Four years ago, while sitting in a hotel after a long day of exploring Yellowstone National Park, I received a call from my sister back in Indiana asking if I could make her a printable for her first day as a preschool teacher. Happy to do so, I sat there while my boys chilled in front of the hotel TV and created her this printable -- not thinking about anything more it than it benefiting my sister and her new class...

Fast forward to now and this little printable is the best selling printable I've ever made! Funny how things happen like that! Over time, this has also led to me making other handprint craft printables for various holidays, etc. If my boys were still little, you'd better believe I'd be doing these with them -- I miss seeing those sweet little hands! 

I receive comments all the time about how much the parents love receiving these crafts as gifts -- I was the same way when my boys were little! Give me a thumbprint piece of art, a hand, a foot...you name it. Anything to document their size at that time and I was in love! I mean...now I look at my oldest and he's on the verge of wearing clothes from the Men's section! (insert tears)

If you're like me -- a sentimental momma with kids that are growing up WAY too fast -- grab this or make one that fits your needs. You won't regret it when they start to have hands the same size as you and you begin to miss those days of having little ones. It's super fun watching my boys grow up and see the little men they're becoming, but the days when they were little sure were fun! I love that I have various crafts to remember them by!

As a way of introducing writing to my 1st grader, we have started doing a weekly journal entry. I generally have him do the journal entry one day, and then a rewrite the next. For the rewrite, I correct any grammar or spelling issues, so it's essentially copywork. Over time, I have seen his writing improve by doing this, which is awesome!


Even though we typically use a composition book for the entries, on occasion, I'll give my son a fun printable with a theme. Considering today was our first day back to school after Christmas break, that called for a fun printable! He has talked so much about how much fun he had over break, so I wanted to encourage him to write about it...

If you're like me, you're always looking for FREE ways to incorporate fun activities into your homeschool lessons. While I LOVE our curriculum for language arts, I still want to mix it up on occasion. Plus, I'm trying to add more writing into our lesson plans. For my son, trying to get him to write is like pulling teeth. I've started adding a daily journal entry to our morning work, but if I can find something fun and exciting, I'm there!

As you know (if you've been reading the blog), my boys love snowglobes. We recently even made our own DIY Snowglobe Ornaments last month. Well, going along with that theme, I decided to make a writing activity for Sam. I figured that could be a fun way to ease our way back into school when we start back up again after Christmas break.

Do you have snowglobe fans in the house? My 6 year old currently loves them! He received his first one last Christmas and was quick to want another this year. With his already stated love for the Eiffel Tower, it was a no-brainer as to which one he would get when he saw the Eiffel Tower snowglobe at Target last month. The minute he saw it, he knew he HAD to have it, ha...


Without hesitation, he used some of the Christmas money he had received from family and proudly bought his Eiffel Tower snowglobe. It unfortunately didn't survive more than a few days in a house with our two boys, but that's besides the point. While it was all in one piece, we heard "I Love Paris" play countless times and the sweet boy was in heaven!


So with all of that being said.. and knowing my boys are really into snowglobes right now, we decided to make snowglobe ornaments to put on the tree this year. Both boys LOVED it! I already had various types of glitter in our craft cabinet, as well as extra glass bulb ornaments that we could use. The only thing I needed (or thought I needed) was a package of fake snowflakes -- luckily they had them at our local 99 Cent Only store. I don't know that those are absolutely necessary if you already have glitter, but the boys enjoyed adding them to the mix either way...