Homemade Toys And Gifts

Homemade is big right now.
I can't imagine why. :)

Here are some ideas for homemade toys and gifts for children.


First, from TennZen, homemade marshmallow shooters.
These look really neat, we'll probably make a couple for our children.


Make Baby Stuff.com has several tutorials with patterns for sewing to woodworking and more.

Wooden toys:
Homemade Birdie Toy Tutorial

Wooden Puzzle Instructions

Doll Cradle Plans

Wooden Memory Tile Tutorial

Make Wooden Building Blocks

Sewn toys:
Doll Pattern & Instructions

Soft Blocks Sewing Tutorial

Felted Sweater Mouse Puppet

Waldorf Doll Instructions

Recycled toys:
Cardboard Playhouse Plans

Recycled Wallpaper Blocks

Even more toys:
Homemade Playdough

Kool-Aid Dyed Playsilks

Homemade Stickers


All Free Crafts has quite a few ideas for sewn, knitted and crocheted toys.

Teddy Wolf

Stuffed Hound Dog

Crocheted Frog

Amigurumi Bunny

Corker Knitting Spool


This next one is not a toy but a book on toy making for children, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day.

"Home-Made Toys for Girls And Boys" (available today only)


Finally, if you're like us and think children have too many toys, I have an idea for you.

You can buy plain canvas totebags, purses, and aprons from Hobby Lobby (or make your own, but last year I paid less than $2 for a pack of three).
Decorate with fabric paints; freehand, with stencils or rubber stamps.

I have also used acrylic craft paint in place of fabric paint, it just has to be heat-set with an iron before washing. Be sure it's dry (it takes about 24 hours), use low heat and don't put the iron directly on the fabric, copier paper works well.

You can also use this idea for your children to make "handprint" T-shirts, pot-holders, or aprons for their daddy or grandparents.
We made my husband a T-shirt one year with both our children's handprints on it and "We love our daddy" written in freehand.

Happy crafting. :)

Free Holiday Recipe E-Books

Good morning!

Here are some links to free holiday recipes e-books.

The first two, "Classic Christmas Cookies" and "Classic Christmas Candy and Fudge", are from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, and you can only get them today!

Next on the list is "Healthy Christmas Recipes Mini Ebook" from Free-EbooksOnline.com.

Would you like to have a cookie-exchange party but don't know how?
Partybluprints.com has a free e-book, "The Holiday Giving Party Cookie Exchange", with instructions, recipes and tips on how to host one.

And finally, another free e-book, "Recipes and Writing 2008", can be downloaded from Gregory A. Kompes.
This free e-book is full of holiday recipes, stories, essays, and poems from nine authors.

Happy cooking!

Free Gift-In-A-Jar E-book

Thanks for stopping by.
This link has been moved to Gift In A Jar Recipe Links at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Gift-In-A-Jar Recipe Links

Thanks for stopping by.
These links have been moved to Gift In A Jar Recipe Links at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Free Christmas Audios

Here are three Christmas audios to download, all in mp3 format.

Download an audio of the story of the song "Silent Night" at Homeschool Freebie of the Day.
Don't forget, you can only get this today!

Join Homeschool Radio Shows for week one of their "Dickens Christmas Festival". This week's audio program is "The Cricket on the Hearth" by Charles Dickens, originally broadcast on December 24, 1945.
Available for one week.

Another old-time radio show episode, "Christmas Party" from Gene Autry's "Melody Ranch", can be downloaded from OldTimeRadioFans.com.
You can get this one anytime.

Enjoy. :)

Thanksgiving Blessings

It was a beautiful day.

My husband was home.

Daniel lost his 2nd upper front tooth during dinner. Now he looks like a lizard. :)

We made homemade whipped cream...by hand beating.

We played kid's Monopoly and kept loaning Abby money so she wouldn't go bankrupt...I did!

I won a copy of Penny Raine's new e-book "Making the Holidays Family Friendly".
Thank you Penny! :)

Supper is already cooked for tomorrow.

