2021 Amazon Prime Day Deals

Amazon Prime Day 2021 is June 21 & 22

Get excited, Amazon Prime Day 2021 is here! If you have birthdays coming up you still need to shop for, or have your Christmas lists prepared already, then Amazon Prime Day is the perfect day to tick items off those lists and save big at the same time! 

Amazon Prime Day is a sale event similar to Black Friday and Click Frenzy sales with many brands heavily reducing their items for one day {in this case 2 days}. The difference is Amazon Prime Day is limited to Prime members only. But, don't worry, if you're not already a Prime member you can sign up for a free 30 day trial and take advantage of all of the offers. Save big from the comfort of your own home and avoid the Christmas crowds.

How to make a Coral Reef Sensory Bottle

We're huge fans of sensory bottles in our house, and not just the kids, I love them too. I still have so many more sensory bottle ideas to make, but this week we made a coral reef sensory bottle just in time for World Oceans Day on June 8.

How to Make a Skittles Rainbow

Skittles famous advertising slogan is taste the rainbow, but did you know you can also use skittles to make a rainbow? In this post I'll show you exactly how to turn Skittles into a magical rainbow in seconds. If your kids love rainbows then they'll love this simple science experiment that's perfect to do at home or in the classroom. 

Edible Jelly Beach Small World + 39 Other Sensory Play Ideas

Do your kids love going to the beach? Mine do, but because we live a while away we don't get there as often as I'd like, so to substitute actual trips, we do lots of beach and ocean themed small world play. Normally I set these up using sand and water like a real beach, but this time I decided to do something a little different and create an edible beach small world using jelly and coconut. The girls absolutely loved it!

Follow the instructions below to create your own edible beach play at home, or in the classroom. I'm also going to share how you can find 39 other fun sensory play ideas.

Recycled Egg Carton Flower Bouquet

If you love doing recycled crafts at your place then you'll love these recycled egg carton flowers. The kids and I made them for Grandma for Mother's Day. They're an easy and affordable craft to make for birthdays, Mother's Day or just to have on display in the house. An added bonus is they'll never droop or wilt.

25 DIY Mother's Day Gifts Kids Can Make

When it comes to Mother's Day gifts I know the ones I cherish the most are the sentimental gifts from the kids, rather than store bought items. I love a good hand written letter or Mother's Day questionnaire and have a soft spot for pasta necklaces {even when they don't fit}. 

Mother's Day doesn't have to mean a mad dash to the shops with Dad, or spending heaps on gifts at the Mother's Day stall at school, there are so many practical DIY gifts kids can make themselves for Mum {or Grandma} at home. I've put together 25 easy Mother's Day gifts kids can make for mum, there's something for everyone whether she's into jewellery, flowers, gardening or candles. Lots of these gift ideas are also suitable to do at school or daycare as a whole class activity.

How to Build Disney Inspired Castles with Connetix Magnetic Tiles

If you have a little one who loves Disney movies, then they'll be blown away if you create their very own Disney inspired castle from magnetic tiles! Our girls are firmly obsessed with Disney movies {and just quietly I still am too}. In our house Frozen {and Frozen II}, Tangled and The Little Mermaid are on constant rotation. 

Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, Rapunzel and Ariel make regular appearances in my girls imaginary play, so I decided to extend on their interests and gave myself a challenge to recreate Disney princess castles with Connetix tiles. Each week for the past few weeks I've built a new castle from one of their favourite movies and I'm sharing them all here so you can do the same for your kids too.

The Ultimate Egg Dyeing Guide: 22 Ways to Dye or Decorate Eggs for Easter

One of my favourite Easter traditions as a kid was dyeing eggs for display. But how do you dye eggs for Easter? In this post I'll show you 22 different ways you can dye and decorate eggs for Easter. Whether you have white, brown or plastic eggs doesn't really matter, there's easy Easter dyeing ideas for all types of eggs.

Free Printable Indoor Easter Egg Hunt Clues

I love doing an Easter egg hunt with the kids each year, but I'm always too scared critters will get to the eggs if we leave them outside, so each year we do an indoor hunt. This year I've got creative and made my own Easter hunt clues and I'm sharing them here so you can download them too! 

If you don't have a backyard, or are too paranoid to leave treats in the backyard like me, these free printable Easter hunt clues will be the perfect way to set up a fun and easy indoor Easter egg hunt. Mix and match the clues in any order to create an indoor egg hunt to suit your family.

Free Printable Easter Playdough Mats

You may have noticed that I've started making a few printable products lately {yay for free printables right} and that's because I recently discovered Canva and am firmly obsessed with creating all the things for my kids and the blog. My latest creation is this set of free Easter playdough mats which my girls have been loving. 

These playdough mats are great for young kids from toddlers through to primary school students. Use the playdough mats for playing at home, as a daycare activity, for playgroup or in the classroom.

