DohVinci & My Little Pony Pop Events at Toys R Us Tomorrow

Toys R Us is having a FREE DohVinci Decorating Event on Saturday, August 9 from noon-2p at all locations. You and a friend can decorate a picture frame with DohVinci.

Have you heard about DohVinci yet? It is a new product from PlayDoh. DohVinci comes in squeezable tubes with different tips and will harden overnight allowing you to keep your creations. My fellow Michigan Blogger, Mom Among Chaos, had a review of DohVinci last week.

I suggest arriving early as they sometimes run out of materials for popular events. My local store will often have a line for the event about 10 minutes before it begins.

In addition, you will have a chance to check out the new My Little Pony Pop toys. These toys allow you to customize the ponies.

Ad:

Lowe's Build and Grow Holiday Train Workshop

Lowe's holds Build and Grow workshops on select Saturdays throughout the year. For the 2013 holiday season, they will be having a Train Engine Workshop on Saturday, December 14 from 10-11a.

Kids will be able to build a Train Engine complete with Rub & Smell Stickers. This craft is so cute. Unfortunately, all of the stores near me have already reached capacity. Maybe you'll have better luck where you live.

You can check for availability and register online on the Lowe's Build & Grow website.

I took my daughter to a Lowe's Build and Grow workshop last spring and she had a really great time. We would have attended again except the location near our house books up quickly so I often don't know our schedule before it fills up.

Kids Club Events at Michaels for September

Michaels offers Kids Club events in their stores on Saturday mornings from 10a-noon with half hour sessions starting every 30 minutes from 10a until 11:30a. Classes cost $2. Parents are free to shop in the store during class, but need to remain in the store. Periodically they also offer Free Family Craft Events (these may replace Kids Club events on select Saturdays or may be in addition to the Kids Club Event). The Free Family Craft events are free and are for parents to do with their child.

Unless otherwise specified the events listed below are the Kids Club events which cost $2.

Stamptember Powered by Hero Arts® will be held on Saturday, September 14 from 10a-noon on the 1/2 hour.

Kids can make an Owl Puppet on Saturday, September 21 from 10a-noon. This would be a super easy craft to make at home as well.

Kids can start to get in the Halloween Spirit on Saturday, September 28 with Silly Monsters.

The Halloween craft season kicks off in force on October 5. From 10a-noon they will have a Scary Jewelry Kids Club Event form 10a-noon.

Then, from 1-3p they will have a FREE Family Craft Time from 1-3p. The event is free with the purchase of a 9 1/2" craft pumpkin.

Michaels Kids Club August Events

Michaels offers Kids Club events in their stores on Saturday mornings from 10a-noon with half hour sessions starting every 30 minutes from 10a until 11:30a. Classes cost $2. Parents are free to shop in the store during class, but need to remain in the store. Periodically they also offer Free Family Craft Events (these may replace Kids Club events on select Saturdays. The Free Family Craft events are free and are for parents to do with their child.

Unless otherwise specified the events listed below are the Kids Club events which cost $2.

Saturday, August 3 is a Handy Growth Chart.

Saturday, August 10 is a FREE Family Craft event from 10a-noon. You will create a Creativity Can.

Saturday, August 17 is a Bookmark.

Saturday August 24 is Duck Tape® Book Cover.

Celebrate Grandparents Day on Saturday, August 31.

Images taken from the Michaels Kids Club site. Event listings are correct to the best of my ability at the time that they are listed. Events may change after publication. Please verify that your local store is participating before planning to attend.

Build a Home Depot Load 'n Go Truck

The Home Depot holds a Kids Workshop the first Saturday of each month. The workshop is held from 9a-noon and is designed for kids ages 5-12.

The Saturday, August 3 workshop is to build a Home Depot Load 'n Go Truck.

We have not yet attended a workshop at Home Depot, but my daughter enjoyed the workshop that we attended at Lowe's last year.

You can register for the workshop on the Home Depot Website to ensure that there is a space for you at your local store.

Passport to Adventure at Michaels

This week Michaels stores started their annual Passport to Adventure series. I have been wanting to visit for for a few years, but never seem to make it there with camp, play dates, vacation, and lazy mornings. This year, I am going to try hard to make it to at least one session.

Passport to Adventure is a 7 week  exploration of the continents with a 2 hour crafting adventure. This year, there will be 3 sessions a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10a-noon. Each session is $2/child and they are designed for children ages 5 and up. Space is limited, so you may want to pre-register.

The video below gives you more information about Passport to Adventure:


The series started on Monday, June 17 with a theme of North America for Week 1, and continues this morning, Wednesday, June 19. The series concludes on Friday, August 2. Each class will have an in-class project, a swap project, and an at-home project.

• Wednesday, June 19 - North America 
• In-Class: God's Eye, Mexico 
  
• At-Home: Loom Woven Rug, Mexico
  
• Swap: Liberty Bell, United States
  
• Friday, June 21 - North America
• In-Class: Clothespin Moose, Canada
  
• At-Home: Canadian Maple Leaf Origami Goose, Canada
  
• Swap: Tissue Paper Flower, Mexico
  
• Monday, June 24 - South America
• In-Class: Moai, Easter Island
  
• At-Home: Headdress, Brazil
  
• Swap: Textile Weaving, Bolivia
  
• Wednesday, June 26 - South America
• In-Class: Paper Lizard, Colombia
  
• At-Home: Feathery Bird Can Hug, Brazil
  
• Swap: Soccer Goal, Argentina
  
• Friday, June 28
• In-Class: Yarn Art Vase, Peru
  
• At-Home: Clay Pot, Chile
  
• Swap: Poison Dart Frog, Brazil
  

I'll share the July and August projects as it gets closer, or you can check them out now on the Michaels website.

