Family Life | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

17 Outdoor Education Activities For Kids Of All Ages | This collection of outdoor learning activities is perfect for teachers looking for outdoor activities to include in their daily lesson plans, and parents who are assisting with teaching their kids virtually and/or on the hunt for learning activities they can enjoy after school or on weekends. Whether you need ideas for kids in preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, or for older kids, these ideas are simple, fun, and easy to setup!

Get Outside! 17 Outdoor Education Activities For All Ages

18 Easy 5-Minute School Hairstyles for Kids | Whether your child has short, shoulder length, medium, or long hair, one thing is for certain: you need no fuss, quick hairstyles to simplify your morning routine! If you're constantly running late (like us!), don't stress. We've curated tons of cute hairstyles for school, with step-by-step tutorials and videos that are simple and easy to follow. Choose from braided hairstyles, half up half down looks, upgraded ponytails, messy buns, and more!

Rise and Shine! 18 Easy 5-Minute School Hairstyles for Kids

9 Natural Colic Remedies | If you're a breast-feeding or bottle-feeding mama looking for tips, tricks, and remedies to help you and your newborn survive colic, this post has lots of helpful information, including the signs, symptoms, and causes of colic. From holding and swaddling, to dietary and formula changes, to movement and noise, we're sharing the best ideas to try for quick relief, allowing you and your babe to return to a place of calm asap.

Surviving Colic: 9 Natural Colic Remedies that Actually Work

14 Outdoor Snow Day Activities for Kids | While it can be tempting to stay indoors all day long on bad weather days, anyone with young kids knows that being cooped up inside for hours on end can be a recipe for disaster. If schools are closed due to snow and you're looking for things to do outside to help your kids burn off energy, these outdoor winter activities will inspire you! This list of simple and easy ideas has options for toddlers, kindergarteners, and kids in elementary school.

Cabin Fever? 14 Outdoor Snow Day Activities for Kids

14 Easy Origami Tutorials for Kids | If you're looking for simple step by step origami for beginners, we've got you covered! From flowers, to stars, to hearts, to animals, to finger puppets, to holiday origami ideas and more, these origami videos are a fun way to craft with your kids. Origami offers a great way to develop a child's fine motor skills, and these art projects double as beautiful DIY gifts kids can make. Grab your origami paper and give some of these ideas a try!

Origami For Kids: 42 Simple Step-By-Step Tutorials for Beginners

16 Super Bowl Games For All Ages | If you're looking for activities and games to play on Super Bowl Sunday, this post has tons of fun family-friendly ideas to inspire you! From minute to win it games, to free printable bingo board play cards, to prize ideas everyone will love, this collection of Super Bowl Sunday activities for kids and adults is your ticket to hosting a party that will be enjoyed by all ages and stages!

Football Is Family: 16 Super Bowl Games For All Ages

79 5-Minute Hairstyles for School | If you're perpetually running late in the mornings like we are, and you need quick and simple hairstyles for school, these step by step videos and tutorials will inspire you! Whether you have short hair, medium hair, or long hair, thick or thin hair, straight or curly hair, these hairstyles are easy and trendy, and will help simplify your morning routine!

79 5-Minute Hairstyles for School for All Ages and Hair Lengths

Virtual Brain Breaks for Kids of All Ages | If your child struggles with focus and concentration, distance learning can be particularly tricky. Thankfully, the internet is full of quick and easy brain breaks for virtual learning that teachers can do with students on Zoom, and fun brain breaks parents can incorporate into their virtual learning routine at home. Whether you have a child in preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, or middle school, this post has tons of ideas to inspire you!

Rest and Reset: 17 Virtual Brain Breaks for Kids of All Ages

33 Winter STEM Activities for Kids | If you're looking for ways to keep kids engaged and learning when it's too cold to go outside, we've curated tons of STEM experiments and activities for kids in preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school! These indoor and outdoor STEM activities are simple and easy to setup, and you can enjoy them in the classroom and at home. Who knew science, technology, engineering, and math could be so fun?!

Cold Weather Ideas: 33 Winter STEM Activities for Kids of All Ages

How to Keep Kids Motivated with Virtual Learning | If you want to know how to motivate kids during distance learning, we've got 9 ideas to help! Online learning isn't just a struggle for kids - it's hard for parents too as it's very hands-on and requires a lot of patience and creativity to keep kids engaged and learning. It can be even harder for kids who already struggle to focus and concentrate, and downright impossible for kids with autism and ADHD. I hope these tips help!

