How to Make Newspaper Reporter Activity Goodie Bags { plus Free Printable Press Passes & Word Search }

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for providing the goodie bag essentials for our classroom-friendly newspaper reporter activity kits.  All opinions expressed are our own.

Although our oldest has moved onto middle school this past fall, our twins are still in grade school.  Their school has a strict policy against sending in sweets for birthdays, so I always send in non-food goodie bags.  Since their birthdays are in January, one of the coldest months of the year, I try to send in themed activity kits the children can do (if they choose to) during indoor recess.  This year, I decided to make Newspaper Reporter Activity Kits for the twins' goodie bags because they are in the middle of studying non-fiction in both their classrooms.  They were so easy to make and the possibilities are endless for what types of inspiration you would like to include in the kits.

What you'll need to make Newspaper Reporter Activity Kits . . .

12"x18" Newsprint Paper (3 sheets per kit)

5" Spiral Notepads

Calendar Pens

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Stickers

Monster High Stickers

Big Hero 6 Stickers

Team Sports Sticker Scenes

Movie Theater Sticker Scenes

8.5"x12" Colorful Plastic Bags

News Reporter Word Search (Free printable below)

DIY Personalized Press Passes (Free printable below)

Clear Gaming Card Protective Sleeves

Arrow-Shaped Paper Clips

After you have everything you need, there is some assembly required for the actual newspaper and the press passes.  I created the word search puzzle shared below with the help of Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker.

For the newspaper:  I folded 3 sheets of newsprint paper together in half once and then in half a second time so that they resembled a newspaper folded into quadrants.

For the press passes:  I saved the digital image of the sheet of press passes onto my computer and used a graphics program to add the first and last names of each child.  You could also simply write the name of each child on the paper with a thin marker.  Then I cut out the press passes and slid each one into a clear gaming card sleeve protector.

After I put all the contents into each bag, I used a paperclip to secure each child's press pass on the outside of the bag.  Please note that the 8.5"x12" bags fit a standard piece of paper perfectly, so it may take some patience to get the paper to sit flat, but it can be done.

With the stickers provided, the children can be inspired to write news stories about who won the big game, who their favorite Star Wars or Big Hero 6 characters rescued this week, or even fashion editorials using Monster High stickers for the photos.  Our son, who is a huge Star Wars fan, decided to dedicate his newspaper to Star Wars and what he would imagine a newspaper would be like during those times.

Print the DIY Press Passes and News Reporter Word Search Puzzle below . . .

TO PRINT:  Click on the desired image to enlarge.  Then right click and select print.  Use your browser's back arrow to return to this page, if needed.

Like this goodie bag activity idea?  Pin it for later . . .

Check out last year's DIY Comic Book activity goodie bags . . . 

Have some ideas about other things that could go in a Newspaper Activity Kit for kids? Share them with us in a comment here.

Have Your Own Monster High Frights, Camera, Action! Movie Premiere Party

Thank you to Monsters High for providing the prize pack for our reader giveaway and for sending us a prize pack as a thank you for sharing the Frights, Camera, Action! DVD and toys with our readers.  All opinions expressed are my own.

On March 25th, Monster High released a new movie on DVD that was much-anticipated by tweenage Monster High fans everywhere . . . Monster High Frights, Camera Action!  To add to the fun, a new line of Monster High dolls have been introduced bringing the fashion savvy ghoulish movie characters to life.

Are you planning a playdate, a sleepover, or a Monster High birthday party for your little girl?  How about setting up a movie premiere screening for your daughter and her friends?  All you'll need is the Monster High Frights, Camera, Action! DVD,  the Monster High Frights, Camera, Action! Premiere Party Playset, and a few of your favorite new Monster High fashion dolls. My daughter's favorite dolls from the new line are Black Carpet Clawdeen Wolf, New Stars Elissabat, and Black Carpet Lagoona Blue.  My personal favorite is Black Carpet Draculaura.  That ghoul has got style!


Watch the Monster High trailer below to get a glimpse of Draculaura's and her friends' adventures in Hauntlywood as they search for the Vampire Queen . . . 

If you really want to make some fun memories, you could even have a dress-up and make-up session with your daughter and her guests to see what their best Monster High character-inspired Hauntlywood look is for walking down the Black Carpet during the movie premiere.  If I were my daughter's age, I would want purple hair like Elissabat's!  There are 8 new Monster High dolls in all.  Which one is your favorite?

