Fun at Home

A great activitity and information source for earthday, environmental education, peace and earth sciences. Planetpals adorable characters teach about the planet and everything in it in a fun way through lesson

On your next vacation, pick up some large sized postcards and turn them into a Jigsaw Puzzle!  Ages 4+ You need: postcards (the larger sizes work best) poster board glue stick scissors What to do:

Very much like Oriental Trading Company and US Toy Company, RI Novelty has lots of goody bag treats and party supplies.  If Oriental Trading Company or US Toy doesn't have the mood rings, sand art supplies

Bookhive has some really pretty printable bookplates for kids.  They are formatted to fit on Avery labels so you can print some of your very own bookplates for your favorites bookworms!

I have used Oriental Trading Company many times in the past for great goody bags but sometimes their selection of say, lip gloss, was limited.  Then I received a catalog from US Toy Company in the mail. 

Smithsonian Kids' website has a nice section of printable activity sheets. These educational activity sheets include word and number games, art exercises and fun quizzes. With each activity, kids learn something

Harper Collins Children's Books has a great section of their website that has Printables from popular books like Charlotte's Web, Amelia Bedelia, Fancy Nancy, Goodnight Moon, Harold & the Purple Crayon

Because we do lots of arts and craft activities, we have our finished products all over the house, and our guests always ask where we made them.  When they hear that we made it home, they are usually surprised

Do you like to knit?  Do you want to share your hobby with your child? Knitwhits is a great company that offers knitting kits for projects from hats to cat toys.  They offer projects

Recently my daughter was invited to a birthday party for someone who "has it all", I wanted to make something special, yet inexpensive for her to give her friend.  At most craft stores you can find

Planning a party and looking for some great kids theme party ideas? Celebrate Express has a nice section of their website with Free Kids Party Ideas by party theme. They have some great birthday party ideas here

This is a cool idea from Family Fun that we tried and it worked really well. Family Fun used this technique for making t-shirts with fabric paint, and there is a video demonstration that is helpful. I thought

Quick craft idea for summer: Gather all the rocks and stones you have been collecting at the seashore, wash them off, and paint them with your kids.  Then scatter them throughout your garden.  Use acrylic

Many birthday party ideas from PBS Kids' Sprout Online.  Some themes include "Sprout friends" [like Thomas, Wiggles and Chica ] and includes a shopping list, instructions and videos to see how

Sprout Online has some very cute craft ideas for preschoolers.  Printable How To's outline everything you need for many unique projects.  Sample projects include: helping out coupon booklets

Michael's Craft Store has two different types of classes for kids this summer. There is a half-hour drop in class for ages 5 to 12, which costs about $2. And there is a crafts camp that is every day for a week

I’m always looking for new and interesting crafts to do with my daughter, and HearthSong has some of the most unusual craft kits for kids that I’ve found. We used two of their valentine card kits and

Family Education's website has over 100 printables for all ages. Some are even scrapbook type sheets for parents to fill out about their children. They range from intricate coloring sheets to puzzles to science

American Girl's website has some really pretty color printables. They call them Scrapbook printables, but they are so cute you could use them for all sorts of projects. Categories include: Decorative Letters

The Boston Children's Museum has some fun home activities on their website in the Parents section. This one guides you through making butter - with answers to all the "why?"s you hear all the time!

Family Education's website has a large section of arts & crafts activities for preschoolers.  Many of these activities are adapted from the Preschooler's Busy Book. Categories include: Activities

The New York Times Learning Network's website has over 100 crossword puzzles for kids. The puzzles are edited by the Times puzzle master, Will Shortz. If your browser supports Java, you can play the puzzle

The First Anti-Coloring Book by Susan Striker is an amazing activity book in which the author challenges your child's idea of coloring. She provides a small part of a drawing and asks your child to complete

We love Dover Publications' Coloring and Activity Books.  They have intricate designs for older kids to color (Victorian House Coloring Book) as well as easier designs for the smaller ones (My First ABC

We love the Fairy Houses book and were happy to find a website companion to the series. The Fairy Houses coloring pages are beautiful images that you can print and color in after you read the book! Love fairies?

