Littles Learnng Link Up: Father's Day Gift and Card Round Up

Welcome to Littles Learning Link Up. Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (at 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.

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.

My first round up post featured ideas for Mother's Day, so I thought it would be appropriate to share some great ideas for Father's Day in this month's round up. When I was working in the Montessori, it seemed a lot trickier to come up with gift and card ideas for dads. I find that is still the case now. Fortunately, with the help of some bloggy friends, I was able to assemble 30 wonderful ideas. 

I would like to start with a collection of ideas for gifts children can make their fathers.  

1-   "Tied Together" Father's Day Necktie from Arts and Crackers

2-   Daddy Daughter Date Jar from Adventures in Mommydom

3-   Paper Handprints Keepsake from Mama to 5 Blessings

4-   5 Father's Day Gifts {Kids Can Make} from East Coast Mommy

5-   Father's Day Craft: A Tacky Tie from Simple. Home. Blessings.   

6-   Upcycled Nuts and Bolts Heart Craft from Mosswood Connections

7-   Father's Day Personalized Necktie from Kids' Craft Room

8-   Daddy & Me Father's Day Footprints from  Capri +3

9-   Father's Day Wood Print Art Activity from Mini Monets and Mommies 

10- Father's Day Heart Mug from Messy Little Monster 

11- Father's Day Hero Stones from Crafts By Amanda

12- Dad Rocks Paperweight from Crafts By Amanda

13- Trophies for Dad from The Pinterested Parent

14- DIY Back Scratcher Gift Set from Left Brain Craft Brain

15- Salt Painting Father's Day Gift from Parenting Chaos

I love the memories that are made when pictures are taken and shared. It makes it more special when the picture(s) become a part of a keepsake project. I'm sure the following photo gifts will become special treasures for those who receive them.

1- "You're a Great Daddy" Frame from My Mundane and Miraculous Life

2- We Love Dad Picture Gift from Crafts on Sea

3- DIY Photo Keepsake Gifts from Playground Parkbench

4- Nuts and Bolts Art & Frame from One Time Through

5- DIY Necktie Picture Frame from The Coconut Head's Survival Guide

I love making homemade cards. I remember that my mother always enjoyed receiving them. To her, they were more meaningful and heartfelt than any store-bought card.  If you are looking for some fun and creative cards for your children to make for dad, perhaps one of these will fit the bill.

1- Father's Day Necktie Card from Sparkling Buds
2- A Monster Hug Card from Kids' Craft Room
3- Blue Collar Uniform Shirt Card from Crafts By Amanda
4- Toolbox Card from The Teaching Zoo
5- Origami Father's Day Card from The Proverbial Homemaker

Perhaps you don't have time to have your child make any of the above gifts or cards, but you would still like to have your child give there father a meaningful present this Father's Day. The next collection features some printables to help you along.

1- Book About Dad Printable from The Measured Mom
2- A Dad's Toolbox Gift and Printable from Arts and Crackers
3- Father's Day Printables from In the Playroom
4- Father's Day Weekly Menu Printable from 3 Boys and a Dog
5- Father's Day Tie-riffic Card Printable from 3 Boys and a Dog

Wishing all the Dad's a Happy Father's Day!

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Toddler Idea Tuesday post, there were 29 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:

Mosswood Connections shared Magnet Stencils: Fine Motor Fun.

The following posts tied for the most number of clicks:

1- Sandi from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes shared Trees Like Emily Carr.

2- Amy from Healthy Family Matters shared Spring Heart Pillow Craft.

3- Jamie from Hands On As We Grow shared 6 Ways to Increase your Child's Vocabulary Through Play.

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have any Father's Day posts to share? Or do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on my Toddler Ideas or other relevant board, 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, if applicable. 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 Sunday 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.

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I will be linking up at:

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- June 9th, 2015

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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 Giveaways

Down on the Farm Bundle Giveaway Ends 6/25

Bring a Caldecott Honor Book to Life Giveaway Ends 6/20

Daddy Loves You So Much Board Book US only Ends 6/12

Turbo Fast Season 1 DVD US only Ends 6/15

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

Sunday Photo Round Up- June 7, 2015

Time to share my photos from the three photo challenges I participate in! Let's start with Scavenger Hunt Sunday, shall we.

Season, What I'm Looking At, In Motion, It Means A Lot To Me, Photographer's Choice

Season

Yep, the SEASON is still rainy, rainy spring. Amelia had to wear her jacket and become a zebra to walk with daddy to the store.

This is actually the picture I shared on Instagram. 

I don't SEASON my soup too much, just a little garlic powder and pepper in addition to the broth.

What I'm Looking At

Yes, this is WHAT I'M LOOKING AT. My daughter in a fan box. Why not? 

