Coloring and Activity Pages

While on Facebook this evening, I saw a friend had posted how much she loved Color Wonder paint.  Having never heard of it, I decided to Google it to find out what it's all about.  The "paint" is clear, but magically appears on special paper.  Gone are the days of set up and clean up...where we had to wear smocks and worry about staining our clothes.

While on the Crayola website, I browsed around to see what other craft ideas they had to offer.  I happened upon the "Coloring Pages" section, which was actually quite impressive - well organized with not just coloring pages but also activity pages.  From puzzles and games to cut and color, they have quite a variety to choose from.  The beauty of it is that you can print them all at home for free, stick them in a binder, and save them for a rainy day.

Holiday Gifts

It is always a struggle to figure out what to give teachers and classmates for holiday celebrations (with budget an obvious concern).  There are a total of ten children in my daughter's daycare class (nine plus her) so I felt I could spend a little more on each child without spending too much total.  Since they are ages one to two, I didn't really want to get candy or sweets to put in their Valentine's bag, so I decided to go to the Dollar Store to buy stuffed animals (can be found cheap at Michael's, Target $1 spot, Dollar Store, etc).  I made personalized Valentines and had them printed as a 4x6 photo and put them in an envelope, then wrapped the cards around each of the stuffed animals' neck by punching holes in the envelope and tying ribbon through it.  They turned out very cute - the teachers raved about how much the kids would love them. 

Below is the Valentine I made, and at about 15 cents each, it's not that much more expensive than the generic ones you buy in the stores:

For the teachers, I made truffles and put them in a candy box (purchased a a package of 1/2 pound candy boxes at Michaels), which fit about six truffles.  I then put a personalized label on the front of each and tied it with a bow to jazz it up a bit.  

Below is the label I made: