Smart Kid

Make an Easter craft that will have the whole crew giggling! Adorable bunny rabbits have been a part our Easter celebration in the US since the late 18th century. (see Wikipedia article on Easter Bunny.)
This simple craft is loads of fun and the kids really enjoy it! Use a glue stick or school glue, unless otherwise noted, to adhere the different components of the bunny’s face.
Materials and Sequence of Creating the Bunny’s Face Mask
1. FACE
Print a large photo of the child’s face, so that the diameter of the face is about 6 inches. Cut around so only the face remains – no hair. Glue this to the center of a white paper plate.
2. BOW
Pink/Blue ribbon tied into a bow. Use a glue gun to glue it to the paper plate. Do this ahead of time.
3. EARS
Cut out and glue together oblong white ears and …

I wanted to make these delicious sounding zucchini strips I saw on SkinnyTaste.com.  It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon. My daughter had been in school all morning and then refused to nap. You know the kind of day I’m talking about.  She wanted to “help” me in the kitchen. I figured why not. It was a good way to use up some of her energy!
It was a great recipe, a very easy recipe, a very kid friendly recipe. Measuring breadcrumbs. Measuring cheese. Cracking open an egg.  I did take over when it was time to separate the egg white!  That was it.  She took the zucchini strips that I had cut and dipped them into the egg white, dropped them into the breadcrumb bag, shook the bag and carefully placed them on the baking sheet.  She loved it. We baked them and ate them. …

This week I welcome Lovely Payoute, president of Etiquette Miami, who offers a wide range of programs and services from group etiquette classes for children and teens, individual/corporate training, and cotillion programs. Children Manners classes for children and teens are enrolling now in Palm Beach Gardens and Boca Raton Nordstrom Stores.

You have checked off the supplies on the school supply list, but is your child prepared to make friends, meet new teachers and make great impressions this school year?
A new school year comes with a lot of anxiety for children.  It’s important while out school shopping for parents to talk  to their children about what is expected of them in the classroom, cafeteria, hallways and playground.
First Impressions
Review basic introduction with your children before they return to school.
Hi, my name is Suzy.  This is Shelly.  Shelly this is Suzy.

Everyone should look put together when they come to school.  …

Finding a Teachable Moment
I recently purchased a childhood favorite, Hi! Ho! Cherry-O! for my daughter.  Originally intended for a fun before nap activity, it easily turned into a math lesson. After each spin she had to SUBTRACT one or more pieces of fruit from her tree.  I wasn’t afraid to use this word.   At first she looked at me when I used this “fancy” word, but I continued on letting her figure out what I meant when I said, “Oh, you need to SUBTRACT 3 green apples from your tree!” She figured out what I meant; she had played the game before.  But my 3 ½ year old certainly hadn’t heard the word SUBTRACT.  Now she has. How about the word COMPARE? I certainly could use this math word on our next game to notice the differences and similarities between my fruit tree and hers.
Taking an …

Once upon a time there were three little pigs.  The first little pig built his house of …
I am certain each of you, and your munchkins, can finish the story.  It’s a story that has been retold orally and in books from as far back as the 1840s!
I challenge you to use the storyline that we all know so well of The Three Little Pigs to introduce a new story and new vocabulary to your preschooler/elementary aged little one.  The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell is a great start.  With the great familiarity of the “pigs” storyline, your child will be quick to understand the story (what happens first, second…) as new words are introduced with this rather hilarious Southwestern variation.  A conversation about straw and bricks will easily be replaced with adobe bricks and tumbleweeds.  You can …

“But Mommy, I was just cutting them to make them look pretty,” Isa explained when I found her getting ready for Project Runway last week!
Yes, I am a Smart Mama.
Yes, a Smart Mama would NEVER leave a child alone with scissors.
Yes, I have TOTALLY learned my lesson.
THANKFULLY my daughter’s jammies are “hurt” not her little fingers!
PS – I think she’ll make a great Project Runway contender one day, scissors and all!

Yes, the imagination is full force in this house, and it better be in yours too!
As I whined to my 3 year old that my knee was hurting (I’ve had 2 major knee surgeries in the last 2 years) she told me, “I have the right medicine, don’t worry.” Intrigued by my Dr. Little One, I asked her for some.  She brought me over a Minnie Mouse Pez container and explained, “Now just hold it there until it beeps and then the knee will be all better.”  It reminded me of how I give her her underarm thermometer.  Well, I held it there, and honestly, for a few seconds I felt like I was getting medicated, sort of like having an ice pack on my knee.  No more than 10 seconds later she started beeping, my daughter, not Minnie.  She explained, “You have 47, which is very hot. …

 
On the way to school Isa wanted to play hide and seek. What?  How do you play hide and seek in a car when everyone is wearing their seat belts?  Look:

  That’s how!  She asked me to count to ten and I shouted, “Ready or not here I come!”  Using my right hand I started feeling around living up to her imagination that she was really hiding.  She giggled.  I giggled.  At the 1st red light I finally “found her!”  It was great!  Keep using that Smart Mama imagination!  It’s the best!

Oh, why do I love Color Wonder???  Let’s just say that the dining room table and chair
would look much different than they did tonight when I found Isabella “making a picture” when I was cooking.  I thought she was coloring and when she suddenly mentions that the “painting” was looking great!  Surprise, surprise, I FREAKED knowing she was sitting in the dining room, quickly envisioning the colors of the rainbow decorating my table, chairs and floor.  Before the true freak out I made a HUGE sigh when I realized she was painting with Crayola Color Wonder!!!
If you don’t have Color Wonder in your home with children, stop reading this and go out and buy it! It will save your sanity, I swear, when the painters are making their masterpieces. Color Wonder is a “magical”  clear paint that does not make any marks on anything but the special Color Wonder paper. 
 
This is not …

Oh, the imagination of a 3 year old.  How I wish I still had it!  Actually, it has been sneaking out lately!  Thank you very much to my munchkin Isa!
Your dreams are endless with imagination.  You want to go to China today?  Ok, use our imagination to get there asap!  Want to be an Iron Chef, well in your pink kitchen and your Easy Bake Oven you will be the star chef in no time! One of the greatest rewards in parenthood is being a kid all over again!  How can you say NO when the little one asks you to join in at her “tea party” as she hands you a plastic hamburger and tells you its a fancy sandwich?  I love it, I love it, I love it!  Bring on the tea parties, the trips to outer space and the Cinderella’s Ball with Princess Isa and Princess Mommy in attendance!
Do you have a …

Looking for a great Smart Mama activity for your pre-schooler??? I found it! With ZERO good G or even PG movies out there for the under 7 crew, Kid Toon Films has come to the rescue, a la SUPER WHY style! Two SUPER WHY episodes, Comic Book: Attack of the Eraser and The Big Game, will be in movie theaters on weekends in February as part of the Kidtoons program.

The official blah, blah…
The Kidtoons program is dedicated to helping parents connect with their kids by bringing family friendly animated movies to the big screen every weekend at participating theatres across the country. Participating Kidtoons theatres showcase a fun, affordable family friendly matinee movie and provide a family experience filled with entertaining, kid-friendly characters, as well as cartoon shorts, music videos and sing-alongs before each movie. We even have fun giveaways for the kids, such as …