In Motion

Playing basketball at the park (sort of) and I caught this shot of them IN MOTION.

It Means A Lot To Me

It is not usual for me to get packages in the mail that aren't review products, so it MEANS A LOT TO ME that the hubby tried to surprise me with these new Bible study Books, even after I was resigned to do without them.

Photographer's Choice

She was just sitting there, so precious, looking at the clover flowers. I had to snap her picture.

Photo A Day Round Up

I am participating in a few different photo-a-day challenges this year. The photos are being shared daily on Instagram, but I thought it would be nice to include a collage of them here on my blog as well. Here are my collages showing the pictures from May 31 to Jun 6.

The first one is the Photo A Day Challenge from Fat Mum Slim.

The second one is The Bethadilly Challenge (this is where the Scavenger Hunt Sunday prompts have come from so far this year).

The third challenge is new this month. I decided to join in with the Schoolhouse Review Crew's new Instagram challenge. Here are the pictures from May 25- May 30.

Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen #118: Popovers

Time for Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen

(A weekly linky to share what you and your children have created in the kitchen.)

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The linky is at the bottom.

I have to admit, I had never heard of popovers before. We have a book that we borrowed from the library called, Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook For Preschoolers & Up written by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson. When the older girls were teaching their siblings on Wednesday, Hannah wanted Tabitha to read this book to her. Yes, they were reading a cookbook. They were flipping through looking at all the tasty recipes. Tabitha kept coming up to me so I could see each recipe. Of course, they wanted to make many of them. I told them they needed to choose one, and it had to be one where we had all the ingredients. As we were having chicken for dinner, I thought the popovers would go well, and they agreed. Therefore, today I bring you

Tabitha, Hannah and a Mom in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 Tbs butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

The girls did most of the work, as I supervised. 

Tabitha cut off 2 tbs of butter to be melted for greasing the  muffin cups. I did put it in the microwave as our crock pot was sitting there cooking our chicken.

The girls cracked the eggs into our medium mixing bowl. I didn't realize how good Hannah was getting at cracking eggs.

They beat the eggs and Tabitha measured out the milk.

Hannah added the milk to the eggs.

They took turns beating the eggs and milk. Mommy did take a turn to show them how to get them properly beat.

They then added the flour and the salt.

The batter was again whisked until well blended.

Tabitha and I poured the batter into the greased muffin cups.  We used a 1/4 cup measuring cup and filled the cups about 1/2 full.

Unfortunately, there was only enough batter for 10 muffins, though the book said it would make a dozen. 

These are to be baked in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes without opening the oven. Unfortunately, our oven picks inappropriate times to work incorrectly. It will come to temperature and then start cooling off while the food is in. So, we ended up cooking these for longer once the oven came back to temperature. I don't think they were quite right, as I looked at a picture on Google and they should have been darker. But we enjoyed them with butter during our meal. I guess that is what is important. We are going to try again though. 

Now, I thought our oven not heating properly was responsible for the weird shape of the popovers, seeing as the cookbook doesn't share photographs of the food. However, I discovered this is the normal shape when I was checking out the recipe on Google.

Directions: 

1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2- Melt butter in microwave on medium heat for about 30 seconds. Careful, it will be hot.

3- Brush the insides of muffin cups with melted butter.

4- Break eggs into mixing bowl, whisk and add milk, whisking again.

5- Add flour and salt. Whisk until well-blended. Don't worry about a few lumps though.

6- Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour batter into muffin cups. 

7- Bake for 30 minutes without opening the oven. 

8- Remove from pan and prick with fork to let steam escape. (We didn't have to worry about the pricking step as our popovers stuck to the pan so as I was taking them out they broke up a bit. I believe the stuck because I used a paper towel to put the butter in as I don't have a pastry brush. Someone thought the one I had was a paint brush a while ago, and we haven't purchased a new one yet.)

9- These were delicious with butter. The author of the book also recommends jam or maple syrup. We will have to try those toppings next time we make them.

Do you have your children help you in the kitchen?  What lessons do they learn? Do you have any kid friendly recipes to share?

I'd love to see your posts, whether you have done something this week or some time in the past. Just link up below. This is a weekly linky.

I am linking up to:

Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Try a New Recipe Tuesday at Home to Four Kiddos
The Gathering Spot at Mamal Diane
Friday Food Frenzy at Close to Home
Fantastic Thursday at Five Little Chefs
Foodie Friends Friday at Robyn'sView
Family Fun Friday at Happy and Blessed Home

And here is my Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen linky

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #50: June 4, 2015

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 June 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. 

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. 

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 June 6th, 2014
Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen #84 - Farmer's Casserole

Here is this week's randomly selected

Featured Throwback Thursday:

Christianity Cove shared:

Handmade Parachutes Craft and Science Experiement

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:

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Happy Throwback Thursday!