Preschool Math Activities

Do you remember thinking math was fun when you were a kid? Is it a struggle for you now? Math was never one of my favorite subjects, even though I generally did well in school. I want my kids, especially my daughter, to learn from a young age that math can be fun.  With the help of educational sites like PBSKids and Pinterest, I keep finding easy ways to integrate math into our daily life. Baking together lets me talk about fractions, restaurant play offers an opportunity to talk about money and snack time can become a counting activity.

In celebration of PEG + CAT, PBS KIDS’ newest series, Whole Foods partnered with PBS to create some fun ways to build math skills and encourage healthy eating habits. You can find activity sheets, grocery store bingo cards, recipes and more inspiration to get kids excited to make healthy choices. PEG + CAT focuses on preschool math and problem-solving skills and starts October 7. My kids got a sneak peek and keep asking to watch it again which is always a good sign!

Use a muffin tin to serve a variety of food

The red pears were the top choice in the muffin tin of fruit.

We created our own activity using a mini muffin tin and fresh fruits from Whole Foods. Using a muffin tin to serve food is a great way to ensure you are offering variety, both in options and in color. We cut up the fruit and then sorted it by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, and so on. For early learners, you could also do this activity and have kids count how many pieces of fruit are in each cup. There is a fun pirate craft you can print out and make with your kids that encourages counting, plus you can work on learning colors too with a variety of fruits.

Peg + Cat Treasure Chest

 

How else do you incorporate math and problem-solving skills into your daily life?

For more ideas, visit the PBSKids.org/healthykids website. Check your local listings for the time of PEG + CAT starting on October 7th on your local PBS station! Thank you to Whole Foods who partnered with PBS Kids Ambassadors to bring you these tips and activities! All ideas and opinions shared here are my own.

A few weeks ago, I was surprised by an email from Pinterest that had my Lunch Love board featured in it. It is one of my favorite boards and it has helped me create lots of healthy lunches for my kids. I think it’s no coincidence that my Lunch Love board is a favorite, as packing lunches was what first clued me in to living a more sustainable lifestyle.

The Story Behind the Lunch Love Pinterest Board (giveaway)

My daughter started at day care and I was packing lunches for the first time. First it was breast milk and baby food, and then toddler food. Suddenly, there seemed to be a lot more waste happening. I wanted to make a switch and thankfully, there were lots of other mom-based business offering products to help. Reusable bags, cute toddler sized lunch boxes and kid friendly glass containers were suddenly a normal part of our lunch packing routine. After this switch in our routine, I made other small changes at home. Cloth napkins, cloth diapers, less paper towels, composting and so on. One small step kept leading to another and I was happy about cutting down on the waste happening…that’s really how the name Random Recycling came to be. I wanted to try to cut down on the massive amount of waste/stuff that was coming into our home when we first started having kids. Now the blog clearly has a larger focus and family nutrition is a big part of it.

Izy and Oly Kids Cloth Napkins

Izy and Oly Kids Cloth Napkins

Lunch Love can be a fun part of your routine too. Get your kids involved picking out lunches. Pick up a copy of Weelicious Lunches(which is just awesome!) and get some new ideas on what to pack. Plus tips on “how” to pack kids lunch as it’s so important to keep it simple for them. The time available for lunch is generally short so keep food simple and easy to unwrap. Make sure their containers are easy to open so they can be independent eaters as they sit with their friends.

To kick off my Lunch Love Celebration Week, here is a fun giveaway to enter. One winner will get the following:

  • Rock the Lunch Box assortment of samples and coupons from Stonyfield, Annie’s and Horizon Organics
  • Izy and Oly cloth napkins, just the right size for little hands
  • Squooshi reusable squeeze pouches

Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch for kids

 

Enter below using the Rafflecopter. Giveaway is open until midnight, Sat Sept 28th, 2013. Open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Join me on Thursday night as I chat with Danielle Shea Tan, a health coach who will walk us through how to pack a healthy lunch for our kids. She will have tips for picky eaters and we will talk about how to create the right balance between healthy choices and kids favorites. RSVP for this Google + hangout and we will be talking online at 8:30 pm EST. During the talk, I’ll be giving away one copy of Weelicious Lunches to someone who has RSVP’d!  See you there!

I hope you continue to find inspiration on the Lunch Love board. And thank you Pinterest peeps for sharing it!

