Changes Coming Soon

I am still working out the details, but, in the near future, a big change is coming to Little Fun; Little Learning. I think it will be a good change, and I will let you know what is happening as soon as the details are finalized. Meanwhile, I intend to put up a regular post tomorrow. Until then, take care!

Fun-filled Friday to Return Next Week

I apologize for this, but with all the excitement of the past week and having to make preparations for my youngest daughter's party tomorrow, I'm completely out of time for Fun-filled Friday. I'll bring it back with five fun links next Friday. Until then, remember to enjoy your child!

And the Winner Is...

Thank you to all who participated in my little contest for the child's prize pack. I wish I could give every one of you a prize, but, unfortunately, I can't. So I used a random number generator this morning, and it selected the number corresponding to the comment left by Heather, whom I have already contacted.

Thank you again for playing along, and I hope you stop by again to see what fun activities and educational ideas are offered here. Also, if you would leave me a comment to let me know what you think about my idea to start a Carnival of Family Fun, I would really appreciate it. The Carnival would feature both your ideas for having fun together as a family and your stories about fun time you spent together as a family. I'd like to know if you think this is a good idea, don't care about it, or think it is totally lame.

For "The Littles" - Closed

Click to see the winner announcement. I would also appreciate your input on an idea I have.


If you don't already know, there is a huge Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway going on hosted by Shannon of Rocks in My Dryer. Absolutely H.U.G.E!!!!! Over 400 participants! At RS Designs, I am offering one lucky person the chance to choose 3 out of 4 options to make over their blog, and at The Porch Light, I am giving away my piano solo CD, He Giveth More Grace. My design partner at RS Designs, Linda, is giving away 2 free headers at Mama's Coffee Corner, her personal blog. Now I'm adding Little Fun; Little Learning to the list.

In keeping with the theme of this blog (focusing on fun activities and educational ideas for the littles - children ages 0-5), I am giving away 2 workbooks (your choice of preschool or kindergarten), sidewalk chalk, a box of crayons, and a book (either a coloring book or a story book - not sure yet). (Sorry: no international participants for this one, please, though your comments are still welcome). {Added for clarification: this is one big prize pack, not individual prizes.}

Rules:

• Leave a comment no later than 11:59 p.m. Thursday night.
• Make sure you leave some way for me to contact you: an e-mail address or working URL would be great.
• One entry only, please. Multiple entries will be deleted, leaving everyone on a level playing field.

That's all there is to it! Have fun!

Contest Galore!

Here's another contest: at my personal blog, The Porch Light, I am giving away a special prize as part of the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway hosted by Shannon of Rocks in My Dryer. Make sure you stop by her place - the contest just began at 8:00 a.m. CST this morning, and there are already over 100 participants. I bet there will be more than 1,000 participants in the end - what fun!

It's Time

Today marks the beginning of the Parker love-fest, and it couldn't begin at a better time. Parker is not doing very well right now. Stop by and make your donation anytime until Friday. Follow the directions, and you will be entered in a drawing for 17 great prizes.

Fun-filled Friday

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

Well, I almost missed it! I'm glad I realized that fact in the nick of time. I hope your week has gone well. Mine has flown by.

Here are today's five fabulous links:

1. ParentWonder.com offers 70 Toddler Games and Activities You Can Play and Do With Your Child. Trust me, you have to at least take a look at their list.
2. Family Education gives us directions for Edible Jewelry. I know my girls will think this is very cool; I'm going to be picky about what candy I use, though!
3. My Education Journal shares 10 things your child can do with empty plastic bottles.
4. Family Fun sounds like my kind of site. For more fun with bottles, check out their Bottle Ball Game.
5. Introduce your child to the fun-filled world of cooking. Spatulatta: cooking 4 kids online features recipes by kids for kids. Here's a link to their snack recipes, but take the time to really explore this site, too.

