frugal tips

Homemade Minion Math Counters

July 18, 2015 By Thaleia

It’s Minion madness at my house! My kids have loved these crazy yellow guys since the first Despicable Me movie came out. Then we were invited to a Minion Birthday party and we didn’t have anything Minion so Eldest drew some shirts and Princess created some Minion earrings!

$Homemade Minion Math Counters$
Now we are at it again with some super cute homemade Minion Math Counters! These cute little guys are easy enough that Lil’ Red helped and he’s only 23 months. We had the supplies on hand but all of them should be easy to find at your local craft store or you can order through Amazon via our affiliate links which we will provide below.

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Homemade Geoboard Fun

July 9, 2015 By Thaleia

A couple of years ago I decided to make a Geoboard when I saw the price of them in the educational catalogs. We just so happened to have a wooden cutting board from a local discount store. This wooden board had already been an artist canvas at one point and now would be turned into a homemade Geoboard!

How to Make Your Own Homemade Geoboard:

Get a thick piece of wood that is square and well sanded.

Gather some small finishing nails, ruler, pencil, and hammer. (I tried to use thumb tacks like I saw on Mama Jenna but they just broke to pieces so I switched to nails.)

Mark your grid on the piece of wood. You can measure out your marks or print a Geoboard Pattern.

We used fabric hairbands but you could easily use loom bands or small rubber bands depending on what you have on hand or can buy cheap locally.

How to Play with your Homemade Geoboard:

The first time I showed my kids our homemade geoboard they made a lot of free form designs which I would consider ART more then MATH but I am totally fine with this idea as well.

You can show your child a shape and see if they can recreate it or a letter or a number. You could ask them to make a design with only orange bands. You could ask your child to make a pattern with two colors for a different game.

Just be sure that whatever you do you allow the child to explore and have fun!

If you do not have time to make your own geoboard you can buy one from Amazon.

Check back tomorrow for an entire post all about:

Free Geoboard Printable Resources

If you are wanting even more math ideas check out Cool Maths for Cool Kids for 31 days of awesome ideas!

6 Tips to Make Grilling Easy

June 23, 2015 By Thaleia

It’s Summer and that means grilling out at least once a week at our house! My husband is an awesome grill cook but he is not keeping his secrets to himself. He has started to teach both Eldest and Princess how to season burgers and steaks as well as how to cook them on our gas grill.

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7 Tips for Your Summer Road Trip

June 21, 2015 By Thaleia

Any time of year can be great for a road trip but Summer seems to be peak season to load up your car and your kids and hit the road! We have had a few chances this year to go out of town so far. One trip being an impromptu getaway and the other a 5 day vacation to Cedar Point and Put-in-Bay. I still wouldn’t call either of these a real “road trip” but that is next on our list!

When you are getting ready to go on a road trip there are a few things you will want to keep in mind as you prepare for your Summer road trip.

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EnterTrainment Junction

June 13, 2015 By Thaleia

We don’t get to Cincinnati very often but we have whizzed by EnterTrainment Junction many times not having time to stop. When the homeschool discount email came for their Spring Homeschool Days I knew we would finally get to check out all the fun that EnterTrainment Junction had to offer.

I love the idea that the activities are all indoors so you can stop by in any weather during operating hours. Anytime it’s rainy or too hot we could stop by and see the trains or choose a new scavenger hunt list to complete. There is one activity outside but it wasn’t open for the season- a small Thomas Train Ride for kids under 10 approx.
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frugal tips

How to Make Your Own Homemade Geoboard:

How to Play with your Homemade Geoboard:

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