You can look for everything you need for your own Monster High Frights, Camera, Action! Movie Premiere Party at Target, Walmart, Toys"R"Us, and Amazon.com.

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Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Giveaway: Develop Storytelling Skills with Moulin Roty's Les Petit Merveilles Nighttime Shadow Puppets from Magicforest

Thank you to Moulin Roty for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our giveaway prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

We love toys that utilize our imaginations, so the 9pc Castle Shadows Nighttime Shadow Puppets by Moulin Roty are right up our alley. This 40-year-old French toy company lets parents and kids create their own stories with these unique and fun shadow puppets.

The puppets are made of black cardstock and come mounted on wooden sticks for play. Once nighttime hits, or if you have a mostly-dark room to use with some sort of backlighting, you can have hours of fun creating, imagining, and playing with these fun shadow puppets. When children engage in pretend play like this, they are building their vocabulary, using problem solving skills, and utilizing social and emotional skills that are vital as they grow and learn. For this reason, these shadow puppets make for a great addition to dramatic play in a classroom or homeschool.

Since these shadow puppets are made of paper, they are not likely to hold up for a long time, but while they do last they are fun. Perhaps storing them in a rigid envelope or case and making sure children aren’t being too rough with them will help to prolong their life. They also have other themes like dinosaurs and even a Paris set. We had a blast creating elaborate stories about dragons, princesses, evil kings, and more.

You can learn more about these and other inspirational toys at www.magicforest.com. These shadow puppet sets retail for $18.50 to $40.00.

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Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Aeromax Pretend Play Summertime Toys

Thank you to Aeromax, Inc for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing a second product for our contest prize. All opinions expressed are my own.

Kids can now go on their own journey to outer space with the new Jr. Space Explorer Inflatable Space Shuttle from Aeromax Toys. This fun space shuttle has lots of realistic looking features like an instrument panel and gauges. There are even two QR codes that can be scanned to watch real space shuttle videos. This inflatable toy is ideal for kids ages 3 and up and can handle a weight of up to 90 pounds. The space shuttle can be used in imaginative play at home or as a floatie in the pool.

My kids love playing with their space shuttle in the pool. Because of the extra wide wings, it stays afloat and balanced well.  They can ride around in it pretending the water is outer space and that they are going on space missions. It was pretty easy to blow up and as well constructed as you’d expect a quality inflatable toy to be. The QR code videos are really neat and we loved watching those as well. This toy certainly has help us beat the summer boredom and our boys look forward to more time playing in outer space.

The Aeromax Inflatable Space Shuttle retails for $34.95 on their website www.aeromaxtoys.com, where you can find more Jr. Astronaut toys, including pretend play costumes and fun props.


The winner of this giveaway may choose one of the following toys as their prize:

• Junior Space Explorer Shuttle (ARV $34.95)
• Astronaut Space Pack Super Soaking Water Blaster (ARV $15.95)
• Fire Power Super Soaking Fire Hose with Backpack (ARV $12.95)
• Sky Scraper and Glow Disks Refill Pack (ARV $14.45)

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Good luck in the drawing!

Girl's Easy-to-Install Princess Carriage Bed Tent

Our 5 year old daughter has been quite a nervous sleeper the past few months.  I think it started with the increase in the number of insects and spiders that visit her room since winter turned into Spring.  Nobody knows why her room seems to be the favorite for creepy crawlies out of all the rooms in the house, but it is.  This has been causing her some anxiety and she often has difficulty falling asleep right away or falling back to sleep if she wakes up in the middle of the night.  If there happens to be a spider, even if it is way up tucked into the corner on the ceiling across the room, she will not likely fall asleep until her Dad removes the spider. This is why I thought it would be a great idea to try using this bed tent from CP Toys in our daughter's room.

Of course the Pop-Up Princess Carriage Bed Tent is not really going to protect our daughter from insects and spiders, but it does create a haven for her, in which she feels feels safer.  The tent only has one opening at the foot of the bed, which has a Velcro closure at the center and at the bottom corners of the two flaps.  Since we put this tent up on her bed, she has not had any problems falling asleep.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

This bed tent is a CP Toys Exclusive.  It was very easy to set-up since it is a pop-up tent.  After removing it from its zippered nylon storage case, the tent just pops up into the shape of a carriage.  The only assembly required is to put the three pieces of the flag together and to slide it into place on the roof of the tent.

