My First Gardening Book has so many fun ideas to help get my kids off of their devices and playing outside! The photos and the illustrations are both very well done, and my kids will sit for hours reading through the book and planning our outdoor activities.

The first thing we are working on is the Tyrannosaurus garden that is all contained in an old car tire. We emptied the remainder of a bag of potting soil into it and then added small ferns and dollar store plastic dinosaurs. Very fun! The ice mobile looks really interesting, I also love the idea of using thrift store teacups as containers for a fun windowsill garden!

When I was a kid, my favorite book in our Childcraft encyclopedia set was called, “Things to Make and Do”. I can’t believe how many hours I pored over that book! I found My First Stitching and Sewing Book to also be filled with delightful ideas for crafts and activities for kids. It includes a large photo of the finished item, and I also love their adorable illustrations showing how to create every step of each project.

Our favorites (so far!) include a mermaid doll, easy to make felt food, and tiny cute mice that have a miniature bed to sleep/hide in. I can’t wait to make the teddy bear snuggle sack for my daughter to take with us places and play quietly with. I’m not very good with putting in zippers, but I’d also love to make the monster pencil case, with the zipper mouth.

I’ve been sewing for decades and I love to make cute things for my kids. Sewing Dress-up has so many great ideas that me and my children love. It’s a really fun way to encourage imaginative play, my kids even want to wear their dress up clothes to the grocery store.

The book is really well designed and features a large photo of each finished item, along with step-by-step instructions with lots of photos. I was able to easily follow along with the directions and I love how everything turned out, it definitely looks like something I could purchase at a store.

For instance, for the fairy wings, I bent a wire hanger into the right shape and then covered the hanger with pink pantyhose, and added some glitter on the edges to make beautiful fairy wings. So many fun ideas, all of which would be perfect for Halloween, too!