Family Life | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

11 Family Virtual Christmas Celebration Ideas | If you're looking for online party ideas to help you celebrate the holidays with family and friends when you can't get together in person, this post is a great place to start! We've included a list of planning tips to consider if you want to know how to throw a virtual party for the first time, tons of fun online games to play with friends and family that are suitable for kids, as well as creative ways to exchange gifts with the ones you love.

Online Celebrations: 11 Family Virtual Christmas Celebration Ideas

44 Easy and Delicious Dairy Free Recipes for Kids | If you're little one has a dairy sensitivity or allergy and you're looking for dairy free snacks and meals the whole family will enjoy, we've got you covered! From breakfasts, to packable lunches, to family-friendly dinners and desserts, many of these recipes are egg- and gluten-free as well. The dairy free snack and dessert options double as great party food ideas for food sensitive kids, and provide bento box lunch options too!

Milk Allergies? 44 Easy and Delicious Dairy Free Recipes for Kids

9 Virtual Classroom Party Ideas for Kids | From Halloween, to Christmas, to birthday parties, to graduation, to end of year class parties, there are lots of opportunities to celebrate as a class during the school year. If you're looking for fun ideas to make holidays and celebrations special for students while teaching online, this post has tons of ideas for kids of all ages - even for teens! From how to host a virtual party to our favorite Zoom games, these ideas compliment distance learning!

9 Easy and Fun Virtual Classroom Party Ideas Your Students Will Love

11 Typing Games and Apps for Kids | If you're looking for ways to make keyboard practice fun for your kids, this post is for you! Perfect for elementary school and for middle school, we've curated tons of free and paid ideas for students that can be used in the classroom and at home. Whether your child is a complete beginner, or you're looking for tips to increase his or her typing speed, these typing activities will help your kids learn to type the fun way!

Learning to Type: 11 Super Fun Typing Games for Kids

10 Virtual Halloween Games and Activities for Kids | Whether you're hosting a virtual Halloween party for your kids and their BFFs, or you're organizing a virtual classroom party for your students, we've got lots of great party ideas to help make it extra special. While traditional costume parades and trick-or-treating may not be possible (thank goodness for Halloween costumes with masks!), these interactive virtual party games for kids are easy, fun, and perfect for Zoom and FaceTime!

Halloween at Home: 10 Virtual Halloween Games and Activities for Kids

21 Sleepover Activities for Kids | Slumber parties are the best when you're a kid! If your child is having one or several friends spend the night - or having a sleepover with their favorite cousin or other family members - we've curated tons of easy and fun things to do for girls and for boys. Whether you're celebrating a birthday, or just trying to make your little girl's next sleepover extra special, these ideas are awesome. We've even included virtual sleepover activities to inspire you!

Slumber Party on a Budget! 21 Fun and Easy Sleepover Activities for Kids

Yoga for Kids | Whether you're looking for yoga poses you can do in the classroom, or kids yoga videos you can stream from home, we're sharing 12 kids yoga poses and videos designed to help little ones stretch and strengthen their bodies, while also allowing them to calm down, relax, focus, and concentrate. You can do these in the garden or at the beach in the summer, as part of your morning and/or bedtime routine to promote sleep, and they make great brain breaks for virtual learning too!

Yoga for Kids: 12 Poses and Videos to Help Kids Calm Down

9 Dry Ice Experiments for Kids | If you're looking for cool science experiments and projects you can do with your children and students at home or in the classroom, these dry ice activities are easy to setup, and oh so cool! From how to make dry ice bubbles to simple and fun dry ice rockets, these activities make great party ideas for the Mad Scientists in your life! We've also included a few Halloween activities, which offer the perfect way to get kids excited about chemistry!

Educational and Fun: 9 Dry Ice Experiments To Do with Kids

14 Ice Breaker Games for Kids | If you're looking for fun getting to know you activities for kids to do with your students on the first day of school, we've got tons of ideas that are easy to setup and perfect for kids in kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school. Whether your school is opting for in-person instruction, virtual online learning, or a combo of the 2, these group games make the perfect team building activities for youth groups and group therapy sessions too!

Getting to Know You: 14 Ice Breaker Games for Kids

How to Make Tie Dye Shirts with Kids | If your little ones are obsessed with all things tie dye like my daughter, and you're looking for easy DIY tips, tutorials, and videos to teach you how to make your own tie dyed tees at home, we've curated tons of ideas you can try using ingredients you probably already have on hand. Learn how to tie dye with food coloring, with bleach, with Kool Aid, with sharpies and more with this collection of tie dye techniques!

How to Make Tie Dye Shirts: 8 Patterns & Tutorials to Try with Kids

33 Best Budget-Friendly Hobby Ideas for Kids | If you're looking for a list of hobbies for kids to encourage your little one to get off their electronics and pursue a new interest, we've got tons of fun and creative boys ideas and girls ideas to choose from! With a mix of cool indoor and outdoor activities your child can enjoy at home, these ideas are cheap, easy, and a great way to reduce stress and anxiety, develop problem-solving skills, encourage self-expression, and boost self-esteem!

