19th February 2010
Spring Is Just Around The Corner!
"Nothing is worth more than this day"
Goethe
A Message From Lindsay
What with one thing and another (and the kids home for half-term)
I've got a bit behind this week, but I've been working extra hard to
load up some new content yesterday and today to make up for it. Rather
than a long message from me today I thought I would pass on this list of
"natural highs" that arrived in my mail box. Some of them really struck
a chord with me and I've decided to make a bit more time for them in the
weeks ahead!
21 Natural Highs
1. Laughing so hard that your face hurts
2. No lines at the supermarket, bank or post office
3. Taking a drive on a pretty road
4. Hearing your favourite song on the radio
5. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside
6. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer
7. A good conversation
8. Lying on a warm, sunny beach
9. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter
10. Sharing a sunset with someone special
11. Running through sprinklers
12. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all
13. Friends
14. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you
15. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep
16. Playing with a new puppy
17. Having someone play with your hair
18. Swinging on swings
19. Making chocolate chip cookies
20. Holding hands with someone you care about
21. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think
And a few of my own:
Taking a bubble bath at the end of a busy day
Sunshine - anytime, anywhere
Tickling the kids
An early morning walk
The smell of a cake or cookies baking in the oven
The sight of a simple bunch of fresh flowers on a clean, scrubbed kitchen table
If you or your child has made use of our craft ideas or printables, we'd
love to share the results here! Drop me a line by emailing editor-at-activityvillage.co.uk
(replace -at- with @).
Have you checked out our latest publication yet? It's a fun way of
keeping the kids busy during the Easter holidays, while encouraging some creative and imaginative
drawing, colouring and writing. Good for teachers and parents too. Easter Doodle Fun
Reader's Tip
Last week's appeal for tips and "systems" from readers has brought in
some really excellent ideas - thank you to everyone who has responded,
and my apologies if I haven't got back to you directly yet ... I'll
catch up as soon as the kids are back at school next week. If you have
any great ideas you are happy to share here, please email me (editor-at-activityvillage.co.uk)
- and help make someone else's life a little easier!
This week's tip comes from Angela, who tells us how she manages to stay
on top of the laundry and ironing piles:
I always set washing off at night and dry it the next morning, ready
to iron it after tea when my 2 girls are in bed.
If I’m going out one evening, I’ve started to only wash ‘non-ironing’
items such as towels on the night before so I don’t have a pile of
ironing waiting for me. Oh, and the usual ‘little and often’ approach to
keeping the ironing manageable.
I’m much better at ironing things now that I’ve bought a steam press,
too. (In the past, lots of ironing used to farmed out to my marvellous
Mom!) It sits in the kitchen (not ideal, but I don’t have the luxury of
a laundry room!) on top of the fridge and freezer (a good height and out
of reach of the girls, no trailing power leads) and I make a cup of tea
while it warms up, to encourage me! Also, as my husband does the washing
up, I don’t feel such a martyr as we catch up on our news without
interruption! The press is great for small items, too, like toddler’s
t-shirts and trousers – I’ve even been known to iron vests because it’s
so quick and they pack away much better!!
What's New At Activity Village?
St David's Day is coming up so we've added three new crafts (including
this gorgeous Welsh lady in traditional
dress), some interesting new links, and three delicious
family-friendly recipes for you to enjoy... St David's Day
We've added 3 new Easter fuse bead patterns for the kids to try - a
bunny, this chick and an Easter frame. Easter fuse bead patterns
We've added 5 really pretty new scrapbook paper designs with a flower and
bug theme - perfect for Spring and Easter. Flower and bug scrapbook
paper designs
Here are 9 new Spring stationery designs to print, including
handwriting and lined paper and frames and featuring some very petty
designs... Spring stationery to print
We've also been working on our monster theme
this week and added lots of new content:
A new monsters sorting game and sorting mats - there's lots of ways to
use these Monster printables
We've redone our monster lacing cards, as they weren't linked properly
(sorry!) One blue, one pink... Monster lacing cards
And finally, three sets of monster bookmarks -
blank, with handwriting lines,
and with words Monster bookmarks
For a day by day listing of everything new at Activity Village, bookmark our
What's New page or subscribe to the feed
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and get the word out about your business!
A Giggle
One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her
class. She came to the part of the story where Chicken Little tried to warn the
farmer. She read, ".... and so Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said,
"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"
The teacher paused then asked the class, "And what do you think that farmer
said?"
One little girl raised her hand and said,
"I think he said: 'Holy Mackerel! A talking chicken!'"
Videos To Enjoy With The Kids..
NB: Children should not browse video sharing sites unsupervised
NB Children should not browse video sharing sites unsupervised
Something To Think About..
"Parents need to fill a child's bucket of self-esteem so high that
the rest of the world can't poke enough holes in it to drain it dry." Alvin Price
This is a brilliant idea for making a quick
little "phonics
flip book" to give your child practise sounding out words. Portable,
too, so perfect to pop into your handbag!
