Family Life | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

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

21 LEGO Challenges for Kids of All Ages | Before I became a mom, I didn't appreciate just how much you can do with LEGO outside of building houses and cars. The internet is FULL of ideas for kids in preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and even high school! Whether you're looking for something simple to build at home with your kids, or you're on the hunt for LEGO stem challenges and activities for the classroom, this post has lots of free ideas to inspire you!

Learning Through Play: 21 LEGO Challenges for Kids of All Ages

7 Easy Card Games for Kids | If you're looking for simple and fun family game night ideas, playing cards is always a great option. There are so many games you can play with a deck of cards, with single player, 2 player, and multiple player options for all levels. If you have kids in preschool or kindergarten, you've probably already tried the basics like memory, matching, and Uno. This post is a step above, and includes the best family card games for 2 or more players!

Family Game Night: 7 Easy Card Games for Kids

21 Duct Tape Crafts for Kids | From simple bookmarks and lanyards, to arm bands, bracelets, and belts, to hair bows and headbands, to wallets, purses, iPhone cases, and iPad covers, these duck tape crafts for kids are the perfect mix of cute, fun, and cool! If you're looking for easy DIY crafts kids can make, these easy creative ideas will not disappoint! These step by step instructions and tutorials will teach your kids how to make awesome things to give as gifts - and to sell - in minutes!

Crafting With Children: 21 Duct Tape Crafts for Kids

11 Logical Consequences for Teens | If you're looking for creative and effective ways to discipline teenage boys and girls that don't involve power struggles, grounding, or yelling, this post is for you! It touches on the basics - creating family rules and using consequences over punishment - with lots of good ideas on how to create logical consequences to match the behavior you're trying to change. Whether your teen is disrespectful, prone to lying, forgetful, or lazy, these really work!

How To Discipline Teenagers: 11 Logical Consequences for Teens

28 Parent Child Activities | If you're looking for simple and easy ways to spend quality time with your kids at home, this post has tons of fun ideas to help! Whether you've got toddlers in preschool, or older kids in kindergarten or elementary schools, these ideas are (mostly) mess free and are perfect if you're on a budget. With indoor and outdoor options for spring, summer, fall, and winter, you can enjoy many of these on Zoom too!

28 Parent Child Activities to Help You Spent Quality Time with Your Kids

33 Among Us Birthday Party Ideas for Kids | Who is the imposter?! If you want to know how to plan the best Among Us party for boys or for girls, you're in luck! From Among Us theme decorations, party favors, and loot bags, to Among Us games, crafts, and activities, to easy Among Us cake ideas, cookies, snacks, and tons of other food related treats, this post is full of fabulous ideas. We've including a mix of fun DIY games and easy store bought baking and decorating ideas to help!

SUS: 33 Fun and Easy Among Us Birthday Party Ideas for Kids

14 Washi Tape Crafts for Kids | If you're looking for simple and easy DIY projects you can do with your kids after school and on weekends, these washi tape ideas will NOT disappoint! We've included tons of fun crafts for boys and girls, including personalized back to school supplies and notebooks, wall decoration inspiration and room decor ideas, art journals and scrapbooks, and tons of art projects that make great Christmas gifts and keepsakes for family and friends!

Craftiness is Happiness: 14 Washi Tape Crafts for Kids

21 Teacher Appreciation Week Gifts | If you're looking for a list of creative and meaningful ways to express your gratitude to an extra special teacher, this post has lots of fantastic ideas! Whether you're looking for DIY cards in which your child can write a message for their teacher, or a list of gifts kids can make themselves, we've got lots of crafts and activities to choose from. And if your child is learning remotely, we've included virtual teacher appreciation gift ideas as well!

21 Teacher Appreciation Week Gifts For Virtual & In-Person Learning

18 Step-By-Step Crochet Tutorials For Beginners | If you're looking for beginner crochet projects, this post is for you! We're sharing everything you need to get started, including crochet essentials and step-by-step video tutorials to teach you how to make simple items like blankets, scarves, and baskets, as well as simple animal patterns. Learning how to crochet is easy with these crochet projects, and we've included ideas for kids to boot!

18 Step-By-Step Crochet Tutorials For Beginners And Beyond