In the past I’ve written about activities such as using scissors and winding bobbins that help build hand strength and dexterity in young children, an essential first step towards learning to write. Playing with stencils is another such activity, one that our three year old adores.
We picked this set of kid stencils up from our local resale shop — thrift store score!
Simple good fun with an educational purpose, an everyday learning activity!
When we visit our local thrift store, I always check their kitchen section for stainless steel platters, tea pots and creamers for the little miss.
Paired with BPA-free tea cups made from recycled milk jugs
Mama and daughter both love (decaf) Engligh Breakfast tea with milk. We take such joy in sharing a pot of tea together, our morning ritual.
A thrift store score!
We picked up a Xyron Create a Sticker Machine
The sticker maker machine is actually incredibly affordable
Here’s how we made our own stickers:
We used plain construction paper, colored pencils and our Winnie the Pooh stamps, also scored from a thrift store. These stamps may look old and well-loved, but I’m thrilled we found them as I have been unable to find similar ones anywhere.
We stamped different Hundred Acre Wood characters onto plain paper, then filled in (over!) the outlines with colored pencils.
After cutting out the stamp shapes, we fed them through the sticker maker, peeled off the front and back of the tape, and voilà! We have a personalized Piglet sticker! Our little girl was thrilled.
We’ve also made butterfly clip art and colored shape stickers cut from construction paper.
The possibilities with this sticker maker are endless!
We used these beautiful handmade stickers on some of the thank you notes from our birthday festivities. A handmade-touch to the cards and a super fun project!
I’m amazed to find that the last thrift store score post was back in April! We’ve found lots of awesome stuff since then, which I’ve neglected to write about. Whoops!
Here’s my latest Thrift Store Score fulled obsession:
Pyrex dishes in the same pattern as the ones my grandmother gave me.
My grandmother gifted me many of her pyrex and corningware dishes when I graduated from college and headed off to graduate school in Arizona and my first apartment back in 2002. I’ve used these dishes almost daily over the last eight years and love them.
Despite being white, I find them incredibly easy to clean. I can take them straight from the freezer and pop them in the oven. Should I (or Miss Leyba) drop them on the floor by accident, they don’t break. Even the glass lids don’t break. I find them indispensable in the kitchen.
So when I noticed they were popping up at the thrift store (that benefits our local hospice!), I started buying them. A larger size. An extra lid. Some more of those fabulous circular ones. A more shallow pan.
My, how the collection has grown.
I love them!
I have admired and considered buying eeBoo Lacing Cards to help Miss Leyba develop her fine motor skills, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $$$ on something that I could make fairly easily on my own. Well, surprise surprise, I haven’t had a chance to design, print off and punch any cards yet, but we found these adorable ones at our local thrift store for… two dollars! (instead of $14 for a new set)
Now I would not have personally picked this particular design, Fairies of the Field
A purchase at our thrift store also benefits our neighborhood hospice and keeps items like this from being thrown away, so it’s a win-win situation for all (except for the manufacturer, I suppose) and eco-groovy to boot. (Don’t worry, eeBoo, we already own several of your matching/bingo games and I CAN’T WAIT to get Miss Leyba your puzzle pairs.)
Looking for something similar? Amazon sells the Fairies of the Field
Miss Leyba hasn’t figured out the sewing action yet (we just bought them this afternoon), but in the meantime she’s having fun playing with the shoe laces and over-sized cards!