Fun At Home: 33 Budget-Friendly Hobby Ideas for Kids

11 Campfire Games for Kids of All Ages | If you're looking for activities for families to enjoy around the campfire, we've got 11 ideas you'll love! Perfect for toddlers, for kids, for tweens, for teens, for a small group, and for a crowd, these ideas are easy to set-up and so much fun. Whether you're going on a family road trip, camping with a youth group, Girl Scout or Boy Scout troop, or organizing an outdoor campout in your backyard, these ideas work as great drinking games for adults too!

Family Road Trip: 11 Campfire Games for Kids of All Ages

10 Hobby Ideas for Women | If you're trying to get into a new hobby at home, we're sharing 5 indoor hobbies and 5 outdoor hobbies to consider. From DIY art projects, like knitting, drawing, painting, and making crafts, to finding ways to make money online, to budget-friendly ways to improve your social life, these simple and creative ideas will give you the inspiration you need to find a way to reduce stress and decompress in the evenings and on weekends.

Relax and Unwind: 10 Simple Hobby Ideas for Women

Surviving Long Car Rides with Kids | Family road trips can be fun, but when you're traveling with kids (particularly toddlers!), the time spent in the car can test even the most patient mom's sanity. If you want to know how to survive long car rides with kids, we're sharing our best travel hacks and ideas for staying sane. From knowing what to pack, to figuring out when to travel (Morning? At night?), to organizing car activities, to preparing for detours and emergencies, these tips will help!

Road Trip! 14 Tips to Survive Long Car Rides with Kids

11 Pool Activities for Kids | Whether you have a small inflatable kiddie or paddling pool for toddlers, a big outdoor swimming pool in your backyard, or you spend as many summer days as possible at your local pool, there are TONS of fun games your little ones can enjoy while cooling off and soaking up some vitamin D! From sensory play to building a DIY obstacle course out of inflatable toys - and everything in between - these ideas are equal parts easy and fun!

Get Outside! 11 Fun and Easy Pool Activities for Kids

14 Outdoor Science Experiments for Kids | Looking for ideas to keep your kids learning while outside? We've curated the best STEM inspired experiments for kids of all ages. Using simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, like baking soda, vinegar, yeast, sugar, and food coloring, these ideas are easy to setup and can be enjoyed year-round - summer, fall, winter, and spring! Whether you have toddlers, kindergarteners, tweens, or teens, these ideas are fun and easy!

Fun Outside! 14 Outdoor Science Experiments for Kids

18 Indoor Activities for 2 Year Olds Who Are Stuck At Home | If you're looking for simple toddler activities for rainy days, snow days, sick days, or any other time you're stuck inside, we're sharing 18 fun and easy ideas for boys and girls! We've included a mix of learning toys, sensory activities, family activities, busy bags, independent play ideas, and activities that burn energy to keep your little one entertained when you can't go outside.

Fun and Easy: 18 Indoor Activities for 2 Year Olds Who Are Stuck At Home

How to Get Kids to Wear a Face Mask | There are so many templates, patterns, and DIY tutorials to teach you how to make face masks for kids - some without sewing! - but many parents are struggling to figure out how to get kids to wear masks once they have them. In an age of social distancing, face masks are often a requirement, which can be a nightmare for children, especially those with sensory processing disorder and challenges. Check out our tips to get kids comfortable with face masks!

How to Get Kids to Wear a Face Mask: 8 Tips for Parents

24 Hidden Veggie Recipes for Kids | If you're looking for healthy recipes for kids who are picky eaters and refuse to eat vegetables, we're sharing the best of the best! With tons of options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert, you'll learn simple and creative ways to hide vegetables in your cooking and baking! Clean eating for families with kids has never been easier or tasted so good!

How to Deal with Picky Eaters: 24 Hidden Veggie Recipes for Kids

7 Interoception Activities for Kids | What is interoception? If you've ever wondered about the 8th sense and how it impacts kids with autism and sensory processing challenges, this post is a great place to start. With sensory activities and occupational therapy resources for teaching kids internal body awareness both in the classroom and at home, the ideas in this post will help you develop a sensory diet for increased self-regulation, problem-solving, flexibility, and social thinking skills!

The 8th Sense Explained: 7 Interoception Activities for Kids

16 Things to Do At Home with Kids | If you're looking for ways to keep kids busy at home, we've got 16 easy ideas to help get your creative juices flowing! Whether you're looking for DIY indoor crafts for rainy days, outdoor activities that burn energy on hot summer days, or games to play as a family, these ideas are easy to setup and perfect for families to enjoy together when social distancing prevents you from organizing playdates and backyard barbeques with family and friends.

Summer Camp Cancelled? 16 Things to Do At Home with Kids