Educational Bean Bags

Other than Pinterest and Facebook my other online addiction is the website Zulily.com. They sell children's items (clothes, toys, books, etc), women & maternity, and housewares. With school starting Zulily has had different educational items daily. I have one child starting pre-K and another child in that preschooler/toddler age bracket.

Several weeks ago I made them a mat with the alphabet, numbers & some basic shapes. We were using the bean bags I had made for an earlier project, but we only have 12 of those & so in playing I kept forgetting where we were in learning. And then I saw this on Zulily and then I had an idea:


I swear the internet makes me feel so stupid sometimes!  The original price was $35 but it was on sale for $23. Thinking I could make it cheaper I set out for the craft store.








To make the bean bags I of course bought felt, beans, and some adhesive felt letters & numbers. I had to specially design the shapes for the bean bags on my computer. But the beans proved to be my undoing. Here are my material totals

Felt. 20 pieces x 25¢ea= $5
Felt letters $6 package
Plastic bean bag filler:
          Hancock Fabric: 6- 8oz bags x 3.99=$23.94
For a grand total of.......$34.94

Well I guess in theory I did make them cheaper.  If it hadn't been for those plastic "beans" I would have come in under the $20 budget I gave myself. I know you are thinking "Cheese & mice, Aims! You could have just bought some dried beans or rice much cheaper." And you would be right, however I wanted to be able to wash these and I knew if I used beans or rice I couldn't wash them.

So as a recap here is the mat:

The letters and numbers are Comic Sans size 300 and the shapes are done through the Autoshape feature. I attached them to a 1 yard piece of muslin fabric using my hot glue gun. The kids love it.








So then I did the bean bags. For the letters & numbers I bought a pack of pre-cut adhesive felt letters and numbers. I had to size these so small that attempting to do an at home template involved several four letter words and drops of blood. The shape bags went a little easier but then I had to hand stitch them to the felt. The bags are not of the same size as I some how got off rhythm in cutting the felt & I was so frustrated I just wanted this project done. SN: If I was making this for someone as a gift it would be much nicer. But here is the mat with the bean bags all matched up.

 So it isn't perfect, but it makes learning fun.











Thank goodness that is done,
Amy

Bandwagons

So as most people who know me know that I rarely hop on a bandwagon. I do have things I feel strongly about & will voice an opinion. There are a few causes that I believe in, and a few charities I support. John is the same way.

But two causes have jumped to the very front of my mind this week.

First: The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia. I love the Olympics. My favorite winter event is figure skating. But the Russian government has decided to enforce its anti-LGBT laws... any athlete, staff, entourage, fan will be arrested & detained in prison for any or all pro-LGBT actions or just for being LGBT. Let me say this.... I WILL NOT DEBATE LGBT RIGHTS WITH YOU! This is why this bothers me. These athletes have so much talent. The have sacrificed so much to compete at this level. They have given up so much, they have given so much of themselves; their families have had to sacrifice to support them. Insane amounts of money have been spent in pursuit & support of these athletes.  How awful to be told that you are not welcome; that you cannot come to represent your country, your family... even yourself; to be told that all your hard work has been for nothing (so many Olympians only get one chance to compete); to me that is heart breaking.  The fabulous Georgia Takei has written an excellent blog post on this along with a petition on Change.org. George is best known for his role as Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek; but he is also a wonderful director, writer, commentator, humorist. The petition is asking the IOC to please move the Games out of Russia. The last Winter Olympics were held in Vancover Canada. The Canadian government has stated that they are ready, willing & able to host again in 2014. No one is asking to carry a Pride Flag or to hold a Pride Parade; they are asking to be allowed to compete in safety & to have their entourage. One final thought Russia is publicly putting out a message of intolerance at best, hate at worst. If they are allowed to host the Games next year.... what precedent does that set? What "group" will the next country say can't compete? Don't let human rights take a step backwards, please sign the petition.

The second cause is pretty simple. A friend of mine (and her hubby) currently live in Kuwait. They have a huge stray animal problem in Kuwait, but only two rescue organizations. My friend's hubby, I'll call him P like she does on her blog, has brought home several strays & they have done their best to help find them homes. You can read the full story of recent events here; but in a nutshell a little girl was attacked by some strays a couple of days ago, the little girl is ok & recovering, but some jackass as gone all kinds of vigilante and is killing random strays in horrific ways and the jerk is posting pictures of it on social media outlets. Once again a petition has been started on Change.org to encourage the Kuwaiti government to get with the rest of the civilized world and put not only a stop to this freak but to start programs to help the strays. I realize that most people reading this are not in Kuwait, but please sign this one and help the Kuwaiti government realize there needs to be a change, why should these animals suffer just because we are on the other side of the planet?

I have toyed with the idea of writing this post the last couple days and finally decided I needed to put these two issues out there. While I was writing this I realized something; essentially both these issues deal with a bully.  And the only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them. Although I don't fall into either of the effected groups I just mentioned and it isn't going to effect my life either way..... I felt the call to stand up and ask others to do the same.

Thank you for following,
Amy