The National Wildlife Federation has a Coloring Pages section of their website with over 40 coloring pages in the following categories: Mammals Reptiles, Amphibians & Fish Insects, Spiders & More Birds

Noggin has some great shows for kids - and they have a great section of their website for printables. Really unique printables are available here - things like:Badges - Be a police chief, fire chief, pilot or a

Hands on Crafts for Kids is a neat PBS show, and they also have a website where you can find all of the projects that they make on the show. They give full directions and list the supplies you need, and they recently

Sesame Workshop has a great section on their website for Sesame Street Coloring Pages.  Over 100 printable coloring pages featuring your kids' favorite characters.  Buy extra toner and paper now -

This website has free craft instructions, patterns, ideas, hints and tips. There are holiday craft projects and everyday projects. There are easier and intermediate projects, including sewing projects. Check it

This cool website is all about bubbles--the secret recipe for fantastic bubbles, bubble engineering, making giant bubble tubes, bubble activities and games, etc. There's even a free poster to download and print

AMC Theaters offers discount tickets ($4-$6) for matinees before noon on weekends and holidays!  It's a little bit of a twist on the classic dinner and a movie date but sometimes you gotta get a little

Kaboose has a great clip art page to help you make all those invitations, announcements and cute printables! My kids love the fairies the most, but other clip art categories include: BirthdaysSummerBaseballGeneral

Some PG or PG13, or even some R, movies are ok for my kids and some are absolutely not, but unless I saw the movie, I couldn't tell. Of course, if I saw it, then I couldn't take the kids without having to

This site lists unusual attractions throughout the United States, such as a Mother's Day Shrine, the World's Largest Catsup Bottle, the Albino Squirrel Capitol of the World, a beer can house, and much more

This is one of my go-to sites for coloring pages, cutting pages and craft ideas. They have literally hundreds of these pages, so you never have to duplicate projects. I find them helpful for rainy day playdates

I'm assuming everyone knows about Plaster Funtime, the awesome place where you walk in, choose a plaster statue, and sit down and paint it. For about 10--15 dollars, you get the paint, the statue and the fun

 I take thousands of pictures. But I need a fast, easy way to do something with them all. I found it with Picasa's collage feature. In two seconds, I can throw together a fun collage from a weekend in Storyland

I loved Highlights as a kid, but my daughter isn’t old enough for it yet, so I was happy when I saw that they now have a new preschool version, called Highlights High-Five.  I ordered it right away and

Did you know that you can sign up to receive Highlights' Hidden Pictures Hotlink monthly via email? It sends you an email when the new Hidden Pictures is available on their website! My kids LOVE them. You

Wondertime has a great section of cutting pages that my four year old adores. Print these pages, add Scissors, and you're ready to go! These pages have cute designs and have different lins to cut for different

Before I had my eight month old, I was a preschool special education teacher and was constantly using this wonderful website!  Activities, songs, games, recipes, calendars, printables and reward charts can

Quincy's Thomas Crane Public Library offers the BEST museum pass program!  Great for family outings and entertaining guests from out of town!  Library card holders may reserve passes or pick up coupons

My daughter LOVES horses and I've picked up some great theme packages from this website for birthdays for over 5 years now...all our favors usually come from Oriental Trading Company!

Easy and pretty rainy day art project: Get regular, old fashioned coffee filters and have the kids color on them with washable markers. Don't put too much color on and don't fill up the whole filter. Then

Mom Basics, a parent/child community + resource web site, features craft pages. Check out everyday crafts, seasonal crafts, and holiday crafts. You'll also find crafty tips, such as using cookie cutters to trace

There is no doubt that music encourages wonderful, important development in children! I adore this site and receive their wonderful catalog in the mail.  It's worth taking a peak - it's great.

Oriental Trading Company is an excellent website for finding craft ideas for your kids. Their craft kits come with twelve separate crafts, so they are perfect for playdates and parties. Their selection is extensive

One of our all-time favorite kids CDs is SteveSongs "Marvelous Day".  Our whole family loves this guy and this CD just never seems to get old.  I really mean it.  You can put this

This is so simple, you'll be saying why didn't I think of that? Choose a spring or summer day when the 5-day forecast does not call for rain. Have each family member lie down on the driveway, farthest away