Tag: How to

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Family Activities For the Home Holiday How To Winter

8 Ways to Get Your Fireplace Ready For Winter

8 Ways to Get Your Fireplace Ready for Winter

With cold weather coming, you are probably ready to warm up in front of your fireplace. Not only will you stay warm, but your house will also heat up without raising your electricity bill. Before you start a fire, however, you must get your fireplace ready for winter. Doing so will protect your home from a house fire.

Whether this is your first time ever using the fireplace or if you use it every single year, you should complete the process before using it for the season.

***This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.***

Get Your Fireplace Ready For Winter, Fireplace, Fireplace safety, get fireplace ready, home, home safety, get home ready for winter, winter, get ready for cold

How to Get Your Fireplace Ready For Winter

Clean and Inspect the Firebox

You only have to clean it if it wasn’t cleaned out the year before. Any soot or old wood in the firebox should be removed. When you’re removing soot, you should wet it down before removing it to avoid having the ash go into the air.

Once the firebox is cleaned, you should look for any cracks or areas that are missing mortar. Make note of those areas so you can have them repaired.

Inspect the Fue and Damper

The flue and damper regulate the airflow inside the chimney. If they are dirty, they may not open and close properly. You should clean them, and then make sure they are working properly.

Inspect the Gasket

The gasket seals the door and should be inspected every year before the fireplace is used. The door should also be checked for damage. Damaged or missing gaskets can cause too much oxygen to reach the fire, which may cause a house fire.

Clean the Blower

Some fireplaces have a blower, so if yours has one, it needs to be cleaned every year. If you don’t, buildup can occur.

Have your Chimney Swept

Once a year, you should call a professional to sweep your chimney. Oftentimes, soot and debris are left in the chimney from the previous winter. When this happens, it can cause a house fire if it isn’t cleaned out before being used the following year. A professional should always do the chimney sweeping because they have the necessary equipment and expertise.

Inspect the Outside of the Chimney

Check for cracks, loose bricks, or missing mortar in the structure of the chimney and the lining. Make a note of anything you see that may be an issue.

Have any Damages Repaired When You Get Your Fireplace Ready For Winter

A professional should handle all of the repairs. Professionals have the proper materials to fix both the inside and the outside of the fireplace. Plus, a reliable professional (read reviews before hiring anyone!!) knows for certain what they are doing. If the repairs are done incorrectly, it could cause a house fire.

Make Sure the Fireplace Has a Cap

Having a cap on your chimney prevents birds, rain, leaves, small animals, and other debris from going into the chimney. You will want to make sure yours is still there and that it doesn’t need to be repaired or replaced.

What to do When Your Fireplace is Ready

Before you light the first fire of the season, make sure your smoke detectors are working properly. If they aren’t, replace the batteries or install new detectors.

Get Your Fireplace Ready For Winter

After that, you can sit back, read a book, and get cozy in front of your fireplace.

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How To Our Family Parenting Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning Toys

8 of the Best Play Kitchens For Kids

Play kitchens are more than just fun for our kids because they are also a great learning experience. It is important for toddler and preschool-age children to learn through play, and dramatic play allows them to fill the role of a chef, waiter, mom, dad, or any other role. Your kids can express themselves while they learn about everyday concepts and organization.

Using a kitchen playset has other perks, as well. It helps children become familiar with different foods in a positive way, so maybe your children will be more likely to try (and enjoy!) vegetables a little more at dinner time. Your children will also begin to learn cooking skills.

These play kitchens are easy to set up and are very durable. Most of them come with many accessories including dishes and food, so your kids will never run out of ideas. A play kitchen also offers the opportunity for multi-child play.

It can be difficult to choose a kitchen playset because there are so many options on the market, but I have narrowed it down for you. I have researched some of the best kitchen playsets available, and I am going to give you the details about each one.

Kitchen Playsets, play kitchens

Best Play Kitchens

Teamson Kids Play Kitchen

play kitchen, kitchen playset

The Teamson Kids Play Kitchen has two refrigerator doors, one that includes a pretend smart screen. It includes storage space, an oven, a stove, a sink, and everything else that will make this seem like a real kitchen to your kids. This kitchen is big enough for more than one kid to play at a time so socialization is encouraged.  

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 27.5” L x 11.8” W x 37.2” H
  • Product Weight: 20 pounds
  • Assembly Time: Two hours
  • Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Step2 Best Chef’s Toy Kitchen Play set

play kitchen, kitchen play set

The Step2 Best Chefs Kitchen Play Set has an oven, refrigerator, counter, and an open kitchen window to pass things through. This kitchen playset has lights and makes noise. It comes with a recycling bin and has hooks attached to hang cups or other items. There are 25 total pieces included with this playset. It is easy and quick to put together.

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 11.5” L x 34.4” W x 38.5” H
  • Product Weight: 21.4 pounds
  • Assembly Time: 20 minutes
  • Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars

KidKraft Uptown Natural Play Kitchens

play kitchen, kitchen play set, dramatic play

Featuring a refrigerator, freezer, microwave, oven, and dishwasher, the KidKraft Uptown Natural Kitchen can make your child feel like they are in a real kitchen. Kids love to pretend to be grown-up and do all the things their parents do. Using the appliances that their parents use could be so exciting. This kitchen playset also comes with a phone, paper towel holder, and chalkboard.

