Night of the Moonjellies Part 2

Are you ready for some glowing sensory fun? I've found most kids love when things are glowing, they are drawn to the excitement of something bright and different. So get ready for crafts, great books, and activities your kids will enjoy! The best part is the kids will be having so much fun, they won't even realize how much they are learning.

(Affiliate links provided for your convenience)
This Sensory play was such a great part of our Night of the Moonjellies activities. We actually did it twice already they love it so much.

Are your kids ready to play with moonjellies? This activity is so easy to set up. First you'll need a container to play in, this one is an under the bed container from Walmart. You will also need a couple of plastic grocery bags, and a few glow sticks. I added sea glass and blue food coloring to the water (optional). Glow sticks can usually be found at the dollar store and at Michael's craft store, but if you want to stock up for a great price I suggest getting them from Amazon. 

To make the jellyfish it is easy. First you want to put approximately 3/4 cup of water into the bag, add your lit up glow stick, then tie a knot (that is the round body) take the rest of the bag that is hanging and cut a few slits lengthwise for the tentacles. Put them in the water and you are ready for some play.

We absolutely love sensory play and try to make it a part of our weekly learning. Keep in mind that what you believe is play, is actually when a child is learning the most. Kids retain a lot more information when they are engaging their senses.   

We also enjoyed some under the sea activities from 1+1+1=1. We used our favorite color coded magnet letters  to spell out several "under the sea" words. 

I knew I wanted to add a fun craft to this week of learning, so we painted jellyfish. The kids painted a small paper bowl, and picked out ribbon that they wanted to use as their tentacles.  When the bowls were dry we attached the tentacles and hung the beautiful jellyfish in our window.  

Viola!!! Didn't they do a great job?!

These were super easy and so much fun. 

If you want to extend this unit out with other fun ideas, here are a few more suggestions of what we did. 

We watched The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor and The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive. We really enjoyed reading the books Under the Sea, Over in the Ocean, and Our Ocean Home. The older boys and I started reading and exploring Sarah, Plain and Tall.  

If you missed out on Part 1 with the Jellyfish life cycle and homemade jiggly jellyfish, you should definitely head over and check it out. You don't want to miss that.  

Jiggly Jellyfish Slime

I would love for you to follow our Pinterest Boards, they are filled with all kinds of greatness. 

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.

The Ultimate Guide for Natural Baby Essentials

This Guide is a place for you to come and find an array of products that will help you on your pregnancy and parenting journey. I filled it with my favorite natural, organic items. Things that got me through the tough times, items that helped bring calm and comfort to the family, and gifts to treasure forever. This is just the beginning of the Natural Essential Guide for Pregnancy, Baby, and Beyond.

Journal through your pregnancy and baby's beginning with a baby book. It is so nice to have a book to go back to and remember all the little things.

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has to be the best book ever written for a pregnant momma. It is filled with wonderful advice, tips, and support to get you through the beginning and keep you loving every minute of it.

Belly Cream while you're pregnant, you will be thanking me for years to come.
Earth Mama Angel Baby natural stretch oil.
and
Natural Nipple Butter, yes I did say nipple. hehe believe me you'll be sending me thank you cards for this suggestion. It is also cruelty free and certified vegan.

Essential Oils, another true love of mine.  You can order from www.youngliving.com and use my distributor number to order (1798664) or you can send me a message or visit me on Facebook and we can chat about all the benefits for you and baby. I would be more than happy to help you with your essential oil journey.

Our favorite store bought Baby lotion is Shea Moisture Raw Shea Chamomile & Argan oil , with Frankincense & Myrrh. Perfect for Calming and Comfort. In fact we love all of the Shea Moisture products another favorite is Shea Moisture Organic Baby Lotion with carrot oil and Shea butters. Buying these products you can also be happy knowing they are part of the  Fair Trade Market and it's made in the USA. Yay!!!

Diapers are a must, and there are so many choices. What do we like... Bumgenius Organic Cloth all in one snap closure. If you're not ready for cloth all the time, I'm also a huge fan of the Honest company, they will deliver diapers, wipes, household products and so much more right to your door.

Carrying your baby is a wonderful way to increase bonding and comfort for your baby. My favorite carriers are Ergobaby Organic Baby Carrier  and the Maya Wrap Baby Sling.

If you are looking for that special doll or critter for your baby to love and cuddle with, look know further. Dragonfly's Hollow Waldorf Dolls are made with all natural materials and are sweet as can be. You can even pick out what you would want it to look like, because these are handmade and one of a kind. Super special, for your little one. Go here to order.

I'm sure most of us love to have hand knit items for our babies, this cute little set from Elves & Angels is perfect. However, if you are past the baby stage and heading towards Toddler age, they have so much to offer. Check out their website at www.elvesandangels.com. 