That's all for this week's edition of Fun-Filled Friday. Until next week, remember to take time to enjoy your children.

What If This Were Your Child?

Parker is a special little boy with huge medical problems: he not only suffers from Downs Syndrome but also from larger, more critical issues. His family's insurance provider has run true to stereotypical form and has refused to assist with medical devices of life-and-death importance for Parker. Parker's family faces ever-mounting medical bills with only the prospect of more bills since Parker needs more surgery.

Melody of Slurping Life decided to do something to help Parker and his family and is holding a fund raiser from July 23 through July 27. To generate more interest and add greater incentive, Melody is also giving away prizes and has asked others, including myself, to donate prizes as well. Prizes include, courtesy of Hewlett-Packard, a digital camera/printer/accessories package retailing for approximately $430. To be eligible to win a prize, you must donate a minimum of $2, though a larger contribution would certainly be appreciated. All donations will go directly to an account accessible by Parker's parents.

As I mentioned, Melody contacted me about donating a prize, and I was happy to have been asked to be a part of this fund raiser. I am donating a custom website design update from RS Designs (my design website), valued at $55 - $120 (depending on options chosen). The winner of this prize may choose 3 of the following options:

1. Web site color change (change the colors of your existing template, including images)
2. New background image
3. Custom sidebar image
4. Custom header
5. Custom advertising banner.

Make a note to stop by Slurping Life sometime during July 23 through July 27. If you can post about this yourself, that would be great. The more people who are aware of this, the more people who will contribute. Whatever you can do to help is greatly appreciated.

A Look at the Pros and Cons of Homschooling

I already told you why I plan to homeschool my girls. Today, I ran across a great article detailing both the pros and cons of homeschooling. In it, Isabel Shaw examines the issue from both sides, going into a depth of detail that, she said, comes from experienced homeschoolers. Her exact words:

"Almost ten years ago, when I was making the decision to homeschool, I wrote up a list of pros and cons. The pros won me over, but since then, I've discovered there were many more pros and cons that I couldn't possibly have anticipated!

To help other parents who are considering homeschooling, here is a new list of pros and cons. This list is based on both my experience and the experiences of dozens of families who've shared with me the ups and downs of their day-to-day homeschooling."

Some of the pros:

• Increased freedom of various kinds
• Strengthened family relationships
• Elimination of busywork

Some of the cons:

• Time restraints
• No break for Mom
• Living outside the norm

If you are in the process of making a decision regarding homeschooling your child, I strongly encourage you to go read the entire article to obtain a balanced view of both sides of the homeschooling coin.

Deal Alert

I stopped by Target yesterday and found all sorts of neat goodies in their dollar section. I bought letter, phonics, and first words flashcards, 4 laminated placemat sized learning aids (addition, subtraction, print alphabet, and cursive alphabet) that come with a dry erase marker/eraser so that the child can write directly on the poster, an alphabet puzzle for ages 2 and up, a workbook for numbers 1-12, an phonics review workbook, and a little journal for little children. Each item was a dollar, and they had many more educational items.

Fun-filled Friday

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

I thought I'd try something new and make Friday the day to share 5 links relating to children and fun.

• At The New Parent, Frank gives us 5 Loving Things to Do with Our Little Ones
• Tracy of Mom's Niche gives us ideas for fun, no-cost activities to try this summer.
• Coolest Kid Birthday Parties is the place to go for free ideas for themed parties. They offer free printables, and I have used their ideas for more than just birthday parties.
• Can't make it to the zoo? Brenda of Keeping Afloat ... Most Days tells us about zoo cams, a free way to "take" your children to the zoo.
  
• The Frugal Life also offers a long, detailed list of ideas for a fun and productive summer with your kids.

That's all of this week's Fun-Filled Friday. Until next week, remember to take time to enjoy your children.

