• On the day after Mothers Day ::: Ashleigh Baker
• My friend Mariah, of Playful Learning and the Playful Learning Ecademy, is offering a new ecourse -  Stress Management for Kids: teach your child how to find peace inside and out
• 55 Really Good Graduation Gift Ideas ::: Pensieve
• Essential Packing List for Families on the Go ::: Peanut Blossom
• Indy 500 Racer Snacks ::: Parents.com
• Faithful Parenting ::: Parenting Wild Things
• The At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum from A Natural Nester is available for pre-order and will be available May 20th.  I’m a contributor to and an affiliate for this project. The kids and I are looking forward to participating in our own summer camp at home. Can’t wait!
• Baby birds, bad humans, and backyards:  an accidental nature study adventure ::: They Dynamo Rhino homeschool blog

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!  Rest, recharge, frolic with your families, and enjoy these gorgeous May days. Do something simple but fun with your children this weekend.  You and your kids will both love it!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Note: this post contains affiliate links.
Last winter, thanks to an opportunity as part of the Target Inner Circle, I was able to ask Todd Oldham some questions about kids, creativity, and his own childhood.  It turned out to be an experience that made a lasting impression on me and changed the way we do some things at our house.

One of the things that resonated with me was Todd’s mention of his family’s crafts table growing up and how he felt it nurtured his creative spark:

“I am forever grateful to my parents for facilitating our creativity as kids.  We had a massive craft table that was always out where we all spent our time creating and sharing with each other.  I realized how cool it was of mom and dad to allow us this endlessly chaotic and messy workstation in the middle of our living room without ever trying to tame it.  I learned so much at that table. I know it can be a real eyesore but if you can bear it or find a less obvious place for it, the never-ending craft table is a terrific idea.”

The idea of a space our kids could access all the time, a launching pad for their creative projects – one that didn’t have to be cleaned up or put away?  That idea really spoke to me.

Although we’re a pretty crafty family, up until then our projects were mostly done at the kitchen table and then interrupted, or hastily finished, to be cleaned away (sometimes several times a day) so that we could use the table for other purposes.

Todd Oldham’s comments on his childhood and his family’s never-ending craft table inspired me.  Since it turns out we aren’t really a formal dining room type of family, I knew we already had a space in our home that we weren’t fully utilizing that we could dedicate to a crafting area.

So we turned formal dining room, already in use as a home office and family library, into a space where the kids can have their own never-ending crafts table.

We purchased a new table for the eat-in kitchen and the old kitchen table became the kids’ never-ending crafts table (which was a $20 yard sale find to begin with so we don’t have to balk at messier projects because it isn’t too precious to us).

It has been a few months since we made this change, and our family loves it!

Here are five of the many reasons we love having a never-ending crafts table:

1. It doesn’t have to be cleared away at the end of the day.

Having a dedicated space for crafts means that the kids can engage in more long-term projects, without a deadline.  My daughters have been making doll house crafts for weeks at our never-ending crafts table, and I’m not sure crafting on this level would have been possible before when we had to clear up crafty space every time we needed to eat a meal or when we had company over.

Projects that need painting or gluing have more time to dry fully and any crafty conundrums can be worked out over time until a solution is found because there is no rush or haste to clean up.

2. The table cannot be ruined.

As I mentioned, our never-ending crafts table began as a second-hand table that we had picked up for a bargain to begin with.  It isn’t precious to us.  Therefore, while I do encourage putting down newspapers for messier projects, it isn’t the end of the world if the table gets some glue, glitter, or paint on it.  Those things just add to the character of our table.

3. The kids craft together.

Whether it is the older two girls collaborating on their doll house crafts or the whole family joining in to create from the monthly Kiwi Crate box, more often than not the four chairs at our never-ending crafts table are occupied.  I love watching the cooperation and the teamwork!

When they aren’t working on a collaborative project, they are often crafting side by side, which also makes this creative mama’s heart very happy.

I’ve seen the way they respect each other’s work, carefully moving a sibling’s drying painting project to the side to make room for their craft stick model, or dishing out compliments for one another’s creations.  I love that!

