With little kids, staying up until the official New Year begins is out of the question.  So, we improvise and throw a bit of a New Year’s celebration just for them!  Here are some ideas to try out this year…add your own as well!

• Our favorite is to set our clocks three hours ahead.  The kids get the sensation of midnight without it actually BEING midnight.  We blow horns, throw streamers, cheer and dance.  Then, it is time to head off to bed while it is still actually a reasonable hour!
• Serve up kid-friendly snacks for that New Year’s eve bash.  Pinwheels are easy to make and yummy for kids.  Simply roll your favorites in a tortilla, slice and serve.  We’ve had peanut butter and jelly pinwheels, cream cheese and ham pinwheels, and frosting with sprinkles pinwheels - let your kids help prepare them, too!
• Another great snack for New Year’s eve is pigs in a blanket.  Roll Little Smokies sausages up in crescent rolls for a yummy surprise. 
• We pull out our goblets for the kids to use on New Year’s eve as well, although last year we avoided near-disaster by using plastic ones for the first time…it was a good thing, too, because they wanted to toast the New Year with the “clink” of the glasses!  Serve up sparkling grape juice or the like for those little revelers.
• We take a family picture on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.  It is a great scrapbook opportunity to usher in the new year in photographs!
• Our older son, now 9, invites a friend to come and spend the night with us.  The more the merrier, and we all have a wonderful time.  Two years ago, we had the other child’s entire family stay with us until after “faux-midnight” to celebrate. 

What are some of your ways to celebrate with kids?  Leave a comment and share!

With the holiday season upon us, it is difficult to NOT get caught up in the crazy frenzy of holiday shopping.  However, I came across a great idea for teaching children about the act of giving of themselves.  This is perfect for children because not only do they give something to someone they love, but they find the joy of creating that gift.

Have everyone in your family draw names from a bag.  In our family, we’re doing just the four of us, but it would be wonderful to get the grandparents and other extended family involved in this, too!  The name you draw is the person for which you will create a gift.  Here are some simple ideas that kids can do for gift-giving:

• dressed-up coat hangers: have children wrap colorful ribbon around coat hangers to create a beautiful and unique gift.
• beaded bookmarks: string beads onto yarn and knot at the ends for a lovely way to mark your reading place.
• magnets for mom: print off different letters and/or words in a variety of colors and fonts from your computer.  Cover both sides of the paper with contact paper, cut out, and attach a self-sticking magnet to the back.  Or, find extra photos and create photo-magnets!
• for the gardener: choose a packet of favorite seeds and present them in a hand-painted pot.
• Old standbys: using clean, recycled material, kids can create virtually anything: a pencil holder out of a tin can, a new mail basket out of a plastic milk jug, a colorful paperweight by painting a pretty rock, and even a set of pretty holiday coasters by covering old greeting cards with contact paper.

One of the most frustrating things for me about this time of year as a parent is guessing which toys my kids will “dig” and which ones won’t be worth the packaging they came in.  My boys are influenced by television and friends - seeing toys and products that they just HAVE to have (I’m sure you’ve heard the whining yourself at some point).  With holiday budgets being cinched and the need to keep the charge cards down, I am very wary of any purchase I make for my boys for the holidays.  I am looking for quality merchandise, and not some flimsy product that will break within the first day of use.

I can always be assured, though, that products I choose from WonderBrains have gone through a careful check for quality of their products.  Each toy and item is described in detail and categorized according to Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, insuring myself, as a consumer, that I am purchasing something that my child loves and enjoys.  There are too many products to count on here that have won awards or been recognized for outstanding quality and craftsmanship.  I know that what I purchase to come into my home will be something my boys will enjoy and use for a good, long while.

Put your mind at ease and shop a bit this week around the store.  There is something for every child, of all ages, at WonderBrains!

I came across a great little site that will be full of oodles of activities to get you in the holiday spirit.  Heather created this site for the holiday season based on our 50 Days of Summer Fun.  How fantastic is that?  Check out what Heather is coming up with this week, and check back each week for a new batch of activities!  She’s quite crafty, too, so be ready to have some creative fun!

Here’s a wonderfully simple way to focus on helping others as the holidays approach.  All you need is a large jar and some sort of item to use as a “counter”.  In our house, we used dried pinto beans.  Pennies would also be a good counter, or even pebbles.

One of my husband’s and my main goals as the holidays approach is to teach our children about the gift of giving of ourselves.  We do this by focusing on ways to be helpful without being asked and without fanfare or reward.  The focus is on the act of kindness.  To reinforce this lesson, we set a large jar on the kitchen counter along with a shallow dish with a supply of dried beans in it.

Each time one of us (children and adults alike) was helpful to another family member, a friend, a neighbor or even a stranger, we moved a bean from the dish into the jar.  Over the next several weeks, we watch the number of beans in the jar grow.  We also talk about being helpful on Sundays when we are all dining together.  We share ideas of how to be helpful and come up with new ways to help and try out during the upcoming week. 

