Family Life | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

9 Teen Stress Management Tips | Parenting teens isn't for the faint of heart. Whether you have teenage daughters or teenage boys, it can often feel like an emotional rollercoaster. You just don't know what to expect from one minute to the next! If you're on the hunt for positive parenting tips to help you help your teenage girl or boy navigate stress while still maintaining a positive parent-child relationship, this post has lots of great tips and ideas to help!

Teen Stress Management: 9 Calming Tips & Strategies for Parents

17 Air Dry Clay Projects For Kids | Whether you're looking for easy craft ideas you can enjoy with your kids, or specifically looking for simple DIY art projects that double as homemade gifts kids can make, air dry clay is a great option. You don't have to bake anything, and kids can paint them when they are dry with tempura, acrylic, and/or water color paints. Whether you buy Crayola clay or make your own baking soda clay, this post has tons of projects and ideas to inspire you!

17 Simple and Easy Air Dry Clay Projects Your Kids Will Love

17 Snow Globe Crafts for Kids | You don't have to celebrate Christmas to enjoy these winter-themed snow globe activities! If you're looking for easy DIY crafts you can enjoy at home or in the classroom with your kids and/or students, this is a great post to bookmark. We're teaching you how to make snow globes with items you already have on hand like mason jars and water bottles, and we've curated tons of art projects to try, including adorable photo snow globes you can give as gifts!

Winter Wonderland: 17 Fun and Creative Snow Globe Crafts for Kids

27 Road Trip Activities for Kids | Long car rides can be difficult at the best of times and when you add kids into the mix, it can be downright miserable if you don't have fun games and activities to keep them entertained. The iPad only goes so far, am I right?! Whether you're in a car or an RV, these car ride activities for kids are simple, easy, fun, and compact. We've included a mix of family friendly options you can enjoy together and independent travel activities for kids to keep you sane!

Are We There Yet? 27 Fun Road Trip Activities for Kids and Teens

21 Homemade Christmas Ornaments for Kids to Make | Whether you're looking for easy Christmas crafts to get your kids in the holiday spirit, or in need of DIY Christmas gifts kids can make for their Grandparents, this post has lots of ideas to inspire you! From simple salt dough handprint and footprint ornaments you can make with toddlers, to more complex crafts for older kids like pop can snowmen, clothespin snowflakes, and yarn wrapped trees, these ornaments will look beautiful on your tree!

Holiday Crafting: 21 Homemade Christmas Ornaments Kids Can Make

11 Car Games for Kids the Whole Family Will Love | Whether you're embarking on a long road trip, driving car pool, or running errands with your kids, there are tons of easy to setup and super fun car games you can play together to help beat boredom and pass the time. Perfect for kids of all ages - even for tweens and for teenagers! - this post has lots of ideas to inspire you. From cheap store bought games to fun DIY travel activities, this list will not disappoint!

11 Fun and Easy Car Games for Kids the Whole Family Will Love

8 Easy-to-Learn Popular TikTok Dances for Beginners | If you want to learn how to do all of the TikTok dances you see in your feed as you scroll through TikTok and Instagram, this post is for you! We've compiled the best fun (and clean) tutorials to start with, which you can do alone, with your kids, with your boyfriend or girlfriend, and even as a family. These videos are easy, and we've included a couple of duet challenges at the end that are really fun!

8 Easy-to-Learn Popular TikTok Dances for Beginners

9 Simple No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas for Kids | If you're looking for pumpkin carving alternatives to enjoy with your little ones, this post has lots of easy, no mess ideas that are creative, classy, and (most importantly) cheap! Perfect for a classroom Halloween party, as an after school activity, or for a Halloween-themed birthday party activity, these DIY pumpkin decorating ideas are also great if you're trying to create a no carve pumpkin decorating contest for kids!

9 Ridiculously Simple and Stylish No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

9 Immune Boosting Tips for Kids | If you're looking for natural immune boosters for kids, this post has lots of great ideas to help. While many moms use vitamins and essential oils, we're focusing on lifestyle changes and the best all natural food options to add to your grocery list so you can create healthy meals and immune boosting smoothie, juice, tea, and soup recipes your toddler, child, tween, and/or teen will love!

9 Immune Boosting Tips for Kids to Keep Your Little Ones Healthy

42 Halloween Party Ideas for Kids | Whether you're organizing a classroom Halloween party, throwing a themed outdoor backyard bash for the neighborhood kids, organizing a garage party for teens, or hosting a simple party for the family, this post has tons of fun and easy DIY ideas to make it a celebration to remember. From decorations, to food, to games and activities, we've curated the best simple and budget-friendly tips and we're sharing virtual Halloween party ideas to boot!

