Father’s Day is almost here! It’s time to show the fathers in our lives (including grandfathers, uncles, cousins, etc) how much we love them. And as we spread the love to these mighty men, we want our children to be a part of the Father’s Day celebration as well!

Help the kids surprise Dad by printing out these fun Father’s Day coupons. The Completed Father’s Day Coupons page features four different coupons that tell Dad what his coupons can be redeemed for. The Fill in the Blank Father’s Day Coupons allow children to  create a set of four unique coupons just for Dad. Click on the red links to download the coupon pages.

Completed Father’s Day Coupons

Fill in the Blank Father’s Day Coupons

Makerspaces are all the rage these days. Do you know anything about them? According to Wikipedia, a makerspace is defined as “a hacklab, fablab or creative space in a location where people with common interests, often in computers, technology, science, or digital or electronic art (but also in many other realms) can meet, socialise and/or collaborate.” Makerspaces have popped up all over the country and have sparked a “Maker Movement”.

Educators have been inspired to create unique makerspaces for children and these days it’s not unusual to find makerspaces in schools, libraries, and community centers. Now, homeschool parents are creating makerspaces in their homes. Each of these makerspaces is equipped with the tools and supplies children can use to help them flex their mental muscles and concoct a variety of neat hands on projects.

After I hearing about makerspaces while my daughter was taking a robotics class at our local library, I decided to search the internet to learn more about them. I discovered gorgeous pictures of elaborate makerspaces where children were happily creating neat things using a vast array of everyday items like buttons, cans, bottle caps, etc alongside amazing tools like jigsaws and LED kits. I assumed creating a makerspace was an expensive endeavor and since I wasn’t working with a large homeschool budget, I decided our homeschool didn’t really need a makerspace.

But over in the African-American Homeschool Moms Facebook group, I began to see homeschoolers eagerly chatting about how their children loved to create things. These Makerspaces, Maker Labs, and Tinker Tables were helping children exercise their natural creativity and helping them become self starters. After reading one mom’s posts about the benefits of creating makerspaces and seeing photos of her children engaging in fun activities with basic household supplies, I decided to create a makerspace on my limited budget. I am happy I did, and my children are even happier!

Creating our makerspace, which we refer to as The Maker Station, wasn’t hard at all and didn’t cost very much money. For around $25, I was able to purchase everything I needed to set up a fun makerspace for my children. Once the supplies were assembled, my kids got to work creating all kinds of neat things.

Setting up your makerspace

You can store your supplies in any container, but I wanted something large, easy accessible, and well organized. Our things are stored in a Sterilite rolling cart I purchased from Walmart.

The three long drawers are large enough to hold all of our Maker Station supplies. The green and purple containers inside the drawer were purchased at Dollar Tree.

The Maker Station sits right beside the Lego table, so once my kids pull out their supplies they have ample space in which to work.

When you choose the workspace, don’t choose an area and/or work surface you want to keep super clean. Making can be messy, so choose the location wisely. Consider covering tables with tablecloths or have your children work on top of large pieces of cardboard. That way if spills or stains occur, you won’t be upset.

Supplies for your makerspace

Though you can go out and purchase things for your makerspace, I recommend you poke around the house for supplies first. My children found lots of great materials just by rummaging around in our drawers and closets. Also, before you toss something into the trash, consider if it would make a good addition to your makerspace! If you do find you need to purchase things, check thrift stores and one dollar stores.

Here are the things on our supply list: pipecleaners, oatmeal containers, shoeboxes, dowels, plastic bread tabs, wheels, yarn, string, cotton balls, popsicle sticks, scissors, fabric, cardboard, nuts, bolts, screws, clothespins, twist ties, screwdrivers, egg cartons, hammers, nails, hot glue gun and glue sticks, magnets, pliers, cereal boxes, tweezers, lids, string, wire, trays, bottle caps, soda can tabs, wire cutters, masking tape, buttons, painters tape, cans, paper clips, game pawns, spools, medicine cups, keys, and flashlights.

Inspiration for makerspace projects

Children are certainly able to come up with ideas on their own, but if they need a bit of inspiration, you’ll find 20 great ideas when you download my free Makerspace Task Sheet. You can also check the following websites for additional activities. 

• Recycled Crafts For Kids
• The Crafty Crow: Recycled Crafts
• Mister Maker Crafts
• Pinterest Board: DIY STEAM Projects

A makerspace is a great way for children to express themselves creatively and a wonderful way for them to learn through trial and error. Since there are no rules for making, children often wander down many creative avenues as they design amazing things. Your at home makerspace doesn’t have to cost a lot of money in order to be fun and effective. Gather some things today. Your children will thank you for it!

