Social Distancing with my PEEPS!

Easter this year might look at little different for all of us, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make it memorable for our little bunnies! My boys have been counting down the days until Easter and I’m with them. It seems like one thing we can look forward to during this time of quarantine. This year we will be doing an Easter egg hunt outside, but I thought it would be fun for the kids to go on a scavenger hunt looking for their easter baskets. Similar to our Saint Patrick’s day scavenger hunt, I’ll put clues around the house and the kids will search for their Easter loot! If you want to join us, but not in the mood to create your own clues, here is a free printable and directions for the hunt!

easter-hunt-2020Download

Print out the clue and put them out the night before Easter and wake up to a fun surprise from the Easter bunny.

Directions for the hunt:

  • Place the note from the bunny on the coffee table or somewhere you want the kids to start out. This one gives the directions for the hunt and has the first clue.
  • Place the second clue where their dad has his shoes
  • Place the following clue in or around the fridge
  • Place the next clue under their pillow on their bed (This might be tricky if they are sleeping, but put your ninja skills to good use!)
  • Place the next clue under the dinning room table or one of their chairs
  • Place the following clue at the front door
  • Place the next clue in their dirty clothes hamper
  • Place the following clue on or by a window which will take them to the last clue
  • The last clue will take them to their basket of treat, which is inside a closet of your choice!

Hope this scavenger hunt puts a smile on you and your kids faces along with a fun memory of Easter shelter in place! From my house to yours, I wish you all a Happy and fun filled Easter! Enjoy and stay safe out there! Like always, if you use this activity, tag me on instagram @stayathomecircus. I can’t wait to see!

St. Patrick’s Day treasure hunt

Looking for a fun and easy St. Patrick’s day activity for your kids? This St. Patrick’s day treasure hunt was a hit last year with my boys. They had a great time running around the house looking for the “treasure”. Every year I try and come up with clever clues for them to find their treasure at the end. I’ll include a free printable for you, you just need to go out and get the “treasure”. Our treasure usually consists of green treats, gold chocolate coins and small toys. This year I found a small box of green legos (from amazon) that I will add to the loot.

Here’s a list of instructions for you to recreate this treasure hunt for your little shamrocks!

  1. Download the treasure hunt printable
  2. Cut them out and place them in each hiding place when kiddos are out of the house or sleeping
  3. Put the first rhyme and clue #1 out for them to see. I will place mine on the counter with Lucky Charms. Put the 2nd clue under the dinning room table or somewhere near where you eat. Clue number 3 will go by the front door and the fourth clue in their room with their toys. Put clue number 5 under a couch cushion and number 6 out in the backyard. This is the last clue. Then put the ” treasure” in your bedroom with the last rhyme.
treasurehuntmarch3Download

Hope you and your kids love this activity as much as we do. Like always, if you use this activity, tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus). I can’t wait to see!

Our Fall Bucket List

Family Fall bucket list

Take out your fall decor, your comfy jammies and your pumpkin spice everything cause FALL is here! My family and I created our own fall bucket list this year. We hung it up along with some fall decorations and are ready to get down to buisness! Print one out and join in on the fun! Lets see how many we can get done this season.

Fall Bucket listDownload

WW Fall Bucket list

I also added a WW fall bucket list just for myself as a fun way to get steps in, stay on track and set some fall goals. Print this one out if you want to follow along!

WW fall bucketlistDownload

I hope you find these list useful. If you use any of these ideas or print out my lists, tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus). I can’t wait to see!

Teacher Gifts

I can’t believe its already the end of the school year. I am so ready for beach days, warm evenings and family BBQs. But before I get into my summer mode, I’ve have to put together end of the year gifts for my son’s teachers. I searched the web for fun, thoughtful and easy gifts and came up with a small list here. So if you are looking for an easy and thoughtful gift idea, check these out. Here are my 5 top favorite ideas and printable tags to go along with them.

Pedicure in a Jar

Find a mason jar or any cute container and fill it with pedicure tools. Here are some things to add to the jar.

  1. nail polish
  2. cotton balls
  3. toe nail clippers
  4. nail file
  5. buffer
  6. foot scrb
  7. nail polish remover
pedicure-tag-3Download

Amazon giftcard

This one is pretty straight forward. Just buy a amazon gift card and tape it to this printable tag!

amazon-giftcard-tag-1-1Download

Movie Night!

