The Mommy Teacher

Displaying Art Work

I took my son to see the doctor for his routine “return-from-traveling-with-a-cold” visit. After asking the typical questions about his diagnosis, “Is he contagious?” “What can I give him to stop the ~~whining~~ pain?” my next questions were, “Can I take a picture of your art work?” and “Can I blog about it?” From the look on her face, this was the first time she had gotten asked that question at an appointment.

You see, I fell in love with how she had her own children’s artwork displayed in her patient rooms. After she agreed to allow me to take pictures and blog about them, she showed me around the office to see all of her kids’ art! I just loved it all! It’s so hard to not just love a painting or drawing done by a child… even if it’s just lines and dots.

The ways that she had the different projects displayed turned simple child art into masterpieces… framed and hung as if they belonged in a gallery. What child wouldn’t feel so special to have their artwork displayed so prominently in their home?

This is the one that especially caught my eye:

She took her kids to a local art class and this was the project they did with water colors and crayons. I love this because she framed the same project done by all three kids. It’s beautiful and so cheerful!

These paintings could have easily been placed in their baby boxes and forgotten for years until re-discovered down the road when the kids are heading off to college. Instead, my eyes were immediately drawn to them when I walked into her office.

Arts and crafts stores such as Hobby Lobby and Michaels do custom framing, but you can also just bring them an old frame and whatever artwork/pictures you want to frame. They will cut a matte to fit (that’s the purple part you see between the frame and the picture). The matte is what makes this look so polished.

I also love how she had each of the kids sign their names under their artwork. Real artists in the making!

Here is my other favorite from another of the patient rooms:

What a great idea to allow your child to use his or her own picture in his/her painting! I can’t wait to do something similar soon!

This also made me think of my friend’s house and how she displays her kids’ artwork:

1. I love the wall decal with one of my favorite quotes and 2. I love the fact that this is interchangeable, but still clean. (You can purchase a similar wall decal here on Amazon and the wall mount with clips here).

These ideas are all way better than how I have most of our artwork displayed (I’m pretty sure the whole alphabet will not fit on our back doors):

And obviously my kids now think they can stick anything on the doors since they are now covered in stickers as well.

Here are two other ideas from my house:

Jessica also sent me these two amazing pictures and I am totally going to steal this idea because I love it so much! Let the frame-collecting begin!

How do you display your child’s masterpieces? Please share with us on Facebook @themommyteacher!

January 12, 2014 by Casey | 0 comments

DIY Play Kitchen

Y’all, I have been DIY-ing to share with you the play kitchen and market that my husband and I made from an old entertainment center and a fishing rod and reel holder! It was a lot of hard work, but in the end, it was way cheaper than buying a play kitchen from the toy store. Another bonus was that I was able to design it so that it would look good in my living room since we don’t have a play room or space for a kitchen in the kids’ rooms. I could not be more in love with how it turned out!

The key to making your own play kitchen is to have a good vision to see what could-be with a little TLC. I found the old entertainment center at our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (my favorite place for finds like this) for just $10… but my friend still had to talk me into buying it because I couldn’t quite see the vision yet! Buuuut… It was 50% off that day and so I had to just try and see! I was willing to lose the $10 if I completely made it look horrible (extra storage in the carport). The top wasn’t in the best condition, but I could find something to cover it up.

The rod and reel holder was found on a local Craig’s List – type Facebook page. I just randomly saw it and said, “That would make a GREAT market!” (There’s that vision I was talking about). I talked the guy down from $30 to $15! I’d like to say I have great negotiating skills, but I think he was just ready to get rid of it.

We already had some old fence panels lying around (we had to replace a few on our fence that our dogs CHEWED through… I have a few neurotic dogs) and bam! Free counter top!

MAKING THE SINK:

We used a stainless steel mixing bowl for the sink. I was originally going to use a dog bowl, but they were actually more expensive than the mixing bowls at Wal-Mart… I went with the cheaper and it’s actually deeper… $8 there. I bought the faucet at the Habitat store as well. It was $12, which was more than I wanted to spend, but it wasn’t used like the rest of them were and had a good shape to it.

ADDING EMBELLISHMENTS:

I bought knobs for the stove and handles for the front sliding doors from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby and painted the burners on (and lightly sanded the burners to make it look more rustic).

I also bought a few baskets from Joann’s Fabrics that were 60% off, plus I had a 25% off in-store coupon! I got my tiny market basket and my large play food storage basket for $15 total.

I used an old piece of scrap wood for the shelf and decorated it with things all around my house. The shelf brackets were purchased from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale for 50% off! The window was an old find that I’ve had for months and I had no idea what to do with it until this project came along. I have seen similar windows like this at local antique stores and my favorite Habitat store always has these lying around too!

My 6, 4 and 1 year olds ALL love their play kitchen! We made this a group gift because we know all of them would enjoy this. It has been the toy that has been most played with at my house since Christmas!

Below are pictures and links to the play kitchen items we purchased! Enjoy!

Each of the kids got to open 3 gifts as well (just like Jesus got 3 gifts from the wise men). Lena (age 1) got pots and pans because she likes to bang Mommy’s a lot.

James (age 6) got a cash register that has a working calculator because he loves learning how to count money (we played “store” a lot even before Christmas).

