Kids & Family | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

30 Journal Prompts for Kids | Looking for daily creative writing ideas for kids in first grade and beyond? Perfect for students in a classroom setting, as part of ongoing therapy, or as an after school or summer activity, these ideas will help teach kids gratitude, boost your child’s self-esteem, and teach them how to work through their feelings and emotions in a positive way.

Creative Writing for Children: 30 Journal Prompts for Kids

Mindfulness Activities for Kids | 17 simple and fun ways to teach kids the art of mindfulness to help them focus on classroom assignments, calm down and manage feelings of anxiety, exercise proper anger management, and regulate their emotions. These ideas are great on their own or as part of other therapy and treatment options for ADHD, anxiety, depression, and autism.

Mindfulness Activities for Kids: 17 Ways to Raise Mindful Children

Learning to Tell Time Activities for Kids | If you’re looking for fun games, activities, worksheets, free printables, and anchor charts to help teach your child how to tell time, we’re rounded up 8 hands on ideas for kids in preschool and kindergarten, and through grades 1 and 2 that make teaching kids to tell time fun instead of scary!

Learning to Tell Time: 8 Activities & Games Kids Love

Teaching Times Tables | If you’re looking for times tables tricks and games for kids, we’ve got 15 ideas to make teaching multiplication FUN. With tons of free printables to choose from, these multiplication games and activities are perfect for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade learning, and can be used both in the classroom and at home. We’ve included free math worksheets and loads of family games to encourage learning everyday!

Teaching Times Tables: 15 Fun Ways to Teach Kids Multiplication

Breathing Techniques for Anxiety in Children | If you’re looking for simple relaxation techniques and breathing exercises for kids that work at home and in the classroom, we’ve got 10 ideas to help. These calming activities are perfect for anxiety and stress as well as anger management, and help teach healthy coping skills so kids can calm down on their own when big emotions strike.

Breathing Techniques for Anxiety: 10 Calming Activities for Kids

How to Get Kids to Listen | Looking for simple parenting tips to get your kids to listen the first time without yelling and nagging? Whether you’re the mom of toddlers who needs practical tips to use at home, or a teacher who needs effective strategies that work at school in a classroom setting, we’ve got 7 tips and listening activities for kids.

How to Get Kids to Listen: 7 Tips & Listening Activities for Kids

55 Super Fun Things to do with Kids | Looking for fun things for kids to do at home on weekends, bad weather days, school holidays, and during the summer months when they’re bored? Whether you’re looking for free crafts you can do indoors or ways to help your boys to burn off steam outdoors in the fall and winter, we’ve got 55 fun ideas the whole family will love!

Got Cabin Fever? 55 Super Fun Things for Kids to Do at Home

31 After School Activities for Kids! Looking for fun crafts, games, activities and lesson plans to keep busy girls and boys entertained at home after school (or while at daycare)? We’ve got 31 super fun ideas to keep kids learning and help them blow off steam once their homework is done, and we’ve included a few ways you can spend quality time with your kids to boot!

What to Do After School: 31 After School Activities for Kids

Looking for STEM experiments for kids to keep your little ones interested in learning? We’ve rounded up 27 fun activities to introduce your kids to physical science, technology, engineering, and math - both at home and in the classroom. From watching the chemical reactions between vinegar, baking soda, and other household items to offering hands-on opportunities to construct things and make them move, this collection of STEM activities if a teachers (and parents!) dream come true!

STEM experiments for kids: 27 fun ways to help them learn at home!

Anger Management for Kids | Learn how to teach children self-control with these anger management tips for kids. From coping skills and behavior charts to fun kids games and effective stress relief tips and toys, teaching children to control big emotions isn’t as hard as you might think. We’ve even rounded up 26 super fun anger management activities for kids that feel more like play than work!

Anger Management for Kids: 8 Meaningful Ways to Calm Big Emotions

How to Teach Your Child Gratitude | Looking for fun activities to teach your children how to be grateful both in the classroom and at home? Check out this collection of 17 gratitude activities for kids and families! Complete with random acts of kindness and other simple ideas to teach your kids how to be grateful and appreciative, these thankful activities are perfect for Thanksgiving and beyond!