Find a decorative popcorn bowl or any container to fill with things that would make a perfect movie night. Here is a list of ideas and a cute tag to add!

  1. microwavable popcorn
  2. candy bars
  3. redbox code or movie giftcard
  4. soda in glass bottles
movie-tagDownload

Wine not?

This one is my favorite! Buy a nice bottle of wine, add a cute ribbon and this tag and you are set!

wine-tagDownload

Beach Towel

Buy a beach towel and pair it with sunscreen or some cute sunnies and you have yourself a thoughtful and functional gift.

beach-towel-tagDownload

I hope you find these ideas useful. If you use any of these ideas or print out my tags, tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus). I can’t wait to see!

Egg-tivities part 2

Here are the next 5 egg-tivities I did with my kiddos just in time for Easter. These are great activities to do while the kids are on spring break. My 4-year-old son requests almost everyday to do activities, so these ones were a hit!

Here is a list of things you need for these activities:

  1. large and small plastic easter eggs
  2. LED tea lights
  3. my beginning sound print outs
  4. plastic dinosaurs or any small plastic figurines
  5. flour
  6. baby oil or vegetable oil
  7. beeswax
  8. coconut oil
  9. essential oils
  10. empty egg carton

Glow in the dark eggs

Just grab some LED tea lights and big plastic eggs and you got yourself an Easter egg hunt that requires NO CANDY! This was fun to do both outside and inside. The first time we did it, I hid the eggs outside at night and the boys went looking for them. The next time we did it, I had to boys hide the eggs from each other in the house. It was fun to watch them run around searching for them in the dark!

Beginning sound egg hunt

This game was great for my 4-year-old since he recognizes all his letters and is now working on their sounds. I printed out some drawings of nouns and cut them out into cards. I linked this template so you can print out, or create your own noun cards. I had the cards turned over and I hid Easter eggs around the living room that had the letter that corresponded with the beginning sound of each noun on the card. We each took turns selecting a card and saying the noun and figuring out the beginning sound of that noun. Then we went around to find the Easter egg that had that beginning sound written on it. You can fill the Easter eggs with some candy or just leave them empty. Either way, the kids have fun finding the matching egg!

beginning-soundsDownload

Dinos and moon sand

My little 2-year-old had a great time with this one. He played quietly outside for 20 minutes, filling the eggs with the sand and creating egg domes. I made moon sand for the first time. All I did was combine 4 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of baby oil. I also added lavender essential oil just to give it a nice smell. You can also add food coloring to make different color moon sand or even add glitter to make it shine. I had them play with it outside because it can get messy! Unlike regular sand, you can brush it off your hands easily. Add eggs and Dinos to the container and the kids will be entertained all morning!

Number matching

I decided on number matching because I wanted my 4 year old to review his numbers 1-10 and I want my 2 year old to try counting. I put the number at the top of one of the plastic eggs and dots at the bottom to represent the number. I took each egg apart and watched how they counted and put them back to gather. I had my two boys do this together, since it was a little tricky for my 2 year old and a little easy for my 4 year old. My 4 year old helped my little guy out and they worked together putting these together.

Lip balm eggs

This came to me when I was using my EOS lip balm and was almost done with it and I thought I should try and reuse the container because its a lot of plastic to waste. Then it donned on me that they look like plastic Easter eggs. So I thought I could make lip balm, store it in the plastic eggs and gift them to my friends and family. Then I can finally get some of these eggs out of my house without throwing them away! I used this recipe I found online that only used 4 ingredients. I made mine using 3 ingredients. https://www.thatswhatchesaid.net/how-to-make-your-own-lip-balm/

These are the 3 ingredients I used for the lip balm.

  1. beeswax (1/4 cups)
  2. coconut oil (1/4 cups)
  3. lavender essential oil (20 to 25 drops)
  4. This recipe filled 6 small plastic eggs

Then I followed the directions from the website I posted earlier. I poured the liquid in the 6 plastic eggs to the top and waited until it solidified. Dont forget to tape the bottom so the liquid doesn’t leak out of the little holes at the bottom of the eggs. I printed out the gift tags and they were ready to be gifted! My boys will be gifting these to their teachers and I will be gifting these to my friends and family.

youre-the-balmDownload

I hope you find these ideas fun and helpful for spring break and the days leading up to Easter this year! I would love to see if you did any of these 10 activities with your little ones, so tag me on instagram (stayathomecircus). And if you used some of these ideas, but tweaked them to make them your own, I would love to see those too! Happy Easter everyone!


