures of magical times gone by. For years, I had my wishbone out, hoping that somehow I would [...]
Books About Girl Power
Helping our kids form a positive self-image of themselves as well as helping them to see other kids as unique and interesting as well is one very serious challenge. From all of the competitiveness in our own daily lives, our own worries about weight, money, the right look, the perfect this and that, our kids [...]
Creative Kids – Fall Nature Collections
On the eve of Fall, I am feeling the energy inside me turn from summer beach nights to warm and cozy. You can see it in the kids too. They begin the process of preparing for Winter, even foraging and storing things up like the animals in the forest. It’s fun to see the collections [...]
Poetry For Little People
We spend a lot of time storytelling in our house. Whether it’s reading books, using our imaginations or making up a grand tale, it’s so much fun to see what we can create. But, the one thing I could never get myself or our oldest daughter into was poetry. I wanted to and tried hard. [...]
Getting Into The Creative Spirit of Fall
I have been in the midst of a creative dessert this summer. For the first time in years I feel completely tapped out in terms of ideas and drive to do crafts, come up with fun projects or even color a picture with the kiddo. It’s been more than a little disconcerting as creative projects [...]
Back-To-School Special Touches – Pocket Full of Hearts
Well, here we are – the first day of school. For me like many it’s a bittersweet moment when our kids take a big step away from us and out into the world. While our oldest daughter is of the go-get-em kind most of the time, she is a bit out of her element and [...]
Star Wars Books for Preschoolers
While at our local downtown bookstore the other day looking for some fun stories about heading back to school we found ourselves distracted by something neither the big kid or I could resist. There is one thing in our house that rates above all others – Star Wars. For years, our nephews who are a [...]
Books That Your Toddler Can't Destroy
The wee one at our house is emerging into this incredible, feisty and amazing kid and every time I turn to look at her these days – she has a book in her mouth. Actually, she has just about anything she can find in her mouth. It’s crazy and, in my perpetually panicked mom state, [...]
Books That Get Kids Up Close with Animals
I am always on the hunt for great board books that give the kids a chance to see pictures of actual animals doing cool things with a nice, easy story to keep them interested. When my oldest was wee and just starting to get into animals the best options – honestly – were usually discovered [...]
Children's Books About Forest Creatures at Night
There is no denying that we are a bit owl obsessed around our house these days. Our oldest daughter fell in love with them about a year ago and there was no turning back. We were hooked. Along the way, we discovered some really fun awesome tales of these creatures of night. But, it had [...]
B.C. Authors- Nathan Weathington and Where The Hell Were Your Parents?
A couple of years back I met Nathan Weathington at a Chamber of Commerce mixer. He introduced himself as the new publisher of the Comox Valley Record and a professional smart ass. I figured he was just making a point that he was one of the few former Americans in the room and wanted to [...]
Green Kids Crafts – Recycled Hanging Plant Pots
Our oldest has been spending a lot of time at the Comox Valley Farmer’s Market with us and the one thing she loves to do is pick out a plant or two that are just her speed and bring them home after each Saturday market. We’ve been so busy that getting them out of their [...]
Top 10 Summertime Ways To Spark Kids Natural Creativity
Now that we have survived June-uary here on the West Coast and the kids have made their formal exit from the classroom there is only one thing to do – wonder how we are going to fill the next 12 weeks. Summertime can be a great break and one heck of a grind in terms [...]
Kids Crafts – Summer Creativity
I am waiving the red flag in the creativity department. Our house has always been one that’s all about art and making things and finding new ways to make art and new things. But, the craft room has seen busier days. Thankfully, I took a peek back through some of the fun projects we’ve done [...]
Kids Crafts – Cheering on The Canucks
As most of you know, we are a bit Canuck crazy this year as the Vancouver Canucks continue their incredible run at the Stanley Cup. It’s been an amazing experience to gear up for the games and cheer our way through the last couple of months. Our oldest daughter – who loves hockey and the [...]
