Tag: Preschoolers
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Wayback Kid-Friendly Eats – Salad People
Editor’s Note: Is Spring Break getting you down? Are you in serious need of some food fun around your house? We’ve jumped on the OBE wayback machine all the way back to March 2008 when Christa Herrling shared her fun version of salad people with us, making everyone smile and giving us a fun project [...]
Nutritious Solutions for Young Kids
Well, we’re not quite to the solid food stage with our newest little one. But, in getting ready for it I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading and in the process found myself reminded of all of things that I should (and more than I like to admit don’t) be doing to make sure [...]
Back-to-Preschool 2010 – Handmade Kids Belts that Rock (Giveaway)
The preschool crowd headed back to school last week too, many of them with droopy pants. It’s not an easy gig, trying to find clothes that fit all of the different shapes and sizes that tiny people come in. But, when your kids are tall and thin or just moderately slight even the pants that [...]
10 Things To Plan For Your Kids Summer Break
The school year has nearly wrapped up and even for those of us who have yet to wonder what’s going to happen for those months when the kids aren’t in the classroom, there’s still a bit of dread that sets in about what to do with the family during the summertime. With preschoolers – really [...]
Eye Checkups are Key for Preschoolers
Editor’s Note: Happy Saturday. This morning we have local Optometrist Dr. Elaine Kerr on site educating us about the importance of preventative eye care. Here she is: Imagine you are about five years old and your parents take you to a new and interesting place. There’s a kids’ play area where you entertain yourself for awhile, [...]
What Is Your Personal Parenting Style?
Editor’s Note: Good Morning, today early childhood educator Heather Magdanz is here to talk shop about parenting. She’s got some interesting insight into why we all parent the way we do… food for thought. Here she is: Have you ever considered what kind of parent you are? Come on… who thinks about that really? It [...]
Preschool Crafts – Salad Spinner Painting
Editor’s Note: It’s no news flash that we are big fans of art around our house. But, I have to admit that I’ve been finding myself in serious need of inspiration and a little artistic freedom that the dining room table just isn’t currently capable of offering. So, our daughter and I have been hitting [...]
Whooooo's There – Paper Owl Door Decor
When I woke up this morning and realized this was the last time I’d ever post on Comox Valley Kids, I had one seriously weepy moment. Tomorrow morning, most if not all of you will be redirected over to Ourbigearth.com and we will launch our new phase as Our Big Earth-Comox Valley. I feel like [...]
Handmade Paper Bracelets
Our daughter isn’t generally what you’d think of as traditionally girlie. She serves tea to her monsters while having a growling competition with them, has a distinct aversion to a life that doesn’t involve dirt, thinks dolls are silly (she prefers the “human kind” of babies) and is spending next week learning the ins and [...]
Fingerprint Bug Parade
Editor’s Note: This short week has thrown me for a loop. And, the Filberg Festival meant I had no access to our pal Popsicle all weekend. We’ll have to check in this week to see what mischief he’s up to lately. So, I wanted to share an older post about a favourite craft around our [...]
Announcing the Summer NeighbourWood Walk Series
It’s with some serious excitement that I announce our Summer NeighbourWood Walk series. After such a fantastic response to our first series and some disappointment about our time choice, we knew we were going to have to plan for two walks this Summer. So, here’s the scoop. Our NeighbourWood Walk series will run for eight [...]
Give Dad A Hand (or Two)
So, I left it up to the preschooler this year as to what we would do to make sure her Dad knew how very special he is to us on Father’s Day. We started talking about it two weeks ago – paint a picture, make a card, catch bugs (her fave, although she didn’t want [...]
Homemade Non-toxic Finger Paints
My husband has spent his life in the midst of paint, charcoals, canvas and the computer as a professional artist. He’s also always passing along his concerns about our daughter’s zeal with paint. Her willingness to paint herself from head to toe leaves Ken in pieces, concerned for the tiny person’s health. I didn’t get [...]
Preschool Crafts – Frog Hats
It’s that time when early morning or evening walks are filled with the white noise of unending croaking. When tadpoles turn marshes and backyard ponds into a black mass of squiggling tails. Frogs are so crazy cool…and there are so many around the Valley it’s not even funny. They seem to be following us around, [...]