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 43” L x 17.8” W x 41” H
  • Product Weight: 72 pounds
  • Assembly Time: three hours
  • Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

Little Tikes Cook ‘n Learn Smart Kitchen

kitchen play set, play kitchen, bluetooth kids kitchen

Unlike many other kitchen playsets, the Little Tikes Cook ‘n Learn Smart Kitchen uses Bluetooth to connect to an app that you can have on your cell phone or tablet. This kitchen playset also has sound effects for cutting food, cooking, and running the water. It comes with 40 accessories so your child can be entertained for hours.

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 17” L x 22” W x 30” H
  • Product Weight: 10 pounds
  • Assembly Time: 30 minutes
  • Rating: 3.6 out of 5 stars

My Little Chef Teamson Kids Wooden Play Kitchen Set

kitchen play set, play kitchen

My Little Chef Teamson Kitchen Play Set is made from wood and has a stove, cabinet, oven, and microwave. It is durable and can give children the feeling that they are in a real kitchen. There are different color options available, as well. The assembly time for this kitchen playset is very short, about 30 minutes, so your kids could be playing in no time.

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 38.25 L x 11.50 W x 36.75 H
  • Product Weight: 54.67 pounds
  • Assembly Time: 30 minutes
  • Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Step2 Elegant Edge Play Kitchen Play Set

kitchen play set, play kitchen with food

This Step2 Elegant Edge Play Kitchen Play Set has everything that a real kitchen has. It has a microwave, oven, dishwasher, stove, phone, refrigerator, and a sink with a faucet and sprayer. This kitchen playset also has a silverware drawer, baskets for food, plate, and cup racks, and cupboards. Plus it comes with accessories including pots, pans, and food. It has a light and makes noise, too, so your kids might just love it!

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 102.5” L x 36” W x 39” H
  • Product Weight: 70 pounds
  • Assembly Time: One hour
  • Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars

Best Choice Products Kids Wood Kitchen Toy Toddler Pretend Play Set Solid Wood Construction

kitchen play set, play kitchen, wooden kitchen playset

This Best Choice Products wooden kitchen playset has two separate stove tops so it can be easily used by multiple children. With five drawers, it can hold many accessories and make clean up easy. It also has six smaller areas for storage.

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 39.5” L x 11.8” W x 42” H
  • Product Weight: 48 pounds
  • Assembly Time: About two hours
  • Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Smoby Bon Appetit Electronic Roleplay Kitchen with 23 Accessories & Cooking Sounds

play kitchen, kitchen play set

The Smoby Bon Appetit Electronic Roleplay Kitchen has unique features compared to other play kitchens. It has a pretend espresso machine and three coffee pods, along with many other accessories.

If you are a coffee drinker, you know that your children like to pretend to drink coffee sometimes. It could be so much fun for them to be able to role play making coffee.

This kitchen playset also comes with plates, cups, forks, knives, spoons, pans, boxes, and utensils. The best part is that the price of the kitchen is much lower than other kitchen playsets.

Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: 20.5” L x 13.2” W x 38” H
  • Product Weight: 7.6 pounds
  • Assembly Time: 30 minutes
  • Rating: 3.6 out of 5 stars

Final Decision About Play Kitchens

Kitchen playsets are such a good toy to buy for your toddlers and preschoolers. They are great for your child’s development, so much fun, and a way to keep your child busy for long periods of time. If you need the perfect Christmas or birthday gift, you might want to consider a kitchen playset.

Just make sure you do your research (or use the research I have already done) and read comments/reviews about each play kitchen that you are considering. You’ll want to find the perfect one for your child and your home.

Now that you have an idea of which kitchen playset you want to buy, read my post about 7 Ways to Play with a Pretend Kitchen for Dramatic Play! It is full of ideas and activities for the kitchen playset to make it even more exciting for your littles.

Let me know which play kitchen you think is the best one! Is it one on this list or do you have a different play kitchen that your kids love? Tell me in the comments!

Kitchen Playsets
kitchen play set, play kitchen for kids
Categories
Big Kid How To Our Family Parenting Teenager

Keeping Kids Safe Online – 8 Simple Tips

Whether we like it or not, technology is a HUGE part of our children’s lives. They use it daily, and older kids use the internet at school quite often, too. Keeping kids safe online is SO important these days, and it can be kind of tricky to do so. Cell phones make it impossible for parents to always be there to monitor what is happening on the internet, so we must set some rules and guidelines that our children should be trusted to follow. Now, we can set these rules and guidelines and hope for the best, but we all know that kids sometimes make mistakes or need reminders.

I have a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old… two kids who use the internet on a daily basis. The 10-year-old plays games online with his Playstation and Xbox, and he uses YouTube. The 14-year-old uses so many social media apps and has accounts on them all. She is obviously harder to keep up with online, but we make sure to put in the effort in order to protect her. Like I said before, with all of the scary things happening in our world today, stemming from situations online, it is more important than ever to think about keeping kids safe online.

Your teenagers may think you are being mean when you check up on them to see what they are doing, but when they are older they’ll understand you were only looking out for them. It is SO important to protect our kids from the dangers of the internet. We have all heard the horror stories, and we always think it won’t happen to our children, but we never know.

