Dice games always seem to be a hit with kiddos, no matter their age. Add in some play dough and flowers, and this spring math game for kids is sure to a crowd pleaser.
A colorful math game for kids to welcome spring
Materials
Terra cotta pots
Play dough
Fake flowers
Dice
How to Play
1. Give each player a terra cotta pot and some play dough to act as a base for the flowers.
2. Hand out flowers to each player, ensuring that everyone has the same amount. We started with 12 each.
3. Player one rolls his die, then adds the appropriate number of flowers to his flower pot.
4. Player two does the same, rolling her die and adding flowers to her ceramic pot.
5. Play continues until one person has “planted” all of her flowers.
6. Challenge each other to another game, or just have fun creating with the play dough and flowers!
Other Ways to Play
There are so many ways to change up how this game is set up and played! Here are just a few ideas:
Have each player use two dice instead of one. This would allow the kiddos to work on their addition skills.
Incorporate a scented oil (lavender or rose) to the play dough for a different sensory experience.
Knead seeds into the dough for a different texture.
Play with real flowers instead of fake.
Create number cards to use instead of dice. This would let the kids work on their numeral recognition and one-to-one correspondence skills in a different way.
Learning with a flower math game for kids
This is a very simple game, but so much learning can take place with “simple” activities! Here are a few game and math skills touched on:
Pattern recognition
Counting
Turn taking
One-to-one correspondence
Fine motor skills
Sportsmanship
Do you have another math game for kids to recommend? Any favorites that you play at home or at school?
Your search for an easy vegetarian lasagna stops right here! This particular recipe, which features spinach lasagna with a healthy dose of broccoli, three cheeses, basil, and your favorite red sauce (store-bought or homemade marinara sauce work perfectly!) will make you forget all about meat. We opted for frozen veggies because they are already cooked, but you can load this lasagna with other vegetables, too. Sauté peppers and mushrooms, and then stir into your tomato sauce for an extra boost of nutrients. We also picked Pecorino Romano instead of your classic Parmesan for a sharper flavor (no bland vegetarian recipes, thank you very much!). P.S. If you’re looking for the best meat lasagna, try our favorite lasagna with meat sauce.
YIELDS: 4 TOTAL TIME: 0 hours 50 mins
Ingredients:
1 10-oz package frozen leaf spinach, thawed
1 10-oz package frozen broccoli florets, thawed
1 16-oz container part-skim ricotta
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
6 oz. part-skim mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/2 cups), divided
1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided
1 1/2 c. marinara sauce
6 no-boil lasagna noodles
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Directions:
Heat oven to 425°F. Squeeze spinach of excess moisture and pat broccoli as dry as possible. Chop both and place in large bowl. Add ricotta, garlic, basil, 1 cup mozzarella, and ¼ cup pecorino and mix to combine.
Spread ½ cup marinara on bottom of 8-inch square baking dish. Top with 2 noodles. Spread one-third (about ⅓ cup) of remaining sauce over top. Dollop with one-third (about 1 cup) of ricotta mixture. Repeat. Place remaining 2 noodles on top; spread with remaining sauce and dollop with remaining ricotta mixture.
Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella and 2 Tbsp pecorino, cover tightly with an oiled piece of foil (to prevent sticking) and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake until noodles are tender and top is golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
I have always loved Valentine’s Day. Maybe it’s because my middle name is literally Valentine (Yes, Laura Valentine Gummerman. It’s on my driver’s license, I swear!), but I think it’s also because of all the sweets and shades of pink that float around this time of year. I’m a total sucker for it. I’ve had a lot of fun doing decorations for intimate Valentine’s Day dinners in years past, and this year I thought it would be fun to make some hanging decor to hang over our pink breakfast nook table. I love to use the inexpensive faux flowers from dollar stores to make a block of texture, and I thought they would be the perfect choice for a large floating heart above the table.
Supplies:
-faux flowers (I used about 12 bunches total. Pick the big ones—they’ll fill the heart faster!)
-hot glue gun
-sheets of styrofoam
-serrated bread knife/electric turkey carver/jig saw to cut the styrofoam
–cup hooks
-clear fishing line
-command hooks
-balsa wood
-glitter paper
First you’ll want to trace your heart onto your styrofoam. If you don’t feel confident to do this freehand, you can always sketch it out on a large piece of craft paper first and then trace it onto the styrofoam. You can see that in order to fit the size of heart I wanted, I had to cut off a corner of one piece and glue it onto the bottom to fit the tail of the heart. Use your hot glue gun to attach the pieces of styrofoam together to make one solid shape.
