Love to Laugh and Learn

Fun and interesting learning activities to do with the children in your life

Playdough Recipes

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I loved playing with playdough as a child and my grandkids love playing with it too. I want to share with you a couple of my favorite recipes.

Playdough can bring out your child’s creativity and imagination.

Cooked Playdough

This one is my favorite. The consistency is similar to store bought but I think it’s even better. I love playing with it when it’s still warm. One of the benefits of teaching preschool is still being able to play with playdough.

Ingredients

1 cup flour
½ cup salt
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
food coloring or *Kool-Aid

Instructions

Stir and cook for approximately 3 minutes; until it pulls away from the sides of the pan. Take off the heat and knead by hand until it looks and feels like playdough. Keeps for approximately 2 months (with home use).

*Kool-Aid is less messy than food coloring but I wouldn’t use it to color the play dough unless the children are a little older because the wonderful smell is going to make them want to eat it.

Uncooked Playdough

If your child understands measurements then they should be able to make this recipe by themselves. This playdough is a little grainy but still fun to play with.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups flour
¼ cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup boiling water
1 ½ tablespoon oil
food coloring or *Kool-Aid

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together and knead until smooth.

*Kool-Aid is less messy than food coloring but I wouldn’t use it to color the play dough unless the children are a little older because the wonderful smell is going to make them want to eat it.

Extras

You can pick up some cute, inexpensive cookies cutters for added creativity. The kids also enjoy plastic knives to cut the playdough. If they are too young for even a plastic knife, I would use wooden popsicle sticks with my preschool students.

Enjoy your new batches of playdough. I would love for you to share pictures of your creations; either here or on the Love to Laugh and Learn Facebook page.

Thankfulness

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Thankfulness might not be the first feeling you think of when someone you love dies, but when they have been sick and suffering, sadness and thankfulness mix together.

Thankfulness
When someone dies, thankfulness is not the first emotion you think of.

My husband died on November 21, 2016, after battling cancer. Dying the week of Thanksgiving gave us reasons to be sad and miss him, but we also had feelings of thankfulness because he was no longer in pain. He was now completely healed, in heaven, with God and Jesus. 

Now we had the difficult task of explaining his death to our grandchildren. I went back to an object lesson God revealed to me when my daughters were young. With the help of a fancy wrapped piece of chocolate, I explained how God created the body and spirit to work together. 

I then wrote special stories for each grandchild. Then the thought came to me that there were other children around the world, sad and confused by the death of someone they loved. So I wrote the children’s book, “Someone I Love Has Gone to Heaven: A Sweet Object Lesson”.

I pray the book brings comfort to you and your little ones at your time of loss. 

This Thanksgiving, I hope you can mix a little thankfulness in with your sorrow as you remember the ones that you love that are not at your table this year. 

Happy Thanksgiving! May God richly bless you with His love and peace. ~ Mama Carmody

Places to Purchase “Someone I Love Has Gone to Heaven: A Sweet Object Lesson”:

Online at Barnes and Noble  – barnesandnoble.com

Amazon

Walmart.com

Related Posts

Someone I Love Has Gone to Heaven

Unusual Advent Reading for Children

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What is Advent?

Some churches celebrate a season of Advent leading up to Christmas. They are celebrating the coming of Jesus, God’s Son. The simple definition of advent is “the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.” We focus on Jesus coming to earth as a baby and celebrate it at Christmas.

Did you realize that the whole Bible, every story, was pointing to the Advent (coming/birth) of Jesus? I am a grandmother and I have read and studied the Bible since I was 9 years old but I am just now learning that. I knew those Old Testament stories were showing God’s power and leading but I had no idea that, even then, they were pointing to Jesus. 

The Jesus Storybook Bible

Since the Christmas season is here, and celebrating Jesus’ birth should be the center of the activities, I’ve created a Christmas Bible Reading plan using “The Jesus Storybook Bible”.