4. The kids craft more often.

The presence of the never-ending crafts table has brought about a lot more crafting time.  Instead of having to wait for the kitchen table to be free or waiting until mom or dad is in the mood to say yes to setting up the space for a painting or a gluing project, the kids can dive right in when the muse inspires them, getting to strike while the crafty iron is “hot” so to speak.

5.  They have room to express themselves as individuals.

My son Max is drawn to large-scale marker or crayon projects on huge, table-sized pieces of craft paper.  My oldest daughter prefers 3D creations with lots of paint and glitter glue.  Lucy loves to paint and create with craft sticks and school glue.  All of the kids love creating dress up costumes.

Getting to see the way they express themselves as individuals and their different sources of inspiration is letting us get to know our children on a different level, to see another aspect of their personalities.  This alone makes the never-ending crafts tables one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the house.

What if your kids had a space were they could be creative and crafty without having to clear it away? Would your family ever consider making room for a never-ending crafts table?

I know not everyone has the space or the means for a table dedicated to crafting, so I’d love to hear some of your ideas for a never-ending creative space for kids on a smaller scale, too.

Most of the crafts shown in today’s post are projects from the kids’ monthly Kiwi Crate box subscription.  If you’d like to learn more about Kiwi Crate, a company our family has paid subscription to and that I’m an affiliate for, you can check them out here.  Thanks!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far in central Indiana and, after the long winter, the kids and I were ready for it!  We’ve been loving the sunshine and the blue skies.

This week has been the first week of the year we’ve been using the pool, which is always one of our favorite backyard summer treats.

Normally we have a larger pool that uses a filter to keep it clean and the water clear all season long.  This year, however, my youngest doesn’t quite have her sea legs, though she’s eager to explore the water, so we decided a smaller kiddie pool would be best for our backyard space.

A kiddie pool for the summers we have toddlers seems to be a family tradition and my big kids don’t mind too much as long as we take them on plenty of trips to the big pool, too.

To keep the kiddie pool from getting slimy and a little gross, every once in a while we dump it out and clean it.  I use a dish scrubbie designated for this task and a few squirts of dish soap to scrub down the sides and floor, and then I rinse it out before we refill it.  This works for us.

Sometimes before I dump and clean the pool I add the dishsoap while the pool is still full of water for some super fun – think GIANT bubble bath.

Dish soap + a thumb over the hose nozzle = instant super mom status!

Note:  dish soap won’t feel great if it gets into your little one’s eyes, so make sure no one is going to be putting their heads under water if you try this, okay?  Also, a little bit goes a long way. 

And should you be a toddler prone to do something crazy like, say, get a hold of a marker and give yourself a neck tattoo? Well, a little bubble soap and some time in the pool will help your mama be able to scrub you clean in no time.

Looking for more Unplugged Play ideas? Head over here for the complete list so far, a work in progress.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Note:  there are affiliate links within this post.

Sunday was a pretty exciting day at our house.  While I was celebrating being a mother, our family was also celebrating one of the very special people in our house because it was Lucy’s fifth birthday!

Lucy is one of my quieter children (though she has her moments of zaniness and wild behavior) and birthday parties aren’t really her thing.  Her introverted mother can certainly relate to that.

After some discussion, Lucy and I decided that we’d most like to spend our day swimming and being pampered and visiting one of her favorite places – the “big city.”

Yes, there’s a bit of irony in the country family “escaping” to the city.  It was very city mouse/country mouse of us, don’t you think?

So, we raided the family vacation fund (not really, everyone was on board with the idea and I searched high and low for a good deal) and we booked a hotel in downtown Indianapolis.

The six of us tucked ourselves in for a Mother’s Day/Birthday weekend of swimming, walking around downtown, visiting the Arts Garden, more swimming, sleeping in, and letting someone else cook the meals and make the beds.

We had a gorgeous view of the city from waaaaaay up high on the 17th floor and we even got to see the Good Year blimp as it flew over our hotel during the basketball playoff game.

