My daughter Ally, 4, loves art projects. And lately she’s become interested in what happens when two colors are mixed together.

We’ve tried to teach her color mixing with food coloring and paints. But then Ally’s preschool teachers shared a fun way to teach young children about mixing colors.

They suggested filling a Ziploc bag with cheap white shaving cream. Then squirt into the bag a drop of two different colors of paint, such as a drop of blue and a drop of yellow paint. Then seal the bag and let the kids squish the shaving cream and paint mixture around until the two drops of paint create a new color.

Ally loved this project and afterward was easily able to remember which colors combined to make green, orange and purple. And she liked blending colors to make more odd combinations – like what happens when you mix pink and brown?

The teachers said they also hide small items, like plastic trinkets, in the foam for the kids to find as they squish it around.

This makes a great rainy day art project.

Recently, my daughter Ally, 4, came home from preschool all excited to show me this amazing thing she’d made that day.

To my surprise, what had her all worked up was a plastic cup with a bunch of craft sticks (Popsicle sticks) sticking out of it.

But then Ally explained to me that this was her “Can Do” cup, which features some of the things she’s able to do by herself or excels at now that she’s 4. Ally had decorated the outside of the cup with stickers. Then her teachers had asked her to name five things she’s good at doing. They wrote each of the things in Ally’s own word on a large-size craft stick.

Ally excitedly pulled out each craft stick to have me read about all the things she’s mastered. The craft sticks said things like “I can ride my bike all by myself!” and “I can put on my shoes all by myself!”

I can’t believe that Ally was so excited about these craft sticks in a plastic cup, but I realized that what she loved was being recognized for all the things she can do. My husband and I praise Ally a lot, especially when she learns or tries something new. But I could see that this cup was a new, fun way to celebrate her achievements and it made Ally proud to see those things written down.

Since she brought home her “Can Do” cup, I’ve added more craft sticks to the cup each time I notice something that Ally can do by herself. She loves to watch me write it out on the craft stick and once in a while, she asks me to pull them all out of the cup and read them to her.

This project is a great way to recognize “big kids” and celebrate all those little achievements that can be so big to them.

Garage sales are often a favorite of mothers of young children. Where else can you find a My Little Pony for a quarter? A bike for five bucks? Or children’s clothing for a dollar?

I love a good garage sale. And I recently hosted one with two other moms. Together we have five children so together we had a whole lot of junk.

But at our garage sale, and some others that I stopped at over the summer, I noticed that are new fun ways to bring in customers and make a little extra money too.

At our garage sale, my friends and I each baked something the night before, such as muffins or cookies, and then wrapped them individually in plastic wrap. We sold each for 50 cents the next day at the garage sale and the customers bought them up like crazy – especially those with children in tow. We used that extra money to cover the cost of our lunch that day.

And I saw similar ideas at other garage sales I stopped at over the summer. One group of moms had bought cases of juice boxes and had them in a cooler out in front for 50 cent each. On a hot summer day, the juice boxes were selling fast.

Another group of moms had bought a bulk box of Ring Pops and granola bars and were selling those at a pretty fast rate.

Another mom had a great idea for getting rid of all the leftover items when the garage sale was winding down. She said that at a certain time of the day, customers could make a donation that would go to charity, and in return could take any 10 items they wanted. Another woman had a similar idea. Her garage sale was going for three days, but on the third day, customers could give her five dollars in exchange for any five items they wanted.

These are just a few good ideas I’ve found. I’ll keep my eye out for more as I stop at more garage sales.

I love purses. And I remember a time, before I was a mom, when I could carry teeny tiny purses that were able to hold all of my essentials – lipstick, keys, credit card and cell phone.

But now that I’m a mom, I find myself carrying around huge purses and tote bags because when you have kids your list of essentials grows astronomically. Now my essentials include things like wipes, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, my daughter’s sunglasses, crayons and stickers, water bottle, travel-size first aid kit, enough snacks to feed an army and extra clothes for my daughter. I’m lucky if I can find room to cram in my wallet, keys and cell phone. Forget about the lipstick.

So for awhile, by purse has pretty much been a mess of all of these items jumbled up together. But then I realized that I could put those freebie makeup cases I get at the mall cosmetics counter to work organizing my bag and grouping like items together.

Now I have one case that holds hand sanitizer and my first aid items. Another holds sunscreen and my daughter’s sunglasses. Another holds crayons and stickers for long waits at restaurants or doctor’s appointments. And my daughter’s snacks are packaged together in a 1 quart Ziploc bag with a little extra air for padding.

Now I can reach in my purse and quickly find what I need. And having items like sunscreen and hand sanitizer in their own zippered cases means I don’t have to worry about leaks and spills ruining everything in my purse.

Until I can go back to carrying a tiny purse again, I’ll have to settle for having an organized one.

Buy it: Sandra Boynton board books

Buy it: Guess How Much I Love You

Buy it: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Buy it: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Buy it: Toes, Ears and Nose

When my daughter Ally was born, we, of course, got many great gifts. Friends and family gave toys, stuffed animals, blankets and countless adorable pink outfits.