Last but definitely not least, make sure you have a good camera. These moments only come once, you want to snap them when you can. 

The Canon EOS Rebel Camera is my favorite. This camera takes amazing pictures that you will  treasure forever. 

If you are looking for other guides for wonderful natural items,
 check out
 The Natural Toy Guide for age 1-6
and
The Ultimate Natural Gift Guide

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.

Earth Day Activities for Everyone

Are you a nature lover like us? Do you celebrate Earth Day all year long? 

Wonderful, I'm so glad you do. I've put together several activities that you can do all year to celebrate this wonderful World we live in. I've also got together with several other nature bloggers to share with you their ideas for Earth Day. So come along and explore different ways for you to Learn and Love Earth.  

Several Excellent Earth Day Activities and Books

Even Infants can get involved with Earth Day

Easy Recyclable Sensory Bottles

Toddler Learning Activities with Recyclable Containers

Teaching Little One's about Nature 

 Don't Forget to Help Protect our Ocean's 

Endangered Species Sensory Play Learning

 

Enjoying and Exploring Nature 

 Learning and Creating your very own Earth 

Earth Day for us is a way of living. Not just one day a year, everyday of the year. Let's strive to make this world a better, cleaner one by doing our part. 

Please enjoy my Pinterest Board where you can find hundreds of other Spring and Nature activities.    

Check out these fabulous nature bloggers for more great ideas.  

How Wee Learn

Rain or Shine Mamma

My Nearest and Dearest

Fireflies and Mudpies

Mommy Loves Trees

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.
 

A Lifetime of Play with Elves & Angels

You know when there is that special something that you look at for a long time? You take the time thinking about it, you love everything about it, and so desperately want to have it? 

That's how I have felt about the Elves & Angels Playstands. For awhile now, I have admired them from afar, looking at other families pictures, seeing them online, and in catalog's. It was one of those things I have longed to have for my children. I have asked myself and friends, "Are playstands necessary"? Are they worth the money? Are they stable enough and made to last for years? Well I finally get to answer all of those questions, and more. 

Come along with me into my reality, and see for yourself how incredibly amazing the playstands can be.        

So real quick let's talk about set-up, I was a little nervous at first to let my husband know what he was going to be doing one Sunday afternoon, because my husband is not even close to being handy. Sorry honey :) But here's the thing, David Smalley genius behind Elves & Angels must of known that some of us are visual learners because he actually sends a disc to watch each easy step being done. My husband was in heaven and he had the playstands put together in a quick 20 minutes. Afterwards he commented on how he could tell David really takes pride in every toy he makes and how amazing he thought the company was. All that from the video, I was impressed and ready for play.    

Not only are the playstands beautiful, they are large enough for several kids at various different ages to be able to play. You can tell they are made from the top of the line materials, smooth finishing and extremely sturdy. I also am a huge fan of the extra shelving, it gives so many extra ways to play, and they can easily be added or taken off in minutes. Playstands can be played with in a million different ways from our dolly market, to puppet shows, kitchen, house, farm, the possibilities are endless.   

I am cherishing all of these special moments. 

Why am I such a HUGE FAN of Elves & Angels, because I love their story, because they are a homeschooling family with twelve children that I admire. Because they are a small business that believes children should be surrounded with beautiful handcrafted toys. Because their customer service is impeccable, and I truly believe in good customer service. Because after 24 years David still loves what he does, and is determined to create the very highest quality wooden toys available. Those are just a few things that keep me coming back time and time again :)   

If you are looking for "Heirloom Quality Toys" look no further, Elves & Angels is at the very top of the list.

Being able to have and enjoy these Waldorf playstands with the children is truly special. The children always have an invitation to play whatever they can imagine. 

So have I answered the questions I had asked myself time and time again, and I am sure you have probably asked yourself ;) 

YES!!!!

Elves & Angels Waldorf Playstands are even more Amazing in person.

One of the best investments ever- totally worth every penny! 

If you would like to see other pictures of my children playing with the playstands and different ways we have used them, please visit me on Facebook.

Just in case you are curious about a few of the other toys pictured I'm listing them below:

Lovely Northern white pine Stable is Sam's Stable 

Beautiful handcrafted kitchen shown above is Julianna's Kitchen 

Sweet natural wooden Cradle in the top picture with the Waldorf dolls is from The Toymakers Daughter

Waldorf Dolls are from several different gifted dolly makers. 

My family was given these lovely Waldorf Playstands in return for my honest opinion of them, and we honestly LOVE them.  

Valentine Special

To a lot of people Valentine's Day is a day to splurge on roses, teddy bears, and chocolate, but in this house we do it differently. You aren't going to find expensive gift ideas here. What you are going to find is a way to show your love through thoughtful creativity, and nature. 