We are big Indy Car fans in our family and the hotel we stayed at had a sponsorship deal with KV Racing.  The elevators had posters of the KV drivers, Tony Kanaan and Simona DeSilvestro, and the kids would “race” them to see who won each time.  Sorry TK, but the Iron Maiden won the series by a landslide (much to my little girls delight!)  And, if you’re unsure who to cheer for in this year’s Indy 500, Lucy and I suggest Simona.

Sunday evening we returned home for birthday cake baking, penne a’la vodka eating, and present opening.  We finished the weekend with full bellies, tired limbs from so much swimming, and a feeling of contentment. It was kind of awesome.

I like the way this daughter of mine celebrates!

Age 5: Want, Need, Wear, Read

When it comes to presents, we use this simple gift giving philosophy in our family:

Something they WANT.

Something they NEED.

Something to WEAR.

Something to READ.

This year for Lucy’s birthday we gave her:

• Cabbage Patch Kids Surprise Newborn Twins (our little mama had been asking for these for a long time).
• New shoes for summer.
• A very twirly dress (Lucy’s came from Caterpillar Corner on etsy).
• Three Little Golden Books:  Seven Little Postmen, Nurse Nancy, and Doctor Dan.

I am now the mama of a five year old, an eleven year old, a six year old, and a one year old. Wow.

Happy Birthday, my Lucinda Lu! We love you so!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Did you see the announcement Tsh made last week  on Simple Mom? SLM is once again partnering with Compassion to sponsor a Child Survival Program in Ethiopia and we’re raising funds for phase two.

Friends, there are many reasons that I love being a writer and the opportunity to participate in things like this is one of them. I was SO proud to be a part of the fund raising for phase one of our CSP and it was a neat experience as we worked together to provide the funds to make it possible.

For those who might not remember or who are new readers, a Child Survival Program, or CSP, needs $25,000 per year to operate.  You can head to the Pure Charity page for this project to learn more.

As group of blogs Simple Living Media draws over one million unique visitors monthly.  Just think: what if everyone who visited our sites gave a dollar? Just think of what that could mean for these mamas and their babies!

I mean, it sounds really wonderful, right?

Keep reading and I’ll share with you how you can help …

Yesterday was my daughter Lucy’s birthday and Mothers Day.  I did some of my gift shopping, as I usually do, online.  I imagine that quite a few of you reading this do some of your shopping online, too.

To give a portion of my purchases to the CSP, all I had to do was first click on the store portals through Pure Charity. When this happened,  a portion of the money I spent will be given to my Pure Charity account. Making purchases through Pure Charity allows me to direct those funds to wherever I want, and I’m going to give them to our CSP in Ethiopia.

Want some more details? It would be worth a few minutes of your time to watch this short video from Pure Charity that explains the simple process:

And there you have it. You’re doing something you were already going to do sometime soon anyway and now you’re also helping to fund a pretty incredible charity.

Ready to get a Pure Charity account and join us?

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for a free Pure Charity account. You can do it via Facebook or the “regular” way, it makes no difference. By using this link provided, you become part of SLM’s advocate network (this way, you can easily follow all of us and the other people helping to support this CSP).

Then, you just start shopping. Do this one of two ways:

1. Head here, click on “Shop Online,” and you’ll see the extensive list of Pure Charity partners. The list of stores participating is a long one – something for everyone.

2. Or, you can install the plugin for your Internet browser. Then, whenever you’re at one of the partners’ sites, you’ll automatically see the Pure Charity logo on the site. When you see that logo as you shop it means a percentage of your purchase will automatically go to your giving account.

Phase Two: raise $6,250

This CSP requires $25,000 annually to operate, so Compassion has divided its needs into four phases. Phase two needs to be completed by  August 3, 2013. That gives us a summer to make things happen. Friends, I just know that together we can do this.

If you aren’t an online shopper, or if you don’t want to wait, you can give $5 or more RIGHT NOW. I do this from time to time and it is a very easy process.

And, I well know the pinch of wallets during this economy, so if you aren’t in a position to give financially right now, that’s okay.  However, I would love to ask you for good thoughts, prayers, and positive vibes for the moms and babies in this program and for our fund raising efforts.  Thank you!