It’s simple enough, start with the first story and read one each day. I’m including the title and a short summary of each story. This Advent reading is a bit unusual because it doesn’t simply cover the birth of Jesus. It starts at the Creation and goes through several Old Testament Bible stories all the way to the birth of Jesus. Experience how each story points to the Advent of Jesus. 

This December, take time each day to remember that at Christmastime we are celebrating God’s most precious gift, Jesus, His only Son.

December 1 – “The Story and the Song” pg 12

 The introduction of the story of Jesus; the young Hero, the brave Prince. Most of all, it’s the story of God’s love. His love is shown in the greatest Christmas present ever; the birth of Jesus. 

December 2 – “The Beginning: a Perfect Home” pg 18

God created everything. He loved His children (all people) more than anything He made. “Whatever happened, Whatever it cost Him, He would ALWAYS love them.”

December 3 – “The Terrible Lie” pg 28

 Adam and Eve break the rule and break God’s heart. God still loves them – “with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.” He would show that love by sending the Rescuer, Jesus. 

December 4 – “A New Beginning” pg 38

The flood was going to wash away all the hate and sadness, and make the world clean again. The coming of Jesus made it possible for us to be clean.

December 5 – “A Giant Staircase to Heaven” pg 48

Although the people were trying to get to Heaven by themselves, God knew they couldn’t do it. “Heaven would have to come down to them.” And it came in the form of a baby.

December 6 – “Son of Laughter” pg 56

Abraham and Sarah named their baby, Isaac, because he brought them laughter and made their dreams come true. God was going to send another baby that would make the whole world’s dreams come true.

December 7 – “The Present” pg 62

The story of Abraham and Isaac may seem cruel but look deeper. God was showing that a sacrifice would have to be made to make the world right again. God didn’t want Isaac to die. God provided a ram to take Isaac’s place. God provided The Lamb (Jesus) to take our place.

December 8 –“The Girl No One Wanted” pg 70

You don’t have to be beautiful for God to love you, but you ARE beautiful because God loves you. When God looked at Leah, He saw a princess. Through her family He would send The Prince of Peace (Jesus).

December 9 –“The Forgiving Prince” pg 76

“Joseph would leave his home and his father. His brothers would hate him and want him dead. He would be sold for pieces of silver. He would be punished even though he had done nothing wrong.” Can you think of someone else, from the Bible, that was treated this way? (hint: We celebrate His birthday at Christmas.)

December 10 – “God to the Rescue” pg 84

God sent many warnings to Pharaoh but he wouldn’t listen. God sent one last horrible warning but the Israelites were protected by the blood of the lamb. You and I can be protected by the blood of THE LAMB if only we will accept it. 

December 11 – “God Makes a Way”pg 92

God knows how to make a path when there seems to be no way. One time the path was made through a deep sea another time the path was made through a baby. (Baby Jesus)

December 12 – “Ten Ways to be Perfect” pg 100

No matter how much we try, we can’t be perfect. We can’t keep all the rules, all the time. Only Jesus can be perfect and stand in our place.

December 13 – “The Warrior Leader” pg 108

The battle was won without a fight. Jesus would later win the battler over sin without a fight either. 

December 14 – “The Teeny, Weenie…True King” pg 116

David may not have been the biggest or the strongest, but he was full of love and compassion. Jesus came as a tiny baby full of love and compassion.

December 15 – “The Young Hero and the Horrible Giant”   pg 122

David defeats the giant but David admits it wasn’t him or his strength, God was the one to win the battle. Later God would send another young Hero to win the greatest battle the world ever knew. 

December 16 – “The Good Shepherd”   pg 130

David was a good shepherd but nothing like the one whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas. The Good Shepherd (Jesus) would lead all God’s lambs (us) back where we belong – close to God’s heart.

December 17 – “A Little Servant Girl and the Proud General”pg 136

Naaman had sick skin but even worse, he had a sick, proud heart. God allowed Elisha to heal Naaman’s skin and God healed his heart. Years later, Jesus would come to heal the terrible sickness in our hearts.

