Kristina

About Kristina

Kristina is a mom of two (a preschooler and a toddler) and a former Special Education teacher for children with communication disabilities. She writes about her creative explorations over at Toddler Approved. Her goal is to find ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.

{Dr Seuss} The Foot Book Inspired Craft: Flip Flop Craft

Flip Flop craft idea inspired by Dr Seuss' The Foot Book

The Foot Book is a classic children’s book by the fabulous Dr Seuss.  This adorable flip flip craft is the perfect extension of that book.  We at Kids Activities Blog hope that you enjoy our series of book inspired crafts and activities. The Foot Book Dr. Seuss is one of our favorite authors because of the [...]

Word Family Tic-Tac-Toe {Reading Game}

Here's a fun word family tic tac toe game to help your child learn to read

Kids love to play a good game of Tic Tac Toe.  So how about incorporating a word family or two into the game to reinforce what their developing reading skills?  Ahh, another sneaky learning activity that is so loved here at Kids Activities Blog! Word Family Today I am excited to share a simple reading [...]

Teaching Kids Life Skills: Being a Good Friend

Here are some simple ways for teaching kids to be a good friend!

Have you struggled with teaching kids about friendships?  Making friends (and keeping them) are important life skills to have.  Here are some simple ways to help teach your child about being a good friend.  We at Kids Activities Blog  know the importance of friendship because the only way to have a friend is to be [...]

Make a Puzzle: Reuse Holiday Cards

DIY puzzles 2

Puzzles are super easy to make. Do you still have any valentines or old Christmas cards left at your house? We have a bunch leftover from our holiday season. My son loves his valentines and won’t let me dump them into the recycling bin yet, so we’ve decided to reuse them in a variety of [...]

{Do It Yourself} Lego Instruction Book

Kids can make their own lego instruction book for a fun Do It Yourself project!

If your kids enjoy making their own Lego creations, then they might have fun making their own Lego instruction book so that others can enjoy building those same creations.  It’s a great Do It Yourself project.   Kids are so happy when they make something on their own and Kids Activities Blog loves to make [...]

Christmas Craft for Kids: Make a Wreath

christmas craft for kids

Celebrate the holidays with this Christmas craft for kids.  Let them use some simple household items to make a wreath all their own.  Kids Activities Blog wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas! Christmas Craft for Kids Our main goal during the holidays is to spend time together as a family connecting and [...]

Halloween Activities for Children {Ring Shaker}

Halloween activities for children

Halloween activities for children don’t have to be complicated or take a lot of effort to pull together.  This Halloween activity is simple and a great way to use any of the extra Halloween rings or objects you find around your house this time of year.  We love activities like this at Kids Activities Blog [...]

Early Learning with a Sticky Wall

early learning

Early Learning Sticky walls are a great early learning tool. They are created using contact paper on windows and walls, sticky side facing out. I love this simple sticky wall activity shared recently by Deborah at Teach Preschool. Sticky Walls can be used to teach basically any concept. We put up a Fall tree sticky [...]

Word Family {Game for Kids}

sticky note word family fun

Learning to build a word family is an important pre-reading activity.  Turn learning into a fun game for kids by letting your child use some colorful sticky notes! I  have been doing a lot of activities with my son to help us focus on some Back to School Basics skills. We’ve been working on simple [...]

Paper Crafts: Make a Boat

paper crafts: make a boat

Our summer has been filled with trips to coastal locations- Hawaii, North Carolina, Virginia, and Big Sur. My toddler and preschooler have spent a lot of time in the water and have been really excited by all of the boats they’ve seen. Today I wanted to share a simple paper boat craft we created based [...]

Olympics for Kids: Build a Lego Mascot

olympics for kids lego-mascot-feature

The Olympics start today and we are getting excited! We’ve been learning about the Olympics Mascots- Wenlock and Mandeville and thought it would be fun to create our own Lego mascots! This activity was very simple and open ended and my son and I had a great time building together. Materials Needed to Make an [...]

Summer Craft: Popsicle Stick Frame

embellished popsicle frames feature

Grab your glue gun and some popsicle sticks and come join me for a simple summer craft that everyone can make! Growing up I went to our town’s recreation department summer camp. I have fond memories of crafting with friends. I am pretty sure I made a lot of popsicle stick creations. Picture frames were [...]

Superhero Skip Counting with Paper Bag Books

superhero skip counting

I just recently got introduced to paper bag books and I LOVE them! Last month my son and I created a pirate paper bag book to teach him about story elements. This week I decided to take my son’s newest obsession (superheroes) and use them as we create a simple story that taught him about [...]