Any questions about Pure Charity? Compassion International? Head over to SimpleMom and Tsh will give you the details.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

• Easing Travel with Kids ::: The Confident Mom
• Book Spine Poetry ::: Indirect Observations
• The news, our children, and saving the world ::: Clean
• Summer Reading 2013, our plan ::: The Dynamo Rhino
• Photography: Capturing Your Kids, the basics ::: Angie Warren for Simple Mom

Have wonderful Mother’s Day weekend, friends.  I hope you get to rest, re-charge, and spend a little time being pampered, loved, and cared for.  You’re amazing!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

The following was originally published in May 2010.  I have revised it a bit and added some new photos to share with you this Mother’s Day weekend.  I hope you enjoy it.  Best wishes, Kara

I love taking pictures of my kids.  I may not be the best photographer, or have fancy camera equipment, but every holiday, birthday, and special occasion will find me enthusiastically snapping pictures and coaxing smiles from my family.

Mother’s Day is this weekend and I will, of course, be bringing my camera along to document the day.  However, this year I want to take a different approach when looking through the lens of my camera: I want to focus on the ordinary.

What will I want to have a memory of years from now?  What seemingly ordinary moments and things will be precious to myself and to my children in the future?

How much has changed since 2010. Wow.

Moments to Capture this Mother’s Day

The Faces

Because we don’t get together too often, I have a tendency try to squeeze every family member I can into large group photos. I do this because I want a record of us all together.

But afterward, I find myself staring a stack of group shots that I’m disappointed in because someone’s eyes were closed or somebody was looking away.

This  year I want to forgo the group shots and focus more on faces and individuals.

Me and my mini-me, 2013.

I want to take more close-ups: the chubby baby cheeks of my youngest child and my mom’s bright blue eyes.  I want the laugh-lines, the dimples, the freckles. The stories they tell will be more meaningful to me someday than the posed group pictures.

The Hands

As long as I’m zooming in for close-ups, I want to take pictures of my family’s hands.  Hands tell some pretty amazing stories.  Some hands are dimpled and chubby, some have bright pink nail polish, some are wearing wedding bands. Bigger hands hold little hands.

All of these hands will change as the years pass. Our hands reveal our histories.

Me, Myself, and I

I’m one of those mothers whose family albums contain almost no pictures of myself.  As I’m always the one behind the camera, I’m seldom in the pictures unless they are self-portraits. Because I wish I had more pictures of my own mother, especially pictures of her from when I was growing up, I’m trying to be mindful of including pictures of myself for my kids.

This Mother’s Day, I’m going to hand the camera over to someone else and make sure that my picture gets taken.  I want to give my children family albums that show more of their mother than just than my words and journaling and a handful of slightly blurry self-portraits where only part of my face is showing.

The mini-van selfie, May 2013

I want them to be able to look back when they are grown and see me, their mother, as I am right now.  I want them to be able to look at pictures of me and know that I was really living life, right there beside them.

The Generations

A few years ago, I was with my mother and grandmother watching my oldest daughter play.  I wondered something out loud about if it ever stopped being amazing to watch your child grow up and my mother looked at me  and said,”It hasn’t stopped being amazing yet.“   And then her mother looked at her and said, “No, it hasn’t.”

We are always our mother’s children, no matter how old we get.

My mom and my grandma, 2011.

Every year that my family gets to celebrate these four living generations is a gift.  There are no ordinary moments.   I want to document that, to freeze time, so that  I can say to my children, “Look at this picture. These are the women who love you.  These are the mothers of this family.”

It hasn’t stopped being amazing yet.

Lucy planting flowers, 2009

What ordinary moments will you be capturing this Mother’s Day?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Note:  there are affiliate links within this post.

The At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum from A Natural Nester is available for pre-order.  I’m honored to be a small part of this ecurriculum as a contributor and the kids and I are looking forward to participating this Summer.

This ecurriculum is based on creator Liz of A Natural Nester’s own “camp mom” tradition with her kids and the program is packed with a whole Summer’s worth of ideas and inspiration for you and your family.

8 Weeks of Backyard Summer Fun

The curriculum, available for download on May 20th, is a full-color PDF that can be read on a computer screen or tablet, or printed out.

Created for kids ages 5 to 11, though the program could be easily adapted for kids of all ages.  There are over eight weeks of  kid-friendly lessons, outdoor activities, arts and crafts, recipes, field trip ideas, and more.

The program is also designed to be flexible and a good fit with your family’s schedule and surroundings.  The weekly materials can be implemented in any order you desire, during any week of the summer (or during the rest of the year).  The materials are yours to use in a way that works best for your family.

What’s Included?

For the weekly themes you’ll receive:

• A kid-friendly lesson to share with your children about the weekly theme.
• Engaging activities & projects for both the indoors and outdoors such as Batik Star Maps, a Shadow Sundial, a Farmer’s Market Scavenger Hunt, and more.
• Kid-approved recipes & kitchen projects including Herbal Lemonade, Farm-Fresh Egg Salad, a Honey Popcorn Planets, and more.
• Fun and affordable field trip ideas, such as Visit a Honey Bee Farm, Ride a City Bus, Take a Puddle Walk, and more.
• Step-by-step arts & crafts tutorials, including Raindrop Watercolor Painting, Icarus Myth Peg Dolls, Fruit & Veggie Stamping, and more.
• Theme-related book & media suggestions to explore and enjoy.

Your Camp Counselors

I’m honored to be a small part of this fun project as a contributor and an affiliate.  I’m in some fantastic company, as you can see:

• Sarah of Imagine Childhood
• Kara of Simple Kids
• Suz of Slow Family Online
• Ashley of Small Measure
• Valarie of Jump Into a Book
• Heather of Shivaya Naturals
• Cerys of Nature and Play
• Linda of Natural Suburbia
• Leah of Skill It
• Amy of Mama Scout
• Stephanie of Wellness By Design
• Debi of Go Explore Nature
• Shawn of Awesomely Awake
• Liz of A Natural Nester
• Kat of Creative Playhouse
• Gina of Connecting Family & Seoul
• Erin of Exhale. Return to Center
• and more!

It was fun to have a small part in the creation of this program and I’m personally excited to see the whole thing when it is released and available for download on May 20th.

My kids and I will be participating in this At-Home Summer Nature Camp and we can’t wait to get started!

Available for Pre-Order now!  The At-Home Summer Nature Camp eCurriculum will be available on May 20th, however you can pre-order your family’s copy now.  Head over to A Natural Nester to learn more and make your purchase.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

• Crepe Paper Flowers for Mother’s Day ::: Rebecca Cooper for Simple Mom
• Se7en’s May and FREE Printable Calendar ::: Se7en
• Why We Always Keep An Empty Bed ::: We Are That Family, Mercy House
• The At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum from A Natural Nester is available for pre-order.  I’m honored to be a small part of this ecurriculum as a contributor and an affiliate. The kids and I are looking forward to participating this Summer.

I wasn’t online too much, as we were trying to keep as screen free as possible, but I did do a bit of reading online here and there.

Mostly this week ha been about library books, porch swings, art projects, and walks around the block.  I think this bodes well for the rest of the season, don’t you?

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Today I want to invite you over to our newest blog, The Dynamo Rhino homeschool blog.

We’ve been observing ladybug larvae and Painted Lady butterfly caterpillars for weeks and this week the time was right to release them into the wilds of our back yard.

From the post:

“After weeks of waiting and watching, we were able to release our insects this week!  Our butterflies and ladybugs have been released into the garden and I think it is safe to say that one can assume the insects were as happy as the children to be free.”

[Come and read the rest at The Dynamo Rhino.  See you there!]

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Kiwi Crate - Hands-on fun delivered right to your door.
• Little Passports - a global adventure!
• Bundle of the Week - 5 ebooks for $7.40.
• At-Home Summer Nature Camp ecurriculum - 8 weeks of Summer fun in your own backyard!
• Craftsy - dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters.
• Summer Survival Calendar - from The Confident Mom.

© 2009-2013 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.