December 18 – “Operation – No More Tears”   pg 144

God sent the world a message through Isaiah. God told everyone that He was going to send Someone to rescue them but He wouldn’t be what they were expecting. God sent a King; but not one that had riches and lived in a palace, but one that was born in a stable among farm animals. 

December 19 – “Daniel and the Scary Sleepover”   pg 152

Daniel obeyed God, no matter what it might cost him, and God rescued him. “God would send another brave Hero, like Daniel, who would love God and do what God said – whatever it cost Him, even if it meant He would die.”  (quote from The Jesus Storybook Bible)

December 20 – “God’s Messenger”   pg 160

At first, Jonah tried to run away and hide from God (which you can’t do). Jonah spent three days in a dark, disgusting place (the belly of a large fish). After that he went to Nineveh and shared God’s message. “Many years later God was going to send another Messenger, like Jonah, He would spend three days in utter darkness. But this Messenger would be God’s own Son.” (quote from The Jesus Storybook Bible)

December 21 – “Get Ready”   pg 170

“It had taken centuries for God’s people to be ready, but now the time had almost come for the best part of God’ plan.” God, Himself, was coming.  “The true party was about to begin.” (quotes from The Jesus Storybook Bible)

December 22 – “He’s Here!”   pg 176

The Maker of the universe could have arrived in great glory and splendor but that’s not how it happened. He came as a small, seemingly, insignificant baby. Not born in a palace but in a barn. “Mary and Joseph named Him Jesus, ‘Emmanuel’ – which means, ‘God has come to live with us’, because, of course, He had!”

December 23 – “The Light of the World”   pg 184

God wanted everyone to know about the birth of His Son. He put an especially large, bright star in the sky. He sent angels to make the announcement to the shepherds. Baby Jesus would be like that bright star. Jesus would chase away darkness, helping people to see Him. 

December 24 – “The King of All Kings”   pg 192

The King God had promised David, all those years before, had arrived. “But this Child was a new kind of King. Though He was the Prince of Heaven, He had become poor.  Though He was the Mighty God, He had become a helpless baby. This King hadn’t come to be the boss. He had come to be a servant.”

December 25 – “Merry Christmas!”  

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will toward men.”  Luke 2:14

November: Time to be Thankful, Care and Share

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November: Time to be Thankful, Care and Share




It’s the first of November, which means the holidays are quickly approaching. Although we should always be thankful for the many blessings we receive, this is the time of year that those things especially come to mind. We have gatherings with family and friends. We laugh and share memories.

The children start making Christmas lists and thinking about the things they are hoping to get. It’s a good time of year to introduce your children to the fact that there are children, around the world, with much less than they have.

Introducing Your Child to Sharing/Caring


If you have been following me for a while, you know that I like to start out any learning experience with a book. I found a good book on my Epic! App. It is titled, “Sharing with Others”. I found a few copies on Amazon by third-party sellers (affiliate links included). The book shared how everyone has needs but we don’t NEED the most expensive items. It talks about who and how people earn money and that some people don’t make enough money for the things they need. The book gives examples of how to share (donate) items and money to help others. Even how donating our time can be very helpful. I like this book as a starting point for conversations on how we can help others.

Operation Christmas Child

An event I have enjoyed supporting, for many years, is Operation Christmas Child. It is sponsored by a ministry called Samaritan’s Purse. In the past, I have participated in this event with my children. This year I was able to introduce it to my grandchildren. I have wanted to do this with them the last couple of years but by the time I think about it, it’s too late. I stopped by Hobby Lobby, in October, and saw a display reminding me about the event.

How It Works

It is a fairly simple concept, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. You take a shoe box and fill it full of items that will then be delivered to a boy or girl (your choice), in a foreign country. The Samaritan’s Purse site gives you ideas of things you can (and can’t) put into the boxes.