Next, use a serrated bread knife, electric turkey carver, or a jig saw to cut out your shape from the styrofoam. If you go the bread knife route, you may want to wait to glue the pieces together until after you cut them since it’s a little rougher on the material. The jig saw cut through the styrofoam like a hot knife through butter, which is another reason I keep telling you guys you should get one!!!!
When your heart is cut out, pull or cut your flowers off of the stems and use the hot glue to attach the flowers directly onto the heart. Notice how your faux flower is assembled though—sometimes they will fall apart if you cut them off the stem in the wrong area. Since I got three colors of pink for a gradient effect, I filled the lightest flowers in on the top third first, then filled in the bottom third with the darkest, and then completed the middle section last.
You can also cover the sides with flowers if you want to, but you’ll want to buy smaller varieties in the same color so they don’t stick way over the sides and make your shape definition a little mushy.
I made an arrow and arrow tail out of balsa wood, and then cut pieces of glitter paper the same size and hot glued them all together.
To hang the heart, I glued a cup hook into the top of each of the heart “humps” and stuck 2 command hooks onto the ceiling where I wanted the heart to hang (about the same distance apart that the cup hooks are). Then I tied the heart to the hooks with fishing wire for an “invisible” look.
Once the heart was hanging, I stuck each half of the arrow in opposite ends of the heart, and my work was done!
I LOVE how this turned out! It’s such a big statement piece, and since they are faux flowers, you can leave it up as long as you like or even save it for next year. This would also be really cute as a photo booth backdrop for a Valentine’s Day party. Hope you find an occasion to make this pretty project! I totally won’t blame you if the 14th comes and goes and you just “forget” to take this one down…
A great combination of flavors. Serve with some mashed garlic red potatoes and sweetened green beans for a fabulous special occasion meal. Don’t forget to serve a bottle of Cabernet or Zinfandel.
Ingredients
Original recipe yields 4 servings
Directions
Nutrition Facts
Per Serving:
590 calories; protein 35.3g; carbohydrates 13.4g; fat 43.4g; cholesterol 124.5mg; sodium 689.4mg. Full Nutrition
I know I said that we’d be focusing solely on our Becoming interviews this month but I just can’t let my second favorite holiday go by without any project ideas for you. SO! Our first Valentine’s Day project is up! And it’s very knotty…Ba dum, ching! The older I get, the more I get into projects that require little brain power and friendship bracelets are just that–a perfect TV project, no?! Today we’re providing you with adorable printable Valentine to go with a friendship bracelet (stay tuned for our heart friendship bracelet tutorial!). Our Warhol-inspired cards read “Threaded together” and “You always come in handy, friend”. Because Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers! And stay tuned later today for a big announcement! (hint: love is in the air).
Friendship Bracelet Printable
DIY Birthday Flag Ribbon Cake Topper
Threaded together (white background)
You always come in handy, friend (pink background)
Notes:
The cards are 5×7″. We like to print them on cardstock so they are nice and heavy. If you’d like to find envelopes, you can use size A7 (5 1/4″ x 7 1/4″)
Except for Christmas, I don’t change the house the decor at each holiday. But it’s nice to add a little detail here or there, like a printable or a small item.
Looking for more paper crafts ideas? You will find all the tutorials featured in this video on my “Best off” page
This year to celebrate Valentine’s day I made a heart marquee sign. As it’s made with paper and cardboard it’s quite simple to realize. For now it stands on the shelve in my office but I think I will move it in the living room so we can all enjoy a pretty heart-shaped lighting!
You first need to download and print the PDF heart template. It comes in two parts, so cut along the dotted line and glue both sheets of paper together with some tape.
Report the heart shape and the small circles on the cardboard. Cut the cardboard, if you wonder, the little circles mark the place of every LED light. So you need to cut them out too. Take a sheet of colored paper and cut two strips of 2 inches width by 18 inches long. I choose a violet shade but feel free to pick the tone you like.
You will use the paper strips to make the edges of the marquee sign. Glue the paper on the edge of the cardboard, starting from the heart tip.
Apply very little glue at the time to prevent the glue from overflowing. If some area requires more glue you can add an extra dot on the backside. I worked with a glue gun, but silicone glue is also a good option.
Once the first strip is glued, continue with the second one. Before gluing you can trace a line lengthwise to mark the strip center, so you just have to apply the glue on the line and you will be sure the strips are glued straight.
Once all the edge is covered with the paper, you can trim the extra length if necessary.
Cut 2 more strips to cover the inside edge of the heart. You have to do the same to cover the heart center.
Take off the little bulbs from the LED lights and push them into the cardboard holes then, from the back of the marquee sign, put back the LED into the bulbs.
Light the cord and DONE! Enjoy you lovely Marquee Sign! It’s a nice Valentine’s day detail that you may what to keep around even passed February! The cord-light I used work on battery so I hid the box behind the books…just in case you wonder!
