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Letter Y Dot Marker Worksheets

Letter Y Dot Marker Worksheets

If your kids love dot markers and are working on learning the letter Y and the initial /y/ sound, then they’ll enjoy these free letter Y dot marker worksheets. You’ll find six differentiated versions of this free printable. The first three pages feature only Y’s and Y sound pictures. The last three focus on easily…

12 Days of Christmas

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas! I’ve joined up with Karen from ABC’s of Literacy to bring you a little extra love this holiday season. Every day through December 18th we’ll be featuring fun new and favorite activities and sending out a new freebie straight to your inbox. Note: I’ll actually be updating this…

The Best of Books and Giggles

The Best of Books and Giggles

Books and Giggles is full of screen-free, educational and fun activities for kids. Sometimes you also find parenting insights and tips. Today we’re recapping the top five non-seasonal posts of the year, all in one place. The most popular post by far was 10 Instant Fun Car Trip Activities Your Kids Will Love These are ideas that you…

Fine Motor Fun with Dried Beans

Fine Motor Fun with Dried Beans

Today I’m sharing a fun and simple set of fine motor skill activities. You can do it with toddlers, preschoolers, or elementary aged kids. All you really need are dried beans from your pantry. Montessori-Inspired Toddler Activity My kids all attended a Montessori preschool. One of the earliest activities they learned there was spooning beans….

Play Names

Play Names

When my girls play together, sometimes they give each other names “in the game.” They always pick the same names: Sophie and Isabella. I’ve danced around using my kids’ real names on the blog. I want to protect their privacy, but sometimes it’s awkward writing about them without names. Yesterday, for example, in my tooth fairy pillow tutorial, I…

The Power of Fairies

The Power of Fairies

Recently, I realized the power of fairies. Yes, fairies. The Tooth Fairy My girls still have all their baby teeth, but they’re looking forward to their first tooth fairy visit. One night they were delaying brushing their teeth, making funny faces in the mirror instead. I remarked, “You know, the tooth fairy loves clean teeth.”…

The Art of Skipping Pages

The Art of Skipping Pages

Realizing you can skip pages or parts of pages when you read aloud to your little kids is liberating, even if you do feel a little deceitful about it.  There’s really no reason to feel guilty. In our house, we did plenty of book shortening until the kids got old enough to catch on to…

Rainy Day Wisdom

Rainy Day Wisdom

You know how, sometimes, seeing the world through your child’s eyes can really change your attitude? Recently, it was pouring rain, and I had just finished loading a cart full of groceries into the minivan. My jeans were wet, and my socks were soggy inside my soaked tennis shoes.   I took a deep breath, mentally preparing to navigate…

Post #1

Post #1

I first thought about starting a blog in about 2006, but I talked myself out of it. I was busy with my firstborn’s arrival that year – definitely too preoccupied with reading Goodnight Moon to my pregnant belly to stop and write about it. source: Andrew Seaman/flickr Eight crazy years and three beautiful kids later,…