Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

10 Ways to Say “I Love You”

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With Valentine’s Day coming up soon, it’s easy to find ways to say “I love you.”

But, what about all the other days of the year?

I’ve got 10 easy ways to show your love that you can do any day. They’re perfect for you to do for your kids or your spouse and are even wonderful ways for kids to say “I love you” to their parents, siblings, or friends.

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1. Make their favorite meal and have a special dinner. This will always brighten up someone’s day.

2. Give them a secret love note. Find the details to make these fun secret notes at Awesomely Awake.

(via Awesomely Awake)

3. Hug them – there’s nothing better than a big, warm hug. So, hug the ones you love often!

4. Give them your time. Do one of their chores for them. Clean their room. Run an errand for them. You get the idea!

5. Make them a special card and surprise them with it! It doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Our Heart-Stamped Cards would be a perfect surprise.

6. Celebrate the small things. Celebrate the first loose tooth or the day they learn to write their name. Make sure you let them know they are special.

7. “Heart Attack” them! Learn about this special idea at Toddler Approved.

(via Toddler Approved)

8. Write them a love letter. Write your child a letter to let them know you love them and think they are special.

9. Make a love notes wipe-off board like this one from The Golden Gleam. It’s a wonderful way to show your love.

10. Spend time doing something they love, even if you don’t necessarily enjoy it. Watch that baseball game with them even if you’d rather be watching House Hunters. It will mean a lot!

*Bonus idea: Just say it!! Never forget to tell the people you love that you love them!

What are some ways you like to say “I love you?”

Sponge-Printed Valentines

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When thinking about Valentines, I can’t forget to include our favorite Valentine’s book, Max’s Valentine by Rosemary Wells.

It’s a simple book, in very typical Max and Ruby style. But, year in and year out, this is our most requested Valentine book at our house.

So, I knew we had to do a Valentine’s craft based on our favorite book.

I cut out several hearts from sturdy paper (such as card stock) and got out a few supplies.

Since Ruby used an awful lot of glitter in this book, we made sure we had quite a bit on hand.

We used sponges instead of paintbrushes. I used a clothes pin to help the girls hold on to the sponges.

After setting up everything, I stepped back and let the girls do what they wanted.

The painting was such an amazingly nice and neat process, but then came the glitter! And boy did we use the glitter!

You’ve got to make sure everything is well glittered, right?

After attaching a few bits of tissue paper, the girls were done. Now we’ve got some nice and sparkly Valentines inspired by Max and Ruby.

What is your kid’s favorite Valentine’s book?

Building Blocks and Math Fun

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When I picked up the book Jack the Builder (MathStart 1) by Stuart J. Murphy at the library, I didn’t expect to have so much fun with it.

We learned a new math concept, counting on, while playing with blocks. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Jack the Builder is part of the MathStart 1 series of books.

This is a series that teaches kids about basic math concepts through stories. The book we chose talked about counting on, an early step to addition.

If you have three blocks then add two more, start counting from 3 then 4, 5. You have 5 blocks.

Jack kept adding more and more blocks all the while encouraging the reader to add with him.

What really got my girls excited was Jack’s imagination.

He didn’t just build simple towers with blocks, he built hot dog stands, boats, and rockets.

We were encouraged to get out our blocks and see what we could build.

We played and talked about math for an entire afternoon.

We built towers, circus trains, and village by the sea.

We built wide structures and high structures.

We had a competition to see who could build the highest tower.

All the while, we were counting, adding, and subtracting. This was the perfect way to learn a little about math!

Do you have any sneaky ideas for teaching math skills?

Cooking With Kids: Fruit Salad

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I don’t really write too many cooking posts.

It’s not that I don’t like to cook or never cook with the kids, but I just haven’t figured out how to do it and take pictures at the same time!

But, I did want to share the one project that gets the girls screaming with glee if I suggest it: fruit salad. They love to make it and they love to eat it.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

It’s always a collaborative project.