Gymnastics Equipment for American Girl Dolls

My daughter loves American Girl. Last year, she received McKenna, the 2012 Girl of the Year for Christmas. McKenna is a gymnast. One of her accessories was a balance beam and bars set. The set sold out early and was on back order for awhile (it was also fairly pricey).

My daughter wanted gym equipment for her doll. I found it very easy to create a balance beam and a floor exercise mat.

The Floor Exercise Mat was a simple repurposing of a foam alphabet mat that I had bought for our basement. Instead of using all 26 squares that it came with, I used 9 of them to make a 3x3 mat. My daughter loves flipping McKenna around to do her gymnastics routines.

Floor Exercise Mat

The balance beam took a little more work, but still was very easy. I had purchased a set of 4 corkboard bars with the intention of allowing my daughter to display her artwork, but I had never hung them for her. I started with a cardboard base and covered it with two sheets of card stock to act as the mat around the beam. My cardboard strips were not quite tall enough for a beam, so I glued pairs of them together and then glued each set next to each other to make a longer beam. The craft took about 5 minutes (plus drying time). McKenna now had a beam to practice her routines on.

Home Made Balance Beam

My daughter did receive the beam and bars set for her birthday (well, two months later when the back order finally came in). (I think bars would also be fairly easy to build with a few wooden dowels).

Michaels Kids Club - Hero Doll & National Drawing Day

Michaels offers Kids Club events in their stores on Saturday mornings from 10a-noon with half hour sessions starting every 30 minutes from 10a until 11:30a. Classes cost $2.

Upcoming sessions include:

• Saturday, May 25 Craft Your Hero Doll

• Saturday, June 1 National Drawing Day

Parents do not need to attend the session with their children, but they do need to remain in the store.

Sweetheart Frame Build & Grow Workshop at Lowe's

Lowe's will be celebrating Mother's Day with their next Build and Grow Clinic. Kids will have the opportunity to make a Sweetheart frame on Saturday, May 11 in advance of Mother's Day on the 12th.

I recommend registering as soon as possible. The store nearest me is sold out and the other one in our town only has a few slots left.

They have not yet released their summer schedule, but I will share it with you when it is released. In the meantime, you can check the Home Depot schedule which offers building workshops the first of the month.

I took my daughter to a Lowe's Build and Grow event last spring and she really enjoyed it. I do recommend signing up now if you are interested as the session do tend to fill-up quickly (at least at my local store).

March Building Workshop at Home Depot

Home Depot holds a Kids Workshop from 9a-noon on the first Saturday of the month at all of their stores. The Kids Workshop is FREE and includes their craft, a FREE Kids Workshop Apron, commemorative pin, and a certificate of achievement.

The March Workshop will be a Build a Race Car on Saturday, March 2, 2013. The workshops are designed for kids ages 5-12.

We have not yet attended a Home Depot Kids Workshop, but we attended a Lowe's Workshop in the spring and my daughter really enjoyed it.

Home Depot December Kids Workshop

Home Depot holds a Kids Workshop from 9a-noon on the first Saturday of the month at all of their stores. The Kids Workshop is FREE and includes their craft, a FREE Kids Workshop Apron, commemorative pin, and a certificate of achievement.

The December Workshop will be a picture frame craft on Saturday, December 1, 2012.

We have not yet attended a Home Depot Kids Workshop, but we attended a Lowe's Workshop in the spring and my daughter really enjoyed it.

Watching Football - Keeping preschooler entertained

With the conference finals this weekend and the Super Bowl next weekend, it will be a challenge to keep my preschooler entertained during the games. As a football fan, I have lots of experience entertaining my daughter. First, I will often invite my parents over for the game so I have reinforcements.

I am also lucky to have a preschooler who still naps, so a well timed nap helped today. However, she has now woken up and is requesting a movie. I will admit to having used a portable DVD player when she was younger to let her watch a movie during key games when my team was involved.

I prefer to watch games in our basement with the 50" HDTV. The TV/seating area is generally a no toy zone, but I make an exception during games so that I don't have to go to the basement toy area where it is harder to see the TV. I do limit noisy toys and those that have the potential to hit the television & glass cabinets. She was quite disappointed that I wouldn't let her play Gator Golf today.

I have some sport stickers and stamps that I can get out so she can do a craft project. Before the Super Bowl, I may try to come up with a craft or activity during the game.

So, how do you entertain your child while you watch the games?

Halloween Party at regular playgroup

We had a Halloween Party today at our regular playgroup. The kids range in age from 2 months to 4 yrs old. We had potluck for various lunch and snack foods and most of the moms brought treats to hand out for a parade.

We started the playgroup as normal with the kids just playing, but many in costume. Then we had snack/lunch time (taking costumes off to protect them).

After eating, we made Lollipop Ghosts which were a hit for some, and some kids were more interested in eating the lollipops. Start with a spherical lollipop like a Dum-Dum or a Tootsie Pop (we used mini Tootsie Pops) and drape a white tissue over it to make a ghost. Mom or another helper then ties a string around the base of the lollipop to hold the tissue in place. I had black and orange cross stitch thread that worked great. Then the kids drew eyes and a mouth on their ghosts.

After the craft and cleaning up the toys, we had a treat parade. The moms with treats spread out around the room. We would have gone outside to spread out more, but it was pouring rain all day. One Mom had made bags up that had room in them, so we had the kids start with her to have a place to put their goodies. The kids all enjoyed getting their goodies. Some of the moms brought alternatives to chocolate including note pads, crayons, straws, spider rings, and skeletons.

The party was a nice low key way to incorporate Halloween into our regular playgroup meeting.