My Children Made me This Way

The computer is a great thing and the internet is wonderful, wonderful place. I have found so many interesting and useful things online. As well as completely useless and highly entertaining. It really depends on the day. However there are two places that I though I would share as they seem to be places that I find myself at frequently. One is a great tool for grown-ups, and the other is pretty good place for kids. The best part? They are both free!

First is SparkPeople . If you have a New Years resolution to lose weight, get in shape, or something in between, this site really is amazing.There are all sorts of trackers, for nutrition, goals, weight, and fitness. There is also a meal plan that you can use. There are message boards, and tons of articles about all sorts of things. You also get your own page and blog as well as free workout videos. And there is a wide range of them suited to most people. And it really is free. No catches that I have found, and I have been there about a year.

The other place is Neopets . It’s for kids…well mostly. I have an account there as well, and there are actually a lot of adults there. HOWEVER there are safeguards in place for children under 13 to keep people from contacting them and I have never had a problem with the Monsters playing there. You get to create a pet to care for, a home and there are lots of games. When I first happened across the game 4 years ago it was completely free. There is now a paid portion, but ofr the most part it is still a free game. I think it’s a good place for the Monsters when they can’t go outside and they have run out of things to do inside.

So there you are… a couple more things that I find helpful.

I have been wracking my brain today trying to think of a tool that I use to pass along, and I wasn’t having much luck. The Monsters are in overdrive. Christmas is in sight, there are shiny things and cookies and candy and presents to tempt them. It’s cold and rainy outside so they are stuck inside. School has been out since Friday and so they are stuck inside with people they are related to (heaven forbid). The house is getting noisy. Toys are getting boring. TV is getting irritating. Loud Monsters are not at all conducive to blog writing and they have been getting louder by the hour.

Like most kids the Monsters love to cut and color and glue things, but coloring books only hold their attention for so long. We made paper chains and snowflakes the other day to decorate the house and windows with and that kept them occupied for a better part of the day so I decided to see what sorts of paper crafts I could find online and I stumbled over this pair of sites:

The Toymaker (click Free Toys at the center of the menu) has ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL free printables paper toys and crafts. Simple toys with an old feel and beautiful illustrations. I am in love with this site.

Robert Sabuda has some great pop ups that older kids can make. D (12) and S (10) worked on these with very little help from me at all. F (7) and C(5) colored and then did some of the cutting, and then the older two put them together. We used printer paper as a pattern and transferred the images onto construction paper for a couple. These might make great gifts as well.

These have kept the Monsters occupied, and low and behold I found a tool of the trade too!