Monthly Archives: December 2009

Encourage the Kids to Make Christmas Gifts

There are a few things that are true about most kids, especially younger ones.

  1. They love to make crafts.
  2. They love holidays.
  3. They don’t have much of their own money.

Put it all together and what do you have? The perfect excuse to have them make the Christmas gifts they give.

Gifts don’t have to be complex. Last year my kids made frames out of wooden craft sticks, with magnets on the back so they could be stuck on the fridge. They painted them and added glitter because, well, it wouldn’t be a fun craft in their view if things didn’t go just a little overboard.

craft stick framesThe frames are really easy to make. You’ll need:

4 or 8 craft sticks, depending on if you want a single or double layer to the frame.
Glue
Photograph to be framed
Paperboard or thin cardboard
Magnet (strong enough to hold the whole thing up)
Decorating supplies

Have the kids glue them into approximately a square. Don’t fuss about perfection, these are kids and a little off looks good. My kids like to do the double layer frame.

Allow the glue to dry, then let the kids decorate the frame as they please.

As the decorations dry, you can cut the photograph to fit the frame. Glue its back to the paperboard and attach the magnet to the back.

When everything is dry, glue the photo into the frame.

There are many other crafts kids can easily make that will be appreciated by grandparents and other relatives. Having them make the gifts encourages them to give things that have more meaning, rather than spending a dollar or two on what appeals to them at that instant at the store.

What’s the Fuss Over Zhu Zhu Pets and Antimony?

There’s been quite the fuss online about Zhu Zhu Pets and the results the Good Guide published with regards to the amount of antimony in them. They claimed the results were higher than allowed.

Turns out, however, that the Good Guide used an invalid testing method. The Smart Mama does a great job of explaining that what they found was total antimony, when soluble is what matters for safety. The Good Guide has since admitted they used the wrong form of testing.

Dealing with total versus soluble quantities can be a difficult thing to understand. There’s that urge to say “if it’s there, it’s a problem” that I’m seeing quite a bit of.

There’s a comment on the Good Guide’s blog that explains why they look at “soluble.” By looking at soluble, they’re looking at what would come out in the process of being digested by a human. That’s an important number to be concerned with.

All that said, I have other reasons to be disinterested in buying a Zhu Zhu Pet for my kids. Not the least of it is my refusal to buy into the latest consumer frenzy. It’s a cute toy and all, but I won’t bet on how long it will really be interesting to kids. Then there’s all the plastic in the accessories.

I much prefer toys that encourage creativity and activity. They tend to hold my children’s interest much longer. There are so many great toys you can buy, and you won’t have to stand in long lines or pay higher than retail just because the demand is insane. Try shopping at Magic Cabin or eBeanStalk.com for more interesting toys.

Enjoying My Shark Steam Mop – A Review

I got a nice hand-me-down from my mother a couple months ago. She had a Shark steam mop and just didn’t quite like it well enough. She figured I might like to give it a try.

Let’s see… cleaning my floors with steam rather than chemicals or even plain vinegar. Reusing something she doesn’t want. Yes, I’ll try!

The Shark steam mop is really easy to use. You have to push down to get steam, but that happens quite naturally when pushing the mop. I haven’t found that to be a problem. That’s a good thing because I long since gave the chore of cleaning the kitchen floors mostly to my kids. It’s easy enough they can use it, with appropriate supervision, of course. It’s hot steam but so far they show no inclination to test the heat out on themselves or each other.

They love that it picks up the many sticky spills they make on the floor so easily. And believe me, they do leave some messes about, and they had to really scrub in the past with the old mop. It may take several passes with the steam mop, but that’s still easier than the scrubbing they had to do with the other one.

They use washable cloth pads, which is another great feature. They also let me know just how much yeeech was on the floor. They don’t generally come back perfectly white for me after a wash, but hey, they’re just for cleaning the floor.

The water container is kind of small, but so is our kitchen, so that works for us. Just about everything else in our house is carpeted so we don’t have a lot of tile or other hard floor surfaces to worry about.

Reading some of the steam mop reviews on Amazon, it’s clear that many steam mops get hotter than the Shark, and that can be important. If you have a lot of hard surface floors, you’re probably going to want one with a bigger tank. But for our situation the Shark is quite good.

It’s Amazing How Few Toys Kids Really Need

We’ve been in this house several months now. It’s nice having all the space but what has been most interesting is how few toys my kids really need in order to have fun.

You see, we’ve hardly unpacked any of them. They’re still in boxes in the garage.

I’ve known for a long time that most toys pretty much don’t get played with. That’s just how kids are. They have the favorites and then the toys that come out once in a long while.

Yes, they have asked for their toys sometimes. Not often at all though.

And there are a few that I really do want to get out for them, especially the wooden train set and more of their crafting supplies.

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s a good reminder that they really don’t need a ton of new toys to have fun.

They will be getting some, but so far we have a bit of a fun science focus. My kids love to do “science projects” and I would like to encourage that. We’ve gotten some good deals for them.

Probably after Christmas we’ll get around to going through those boxes and really push the kids on getting rid of the stuff they just don’t need. There are other children more in need and who would really appreciate the things mine aren’t paying attention to.

Stop Using Paper Towels – Green Step By Step

Paper towels are in many ways a wonderful convenience. I can admit that. But they’re also really wasteful. Use, throw away. Many recycling programs won’t even take them. The fibers in them are too short.

About the only good thing you can do with them is compost them if they don’t have any harsh cleaning chemicals on them.

Better yet is to get used to using cloth towels. It adds a bit to your laundry, but perhaps not as much as you might think.

I love my microfiber cleaning cloths. For general cleaning they do a great job and last a long time. But for most jobs any appropriately sized towel you already own will do the job. But microfiber holds a lot of liquid as a rule, and doesn’t leave as much lint behind all the time.

Making the switch may cost a little upfront, but think about what paper towels cost you over a year. You will save money overall.