 

Keeping Kids Safe Online

 

8 Tips For Keeping Kids Safe Online

    1. Create a contract for your kids to sign about internet use. Set ground rules and include punishments so that your kids know ahead of time what will happen if they break the rules. In this contract include a section about creating new accounts. You should be helping your child, no matter what age, create accounts. You should have the passwords and email addresses associated with each one. This shows them that you expect them to ask permission before doing anything online, or they will have their internet privileges revoked.
    2. Keep electronics out of bedrooms an hour before bedtime. This should go for you too, parents! Set the example. This allows you to better monitor your child’s online activities. During the day you are more likely to pop in and check on what they’re doing… later at night, us parents are relaxing after a long day or maybe even sleeping. Our kids know this is our routine, so they’re more likely to break the rules at those times. Not only can it potentially help with keeping kids safe online, it will help them sleep better if their phone isn’t right at their fingertips.**Side note- If your kids are younger it might even be better to keep electronics out of bedrooms completely.**
    3. Understand their internet use. If you are serious about keeping kids safe online you have to become familiar with what your kids using on the internet. Are they using SnapChat? You need to use SnapChat, too, or at least know how it works and how to navigate it. Same with Instagram, Music.ly, and any other social media app that they use. If you understand how it works you will have a better chance of noticing red flags. It’ll be easier for you to monitor their usage, as well, if you know what all the apps do. For your younger kids, you obviously don’t have to understand all the latest social media apps. Instead, you will have to understand the websites they choose to use. We know things like ABC Mouse are safe, but there are gaming websites that do have chat rooms. Not only that, but there are (of course) ads on websites that your child may click on, even accidentally, that could lead to inappropriate or unsafe content. Determine which websites are okay for your child to navigate while you’re not in the room, and make it clear that other websites require your presence.
    4. Teach them to never share information. We assume that our kids know to not give out personal information, but they should be reminded about the dangers of it. They shouldn’t give their full name, phone number, e-mail address, or school name. Any other personal information should be avoided, as well. Every little detail that our kids give out on the internet makes them that much easier to track down. A huge one… they should be told to NEVER SHARE THEIR LOCATION. On SnapChat there is an option to share your exact location at all times… it might be smart to put in their contract that they should not be sharing their location. Even if your child has an online friend (I know some parents allow this), encourage them to avoid giving this personal information. They may feel like they can trust their friend, but you never know who is really on the other side of that screen. Make sure they know that they are never to meet up with someone they met online. Show your older kids horror stories if you have to… just get the point across. Even a couple episodes of Catfish might make them understand that not everyone is who they say they are. When our 10-year-old plays video games online he is able to talk to complete strangers that he is playing the game with. I’m not always comfortable with this, so I listen in quite often. He has to have his bedroom door open when he is playing online in his room, or he has to sit in the living room. I have told him over and over again to never tell anyone his full name, what city he lives in, or what school he goes to. Keeping kids safe online even extends to video games these days, so you may need to think about the location of the video game system in your own home.
    5. Encourage them to tell you everything and promise not to over-react. Our kids may avoid telling us about things that happen online because they are scared we will be angry or over-react. They need to know that they can trust us to help them handle the situation without freaking out. If they are being harassed online or if they get themselves into a scary situation they need to feel comfortable coming to us with that information. We can only protect our children if they trust us, so make sure to hold up your promise here.
    6. Set parental controls. You can set parental controls on many websites now. YouTube and Google both have parental controls, and setting these controls can prevent inappropriate content from showing up in a search. You can check individual websites or you can go into the browser settings and put parental controls on there.A program called Qustodio allows you to set controls and monitor what your child is doing online. This program can be used on three different devices, including iPhones and Androids. It is kind of perfect because there aren’t many programs parents can run on our kids’ cell phones. Plus, the program is easy to use.
    7. Check history. I cannot stress the importance of this enough! Even if you trust your child, you should be checking in on them. Our children are just that… CHILDREN. Kids make mistakes and they rely on our guidance to correct those mistakes. If we are blind to their mistakes, we can’t fix them, which just allows that negative behavior to continue. For younger kids, they may not know that a website was inappropriate or dangerous. Finding the mistakes ahead of time allows us to fix the problem before it comes something bigger. For my family, checking the history on their devices is the best method for keeping kids safe online. A few times when my 10-year-old has used my laptop to play a math game that his school recommends I have checked the history. Each time, I found out he was on YouTube instead. I know this isn’t exactly dangerous, but he was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. I was able to find that out through the history. This also allowed me to see that he needs more supervision when he is online.
    8. Review friends lists and followers. This one is so important to me. Our kids should not have “friends” or “followers” on social media that they don’t know in real life. We have a 14-year-old, and she was adding anyone who sent her a friend request or follow request. She wasn’t doing it to be defiant or to meet strangers… she just didn’t think much of it. It’s “normal” to have many followers, and it’s almost like a competition for teenagers. Teenagers don’t think it’s a big deal, but it’s important that we explain to them WHY it can be dangerous. Our 14 year old would get random private messages from boys. In the messages, they would ask her name, age, where she lives, and if she would send them pictures. Luckily, after the talk we had, she always shows us these messages and then blocks the sender. She would never have mentioned it to us before, but we helped her understand how serious those situations can become. Even though she has earned our trust, we still check in on friends lists. This isn’t a secret we keep from her, either. She’s fully aware that we check her social media, and she understands the importance of keeping kids safe online.