I set up this sweet invitation to create on our table. I laid a large piece on contact paper down going from one end of our table to the other. I had bought an inexpensive bouquet of flowers, that I pulled apart and set out in bowls for everyone to use. Then I wrote the word LOVE with flower pieces to get them started. 

Each child spent time decorating the table with words and symbols. They spelled out mom, dad, made hearts, flowers, and designs. We used this beautiful natural masterpiece as our table runner during dinner. It was a hundred times better than any bouquet could have been. So remember this Valentine's day be creative, and think about all of the beautiful things around you in nature that can be used. 

Are you ready for some other Valentine ideas? I hope so! You will want to check out:

• Surprise Your Valentine Giveaway
• A Valentine Surprise Giveaway that You Will Love
• 5 Simple Valentine Gifts for the Mom With Young Kids
• Splurge on a Romantic Dinner at Home and a Giveaway
• Surprise Your Valentine with Fabulous Gluten-Free Treats
• How to Surprise your Tech Savvy Valentine
• Tips for a Frugal Valentine's Day
• The Ultimate Valentine Surprise
• Valentine Giveaway Fairies to the Rescue
• 50 Fun Date Ideas
• Romantic Winds are Blowing Your Way for Valentine's Day

 

Homeschooling Room Tour for 2014

I seem to be changing our schooling room around a lot these days. About every six months it seems it's time for a change and that's because our family is changing. The biggest change for us this year is we now have a toddler. As I'm sure most of you know, when your sweet little baby becomes a curious toddler, things definitely change. I try to embrace those changes and adapt our living and schooling space to benefit the children in the stage they are in. Today I am sharing our homeschooling room with you. I hope you enjoy your tour. 

 "Receive the children with reverence, educate them with love, let them go forth in freedom."
- Rudolf Steiner

Looking into the room, you will see,

a perfect place for you and me.

The low shelves hold some of Baby Bells weekly activities.To the left you will see her floor mat and play silks , in the middle she has a new wooden puzzle, and this week we have been working/playing with farm animals. So I added our schleich horses and a few toddler touch and feel books. We also are blessed to have this amazing doll house from Elves & Angels. The children have spent hours playing with it already.

This is our comfy reading corner. The kids LOVE to lay here and read. I keep a basket of Toddler books on the floor for Ms Bell to easily get to. We also have a new Pottery Barn Kids anywhere chair to sit in.
If you are wondering about the posters and maps above you can get all of the information about them here.

A child size table is so important to any schooling or play room. This is the Large Caroline table from Pottery Barn Kids, however I have seen many great quality wood tables from some of my favorite stores..

It is so important to have good quality, natural, open ended toys. Let their imaginations flourish while they build and play. The toys you see here were made by me.

We love our baby dolls!!!
 These are some of the baby dolls in our house.Waldorf doll makers put such heart into making their dolls with quality natural materials, and they each have their own dolly personality. Perfect for those of us that love dolly play. The sweetest baby doll of them all is the one on the right, she's mine :)

These are things you'll see around our room. First is our little teacup Yorkie Peanut, he's always nearby.
The fabulous Barn you see here was the big Christmas gift of the year, and it's also from Elves & Angels  As you can probably tell, Elves & Angels is is one of our favorite stores.
The Grimms Rainbow and hand kite are also favorites.

The bookcases seen in our room are the Carolina bookcases from Pottery Barn Kids. I love them, and if I had more room, I'd probably get more bookcases :) I use lot's of  baskets to help keep things organized.

I love having a kitchen in our space. The boys have always loved playing store and we incorporate it into our everyday learning and play. Unfortunately they are no longer making this farmers market, however I highly recommend getting an Elves & Angels kitchen. We have their Julianna's kitchen and love it.  

We love nature and I feel it's very important to bring nature into your learning space. Every month or so I change around our nature table. This is part of our Winter table. You can see some of our other Nature set up's here and here.

My favorite reading chair is right by the windows. It is so nice to relax there and read with the kids. 

This is what you see as you are looking at the back of the room. (bookcases are below) 

Above the windows are our bird counting cards they are so sweet and I felt they were perfect for our room. We love Eeboo products.

This is how the left side of the room looks as you are walking in.

Little B's Treehaus castle blocks, Stringing beads, and wooden peg dolls are set out to play with for the week.

Looking straight in from the dining room

This is what you see as you look into the room towards the end of the day. 

I feel so blessed when I see the sun shinning in, all of the colors dancing around the room, and the laughter from my children in the background.  

I hope you enjoyed your tour. 

Feel free to visit us anytime, we love visitors.

If you would like to see the changes our room has gone through in the past year, you can see them here and here.

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.