Let's Power Down!

Having no power for over 15 hours really gives someone a lot of time to think!

While in the dark without cable, internet, computer and cell phone I had an idea for a history lesson for children.

While teaching about the light bulb being invented you should have a historic week. During this week you would need to:

1. Turn off all lights

      This will help the students see just how big of an impact electricity and the light bulb has had on our country

2. No electronics in the classroom this week!

       This will allow the children to see how children learned before there was all this technology around. This might even allow them to appreciate what they have now.

=)

I cannot wait to do this for an entire week with my class! I would love to use candle light to teach during this week but I do not think the school would approve of it. I would try and talk to them and maybe the board to explain why. If not then I can find an alternative to the candles.

Shop Till You Drop!!

What do most girls love to do?? You guessed it SHOP! 

I don't know about you but I LOVE shopping! However I am a HUGE bargain shopper... especially when it comes to crafting supplies. 

When you are doing crafts with children or just for fun it can become costly quickly! 

The most helpful tip I can think of is shop wisely and plan ahead of time! Use coupons and shop during sales or clearances! (hopefully you can use them during these sales!!)

Last Saturday I decided to go to some estate sales with my Grandma (who I call Hammy). At one place I saw close to 20 shoe boxes on shelves. I could kind of see into these boxes and saw a couple of crafting items. So what did I do? 

I went through all 20 boxes! Yes I probably looked a bit mad while sorting through all of this but I did not want to miss one single good item!

Out of the 20 boxes I only got 8 (7 pictured below) and a box of craft sticks (around 1,000 craft sticks) for .....

$7.75 

I am so excited to start making projects with all of these awesome items! The lady that had these also had a couple started projects inside which I can not wait to learn about and try to finish. 

Just from this amazing buy I have project supplies and ideas that I could use for an entire unit about letters! I would say I got a pretty good deal! 

When on a budget for crafting supplies and other educational or organizational products look into yard and estate sales! Chances are you will find amazing brand new products that will bring you and your classroom or even just you and your children/grandchildren lots of fun and new projects!

Video Games

I love playing video games and I know how bad they can be for children. There is a lot of violence in video games and many people feel that children should not be allowed to play them. However, I disagree; I feel that video games can be useful for children.

Yes children in elementary school should not play Mature rated video games but it does not mean that all video games are bad for them.

With the increase of obesity I do feel that video games should be timed and children should play them for less than half an hour a day. However some video games can be played for longer periods of time.

For example I have a Wii, which is amazing! I play the game Just Dance (all of them!) For games like these, your body is the controller and you have to be up and moving around in order to play and receive points.

I highly recommend the Just Dance Games for either children or adults. While your child is dancing they are exercising without even noticing.


According to an online calorie calculator a child who dances (aerobic) for 10 minutes who weighs around 50 lbs will burn 22 calories in that time.  That is just three songs!

If you do not have a Wii or Xbox with kinect, you can use YouTube to find some of the songs and play them through your phone or computer.

Other traditional video games can be played but should be kept at a minimum; so that children can attempt with other things in life and live active lifestyles.