FREE Printables -- File Folder Games

My 2 year old is OBSESSED with file folder games, almost as much as letters & numbers! I've printed out a few that I found online, but since we're getting ready for a long road trip I thought it would be fun to have some new ones for him. Here are 2 that I created last night . . . feel free to use & share them with others if you like them. They're very basic, but he's just TWO! LOL

What I do with file folder games is to print on cardstock, laminate them, hole punch, and then stick inside a binder -- I find it so much easier than using the actual file folders.

Colors File Folder Game
Shapes File Folder Game

Apostle Cards

When I was little, I remember my mom had some flashcards for us that had pictures of the apostles on them so we could learn their names. I loved doing those & it was a great activity for general conference weekend.

I know Chase is a little young for it still, but he loves pictures & little laminated cards, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to do something like that. I was thrilled to find these cards already put together. I'm printing, putting them back to back with the words that match the picture and then laminating them. I'll then hole punch the corner & put them on a key chain ring for him to be able to look at.

Feeling Connected

I love that no matter where we move to, we know we will have a "church" family waiting for us & we've made such great friends that way. But recently I've also been so grateful to have a business that gives me the opportunity & motivation to reach out beyond church. When we left Maryland I left behind a ton of great friends that I had met through my business . . . customers, hosts, and my team of demonstrators. I really enjoy that I've been able to stay connected with a lot of them through facebook!

Now that we're in a new place once again, I have been thrilled to find so many warm & welcoming people who want to help us get adjusted. There's a woman that runs a home-based spa who is just wonderful & is working with me on business but I enjoyed just visiting and getting to know her a bit as well. And just this last week, I was introduced to a mom who lives in our town. We haven't met in person yet, but we've communicated through e-mail & facebook. She has a 2 year old, just like me and is part of a playgroup that we plan to start attending (if Chase will ever get over this cold!). I just feel like I've met so many great people already and even though we've only been here a short time, I feel like its home.

I dont' know, I guess feeling connected to people just makes such a big difference for me so that even when I am bogged down inside with just me & the kids, I feel like there's more to life than just diapers & feedings and it helps me get through each day.

Future Singer!

Looks like we have a future singer on our hands! This is how Evie spends a lot of her awake time these days. We thought Chase was a happy baby but Evie is even happier!

Settling in & making the most of it!

Now that Evie is 3 months old, we are definitely settling in to our new lifestyle and trying to make the most of every day. I'll admit that there are still days when I feel overwhelmed & wonder how I'm going to just make it through the day, but those days are fewer now & most of the time I am enjoying my life. I've been tackling lots of projects & those things are making life more fulfilling than just diapers & feedings! Here's some of the things I've been up to:

• leading a facebook group for weight loss (we're trying to lose a total of 1,000 pounds as a group by the end of the year)
• We're eating healthier & exercising more (thank goodness for some warmer weather) and I've lost all of my baby weight plus an extra 1 1/2 pounds & still losing!
• A friend from church taught me how to do couponing & we got our first newspaper yesterday. I am already saving money!!!
• We're having regular family home evenings with Chase & enjoying teaching him everything that we can! He loves saying the blessing on the food at mealtime and is having such fun with the file folder games I've been putting together. He loves the one with pictures of his grandparents & calls everyone "papa milius".
• I am building my business, getting to know lots of people here in Colorado & attending meetings & networking groups and even have a couple of parties & vendor events lined up. I'm also leading meetings with demonstrators in the area & continue working & enjoying my team that I left back in Maryland.
• We're enjoying the beautiful weather that is allowing us to get out & about. I try to take the kids for a walk several times a week (Evie strapped to the front of me & Chase in the stroller). We've gone to library story time & stop for lunch on the way home or to the park to play during the week, and on family outings whenever possible on the weekend.

Life is just plain good! I am truly enjoying my precious children . . . well, like I said . . . most days!

Family Home Evening Fun!

Now that we have a 2 year old, we're becoming focused on our mission to hold weekly family home evenings & its been a lot of fun! (I'd love too hear your ideas for us!!!) It was tough when it was just the two of us for so long because we were together every night, so we were never very good about having a special family home evening. I posted on sugardoodle's facebook page what we were doing for family home evening tonight & had someone ask some questions about it, so I typed up a long e-mail to send back with the ideas that we've used so far & thought I'd share them here as well. My post on sugardoodle said that we were going to tell a simple version of Noah's Ark tonight & then do a Noah's Ark file folder game. So, here's my response to her:



We've just started a few weeks ago as well & are having fun with it! I typed in "free file folder games" for a google search & found a few that way, though most were secular instead of religious (numbers, etc.).

But I also found some through sugardoodle.net listed under "file folder games". I wish I had saved the websites where I found each one, but I didn't :(

A couple other fun things we've done that our son has really liked:
1. I laminated a picture of Jesus and he got to hold it while we talked about when Jesus was born. We then put it up on the wall in his bedroom & he loves to point out Jesus!
2. I laminated a picture of the temple & we talked in very simple terms about the temple (just a couple of sentences really) and then sang "I love to see the temple". Again, we put this picture up on his bedroom wall next to the picture of Christ.
3. On one site I found a "family tree". Its a picture of a tree and has labels for places to put pictures of "me", mom, dad, and each set of grandparents. I laminated it all along with pictures of all the family members mentioned to make a file folder type game. This is his favorite thing & is especially great since we don't live near family.
4. I recently got a subscription to the Friend and I've been tearing out the pages that are good for the younger age and putting them in sheet protectors. So, we've read a couple of the Joseph Smith stories from there . . . very few words, lots of pictures! Also, the picture pages from both the Friend & Ensign are great to add.
5. I grew up with what we called "Talent Night" for family home evening, where each of the kids had to perform a talent. One night we did a similar thing & video taped Chase doing all the fun things he's doing at this age!

Aha, I found it! Thought I'd do a quick search to see if I could find any of the ones I've used again:

Noah's Ark:
http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp

Family Tree:
http://s466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/Telsee/?action=view&current=familytreecopy.jpg

Also, after our VERY short lesson, we spend a while singing action songs like Popcorn Popping, Once there was a snowman, ring around the rosies, London Bridges, etc. My son loves to do that!