 

Keeping Kids Safe Online Keeping Kids Safe Online

 

I know there’s more that can be done in regards to keeping kids safe online. I am only suggesting some of the basic, easy ways. It’s a good place to start, and then you can adjust, if necessary, for your kids. Every child is different, so the level of monitoring will be different, too.

What do you do to protect your children online? Has your child ever had a scary online experience? Comment below!

 

Keeping Kids Safe Online Keeping Kids Safe Online Keeping Kids Safe Online Keeping Kids Safe Online

Categories
How To

How to Start a Blog in 3 Easy Steps (and what to do next!!)

how to start a blog

Have you ever thought about starting a blog, but you just didn’t know where to start? Maybe you know where to start, but you don’t know what to do next? If this is you, I’m here to tell you that it’s not as hard to start a blog as you may think… you can start a blog in 3 easy steps. I’m serious.

Whether you want to start a blog to have a creative out, to promote a business, earn an income, or to meet others who share your interest, everyone starts in the same place. You have to figure out how to start a blog before you can move on to your reason for blogging.

Figuring out how to start a blog can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know where to begin, but I’ve done the research already and want to share with you how to start a blog in 3 easy steps!! Taking it one step further, I even included tips for what to do after you start a blog.

**This post contains affiliate links, which means that I will receive a commission if you click on a link and make a purchase. This is at no additional cost to you, it only helps me keep my blog up and running. I fully back the products that I recommend.**

How to Start a Blog in 3 Easy Steps

1. Decide what you want to blog about.

You can’t blog about everything, so you’ll need to think about what you’ll primarily be posting before you start a blog. My blog is primarily about parenting and marriage. Those are two vague topics, but they tell my readers what they can expect to find on my blog.

Keeping my topics a little more vague (but still making my general topic obvious) gives me the freedom to post ALL things regarding parenting (crafts, parenting tips, kid-friendly recipes, activities, etc.) and not just one parenting topic. Same with marriage… I am able to post whatever I want about marriage and my readers know to expect that, but at the same time, my readers also know they aren’t going to find a random book review thrown in because the topic of my blog isn’t books or book reviews.

2. Choose a blog name.

Obviously, before you start a blog you have to decide on a name. You need a name picked out before you start a blog because you’ll need your name to be on your blog and in the URL.

Since I blog about parenting and marriage, my blog name was easy for me, Mom Wife Wine. Simple, catchy, and it helps prospective readers know what to expect when they come to my blog.

You can make your blog name whatever you want, but it helps to come up with a name that will allow people to get a small feel of what your blog will be about.

3. Set up your blog.

Honestly, out of the 3 steps to start a blog this one might be the easiest. It can be hard to decide what parts of your life you want to blog about, and it’s even harder to come up with a blog name, but setting up your blog is SO easy. This is where you actually start a blog.


You could always start a free blog, hosted by a website like WordPress or blogger, but it can be tricky to do it that way. I’ve heard many bloggers say that they won’t even read a blog if it isn’t self-hosted and they can see this by looking at the blog link. If your blog name is followed by .wordpress.com or something similar, it is clear that you are using a free blog service.

Just for the record, I do read blogs that aren’t self-hosted, I just know lots of bloggers who won’t.

Another reason using a free site can be tricky is because it’s hard to monetize your blog that way, and the hosting website can shut your blog down for any reason, without warning, and you could lose ALL of your content.

It was an easy decision for me, but only after I researched SO MANY web hosting services. Once my research was complete I knew that BlueHost was definitely the one for me, and I was confident in this decision.

Some of the benefits of Bluehost include:

  • Free domain
  • Free security technology
  • You can install WordPress to use with Bluehost with just one click.
  • Low prices
  • 24-hour technical support

I think it’s important to emphasize that Bluehost is so inexpensive, which was important to me because we only had one income at the time, and the quality is top notch. More than a year later, and I still love it.

I have never had any issues with Bluehost and I’ve found it SO easy to use. I’ll literally never change to anything else. WordPress is really great, too, so it’s awesome that you can install it so easily with Bluehost.

Once you’ve gotten to this point, the rest is easy. You simply choose your Bluehost package, and then Bluehost will walk you through the rest of the setup. I don’t know if other web hosting websites walk you through the setup, but I know Bluehost does and it was so easy.

***Important Note*** Do not make your blog “live” right away. I’ll get to that more in the next section, but you need content first.

****CLICK HERE TO START A BLOG WITH BLUEHOST****

how to start a blog

What to do After You Start a Blog

So you have now created your blog, but the next steps can be a little daunting as you’re getting everything going. It doesn’t have to be, though!! Take it one step at a time and work your way through the list until you’ve got everything done. Some steps take longer than others and that’s okay!

1. Design your blog.

Some people pay for a cute layout, but there are free ones available and are pretty easy to find. I use a free layout myself that I found on WordPress, I just created my own logo using Canva and made some minor changes to the rest of the layout. Your blog should look good and the layout should be easy to navigate if you want viewers to return.

2. Create content.

This is obviously the most important step when you are just starting your blog (or anytime, for that matter). I mentioned in the previous section that you should not make your blog “live” right away. I say this because if a visitor comes to your blog and you only have one or two blog posts, they aren’t likely to come back again.

You want to have AT LEAST 25 blog posts on your blog before you go live. This gives readers many posts to click around on and decide if they want to come back and read your new stuff later on.