The Science of Beans
As the tiny person gets older, her curiosity in the checking-out-how-it-works realm grows exponentially. Catch her out on the trail and she’ll be the one digging through the dirt, picking up creatures to examine and – in yesterday’s case – experimenting with the whole theory of velocity when pitching her boots into the marsh. At [...]
Family Crafts – "Stained Glass" Butterflies
We have a soft spot in our hearts for butterflies. Family folklore has it that when my grandfather died many years ago the butterflies descended upon his funeral and reclaimed him as one of their own. Since then, grandpa is legendary for showing up at special family events. One of the most memorable for me [...]
Do-It-Yourself Snail Shells
Tis’ the season of gooey creatures. Spring rains are heaven in the universe of snails, slugs and other varieties of slimy forest friends. We are personally working on attaining “groupie” status in terms of L-O-V-I-N-G banana slugs and our daughter’s newest discovery – the forest snail. She totally digs beach snails. A day on the [...]
Stories for Generations – Discovering Living Books
When we first started talking about homeschooling our daughter, I started to read. I researched nearly every homeschooling philosophy out there, scanned blogs, subscribed to newsletters, checked out and pored through a huge pile of books from the library and realized pretty darn quickly that we are an eclectic secular homeschooling family. There are bits [...]
The Birds and the Bees Pollinate Please
The rather frigid nature of our Spring this year may have you thinking twice about the season (although the shot above from local mom Krista gives me hope). But, even as we continue to scrape the occasional frost off of our windshields in the mornings, Mother Nature is waking her kiddos up from their long [...]
Family Craft – Waldorf-Inspired Watercolors
The gig is up. Our kiddo is a painting maniac. Seriously, the older she gets the uglier public painting becomes. Just the mere mention of tempera paints and paper sends her into an uncontrollable frenzy during which she paints every inch of her body – and anyone standing within swiping distance, gets a gooey paintbrush [...]
Safety First – Major MEGA Brand Recall
CVK Mom Robin – AKA Another Robin – just sent me a note about a major recall from the makers of MEGA Blocks. More than 1.3 millions MagnaMan Magnetic Action Figures are being recalled because swallowed magnets may cause aspirational and intestinal trauma. The small magnets inside the figures are known to detach and if [...]
Vintage and Books Go Hand in Hand for Me
My mother made me wear a babushka. (Not unlike the vintage dress in the photo here that I would prefer the tiny person wore every day:)) She thought it looked so crazy cute on a preschooler that I ended up with a whole wardrobe of ethnic head scarfs. My grandmother loved it so much I [...]
Sprouts – Mid-Week Update
As part of the gardening journal, we’ll be doing short, periodic updates about what’s growing (lots of photos) in addition to the bi-montly write-up. We have Sprouts! Here are some from Day 3: Lettuce and radishes just popping up. Zucchini nearly sprouting. Here’s from last night: The zucchini and marigolds have sprouted and the radishes [...]
Help! My Kiddo Hates Veggies (for now)
So, well… …our daughter, who has always been a wonder in the eating good food department, is on strike. Where I used to be able to set down bowl after bowl of carrots, broccoli, cabbage or swiss chard now lives empty space. I was sharing with a pal last night that it’s like she’s put [...]
The Not-So-Comprehensive Guide to Potty Training
When it comes to potty training tiny people, the verdict remains out on how to best do so (click the link above to see for yourself). From the minute our daughter was born (actually, even before), advice about potty training was one of the most common topics in terms of other moms and professionals passing [...]
Felt Boards to Spark Imagination
I have to be honest, I’d never even seen a felt board until we were shopping for the tiny person’s second birthday last summer and discovered some AMAZING ones at Kool & Child in Nanaimo. We hooked her up with a huge ocean scene that now lives on a wall in our hallway thinking she’d [...]
Mozart to Soothe the Savage Baby
There once was a rather charming, easy-going tiny person running around our house. While other people coped with whining, meltdowns and fear-striking behaviour, our daughter was going along doing her thing wondering why some of the other kiddos were so upset. In the last two weeks, something has snapped and the terrible twos have kicked [...]
101 Uses for Hemp Milk
A while back, after CVK mom Reesh recommended Hemp Milk, I started doing a bit of research into it all. Cow milk is no friend to us, and the whole goat’s milk our daughter has been downing for a year or so is now – I’m told – a bit too fatty for her to [...]
