The 3 years of posts took a long time to scroll through but these 10 are my very favorite we made for FamilyEducation.com since May 2009. I hope you will join me over at my main blog No Time For Flash Cards for new activities almost every day !

Sparkly Starfish

Fine Motor Letter Match

Flower Painting

Monster Gift Bag

Father's Day Stress Balls

Shoe Organizer Art Storage

Learning about shapes is more than identification it's about manipulating them, understanding space and how things go together. Hands on activities are great ways to start teaching your kids about shapes.

Shape and Hide

Circle of Circles

Shape Snack

Emory Board Shapes

Open Ended Shape Collage

I have a passion for letters, specifically teaching them and I love exposing kids to them through crafts, games and play. Here are some of the best alphabet themed posts I have done here at FamilyEducation.com

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Clean Up

Find and Stick Letter Hunt

Letter I-SPY Bottle

Candy Letter Match

Our last post looked back at some of my favorite book posts and today I continue the trip down memory lane with my favorite St. Patrick's Day ideas.

Mint Playdough

Rainbow Paper Chain Wreath

Shamrock Lacing Card

Pom Pom Rainbow

Easy Glittered Shamrocks

For even more ideas check out this Pinterest board devoted to St. Patrick's Day!

Make your own scary or maybe just silly monsters gift bag. You can use it for trick or treating or as bag to hold a scary gift for a friend. Either way it will be one of a kind and there will be no wondering who's bag it is.

You will need  aplain colored gift bag, some sticky back foan, scissors and an imagination.

Cut the foam into eyes, teeth, horns... the sky is the limit! Peel the backing off and stick it on. Easy and fun!

Beading is a wonderful way to connect with your kids. Sitting down making something and chatting about whatever comes to mind. I know that as kids get older they hide in their rooms, in the basement and somewhere else where they watch tv, play computer games or something on the miriad of hand held devices they have. This is such an easy craft but it's one you may be able to entice your kids to come make and possibly talk while they do :)

You will need some pipe cleaners,  and ponly beads. I need to disclose that these beads and pipe cleaners were sent to me by www.craftprojectideas.com , I was not paid to use them or to write this post though. 

Ok back to the instructions - start by threading both your pipe cleaners through one bead. Then add 2-3 beads on each one. Thread them both through another, keep going.

When your bracelet is the right length for your wrist thread all 4 through one bead.

Twist the ends aroung the bracelet. 

My son is diving head first into chapter books.  The rule in our house like many others is that if you want to see a movie and it's based on a book, you need to read the book first. Chapter books are tricky and take a while so a book mark is a must. A matching book mark is even better. 

You will need some sticky back foam, an oversized paper clip and some stickers. We rae reading Harry Potter so we used Harry Potter stickers. Or you could spell a word using foam stickers too. 

Start by cutting a pirce of foam and before taking the backing off folding it in half. Press hard to establish a good fold.

Take the backing off and press the paper clip into it. 

Fold the other half over and press.

Add stickers.

Go read and be merry!

We all use it , well I know some super earth friendly peeps who don't but that's a post for another blog. My point being most of us have plenty of toilet rolls hanging about ready to be made into pretty bracelets! 

You will need a roll , some sparkly sticky back foam and scissors. Easy Peasy.

Start by cutting the roll into the size of a bracelet .

Cut one large piece of foam to fit. Peel and stick.

Cut smaller pieces .

Add to the bracelet. 

If it gets too big roll tightly and it will fit again, 

This time of year I always think of raccoons, not because they sneak into my yard looking for something to eat but because of the wonderful book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn . The reason my mind wonders to that book is that when I was teaching I'd read it on the first day of school to help anxious students feel at ease with potential seperation anxiety. 

Well this mask is a great craft to match with the book for your preschoolers. 

You'll need a small paper plate, some black paper , glue stick, googly eyes, a popscicle stick, scissors and a black crayon.

Start by coloring the whole plate.

While the kids do that cut out the "mask" from the black paper.

Cut the bottom off the plate.

Glue the mask on with googly eyes. 

Using the cut off piece of plate and remnant of black paper make ears.

Glue on.

Glue stick on and let dry. 

I love this hand print flag craft from Muffin Tin Mom

These jar luminaries by Crafts by Amanda  are so amazing !

These Firecracker crafts by Make and Takes  are cute and multisensory.

I love this hat from Kiboomu , a perfect accessory for the parade!

And no Fourth of July is complete without some treats! Check out these Patriotic Rice Crispies Treats.