More video fun with Devin Super Tramp

by Karen By now, it's no secret that Lara and I are pretty enthusiastic about technology and we share the love with our kids. A couple of weeks ago, Lara showed me these videos that had recently been kid-approved by her children. They are fun to watch with catchy music and your kids will be in awe at what those crazy adults are doing!

With the nice weather we've been having recently, don't these inspire you to get outside and have an adventure!?

Have you discovered any fun videos recently you'd like to share? Tell us in the comments!

Organizing tip: Keeping kids toys organized

by Karen Don’t be fooled into buying a big toy box for your little ones…smaller, manageable containers are so much easier for children to handle.  Large toy boxes are just a dumping ground for all things large and small and make it impossible to find anything.

Invest in some small, medium and larger Canvas or Rubbermaid type bins to house all those toys that seem to accumulate over time.  Find containers that are opaque  and have manageable lids for little ones to be able to pry off.  Categorize your toys into bins, mark the bins for what belongs inside, or paste pictures on the container for the non-readers, and cleanup will be easy for both the child and parent.

Although I have teenagers now, I still have those see-through containers filled with the better quality toys that stood the test of time (such as Lego) and they are easily accessible for when small children visit!

Karen is the mother of a large and busy family with  2 sons in their twenties, 2 teenage daughters and a 17 year old foster child!  As the wife of a retired RCMP officer, she has moved this family 8 times! She recently joined the team of Smart Space Organizing as a professional Organizer because she loves helping others tackle their organizing challenges!

Games for kids: Bean toss

by Rebecca Sometimes the games we play seem so simple it's silly - but these are the things that my kids love (which makes me happy too!)

This game was made with coffee stir sticks, recycled paper and an empty box. I just set up targets and taped them to the coffee stir sticks, then to the inside of the box.

Using our bean bags (I bought them from My Stow-n-Tow for Christmas!) we would stand behind the 'line' and aim, trying to hit the targets. It was a lot of fun, although, probably even funnier since I seemed to have terrible aim!

To make it more challenging, we would take a step back the better we got.

Don't have bean bags? Use a mini stuffed animal or rolled up socks!

Have fun, get creative and PLAY!

Rebecca blogs about family and motherhood, is a self-professed foodie, and dabbles in online engagement and community giving.  She has a strange love for maple syrup that can possibly only be matched by her love for chocolate and coffee.

Beading with kids

by Lara I'll readily admit that at a few months shy of three I didn't think my twins were ready to start making necklaces with beads - which is where I apparently wasn't giving them enough credit. They came home with some fun necklaces for the sitter's one day and I realized what a great activity making necklaces was for home too.

What you need:

- beads with a big opening (we have a big mix that came from garage sales and past crafting adventures my sister had, but you can easily get them at any craft store)

- something to thread the beads onto.  Yarn works with tape wrapped around the end to make it easier to thread into the beads. I also find gimp/plastic lace works really well

- Patience (the necklaces don't tend to get finished in one go and sometimes it's a lot of fun to throw the whole pile of beads on the floor and watch your mother's head explode)

It's a great activity that is fabulous for practicing hand eye coordination and the kids have a fun necklace to show off and play dress up with later.

Have you tried making necklaces with your kids?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and two and a half year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette.  Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.

The Lorax

by Lara This March break we've been up to all kinds of things, one of which was an outing with Kiernan and I, my sister-in-law and her three boys to see the Lorax.

I will start by saying I haven't read the book recently enough to have any real recollection of the story, so if the movie was WAY off base from the book, well...

The movie was fun, beautiful, had great and catchy songs and was under an hour and a half long which meant none of the kids (the oldest being 8) started getting bored or antsy.

I think the message about taking care of the environment was clear and simple enough for even my five year old to get, which I liked.  I could see the twins, who aren't quite yet three, enjoying the movie once it's out on dvd (or netflix ;) but they still aren't ready for a movie theatre I don't think.

Have you seen the Lorax? Did you and/or the kids like it?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and two and a half year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette.  Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.