31 Days of Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities

Who will benefit from this series?

Are you a stay at home mom looking for a few minutes of down time? Are you trying to figure out how to homeschool your children with a baby, toddler, or preschooler at home? Do you work outside the home and wonder how to keep your young child occupied while you fix dinner or just relax for a few minutes in the evening? Do you regularly care for young children? If you answered yes to any of those questions then busy bags or quiet time activities might be just right for you. Coming up in October, we'll be posting 31 days of busy bag and quiet time activities, printables, and links.

What are Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities?

Busy Bag: a simple, age appropriate activity that can be pulled out, easily assembled and completed by your child. These are perfect for when you need a few uninterrupted minutes but don't want to let your little one veg in front of the television. Quiet Time Activity: generally geared towards older toddlers, preschoolers, or early elementary aged kids who have given up napping. Establishing a quiet time of independent play gives the child a little down time and the parent a little uninterrupted time as well. Even if you work away from home throughout the week, setting up an afternoon quiet time on the weekends can be a sanity saver.

Do these activities really help?

Busy bags and quiet time activities have been such a blessing in our home and we hope they will help you as well! Throughout October, we'll show you how we use these great tools with our own kids and give you lots of resources to begin implementing busy bags or quiet time activities in your own home.

What can I expect to see during this month long series?

During our 31 days series, we'll show you how to make at least 20 different inexpensive and fun busy bags. We'll also show you how we use a daily quiet time for our 4 and 5 year old. As a bonus, we even have a couple baby approved activities ready to share. We'll also highlight great busy bag and quiet time ideas from other moms around the web. Finally, on October 31st, we'll host a busy bag and quiet time activities link up so you can show off the activities you've made!

Didn't you say something about printables?

We're so excited to share with you our busy bag printables. These files will make putting together your own busy bags very easy. The busy bag printables will be offered for free with each of our busy bag posts. Yes, FREE! However, we're also planning on offering the complete set in our Teacher's Notebook store at the beginning of the month for those of you who prefer one download or who want to get started making your own busy bags. Look for the link in our post on October 1st!

Today's Question: Have you ever heard of or used busy bags or quiet time activities? We'd love to hear your thoughts on our upcoming series.

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Alphabet Art Book {Free Printables}

A few months ago, I came across the idea of an Alphabet Art Book on KidsCount1234. I thought this idea would be perfect for my preschooler (and pre-preschooler) this year.

The idea behind this Alphabet Art Book is to practice the alphabet in a fun and creative way. I decided that making a collection of letter inspired art projects would be a great addition to our relaxed preschool approach.

Since, we've just officially started school today (first day pictures coming soon), our Alphabet Art Books are still blank, but I thought it would be best to share them now since most people have already started school.

We have all the individual files ready as free downloads through Google Docs. Just click on the letter you want to print at the end of this post. Be sure to download the activity description page here.

We also have the full set available for purchase through Teachers Pay Teachers for only $1.25. This one file download also comes with all 26 letter pages, the activity descriptions page, and as a bonus, a full supply list for all 26 Alphabet Art Book pages.

Several of the activities have various ways they can be competed, some being messier (aka glitter and paint) than others.

Jonathan and Eliya will be making apple prints this week.

Next week, I'll be breaking into my stash of Band-aids for letter B (they'll LOVE that one).

Download the files by clicking on the letters below. Don't forget to to download the activity description page. Or purchase and download all of the files in one handy bundle for $1.25.

A Apple prints	B Band-Aids	C Car Tracks
D Dots	E Elbow Painting	F Fingerprint Flowers
G Glitter	H Handprints	I Ink Stamping
J Jellyfish	K Key Rubbings	L Leaves
M Marble Painting	N Newspaper Numbers	O O Prints
P Purple Potato Prints	Q Q-tip Painting	R Red
S Stickers	T Toothpick Triangles	U Up Arrows
V Vegetables	W Waves	X X Marks the Spot
Y Yellow Yarn	Z Zigzags

We're sharing at these parties & at this Freebie Linky Party.

Today's Question: Do your children like to make crafts? What are their favorite mediums? (Our kids love paint!)

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What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards for DVD 5

We've finished a set of review flashcards for What's in the Bible? DVD 5. Click on the link below to download for free. Also, check out all of our other free What's in the Bible? resources.

Simple Ways to Teach with the What's in the Bible? DVDs

Review Flashcards for DVD 1 can be found here.

Review Flashcards for DVD 2
Review Flashcards for DVD 3
Review Flashcards for DVD 4

and the newest set...Review Flashcards for DVD 5:
Vol. 5, Part 1: The People Want a King
Vol. 5, Part 2: Kings Make Mistakes, Too

So, if you’re wanting a little extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs, I hope you’ll find these flashcards helpful.

We’ll share the other sets of flashcards as I finish them. Sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.

