Family Life | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

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

12 Zoom Games for Kids | If you're looking for easy games and activities your kids can play online with their friends, we've got 12 ideas to inspire you! These ideas are perfect for virtual kids birthday parties, playdates, and classroom group Zoom calls. From interactive scavenger hunts, to silly 'would you rather' games, and so much more, these online games for kids are easy to setup, free, and fun!

Zoom Games for Kids: 12 Online Activity Ideas to Keep Kids Connected

16 Sidewalk Chalk Art Activities | If you're looking for simple ways to keep your kids entertained outside, sidewalk chalk is where it's at! From decorating driveways, to creating sidewalk birthday messages, to making mosaic designs on a fence, we've curated cute and easy ideas for toddlers, creative drawings for kids, and cool ideas for teens! Perfect for spring, summer, and fall, these sidewalk chalk art projects are the perfect way to add a little positive energy to your home!

16 Sidewalk Chalk Activities and Obstacle Courses for Kids

8 Size of the Problem Activities for Kids | Inspired by the Social Thinking and Zones of Regulation curriculums, these games and activities teach children to identify whether a problem is small, medium, or big, as well as what is and is not an appropriate reaction to each. With visual tools, posters for class bulletin boards, scenario cards, worksheets, coloring pages, Google slides, boom cards, and puzzles, this collection of activities has it all - even Size of the Problem BINGO!

Problem Solving 101: 8 Size of the Problem Activities for Kids

How to Be a Calm Parent | If you're looking for tips to help you figure out how to become a calm mom, we're sharing 7 strategies to help. Being a patient mom isn't always easy, especially if you struggle with anger management. If temper tantrums and power struggles are the norm in your household, these positive parenting solutions are simple yet effective, and will help you adopt positive discipline strategies and open the lines of communication with your kids for a happier and healthier home.

How to Be a Calm Parent: 7 Positive Parenting Techniques to Try

10 Calming Strategies for Kids | If you're looking for tips to help improve your child's self-regulation at home, we're sharing 10 simple ideas that help. If your little one struggles with impulse control and big emotions, and finds it hard to calm down when triggered, these tools help prevent emotional outbursts and teach kids how to exercise appropriate self-control. Inspired by the Zones of Regulation and Social Thinking curriculums, these behavior management strategies for kids work!

Self-Regulation at Home: 10 Calming Strategies for Kids

12 Stress Relief Activities for Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed | If you're looking for quick and simple calming activities to help you destress, we're sharing 12 fun and creative ways to relax. This list includes things you can do on your own, as well as fun ideas you can do with your kids to help you reset when emotions are high. These also double as anger management activities for women!

12 Stress Relief Activities for Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed

11 Nature Activities for Kids | If you'e looking for fun indoor and outdoor nature activities you can enjoy with your little ones year-round, we've got 11 ideas to inspire you! Whether you're going on a nature walk or spending time in the backyard, we've included ideas for spring, summer, fall, and winter. Perfect for teaching STEM and science lessons while also getting some vitamin D and burning energy, these activities compliment classroom lesson plans and make great family activities too!

Nature Activities for Kids: 11 Ways to Have Fun Outside All Year

14 Indoor Activities for Kids that Burn Energy | If you're stuck at home and need fun and easy games and activities to reduce boredom, keep your kids entertained, and help them burn off steam, these ideas are easy to setup, and you probably already have a lot of the materials you need to recreate them on hand. Perfect for toddlers, kids in elementary school, and older kids, these simple and creative ideas develop gross motor, balance, coordination, proprioception, and problem solving skills!

Stuck Inside? 14 Indoor Activities for Kids that Burn Energy

How to Host a Virtual Birthday Party for Kids | Stuck at home on your child's birthday? Don't fret! We're sharing 11 ideas for kids birthday parties that are being hosted on Zoom or another online platform. From virtual birthday party games for kids, to birthday activities for teens and tweens, these ideas will teach you how to throw a virtual party your child will cherish for years to come!

How to Host a Virtual Birthday Party for Kids: 11 Ideas for Parents

17 Virtual Baby Shower Ideas | If you're trying to figure out how to host an online baby shower, this post has 17 planning tips and virtual baby shower games to inspire you! From figuring out the best hosting platform (Facebook and Zoom are top choices!), to party favors and food, to invitations and gifts, to super fun and easy games, these virtual party planning tips will make your long distance celebration meaningful!

How to Host a Baby Shower Online: 17 Virtual Baby Shower Ideas

How to Stay Calm in a Stressful Situation | If you're looking for tips and strategies to help you stay calm in any situation (when stressed, when angry, when nervous, as a parent, in a crisis, etc.), we're sharing 9 stress management tips that help. Learn how to stop anxious thoughts in their tracks, what to do when things are out of your control and you feel overwhelmed, and how to be less stressed in the face of adversity moving forward.

9 Tips and Tricks to Help You Stay Calm in a Stressful Situation

10 Educational Apps for Kids in Elementary School | If you're looking for the best educational websites you can access on your tablet to keep your little ones engaged and learning outside of the classroom, there are tons of great ones available for free (or for a small fee). From math and literacy games, to puzzles and brain teasers, to science, coding, and STEM learning, we've curated the best free learning apps for kids, with paid options for teachers and for parents who want more.

Learning Made Fun: 10 Educational Apps for Kids in Elementary School

19 Backyard Activities for Kids | If you're looking for fun DIY yard games you can enjoy outdoors with your kids year-round, we've got 19 ideas to inspire you! Whether you have toddlers or kids in kindergarten or elementary school, we've got easy (and cheap!) ideas you can enjoy in spring, summer, fall, and winter. From obstacle courses, to water games, to old school birthday party games, to outdoor scavenger hunt ideas, there are so many things to do to burn energy when cabin fever sets in!

19 Backyard Activities for Kids to Help Burn Energy