I’m not a big fan of plastic throwaway holiday decorations. Rather than buy paper plates and napkins each year, I buy ceramic (OK sometimes plastic) plates that I can pull out over and over for those special days.  My minimalist decorations are solid, wood or durable material that I can box up after the holiday. I like to strew our selection of holiday books around the house to read and re-read each year.

So I like this Halloween puzzle – an activity that doubles as a decoration. It’s 500 pieces so it’s not too intimidating for those of us who are not the most puzzle savvy. But, it has enough pieces that the entire family can enjoy assembling it as a group and of course minimize squabbles on who gets which side…because it’s round!.

The finished size 19” x 19” is a perfect size for displaying on a side table during the holiday and boxing back up in November. Or alternately after the holidays laminate it and frame for a permanent decoration.

The barnstorming design isn’t too scary for the little ones and has a terrific old-fashioned scene that makes one nostalgic for a farmyard Halloween – mom cooking pumpkin pie and a big patch of pumpkins.

Decorations?

Check.

Costumes?

Check.

Crafts? Ummm. Since I decided a few years ago that continuing to buy lots of interesting, electronic and plastic decorations for… each holiday… every year was a wee bit wasteful, we’ve been into crafts. Rather than buy and discard, we make one or two crafts each year to add to our growing stash of home décor. Admittedly, our home will not soon be featured in a major decorating magazine with our limited repertoire, but over the years our stash will grow and we will remember, not where we bought each piece, but when we made them

Since our skill levels, both mine and my child’s are not, shall we say, well developed, we try to stick to simple crafts. These Halloween suncatchers are easy to make,  and work well in just about any home, provided you don’t live in a cave. I’m looking forward to scattering these across the house, much to the annoyance of DH, of course.

These Halloween placemats are another good choice. We love placemats around our house, especially ones that last. Rather than purchase holiday-decorated paper cups and plates that will be pitched each year, we choose to decorate with reusable items that we pack away and take out again and again. Since these are also homemade, they meet both of my priorities!

Boo!

If like me, you’re often appalled at how much “stuff” you consign to the trash or recycle bin, this book is for you. It’s been about 6 months now since I started saving cereal boxes, glass jars, plastic bottles, yogurt cups and various other materials, including socks with holes in them, paper towel roles and bits of ribbon. I save them in a pile in our playroom for the kids to make well…whatever occurs to them.

They’ve done a good job so far. Leashes for stuffed animals, the inevitable swords, paint cups and a puppet theatre have all provided a second life for items I would typically throw away.

But, I’m always looking for new ideas and so are they. Recycled Craft Box, an easy-to-read paperback just might supply the answer. Filled with great craft ideas including, sock puppets, a nature art box and interesting ways to reuse old shoes, I’m excited to take a look to see what we can make.

The projects featured are earth friendly and require no special trips to the craft store…just a bit of rummaging around the house. In a time of increasing economic belt tightening and growing awareness of going green…what better way to entertain the kids than gathering up what you would typically throw away and creating something new?

I’m a sucker for books, games and toys with educational value. It somehow strikes me that there’s no particular reason that educational toys can’t be fun and fun toys can’t be educational.

That’s one if the reasons I like the Insect Lore Bug Life Cycle Fun Book. If you yearn to get your little one interested in science, the science of bugs is one of the best places to start. You’re never more than three feet from a spider (yes, that’s usually true) and bugs of every type can easily be found in most neighborhoods and unfortunately neighborhood homes.

We spend the summer doing insect studies. We checked a number of children’s books out of the library over the last few months – most read-a-loud, a few, stumble through yourself and look at the pictures. We examined bugs with a magnifying glass and photographed them in their homes (and ours).

And we did lots of activities like those found in this book. Cementing learning with fun activities like drawing, dot-to-dot and projects like making puppets and masks is a time tested technique for a positive attitude toward school and schoolwork.

Insect Lore Bug Life Cycle Fun Book comes with 4 crayons and includes information on the butterfly lifecycle too.

Getting the tiniest members of your family ready for back to school often doesn’t mean getting ready to go anywhere. Not ready for big boy or girl school, your littlest one still wants to learn. So, I’m going to be reviewing some of my favorite learning toys from time to time, starting with The Deluxe Adjustable Standing Easel by Melissa and Doug.

Painting or drawing with an easel is something even the smallest toddlers enjoy and is can be used by different children for different reasons. Those tactile ones will just use it as a big finger painting board while your child with the highly developed fine motor skills will whip out a complete drawing.

I particularly like this easel because it comes included with colorful clips that can be used to anchor paper of different sizes to the easel. Other easels feature a roll of paper but personally I find having to cut paper off the roll each time a child has finished a picture a hassle.

It also has a fairly large paint holder, big enough to hold individual pots of paint or a strip of water colors. And it’s deep so the pot of water for brush washing and the requisite rag, for clean-ups of brushes and children, won’t fall out.

Because it’s sturdy, adjustable and fairly plain, you can keep this easel for a long time. Elementary age children love to paint at easel, but rarely have the chance since their toddler toys are too often tossed.