3. Promote blog.

You want to start promoting before your blog even goes live. Set up a Twitter account, Instagram account, a Pinterest account, etc., and start gaining followers and hyping them up for your blog release.

Twitter is my favorite social media platform because you can get lots of support from other bloggers on Twitter. I get the most views from Twitter and Pinterest, so I focus on those areas more than the other.

Before you go live, start making connections on social media. Make friends who are interested in your blog topic, write tweets with “sneak peaks” about your posts, and post a countdown to the day your blog will go live. Work on building followers on social media and the views will start coming in as soon as you go live.

4. Go live!!!

Make a big “event” out of this on social media. Tell everyone how excited you are and ask them to check out your blog. Be active during this time so you can interact with new viewers.

5. Get more traffic.

After you get your initial traffic from social media, you’ll need to start branching out and finding new sources of traffic. You can do this by writing guest posts for other bloggers or by increasing your following on social media. Make awesome graphics for Pinterest, because lots of traffic can (and will) come from there. You can start an e-mail list to help increase your viewers, too.

6. Monetize.

So, this is the last step because, in order to make money, you have to have consistent blog views. Once you think you are ready you could start monetizing through affiliate sales (like Amazon) and Google AdSense. I’ll be writing a separate post about monetizing (and what to do next) at a later time, so sign up for my e-mail list if you want to be notified!

Other Thoughts On How to Start a Blog

And, I guess you could count this as another step to both lists; you have to constantly learn. You should always be researching ways to improve your blog and grow your following.

There are blog courses available online, or you can just do your own research to figure things out if you prefer. It is always nice to have a mentor, however (someone who has been blogging longer and has already done all of these things), and you can likely find friends like this on social media. You can ask them questions and get advice from them, which will save you time and frustration.

Final Thoughts On How to Start a Blog in 3 Easy Steps

I hope this guide has helped you and given you some peace of mind with your blogging adventure. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section. I reply to all comments and would be more than happy to help you in any way that I can.

I mentioned a mentor of sorts before and, if you reach out to me, I’d love to help you along the way! If I don’t know the answer I can help you figure it out! 

how to start a blog how to start a blog how to start a blog

Categories
Parenting Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Name Recognition Puzzle and Scissor Practice – DIY

My four-year-old is starting school soon and, while he can recognize his own name, he is still learning to put the letters of his name in the correct order. I want him to know how to write his own name before school starts but first, he needs to know what order the letters go in. This DIY Name Recognition Puzzle and Scissor Practice activity has been perfect for that.

Since this puzzle was so easy to make I made one for my two-year-old as well. If she can be further along than my four-year-old is right now, I will be so excited because we won’t have to cram the summer before four-year-old preschool starts.

The cutting practice involved in this activity is so good for both of them, too, so it was definitely worth the few minutes it took me to put the activity together.

This activity is so simple, it will only take a couple of minutes to prepare. Plus, it will keep your kids busy for a while.

DIY Name Recognition Puzzle and Scissor Practice

To start, I drew a “sun” shape onto a piece of yellow paper. It was *supposed* to be a sun, but it definitely didn’t turn out as round as a sun. My kids didn’t mind so I didn’t fix it LOL.

I cut the shape out myself and then wrote their name on it. I left space in between each letter so that I could draw lines and they could cut on the lines.

That was all the preparation I had to do… they did the rest!!

I gave my kids scissors and explained to them that they had to cut on the lines that I drew. Sylas (four-years-old) did it with no problem and Josie (two-years-old) just needed a little help with hers.

That was it! It is so simple. Sylas is already putting his whole puzzle together on his own and starting to recognize where the letters go in his name.

What name recognition activities have you done with your kids? Tell me about it in the comment, or even drop a link if you’ve written a blog post about it!

If you’re looking for even more name recognition ideas, check out my other post- Name Recognition with Caterpillar Letter Matching

 

Categories
Parenting Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning Toys

7 Ways to Play With a Pretend Kitchen for Dramatic Play

My kids have a pretend kitchen that they LOVED when it was new to them. They spent at least an hour every day playing with it. After a couple of weeks, they got kind of bored, though, and I found myself just picking up the play food and dishes off the floor after they were dumped out and not played with.

IMG_3980
This is the first day that we had the pretend kitchen… we hadn’t even gotten the food and dishes in it yet.

I contemplated getting rid of the entire playset but knew I would regret it as soon as it was gone.

The only option was to find ways to make it more fun and exciting for the kids so I began brainstorming some ways to play with it.

It worked! I taught the kids a couple of new ways to use the pretend kitchen playset and they fell in love with it all over again.