Thanksgiving treat for the chickens: froze pumpkins and cushaws left-over from fall decorations.

I talked to my momma, my sister and one of my brothers.

We laughed a lot.

We have a home.

We have a Saviour.

Hope you had a blessed day!

Happy Thanksgiving Freebies

Here are a few more freebies for Thanksgiving!

First I'd like to remind you that Homeschool Freebie of the Day has all their free resources from Nov 10th onward still available!
If you've missed any over the last couple weeks, here's you another chance. :)
If you've never been to Homeschool Freebie of the Day, I urge you to do so. There are a lot of Thanksgiving and Pigrims resources including; e-books, audios and even a cookbook!
They'll be back December 1st with new freebies for us.

While you're there, check out their new book "Bible Battles" on sale now for $15.95 plus $5 Priority Mail shipping. Books begin shipping the week of December 1st, guaranteed Christmas delivery!
Also includes 4 bonus mp3 audios and 8 bonus e-books.
Order now!


Lastly, I made some Thanksgiving "memories" pages for my children and thought I'd share them with everyone.
There are 2 pages total. The first one has a place for the date, guests and menu. The second page can be used for recording special memories of the day.
These can be used for notebooking, journaling and even scrapbooking.


Thanksgiving Memories.pdf


Happy Thanksgiving and have a blessed day. :)

Thanksgiving Giveaways/Sale From Penny Raine

Penny Raine is having three giveaways for Thanksgiving!

The first one is her new e-book "Making the Holidays Family Friendly" and it ends tonight at midnight.
She's also giving away a children's e-book "An Apple-icious Day" and a holiday apron from Jumpinbloomers.com.

In addition, starting tomorrow, Penny is having an incredible Black Friday Sale!
Many of her books will be on sale, a whole bunch of cookbooks, and some new books!
They will be on sale individually for a super price, or as a package.
Some as low as $1!
And she will have a very special gift for us from her new book "Making the Holidays Family Friendly".

So go enter the giveaways and check back tomorrow for the big Black Friday Sale!

Thanks Penny! :)

Thanksgiving Freebies To Do With Your Children

A few more Thanksgiving freebies!

CurrClick has added "Thanksgiving Helper", by Living Books Curriculum, to their freebie page. Full of stories, copywork, poems and a picture study of "The First Thanksgiving" by famous historical painter J. L. G. Ferris, this would be wonderful to do with your children this week.

Here is a neat idea from Better Homes and Gardens.

Take a nature walk and create a wild turkey collage from your findings.

Last but not least, check out homeschoolingcoach.com for some fun Thanksgiving Day activities for your children.

Freebies- Homeschool/Homemaking/Holidays

Freebies, freebies and more freebies!

The Erskines, over at Homeschool Freebie of the Day, have extended the availability of all their freebies they've offered over the last two weeks. You can get them all through the end of next week! And anyone can use the resources the Erskines offer, not just homeschoolers. Some of their offerings have been cookbooks, classic books and old radio shows. And they're all free!

Do you need some organizing and planning help for the holidays?
Check out The Debt Diva for free downloads of a "Frugal and Festive Holiday Guide", budget planner, menu planner, holiday grocery list, shopping plan and gift tracker.
Thanks Clarky!

Joyous Home is on day nine of their 12 Days Of Freebies giveaway and today's download is "Christmas Cards from Home".
Don't forget, you can get this today only.

Do you like to quilt? Need a new quilt pattern?
Head over to Michael Miller Fabrics for oodles of free quilt patterns, I counted at least 40!

More free quilt patterns and other sewing projects, including aprons, handbags and a cute little bear, can be found at Windham Fabrics. Some great gift ideas here.

And finally, for the woodworker in your family, Free Woodworking Plans has a page full of links to free plans for wooden toys, wagons, doll cradles, games and many more.

More Thanksgiving Freebies

Good morning!

Here are some more Thanksgiving freebies.