How to Keep Kids Motivated with Virtual Learning: 9 Tips to Help

22 Teacher Appreciation Gifts Kids Can Make | If you're looking for inexpensive yet meaningful gifts from students for teachers and for staff to show how much you appreciate their time, effort, and dedication, homemade DIY crafts are always a good idea. Whether your child attends school in person or takes virtual classes, these simple and easy art projects are creative, unique, and thoughtful. You can drop them off for admin staff to hand out, and we've included ideas you can give virtually!

Homemade with Love: 22 Teacher Appreciation Gifts Kids Can Make

21 Christmas Cards For Kids to Make | If you're looking for easy DIY Christmas gifts kids can make, homemade Christmas cards are always a great option. They offer a simple and easy way to add meaning to someone's holiday, and if you have crafting supplies on hand, they are a cheap and inexpensive gift idea too! Whether you're looking for ideas for parents that kids can make with their classroom while at school, or you want to make these at home for teachers, these ideas won't disappoint!

21 Meaningful Homemade Christmas Cards For Kids to Make

50 Stocking Stuffers for Women | If you're looking for the best gifts for women this Christmas that are both cheap and small enough to fit inside a stocking, you're in luck! Whether you're shopping for your sister, mom, girlfriend, or wife, we've curated tons of ideas to inspire you. Some are practical and useful, some are cute and fun, some are unique and meaningful, and many of them are inexpensive (under $5 and under $10!) and can be purchased on Amazon or at your local Dollar Tree.

Stocking Stuffers for Women: 50 Gifts She Really Wants This Chrismtas

24 Hanukkah Crafts For Kids | Whether you're looking for Hanukkah themed art projects for the classroom, or crafts and activities you can enjoy at home with your kids to mark the holiday, this post has tons of ideas to inspire you. Learn how to make a dreidel out of clay, paper plate menorahs, a sparkling Star of David, Hanukkah slime, Hanukkah pipe cleaner candles, and more! Oh, and don't miss the marshmallow dreidel recipe - it's delicious!

Eight Nights of Fun: 24 Easy Hanukkah Crafts For Kids

50+ Stocking Stuffers for Men | If you're looking for the best gifts for guys this Christmas that are both cheap and compact enough to fit inside a stocking, you're in luck! Whether you're shopping for your brother, dad, boyfriend, or husband, we've curated tons of ideas to inspire you. Some are practical and useful, some are funny, some are perfect for dads, and many of them are inexpensive and can be purchased on Amazon or at your local Dollar Tree.

Stocking Stuffers for Men: 50+ Meaningful Gifts He Actually Wants

54 Hanukkah Recipes The Whole Family Will Love | Whether you spell it Hannukah or Channukah, this collection of traditional Hanukkah / Channukah recipes is for you! With tons of traditional Jewish food items, including healthy upgrades to support your clean eating and weight loss goals, low carb keto recipes, and vegan and vegetarian options, you can make ahead many of these recipes. We've also included lots of delicious dessert recipes for kids! Happy Holidays!

Traditional and Tasty: 54 Hanukkah Recipes The Whole Family Will Love

90 Stocking Stuffers for Tweens | Looking for the best gifts for tween girls and tween boys that will fit in a stocking? Tweens can be difficult to buy for, but we've got tons of girls ideas and boys ideas that are cheap but good to help make Christmas morning extra special. We've also included holiday online shopping links so you can purchase everything from the comfort of your own home. With tons of creative and unique presents to choose from, these non-toy gift ideas won't disappoint!

90 Stocking Stuffers for Tweens and Teens Your Kids Will Actually Like

8 Unschooling Tips for Parents | What is unschooling anyway?! Is it the same as homeschool? If you've seen the word floating around lately and want to know more about the concept, this post is for you! We're sharing everything you need to know about child-led education, including the benefits of unschooling, unschooling activities, and unschooling schedule ideas. Whether your kids are in kindergarten, elementary, middle, or high school, these tips are great for parents!

What Is Child-Led Education? 8 Unschooling Tips for Parents

How To Be a Present Mom | Whether you're a mom to toddlers, school-aged kids, or to tweens or teenagers, it can be hard finding a balance between parenting, your career, and managing a home. If you want to know how to be a better mom, these present parenting tips will inspire you! These positive parenting solutions take time and discipline, but they will teach you how to be a patient parent, allowing you to connect with your kids and give them the attention they need and deserve.

How To Be a Present Mom: 10 Present Parenting Tips and Ideas

10 Morning Routine Tips For Online Learning | Whether you have kids in kindergarten, elementary, middle, or high school, having a solid morning routine is key to starting the day off right - especially when it comes to distance learning. While you may have a great home setup, it will fall apart if you don't have a proper schedule in place. Click for our best morning online learning schedule tips and hacks to help keep your kids motivated and accountable this school year!

Distance Learning 101: 10 Morning Routine Tips For Online Learning

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