A lot of people like to let their kids watch short videos online… but the problem is that you never know what you’re in for when you click the play button.

Some of the most friendly video titles that look like they would be okay for kids can turn out to play all kinds of sleazy stuff that’s completely unfit for young eyes.

Apparently YouTube.com has decided to take the smut and violence in hand and create a kid-friendly video website called TotLOL.com.  So, if you like to let your kids safely surf the net, here’s another resource that they can access for a little video entertainment.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Cute New Online Video Site For Kids

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We absolutely LOVE making the Valentine’s Day Heart Man! No matter how many times we make them, or how old the kids get, they still giggle and laugh when we make them.

We usually make these every year, so you’d think that I’d have a picture of one around here somewhere… but I can’t find one.

I do have a complete template and construction page for the Valentine’s Day Heart Man though… Enjoy!

In addition, I found this heart slider puzzle on the site and I’d forgotten about it.  Older kids might get a kick out of it:

http://www.kidcraftsmagazine.com/2006/valentine-heart-slider-puzzle.html

I also have a secret…

Believe it or not, I actually live a “double life” in my online business.  Many of you already know that I’ve been doing children’s crafts online for many years, but what you may not know is that I’m also an Internet Business Consultant operating online under the pen name Arvada Yates.

As Arvada (which I fully disclose is a pen name), I help people start their own successful online businesses, provide tons of marketing and business tutorials, and give advice to online business owners.

So why am I telling you all this?

A number of people who found me through my children’s craft sites have recently contacted me for business advice, and the word is starting to get out.  Basically, I wanted to tell you about “the rest of my business” before you found out yourself.

I didn’t want you to think that I was being dishonest.

You see, my children’s craft sites are like my babies.  They are where I started online and I have a great deal of loyalty to them and to all the people who I’ve met through them… You!

I’m a mom first and foremost and I’ve really enjoyed meeting so many other parents, grandparents, and caregivers.  My craft sites aren’t really business… they’re personal!

I guess I’m writing this all in the spirit of full-disclosure because I believe in being completely honest.  So if you’d like to know more about my “other identity,” you can subscribe to my online business newsletter Answers eMagazine or visit the links below:

• www.iMarketingWatch.com
• www.Internet-Marketing-Tutor.com
• www.Escape-Your-Cubicle.com

Nothing has changed…  I just wanted you to know and I hope you understand.

Best Wishes,

Chris Yates

P.S.

Only four days until Valentine’s Day (where did the time go?) and I’ve got lots of great Valentine’s Day ideas lined up for this week!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Valentine’s Day Heart Man and A Secret

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1. Have You Seen These Great Christmas Printables?

I absolutely LOVE these Christmas printables!

Why?

Because they’re fun AND educational! My daughter found these over the weekend and the kids have been busily occupied ever since. They’ve been racing to see who could finish some of the Christmas mazes first, playing the printable games, and even doing Christmas math as if it’s just playtime!

I love it when I can trick them into doing math, writing activities, word puzzles, problem solving, and other educational activities and they don’t even realize it because they’re having too much fun!

The really great part is that the kids think they’re pulling a fast one on Mom because it’s too much fun to be educational!

The other thing I like about these Christmas printables is that there’s something for everyone here… from my oldest child to my youngest, everyone is happily occupied in holiday spirit.

Okay, enough raving… just go on over and take a look for yourself!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Have You Seen These Great Christmas Printables?

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1. Making Math Fun
2. Valentine’s Day Heart Man and A Secret
3. Countdown to Christmas Bell

As a lot of you already know, I began homeschooling my children this year. In fact, we actually started playing around with some things this summer (before the regular school year starts) to try to figure out exactly where the kids were at academically and emotionally.

It didn’t take very long to figure out where their real weak spots were… Math.

The funny thing is that they’re all actually pretty good at math – they just hate sitting down and doing the work… and nobody does their best learning when they’ve decided that they hate the subject.

So I started getting creative…

That’s when I really started going out and looking for games and activities that would help them learn the concepts that they needed to learn while making it really fun for them… but I quickly ran into a huge obstacle.

Price.

Have you seen how much those math games cost? I actually spent $30 for one award winning board game that would help the kids learn to add, subtract, and make change. It’s a great game that I highly recommend, but it’s $30!!!

You can’t afford too many games like that, no matter how great they are, to help your children learn math concepts, gain confidence, and become more proficient in math.

So then I started looking at free resources.

Most of what I found was more full of advertising than good learning and practice. In fact, most of what I found wasn’t really that good or kept my children’s attention anyway. Most of it was junk.

Then I happened upon a great resource.

It’s called Making Math More Fun, and it’s a collection of printable math games. Well, I took a chance and purchased it for my kids last week and guess what?

They have absolutely loved every activity that we’ve done from the collection so far!!!

My son has gone from telling that he “absolutely hates math” to asking me every day if we can play a math game. I was absolutely amazed!

The other thing is that all three of my kids can do these activities even though their ages and abilities are different. There are some things that appeal to my youngest, some that work well for my oldest, and other things that they can all do together… without me having to sit right there and walk them through every step for the whole game (My favorite part… they can play independently sometimes!)

Okay… at the risk of sounding like a commercial I’m going to stop telling you how great this math game collection is.

After all, I don’t even know for sure how many of you out there are in the same boat as I am — either homeschooling kids who don’t enjoy math or even just looking for math supplements for your kids.

But if you’re looking for some easy to use, fun, inexpensive, and educational math games for your kids, than I can highly recommend the Making Math More Fun game collection.

In the meantime, if you know of some other great math resources to make math more fun for kids, then I hope you let me know!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Making Math Fun

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1. Have You Seen These Great Christmas Printables?

I came across this new children’s craft book today while I was cruising around online looking for more Easter Craft ideas to post and I absolutely had to buy it!  It’s called Fun Kids Crafts For Any Occasion… Have you seen it yet?

This brand new craft book contains over 700 crafts, it had tons of illustrations and templates, and best of all it’s perfect for younger kids!

I’ve been doing crafts with my kids for so long that I rarely get excited about a children’s craft book… but this book is really good!

My favorite craft sections are the edible crafts, egg carton crafts, Father’s Day crafts, the flip flop crafts…. okay, I guess I have too many favorite sections to mention here… there are just so many great ideas here that it’s impossible to choose a favorite.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out… after all, we can always use more great ideas to keep those kids happy, entertained, and learning!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

New Children’s Craft Book Looks Awesome!

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