I was a partner this summer with Rock the Lunch Box where real moms shared their favorite lunches. Check out the site for loads of ideas and photos. I also received samples of the Izy and Oly napkins and Squooshi pouches so I could test them out first. My kids love both fun accessories in the lunch box! The Weelicious Lunch link to Amazon is an affiliate link, which means this site gets a little kick-back at no cost to you.

Erba Vita Tips to keep kids healthy naturally

As the kids return to school, so comes the return of the running noses and germy hands. With a little baby at home, I am super aware of the imminent germs coming into our home. There are a few new things we are doing this year to keep us all healthy and the germs at bay. Here are some ways to keep your kids healthy naturally this season, plus a giveaway for natural remedies from Erba Vita. Erba Vita is a European company with high quality natural products that are effective, GMO-free, and pesticide-free.

  • Buy a fun soap canister for the kids so they enjoy hand washing. Help them from an early age learn how to wash their hands well. Get them to sing a favorite song so they learn how long they should wash their hands.
  • Offer kids a balanced diet with lots of variety in their fruits and veggies. Offer favorite fruits for snack, or make them a fun strawberry fruit roll-up.
  • Use a hand sanitizer when you are out and about. We tested out the Mother’s Therapy Organics kids sanitizer Erba Vita Immun Kids and love it so far. It’s not as drying as most alcohol based sanitizer as it includes aloe vera-based lotion. I keep a small one clipped on my diaper bag so I can use it after changing diapers on-the-go. The kids gave it a “no sting” vote.
  • Get the kids to bed early. (And mom and dad too!) A good night sleep helps the body defend against germs during the day.
  • Boost immunity with a supplement, like Erba Vita’s Immun Kids. For ages 4 and up, it contains active herbal ingredients to help support a healthy immune system.
  • Keep tissues handy so they are ready for sneezes. Teach kids how to sneeze into their elbow by encouraging them to “catch” their sneeze.
  • Keep extra toothbrushes on hand so you can replace them quickly if someone gets sick.
  • Everyone in the house should get a flu shot. I know people have strong opinions on this, I’m voting for flu shots for our family since our littlest one can’t get a shot and I want to keep him as healthy as possible in his first year of life.
  • Make sure the kids stay hydrated. Send a water bottle to school and limit the amount of sugary beverages they consume.

 

Erba Vita is offering one lucky reader a $150 worth of products of your choosing. You can check out their Kids’ Line, Women’s Health, Weight Loss, and more. Please enter via the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway is open to US residents only until Sept 30th. Winner will be notified via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received some of the Erba Vita products to review, including their Leg Light Gel that I used at the end of my pregnancy. It was great to use at the end of the day. I appreciate their commitment to using quality ingredients and following the safest standard of testing. You can get some of their product line in Whole Foods now or order online. All opinions shared here are my own. 

I also received the Mother’s Therapy Organic line of hand sanitizer and lotion. So far it’s one of the kids’ favorite as it’s not too sticky and doesn’t sting like most alcohol based sanitizers. 

Flip Cloth Diaper Review

It’s no secret that we are a mostly cloth diapering family. Yes, it is a little extra work but it’s just a normal part of our routine now. The one thing that always drives me crazy is having to stuff the diapers once they are clean. The Bum Genius diapers have been the only ones we used for the past four years. They just came out with a new hybrid diapering system called Flip. We tested out the Flip diapers for the past two weeks and I am excited to keep them as part of my diaper stash. (We got the diapers as part of a promotional program with Flip™ and MomSelect.)

Flip Diapers for babies and toddlers

Flip Diapers fit both a 14 week old and a 2 1/2 year old.

The best part of cloth diapering infants is you really get your money back when it comes to investing in cloth diapers. The Flip diapers will fit babies from 8 lb- 35 lb. I tested it out on our 14 week old 12 lb. infant and our two-year old toddler weighing 30 lb. They wore the same diaper and it fit well on both of them.

Hands down the best part about the diaper is how easy they are to wash, and there is no need to stuff! Well, minor stuffing where you just lay the insert into the cover. Nothing like trying to get the insert into the pocket diapers and trying to avoid damaging the inner waterproof lining with your wedding ring. Also, after the baby has used the diaper, there is no need to try to “unstuff” the diaper. This is rather handy after those epic blowouts.

