Kids & Family | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

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

13 Pencil Shaving Art Projects | If you're looking for craft ideas you can do on your own or with kids, pencil shaving art is perfect for both beginner and advanced artists. Recycled crafts are cheap and fit for any budget, and many of these can be turned into greeting cards and homemade gifts for family and friends. And if drawing isn't one of your skills, you can use printable coloring pages! From flowers and fish, to peacocks and a dancing princesses, these upcycling art ideas are beautiful!

Creative Crafting: 13 Pencil Shaving Art Projects We Love

21 Earth Day Activities and Crafts for Kids | Perfect for toddlers, for preschoolers, for kindergarten, and for kids in elementary and middle school, we've curated tons of easy Earth Day projects you can enjoy with your kids and students both at home and in the classroom. With a mix of art projects, crafts, science experiments, and outdoor activities, these ideas make teaching kids about climate change, global warming, and environmental protection fun and interesting!

Save the Planet: 21 Earth Day Activities and Crafts for Kids

9 Bottle Painting Projects for Beginners | If you're looking for simple, easy, and beautiful bottle painting ideas, grab your empty wine, beer, and water bottles plus your acrylics and give these DIY designs a try! We've included tips and techniques for beginners to help you get started, with bottle painting designs for both glass and plastic bottles. These make beautiful homemade gifts, and many of these are suitable for kids to do!

Crafting At Home: 9 Gorgeous Bottle Painting Projects To Try

15 Finger Print Art Projects For Kids | If you're on the hunt for easy crafts for kids of all ages, these fingerprint art ideas will inspire you! Whether you're crafting with toddlers or looking for homemade gifts kids can make, these easy kids activities will not disappoint. From thumbprint dandelions, to alphabet art, to flowers and butterflies, to autumn trees and more, this list of fingerprint crafts for kids has something for every age and stage.

Crafting with Kids: 15 Finger Print Art Projects We Love

11 April Fool's Day Pranks for Kids | If you're looking for fun and easy practical jokes to play on your kids or students - or for your kids or students to play on their parents, siblings, friends, or teachers - this post has lots of great ideas to inspire you! Most of these work as last minute pranks, and they offer a bit of light-hearted humor without being mean-spirited. We have options for groups and for families, and you may even use some of these for work - they are really funny!

Gotcha! 11 Fun and Easy April Fool’s Day Pranks for Kids

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

21 Engineering Activities for Kids | If you're looking fun, easy, and creative ways to get your kids or students excited about STEM learning, these engineering focused STEM challenges, projects, and activities are a great place to start! Whether you're looking for an excuse to learn outside in the spring or summer, need indoor activities for the classroom for the fall and winter months, these ideas are an awesome way to compliment learning at home too!

STEM Learning: 21 Fun and Educational Engineering Activities for Kids

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

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