Celebrating the Environmental Stewards of Tomorrow
Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Today, the folks from Comox Valley Land Trust have stopped by to talk about a wonderful program for kids who are the future stewards of the Earth. Check out this unique way of honoring the spirit of children who see the natural world and caring for it as their passion. Have [...]
Kids Art – The Science of Salt
Our oldest daughter and I love to combine science and art. We’re always looking for ways to combine mediums to create something really cool while seeing how things like salt, flour, dirt and water work together. So, when we were working recently on a science unit about absorption, we decided to try something fun combining [...]
Family Movie Review (Easter Edition) – HOP
Editor’s Note: In-house movie critic Ken Henderson is here today with a movie review just in time for Easter. Hippity Hop. Enjoy. For any parent out there who was wondering what excuse they’d need to get their kids to eat more candy, soda and or popcorn over Easter weekend here’s your solution. Finally… an animated [...]
Kids Books That Teach The Alphabet of the Environment
As we shift gears into learning a bit more about how to live lighter on the Earth this next week, it seems most appropriate to start it all off by offering up fun and engaging tools that help get that whole conversation started with your kids. Since greening our lives is something that has only [...]
Easter Craft-A-Palooza
I have to admit it, the well hath runneth dry in the creativity department for me lately. Even my daughter – who after nearly six years of craft-a-holism wants to take a serious break from the craft table – asked me why we haven’t been making much lately. I’m so very sleepy right now and, [...]
Springtime Kids Crafts – Gods Eyes
If there is one fond memory of childhood that I regularly look back on and smile about, it is the years of summer camps where we rode horses, canoed on mountain lakes, sung hilarious songs (that I still remember and catch myself humming) and made great crafts. Some of the creative goodness blurs together a [...]
Sparkling Spring Crafts – Mermaid Necklaces
Oh how Spring brings out the sparkling girl around our house. We can’t help ourselves but figure out ways to will the fairies into showing themselves a bit while helping us create something with a bit of girl power. Right now we are also itching to get back out to the ocean, where we spend [...]
Spring Crafts to Keep Kids Smiling (and busy)
Spring is the time of year when we all stretch our arms and legs, finally getting moving again. That also applies in the inspiration department and there’s nothing like some fun crafts to plug in creatively. Here are a few of our favorites that we’ve shared over the years. Have fun and enjoy! 1. Sticky, [...]
80's Movie Cult Classics to Wow Your Kids With
Let’s just admit it, the weather sucks, and with Spring Break in full force it’s pretty darn hard to be inspired by Mother Nature. While there’s plenty of chance to go skiing, jump in puddles and do some animal watching, the wet tends to dampen enthusiasm. So, why not take a day or two this [...]
St. Patrick's Day Crafts – Rainbow Wreaths
Well, it’s just about time to be kissing the Blarney Stone and looking for the little green guys running around through the clover in the front yard. St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and while the adults are planning their wardrobe and where to drink a green beer or two, the kids can [...]
Easy Spring Crafts – Cherry Blossom Tree
It may be a wee bit to close to the zero-degree mark right now for anyone to really be thinking Spring. But, around our house, we are working hard on ditching the snowflakes and any remnants of Winter and willing Spring into being. Cherry blossoms are one of my favorite signs of Spring on the [...]
The Year of Magical Making – Magic Mobiles
As we keep adding to our magical world around here this year, one of the things that keeps coming up is looking up. There is plenty of magic at eye level with gnomes, fairies and other bits of wonder. But, what about up above? In the magical universe – according to our big kid – [...]
Beautiful Children's Books About Colors & Sound
Finding books for preschoolers on basics like colors and sounds that keep kids connected to nature while still being seriously fun are not exactly easy to come by. I remember a spare few when our oldest was that age and totally fell in love a few weeks ago when she picked two out of the [...]
