DLTK's Blog: Family Posts
Crafts for Kids and Family Travel
The Craft of Art:
An Unseen Journey From Craft to Creativity
The Art of Letting Go:
A Parent's Reflection on Creativity, Craft, and Unfulfilled Aspirations
Creativity, Resilience, and Mental Health: My Return to DLTK's Crafts for Kids and the Power of Art Therapy
posted April 27, 2023
The New Dad's Guide to Celebrating Mother's Day
POSTED ON APRIL 25, 2023 BY LEANNE
I remember my first Mother's Day like it was yesterday. My husband, Darren, had been out all night at his best friend's bachelor party. He didn't even get a wink of sleep, but he still managed […]
Winter Wonderland @ Home
POSTED ON November 15, 2020 BY KAITLYN
Just like many others, I switched to working entirely from home back in March and it has been a little bit of an adjustment learning how to enjoy spending the whole day in one space. I love my apartment and put a lot of work into making it all comfy-cozy when I first moved in! Nonetheless, as soon as we got our first snowfall [...]
Dressing the Family For a Hike
POSTED ON October 25, 2018 BY LEANNE
Unexpected fresh snow with just below freezing temperatures is great fun to hike around in. We rarely leave the house without a variety of layers to keep us comfortable, whatever the weather may bring so we were ready for this unexpected twist on our adventure. [...]
Mars, the Moons, and #Mems
POSTED ON October 22, 2018 BY TASHA
For me, the month of October is a favorite. This time of year, however, is a fave for a lot of people, as social media informs me. There are a lot of memories built during this time of the year, and I wanted to share some of mine. The cold weather in Alberta, Canada meant that if Kaitlyn and I wanted to do any serious trick-or-treating [...]
Becoming a “Grown Up”
POSTED ON September 3, 2018 BY KAITLYN
I am currently sitting on an airplane on route to Calgary, Canada—my home city. I have been on many airplanes before during our family travels, but this flight is a special […]
Father’s Day Reflection…
POSTED ON JUNE 12, 2016 BY DARREN
Hello DLTK viewers. I don’t very often write blog posts for our sites but I am feeling particularly inspired today. I am the ‘D’ in DLTK and usually provide technical support for Leanne as she works to materialize her ideas into the marvelous activities you find on our sites. The reason for my inspiration is […]
Preschool Patterning Practice
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 10, 2016 BY LEANNE
Creating patterns is one of those preschool math skills that seems like “just fun” but really is forming the basis for lifelong learning. Some kids are “natural patterners” doing it without encouragement making patterns for fun with everything from peas and carrots to blocks and legos. Others require a little more hand holding—paper […]
Preschool Development
POSTED ON JANUARY 14, 2016 BY LEANNE
I mentioned a while ago that I’d attended an interesting presentation by a couple of child psychologists and discovered that I’d done quite well (completely by accident) at parenting my girls when they were babies. (Read “Talking to Babies”) Unfortunately, it turns out that I didn’t do quite as stellar a job parenting them as […]
Talking to Babies
POSTED ON JANUARY 7, 2016 BY LEANNE
Long story, but I was at a “Nerd Night” event this week (the short version of the long story is, “I like learning stuff”). One of the presenters was a professor of child psychology at an infant level and another was a professor of child psychology at a kindergarten level. I really enjoyed their talks […]
Parenting Through Jet Lag
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 1, 2015 BY LEANNE
Jet lag is a very real condition and, sadly, there is no magic cure. For many people (myself included) jet lag is also more than ‘just feeling a bit tired’—the biggest symptom I get is actually tummy troubles whereas my husband and kids tend to get tired, headachy feelings. Darren, especially, gets quite […]
Sharing Your Family History: Immigration Stories
POSTED ON OCTOBER 18, 2015 BY LEANNE
Whether it’s Ellis Island in New York, USA; the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, Australia or Pier 21 in Halifax, Canada many of us have family or ancestors who have proudly or nervously or desperately or reluctantly borne the title of immigrant. My family’s story isn’t something I really thought much about until the first time […]
Kaitlyn’s first day of (school) university.
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 BY LEANNE
Some of you have been with my family and I since I started the website nearly twenty years ago. Some of you (eek!) have even written to share that you remember doing crafts from the site as children and that you’re now sharing those same projects with your own kids. What you may or may […]
Parenting Thoughts: Moraine Lake
POSTED ON JULY 25, 2015 BY LEANNE
Darren and I sat on the covered porch at Moraine Lake Lodge, sipping tea while we watched hikers scramble for cover from a sudden downpour. It had been a lovely day in the wilderness, but I was suddenly struck by how many people there were out here with us! Moraine Lake is a gorgeous glacier […]
Parenting Thoughts: Introverts and Extroverts
POSTED ON JUNE 17, 2015 BY LEANNE
I’m an introvert. My daughter, Tasha, is an extrovert. Darren and Kaitlyn are more “in the middle”—a little on the introverted side, but less so than me. I’m going to start off by clearing up one giant misconception: introverts aren’t all shy and extroverts aren’t all friendly. I’m an introvert AND I love […]
D and K Get Detained!
POSTED ON MAY 12, 2015 BY LEANNE
Another Travel Adventure with Kids Background: Darren and I swapped days this year just for kicks—we celebrated Father’s Day on Mother’s Day and we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day in June. It just worked out better to treat dad in May plus it was a fun and silly thing to do. So for “Dad’s […]
Multigenerational Travel
POSTED ON MAY 7, 2015 BY LEANNE
Welcome to the sandwich generation! No, Darren and I are not PB&J addicts—we’re middle aged parents with dependent children and grandparents who need a little of our help too. Our exposure to this new type of lifestyle has just begun. It started when Darren’s dad passed away a little under a decade ago. […]
Driving
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 15, 2013 BY KAITLYN
In about one month I am going to be taking my on road drivers test. In Alberta we are allowed to get our learners license at the age of fourteen and our graduated drivers license when we are sixteen. With our learners license we get to drive as long as we have an adult with […]
Halloween Costumes
POSTED ON OCTOBER 18, 2013 BY KAITLYN
Halloween is an exciting time of the year for kids all over the place, but unfortunately for parents it can be a bit stressful trying to find cute Halloween for their kids. When my sister and I were at the trick or treating age my mom would work extremely hard to make cute costumes that we could […]
Birthday Present Ideas
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2013 BY KAITLYN
For me the month of September is the month of parental birthdays, in fact my mom’s birthday is in less than a week! I find that the hardest part about my parents birthday is finding the perfect birthday present! Of course when I was younger it wasn’t nearly as difficult; I would simply go shopping […]
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