Parenting Tips | Activities with Kids | Decorating Ideas at Bright Star Kids

May

Butterfly Art Using Paint Swatches

Butterfly Art using paint swatches is our favourite craft idea so far.

There are so many colours to work with, this turned out to be so effective and would look beautiful in a little girls room.

There are so many different shapes you can get to pop out your colour samples, so don’t feel restricted to only butterflies.

What a lovely gift to give to a friend.

There are 4 things you will need:

Cardboard colour samples- you can find these in a paint shop or a hardware store and they are FREE!!!

Butterfly stamp punch-You can find these in most craft stores

A white or a colour of your choice Picture Frame

Glue

Have fun!

May

Button Art

Button Art was so easy to do and looked amazing when we were finished.

What a way to use up buttons building up in Nanna’s sewing tin.

You can make your wooden letters look funky with all types of different styles of buttons, we

chose the simple pastel colours this time. You can also paint the letters first which would add effect.

These button names would make such a lovely gift for a new born or even to

fill in time with the kids. They could decorate their own names, mirrors, boxes etc.

3 Simple things you will need:

Buttons of course

Wooden letters from your local craft store ( you can use anything you like to glue buttons onto)

Glue ( We used a hot glue gun, if using this with young children, please supervise)

Have fun creating wonderful things with buttons!

May

Fun Canvas Art for Kids

Fun Canvas Art for kids is such an easy and rewarding crafty idea.

Guaranteed to brighten up any space.

There are four simple tools you will need:

1. Canvas

2. Paint

3. Paint Brushes

4. 3m Tape

Simply press the tape down firmy, creating any pattern you desire.

Then get creative and paint different colours in each section.

Wait for it to dry, peel your tape off and it’s ready to hang!

May

To our beautiful Mum’s

Mother’s day is about appreciating the woman who has brought you into the world.

For putting herself last and the non conditional love she gives daily.

My Mum has taught me so much through life

She has taught me how to fight, how to get back up off the floor, dust yourself off and try again.

She never let me stop trying.

My Mum has moulded me into an honest, and strong lady.

Mother’s Day is the perfect day to say Thankyou!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the awesome inspiring mother’s and women out there.

Bright Star Kids have designed a gorgeous Printable Mothers Day Card for your kids to colour in, perfect for Mum or Grandma.

Apr

Teaching Children the Importance of Values

Years ago, when my husband and I started having conversations about possibly having children, one of the first topics that we discussed was the importance of instilling values in our kids. We had both been raised in homes where having values was of utmost importance and we wanted to pass those traditions onto our own children.

After our sons were born, we immediately realised that imparting good values to our boys wasn’t going to be a piece of cake like we originally thought. You see, children learn the behaviors that are modeled for them by the adults around them so, teaching manners and values becomes a full-time, 24-hour per day responsibility for all parents.

It became apparent right away that setting a good example was going to be key in teaching our boys the lessons that would carry them through life. (more…)

Apr

Choosing The Right Sport For Kids

Many parents struggle over choosing just the right sport to sign their child up for. A lot of factors need to be considered when making this decision including your child’s interests, costs, and scheduling conflicts. In our case, my husband and I were confronted with the fact that both of our sons have very different interests and it definitely had an impact on the sports that we have chosen for each one of them.

Our older son, who is nine years old, has always been very athletic and showed an interest in various sports from early on. We signed him up for intramural basketball and little league as young as four and five years old. Basketball was a good choice for us because it was of minimal cost and allowed us to see if he really enjoyed the sport without investing a lot of our money right away. Also, we chose a little league park that included the cost of the uniform in its fee which was more cost efficient. He took to both sports immediately and even ended up trying out for his school’s basketball team and being accepted! (more…)

Apr

Tips for Managing a Career and Being a Full Time Mum

I have been a middle school teacher for the past thirteen years and I love working with children and filling their young minds with knowledge. Since I was a kid, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher from the experiences that I had visiting my aunt’s school through the years that she worked as a Special Education teacher.

Although I love my job, my most important role is that of being a mother to my two sons ages 7 and 9. When I’m gone, I want to be remembered for having been a good mother above everything else. I’m not going to lie and tell you that it isn’t extremely challenging to juggle both roles of being a mother and managing a career. What I will say is that both of these roles are very rewarding.

During the day at work, I am constantly worrying about my responsibilities at home and, when I get home from work, I worry about all of my job-related responsibilities. There just never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done and it can be very overwhelming sometimes. (more…)

Apr

Birthday Party Ideas for Kids

Do you have a kid’s birthday coming up soon? Dreading the thought of having to create the “Perfect party”?

Some kids’ birthday parties these days seem to have been planned with the precision of a wedding – with the same amount of expense and stress! Jumping castles, clowns and magicians, face painters, farm animals, catered menus from restaurants, elaborately decorated novelty birthday cakes ….

Here are some birthday party ideas for kids that will keep them fed and entertained – without breaking the bank!

Locations

Whilst birthday parties can usually be held at home, if you need more room, consider your local park. There are often sheltered tables available, and there is the advantage of ready-made entertainment in the form of the playground equipment. If your little one decides on having only a small group of friends, there’s also the option of choosing a venue that cater for kids parties such as soft play, mini putt- putt golf etc. Majority of these venues have food and drink packages, which at times can work out to be cheaper than hosting your own party. And the best part is… there’s no cleaning up! (more…)

Apr

Ways to use chalk Labels at home

Here’s some great ways to use Chalk Labels at home!

There are endless idea’s and ways of using chalk at home. They make the perfect decorative ideas, this one being our favourite design at the moment. It’s bright colours will brighten any empty wall in your home or even the office.

All of us mum’s at some stage have been overwhelmed with trying to keep organised.
Thank goodness for chalk labels! They are so easy to apply and perfect if things change, just wipe and re-write. Not only do they make us look organised, but they look really cool too!

Create the perfect rustic garden with these chalk labels, it really does look fantastic!

These are very cute and the kiddies will love them!

Well, these are just a few of our idea’s we wanted to share with you.
We would love to hear some of yours, tell us what you have done at home with chalk, send us pics!
We can’t wait to hear about it!

Apr

Learning Activities for Children at Home

As a teacher, I have always been a big fan of extending the learning that takes place in school to the home. It’s very important that parents engage their children in learning activities that they can do together at home. This helps kids to practice some of the strategies that they learned at school and it also allows them to have fun while doing it.

Since my area of expertise is Literacy, I love any learning activities that are print rich and promote reading and writing of any kind. My seven year old son loves to read and write and he has two favourite learning activities that we have completed here at home. The first one is the photo timeline and the second one is the picture dictionary.

These are two learning activities that most children love and that go a long way in teaching them some of the reading strategies that will be extremely useful to them in the classroom. Both of these activities are perfect for children who are learning to read or emerging readers. They focus on building fluency and reading stamina. (more…)