Easy Handmade Toys – Felt Bean Bags
When it comes to making little kiddos smile or offering them something that will captivate them for hours, simple toys are often the best. Keeping the games as easy as tossing a bean bag and giving them soft textures such as felt make it all that more fun. When you head out to find bean [...]
Valentines Crafts to Make You Fall In Love
OK, I admit it. I have no creative juices left for Valentines Day this year. When I got the note that our kiddo’s Valentines party was tomorrow, we got to the card making in the easiest possible way and when my husband asked me if I was making heart cookies for her class I chirped, [...]
Books Filled with Day Dreams of Fairies, Butterflies and Sprites
I have always wished I could live in a magical world. Yes, magic lives all around us. But, I really, really think there should be a way to move between the world of the fairies, the sprites, the gnomes and even a goblin or two. Thankfully – since C.S. Lewis did not leave his wardrobe [...]
Connecting Kids to The Year of the Rabbit
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Today is the official start of the 15-day 2011 Lunar New Year and, whether your heritage is Asian or not, giving children the chance to experience and understand cultural traditions is one of the most fun things about learning. Even in small communities where they may not be a big parade [...]
Helpful Hints for Art at Home
Editor’s Note: Matisse said Creativity takes courage. He couldn’t have been more dead-on. The ways people get their creative groove on define them in huge ways. They give people courage…a place to let all of their emotions spill out…and a voice to speak out, admire, honour or just simply reveal those things that mean the [...]
Chinese New Year Crafts – Paper Dragon Puppets
The Lunar New Year is nearly upon us with celebrations beginning Feb. 3. It’s a celebration that we get geared up for every year and the oldest kiddo has always loved learning about the traditions surrounding it. This year – even though it’s the year of the rabbit – is really all about the dragon [...]
Book Review – You Are Your Child's First Teacher
I will be the first person to admit that I do not subscribe to any one style of parenting mostly because I have a deep and enduring aversion to parenting books. It’s not that they aren’t helpful and they surely provide people with important structure during a time when we all are humbled by how [...]
Family Literacy Week Events In The Comox Valley
When we say “Literacy Last a Lifetime” it’s amazing how very base the ability to read well, tell stories and write like a champ are to having a rich, full, amazing life. Since time began, stories have guided us all and today after so many generations the stories of long, long ago ring as true [...]
Playtime Crafts – Felt Crowns
There is so much fairytale playtime at our house these days, I’d feel like a giant cliche about having girls who are princesses if it wasn’t for the fact that the princesses around here fly on owls, live in trees and prefer to wear ballgowns while pounding through mud puddles. But, the tomboy princess factor [...]
The Year of Magical Making – Felt ABC Gnomes
Last year, our oldest daughter and I started creating bits and pieces to go into a magical world that – more than anything – gave her a way to bring her unicorns, castle, fairies and other magical creatures together for some major imaginative play. But, as is with so many things in life, we got [...]
Storytelling Anytime with Storynory Online
Since our oldest daughter was very little, she loved a good story. She combs the shelves at the library for new books on CD and will spend hours in the evening laying in bed and listening to a good tale – especially one that involves fables, magic, myth and a bit of wonder. Finding enough [...]
Kid-Led Learning – Can "Normal" Families Homeschool?
When our oldest daughter was born, my mom asked me if I was going to consider homeschooling. I thought she had to be joking because why would we? We have no religious reasons and I am no teacher. Plus, I had heard more than a few stories about homeschoolers being “weird” and anti-social – how [...]
Holiday Crafts – New Years Eve Noise Makers
It’s been a wild week with weather, family, food and good times. Now we all get to gear up to ring in 2011 with some laughter and fun. So, what better way for the kids to get in the spirit than to whip up their own noise makers out of the leftovers hanging out around [...]
Holidays 2010 – Measuring Memories By Hand
Well, it’s Christmas week and most of us are just settling in to some time off either traveling or gathering with family and one thing that often comes up is how to create an annual family tradition that is creative, kid-friendly, a bit of an “AWWWW” producer and – of course – easy. The other [...]