Our Adventure
The Boxes
Picking Up Christmas Boxes

The grand-babies and I jumped in the car and headed to Hobby Lobby. I thought I had seen the cardboard boxes that we used to get from our church, but that is not what they had. I don’t know if all of the cardboard boxes were gone or if I had been so excited to see the display that I didn’t really look at it closely.

You see, when my children were young we either picked up special Operation Christmas Child boxes at our church, or we simply used an old shoe box we had around the house. Hobby Lobby had nice plastic ones that we could purchase.

I considered not purchasing the boxes and just going home and getting an old shoe box but I had already explained, to the children, what we were doing. They were excited so I wanted to move forward with the project. I had them each pick up a box, a lid, and a pamphlet, explaining what we could and couldn’t put in the boxes.

Shopping
Amaya

I decided to make it easy on myself and take the children shopping one at a time. I took Amaya first. She is 2 years old. I was a little worried that she wasn’t going to understand that we were not buying things for her but that she was picking things out for a friend that couldn’t afford them. I was very proud of her.

The first thing she wanted was a pair of sunglasses. I reminded her that they were for her friend and she said, “Ok.” I was finally convinced that she understood when she picked a pack of hairbands for her friend and then told me that she needed some too. Amaya picked out some useful things (guided my me) such as a hair brush, toothbrush, hairbands, washcloth and sunglasses. She also picked up some less practical things like bracelets, stickers, a mermaid doll (Amaya is REALLY into mermaids.) and a washcloth/hand puppet.

Amaya picking out things for the shoe box.
The “Wow” Item

The pamphlet from Samaritan’s Purse suggested we put a “wow” item in the box. I decided on a piece of clothing as our special item. Amaya and I headed to Kohl’s. We found a really cute little sundress, on the clearance rack. I bought one for the box and one for Amaya. I thought it might be exciting for Amaya and her friend to have matching dresses.

Keagan

Now that we had the items for Amaya’s box it was time to take Keagan shopping. He is 5 years old. The practical items that Keagan picked out were a brush and comb set, socks, toothbrush, washcloth, bandaids, a small notebook and crayons. The fun items he chose, for his friend, were a set of paints (watercolors), a ball, a Rubik’s cube style toy, some stickers and a dinosaur that you can sail through the air. I picked up the “wow” item earlier when Amaya and I were at Kohl’s. I chose a tee shirt with a monster truck on it, for Keagan and his friend.

Keagan shopping for the shoe box.
Packing Our Boxes

Now that the shopping was done, we put everything into our plastic boxes. We placed the special “wow” items (dress/shirt) on top. I took a picture of each of the grand-babies, in their special piece of clothing, holding the packed Operation Child Christmas box. We will place a picture in each box for their special friend.

Operation Child Christmas boxes filled.
Operation Child Christmas boxes filled.
Shipping

We now need to find a place to drop our boxes off. You can go to the Samaritan’s Purse site and find a drop-off location near you. There is a suggested donation of $9, per box, to help with shipping. In the past, when I participated through my church, I didn’t have to add the shipping, although it was helpful. You should check with the site you are dropping off at, to see if they require the shipping cost or not. Samaritan’s Purse has an option, this year, if you donate the shipping cost online, you will be able to track the boxes. I decided to do that so the grand-babies and I can see where our boxes go.

Final Thoughts

I have always enjoyed participating in this event. I’m glad to have included my grand-babies this year. Hopefully, they will begin to see the needs of others and have a heart to help out. Since my grand-babies are young, I purchased the items this year but it will be a good future lesson for them to learn to save some of their own money to help purchase these items.

The National Collection Week for the boxes is November 12 – 19. Although this date is upon us, you still have time to participate. If you have never done anything like this before, I highly recommend it. It is a lot of fun and it has been especially rewarding sharing it with my grand-babies.

Fantastic Spring eBundle 2018

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Fantastic Spring eBundle 2018




Create excitement this with this Spring eBundle of learning activities and crafts. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and pretty flowers are only some of the fabulously fun themes included. (Affiliate links included in this post.)

