No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas; DIY Bubble Gum Machine Pumpkin

 Do your kids have pumpkin decorating contests at their school? Ours do in a few grades. My daughter made a minion a couple years ago. And this year my first grader brought home a pumpkin from her field trip to the pumpkin patch and got to decorate it (without any carving). She had all kinds of ideas and even drew them all out, but this is the one she chose. 

I love that it was easy enough that she could do almost all of it herself!
She was so proud and LOVES it!

Here's how we made it. We actually already had everything we needed at home to make it too! Super simple!

How to Relax and Enjoy that Road Trip (Plus a Travel Center Tutorial & 25+ Game/Activity Ideas!)

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc and its advertiser. 

All opinions are mine alone.

#RoadTripOil #CollectiveBias

What do you think of when you hear the word "road trip"? Do you groan and remember being stuck in a car for what felt like forever? OR do you get excited and start planning right away? I have to say that I have felt some of BOTH of these emotions. BUT...over the years, as we have traveled literally from the South to the North on both sides of the country, I have come to feel excitement all of the time now. Most of this is due to figuring out how to make road trips successful and making everyone in the car happy. And today I'm going to share all of my great tips with you to do just that!

Plus I have over 25 game and activity ideas for many different ages that you can play in the car...including a tutorial to make this fun and easy DIY Travel Activity Center.  

It's magnetic and keeps everything in one place and from falling all over the floor. So keep reading to see How to Make Your Road Trip a Happy One For Everyone.

The key is to prepare!

Childrens Books and Crafts Round Up; Goodnight Moon and DIY Children's Moon Nightlight

I'm excited to share today's post with you today. I love reading and want to instill that in my kids, so today I am sharing a favorite Children's book of ours for our littles and a craft to go along with it.  AND my little post is just part of 50+!!! posts on the same thing. Lots of lots of great books and crafts are being shared this week. I gotta say, I'm so happy that I was invited and signed up to be part of this big round up months ago, With everything being "out of whack" in my life recently, this has been great to still do with my kids. Read It, Make it Book + Craft over at Emma Owls here. 

AND it's perfect timing, with the summer months coming up! These will be great little afternoon time  filling helpers!

I honestly had a hard time choosing what book to do a craft on, so we've actually done a few lately. I posted one we have done in the past here with the book: There's a Monster at the end of this Book. It's still a favorite book of my kids and one I remember as a kid too!

But today, I chose a "classic" Goodnight Moon. It's one of those books that you read to your kids when they are really young, but that my 16 year old can still remember the words to! I love that! I love this book! It's so simple and yet the kids just love it!

And for the craft, I thought, what better than to make a fun little moon themed night light that the kids can take to bed after reading the book before bed?! 

Button Spider Halloween Kids Craft AND Cheesy Popcorn Snack Hack

I help out at my daughter's preschool co-op on Tuesdays, so we're off to preschool this morning. BUT first, I wanted to show you a couple of fun little crafts I have done with my littles recently.

One of them, the Button Spider I even have a short little tutorial for you today, but first...

Do you remember my string art pumpkin from last week? My five year old wanted to make one for her kindergarten teacher and did amazing with it. I helped draw the heart and helped with the thumbtacks and she took it from there! She did great with the string. I love that you can do it methodically OR with no rhyme or reason and it still turns out adorable!

So much fun for any age to make AND receive!

Ok!...back to our fun kids craft and cheesy popcorn snack hack!

Easter Egg Marble Painting Kids Craft

#kidscraft #craftsforkids #marbles #paintprojects #paintparty #party #preschool #marblepainting #easter #eastereggs #painteggs #garland #banner #easterdecorations #diy #tutorial

Hello there from a house full of sickies over their spring break. Ugh. No fun! 

So I had to kick it up a notch, since many of our plans have been foiled! {sigh} So, I pulled out the makings of an easy kids craft to make the younger ones a little more happy. (Didn't really do it for the 15 year old, but he's one of the sickies anyway...)

My older son learned to marble paint years ago and it is STILL a favorite for my kids! 

And it's so easy!