When the weather takes a turn for the worse due to snow, rain, or extreme heat and cold, it’s always good to have a few indoor activities for our kids to enjoy. In this short video, I describe how you can get a copy of Keep It Moving, the free downloadable board game I created. It’s the perfect activity for keeping kids happily occupied during times of inclement weather!

My girls have pen pals and whenever a holiday rolls around, they are eager to send gifts and cards to their pen pals. Gifts and postage can become expensive, so I encourage the girls to make their own cards and gifts to send to far away friends.

For Valentine’s Day, the girls created these adorable Hershey Kiss cards I think their pen pals will love! Your children can easily create this super simple Valentine’s Day craft by using a few familiar household items.

Supplies:

• large Hershey’s Kiss template (mine was freestyle and hand drawn)
• small Hershey’s Kiss template (a few inches smaller than the large template)
• cardboard box (such as a cereal box)
• aluminum foil
• Scotch tape
• white construction paper
• red or pink construction paper
• scissors and glue
• ruler (optional)
• pencils/pen/marker

Trace the large Hershey’s Kiss Template onto the the cardboard box and cut it out.

Wrap the cardboard kiss in aluminum foil, making sure the shiny side of the foil faces outward. The front of the Hershey’s Kiss will be smooth and the back of it will be a bit lumpy and bumpy. Use tape Scotch tape to secure the back of the Hershey’s Kiss so that the foil does not come off.

Use a piece of white construction paper to make the familiar white Hershey’s Kisses tag. Cut it out carefully and write a greeting on it (Happy Valentine’s Day, I Love You, Thanks For Being Such a Sweet Friend, etc). Turn the Hershey’s Kisses onto the back side and use a piece of Scotch tape to attach the tag to the back of the Hershey’s Kiss. Make sure the written side of the tag faces out

Trace the small Hershey’s Kiss template onto a piece of red or pink construction paper and cut it out. Have your child write a short letter to the recipient. Children can also use the space to write a poem or list a few jokes. If your child has an issue writing without lines, use a ruler to draw light lines for them to write on. Once the writing is done, center the small Hershey’s Kiss onto the larger Hershey’s Kiss and glue it down. Done!

Holiday crafts don’t have to be complicated or messy. Gather a few simple items and let the children get busy creating their own fun and interesting masterpieces. Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Our church is hosting a special Martin Luther King, Jr. program this weekend. The church’s youth were invited to participate by completing an essay or designing a poster about one of Dr. King’s traits. My girls chose the words visionary and leader and decided they wanted to create posters to share what they knew and learned about Martin Luther King, Jr.

The girls wanted their posters to be colorful, artistic, and non-traditional as well as informative. I encouraged them to include the dove of peace on their posters and the girls decided to decorate them using a couple of art mediums they had recently learned about.

Sweet Pea’s poster showcases Martin Luther King Jr. as a visionary and includes a colorful dove of peace painted using an artistic technique called pointillism. (For a lesson on pointillism, check out the Youtube video here.) Sweet Pea’s dove is holding a branch and each leaf includes a sentence describing Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision. Her poster also includes her definition of the word visionary, two Bible verses about vision and peace, and a couple of Martin Luther King, Jr. photos she liked.

Sugar Plum’s poster also includes the dove of peace, but her colorful bird was created using oil pastels. (For a lesson on the use of oil pastels, check out this video on Youtube.) Her poster has the definition of leader as defined in her own words and includes puzzle pieces that name traits of a good leader. Each puzzle piece also includes a sentence describing how Martin Luther King, Jr. displayed that particular trait. Sugar Plum also selected a few pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr to add to the poster.

If you’d like to make these pretty posters, you’ll need poster paper, construction paper, glue, scissors, and the usual variety of art supplies. We used a dove template I already had in my files, but if you don’t have one, you can download the dove template found in the center of this page. I enlarged our dove so it would be big enough to fit on the posters. We sketched the leaves and branches ourselves.

Sugar Plum’s puzzles pieces were created using this template. Because the puzzle piece was so large, no resizing was necessary. However, if you want to include more puzzle pieces on your poster, you may wish to reduce the size of the template.

These Martin Luther King poster projects are a great way for your child show what she knows about Martin Luther King, Jr. Though you may wish use the format modeled here, your child can still put her own spin on this project by adding personally selected photos of  Dr. King, writing statements about his life and vision, and choosing to use artistic techniques to express her feelings about Dr. King and his legacy.