Egg-tivities Part 1

As I was getting my Easter decorations out from my garage, I came across a bag full of plastic Easter eggs. Truthfully, I can’t stand plastic Easter eggs! They are always hard to store away, I always have way too many and I always find some with candy still in them from the year before. (ummm, gross!). I was going to throw them away, but throwing all this plastic away seemed like such a waste. So instead I created 10 fun activities to do with the kids using these eggs. Here are my first 5 with printable templates. Now get out those annoying plastic eggs and join the fun!

Here is a list of things you need for these activities that can easily be found at Target or the Dollar Tree:

  1. Plastic easter eggs, big and small
  2. paint
  3. egg carton
  4. baking soda
  5. vinegar
  6. food coloring
  7. squeeze bottle
  8. printer paper

1. Stamp it out!

My kids love to paint, so this was a no brainer. I decided to use the plastic eggs as stamps instead of giving them paint brushes. I put out four colors, printed out the egg and chick template and let them do the rest. You could also make finger paint using the recipe from my previous St. Paddy’s day blog. After it was all dry, I cut out the egg and the chick and glued them together.

egg-paintingDownload

2. Erupting Eggs!

The baking soda and vinegar combo is always a hit in this house. We have done this so many times and it never seems gets old. I used an old egg carton to hold the plastic eggs. I first added the baking soda and then the food coloring to the plastic eggs. I had them do this outside since it can get a little messy. I gave one of my boys a spray bottle and the other a water bottle filled with vinegar. They used these to spray the baking soda eggs and create their erupting easter eggs!

3. Easter egg-sercize!

This one was by far the most fun and it helped get out all their wiggles and energy before bedtime. I created a printable template with different exercise moves for the kids to do. I printed them and cut them into strips. I put one paper strip in each eggs. Then we went outside and took turns choosing an egg, reading the strip of paper and doing the move. You can create your own moves or print out my list. So get out and move!

egg-exercises-1Download

4. Rub a dub dub, Eggs in a tub!

This was so easy and the kids had so much fun with it. It’s also a great way to clean them up after stamping with them! Just fill a bubble bath, throw the eggs in and let the kids have fun filling and dumping water in and out of the eggs.

5. Alphabet Egg hunt

My little guy loves writing letters and numbers. So, I decided to create an alphabet game where he can trace letters that he finds in Easter eggs. This was a great activity that he could do on his own while I was getting dinner ready. He chose an egg and found a letter inside. Then he found that letter on the printout I created and traced it with a marker. I used magnetic letters I had from another activity, but the eggs can easily be filled with alphabet letters written on a piece of paper.

egg-letter-traceDownload

I hope you found these activities useful and fun. These would be great to do with them during their spring break when they come to you and tell you they are “sooooo bored”. I plan to do some of these activities on our camping trip this weekend! I will be adding 5 more activities on my next blog, so stay tuned. If you use any of these ideas, tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus). I can’t wait to see!

Let the Shenanigans Begin!

Hey mommas! Remember the time when St. Patty’s day was filled with green beers, pubs and late night shenanigans with friends? Yeah, me neither! Those days are long gone for me. Now, St. Patty’s day involves green colored milk with rainbow pancakes, kid friendly restaurants and an early evening at the house with mischievous little boys. This year I plan to have some fun with my little leprechauns. Come join the fun with these snack ideas and activities for the whole family!

Leprechaun Sugar Cookies!

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cups of sugar
  • 1/3 cups of brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 6 tbsp butter (soften)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups of self rising flour

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, brown sugar, egg, butter and vanilla extract together. Add flour and mix. Form 32 round circles of cookie dough and place them on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle green and/or gold sprinkles on top of each cookie. Put them in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes. Let them cool down and enjoy! We made mini ice cream sandwiches with them by just adding vanilla ice cream between two of these cookies!