Today's Questions: How do you help your children learn about (and from) the Bible?

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What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards for DVD 4 {Finished Friday #47} come link your projects, too!

Link up your projects at the end of this post.

Yesterday I posted the simple, but effective ways we use the What's in the Bible? DVD series as part of a children's Bible study. In the same post I announced that the DVDs are on sale for only $10 for the next week!

I also told you that I'd be making Review Flashcards for the rest of the DVDs, so without further ado...

What's in the Bible? DVD 4 Review Flashcards
Part 1: Finally, the Promised Land
Part 2: Cycle of Misery

And here are the links for the other sets of flashcards:
Review Flashcards for DVD 1 
Review Flashcards for DVD 2
Review Flashcards for DVD 3

So, if you’re wanting a little extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs, I hope you’ll find these flashcards helpful.

And remember, the What's in the Bible? DVDs are on SALE for one week for only $10 each!

We’ll share the other sets of flashcards as I finish them. Sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.

Today's Questions: Have you seen the What’s in the Bible? DVDs? Do you think you might like to use them with your children? Why or why not? 

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

<center><a href="http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/search/label/Finished%20Friday"target="_blank" ><img border="0" src=" http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq160/aHeart4home/FinishedFridaybutton125px.jpg"/></a></center>

Where the linky says "Your Name" please enter the name of your project or the title of your post!

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What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards DVD 3

Our family and the kids in our small group Bible study are so pleased with the What's in the Bible? DVD series. The kids are learning so much about the Bible and God's big rescue plan for his people. The adults are learning quite a bit, too.

We're very excited that so many people enjoyed our What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards for DVD 2.

I've finished the next set of flashcards for the What's in the Bible? DVD 3 (Wanderin' in the Desert).

Volume 3 finishes up the Pentateuch with the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. You can watch a few video clips from DVD 3 here.

These flashcards are great for extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs. Since I make these flashcards to use with a wide range of ages, simply choose the questions that you think will work best for your kids. These sets even have a couple of blank cards, just in case you'd like to add your own questions.

We’ll share the other sets as I finish them so sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.

Click the links below to download:

What’s in the Bible? DVD 3 Part 1

What’s in the Bible? DVD 3 Part 2

Today's Questions: Have you seen the What’s in the Bible? DVDs? Do you think you might like to use them with your children? Why or why not? 

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Plant & Garden Nature Study Extensions: Peter Rabbit & Beatrix Potter

Here are some Plant & Garden Nature Study extensions we've enjoyed so far:

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends
This DVD includes three delightful tales: "The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny," "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and Mrs. Tittlemouse," and "The Tale of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck." This high quality BBC production has charming animation. We love how calming it is, it's great for before nap or bedtime or in the middle of a muggy summer afternoon. (Each tale is about 25 minutes.)

If your family enjoys this first DVD you may also like The Beatrix Potter Collection. This is the complete 9 episode box set of Beatrix Potter tales produced by BBC. This set is a total of 225 minutes with each tale being about 25 minutes long.



After watching some of Beatrix Potter's work your family might enjoy the story of her life in Miss Potter. This 2007 movie is rated PG and stars Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, and Emily Watson. Here's a movie review from Focus on the Family. It is definitely a very clean movie (much less controversial than many animated films) and is not a complete romance as the cover would have you believe. This would also be a good way to involve the whole family and would be a good addition to an author/illustrator study of Beatrix Potter.

Here are some more activities to incorporate with Peter Rabbit:
:: Answer Mr. McGregor's questions about plants and gardening (this is really cute)
:: Peter Rabbit Stand Up Dolls Printable
:: Little Peter Rabbit Singing Hands Song
:: Emergent Reader Printable Book
:: Rabbit Pre-Writing Cards
:: P is for Peter Rabbit Do-A-Dot or Magnet Sheet
:: Feed the Rabbit Printable Game




Other Plant & Garden Nature Study Posts:Creating a Nature Study Binder (and lots of ideas for what to put in it)Plant & Garden Books for Children (over 25 suggestions with summaries/reviews)

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What’s in the Bible? Review Flashcards {Finished Friday} come link up your finished projects, too!

Update: We've added the link to Volume 3's flashcards to the end of this post.

A few months ago we started looking for a DVD series for a children’s Bible study. Tim was starting an adult study and I was looking to provide more than just glorified babysitting to the children of the families that would attend.

That’s when we discovered the What’s in the Bible? DVD series.

Let me just say we LOVE these DVDs!

The kids in our Bible study range from 2 to 11 (not including the two infants) and everyone is learning about the Bible in a fun way.

I recently came across a set of flashcards for DVD 1 offered by the What’s in the Bible? team and thought they would be a great addition to our study as well as a wonderful review when we start using the What’s in the Bible? DVDs in the fall for homeschooling.

