Easy Make: BABY DOLL SLING

Last year my daughter's preschool class asked parents to visit and talk to the 3 year olds about their jobs. I am a certified lactation consultant for our community and wanted to chat about breastfeeding and add an activity that was age appropriate and fun. We started off reading the wonderful and simple book 'We Like to Nurse', and a book about how baby's are carried in different cultures. We finished off with each child decorating their own toy sling. We called them 'super-cool-sling-things' and used the slings to carry items that were important to each child....Some children carried their toy animals, their lunches, water bottles, their toy cars....it was great! Today I still meet children from the class at the local farmer's market, or park with their decorated slings carrying what is important to them that day. Super easy...here is how we did it... (post under construction).

CELEBRATE! Fruit Flower Basket

At Lily's preschool they celebrate birthdays with a special sharing circle. The teacher outlines the student on a big sheet of paper and the classmates note how they appreciate the birthday child. Parents are invited to bring in a treat to celebrate the day. This year we decided to skip the cupcakes and make a more healthy and fun alternative. We made birthday fruit flower baskets and each child got their very own fruit flower to eat. It was very special and fun. I did add a chocolate butterfly I made to Lily's flower treat to recognize her specialness, but in the future I might omit that part as it melted very quickly.

STEPS: Using bamboo skewers I cut out cantaloupe circles, and stars with cookie cutter shapes. I added grapes as the center piece and pineapple chunks at the base below the cantaloupe cut outs to prevent then from sliding down the skewer. Strawberries make a nice fruit flower, but we had a child with a strawberry allergy so we did not use them. I used homemade play-dough wrapped in plastic wrap as the base and mounted the flowers to it in a basket. Scan the fruit bouquet web sites for ideas on flower arrangements. I just needed a simple basket in the middle of winter, but local summer market options would be fresh and healthy alternatives. Super fun, super healthy and super easy!

CELEBRATE SPRING! - Nesting Bags

Springtime brings the robins to the budding trees outside our kitchen window. My girls delight in watching them build their nests on the branches while they munch away on their breakfasts. This year Lily asked if she could help them build their nest as they must be tired from their migration back to Montana. So one Sunday morning we decided to make nesting bags - Empty fruit mesh bags filled with strings and yarns and shredded recycled paper from our odds and ends craft box. The nesting bags could provide material for building their warm nests, and when we ventured around our property we could tell which nests used the colorful bits from the nesting bags. Here is what how we did it...

Nesting Bags: Step One

Gather all the colorful odds and ends that you have been saving in your craft box for no apparent reason (this is a good reason to finally get rid of it!) We used an empty clementine fruit mesh bag cut into 3 squares as our bag. We filled it with paper scraps, hair from all the hair brushes which the girls thought was hilarious, colorful yarn (Maizy (2) practiced cutting with big scissors) and shredded used non-dye art paper. The girls stuffed it all into the mesh bag and I helped close with an small elastic band. The girls then pulled out small tufts of wool and ends through the mesh.

Nesting Bags: Step Two

Hang colorful nesting bag where birds frequent around your property. We hung ours on branches just above a lower branch on a poplar where a robin family builds a nest yearly.

CREATING TRADITIONS - Quick-sew smock dress

At the wonderful little school Lily attends, they celebrate birthdays by eating a special homemade treat and tracing an outline of the birthday boy, or girl. Each schoolmate adds a special thankful to the traced outline. For example, "I love playing on the playground with you, you are my friend." Because Lily's birthday is in the summer when school is out they celebrate her 4, 1/2 birthday.
I too wanted to make something special for this special day and quickly put together this colorful smock with her initials on the big front pockets. It is wonderfully simple (I am a novice sewer), and Lily had fun making it with me and cutting out the letters. After a day of drawing and painting at school, the smock is easily washed and the clothes underneath are stain free (mostly). PS...It reminds me of Little House on the Prairie characters which I can't wait to read with my girls when they are older. Check out

Quick Sew - Hooded Bath Towel