We recently have some guests over and took them visit the Getty Center Museum. I love that the admission to the Getty is free and that you only have to pay for parking at $15. And after 5:00 pm which was the time we went, parking was $10. We normally visit the family room where Cyrille gets to explore the different sections of the room and make a project. She loves to sit on the bed and read a book. She said this makes her feel like a princess. 

But during this visit we discovered The Sketching Gallery. This is on the second floor above the family room. Its geared towards an older age group mostly artists who practice sketching from the artwork on the wall. But a few know that they welcome children to sketch as well. They will give you a huge clipboard with sketching paper and supplies you may need to create your work and they are all free to use. After you have finished, they will stamp your work with Made at the Getty Center and roll them up nicely to take home. I am posting her pictures at work below and her finished product. Its a great activity to channel your child's creativity and to get motivation by looking at or copying other people at work. I mostly sat watching her and cheering her on.

I saw a good sale at a local Micheal's store for dollar ribbons with cute and colorful designs. It prompted me to start digging. I had to stop myself from buying all of them and settled with these 2 cute designs that I can give to Cyrille to be creative with. 

I previously got these glue from a local Dollar Tree store. It was such a good buy 3 for a dollar. I like these glue because they are easy to hold and squeeze for Cyrille. It gives her control of the glue, keeps it from going all over the place. It also works on her motor skills.

I like to give Cyrille simple tasks that she can do on her own. I allow her to come up with things to do from what she has. This gives her a sense of independence and accomplishment. At her level and age, I want to let her enjoy what she does without breaking the bank.

I got this Tic Tac Toe game from a local Dollar Tree store. Perfect for our Kids Dollar Stuff. This game is a great way to teach the little ones about matching and patterns. Its very easy to use since you only have to flip the yellow cubes to an O or X. To start off, I flipped all the cubes to the yellow blank then I asked Cyrille to pick out which symbol she wanted to have. Making the kids pick out what they want gives them the sense of ownership. I then showed her the simple pattern of 3 in a row to win the game, horizontal or vertical. This game will develop her coordination and in time will teach her to apply logic and develop play strategies. It's a great game to play and this travel game is very small to take with the family on trips. The best part is that it's only a dollar in case it gets lost.

Pinkalicious is a great book by Victoria Kann. Read here where the inspiration from the author came from. http://www.thinkpinkalicious.com/victoria

Her stories and pictures so are cute. It will keep your little ones engaged. Cyrille was so excited as soon as she saw the book and its cover. She screamed, this is like me!

I got this book from Amazon. Here is the link to the specific item. http://www.amazon.com/Pinkalicious-Pinkamazing-Collection-Victoria-Kann/dp/0062188003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436462365&sr=8-1&keywords=pinkalicious+amazing+storybook+collection


Since I was on a budget, I got the book from the Used Section. 
There are different categories in this section. Used-Like New, Used-Very Good, Used-Good and Used-Acceptable. I usually start off the Used-Like New then depending on price go down to Used-Good comparing it to the price of a new one. On this particular one, I picked out Used-Like new. Final Price came out to be $7.04 with shipping. Amazon gives you a good description of what condition to expect in each category.

Since there are 6 stories in a book, each story still came out to be within my budget of the dollar range for a book with shipping. Cyrille can relate to each story just from the titles. Flipping through the pages, she can use her imagination and the art of storytelling to switch out the characters to herself and her friends. 

We started reading this story as soon as we got it last night. Cyrille switched out the main character as herself and the names of her closest friends as her playmates on a play date. We had so much fun creating side stories out of the main story. I encourage her to be playful with each character and make it her own.

I like books that encourage her to use her words and imagination and this book is definitely a must buy.  

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Workbooks
Target has tons of quality workbooks for the little ones for $1.00 in different areas . Some of them even have reward stickers inside to keep the kids motivated. They range from Pre-k workbooks all the way up to the higher grades.