Unfortunately, there is only one set of cards for the first DVD, so I decided to use their great idea and develop some of my own.

I sent the first set I completed to the wonderful people at What’s in the Bible? and asked if it would be alright to share them with others. Here’s what they had to say:

“Thanks so much for sending this example, Allyson. These are GREAT! You have our permission to share them with others. Thanks so much for double checking first, we really appreciate it!”

So, if you’re wanting a little extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs, I hope you’ll find these flashcards helpful.

We’ll share the other sets as I finish them so sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.


click the links below to download:

What’s in the Bible? DVD 2 Part 1

What’s in the Bible? DVD 2 Part 2


Check out this post for the flashcards for DVD 3.

Today's Questions: Have you seen the What’s in the Bible? DVDs? Do you think you might like to use them with your children? Why or why not? 

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)




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Finished Friday: Free Kid’s Quotes Printable {come link up your finished projects}

For a while I’ve been looking for a way to capture all of the cute things our children say. At first I tried writing them in a journal, but I found that I often forgot to add them, because the journal was up on a shelf and it just wasn’t very convenient.

Recently, I’ve got back into using a binder to house lists of all of my goals, tasks, to-do’s, and schedules. So, I thought this home management binder would be the perfect place to keep a few blank sheets to record the funny things our kids say.

But then, of course, I had to make it pretty…


I simply printed several pages and slid them into page protectors. When the kids say something cute or funny (or simply something I want to remember), I just slide the page out and jot down their quote along with the date, the child’s name and their age. Then I slide the page right back into the page protector to keep it safe.

When I get several pages filled I’ll simply transfer them to an empty binder.

Today I’m sharing these pages for free. Simply click on the color option you want to go to the download page. 

Today's Questions: Do you keep track of the funny things your children say? What method works best for you?

 

If you like these printable, but would like them changed in any way, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.) <center><a href="http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/search/label/Finished%20Friday"target="_blank" ><img border="0" src=" http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq160/aHeart4home/checkmarkgray2.jpg"/></a></center>

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Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often!

Free Funnix Beginning Reading Program Download

Now, through February 16, 2012, you can download the Funnix Beginning Reading Program for free.

This program usually costs $25 and includes 220 lessons. The lessons are designed help children progress from non-readers to reading at a third grade reading level.

Emahry and Jonathan have been working on this program (as well as the Funnix Math) for a few months and love the computer interaction. Emahry also does the workbook pages but they are too difficult for Jonathan (3 years).

Today's Question: What are your favorite free or inexpensive tools for teaching your children?

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Decorate the Christmas Tree Free Cooperative Game Printable

I recently made a fun little Christmas themed cooperative game and I thought some of you might like to play it with your children.

Decorate the Christmas Tree is designed for children age 3 and up. It works best with 2 to 4 players although you can have more (but the players will have fewer turns). What I love about this game is that it can be set up and played in 15 minutes. That means you can have a bit of quality game time without committing an entire evening to playing games.

This is a cooperative game where players work together to get all the ornaments on the tree before the children (game piece) reaches the last space on the game board. As children spin and move along the board they count the number of spaces and place the same number of ornaments on the Christmas tree. 

But watch out for that pesky little kitty. He likes to knock the ornaments off of the tree. Every time a player's spin lands on the kitty one ornament must be removed from the tree.

Our preschoolers had a great time playing this game and have been asking for it all morning.

We hope your little ones like it, too!

Here's a look at the instruction card, game board, and game pieces.

Click here to download this free printable game.

Be sure to check out our Free Christmas Printable Pack as well.

Also, check out of Christmas book recommendations, too.

Please, let me know if you like this game so I know to share more free game printables in the future.

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Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Free Christmas Printable Pack + Bonus Game Cards

(Scroll to the bottom of this post and leave your answer in a comment to get your Free Bonus Christmas Game Cards.)

Are you looking for some free, fun activities to do with your little ones this holiday season? This free printable pack is filled with activities to keep your children learning.

Here's what is included in our Free Christmas Printable Pack:

Color Cards 

Gingerbread House Coloring 

Counting Grid, Patterns, Size Sequencing

Do-A-Dot/Sticker/Magnet Pages 

Following Directions 

Matching Cards & Memory Game 

Number Puzzle

Roll a Gingerbread Man Puzzle Game

Also, be sure to check out our list of wonderful Christmas book suggestions.

Bonus Game Cards: 

To receive the following 2 sets of Matching and Memory Cards:

Leave a comment describing your favorite type of printable activity (doesn't have to be in this pack, we love new ideas, too!)

Then click "I DID THIS" and leave your name and email address. We'll email the PDF file out every other day until December 17th. Thanks!

These Christmas game cards are perfect for matching, sorting, and playing Memory. You can use the Christmas Trees set to challenge even the best Memory player :)

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Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~