Tales of a Crafty Mommy

The story behind this new blanket that has a hippo amigurumi: My husband asked me to make a special gift for his co-worker who is expecting their first baby girl.  I made her a blanket using the granny square stitch and switched colors every five rounds.   See this post to find out what you will need to make an Amigurumi .  Hippo Crochet Amigurumi Security Blanket by OneandTwoCompany Pattern Review   The original pattern to make the hippo security blanket I used several years ago has been updated and now includes the arms for the hippo. This is such an EASY security blanket to crochet. It uses very simple stitches, it works up fast (unless you do a lot of color changes).  OneandTwoCompany has beautiful designs. I am very pleased with their patterns. The instructions are very clear, easy to follow, it has a lot of pictures, and she is also available to help when neeeded.  (Other Granny Square blankets I have made are available ...

I went back and forth for several weeks whether to have a calendar wall in our dining room or not. In the end, I decided "why not!?" Sure thing, I went to Jo-Ann's, my go-to store for school supplies, and got several teaching posters at $1.99 each.   Why posters? It's a constant teaching aid. The kids are able to choose to count, review the colors, or shapes several times throughout the day. Sometimes my oldest (almost 5) helps my (almost) 3 year old with the shapes and colors. They also take breaks from playing to go look at their posters.  I placed them at their eye-level. Easy for them to read, touch, point at.   I do have a younger child, age 1, who is interested in the pictures and imitates his older siblings. So far, he is doing really well at not pulling them down. So I think it'll work out well.  We have also included a Fruits and Vegetables poster to help remind us of healthy things to eat.  During meals, the kids have asked if the food...

My two year old son is starting to learn his colors. He went from calling every color yellow and 'azul' (blue) to now starting recognizing colors.  His favorite colors are orange, red, and blue.  Mostly colors that have to do with Jake and The Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse. In fact, he has an orange t-shirt he wants to wear just about every day! Lately, I've been putting more emphasis on working with him on recognizing colors, sorting by color, and learning the names in English and Spanish.  Ask what colors he / she already knows Repeat the names of the colors together red - rojo yellow - amarillo orange - naranjo green - verde blue - azul  Further Activities: count and graph the total number of beads in each bowl. ask the students to find items of the colors used in the sorting activity around the classroom / living room talk about the names of the objects in English and Spanish ask the students to bring an object from home (or the...

This was my first try for a Fall (ish) Wreath. I really like it and it was fun to make because I mainly used materials I already had on hand. My daughter picked out the purple flowers {her favorite color}. My inspiration for this wreath came from my former moms' group in Michigan, where I used to live. They got together to make wreaths and I wanted to 'bond' with them in distance.  I miss them a lot and I am so grateful for each one of them. God Bless Mom2Mom!  How to Make a Monogram Wreath 10" wood letter twine  3 flowers  hot glue   Wrap the wood letter with twine using hot glue.  Glue the flowers to the wreath. Done!  Happy Crafting! ~ Fabi

I made this handy checklist / assessment sheet a while ago when I first starting teaching the letters to my daughter. I've made a couple of changes and made a second version to use with my son now. It's color coded in purple and blue so they know who's checklist it is.  Hope you find it useful as well.  Purple version Blue version   ~ Happy Teaching!  Fabi

I took the plunge and decided to make a wreath for our door.  Here's a sneak peek: ~ Happy Crafting! 

One of my daughter's favorite things to do is to go shopping. She enjoys browsing, getting a little something, and paying.  We give her a dollar or so that she can use and pay the cashier. She also says thank you when she gets the receipt.  She's been asking what all the different coins and bills are so I made a lesson out of it.  Materials:  play money price tags toys paper and pencil Focus Questions: Cuanto cuesta?  How much is it? Lesson: We first talked about the difference between coins - monedas and bills - billetes.   I told her the value of each bill which she repeated.  I placed some toys with price tags on the carpet where we could pretend to go shopping.  We took turns being the cashier and the buyer. She had to use the question "Cuanto cuesta el / la ____________ ? - "How much is.....? " for each item.  Then she looked for the correct bill to pay for her item.  She bought plates and food for her 'kids' (stuffed animals). ...