The bed tent is secured onto the twin size mattress by elastics that go under the four corners and by a strap that goes around the belly of the mattress and Velcros to the tent underneath the tent's skirt.  The tent fits right around the existing bed sheet and bedskirt, so if you ever need to remove the tent, the bed is still made.

It is in the middle of summer currently, so my main concern was about the possibility that our daughter would be too hot sleeping in a tent all night.  It turns out that the mesh allowed for plenty of ventilation and she could still feel the air circulating from her ceiling fan.

Our daughter also has plenty of room to sit up in bed and she should be able to use this tent for a few years if she wishes.  The only thing she needs to get used to is not being able to reach her nightstand for a book or a sip of water.  Maybe for the next one, the product designer can add a little flap or a window on each side of the tent?

I also want to point out that our two sons have also been getting in the tent every chance they get.  It's the closest thing they have to a fort and is perfect for various pretend play scenarios.  If you happen to have cats, then you may be interested to know that one of our cats has decided that our daughter's pillow inside the bed tent is her new favorite spot . . .

The Pop-Up Princess Carriage Bed Tent retails for $69.99, but is currently on sale for $39.99.  It really is a quality item and is both designed and constructed very well.  You can find this and other imaginative and educational toys at www.CPToy.com.


Thank you to CP Toys for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing a second product for our contest prize.

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3 Things I Would Love to Do When We Move

First of all, I would like to clarify that we are not moving.  Despite the fact that we are upside-down on a mortgage for a home that is way too small for a family of five, sometimes I like to think towards the distant future when we will be able to move to a larger home with a big fenced-in backyard.  Aside from the typical things that I would want for my family, such as each child having his or her own bedroom and having a separate playroom, I have a few things that are on my own personal wishlist . . .

1.  Adopt two dogs-  I miss having dogs so much.  Our house is too crowded right now to own dogs, especially since my husband has his heart set on owning ones from some of the larger breeds.

2.  Have a craft/sewing room- Right now, I have craft supplies tucked into nooks and crannies of every closet in the house almost.  I constantly worry that the children will tamper with the supplies I have sitting out for a project I am planning.  I also keep thinking that maybe I would sew more if my sewing machine was already set up at a table ready for me to use at anytime.  Right now, it is zipped up in its case and in the back of our closet.

3.  Build a really cool playhouse in the backyard- I know my husband is probably hoping for a large play structure, a trampoline, or a tree fort, but I would love to have a beautiful playhouse that all three of our children could enjoy.  If we had the space and the money, I would really like to build a small playhouse for each of the children . . . each one a different style to match the child's personality.  Can you just see it now? . . . a mini neighborhood of whimsical playhouses!  It would be such a fun family project to build, paint, and decorate the playhouses inside and out.  I bet our daughter would want hers to be pink.

I also thought about adding my own office to the list.  Right now, my desk is adjacent to my husband's and I rather enjoy that.  (Not sure if my husband feels the same way or not though.)  After having my desk next to his, I think I would feel lonely working in my own office.

What's on your wishlist for the future?

New Battery-Free Baby Alive "Beautiful Now" Baby Doll by Hasbro

Our 5 year old daughter had asked Santa for a hairdresser's chair for Christmas this past December.  That is why I thought the new Baby Alive Beautiful Now Baby Doll was the perfect first Baby Alive doll for her.  Although our daughter likes playing with fashion dolls, as well as 18" dolls, her interest in baby dolls has been renewed over the past several months.  Perhaps it is because she has reached the age when pretend play is most fun and she enjoys pretending to be the mommy?

This Baby Alive is battery-free.  My daughter interacts with her the old-fashioned way by using her imagination.  She comes with everything a child needs to get started with hair styling, including a pair of pretend scissors, a toy spray bottle, a plastic comb, and 3 chunky hair clips in the shapes of a butterfly, a flower, and a bow.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

Since our daughter already enjoys playing hairdresser, this new Baby Alive doll added a new element to her pretend play by giving her a customer that is a baby.  The scissors are extremely safe and are made of flexible plastic.