Ages: Preschool to Grade 2
Includes: Valentines, Spring, Easter
Sale date: January 14-23
Value: $150 on Sale for $14.95
Save 90%
33 Items

 

 

Spring eBundle

 

 

Item descriptions:

VALENTINES

14 Super Cool Valentines Day Science Activities
This ebook contains bubbly, hands-on, colorful projects that will delight kids ages 3-10. Treat your students to some of their first lessons in chemistry, thermodynamics, acids and bases, catalysts, solubility, surface tension, color mixing, and static electricity with these simple and engaging heart-themed science experiments.

Printable Valentines Day Tracing Sheets
A set of 8 Valentines Day themed tracing worksheets to download and print at home. This love themed pack of tracing sheets are designed with preschoolers working on pencil control, fine motor skills and learning letters in mind.

Valentines Day Activity Pack for Preschoolers
Looking for something to help teach your preschoolers about kindness and friendship, as well as letters and numbers?! This Valentine’s Day Activity Pack includes six super fun activities and multiple variations of each!

8 Valentines Day Adding and Subtracting Activities
These 8 activities help children practice adding and subtracting within 10. There are games, task cards, expression sorts, and more.

Valentines Day ABC Order
This Valentines Day ABC Order literacy center set is perfect for hands-on practice. Students alphabetize differentiated groups of sight words to the 1st and 2nd letters. Plus, there’s a challenge set of words for sorting to the 3rd and 4th letter.

Hands-On Valentines Pre-K Pack
This hands-on downloadable workbook is designed to help anyone teach their preschoolers (and pre-k students) this Valentine’s season. Using fun, differentiated and creative methods of learning.

Valentines No Prep First Grade Math
Celebrate Valentines with a fun math set! Work on addition, subtractions, place value, fractions, fact families, and more!

Broken Hearts Letter Matching Game
A set of A-Z letter puzzle matching cards with a Valentines Day theme!

Valentines Letter Games Bundle
These letter games are designed to have fun while practicing letter recognition. Just print, play and enjoy learning!

Nature Crafts for Kids
Fun Nature Crafts

SPRING

Bug Theme Pom-Pom Match Packet
These are perfect for preschoolers and young learners to develop fine motor skills & color recognition!

50 Nature Crafts for Little Kids
50 Nature Crafts for Little Kids is a fun book that is packed full of nature-themed crafts for your kids to enjoy throughout the year.

Spring Science Packet
Spring is the perfect time to get outside and learn about the world we live in! This spring science packet contains 10 fun and easy activities to do with your little learners. 7 of the activities contains printables for the lesson.

Spring Printables Pack
The Spring Printables Pack contains 75 spring-themed printables with activities for kids ages 2 to 7. The activities in this pack cover a range of skills, including colors, same vs. different, patterns, puzzles, fine motor, mazes, math number identification, counting, addition, subtraction and literacy letter identification, alphabetical order, phonemic awareness, word searches.

Spring-Themed, Editable Name and Word Tracing Pack
This spring-themed printable tracing pack can be customized for names, words, or numbers … a low-prep activity that is perfect for classroom or home! This is a Montessori-inspired pack to help with name recognition and writing, sight word reading and spelling, and identifying cultural spring symbols.

Flowers Word Family Picture Sort
Sort the short vowel pictures on each flower into the correct short vowel word family flower pot.

Plant Life Cycle
Plant life cycle vocabulary cards and activity sheets for preschool students.

Spring Beginning Sounds Bundle
Add these beginning sound matching cards to your spring literacy centers. Practice beginning sounds and phonemic awareness with frogs, ducks, and rainbows! Bonus Rainy Day themed rhyming match up cards also included!