My favorite diapers for babies are still the Bum Genius sized diapers. The size small diapers are much less bulky than the one-size-fits-all diapers (a.k.a. All in Ones). What I do like about the Flip diaper is the insert has a new fold over design that is softer and contoured better to the baby’s body. Plus it’s super soft, even after washing it a few times.

Flip Diaper sized insert

With the two-year old, we are in that transitional stage of diaper wearing and potty training. We used the outer diaper covers over underwear to control any possible leaks. I like knowing I can use the covers for both kids when we were out for a day trip.

The hybrid part of the system is handy when you are on the go, but probably not as useful for our family right now. The insert is fairly large and the waste would be more than an infant sized diaper. There were not any leaks when either boy used them, so the idea is you can reuse the covers and then put in a disposable insert. I am so trained to put the entire diaper into the wash it will take a look to get me to make this kind of switch!

Head over to their website to learn more about the Flip diapers. I tried out the velcro (hook and loop) closure, but I also found the snap Flip diapers over on Amazon. Snaps will hold up better over time, but the velcro is very easy to use.

Thanks to Mom Select and Flip for sharing the diapers with us! All opinions shared here are my own. 

 

Creative ways to use your beach treasures via RandomRecycling

If you frequented the beach this summer, there is a good chance you have collected a stash of seashells, sea glass or driftwood. On our beach, we are lucky to also collect sand dollars. The big question at the end of the season is what to do with all of our beach treasures? Here are a couple of easy ideas you can make with just a few craft materials.

Seaglass Wreath via RandomRecycling

Easy sea glass wreath using a foam wreath form and a hot glue gun.

Sea Glass Votives via RandomRecyclingEmbellish some plain candle votives with sea glass to bring a little of the beach to your table.

Love this beach inspired mason jar craft too.

Driftwood mirror via RandomRecycling

Layer pieces of driftwood to create a textured mirror. Use a flat mirror to start with to make it easier to apply the driftwood. (Ikea made this one.) Check out this fancier driftwood mirror if you have a big collection to use.

This post shares more driftwood project ideas.

Painting Sand dollars via RandomRecycling

Watercolor paints work great for painting sand dollars and seashells.

Got seashells? Here are 20+ ways to use them.

Share your creative  ways to use seashells in the comments.

Tiny Prints Back to School

When we think about back-to-school it’s usually about getting the kids ready. But really it’s mom’s time to get ready for back to school. Here’s some quick tips for getting Mom ready for afterschool sports, birthday parties, meal planning and more.

School Zone at Home

  • Pick a spot for backpacks. Have the kids leave them there when they get home and return them there after completing homework so they are ready for the morning.
  • Put together a craft supply basket with scissors, pencils, markers, etc. to be used in a homework zone. Now is the time to stock up with back to school sales.

Meal planning

  • Pick a Sunday afternoon to put together a few freezer meals for when life gets busy and you don’t have time to make dinner.
  • A new notebook and meal planning printables are a great way to stay organized. Make notes of what dinners are favorites and incorporate them into your week’s meal plan.
  • Pinterest is my go-to for meal planning. You can find my meal plan posts here and dinner recipes here. If you need some lunch box inspiration, head over to my Lunch Love board.

Play dates

  • Schedule one or two in advance so you can plan for some free time to check things off your list.
  • Mom contact cards make connecting easy on the playground or in passing at pickup time.

After school activities

  • Pack a bag in advance with sports gear, clean and ready to go. (Pack second small bag for siblings if they will be hanging out waiting)
  • Keep some snacks ready to go and prepackaged so getting out the door is a little easier.

Birthday Parties

  • Buy a few gifts at a time for a certain age group so you are always ready
  • Gift tags are handy to have on hand and personalize a store wrapped gift.

Tiny Prints Labels

 

To help get Moms (and Dads) ready for Back to School season, Tiny Prints is offering a great package of products to get you started! The giveaway is up to a $97 value!

  • 5 sets of 24 gift tag stickers
  • 1 – 5×8 lined notebook
  • 100 – mommy/play date/contact cards

Giveaway is open until August 22nd to US and Canada residents only. (Canada must pay for shipping~ sorry!) Please enter using the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get another chance to win by entering Tiny Prints Back to School contest for another $200 in prizes! Contest is open until August 28th.