42 Spooktacular Halloween Party Ideas for Kids Of All Ages

20 Puffy Paint Crafts for Kids | If you're looking for easy art projects for kids, this post is full of ideas! We've included DIY recipes to teach you how to make puffy paint at home, and tons of crafts and activities for all ages and stages - even for teens! While we used puffy paint to decorate shirts when we were kids, there are so many other fun activities you can try. From sidewalk chalk, to framed canvases, to fabric bags, to window clings and more, these ideas are so fun!

Puffy Paint Crafts: 20 Recipes and Projects for Kids

30 Simple and Easy Wheat Free Meals | If you're looking for family-friendly gluten and wheat free meals, this post is for you! We've included recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as delicious wheat free desserts you'll wish you tried sooner. Many of the recipes are also dairy and sugar free, and since you can meal prep many of these ahead of time, they make the perfect weeknight dinners as they can be reheated in a pinch!

30 Simple and Easy Wheat Free Meals the Whole Family Will Love

27 Halloween STEAM Projects For Kids | Science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math, oh my! If you have children and/or students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, and/or middle school and you're looking for Halloween activities with an educational twist, this post is for you! We've curated tons of fun and easy to set-up STEAM projects for all ages to get your little ones in the holiday spirit. Use these to create Halloween lesson plans, or at home on bad weather days!

27 Spooky and Fun Halloween STEAM Projects For All Ages

23 Pinecone Crafts and Experiments for Kids | While pinecones are abundant in late fall and early winter, they are the perfect material for crafts and projects year round - even in spring and summer! Whether you're making decorations for Halloween, centrepieces for Thanksgiving, or wreathes and ornaments for Christmas, this post has tons of ideas to inspire you. We've also included ideas that are not holiday specific and that are perfect for all ages and stages!

23 Pinecone Crafts and Experiments for All Ages and Stages

12 Birthday Party Ideas for Tweens | If you're looking for fun yet cool birthday party ideas for your tween girl or boy, this post has tons of inspiration! Whether you're hosting an at home party in spring, summer, fall, or winter, there are lots of themes you can pick from, and having awesome food and age-appropriate games and activities everyone can enjoy inside and outside will help keep everyone entertained and happy - especially if they are at your house for a sleepover!

12 Fun and Meaningful Birthday Party Ideas for Tweens

12 Tips for Parenting Tweens | If you're looking for positive parenting tips and techniques to help you get through the tween years with your girls and/or boys, this post has lots if simple, practical, and effective ideas to help. We'll teach you how to avoid power struggles, how to deal with the roller coaster of emotions the tween years bring, and how to spend quality time with your son and/or daughter to create a healthy parent child relationship that will last for years to come.

Parenting Tweens: 12 Tips to Avoid Power Struggles

10 Easy Dice Games for Kids | If you're looking for portable travel games and/or need ideas for family game night, these dice games are family friendly and much fun. With options for 2 players as well as games you can play with a large group, we've included a mix of simple DIY dice games and classic store bought games you'll love. These make great camping activities, and are also perfect for road trips and those who need airplane activities for kids. Roll the dice and see what you think!

Family Game Night! 10 Fun and Easy Dice Games for Kids

31 Indoor and Outdoor Tween Activities | If you're a parent, caregiver, or teacher of tween boys and/or girls, and you need a list of fun ideas to keep them engaged and entertained in summer, fall, winter, and spring, this post is for you! We've curated our favorite boredom busters with a mixture of independent activities and family fun ideas that are perfect for to enjoy together on a rainy day, on a road trip, while camping with the fam, and on weekends and holidays.

31 Indoor and Outdoor Tween Activities to Beat Boredom Year-Round

9 Amigurumi Tutorials for Beginners and Beyond | If you're looking for step by step tutorials to teach you how to crochet and knit cute little stuffed animals, dolls, foods, etc., this post is for you! We're sharing everything you need to know - amigurumi basics, how to get started, tools and essentials to invest in, crocheting tips and hacks for beautiful designs, and lots of tutorials that include free patterns and instructions so you can make simple designs that are oh so adorable.

9 Step-by-Step Amigurumi Tutorials for Beginners (10 Free Patterns!)

How to Teach Time Management to Kids | If your child struggles with planning, organizing, and staying on task, this post has lots of great tips and ideas to help you teach time management skills. Whether you're trying to create high level daily schedules to teach your kids independence, or you specifically need to create a homework routine so your evenings run more smoothly, these tips will improve your child's executive functioning skills so they can manage their time better!

How to Teach Time Management to Kids: 9 Tips & Ideas for Parents

How to Build a Healthy Parent Child Relationship | If you're looking for tips and activities to help improve your relationship with your son and/or daughter, this post has lots of great ideas to help. From learning how to spend quality time with your kids, to improving communication and reducing power struggles, to enforcing logical consequences and teaching your kids independence, these tips have the added benefit of teaching kids self-regulation and improving social skills!

How to Build a Healthy Parent Child Relationship: 8 Tips for Parents