OBE's Top 5 Animated Family Movies of 2010
Editor’s Note: OBE’s in-house movie critic Ken Henderson is here this morning to pass along his top family movies of 2010 and why. It’s been a great year at the movie theater. It took him a while to make his picks. Enjoy! What a year for kids animated films, it seems the industry is finally [...]
Erica Fyvie – What is Your Bookprint?
I have been in a book club for over ten years with some of my dearest friends, a group of women I respect and admire enormously. One of the things I like best about the book club (we call ourselves “Madame Ovaries”) is that I learn so much about my friends based on what they [...]
Crafty Holidays 2010 – Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
This season is about great smells for me. I love a house scented with cinnamon and nutmeg. But, figuring out how to keep that scent around is kind of tricky. I saw several crafty moms making these very cool cinnamon applesauce ornaments this year and wondered how the heck they could possibly work. But, it [...]
Connecting to Your Kids Through Books
Editor’s Note: Vancouver Island mom Joanne Allair is back today to share with us ways to turn stories into great family conversations and get more out of the reading you do together. I love her book recommendations at the end and reminders of why reading with your kids is so important. Enjoy! There are a [...]
Easy Kids Xmas Crafts – Egg Carton Bells & Twig Stars
In the midst of the massive adjustment from one to two kids and living out a sleepless existence with a newborn, I have conceeded to the need to keep things as simple as possible this holiday season, especially when it comes to crafts. There are no major shopping adventures for supplies or weeks of planning [...]
Classic Holiday Reads for the Whole Family
I get seriously sentimental this time of year for the classic goodness of stories from holidays gone by. If there was a story I loved from my childhood, it definitely gets read in our house. Bust out the Frosty and Santa Claus is Coming to Town Golden Book collection. Hello to The Muppets, Sesame Street [...]
Movie Review – How To Train Your Dragon
Editor’s Note: As the holiday season kicks in, it’s also a great time to pick up the hot movies of the season as well. Resident movie critic Ken Henderson will be here throughout the month to review movies, offer up favorites and more. He’s here today reviewing one of the hottest animated films of the [...]
3-D Books for the Scientist Kid In Your House
As we move into the holiday season, I am working on making sure that our 5 year old gets her full dose of science nerd as she is so into owls and dinosaurs right now that our entire universe seems to have wingasaurus tendencies. She also loves books just about as much, but finding age-appropriate [...]
Holiday Crafting for the Faint of Heart
I titled this the way I did only because I am just now realizing how challenging holiday crafting is going to be for me this year with a newborn and a 5-year-old in tow. Basically, I have conceded to only the easiest of crafts, nothing that takes more than a few steps, to heck with [...]
Simple, Special Memory Keeping: A Day In The Life
Editor’s Note: Today I am grateful for another member of the OBE Mom Posse. We have a special post from Vancouver Island mom Joanne Allair as she shares with us her special ways of preserving family memories. As we all move into holiday mode, this is a great way to share and celebrate. Just a [...]
Mom's Book Review – The Idle Parent
Editor’s Note: This morning Comox mom Robin Blackburn gives us the low down on one of the hottest parenting books on the market right now – The Idle Parent by Tom Hodgkinson. The book tackles a touchy topic and asks us all to look at why we parent the way we do. Robin breaks it [...]
The Tales of Storyteller Naomi Steinberg
Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Comox Valley mom and writer Traci Skuce is here today to share with us how storytelling as taught by the lovely and engaging Naomi Steinberg has taken her family so many places. Now, Steinberg is back in the Comox Valley to teach folks how to take that journey of imagination for [...]
Build Your Kids Confidence & Comradery Through Choir
Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Comox Valley Children’s Choir Musical Director Wendy Dyck is here this morning to share her experience on how getting your kids involved in community choirs can be a great experience of a lifetime. Get those toes tapping and voices singing! Here she is: There are a dizzying array of activities for [...]