Ideas for Special Portraits

Who says that you have to go to a studio to end up with great photos of your children? The last time we went to a portrait studio was when we took Baby Bear to Olan Mills nearly 2 years ago. While we probably will go for a family portrait of us and the girls, I doubt we'll take the girls to a studio anytime soon.

We actually have fun taking our girls' photos. Mr. Incredible's grandparents have a lovely home with flowers everywhere. Around Easter, one particular bed of creeping phlox bursts into full bloom, creating the perfect backdrop for beautiful portraits - like the one of Miss Muffet at the top of this post.

Here are tips to help you create beautiful portraits of your children:

• Work around your child's schedule. I cannot stress this enough! If your child is happiest after breakfast, do your best to take photos then.
• Take along a snack and drink. You may think that it will only take a half hour to get that perfect photo, but time has a way of slipping away. Besides, snacks are great for coaxing uncooperative little ones into a more helpful from of mind. When we took the photo of Miss Muffet pictured above, we kept popping peanuts into her and her sisters' mouths to get them to sit still.
• Bring favorite toys for infants and toddlers. These can be cute and can also be used to distract a fussing child. Some of our favorite infant photos of Pookie Bear, our oldest daughter, are of her as an 8 day old infant lying on our baby-blanket-covered couch surrounded by her Winnie the Pooh character friends.
  
• Be prepared to shoot many photos. This means having extra film (unless you have a digital camera) and making sure your batteries are up to the task. It would be disappointing to run out of film or battery power without having captured "the" shot.
• Take your cue from your child. Don't make this a time of frustration. If your child is telling you that he has had enough of this picture-taking business, it's best to end the session and try again later if you are not satisfied with the photos you have taken.

So you don't have relatives with a great yard? Try some of these free places:

• Local parks - several of ours have lovely flower beds, ponds, fountains, and other features
• Historic homes - most places only charge for a tour of the place, not for admittance to the ground, which are often lovely
• Old churches
• Beach - if you happen to live close enough
• Mountains - ditto
• A neighbor's beautiful garden - ask nicely, and you might be surprised to get an affirmative answer. If you do, make sure to send at least a thank you card, preferably a gift.

Once you start looking around, you'll be getting ideas for unique portraits all the time.

Great idea?

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

I had what I think is a wonderful idea, but I'd like your input.

Little Fun; Little Learning is supposed to focus on both fun activities and educational ideas; however, lately, it seems the emphasis has been more about education than fun. My idea is to create The Carnival of Family Fun. The purpose of this carnival would be to promote family togetherness through the submission of articles (posts) containing ideas for or personal stories about having fun together as a family. I would love to see families in all stages of life participating.

So what do you think? Would you like to to read or participate in such a carnival? Or is this a lame idea that should be dispatched of most speedily? Your input on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Letter Y crafts and activities

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

On to the letter Y!

• From my new favorite site, Brightly Beaming Resources, comes the Letter of the Week segment for the Letter Y. Their site includes great ideas relating Y to Language Arts, Music, Snacks, Bible Story/Character Trait, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art Projects, Sport and Games, and a Field Trip. (I had to laugh when I saw their link to this Internet yodel course! I particularly liked the disclaimer: "I take no responsibility for the consequences of yodeling in social situations. This includes: lawsuits, strange looks, uproarious laughing, traffic accidents, major moves up or down in the stock market, divorces or loss of employment. However, I do accept full responsibility for the smiles and laughter the practice of yodeling might elicit. - Norm, 1996"
• EdHelper.com offers printable Letter Y stories, coloring pages, and a Letter Y word with pictures puzzle book, and more.
• Preschool Education.com has Y Arts and Crafts (featuring yarn, yellow, and yo-yo's), Music and Songs about yaks, and Snacks (yams and yogosicles - popsicles made with yogurt).
• At Preschool by Stormie, you will learn how to make yogurt fingerpaint, something your child will surely love.

As always, the following sites offer excellent alphabet activity resources:

• First-School
• Preschool Express by Jean Warren
• Everything Preschool