I will also be receiving my own customized Tiny Prints back to school package…I can’t wait to pick out some new labels for the kids and I will get new mommy cards with all THREE kids names on them! All opinions shared here are my own. 

Babys First Beach Trip

 

Have you ever felt intimidated about bringing a baby to the beach? While it’s not always the easiest adventure, I wanted to share with you a few of our must pack items. We are preparing for our annual beach vacation, this time with a newborn in tow. Here are some tips to make life on the beach with a baby a little easier on everyone.

  • Beach Hats – always pack more than one as they often get wet or sandy
  • Coverup swim suits are much easier than trying to keep up with sunscreen on wiggly, wet babies. If your baby is old enough to play in a little water, pack two suits.
  • Beach Tent– get one with a SPF rating of 50+
  • Sunscreen Blanket – I bought one from Coolibar to try and I bought one for my sister from Isis Parenting.
  • Aden and Anais blankets are a must. They work as a nursing cover, and also to cover a stroller on a walk.
  • Umbrella – get a good one. Ours is from Coolibar that has a high SPF. The cheap ones don’t give great sun protection and they are also tricky in the wind. We also use a sand anchor with our umbrella to make it secure.
  • Water Bottle for Mom, especially if you are nursing. I love my new Lifefactory glass water bottle I ordered. The flip top cap to make it easy to me to drink it on the go.
  • Cover Up for Mom. If you stay cool, baby will stay cool.
  • Safe sunscreen for both baby and Mom. Avoid using a cheaper chemical based sunscreen on your body and just the safe stuff for baby. Babies often fall asleep against your chest and can have a bad reaction to sunscreen from your body. (Ask me how I know…)
  • Stroller- a bassinet (or pram) stroller  gives newborn babies a little more breathing room. I don’t suggest using the car seat for newborns as they get too hot strapped in during a nap.

What else would you add to the list? Let me know if you have any questions about bringing baby to the beach!

There are a couple of affiliate links included in this post, however all items featured were purchased by me and not included as a review. 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Parent’s Choice Overnight Baby Diapers.

Walmart Overnight Diapers RandomRecycling

I don’t talk about it much here on the blog, but we are a cloth diapering family. My friends know this and ask questions when they see the cute cloth diapers my kids wear. What they don’t see is that we made a choice a long time ago to use disposable diapers for nighttime. Is it a perfect, eco-friendly choice? No, but I’m ok with our decision as a family. As the tagline here says, our story is all about green living for modern families. As someone who felt really comfortable with cloth diapers, I was intimidated by complicated process of nighttime cloth diapers when my daughter was just a few months old.

Cloth diapers or disposables for nighttime

I did try the “doublers” with my cloth diapers and they just didn’t work for us. The babies and sheets got wet in the middle of the night, plus they seemed awfully uncomfortable in the oversized diapers. I looked into options with wool inserts, but the complicated process of prepping them was just too much for me when I was a full-time working mom with a new baby. Early on I found a brand of cloth diapers that worked and I often saved money by buying “seconds.” The overnight diaper choices were often a lot more expensive and I just didn’t want to make the investment.

Fast forward four years, I have two children wearing overnight diapers. One generally wears pull-ups and the other one wears standard overnight diapers. I’ve never been loyal to one brand as I usually try to buy what is the best price. Overnight diapers are more expensive than regular disposables, but once your child needs that extra nighttime protection, you just have to make the switch.

Parents Choice Diapers Sizing

I like seeing the size of the diapers clearly on the back. Much easier when you have multiple children in diapers.

We recently had the opportunity to try out the Walmart Parent’s Choice Overnight Baby Diapers. Our little guy gave them a test drive and they worked just as well as the other brands we have purchased. He liked them because they had little bears on them. I liked them because there were no leaks. I recently purchased a more eco-friendly pull-up option for my daughter to try at night. Every morning she changes out of the pull-up AND her pajama bottoms because they are damp. With the new baby on the way, I’m trying to reduce the amount of laundry I need to do, not increase it. Not all overnight diapers can stand up to the job. The Parent’s Choice diapers are a lot less money than most of the other brands I have bought before at only $0.16/diaper. Compare this to their competitors at $0.31-$0.42/diaper and it is a great value. You can also get it delivered, although I do wish they offered free shipping for their diapers like Amazon or Diapers.com.

