The Magic of a Cardboard Box

by Amy The kid and I have been looking for activities during our days when I want to get a little work done and she wants some play time. Last night I was unpacking some things from our recent move and I ended up with five cardboard boxes of varying sizes.

So this morning, when she was asking for something to do, I brought them upstairs. I got the idea from Stella and Sam, when Sam's friend Owen brings over boxes in boxes in boxes and he and Sam imagine all sorts of things with them.

Today, for a while this morning and again this evening, these boxes have been great toys. These boxes have been houses, hiding places, spaceships and several times towers that she can then knock over.

Get out the crayons and we can draw on them and make them an arts and crafts project.

I thought she might get some fun out of them, I didn't expect hours of entertainment. Now I'm going to have a hard time recycling them.

Amy is mom to two year old Maggie and a 6 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.

Imagination

by Lara A video went viral last week about a little boy in L.A. who built an arcade out of cardboard - have you seen it?

Caine, a 9-year-old boy, built an arcade out of cardboard in his father's auto parts shop. This kid is amazing - he replicated games he had played in a real arcade with cardboard... what an imagination, what a future engineer.

What I love about this video is seeing Caine create, and then seeing the celebration of what he created.  We need to celebrate these kinds of creations, to celebrate when our kids come up with the cleverest of ideas.

If you haven't seen the video - here it is.  Caine is amazing, @nirvan is fabulous from bringing Caine to light, and the best part of this is that Caine now has a college fund surpassing 100K.

Have your kids built anything amazing lately?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and two and a half year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette. Between the kids and her social media consulting business , she spends most of her time running frazzled.

Product review: Melissa and Doug Art Supplies

by Lara While shopping at Chapters for a birthday present for a five year old about six months I came upon Melissa and Doug art supplies.  I had no idea they existed and they immediately captivated me!

Fostering Creativity

I think colouring books are great (see more later) but the product I saw and loved the most were the colouring books that simply set the scene for kids to be creative. Kiernan sometimes follows the images they've shown on the cover, but sometimes will go completely into his imagination to come up with something fun to do with what they've provided him with.

Stickers

Stickers practically make the world go round here, so I loved the huge sticker packs Melissa and Doug sells.

Colouring books

They also have fun colouring books with big pictures to colour and they have many themes to choose from.

These have been a huge hit with both my five year old son and my two year old daughter. I've found them at Chapters and Toys R Us although I'm sure they are available in many more locations.

What are your favourite art supplies?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and two and a half year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette.  Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.