Shamrock Cinnamon Rolls - Re-visited!

Well I promised you some St. Patrick's day fun...so here you go! :)

I made this fun, SIMPLE breakfast last year and it was a hit. I loved that I could make it in under 15 minutes and my kids totally gobbled them up. I give you...

SHAMROCK CINNAMON ROLLS!! :)

All you need to make some of your own is a can of premade cinnamon rolls (you COULD make your own...but in my life right now that is not really reality ;) and a small heart-shaped cookie cutter.

Then all you do is...

Then you...

Cook for 12 minutes at 400 degrees, cool and frost, and you are ready to eat!

I added ONE drop of green food coloring to the frosting just to be a little bit more festive. I love how these turned out and I cannot wait to have my kids wake up to them on March 17th!

Thanks so much for checking out Blue Skies Ahead today! I am always amazed that people are interested in some of the little things we do in our family, but I love having you and SO appreciate all the sweet comments and emails. Have a wonderful day!!

Seven Alive

Cutting the Chaos - Educational Activities for Kids!

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend! We definitely did, and after a little blogging break I am ready to share some fun things this week. I thought I would start off today by showing one of the ways I am trying to Cut the Chaos in my home :)

If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you probably know I LOVE doing fun, educational activities with my kids. It helps me get more involved with them, I love to see them learn something new, and I feel great anytime the screens are OFF and we are spending quality time together.

Some weeks this goes a lot smoother than others. I always try to have a weekly theme, this helps focus me and better plan things for my kids. Some weeks I am SO on top of it, not many...but some :) Other weeks we hardly do anything and thats ok too. That's reality. But instead of being all or nothing, I tried to come up with a way that will really simplify and Cut the Chaos so I can enjoy this time with my kids. Here we go! :)

I put this together last night and am thrilled with it so far! I grabbed a towel holder thing I had laying around in the basement that has 3 spots on it. In the first holder I placed a framed print that says Letter of the Week. Every Sunday night before I go to bed I can quickly use a dry erase marker to write what letter we will be focusing on that upcoming week.

In the bottom holder I placed another framed print that says This week we are learning all about...and then I write our theme for the week.

In the middle spot I place a book that we either have or borrowed from the library that we will read throughout the week that spotlights our theme and reinforces it.

In case anyone is interested, here are the printables I made. It took about 5 seconds to stick them in frames I already had and instantly my kids will know what we are learning for the week and will be reminded every time they sit at the table.

SO simple...right?!

The next part is my favorite though :) There are SO many great educational resources on different websites and blogs, you really can just click and print to provide your kids with fun, themed, educational activities. This takes a little bit of time, but know that I have my system down it is under one hour and I have a weeks full of activities ready to go!

I simply got binders for each of my children. Then I stuck in them a bunch of page protectors. All of the worksheets I print off go in a page protector and the kids use dry erase markers on them. Then when our week is over I just take out the worksheets, file them under the theme of that week, and I have them FOREVER!! Now when Britton is older and can do the Kindergarten worksheets that Kendall is doing this year I will just have to pull them out of my file. Love it! I don't mind the work half as much when I know I will have it forever :)

So here is how I set up my binders:

In the front pocket I place any coloring pages the kids can use throughout the week.

If there are any games, shape sorts, or anything else with small pieces I laminate them and place them in the pencil holder. It takes a little while to laminate them but once again...once you do it you have them forever!!

Every week I print out a tracer page for the letter of the week. Its great practice for the older kids and good for the little ones to become familiar with the alphabet.

Finally I place all the different worksheets in their own page protector to be used again and again!

I know it probably seems like such a little thing, but the amount of Chaos this Cut is amazing!! Now even on those weeks that seem to get away from me, when my kids are bored instead of always turning on the tv they can pull out their binders, color some pages, play some matching game, work on the alphabet etc! And on those rare weeks that I AM on top of things, these binders are a great addition to any fun things we have planned.

Since we are learning all about TEETH this week I thought I would share some of the places I got all these great printables:

Dental Theme for PreK and Kindergarten

Worksheets for 1st grade and up

Letter Tracing Pages

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I am looking forward to sharing some fun St. Patricks Day ideas, some great TEETH activities and more this week. Have a wonderful day!!

Playdough Snowmen...who needs the real stuff?!

Hello everyone!!

Did we all survive the Valentines? :) Gotta be honest...as much as I LOVE holidays, I also love putting every thing away and getting back to our normal routine. Yesterday was a nice, quiet day and it was actually quite lovely! We did a fun little snowman activity since we are reading all about snowmen this week and wanted to share.

Do you guys all read The Imagination Tree? If you don't and you have small kids...you should!! It is one of the best educational blogs for children I have found. She is so creative and really loves the hands on approach to teaching your children and learning through play. I already shared her Chocolate Playdough recipe I used for my Chocolate Playdough Valentines, but today I am sharing her White Playdough Recipe.

Yesterday my kids woke up to SNOW!! They were so excited, you see, they have been dying to go outside and build a snowman. Well, as I expected, by the time school was out the snow was over and whatever was on the ground had now completely melted. Since we didn't have the real stuff, I figured we could make some cute little guys with our White Playdough I whipped up during nap time.

So fun! You can find the recipe HERE for your very own White Playdough.

It's hard to tell in these pictures but it was also sparkly which the kids totally loved :) One note, when I made this it was really runny. As I was kneading it, I just kept adding more and more flour til it became a texture I could work with.

Once we had our "snowballs" all ready to go all we needed were some chocolate chips and baby carrots to finish off our little guys.

Now let the fun begin!!

Halfway through the kids ran outside and scavenged for some twigs for arms...I thought these turned out SO cute. We played for almost and hour with our new playdough. After we were done doing snowmen I would roll it out flat and the girls would use one of the twigs to write notes to me or practice letters. It was a really great activity!

So if your kids are feeling a little cheated about no snow, whip them up some of your very own! :) Really guys...it takes literally 5 minutes and your kids will love it!

Have a wonderful, wonderful day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope no matter who you shared it with, you are all having a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Can you believe I got a shot of them ALL smiling?! :)

Valentines Day Scavenger Hunt

Can you believe we are almost half-way through February?! Craziness!!

On Valentines Day I always try to do a fun project or craft for my kids. I thought it would be fun to switch it up this year and have a little Scavenger Hunt that will lead them to their after school snack I blogged about HERE.

When they get home from school they will find different clues leading them to their yummy treat! The theme of the scavenger hunt is I love you more than...with each clue being in a place that I LOVE...but not more than my kiddos :)

I thought I would share my clues with everyone in case you want to do this with your kids too. Super easy and fun way to show your kids how much you love them. Here are the clues I came up with:

The first clue will be out where they can't miss it, on the couch probably. Then the second clue in the dryer, the 3rd in the freezer, 4th in the car and so on. Finally they will find their treat on a tray in the oven with individual love notes from mom.

I hope you enjoyed out Scavenger Hunt, and I would love to know: What fun things do you do in YOUR home for Valentines Day??