7 Ways to Play With a Pretend Kitchen

*this post contains affiliate links*

  1. Cooking/Following recipes
    I know that most toddlers can’t read but that doesn’t mean they can’t follow directions! Using pictures with just a few words is all they need, and usually, they can figure it out from there. They use the pictures as a guide and eventually, they may start recognizing the words that are included with the picture. Even if they can’t figure out what the recipe is calling for, they can still pretend to create a meal or a treat from a recipe. If they see you do it when you’re cooking real food, they’ll be so excited to be able to do it with their play food. You can create recipes using Canva (if you click the link it’ll take you right to their recipe card template!) or even just Microsoft Word. Keep it short and simple, and don’t forget the pictures! The recipes (I’ve only made 2) I created for them are not even close to as cool as some of the ones I’ve found on Pinterest so I definitely plan on stepping my game up there.Recipe Book by Emily at LaForce Be With You – link
    none size-full wp-image-704″ src=”https://momwifewine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG_2695.jpg” alt=”IMG_2695″ width=”320″ height=”240″ /> [/caption]
  2. Grocery shopping/Putting food away
    We don’t have a grocery store set up, but I just take small baskets and sort out some of the food that way and then they come through with their shopping carts and choose which food they would like to “buy”. We use play money for this.. we actually made it ourselves and it looks NOTHING like real money aside from the fact that it is green. You could use monopoly money or anything else you have. After they “buy” their food, they push the shopping cart “home” to the kitchen playset and begin putting it away. When I first had this idea I was worried they wouldn’t want to put it away but turns out they really like to do it! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because when I go grocery shopping they love to help put groceries away.
  3. Restaurant
    This one is their FAVORITE!! We use the play money, a tablet, and a pencil. I sit at the table and they come over to take my order. Then they go and prepare/cook whatever it is I ordered and serve it to me. It’s so much fun. I want to take this a step further and make a menu for them soon. There are a couple menus I’m considering.. the first one you can purchase (this isn’t an affiliate link, however) and the second one could be made at home. If you don’t feel like creating your own you can buy one for pretty cheap on Teachers Pay Teachers (pictured below).6f80c829b3cc3cb46ec0ddad52ef8300Created by Andrea Miller on Teachers Pay Teachers – link920e0ebb14fa0d8877f213a3bc127469Created by ObSEUSSed – Link
  4. Setting the table
    Josie really enjoys this one. I used paper and traced a toy plate, fork, spoon, knife, and cup onto 2 different pieces of paper. I also wrote the word out for what goes where because we are working on recognizing words. When the kids are setting the table they use the paper as a placemat and place everything where it belongs. We usually do it before we play restaurant.IMG_7652
  5. Washing dishes
    This one is fun because they love to “wash” dishes. I’ll admit, this is the one we do the least often because it usually results in them asking for real water in their kitchen playset. I let them do this sometimes. Other times I tell them to just pretend or to pick something new to play.
  6. Pizza shop
    I have a small tote where I store all of their “pizza” pieces. These pieces were all cut out on paper, but plan to re-do them on felt soon. I cut a circle on brown paper for the crust, small red circles for the pepperoni, and a bunch of small yellow pieces for the cheese. You could also include green peppers, mushrooms, ham, pineapple, etc.
  7. “House”
    I’m honestly just not sure what else to call this one… Josie likes to play mommy and feed her baby doll. She puts her baby’s highchair right next to the kitchen and cooks for her, then pretends to feed her the food.Sometimes she sneaks real food for her baby doll

Usually, throughout all of the “cooking” activities, they wear a chef hat and apron that I picked up at Dollar Tree.

You will definitely need play food to go along with the kitchen playset. The pretend kitchen comes with a little, but not enough. I have found the best deals on Amazon.


JaxoJoy 122-Piece Deluxe Pretend Play Food Set Beautiful Toy Food Assortment

This is the kitchen playset that we have. When you click the link below you’ll be able to see lots of other options, as well. There is literally a pretend kitchen for every budget!

Step2 Lifestyle Deluxe Kids Pretend Kitchen

I love watching them use their imagination and pretend to do real, everyday activities. It is such a good learning opportunity and if you play your cards right, they’ll be working on letter/word recognition, number recognition, and counting. They’ll get practice using writing utensils and speaking/asking questions. The possibilities are endless.

I did have to show my kids the first couple of times they did some of these activities. Now I’m usually able to leave them to it. They either do the activity I showed them or create an entirely new activity. I still play with them sometimes just to reinforce the learning opportunities involved.

If your child has a kitchen playset, what do they like to do with it? We’re always looking for new ideas!

Categories
Home Organization Toys

What to do When You’re Drowning in Toys

It’s safe to say that most kids have too many toys. Between Christmas, birthdays, and other random gifts during the year, it is so easy to acquire TOO MANY toys.

It happened to us without me even realizing it until it was too late. The big kids had toys, of course, (they were 6 and 9 when Sylas was born), but those toys were easier to contain in bedrooms because the kids didn’t require CONSTANT supervision and there were only 2 of them.

When Sylas was a newborn, we had only a couple toys because he didn’t really play yet. When he started moving that all changed. Grandma was buying him every toy she saw, Christmas came and he was spoiled by every person on both sides of the family, and then 5 months later was his birthday.

All of a sudden we had toys EVERYWHERE. Josie was born not long after that and within a year, we had even MORE toys because she’s a girl and needed her own stuff (at least that’s what everyone said).

Then we had Liam so add even more toys at Christmas and another birthday into the mix. Plus random pickups and hand me downs and we were literally drowning.

There were toys EVERYWHERE. Upstairs, downstairs, in the car, in the hallway, EVERYWHERE. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t keep up with the cleaning up, organizing, etc.

It was time to get it under control.

