How to…/DIY

How to Make the Most of a Library Book Sale

June 5, 2012
Making the Most of a Library Book Sale

  A few weeks ago while visiting the library, I noticed a flier for the upcoming annual library book sale. I quickly made a mental note to write it on my calendar later. I love the library and books, so this was one of those mental notes that actually made it to my calendar. Yay! [...]

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Homemade Imbucare Box & Shape Sorter

February 21, 2012
homemade imabcure & shape sorter box

Otto is in love with putting objects in containers and he also thinks our object permanence box is pretty neat, so I decided to make my own imbucare box rather than purchase a pricey one. I’ve made three so far–a cylinder box, a cube/square box, and a 3-shape sorting box. Materials box shape pencil scissors, craft/x-acto knife [...]

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How to Make a Helmet {kind of}

November 15, 2011
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Once we made our knight shield and we already had a foam sword (from the Target $1 section) floating around our house, it was time for a helmet. What’s a knight without his helmet? I thought I could make a helmet out of cardboard, fabric, and hot glue. And I did…kind of. It looks more [...]

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How to Make a Shield

November 15, 2011
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Materials: cardboard scissors hole-punch ribbon markers and/or crayons Directions: 1. Outline and cut a shield out of cardboard. 2.  Let your little knight decorate the shield. 3. Using a hole-punch, punch two holes on both sides of the shield a few inches from the top and string the ribbon through. 4. Flip the shield over and [...]

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How to Make a Grasping Ring/Bell

August 10, 2011
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Before Otto was born I knew I wanted to have more activities geared toward the younger months of infancy than I did with Joey. I had grand plans of making this before he was born, but didn’t. But I did finish before he passed the stage. The good part about making your own grasping ring [...]

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How to Build a Castle

June 29, 2011
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One of the themes we’re doing this summer is knights and castles since Joey is in that little boy stage where everything is about knights, castles, dragons, and fighting bad guys. I thought building a castle would be a fun way to explore the subject together. Without further ado, here are the very simple steps [...]

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How to Make a Coin Box

April 27, 2011

A coin box is a simple Montessori activity that you can make in minutes. Materials: container (cube or cylinder) glue or tape paper pencil or pen scissors Measure the width of your container and cut the paper to those measurements. Adhere the paper to the container covering any other pictures or writing. With the lid [...]

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How to Make a No-Sew Child’s Apron

March 2, 2011

Here’s directions for a simple no-sew apron that a child can wear for messy activities. Materials: an old sheet (or fabric) scissors pencil Directions: 1. With the sheet folded in half and half again, cut from the folded edge to the bottom. (The ends on top should both be folded.) 2. Cut the bottom fold. [...]

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Homemade Child’s Placemat

September 4, 2009

Last week during a few of Joey’s naps I made a few placemats for his eating dishes. I like them and they were really simple to make. I just traced the dishes and silverware on a plain piece of cardstock, cut them out, glued them to an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of cardstock, and then [...]

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