We each choose one to two fruits we want in the salad, which often results in a shopping trip.

The shopping is part of the fun for us, but this project most certainly does not need to involve shopping. Just use what you already have!

Bananas and blueberries always seem to be a mainstay in our salads. Lizzie loves the responsibility of cutting the banana. It’s the perfect fruit to teach knife skills. It’s soft, easy to cut, and usually stays put on the cutting board. AJ is typically responsible for adding the blueberries.

I’ll tackle the harder fruits, like apples or pears. When everything is in the bowl, the girls will take turns stirring. We don’t add anything else to the salad, just the fruit. Nothing else is needed.

Sometimes we use all fresh fruit, and sometimes we will use fruit from a can. This is usually because it’s winter and it’s sometimes hard to find fresh fruit that tastes good. If you want peaches in January, more than likely they’ll come from a can!

In this particular fruit salad, we used:

1 banana
Handful of blueberries
1 apple
1 small can pineapple
1 small can peaches

The best part about fruit salad is that anything will work and it always tastes good together. We worked together, combined our favorites, and came up with something even better than if we just ate a banana! There’s nothing better!

What is your favorite thing to cook with your kids?

10 Ways to Learn About Weather

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It seems that kids have an endless fascination for weather.

And why not? It’s always around them, easy to experiment with, and always fun to learn about.

Here are 10 ways to learn about weather and have fun at the same time!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

1. Experiment with the wind. What is wind? How does it feel? Pretend to blow in the wind. Go outside on a windy day. Fly a kite if the day is nice. Or, become the wind yourself like Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas shows in this fun wind experiment, Can the Wind Move It.

2. Make a rain gauge and measure the rain. Greening Sam and Avery shows you how to make this simple rain gauge.

(via Greening Sam and Avery)

3. Make a tornado. Try the classic tornado in a bottle experiment. You’ll need to round up two 2-liter bottles for the trick, but it’s definitely fun! Weather Wiz Kids has a wonderful explanation of how to do this experiment.

4. Make a rainbow and learn all the colors in a rainbow. Search for one after a rain and then make your own. Draw one, paint one, or make a collage. Did you know you can even make one show up on the back of a cd if you hold it up in the sunlight? Check out this post from Buggy and Buddy to find out how.

5. Make it rain in your own kitchen. Yes you can, and it won’t make a mess either. Sense of Wonder shows you how.

6. Learn about temperature and experiment with hot and cold using ice. Place ice in different areas, in the sunlight for a warm area and in the refrigerator for a cold area, and see how long it takes to melt. Science Sparks shows you a fun example of this experiment with melting ice.

7. Read a book about weather. There are tons of books written for any reading level. Check the selection at your library and find a few. The nonfiction selection is usually quite large. A great choice is Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons. Or, you can find a fiction choice in which weather is the main subject and use the story to further conversation about the weather. The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow is a great fiction choice to get you talking about the weather.

8. Make a fun chart and chart the weather everyday. Warm Hot Chocolate shows you how to make this adorable weather dial.

(via Warm Hot Chocolate)

9. Make your own DIY weather station and learn to collect data. Kitchen Counter Chronicles shows you how to make your own simple backyard weather station.

10. Learn about clouds and create some of your own. What are the different types of clouds and what do they look like. Then get crafty and make your own clouds like we did! The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola is a great reference for learning about clouds.

*Bonus Activity: Experience the weather! Play in the rain, throw snowballs, or soak up the sun. Why is weather so much fun to learn about? Because, it’s so easy to experience!

***While researching this post, I came across a wonderful website, Weather Wiz Kids, designed to teach kids about weather. It was created by a meteorologist and provides lots of fun activities, experiments, and information. If you and your kids are interested in learning about weather, this is the perfect site to check out! ***

Have you done any fun activities about the weather?

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Sun and Rain Sensory Bottles

10 Ways to Play with Snow

Raindrop Mobiles

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