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I'm all for spending time with my boys doing hands on activities. I know that giving them something fun (and usually messy) to do or playing board games and cards with them helps them learn and I know they are keeping out of trouble. My oldest loves any games of any kind. Board games and card games are his favorite. He has Thomas the Train Uno cards and Old Maid that he loves playing with his MawMaw, PawPaw and Nana when they all come to visit. He likes to beat me at Chutes & Ladders and Connect 4. He likes to play his Daddy a good game of Sorry. He even enjoys playing Elefun the Elephant and Ants in the Squarepants with his baby brother. He loves it all.

Little B had his first day of Kindergarten today. Parents got to visit at the end of class to help with a special craft. Little B liked making a self portrait a lot. He got to color, cut out, paint and decorate it to look like him any way he wanted. I sat and just admired him as he was being independent and creative all on his own. Maybe he likes crafting as much as his Mommy does? He may not stay in the lines at all times or use matching colors but who am I to argue with creativity? It's his work so I let him do it his way.

Each kindergartner had to make a paper cut out of their selves. His class uses "community" (everyone shares the same) crayon buckets, glue bottles and scissors. That's a lot of hands on activity from a lot of different hands. I know the teachers worry of passing germs around because our school supply list included hand sanitizer, liquid hand soap, Kleenex tissues and wet wipes. The only tissues we use at our house is Kleenex. I was glad to see Kleenex start making all their tissues with Sneeze Shield. When your little ones blow their nose, the boogies and cooties stay in the tissue and don't spread out on to their hands. I still encourage washing of hands after blowing their nose but the fact of knowing the tissue helps stop the spread of germs is a comfort to any parent right? If you'd like you can read more about Kleenex and you can also get back to school tips, hands on activities and even join in and share your hands on learning photos with Kleenex on Facebook all over at Kleenex Back to School.

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