Written by Kara Fleck, editor of Simple Kids.  Spring is just around the corner, which means so is Yard Sale Season, my favorite time of year!  We’re enjoying the extended President’s Day weekend, so I thought you might enjoy this post from June 2010.  Best wishes!

This upcoming weekend is a holiday here in the United States.  It  also marks the time of year when many local neighborhoods shift yard sale season into high gear. For the savvy shopper, this is the most wonderful time of the year, as the bargains are waiting to be found.

Being one of those people who likes to plan ahead to save myself work and hassle later, I take advantage of this time to get a jump on my holiday and birthday shopping.

Indulge me for a moment, though, because keeping your eyes open now for certain items can pay off in the form of full stockings come December, and at bargain prices to boot.

Here are some simple yard sale treasures for kids that are worth searching for:

[Read more...]

The following is by editor Kara Fleck and originally appeared in March of 2011.

Imentioned a short while ago that one of the ways I help to make life a little easier on myself and our mornings flow smoother is by preparing for them the night before.

I have found that a morning routine helps to set the tone for the rest of the day. You can read more about my morning routine here, but today I want to talk specifically about taking some time the evening before to set the stage for the next morning.

Prepping for the Next Morning

One of the questions I asked myself as I was developing our current morning routine was what can I do the night before to give myself a jump start for the next day?

[Read more...]

The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

Using Pinterest, the virtual bulletin board, has become one of my favorite ways to find and organize ideas for my family.  I’m a visual person and being able to see my bulletin boards, and organize them by type, is more helpful to me than any other link favorites documenting system I’ve used in the past.

It also appeals to me because it is a paperless way to plan and organize, and the fewer piles of paper we have around here the better!

I love that I can organize the ideas I find for my family and home by season, type, age and stage – really, any category that I can come up with! 

If you aren’t currently on Pinterest and you don’t know what all the fuss about “pinning” is, let me share a few tips and tricks with you today, as well as some of my favorite people to follow for kids and family ideas.

[Read more...]

The following is by editor Kara Fleck.

In April, I have been sharing with you some ways that I care for my children’s things.  Today, I want to talk with you about books and toys: namely, our rotation system for both.

We rotate books and toys because I feel like rotating allows us to have  less toys but enjoy them more.

What This Looks Like at Our House

Rotating Books

We have books that we rotate seasonally.  We also have books that we rotate according to our homeschool themes.  We have books for specific holidays, too.

I keep these books in baskets and I rotate them on a frequent basis. The baskets are in our loft/playroom and on our living room coffee table and in a few other kid-accessible spots.

I also have a small basket that I use to rotate board books from our collection for Lucy, my two year old.  I put two or three books at a time in there for her and she knows that is her basket.

[Read more...]

This post is by editor Kara Fleck.

Next week is Screen-Free week.  The purpose of the week is to encourage families to turn off the tv, unplug, and spend the week “free” of the screens in their lives.

Turn off your TV April 18 – 24th

From the Screen-Free Week website:

“Screen-Free Week is a national celebration where children, families, schools, and communities spend seven days turning off entertainment screen media and turning on life.  It’s a time to unplug and play, read, daydream, create, explore, and spend more time with family and friends.”

My family isn’t a TV-free household, and I don’t want to give that impression, but we do limit the television we watch, especially for the kids.

Aside from football season and IndyCar, and my love of watching Bones and Project Runway on Hulu, the TV isn’t a main source of entertainment for the adults in our house and so it isn’t for the kids.

But, as I admitted on Rockin’ Granola this week, computer screen time and cell phone screen time are both things I could probably stand to give myself a more restrictive diet of.  Ahem.  (I was going to call this a side effect of being a blogger, but I have to admit that would just be making an excuse.)

[Read more...]