For some great classic stories about Thanksgiving, head over to Happy Hearts at Home. Alexandra has compiled an extensive list of free stories that are in the Public Domain.

Listen to some beautiful hymns at Music for Thanksgiving.

Listen to more Thanksgiving music and sound effects at ILoveWaves.com Thanksgiving page.

And here are a couple of classic comedies from old-time radio to download.

Abbott and Costello "A Formal Thanksgiving"

Burns and Allen "Landing of the Indians at Plymouth"

Freebies-Bible Stories/Homemaking/Thanksgiving/Christmas/

New freebies for today.

First, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, chapters from their upcoming book "Bible Battles", by Lettice Bell and Jessica Erskine. This exciting and faithfully told book re-tells the stories of great battles and wars described in the Old Testament and brings them to life for your children.
Also includes an interactive tool for scripture study.
Chapter sampler is in PDF format, available today only.
They are having a big “Publication Celebration” for this great new book on Thursday, November 20, with a slew of extra resources and goodies you won’t want to lose out on.
And don't forget, today is the deadline for your Gettysburg Address submissions, have them in by midnight tonight!

Next, from Joyous Home, a Thanksgiving and Christmas day celebration of free homemaking projects, twelve days of freebies! Downloads include sewing projects, holiday dinners, bread making, and much more. This started Friday and the downloads are available for one day only, so there are nine days left. Today's free download goes up at 11:30am.

The new free product from CurrClick is "Lines of Time for 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving". This is a fun, reading comprehension resource for the children's reader "'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving". PDF format, reader not included. Expires this week.
CurrClick has also added several new products to their freebie page, available anytime.

Here a couple classic books to download:
"Old Christmas: From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving" by Washington Irving and Randolph Caldecott, originally published in 1876

"Christmas Entertainments: Containing Fancy Drills, Acrostics, Motion Songs, Tableaux, Short Plays, Recitations in Costume, for Children of Five to Fifteen Years" by Alice Maude Kellogg, published in 1918

And finally, some holiday audios:
A reading of "The New-England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day", a poem by Lydia Maria Child

"A Christmas Carol - 1931- Dicken Radio Plays", old-time radio

"Abbott & Costello Christmas Program", old-time radio show

More Thanksgiving Freebies

More Thanksgiving resources!

First, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, The Path of Praise. This is a wonderful audio "history” of the celebration of Thanksgiving, first broadcast on the old radio show, “Cavalcade of America”, in 1951. This is available today only.
Thank you Erskines. :)

From Amy, at Living Locurto, a planner and food labels.
Thank you Amy. :)

Free worksheets from LearningPage.com

And, from Scienceclassroom.com, a whole page of Thanksgiving Links.

Also see my previous posts:

Free Educational Resources For Thanksgiving

Free Educational Resources-Pilgrim Stories Part 3/Pilgrim Audio/Thanksgiving

Free Educational Resources-Pilgrim Stories Part 2/E-books/Great Sites

Free Educational Resources-Pilgrims

Free Educational Resources For Thanksgiving

Homeschool Freebie of the Day has an e-book version of "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving" by Louisa May Alcott, author of "Little Women".

Get this freebie today only.

Google Book Search has an e-book version of "Thanksgiving: Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse" by Robert Haven Schauffler, originally published in 1907. Robert Haven Schauffler was an Austrian-American musician, author and poet, he edited numerous collections of prose and verse dedicated to American holidays.

Southern Belle over at Homeschooling 4 Free has an excellent list of Thanksgiving resources, including lapbooks, mini-books, printables and many more. Check it out!

Free Educational Resources-Pilgrim Stories Part 3/Pilgrim Audio/Thanksgiving

Pilgrim Stories III: Little Pilgrims & The Red Men is the conclusion of Homeschool Freebie of the Day's three part series of the story of the Pilgrims. In part three, learn how Pilgrim children got along with their Native American neighbors through tales of danger, adventure and friendship!

Included in part three is a Teacher’s Guide to learning more about the Pilgrims through play-acting and other activities.

