“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” – Edith Lovejoy Pierce, Poet
So here we are at the end of 2011. Can you believe it? Are you looking forward to a better year, making concrete changes that will improve your life in 2012, hoping for a little more down-time or “me-time?” Whenever a year comes to a close I do a lot of reflecting on where we’ve been and where we’re heading, and I plan to continue on my quest for more organization and clarity in 2012. I always feel better when I can be my most authentic self, and find that this is more possible when my life is cleared of the excess.
We’re planning to ring in the new year tonight with a big family + friends play date, and thanks to the magic of YouTube, my 3 year old is looking forward to watching the big Ball Drop at midnight (it’s only 9 pm PST, thankfully!). My sisters son found online a site to buy fake id, so he will be at a nightclub to ring in the new year.
It seems to be a blog tradition to do a “best of…”, so I thought you might like to take a peek at some of the more popular posts of the past year. I’m saving my #1 post for Monday, which means this is really a top 11 list, so be sure to check back after the new year.
Even Toddlers Can Sew
Yes, it’s true. With some simple materials little ones can begin to learn the elements of sewing, and there are additional ideas in the comments of this post.
Salt Dough Ornaments
Not just for the Winter Holidays, salt dough could be used to make all sorts of sculptures year-round.
Flubber-Gak-Slime Exploration
Best sensory project ever! Hours of fun, over multiple days. Great for little ones who won’t put this gooey mess in their mouths.
Vegetable-dyed Easter Eggs
It’s almost Easter and you might want to sock this idea away for Spring. Featured on Craft Gossip.
Easy DIY Light Table
Light tables are wonderful for adding a little magic to your sensory play. We used ours with salt (pictured here) and Water Beads. With a little resourcefulness you can make one without breaking the bank.
Coffee Filter Flowers
Nice little rainy day activity to cheer up your house on a gloomy flower-less day. Or save it for the warmer months as we did, and make flowers inspired by your surroundings.
6 Tools for Building a Child’s Confidence
I love this post as it shares some insights into my thinking around raising creative kids. Bonus: There’s a link in the article to three more tools for building a child’s confidence for a total of nine tools!
Jell-o Excavation
Featured in Real Simple Family Magazine, Fall 2011, Ohdeedoh, and Craft Gossip. I still get comments and questions about this project. So much fun, with endless play possibilities.
Creative Challenge #6: Cardboard
If you like to upcycle materials into something fabulous, you’ll want to check out this exciting challenge that brought 20+ creative bloggers together with the collective challenge of making something, with their kids, with cardboard.
Rainbow Play Dough
Whether you want rainbow, blueberry blue, or cinnamon-scented brown play dough, this is the recipe you’ll want to use. It’s never failed my, it’s used by EVERY preschool teacher that I know, and it lasts forever.
happy new year, rachelle! thank you for your inspiration and your friendship!
This are really great arts that can give a positive aura, thanks for sharing it. and also belated Happy new year Rachelle!
Thank you so much for your wonderful projects!
Hi, everything is going fine here and ofcourse every one is sharing information, that’s truly good, keep up writing.