These small acts can be something simple, such as helping a schoolmate at the water fountain or aiding in a search for a lost toy or item.  Or, it can be something larger, such as helping with the dishes when it isn’t even your turn, or cleaning up your room without being told.  Regardless, everyone is on his or her honor to help “fill the jar”. 

On Christmas Eve, after the kids go to sleep, “Santa” comes to our house and replaces the beans with something a bit more festive, such as chocolate candies or jellybeans.  There are usually “a few more” than there were beans.  After all, Santa’s a very giving person as well!  It helps tie in this wonderful lesson we want our children to learn with the fun of Christmas.

This is a great idea to try year-round.  Once the jar is filled, the family can trade it in for something special, such as a trip to the movies or an ice-cream night.  If using pennies, trade in the pennies for folding change and use that for the special reward!

I know it is hard to believe, but here comes Christmas!  And, with the dawn of the holiday season looming in front of us, it is time for me to get busy on our traditional ornament purchase.

Each year, since the birth of our first son, we purchase an ornament for each child, one that suits their year.  For my older son’s first Christmas, it was an engraved silver cradle (he was 4 months old at the time).  For his second, a glass yellow duckie, just like a bathtub duckie that he loved to chew on and play with.  The following Christmas brought a snowman ornament as we experienced our first snow that year, and then came the line of baseball Santas, soccer Santas, football Santas - whatever the sport du jour was for the year.

With my second son, we honored his first Christmas with the same silver cradle, engraved with his name and birthday.  Each subsequent Christmas brought items similar to his brother’s: a Santa ornament, a tricycle ornament, and last year, a puppy ornament.  Each year marked with a special ornament to help spark those memories of some wonderful occurrance during the year.

It is a tradition in our family, this ornament-of-the-year bit that we’ve started.  And, it makes for a wonderful collection.  Collections can be just about anything.  When I was born, my grandmother started an add-a-pearl necklace for me: each year, she added a pearl until I was eighteen.  When I got married, I wore those pearls with my wedding dress.  It is a sentimental and irreplacable collection of memories of my grandmother as well as memories of each year that the pearls mark. 

What special items, if any, do you collect for your child?  Baseball cards?  Photographs?  Ticket stubs from events?  Share with us some of your favorite ideas for remembering those fleeting childhood days with your children.

For my Mother’s Day gift when my older son was three, he created a stepping stone in his little preschool class.  It graces our front flower bed and greets everyone as they walk to our front door.  And, it is a constant reminder of how little he used to be (and how big he is now, six years later).  Creating stepping stones is an easy project that makes a sentimental and one-of-a-kind gift.

Start with a large container, shaped as you would like your stepping stone.  Ours was created in the saucer of a large flower pot.  Old baking pans (9×9 or even large pie pans) work well, too, depending on the size of hands or feet you intend to impress into the stone.  Other materials are handy to have around as well: glass stones or large beads, pretty rocks or other items to set in the cement, perhaps a twig or other pointed object for writing in the cement should you choose to chronicle the event with a date or name.

Purchase a bag of ready-mix cement and mix enough to fill your container about 2/3 full.  Reading the directions on the package is essential, as each brand has their own instructions and setting time.  Allow the cement to set somewhat, then impress whatever objects you would like into the forming stone.  Hand prints work well as do footprints (be sure to wash right after pressing into the cement).  Let the child decorate the stone with pretty beads or other objects; don’t press them INTO the cement, though!  Let them sit on top so you can still see them.  Any writing needs to be done before the cement is completely set.

This is a simple project but is a great gift for grandparents, parents, close friends and other relatives.  Repeat it year after year to create a collection of stepping stones, chronicling your child’s growth through the year.  It is a unique and beautiful addition to any landscape!

Halloween doesn’t have to be all about candy and costumes.  It can be creative fun, full of imagination and role-playing.  What child doesn’t like to create his or her own creature or play in a new world with puppets?  What about exploring and making your own slime or other fun science-related products?

WonderBrains has pulled together an amazing line of products geared towards promoting the fun and educational side of the season.  Let children explore their imaginative side with puppets, from wizards to doctors, princesses to chefs.  Or, for the older group, invest in a science lab kit to make gooey concoctions, play foam (that glows in the dark!) and slime.  Little kids will enjoy the bumblebee hand puppet and the lightning bug flashlights.  And, for kids of all ages, check out the make-a-mask kit!  Kids can create their own mask for trick-or-treating!

Halloween doesn’t have to be all about the chocolate and the lollipops.  Find a few things that will tantalize their creative side as well!

WonderBrains is offering a 10% discount on their Halloween toys and products!  Visit the online store, and use 10SPOOKY at checkout for your discount!