This and parts one and two of "Pilgrim Stories" will be available through the end of this week.


Also from the Erskines, at Living Books for the Ears, "You Are There: The Sailing Of The Pilgrims". This is a classic radio show that originally aired on December 21, 1947.
Excellent history resource for your Pilgrim studies!



Some Thanksgiving freebies:

Thanksgiving Prayers
Thanksgiving Poems
Thanksgiving Paper Dolls
Pilgrim Paper Doll
Pilgrim "Friends"
Thanksgiving Activities-Pilgrim Themed


Last but not least, here are a couple of funny old-time radio shows about Thanksgiving.

Best of Old Time Radio presents Burns and Allen in Landing of the Indians at Plymouth- George Burns and Gracie Allen
Father Knows Best Thanksgiving- Family show that aired in the 1940's, then became a television show.

Thank You Veterans

Gratitude and hugs go out to all of our nation's veterans today! Thank you!

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.- Elmer Davis

Family Thanksgiving Activity

I just had to pass along this link from Chocolate On My Cranium for a wonderful family Thanksgiving activity.
Make Thanks and Giving trees for listing what you're thankful for and for your gifts of service to others.

Start a new family tradition with your little ones!

Thanksgiving Family and Homeschool Freebies

There are all kinds of Thanksgiving freebies this week.

Free this week from CurrClick is "Wisdom Kids Thanks and Giving", a copywork unit featuring Wisdom Stretchers, coloring pages, Challenge pages, puzzles, and a certificate of completion.
Also check out their freebie page, there are several new products added, including Thanksgiving Notebooking Pages from HomeschoolNotebooking.com.

Free today from Homeschool Freebie of the Day is a collection of children's prayers originally published in the late 1800's, "Little Hands Folded In Prayer". Simple and easily remembered, this is a wonderful resource for your little ones.

Sign up for the SchoolExpress newsletter and get free Thematic Unit eWorkbooks and Activity Fun eWorkbooks every month. This month's theme is Thanksgiving. Free for subscribers only.

In honor of Thanksgiving, The Homeschool Learning Network still has their Native Americans unit study available for free.

Last but not least, get a free Thanksgiving Planner from FamilyTimeZone, a Christian homemaking site. Includes recipes and printables.

Homeschooling And Holidays Freebie

Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, time to start planning!

The Erskines from Homeschool Freebie of the Day have "Our Favorite Homeschool Ideas For The Holidays" available for download through the month of November. This e-book is the result of a survey of 800 homeschool families and you'll find tips, ideas and activities on celebrating the holiday season and balancing homeschooling and family during this busy time of year.

Even More Free Columbus Day Resources

Here are some more freebies I found for Columbus Day.

The History Channel
The History Channel has a ton of information on Christopher Columbus. For videos, a short biography, quiz, and more, go to The History of Columbus Day.

Columbus's Lost Ships
Find the nine ships Columbus lost during four voyages to the new world.


Radio Show
You Are There 62 Columbus Discovers America


More Lesson Plans
Other Worlds: The Voyage of Columbus for grades 9-12

Cyberspace Explorer: Getting to Know Christopher Columbus for grades 3-5

From Core Knowledge:
Christopher Columbus: The Man, The Myth, and the Legend for Kindergarden

Columbus and the Conquistadors for grade 1


Here's an article on planning a unit study:
Homeschool Unit Study: Christopher Columbus and Exploration


Printables: word searches, crosswords, worksheets, etc.
Columbus Day Printables

John's Word Search Puzzles Columbus Day


Hands-on Activities
Make Your Own Boardgame- Christopher's Crossing for grades 3-5

Columbus Day Spanish Galleon

Spyglass Telescope Craft

Spyglass Telescope Craft Easy Version

Enchanted Learning Columbus' Voyage: Map and Ships

Paper-Mache Globe

New World Map

Multicolor Binoculars

For grades 5 through high school, from The Mariners' Museum
Age of Exploration Activities for Students and Teachers