Rainbow Donuts!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of flour
  • 2 tbsp of sugar
  • 1/2 a cup of applesauce
  • 3 tbsp of vanilla almond milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 1/2 tsp of vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
  • white chocolate chip

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together. Divide the batter into 6 different bowls evenly. Use food coloring to dye the batter to desired color. Start with the purple mixture first and layer the bottom of the donut pan. Continue with each color ending with red. Put the donuts in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove and let them cool down. Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave for the frosting. Dunk each donut in the melted white chocolate and top with sprinkles.

Going on a Gold Hunt!

A scavenger hunt is always a fun activity for parents and kids! Just print, cut and hide these clues and watch your little kids run around the house searching for the leprechaun’s gold.

treasurehuntmarch1-1Download

Paint Yourself Clean!

This taste-safe finger paint was so easy to make and the colors turned out perfect for a rainbow art project for the house.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cups of flour
  • 2 tbsp of sugar
  • 2 cups of water

Directions: Combine all of these ingredients into a pot over medium heat. Stir until it thickens. Divide the mixture into containers and add food coloring and mix until desired color.

The kids painted a rainbow on a canvas, then I stuck them in the bathtub to paint the tub. When they were done, I handed them a sponge and they cleaned up their mess! Entertainment and a clean tub? WIN WIN!

Feeling Lucky?

This is an easy DIY game called ZAP. To play all you need a paper bag and paper! This game is good when reviewing letters, numbers and even sight words. My son is working on number recognition with numbers 11 through 20. I wrote numbers 11 through 20 on shamrocks I cut out using green construction paper. I added one shamrock with the word ZAP. I put all the shamrocks in a paper bag. I have my son pick a shamrock and say the number aloud and if he is correct, he keeps the shamrock. This continues until he pulls out and reads all the numbers out of the bag without pulling out the shamrock labeled ZAP. If he pulls out the ZAP shamrock, he gets ZAPPED and all the shamrocks go back in the bag and he plays again. The game ends when he’s able to get all the shamrocks out without getting zapped. This is fun to play with the whole family or alone. You can also take the zap game with you in the car or at restaurants.

Eat, Drink and Be Irish!

After a long day with your little leprechauns, I think it’s your turn to have some fun! After your kids are tucked in bed and you can finally put your feet up, treat yourself to this tasty and refreshing Irish mule! This is similar to the Moscow Mule, but replace vodka with whiskey for an Irish twist!

Ingredients

  • 2 oz of Irish whiskey
  • 6oz of ginger beer
  • juice from half a lime
  • lime slices and mint sprigs for garnish

Directions

Fill a mule mug (or any glass) with ice and pour in whiskey. Add lime juice and top with ginger beer. Stir to mix and garnish with lime slices and mint sprigs. Sláinte!

I hope you find these ideas fun and helpful when celebrating St. Patrick’s day this year! If you use any of these ideas, tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus). I can’t wait to see!

 

February 17th, National Random Act of Kindness Day!

This February I decided to participate in the #100actsofkindness challenge with my boys. Instead of 100 acts of kindness for the month, I decided to focus on one act of kindness each day for the whole month of February. Tomorrow is National act of kindness day, so celebrate with us! This activity is not only great for kids but us adults too. We can all use a little reminder to be kind. Below is a list of simple acts you and your children can do to celebrate.


List of random acts:

  1. leave a gift on someone’s doorstep
  2. tell someone you love them
  3. pick up trash
  4. leave some coins in a gum ball machine
  5. write positive chalk message
  6. hide some toys (dinosaurs and ponies) around the local park *
  7. send a postcard to a friend
  8. give someone a hug
  9. bake cookies to share
  10. share produce from your garden
  11. send a card to someone
  12. help make dinner
  13. pay for someone’s drink at Starbucks
  14. hide containers of bubbles around the local park *
  15. give treats to the mail carrier *
  16. smile or say hi to people you walk by
  17. let your brother/sister go first
  18. leave an unpopped popcorn bag at a Redbox machine *
  19. read a book to someone
  20. make a card for your teacher
  21. give flowers to someone
  22. give treats to the gardeners *
  23. paint and create kindness rocks https://www.scarymommy.com/the-kindness-rocks-project/
  24. play with a new friend
  25. write a letter to someone serving in the military
  26. color a picture for someone
  27. make a care package for someone in need
  28. Call your grandma or grandpa
The acts with asterisks have a tag you can print out.
acts of kindness tagsDownload

I hope you found this list useful and you have fun spreading some joy and kindness into the world! If you use any of these ideas, tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus). I can’t wait to see what you do!