With a new baby arriving soon, we will be in diapering land for a few more years to come. You have to make choices that work for your family, your schedule and your budget. I hope you find a system that you are comfortable with and give the Parent’s Choice overnight diapers a test run yourself.

What works for your family when it comes to diapering your kids?

Night time protection for babies is an important consideration for parents as their little one grows. Ordinary diapers may not have enough absorbent capacity to handle multiple voids over long periods of time with older babies. When wet mornings become the norm, parents start looking for more protection to guard against overnight leaks.

parents choice overnight diapers

Parent’s Choice Overnight Baby Diapers are super absorbent for overnight and long-trip protection. This is an overnight diaper at prices that everyone can afford!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Parent’s Choice Overnight Baby Diapers. All opinions shared here are my own. Good luck to anyone else in the thick of diapering multiple children at the same time!

Happy Spring

I hope all of my mom readers had a lovely weekend. We spent half of it in Gloucester with family and the other half relaxing at home. It was the perfect weekend, despite some rainy weather. As the weather shifts towards warmer nights, I find myself trying to recall what we usually cook in the summer. Grilling, salads and easy recipes generally top our list. This week’s meal plan starts to hit on this trend. I should also put away a couple more freezer meals to get ready for baby’s arrival. The countdown is on!

On the menu this week…

Chalkboard Menu Plan

Sunday~ Grilled Steak Tips, Corn on the Cob, Sourdough Bread (thanks Melissa!) and Pesto.

Monday~ C.O.R.N. {Clean Out Refrigerator Night, we have chicken, steak and leftover fish dinner to clear through)

Tuesday~ Cheesy Skillet Pasta and broccoli

Wednesday~ Grilled Salmon, grilled asparagus and Annie’s Pasta on the side

Thursday~ Swiss Steak Slow Cooker Freezer Meal. Time to use up the “wintry” slow cooker meals.

Friday~ Pizza Night with our homemade dough in the bread machine!

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

referral_badge-e21a0bf93c2d04d285ba89d2d14d8cb0If I’m not cooking with my kids, you can often find us at the craft table working on some kind of project. Sometimes it’s free play with the supplies we have on hand, and other times we work through specific craft activities. We received Kiwi Crate craft boxes for the past few months and I was ready to see what else is out there. When I was in Philly, I met the Wummelbox, a multi-craft box geared towards kids ages 3-8. My sample box arrived pretty quickly and the kids couldn’t wait to get started.

What is a Wummelbox?

Wummelbox craft

Each craft box arrives at your doorstep with 3-4 creative projects to work on with your kids, all fitting a particular theme. Depending on their age, some need lots of supervision while other projects can be done independently. My kids are 4 and 2 so I sit in between them to work on our little masterpieces.

The first thing that excited me about the Wummelbox is the projects are wrapped separately. The Kiwi Crates are slightly sorted but my kids usually pull one thing out and then it’s all jumbled together. I liked being able to take one project out at a time, depending on how much time I have available to devote to “craft” time.

Madison was happy when she saw a new package with scissors. Although it’s her third pair, she was happy because they were pink. Usually there are more gender neutral colors, we just got lucky with the pink pair!  I appreciate the extra scissors because we now have  more craft supplies for play dates.

Wummelbox Music and Sound

Wummelbox uses eco-friendly materials when appropriate, plus they try to incorporate the packaging into a craft. I like having less waste to deal with during clean-up time. The only negative I found with the first box we reviewed, Music and Sound Box, is the number of small pieces. Not a big deal for the bigger kids, but when I have baby #3 crawling around, I’ll have to be more diligent about keeping the tiny metal balls and mini magnets on the table.

Wummelbox is one of those lovely subscription services where you can sign up for as much or as little as you would like. I think the subscriptions make great gifts, especially from the grandparents.

  • Try a Wummel, 1 month subscription $34.95
  • Little Wummel, 3 month subscription $24.95/month
  • Big Wummel, 12 month subscription $19.95/month

Want to try out the Wummelbox? Enter to win a box that will be delivered to your door. Use the rafflecopter below to enter, giveaway closes on May 20, 2013. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize. US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was provided a 3 month subscription to Wummelbox to help facilitate my review here. I look forward to testing out these boxes with the kids once the new baby arrives. It will be great to have an activity project ready to go, especially if we have a rainy summer day and we are stuck inside. All opinions shared here are my own.