Need something to keep the kids busy? This bundle of free kids printables allows them to have lots of fun and use their imaginations. Included in the download are a BINGO game, a play restaurant check, and a comic strip template!

Tell me you haven’t been here before.

You just ran around setting your kids up with a fun activity. Let’s say it’s painting. You laid out newspaper to make sure the table doesn’t get destroyed. You set them up with brushes, little palettes of paint, some water to keep things clean, and plenty of paper to go to town on. They seem happy, which makes you happy. You ask Alexa to turn some music on, sing along with them, and then it happens.

You haven’t even screwed on the lid of the last jar of paint you’re trying to put away when they ask: What are we doing next?

Their brushes drip with paint and they’re swirling colors all over the place, but they’re already thinking ahead. And you can already feel it coming. The dreaded sentence: I’m bored.

Now, I totally agree that kids should be bored sometimes and they should have to find ways to get creative and occupy themselves. However, there is only a certain number of times a parent can hear the phrase whined at all different lengths before you lose your freaking mind.

That’s where this free kids printables bundle comes in!

Perfect for keeping the little boogers entertained, these printables are great for home, while traveling, waiting for appointments, sitting at restaurants and more. To make them durable and more longlasting, print them out on cardstock and have them laminated, that way you can use dry erase markers on them and not use so much paper.

All you need to do is enter your email address here and the whole set will be sent directly to your inbox! But first, let’s take a look at what’s included…

Performing acts of kindness is a great way to teach kids empathy and to make giving back to the community a habit—it’s also really good for chasing away the winter blues. These free printable random acts of kindness cards are the perfect way to get started.

I don’t know how you’re feeling, but I’m at peak winter blues over here. I’m always tired. I have no motivation. And I go from zero to livid at record-breaking speed. I imagine I’m not a ton of fun to be around lately.

Long, gray winters do this to me. I’m tired of looking at colorless skies and dead branches. I need some green on the trees outside my window and to feel a little warm sunshine on my face. It’s even worse when every time I open up Facebook I seem to be assaulted with a barrage of angry complainers who have no interest in doing anything about the things they’re angry about (unless bitching counts. They’re totally into that).

Since we can’t control other people or the weather, we have to create our own good vibes. Chocolate helps. Taking time to write down the things you’re grateful for each day does too. But one of my favorite ways to break out of a funk is performing random acts of kindness. It feels good to make other people feel good—and there’s an added rush when you do it in secret.

I did this fun activity with my Girl Scouts troop a couple of months ago and it’s so easy to recreate yourself or with your whole family.

Printable random acts of kindness cards

I’m hoping to take the pressure off of Valentine’s Day with this adorable free printable classroom valentine—no craftiness required! Your kids (and their friends!) will love them. Score one for mom.

Somewhere along the line, mothers of school-aged kids decided that cheapie paper valentines from the drugstore are not good enough for their babies. I’m not sure why or how, but it sort of ruined things for the rest of us.

Now I feel like I have to come up with something inventive and homemade or I’m a failure of a mother. Plus, I’ll have to listen to things like “Look what Emma’s mom made.” Can you hear the disappointment at my failures dripping from her little voice already?

So I took the bull by its stupid horns and came up with an idea of my own—and I turned it into something super easy for other moms to run with. All you need is a printer and maybe (maybe) some sort of bear-shaped treat. Take that, Emma’s mom.

Shelf styling tips from an actual expert (as opposed to someone who just spent too much time browsing Pinterest. 😉 )

“Wait, what if I move this right here?” I tap my chin, unsatisfied with the newly decorated shelf that stares back at me. The house is empty, but I’m counting on the universe to answer my shelving questions. No matter what I do, it doesn’t look right.

Whenever I try my hand at shelf styling, it looks like I’m trying too hard. I become obsessive about spacing and symmetry and making everything just so, completely forgetting that I like things that are imperfect. They’re so much more interesting and a million times more real.

In the end, I usually throw my hands in the air and spend the next six hours browsing Pinterest for help (which sometimes results in shelf decorating ideas posts).

All of this is ridiculous considering the fact that my sister is an interior designer. She’s really, really good at this stuff. Yet here I am, talking to my shelf.

I decided to pick my sister’s brain a little to get some of her top shelf decorating tips and tricks so that next time maybe I won’t struggle so much. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for a free printable shelf styling checklist.

A free printable with 40 lunch box jokes (plus a blank page for special notes!) to help you get ready for back-to-school madness and bring a smile to your kids’ faces.

I’m not good at lying, so I’m not going to pretend here. I am not prepared for the school year to start. I know that a lot of the country is already back in the swing of things, but my girls have another few weeks before the big yellow bus comes rolling down our street. And I’m not so good with the whole preparedness thing (although sometimes I really do try).

That’s sort of my problem: a lack of preparation. I always have good intentions, but my complete and utter lack of preparation sidelines my big plans more often than not. I’m really good at making lists of things to do. But the getting started part? Not so much.

So I’m going to try to be better this year. And I’m going to start with Ellie’s lunchbox.