But one of the best gifts we got was a collection of picture books and board books that we received from a group of people I knew from work. This group of about 10 people all went together and bought us a bag filled with wonderful books (many of which I had never heard of as a first-time mom). There were four Sandra Boynton board books, “Guess How Much I Love You,” “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” and “Toes, Ears and Nose,” among others.

These were some of the first books we had for Ally and we read them all the time. Both Ally and I got to know them all by heart. They have become part of her childhood. And every time we read them, I remember the group of people who gave them to us.

And while it’s wonderful to receive baby clothes and blankets for your newborn, eventually they will be outgrown and packed away. But Ally and I still read “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” and “Guess How Much I Love You” all the time. So if you’re looking for a great baby gift that will be appreciated and last for years, consider picking out a collection of great books.

Our gift of books has been treasured for four and a half years and counting…

This Mom Tip was passed along to me by another mom as a way to use the many, many pictures, drawings and pieces of artwork that our children make at home or at school.

My friend covers her 4-year-old daughter’s artistic creations with clear contact paper and turns them into fun place mats for the whole family. She said they hold up well to multiple uses and being wiped clean. And her daughter enjoys seeing her artwork being displayed in a new way.

My friend said that she and her daughter also make place mats for special occasions, such as Thanksgiving, by making collages of holiday cards and her daughter’s artwork and covering them with contact paper. She said it’s a fun way to decorate her table for the holidays and everyone can take home their place mat as a party favor.

When my daughter Ally turned 3, I thought it would be a good time to start talking about how to use the telephone. So we had her talk on the phone to relatives and she helped us dial when we made a phone call.

But now that Ally’s 4 I wanted to teach her some important phone numbers such as her daddy at work, her grandparents and her aunts. And I wanted to have these phone numbers posted in a way that would be easy for Ally to read so she could dial them without our help.

So I made a picture phone number list. I printed and cut out some head shots of each person and wrote their phone number next to the picture, each in a different color. Now when Ally wants to call her daddy at work, she looks for his picture and then punches in the phone number next to his picture.

The picture phone list has also gotten Ally more interested in practicing making phone calls. (The new Disney Princess phone we bought her didn’t hurt either). And now I have a little more peace of mind knowing that if she needed to make a phone call on her own, she could do it.

For Ally’s second birthday, one of my friends put together one of the best gifts I’ve ever seen. She filled a gift bag with all sorts of art supplies such as glue sticks, paints, safety scissors, crayons, markers, stencils, paper, glitter, pipe cleaners, stickers, etc.

Both Ally and I were excited when she opened this present and now, two years later, Ally and I are still appreciating that same gift.

Ally uses art supplies almost daily and we’re still using many of the same supplies my friend got for her. What’s great about this gift idea is that kids can never have too many art supplies. And while kids may grow bored with other gifts like toys and games, art supplies last a long time and can be used in different ways as children grow.

So if you need to buy a gift for a kid who has everything, art supplies are a great way to go. This gift can also work for any budget too, since you can decide how much you put in the bag and since many supplies, like crayons and glue sticks, are inexpensive.

It’s a great gift idea for a child of any age, and is sure to be enjoyed for years afterward.

I recently stumbled upon a great, inexpensive activity that will keep young kids busy on hot summer days – paint the sidewalk with water!

It’s almost too easy. Just fill up your child’s plastic sand buckets with water and find some paintbrushes in various sizes. We use inexpensive paintbrushes from the hardware store. Then let your little budding artist go to work.

The pictures or letters they paint will show up on the sidewalk as they get the cement wet, but will quickly disappear as the sun and heat dry them up. So they can keep on painting all day long. This activity would also work on a wooden fence or on the bricks of a house or patio.

You can also fill spray bottles with water and let your kids spray the sidewalks too.

My daughter Ally, 4, and her friends just seemed to like the idea of “painting” and getting everything wet.

This is also a fun way to have your children practice writing their letters.

Since she turned 4, my daughter Ally has become more and more independent. And one of her favorite new freedoms is picking out her own shoes each day and putting them on all by herself.

However, sometimes Ally would mix up her shoes and put her left shoe on her right foot and her right shoe on the left. Then she would get frustrated that she had done it wrong. Her disappointment seemed to take the wind out of her sails.

I knew she would learn her left shoe from her right eventually, but while we were waiting for that day I wanted to give her a way of telling which shoe was which all by herself. So I bought some fabric paint and put a dot on the inside of each shoe on the inside edge. Now all Ally has to do is line the shoes up next to each other, and if the dots are next to each other, she has the shoes the right way. If the dots are far apart, she knows to rearrange them.

Ally was so excited about her shoe dots and immediately got the hang of matching them up. Now she shows off to anyone who will watch how she matches up the dots to put on her shoes. And she hasn’t mixed up her shoes since I put the dots inside them.

I know someday she’ll be able to tell her shoes apart just by looking at them, but until that day, Ally has her confidence back that she can put on her shoes all by herself.