Kids & Family | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

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

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

16 Best 'Give Money As A Gift' Ideas | If you're looking for fun and cool ways to give money to someone you love, this post has lots of ideas to inspire you! Whether you're giving money as a birthday, wedding, Christmas, or graduation gift, these unique and creative ideas will help you figure out how to give the gift of money in a thoughtful and meaningful way. These clever ways to give money as a gift can also be used for gift cards!

Gift Giving 101: 16 Fun Ways to Give Money as a Gift

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

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

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