Kids Learning Games: Bathtub I-Spy

bathrub i spy

We’ve been wanting to do this activity in our backyard water table, but this week has been so chilly where we live that we decided to play it in the bathtub. My kids love playing in the water so bath time is long and chock full of learning opportunities. My son loves to try and spell new [...]

Homemade Gifts Kids Can Make: Sugar Scrub

scrub smelling

My son’s preschool celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week a little bit ago. I told him that teachers love to be pampered, so we decided to make some bath bombs (because with a name like that, who wouldn’t want to make them?) and some homemade sugar scrub. This week I am going to share our simple kid-made [...]

Choosing a Healthy Plate: A Nutrition Activity for Preschoolers

plate

Do you have any picky eaters at your house? Do you have kids who would rather eat fruit snacks than any fruit or vegetable you give them? My kids are complete opposites with regards to food. My 18 month old daughter will eat basically anything and my 4 yr old son is very selective with [...]

Games for Kids: Learning Action Words with Party Blowers

action words

Last week I shared a simple spelling activity that we created using a pink party blower and some bottle caps. This week I have another party blower activity that packs a punch! We used a party blower, a few Superhero friends, and some recycled materials to help us learn about action words! My son loves [...]

Games For Kids: Party Blower Spelling Game

Party blower spelling game

I have been attempting to start spring cleaning and discovered lots of extra party supplies in my craft cupboard. My son’s favorite discovery was two pink party blowers. After exploring with them for awhile, we used them and created three fun learning activities. This week I am going to share a simple spelling activity that [...]

Zoo Animal Hunting Game For Toddlers

zoo animal hunt

We recently took a day trip to our local zoo. My 16 month old daughter loved every part of the trip and was so excited about each animal. As we explored, I snapped pictures of her favorite animals so that we could talk about them more when we got home. Once we got home, I [...]

Cooking with Preschoolers – 5 Cool Things!

cooking with preschoolers

I love cooking with my kids! My son has been cooking a lot at preschool lately, so we’ve been practicing many of the recipes at home! I love all the skills that can be practiced while we cook together, including reading, following directions, measuring, strengthening fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and learning early math [...]

Building with Lego Candy

lego candy

Did you grow up eating candy buttons? I used to love them and recently bought some giant ones for my son’s Lego birthday party. I cut the candy buttons into a variety of shapes and passed them out in goodie bags. I tend to overbuy for parties… so I still have a lot lying around. [...]

Math Play: Egg Carton Number Toss

number toss game

We are excited to be participating in Tinkerlab’s Egg Carton Challenge this week! The goal of the Creative Challenge was to create something using an egg carton that is child-centered/child-directed. My son loves games, especially ones that involve throwing or bowling. For the last creative challenge (with paper bags), we created our own Paper Bag [...]

Children Helping Others: 3 Ways to Serve at Easter time

serve

We love for our children to focus on others more than themselves and to seek out ways to help those around them.  Easter is a holiday that we love to celebrate. My son is usually really excited about what he’s going to “get” from the Easter bunny, so this year we decided to focus less [...]

Cool Math Activity: With Eggs and Buttons

ten little eggs

This week we’ve been having a lot of fun creating learning activities that also relate to some of our favorite spring topics- eggs, bunnies, and flowers. Today I want to share a cool counting game we created using buttons and some large foam eggs. Materials Needed for Egg Math: Large foam eggs (or some eggs [...]

Things to Paint With: Pine Needles

Painting with Pine Needles

We have some huge pine trees in our backyard that are always dropping tons and tons of pine needles. This week we decided to collect a bunch of them (plus a few pine cones) and make some pine needle paintbrushes. We used the pine needle paintbrushes to create some mini masterpieces on these itty bitty [...]

Fun with Legos: Create a Rainbow

lego rainbow

We are huge Lego fanatics.  We have made our own Lego Instruction Books; we’ve done Lego playdoh printing, car races, relay races, hunts, and Lego painting! My son just celebrated his fourth birthday and I threw him a Lego-themed birthday party that was a big hit. Our house is now even more inundated with Legos than it was before… [...]

Things to Paint With: A Party Blower

Party paint game

I am a bit of a hoarder sometimes. If I find an interesting looking toy I wonder, “Would that be fun to paint with?” I have a cupboard in my kitchen filled with things I could reuse for crafting and plastic bags filled with unique painting tools. As we were putting away Valentine’s Day decorations [...]