Putting on the hair clips took some trial and error.  Our daughter found that it was easiest to attach the hair clips onto the longer part of the hair in the back rather than trying to clip them onto the top or sides.  I think she would have liked some additional hair accessories, perhaps something made to go on the two pigtails?  Since I had just started gathering all my daughter's infant/toddler hair clips to put away, I just ended up donating those to her pretend hair salon.

The Baby Alive Beautiful Now Doll retails for approximately $19.99.  You can find her in Blonde, Brunette, and African-American versions on HasbroToyShop.com, Amazon.com, at Toys "R" Us, Target, Walmart, and other major toy retailers.


Thank you to Hasbro for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Giveaway & Review: CP Toys Baby Tender Touch 12" Doll (ARV $40)

Since our daughter was a toddler, she has owned several baby dolls.  Although she played with them occasionally, she never did play with them regularly.  Perhaps it was because she has two brothers who always wanted to play something else?  Well, now that our daughter is turning 5, her instincts to nurture seemed to have finally kicked in.  Aside from the times when she is attending preschool, this Baby Tender Touch Doll from CP Toys has not left her side.

This doll is a CP Toys Exclusive and is available in four different ethnicities . . . Caucasian, African, Latino, and Asian.  Since our daughter is half Chinese, we chose the Asian baby doll.  She had yet to own an Asian-American doll and I thought she should have at least one.  This 12" doll has soft satiny skin and is safe for children as young as a newborn to play with.  The doll comes with a double-sided blankie and four footed sleepers . . . two short-sleeved and two long-sleeved.  The sleepers are not packaged in the box with the doll, but rather come in a separate plastic bag.  They were very child-friendly.  All the sleepers have a Velcro closure on the back and are not tight-fitting, so our daughter was able to learn how to put them on the doll fairly easily.

Depending on the doll you choose, the face will vary slightly.  This doll has the sweet face of an alert and content infant.  Our daughter loves to play with the doll's soft feeling pudgy hands and feet.

We have owned dolls in a variety of sizes and this 12" doll seems to be the perfect size for a preschooler.  It is the right size for her to carry, whether cradled in her arms or propped against her chest and shoulder.

The blankie is a good size for a security blanket, but I ended up giving my daughter a real receiving blanket to use for swaddling her doll.  I think our daughter would have liked for the doll's eyes to close when laid on her back.  Other than that, this doll is perfect for her.  They have been inseparable since we opened the box.

To learn more about the Baby Tender Touch doll and their vast selection of kids' toys, including educational toys, visit www.CPToy.com.


Thank you to CP Toys for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing a second product for our contest prize.


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Pretend Play Vet Play Set & Adorable Plush Kittens

We have always had various types of household pets since before we ever had children, so our three children have never known what it is like not to have a pet.  Because of this, they are all animal-lovers.  That is why I knew they would love this Play Vet Combo Set from CP Toys, a leading retailer of educational toys for kids.  Wait until I show you all the things that are included in this set.  It really takes pretend play to a whole new level . . .

(Click any photo to enlarge)

Some of the items included in this playset are an 8" plush dog and cat, a veterinarian's coat with 3 pockets, a clipboard with medical forms, a vet doctor's bag, a working scale, a stethoscope, a thermometer, a clamp, a scalpel, and much more.  One of my children's favorite items is the beeper, which runs on two included watch-size batteries, that makes realistic sounds.

Other products included are everything one needs to care for a pet, such as pet food, a pretend rawhide bone, pet vitamins and medicines, a brush, and more.

Something that is perfect to accompany the Play Vet Combo is CP Toys' Peek A Boo Kitty House.  This toy comes with 5 beanie kittens in a handled plush house.  Nothing could have been more perfect than this toy in a pretend play scenario involving a new litter of kittens going to see the vet in their cat carrier.  The children just took this idea and ran with it.

Coincidentally, our twin preschoolers had a real life veterinarian visit their classroom recently.  These two playsets were the perfect tools for them to show off what they had learned.  I also took this opportunity to teach them about basic reasons why dogs and cats might need to be seen by a vet, such as fleas and worms.

You can find these and a vast assortment of fun kids toys on www.cptoy.com, including many CP Toys Exclusives.

Thank you to CP Toys for providing complimentary products samples for us to base this review upon and for providing additional product for our contest prize.

Good luck in the drawing!