One of my favorite toy companies, Melissa and Doug, is sponsoring a giveaway today, September 29, in honor of Michelangelo’s birthday! (Yes, THE Michelangelo!) They are giving away their double-sided easel (worth $79.99) to a lucky winner. All you have to do is go to their Facebook page and comment on how your kid(s) would use the easel! It’s that simple! Good luck to you and your little artists!
If you have been following the sales lately, there is a coupon out for Softsoap for $.35 off 1 in the July 24 SmartSource insert, and there is also a sale at KMart in which you can get Softsoap for FREE with $1 off 1 Softsoap coupon that you can find in the Shop Your Way Rewards coupon booklet at the front of the store. Anyway, if you have a lot of old soap bottles, you can do something fun and creative with them to keep your kids entertained!
I filled my old soap bottle with water and colored cooking sprinkles (made of sugar) to make different colors of water in the soap bottles. My son then had a blast squirting out the different colors into bowls, seeing what colors would be made from all of the different colors of water! He literally played at this for about 45 minutes! (I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon, but this is good for a rainy/snowy day!) Speaking of snow, you could even take these outside in the snow and “paint” with them! MegaCOOL!
Here is an example of one that I made…
soap bottle fun!
Also, something you can do with all those toy catalogs and ads you get in the mail…
I had my four-year-old son sit down and go through a One Step Ahead catalog and place a circle around everything he liked and a triangle around everything he thought his two-year-old sister would like. This also occupied him for about 20 minutes or so, then I had him tell me about why he wanted or his sister wanted the products. This is excellent fine motor skill practice, and to make it even better, you could have them cut out the pictures of the products! Be creative and make use of the things you have to entertain your kids during those cold and rainy days!
As you can see, my son circled almost everything on these two pages!
One Step Ahead is an awesome company that offers the best of baby and kids’ products on the market. I have purchased many things from them, including the “bumper pads” for my brick fireplace stoop and a personalized toy box and storage bin for my kids’ toys. Right now, they are running a promotion in which you could win $100 gift card from them! In order to participate, go to their website, subscribe to their emails (get exclusive offers and coupons), and then enter to win! While I was on their site, I spied this super cute zip toy bin that you can personalize for your kiddos…what a nice gift for the little ones in your family!
Also, Seventh Generation is running a sweepstakes right now in which you could win $10,000 to buy environmentally friendly products (available at Target and WalMart) for your home AND 1000 families in your town will win a FREE kit ($55 value) from Seventh Generation to help “green” their homes, too! Just go to their website for more details!
So, here’s your chance to travel around the world! World Market just started a sweepstakes in which you can win a trip around the world! Just “like” them on Facebook and click on the “Around the World” Sweepstakes tab on the left! And, while you’re at it, you may as well score a good deal shopping at World Market! Here is a link to a printable coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase there! (expires 8/21)
Also, while you’re on Facebook, you may as well head over to the Melissa and Doug page and enter their sweepstakes, too! They will be giving away a prize for every 1,000 fans that “like” their page until they hit 100,000! Once they have 100,000 fans, they will be giving a special surprise to all of their fans! I LOVE Melissa and Doug toys…they are awesome quality, wooden, educational toys for children. I have quite the collection in my home! (Our favorites are the puzzles and wooden food for my daughter’s play kitchen!). If you visit their website (linked above on their name) you may want to enter their Toy and Birthday club for exclusive offers and coupons on the days of your children’s birthdays and your birthday. Megacool!
GOOD LUCK!! 
Just a busy working mom with two awesome kids, a wonderful husband, and a penchant for all things fun and healthy for my family!