What to do When You Are Drowning In Toys

    1. Get rid of toys that aren’t played with or are missing pieces. I started with the toys that my kids never touched. I didn’t ask them what they WANTED to get rid of because their answer probably would have been “nothing”. Instead, when they weren’t paying attention I started getting rid of things that they just didn’t play with or that was broken/missing pieces. We donated some, threw away others (happy meal toys, broken toys, remote control cars with missing parts, puzzles with missing pieces, etc.). This actually cleared out a ton of the junk.
    2. Use baskets or clear plastic totes to organize and store all toys. Yep, all of them. Amazon has a ton of different sizes to choose from but I mostly use the plastic totes pictured below, which come in a pack of 12. I also have several that are a little bigger, which I also found on amazon. I believe you can also find some small totes at dollar tree or dollar general.Label them and store them in an easy to access place. I put toys that have a lot of pieces that go together or follow a specific theme (Mr. Potato Head, horses, animals, balls, etc.) in the clear plastic totes and I label the front. I want to put pictures on them soon, too. I store larger toys in baskets. One holds all musical instruments.

  1. Choose toys to leave out, but only choose enough that each toy has a “home” and won’t get mixed in with other toys. Everything should have a home. You can’t expect the toys to be organized and put away if there is no designated “area” for them. This has been the hardest part for me because we don’t have a ton of space for storing toys. I still want a cube organizer (pictured below) to have a couple more things out but we use a toy organizer with 12 bins (also pictured below). It works really well for us and the toys we have because the kids can easily see what toys they can play with and can pull the whole bin down when they want to play.

    We choose 12 different “themes”, one theme for each bin (Ex. balls, blocks, PJ masks, Paw Patrol, Mr. Potato Head, horses, animals, technology, hot wheels, magnatiles, music, puzzles, etc.).We also use our entertainment center to store toys. I know this is kind of ridiculous but they get into it anyway so why not. LOL. In there we store a handful of books, a couple puzzles, and a couple other toys that won’t fit in a bin.

  2. Decide where (out of sight) you are going to store some (or most) toys. We use our hall linen closet. I hate it but we don’t have much storage so it works for us. You just need a place that has shelves.I put all of the totes and baskets of toys in the closet, even the empty containers from the toys that are out are neatly stored here. Make sure it is easy to see what is in there so you can switch toys out regularly and put toys back in their labeled container.
  3. Set a schedule for rotation. Each week or month, let the kids help choose what toys should be brought out and what ones should be put away for a while. Not only will this help lessen the toy clutter in your home, but it will also help your kids appreciate their toys more.
  4. For bigger toys (toy kitchens, etc.) place all small pieces out of reach and designate times to play with it. Usually, I want these kinds of toys readily available to the kids but there are certain times when I’m busy (usually getting ready to leave the house) that Liam dumps all the pieces on the floor and wanders away. This leads to the pieces getting scattered all throughout the house and it usually happens during our busiest times of day. What works for us is to leave the smaller pieces (the play food) out of sight and out of reach when you aren’t able to pay as close attention or don’t have the time to help clean up the pieces.

Kids thrive on simplicity so don’t feel bad that your child doesn’t have EVERY toy they own accessible at one time. That’s overwhelming for everyone involved and leads to toys being forgotten, damaged, or lost and also leads to having a house cluttered with toys because nothing has a “home”.

What are some ways you’ve tried to combat toy clutter in your home? What worked and what didn’t? Let me know in the comments!

 

Categories
Marriage

11 Ways to Keep the Spark Alive in Your Marriage

As time goes by, the spark you and your partner had in the beginning may fade. Life gets so busy and repetitive that we sometimes forget to make time to keep the spark alive. It really doesn’t take that much time, though, and can be so beneficial to your relationship.

Whether you and your spouse have already lost the spark or if you are just afraid of it happening, here are 11 ways to keep the spark alive or bring the spark back.

I promise it’s easier than it sounds so just read these and try to implement them in your daily lives.

How to Keep the Spark Alive

*This post contains affiliate links*

How to Keep the Spark Alive (or get it back)

Show them love, all day. 

This starts in the morning. Smile and kiss them (yes, even with morning breath) as soon as you wake up next to them in the morning. Let them know you’re happy to wake up next to them. Do things like this throughout the day.

Hug, hold hands, and kiss often: How to Keep the Spark Alive

These are simple actions that can make so much of a difference. You’ll feel more connected to your spouse when you hold hands, kiss, or hug. Do it in the car, while sitting on the couch, when you walk past each other in the hallway, and any other time your hands are free or you can lean in for a little kiss. Do it whenever there is an opportunity. If you do, that spark is sure to stay (or come back).

Do little things for each other. 

Make the coffee if you get to the kitchen first. Send a cute text message to tell your spouse you are thinking of them if you’re away all day. Take over with the kids if they’ve had them all day. Make dinner. Get them a drink. It’s easy to be thoughtful.

Tell them when they look hot! 

Letting your spouse know that you’re still attracted to them is definitely an easy way to help keep that spark alive (or bring it back).

Don’t wear sweatpants every day.

I know, I know .. we all want to. Think back, though, did you wear them all the time at the beginning of the relationship? I know I didn’t! When my husband fell in love with me I dressed cute in things that flattered me, wore makeup, and did my hair. Now, obviously I don’t do these things EVERYDAY but I do make sure I do it often.

Cuddle. 

Even if it’s just for 2 minutes in between the kids asking for something. Even that short amount of time lets your partner know you’re wanting to spend time and love on them, and it’s also a nice reminder to you of how much you need that.