How to Teach Your Child Gratitude: 17 Gratitude Activities for Kids!

Who says spending quality time with your kids needs to be expensive and complicated? Not us! Whether you're the mom of princess-obsessed girls or the mom of active boys filled with beans, we've got 75 inexpensive mom and me ideas to help you connect with your children and make them feel like they're the center of your universe every single day.

75 Inexpensive Ways to Spend Quality Time with Your Kids

Learn how to teach children self-control with this collection of self-regulation strategies and activities for kids! Whether your child struggles with impulse control as a result of ADHD, autism, or another developmental challenge or delay, or just needs some coping skills and tools to help calm down in the classroom, we have 7+ ideas to help teach your kids about self-regulation, as well as 30 self-control activities to develop and encourage appropriate self-regulatory behavior.

How to Teach Children Self-Control: 7+ Self-Discipline Strategies for Kids

Whether you’re looking for sensory activities for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, or school-aged kids, we’ve got you covered. Perfect for at home or in the classroom, we’ve collected 101 sensory activities for kids with autism and special needs to help them calm down, stimulate their senses, develop their social skills, language skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and self-control skills, as well as increase their attention span and help them learn!

Sensory Play! 101 Sensory Activities for Kids With Autism

Looking for fun empathy activities for kids to teach children about kindness and compassion, and help them understand the feelings of others? We’ve rounded up 19 empathy activities for children to help teachers with their lessons plans in the classroom and parents and caregivers at home. We’ve even included 100 random acts of kindness, which includes some pretty fun and impressive ideas!

Empathy Activities For Kids: 19 Fun Ways To Teach Kids About Kindness

Preschool Letter Practice: 18 Writing Activities for Toddlers | Looking for writing activities for preschoolers to help develop your child’s fine motor skills and teach her how to write her name before she enters preschool in the fall? We’ve got you covered. From letter learning activities and pre writing exercises to writing activities for toddlers, we’ll show you how to teach kids to write their name the fun way!

Preschool Letter Practice: 18 Writing Activities for Toddlers

Whether you want to spend time outdoors or indoors, need cheap and free ideas or have a ton of disposable income at your hands, this collection of fun and easy at home summer activities for kids is your ticket to keeping your little ones from climbing the walls this summer. With 100 different ideas to choose from (some educational, so just plain old fun), there's something here for every age group - toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and elementary school kids. Here's to a fabulous summer!

100 awesome summer activities for kids

Spending quality time with your kids doesn't need to be difficult, nor does it need to cost an arm and a leg. Whether you're a mom of active boys or girly girls, we've got 25 inexpensive mom and me ideas to teach you how to make your children feel like they're the center of your universe every. single. day. Life's short. Have fun!

How to Spend Quality Time With Your Child: 25 Inexpensive Mom and Me Ideas

Looking for Father’s Day crafts for toddlers, for preschoolers, for girls, for boys, from daughter, from son…or just for kids in general? We’ve rounded up 10 easy DIY ideas for children to make that will make dad (or grandpa) melt.

10 fabulous Father’s Day crafts dads will love

Looking for the best travel activities for kids to keep your little ones occupied on long car rides and during international airplane travel? Look no further! We’ve got 21 awesome ideas to keep them entertained. Whether you’re traveling with toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, or school-aged kids, these toys offer the perfect distraction for children when they’re confined to small spaces like cars and planes. We’ve even included a couple of DIY busy bags you can make for cheap!

Best toys for airplane travel: 17 ideas to keep kids entertained!

Looking for adorable mother’s day crafts that are suitable for kids to make? Whether you’re looking for crafts for toddlers, for preschoolers, for kindergarteners, or for school-aged kids, we’ve got 10 mother’s day crafts that will melt your heart. Perfect for grandma, these easy DIY ideas make the perfect mother’s day keepsakes!

10 Mother’s Day crafts that will melt your heart