Insects, Bugs, and Creepy Crawlers Yoga
Kids yoga poses that are themed to go with your favorite insects, bugs, and creepy crawlers. Included is twelve yoga cards with descriptions of how to get into the pose and 12 full sheet pictures of the yoga poses. All poses included pictures of real kids in the insect, bug, and creepy crawler themed poses!

Spring Theme Pack for Preschool & Kindergarten
This 300-page theme pack has a huge variety of activities for your spring seeds, plants, and gardening unit in preschool or kindergarten! You’ll get printable vocabulary cards and nonfiction books with real photos, emergent readers that your learners can read and color all by themselves, clip cards, beginning reading games, printable math centers, activity pages, and more.

Rainbow Activity Booklet to Teach Colours Through Hands-On Learning
Promote play-based learning with this interesting and engaging printable activity This booklet includes colouring pages, interactive activities, and bonus material that you can print off again and again!

Rainy Day Make Ten Addition Activity
Help kids learn how to add numbers to make ten with this printable rain cloud activity! Kids can color in the correct number of raindrops and attach them to their clouds to make ten!

Garden Themed Early Learning Printable Pack
This garden-themed early learning pack is great for the pre-K to K age range! With 4 games and activities, it includes a Bingo game for 4 players, cutting and pre-handwriting sheets, an I-Spy game, and a matching game! The pack is B&W so that kids can color the games in themselves.

Spring Theme Color Graphing Set
Work on colors and graphing skills together with these fun spring themed centers and activities! Use the whole class winter color graphing set to graph umbrellas during circle time, use the spring spin, color & graph printables for morning work or independent math practice and use the spring spin & graph sets for math centers.

Butterfly Life Cycle Easy Reader Books & Journal
There are four easy reader books with the life cycle words. Plus it includes life cycle bookmarks and an easy to make a journal in an easy reader book style. It also has some writing activities and reader strips that match up to the books.

Sheep Beginning Sounds Match
This Sheep Beginning Sounds Match is an engaging and hands-on way to practice identifying beginning sounds! To prep, print out the sheep and the pastures on cardstock, then cut out. Let your kids match sheep with matching pastures.

Awesome Printable Flower Activities for Kids
Get ready for the amazing season of Spring, we have some really fun and completely awesome flower activities for kids to celebrate while learning and practicing skills such as color matching, fine motor skills and so much more!

Easter Coupons for Kids to Create
Spring eBundle: Personalized Easter Coupons

EASTER

25 Printable Easter Activities
Explore Easter with these printable easter learning activities! Cut, paste, shape, mold and manipulate as you learn!

Easter Coupon Booklet & Easter Egg Hunt Printables
Set up your own Easter Egg Hunt in minutes with these done for you clues that work in any home & use the personalized Easter Coupons as a basket stuffer or a gift!

Montessori Inspired Easter Preschool Pack
This unique Montessori inspired Easter pack is perfect to teach preschoolers language, math concepts, literacy, fine motor skills and much more. The pack is made with a mixture of real photos and gorgeous watercolor clipart giving it a realistic touch.

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day Activity Pack
In preschool, we use the month of March to teach our students about the weather and rainbows, but it’s also a time to have fun with leprechauns, fairies and gold coins! These printable St. Patrick’s Day activities are all about rainbows and all things green and yellow, making them the perfect supplement to your weather theme or St. Patrick’s Day parties.

March ABC Order Literacy Center Set
A differentiated ABC Order literacy center set and related worksheets, all with a March theme including St. Patricks Day and more. Students alphabetize sight words to the 1st and 2nd letters. Plus, there’s a challenge set of words for sorting to the 3rd and 4th letter.

MIXED

Fun Felt Busy Box Ideas – Holiday Edition
Fun Felt Busy Box Ideas for Valentines Day, Easter, Birthdays, Christmas etc. Perfect for traveling with young kids!

Think Spring Bundle
THis bundle has 20 easy crafts, 12 printable activities and 14 coloring pages – All with a spring, Easter or St Patricks Day theme!

Don’t miss this great deal on Spring activities for your kids.