Ask about their day – How to Keep the Spark Alive

It lets them know you care. Listen to how their day went and ask more questions as necessary. If they’ve had a rough day ask if there is anything you can do to make it better. Be that person for them.

Random touches. 

When you walk past your partner in the kitchen, touch them when you do. Even if it’s just a slight rub on their arm or a hand around their waste. Again, these little things are necessary.

Sex. 

This one is obvious but so important. Your spouse needs to connect with you on this deeper, more intimate level.

Appreciate your spouse – How to Keep the Spark Alive

Tell them how lucky you are to have them, or thank them for doing the dishes.

Laugh together.

Watch a comedian, play a funny game, or watch funny YouTube videos together. Nothing can lighten up a relationship like a good laugh.

I know this was only supposed to be 11 ways to keep the spark alive, but I’m giving you a BONUS suggestion. 

Learn your spouse’s love language. 

We all have different love languages and it’s so much easier to give your spouse the love they NEED when you know what their love language is. I’ve read this book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts several times now and I learn something new every time. My husband’s love language is definitely physical touch while I need Words of Affirmation. Check out the book, you won’t be sorry.

Final Thoughts on How to Keep the Spark Alive

Now you don’t have to do all 11 (or 12, I suppose) ideas every single day, just when you get a chance and try to do them more often than not. Don’t let a day go by where your spouse isn’t 100% certain you’re still crazy about them. My husband is the type of person who needs physical touch to feel connected so things like holding hands, kissing, and hugging are so important to him. I’m a talker so I need him to ask/answer questions and just talk to me. Everyone is different so make sure you are aware of what your partner needs when trying to keep the spark alive.

Are there any tips that I missed? What is your favorite tip that I gave? Tell me what you think in the comments! 🙂

How to Keep the Spark Alive
Categories
Craft Teenager

How To Create A Graduation Card Box

My nephew graduated from high school last month and his mom asked me to make the card box for his graduation party.

It sounds so hard and like quite a process, but it really wasn’t!! It was actually really easy.

I bought all the material at JoAnn’s.

Materials:

  • (3) Paper Mache Boxes of different sizes that can be stacked together.
  • (1) 9″x9″x4-1/2″ Paper Mache Box
  • (1) 8″x8″x4″ Paper Mache Box
  • 1 1/2″ ribbon, enough to go around all 3 boxes. The one I bought was 21 ft.
  • 3/8 in. black ribbon
  • 3/8 in. ribbon (same color as the 1 1/2″ ribbon)
  • Paint and brushes
  • Pocket Knife
  • Hot glue gun and glue
  • White sticker letters (or any color you choose)
  • A small graduation decoration

boxes
These are the boxes I used.

 

Directions

  • Paint all the boxes. I chose to paint the 3 larger boxes black, the bigger or the two smaller boxes red, and the smallest box black. You can do whatever is best for your theme or colors.
  • Stack the boxes and use a pencil to mark where the next box will sit. On the next step, you’re going to need to know how much space to leave for gluing.
    IMG_6156
  • Using a pocket knife, cut holes in the top/bottom of the bigger boxes. This is so that the cards can fall all the way through to the bottom. The bottom box should only have a hole in the top (and not the entire thing! You still need part of the box there for stacking and gluing). The middle box has to have the bottom AND the top of the box cut out (leave enough space for glue and stacking). The top box should only have the bottom cut out. I used a pocket knife because the boxes were too thick for a box cutter to cut through.
    IMG_6160

    IMG_6159
    Notice I didn’t paint the bottom of the boxes. No one will see that part.
  • Hot glue the boxes together, stacking them like a pyramid.
  • Wrap the thicker ribbon around the 3 big boxes and hot glue it on the back of the box. I chose to put mine a little closer to the bottom instead of the center of each box but you can do it however you want. I hot glued on the back because when I noticed that you could see the hot glue through the ribbon.
  • Wrap the thin ribbon around the smaller boxes, gift wrap style. I used black ribbon on the red box and red ribbon on the black box. I hot glued it to the bottom of the box.
  • If you choose to use one, glue or tape a tassel to the top of the box. If you don’t have one you can make your own from the leftover thin ribbon. Make sure the smaller boxes will cover where it has been glued or taped.
  • Hot glue the 2 smaller boxes to the back lefthand corner of the top. I did mine a little crooked to change up the shape a bit. This is totally up to you, though. Do it however you like it best!
  • Add graduation decoration next to the 2 small boxes. I couldn’t get the decoration to stand up on its own so I put a small dab of hot glue and put the decoration toward the front of the dab so the glue wouldn’t show.
  • Cut a slit in the top of the box. Make sure it’s big enough to fit cards into. I used a birthday card of my son’s to make sure it was the right size, then I made it a little bigger just in case. I used the pocket knife for this, too. Be careful!!
  • Add the letters. My nephew’s mom wanted his first and last name on the box, so I did his first name on the top box and his last name on the bottom box. On the very top of the card box, I put the abbreviation of the school he graduated from.
  • Add any other embellishments. The middle box definitely needed some embellishment so I used a sticker that our local school district passes out and stuck it to cardstock to make it thicker and more durable. I cut around the sticker so the cardstock wouldn’t show then I hot glued it onto the box.
  • Touch up any paint. Throughout the process, I dinged the boxes up a little. When I was completely finished, I went back and used a small brush to touch it up.

**I put a black box over my nephew’s last name – that obviously isn’t there in real life.