” No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

This dough is EVERYTHING!

February 9th is National Bagel day! What better way to celebrate than making homemade heart-shaped bagels! Here’s a quick and easy heart-shaped bagel tutorial.

For this tutorial, I made 6 mini everything bagels using this recipe, https://www.skinnytaste.com/easy-bagel-recipe/

After I made the dough, I divided it into 6 pieces and rolled them out.

I folded each long piece of dough in half and created a point. I pinched the ends together and rounded the top to create a heart shape. I topped them with egg wash and bagel seasoning and put them in the oven for about 15 minutes. Let them cool off and enjoy!

These bagels make a great Valentine gift for family and friends or a yummy breakfast on a cold day! If you make these, don’t forget to tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus) and use the hashtag #stayathomecircuscreation. I can’t wait to see!


Be a little “extra” this V-Day

When I was young, my mom used to have us make Valentine’s Day cards for our classmates. She gave me construction paper, markers and wooden stamps. She had a pretty impressive collection of wooden stamps and ink pads. I loved making my own cards, but I was always envious of my friends who got to go to Thrifty’s (anyone remember that place?) and pick out their own cheesy card with their favorite cartoon characters. At the time, I thought she was just being mean and didn’t want to bother taking us to the store. Now that I am older, I see that she just wanted to teach us to take the time for the people we care about, make things personal and to help express our creative side.

So for this Valentine’s Day, why not make some handmade cards with your kids and create some lasting memories along the way. If you are anything like me, you started your search two months ago for ideas (totally normal right?).

Things to keep in mind when creating your handmade Valentines:

  • Think about what your kiddos are into
  • Check out Pinterest, teachers pay teachers, and other websites for ideas (you should never have to reinvent the wheel)
  • Decide whether you want to be”extra” and attach a treat or have the card go solo
  • Make sure you make enough for the whole class (made that mistake once #momfail)
  • get all the supplies needed for your card and/or gift (Dollar Tree and the Target dollar bin are always a good place to start)
  • If you are working with kids, decide what part they can help with (gluing, tying, taping, coloring etc)

Here are 3 easy Valentine’s Day gifts for kids and teachers!

1. TURTLEY cute Valentines!

My little love bugs are currently all about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so naturally my mind went to those green turtles. I decided to buy apple sauce packets, apple juice boxes and Annie’s bunnies since they lend well to the green theme. I found some thick ribbon (construction paper would work too), a glue gun, and googly eyes and we were ready to create.

I cut and tied 15 inch ribbon around the juice boxes/bunny fruit snacks and the apple sauces and knotted the ribbon on the side to resembles the ninja turtle masks.

I had the boys glue a pair of googly eyes on the ribbon.

I printed out some tags for them and had the boys color the picture and print their names.

Here’s the Ninja turtle templateDownload

Ta-da! Now we have ourselves some homemade Heroes in a half shell Valentines!

If you have older kids, wrapping the ribbons around green Gatorade bottles would work too. If you worry about food allergies, wrap the ribbons around mini bubble containers! If you want to make a Valentine for your “beer loving kid at heart” husband or wife, tie ribbon around a Stone IPA or a bottle of Stella Artois. You get the idea…

2. Jaw-some Valentines!

Anyone else belting out the Baby Shark song randomly around the house? Well we can’t seem to get it out of our heads, so I decided to make “baby shark” Valentine’s Day goodie bags. I grabbed some Gummy Blue Sharks at the local grocery store, some baggies and ribbon. I just added a cute tag to attach to the front of each bag. The boys were in charge of stuffing the bags with gummy sharks and signing their names.

Here’s the baby shark templateDownload

3. Eco-friendly Valentines!

Last but not least, remember to show love for the teachers! I found these eco-friendly reusable straws at Marshalls that came in a pack of 6.

I created a heart tag and the boys colored in the hearts. Simple, easy and useful!

Here’s the heart templateDownload

I hope you found these ideas useful and you have fun creating memories with your little love bugs! If you create any of these with your kiddos, don’t forget to tag me on instagram (@stayathomecircus) and use the hashtag #stayathomecircuscreation. I can’t wait to see!