While winter seems to be sticking around a little bit longer than we'd like it to, we are ready to hit the trails for biking with my kids. Sometimes we bike around the neighborhood parks with a pit stop at the playgrounds, but we usually prefer to bike for longer distances without having to go through city traffic on our favorite trail, … [Read more...]
How to hack a pull up bar to use as gymnastics training bar for kids
AFFORDABLE GYMNASTICS TRAINING BAR FOR KIDS My daughter continues to take gymnastics classes. She's not at the competitive level so her practices are not as frequent. When it gets closer to her meets, she wants to practice more at home in order to strengthen her body or perfect her routine. We try to provide her the environment and tools to … [Read more...]
Fort Magic Fort Building Kit
BEST FORT BUILDING KIT Fort Magic Fort building kit is a comprehensive fort construction kit which allows children build any type of fort, building or vehicle only limited to children’s creativity. It has more pieces and variety of shapes than any other fort kit in the market. We’ve purchased Fort Magic a year ago and forts in changing various … [Read more...]
10 family board games we all love
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BOARD GAME? One of the family activities which is supposed to be fun and engaging is playing board games together. Even though I would rather prefer sitting down and playing board games with my kids to playing with trucks or Shopkins (insert *groan*), I can’t say that all board games are equally fun (or even tolerable) either. … [Read more...]
Daily themes for after school family fun
As full-time working parents of children attending public school, after school time is particularly invaluable for us. Their school ends early afternoon. They attend extracurricular programs after school 4 days of the work week. I or my husband can pick them up usually around 5-6 pm. That leaves us around 2,5-3,5 hours to have some type of family … [Read more...]
Tips to get students remember to turn in homework
Towards the end of last year, my son started to have problems with his homework. The issue was not the assignment themselves. He would complete the assignments on time, but then he would frequently forget to turn them in, which would result in reduced grades. As a parent, this was more frustrating to us than not doing the assignment itself.We … [Read more...]
Raising everyday makers
We are raising our kids in a very different environment than we had in our childhood. Specifically, children growing up middle and upper-class families are not only surrounded by a considerable amount of possessions of their own but also are exposed to what other people have and do in social media from young ages. This results in a mindset of … [Read more...]
Prepare yourself and your child for puberty education at school
Just when I thought my parenting gig was going on auto-pilot, at the beginning of 5th grade we’ve received a parent consent form from my son’s school. When I saw it was for health and sex education, I paused for a bit. I thought maybe the forms got mixed up. My son was only 10 year-old. He wasn’t even a teenager. I showed it to my husband as it … [Read more...]
Hak4Kidz: Ethical Hacking Conference for Kids
We took the kids to a conference called Hak4Kidz that was organized for youth this past Saturday. Hak4Kidz is an event of ethical hackers and Information Security professionals dedicated to bring the educational and communal benefits of whitehat hacking conferences to children and young adults. The day-long conference which took place in downtown … [Read more...]
Chicago Family Bucket List – Summer 2016
It's been 3 months already since I posted our Chicago Family Bucket List – Spring 2016. We've marked many of them checked ✔even though we haven't completed them all. Now the summer is here and finally school is out - today-, we can focus on our summer bucket list. There are so many things kids want to do as well as I want to do with kids. At the … [Read more...]
DIY- How to build a balance beam
My daughter has been doing gymnastics for the last year. She really wants to improve to go up a level and in order to improve she needs to practice. One of the two pieces of gym equipment she has been asking for was a balance beam. Sturdy balance beams start around $180-$200 on the web. I couldn’t find any nearby on Craigslist. During my research … [Read more...]
Take a free flight with EAA Young Eagles Program
My son is a huge aviation enthusiast. His current preferred future occupation is an "aircraft designer" or "aircraft design engineer". He favorite reads are books about planes. He can identify the model of a flying airplane in a blink. His favorite computer game is X-plane. And his pick for the famous person for his Wax Museum project was Wilbur … [Read more...]
Chicago Family Bucket List – Spring 2016
Every month, I try to plan for our family activities in advance and put them on my calendar with the help of Chicago Parent magazine. I also create a seasonal bucket list at the beginning of every season, with seasonal activities, festival and special exhibits going on in Chicago Museums. I usually do this with kids. We make a poster board of our … [Read more...]
How to make plaster cast of animal tracks
My kids are part of "nature pal" group. Every season, we go out on nature expeditions, collect treasures from nature, label them, package them and mail them out to our "nature pals". Every season, there is also a specific treasure to look for or an assignment to send to our nature pals. This past Winter season, our assignment was to take an … [Read more...]
Kids’ games and activities quick reference guide
Winter break is here and we all know that after a day of high of no school and no homework, kids will start falling into the bottomless pit of boredom. In order to help them find alternative ways to keep busy, I prepared this quick guide filled with game ideas, toys in our house, arts & craft activities we do and physical activities. You can … [Read more...]
Setting new year’s goals with children
Beginning of a new year, makes us think about what we've done, what we've accomplished or what we can learn from our failures or shortcomings in the year behind, and set new goals, both personal and professional, for the coming year. We might not aspire for big bangs or extraordinary inventions. However, I believe every human being needs growth in … [Read more...]
Computer Science Education Week: Hour of Code Campaign
I work in front of my laptop all day and I organize my life with my iPhone. My children see us, their uncles, aunts and grandparents using our computers, tablets and smartphone on a daily basis. Therefore, it would be hypocritical and, to be honest, very selfish to deny our kids time on computers and tablets.They are 9 and 7. They have set … [Read more...]
Tea party themed birthday party
My daughter turned 7. We celebrated her birthday with a Tea Party themed birthday party as per her wish. She wanted to do a Tea Party since she received this Princess Tea Party set and books as a gift in May. We have been baking cupcakes and making a granola bar from the recipe book that was included in the set.The birthday party I put together … [Read more...]
Winter fun: Snow activities for children
We try to make the most of the long, cold winter with kids. I have been chronicling our activities with snow, indoors and outdoors. Here are some of them, for kids to have fun and keep busy.Simple snowman Or fashinable snow kitty.Ice sculpting Just leave a water filled bucket out overnight. Put the ice it in a tray. Let your young artist … [Read more...]
Adler Planetarium Astro Overnights
We attended Adler Planetarium's Astro Overnights for kids, the first week of November. Even though we visit Adler at least once every year, neither I nor the children have visited Adler after dark. It was an evening well spent. Everyone including adults had great time and learned stuff that we didn't know.The weather was very mild that evening. … [Read more...]