Leyson (age 4) got “Peel ‘N’ Play” fruit and vegetables since he loooves to cook.

January 9, 2014 by Casey | 0 comments

Name Hopscotch {Mommy Teacher Spotlight}

I love scrolling through Instagram and seeing what other moms have shared for the day.

A friend of mine posted this video of her little fella and it immediately caught my attention for so many reasons:

Kids learn best and practice the skills they are learning most effectively when they are connecting with their world by seeing AND doing.

So if you have a child with lots of energy (can you relate?), jumping while learning or practicing skills that they already know is incredibly helpful for their brain development and you might reap the benefits of a quality nap time or bedtime rest later. 🙂

Here is what Hendrix’ mommy had to say about it when I asked for the details:

“The reality is he came up with this on his own! We were writing each other’s names (you can see his “mommy” on the bottom left of the screen) and he started hopscotching on his! He is into trains and roads now, and before this we were making roads with all the places that we usually go to…mall, coffee shop, grocery, honeys house…and driving to each place with his toy cars. We were learning to take rights and lefts and u-turns. This hopscotch just came out of nowhere. :)”

Thanks Alisha for sharing.
PS… I wish I had your chalking skills. haha

January 5, 2014 by Jessica | 0 comments

Presents The Kids Are Still Playing With After Christmas

You gotta love when ~~you –~~ I mean, when Santa spends all that time and energy on the “right” presents (and not to mention the expenses) so your kids can play with the boxes they are packaged in, or the pillows on your freshly-made beds.

Santa is starting to think he should have given the kids a nook or an iPad as opposed to the extra plastic and clutter lying around the house, but their wish-list tricked him.

Still, many of our presents are still providing lots of entertainment. To name a few…

My sister bought this science kit for Sean Patrick:

Learning Resources Primary Science Lab Set

And we love it. It comes with cards to tell you how to do science experiments that are kid-friendly. When my toddler goes down for a nap, Sean Patrick can’t wait to do his experiment.

How to make pennies shiny — Learning how to make pennies shiny!

He even likes to clean the tools. How could I not be excited about that?

My mother-in-law got us the learning tower that he stands on to do the experiments and the dish-washing. I used to think only hippie-parents would want this and that I would never want it because it takes up space, but y’all…. I am in love, and I was wrong. Or maybe I am a hippie?

Guidecraft All Grown Up Kitchen Helper Step Stool

Anyway, my kids stood on it for a half hour after we took it out of the box saying “This is awesome! This is AWEsome! This is aweSOME!” repeatedly.

And I love that they no longer try to climb onto the counter tops or pull chairs to the counters.

Sean Patrick is also loving his Jake and the Neverland Pirate Ship. It’s been fun hearing him attempt to talk like a pirate “Ahoy matey” is stinking adorable. AHH, I have to drop stinking from my vocabulary… help! Sean Patrick calls me out on using a potty word when I’m not in the bathroom and it is humbling haha.

Fisher-Price Disney's Jake and The Never Land Pirates - Jake's Musical Pirate Ship Bucky

As far as Mckayla’s presents go, her pretend makeup is the absolute best, pretend makeup that exists on the market:

Little Cosmetics Essential Pretend Makeup Set

It is completely pretend but it seems totally real. So perfect.

Finally, I made the kids some colorful ribbon streamers and it has also been a BIG hit as a dancing accessory.

dancing with ribbon streamers

Thanks to everyone who commented on my Facebook page about what gifts your kids are using most…. it gives me good ideas for my kiddos birthdays in 2014.

December 31, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

DIY Ribbon Streamers {With Music Recommendations}

I know y’all are probably burnt out on all-things-present-related.

But, I did want to share a simple idea that was a hit in our house and it doesn’t have to be packaged as a present…my DIY ribbon streamers.

dancing with ribbon streamers

I made ribbon streamers for my nieces and my kiddos because my friend Eliza uses them in her music classes and they are just too perfect for little movers and shakers.

Case in point:

They are SO easy to make and the materials can be found anywhere, but I bought mine at Walmart {with the exception of my ribbon which I bought at Hobby Lobby when they had a half off sale}:

You just need ribbon, scissors (which didn’t make it in the picture because I do everything in a hurry), a lighter, bangles (bracelets), and a hot glue gun is optional.

I picked out 5 different color spools and this made 7 ribbon streamers.

I double-knotted each ribbon onto the bangles

Then I cut them about the same length – about 12-14 inches from the bracelet.

Finally, I burnt the edges with a lighter so they wouldn’t fray.

(I took a picture but I can’t find it)…once again I do everything in a hurry.

My kids love to dance to this CD at all times:

50 Fun Songs with Mr. Ray Activity Kit (Packaged in carrying case with Stickers, Crayons and Coloring Book)

But, Johnette Downing’s Scarf Activity Songs CD is my favorite to use scarves or ribbons streamers to dance to because the lyrics give directions for moving with the scarves/streamers:

The Second Line - Scarf Activity Songs

I also gave my niece the idea to make these with her school colors for spirit week so it is a great gift for older kids as well! It’s a modern lemonade-stand-idea for all those little entrepreneurs out there.

You can make these for your kids or “Pin” for a future gift idea, but either way this is our new favorite dancing accessory so it’s worth sharing! 🙂

December 29, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

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