Tots and Me... Growing Up Together

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Littles Learning Link Up: February 16, 2016

Each month you will find:

A seasonal round-up (toward the beginning of the month)
A guest post featuring crafts, activities, tips, snack ideas or other early childhood topics. (toward the end of the month)
Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme. Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up.

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

What have we been up to?

We finally got our Valentine's finished and sent out to our homeschool Valentine's exchange. The older girls made their own and I forgot to get a picture. Here is a little peek at the ones I made with the children. I found the dump truck pattern online. I didn't realize how popular that idea was. The idea had popped into my head with a little saying, and then I looked it up and saw it had already been done. So, it was just easier to print out the free template than try to put one together myself. I was going to do a bee, but Hannah chose these cute ladybugs. I also found this idea online, though of course I tweaked them a bit.

The children enjoyed heading over to the post office to mail their valentines out.

The children loved coming downstairs Sunday to find their new stuffies.

Later in the afternoon they opened their presents from big sister Krystal.

Then they got to open their homeschool valentine exchange.

Amelia kept saying it was the best Valentine's Day ever.

I am lining up my guest posts for the new year. If you would be interested writing a guest post for Littles Learning Link Up one of these months, please leave a comment or contact me via my contact info on my About Me page. I will need to have your email address so I can contact you. I am looking for posts that have to do with young children: crafts, activities, foods/snacks, tips, or other ideas. I am open to suggestions.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 14 wonderful posts linked up!

I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post.

Don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's Randomly Selected Post is:

Wesens-Art shared DIY Pink Sugar Hearts.

Here are the top clicked-on posts:

Kelly from Raising Samuels Homeschool shared Homeschool Week 21: The End of Ancient Egyptian Civilization.

Stephanie Rose from Stephanie Rose Knows shared Easy Peasy Gel Hearts Sensory Activity.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- February 15, 2015

Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups.

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

If you would like to follow the hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Featured Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card US only Ends 2/16

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #86: February 11, 2016

Welcome back to...

I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around February 11th, from any previous year) I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

I have reviewed some great products in the past (and continue to do so). I thought it would be a neat idea to choose review posts this year and highlight some of these great products again.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below. (If you don't have anything from this current week, it is still okay to link up with a post from a previous year around this time.)

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post.

Here is my Throwback Thursday post:

Originally posted February 13th, 2015
Sound Words Theology Curriculum Review

Here is this week's randomly selected

Featured Throwback Thursday:

Gypsy Road shared:

I Got Money Now (Pink)

To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

If you would like to help spread the news:

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Littles Learning Link Up: February 9, 2016

Each month you will find:

A seasonal round-up (toward the beginning of the month)
A guest post featuring crafts, activities, tips, snack ideas or other early childhood topics. (toward the end of the month)
Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme. Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 14 wonderful posts linked up!

I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post.

This week's Randomly Selected Post is:

Lisa from Syncopated Mama shared Latticed Learning: Week 17, Elijah and Maps

Here are the top clicked-on posts:

Gypsy Road shared Ragin' Cajun (Charlie Daniel's Band)

The Play-Based Preschool shared The Value of File Folder Games

Join the Party!

Monday, February 8, 2016

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- February 9, 2015

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Featured Giveaways

Jesus Today: Devotions for Kids US only Ends 2/10

$25 Amazon Gift Card US only Ends 2/16

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

N is for... N Necklace Craft

Cristi from Through the Calm and Through the Storm and Meg from Adventures with Jude are hosting this great weekly party called Blogging Through the Alphabet. All are welcome to join in, just make sure to keep your posts family-friendly. I am determined to stay faithful this time around. I might not always post on the same day of the week, but I have every intention to post something each week.

Here is how I decided my "theme" for this round of Blogging Through the Alphabet. As I was going through old blog posts recently, I noticed I have some neat ideas for activities and crafts that I did with in the past. Unfortunately, I always included them in my weekly wrap up posts or more recently in Poppins Book Nook posts, so they sort of got buried. I can't really share them as individual activities or create pinnable images to promote them and share my ideas, which is why I started this blog in the first place (to share my ideas with others who work with children). So, I am going to make new posts for these ideas.

I have found there is a huge benefit in this strategy. I am remembering ideas that I had forgotten, which means I can now do these activities with the younger children. I will be sharing the old pictures and possibly sharing new pictures of the younger children participating.

When we were going through the alphabet several years ago, I enjoyed coming up with crafts that incorporated the shape of the letter. When we were on the letter N we made N Necklaces.

N is for. . . N Necklace Craft

I drew a pattern on yellow construction paper:

I cut them out and the girls glued on the circle beads.

I helped them make an "n" on the middle bead.

Here are there completed n necklaces:

Don't you just love simple crafts?

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #85: February 4, 2016

Welcome back to...

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around February 4th, from any previous year) I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

I have reviewed some great products in the past (and continue to do so). I thought it would be a neat idea to choose review posts this year and highlight some of these great products again.

Here is my Throwback Thursday post:

Originally posted February 3rd, 2012
Goosie Cards: Review and Giveaway

Here is this week's randomly selected

Featured Throwback Thursday:

Shecki from Greatly Blessed shared:

Valentine Sewing and Martin Luther King Jr. Day Playing

To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

If you would like to help spread the news:

Happy Throwback Thursday!

An InLinkz Link-up