Easter Search & Find I-Spy Game - Free Printable

If you're looking for a fun Easter activity that involves virtually no set up, no clean up and no chocolate high after, then this is it! I've created a free printable Easter I-Spy game that you can download to use with the kids at home, or at school as a classroom activity.

25 Rainbow Crafts for Kids

Rainbow crafts are a fun way to brighten up a dull day and a great way to celebrate St Patrick's Day with kids of all ages. I've put together 25 different rainbow crafts for toddlers right through to teens. Kids can learn colours, practice fine motor skills and have fun exploring different materials while cutting, painting, weaving, stitching and sticking together lots of different rainbows.

How to make DIY Plastic Egg Sensory Shakers

Want to know the thing I love most about Easter? No, it's not chocolate {although that is a bonus!}. What I love most are the plastic eggs. Weird I know, but they're just so versatile for play, and they're so cheap! Today I'm going to show you how you {and your kids} can turn plastic Easter eggs into sensory music shakers with just a few items from your pantry or craft drawer.

2021 Non Chocolate Easter Gift Ideas for Kids

Whether you have kids with allergies, want to avoid the sugar high that comes with chocolate, or just want gifts that will last longer than 5 minutes, there's something in this post for you. I've put together a heap of non chocolate Easter gift ideas for kids of all ages so the Easter bunny can bring something other than chocolate for the kids this year. There's gift ideas for creative kids who love art and craft, toys, games, books and gifts for tweens.

DIY Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamp Painting

If you're after an inexpensive, easy to set up Valentine's craft activity for toddlers, preschoolers or school kids then look no further because heart stamp painting is about as easy as it comes. The best part is you can make the heart stamp yourself from empty toilet paper rolls or cardboard tubes you have at home. Heart stamping is also a great art activity for daycare, kindy or school and can be used to make Valentines gifts for family and friends.

Heart stamps can be used for painting on paper or canvases, making Valentine's cards, homemade wrapping paper or can be used to stamp in playdough {although they will probably disintegrate after a few uses}. They're also a great way for children to practice hand/eye co-ordination and hand strengthening as they push down the heart. Painting with them is also a fun process art activity as each piece of art will be different despite using the same stamp shape.

Kmart Playroom Storage Solutions & Hacks

If you want to set up a Pinterest or Instagram worthy playroom, but don't have a huge amount of cash to splash, don't worry Kmart has everything you need! Whether you want to add some style or just need things to be functional, Kmart Australia have playroom storage solutions for all different decorating tastes at really affordable prices. I've put together a list of our favourite Kmart playroom storage solutions and hacks for all the books, toys and general clutter that's taking over your toy room.

Where to Buy The Best Miniland Doll Clothes on Etsy

You've just bought an adorable Miniland doll {or 6 like me, eek} and now you want some gorgeous clothes to go with it. Most of them come either naked or with a cotton underwear set, but don't worry there are heaps of amazing handmade dolls clothes available to fit Miniland dolls. Whether you love vintage or modern styles there's a business that will make exactly what you're looking for. To save you spending ages searching for them, I've put together a list of the best Miniland dolls clothes on Etsy.

Image: Little Luna Nova

How to Prepare Preschoolers for Primary School: 7 Tips for Starting School

Starting school can be an extremely emotional time for children {and parents}. It's often the biggest change in routine kids have experienced in their lives and for many it will be the longest time they've spent away from their parents. Understandably children are likely to be anxious about the new environment, new rules and new people they'll meet at school. 

Many parents worry about academically preparing their kids for school and can often overlook other skills they'll need to know. While knowing the alphabet and numbers before school is helpful, there are many other important social, emotional and physical skills children will need to help make the transition as smooth as possible. Most children starting school {whether it's called prep, kindy, reception or foundation} are only 4-5 years old, so it can be a really scary time.

However, there are many ways we as parents can help to ease this anxiety for our kids and help them prepare for the transition to school. These are the 7 strategies we implemented to help our daughter when she started prep.

10 Easy Ways to Repurpose & Upcycle Kids Art

I know the thought of throwing out any of the kids masterpieces can be heart-wrenching, especially if you're a sentimental person like me who wants to keep everything, but at some point you'll have to face the reality of culling the hoards of pictures, paintings and letters that make their way into your home. 

However, just because you decide you don't want to store or display some of the kids artwork, doesn't mean it's destined for the recycling bin. In fact there are many creative ways you can upcycle kids art. I've put together a list of 10 easy ways to upcycle kids artwork and give them new life.

Kids drawings, paintings and even letters can easily be turned from scribbles on paper into practical objects. With a tiny bit of effort your scrap pile of art can be turned into free gifts for friends and family, homemade decorations and even functional items like placemats and envelopes.