Together Box--Product Review & Discount Code

Disclosure: I was sent this box to review free of charge from Together Box. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I get to share with you the fun we had with a Together Box and I get to give you a discount code at the end of my review. Now Together Box is a company that sends you a box with three to four activities in it every month and it has everything you need to do the activities, and I mean everything. Hazel is always excited when we get packages and she was really excited with this one. I noticed it by the side of the house when I was going to pick her up and grabbed it and put it in the car. She could not wait to get home to open it.

She was even more excited when she saw what was inside. She wanted to do all the activities right away. We received the Balloon Box. Now Hazel LOVES balloons, so she was even more excited to see two packages of balloons in there.

Hazel pulled everything out, so she could check it all out. Each box comes with an instruction booklet that also provides more ideas beyond the three to four activities. It also gives clear steps for each activity including which materials to use. The only thing we had to add on our own was water. Literally everything else was sent from a Sharpie marker to food coloring and flour.

Now there were four activities in the Balloon Box, but I am only going to share one with you. The rest were more activity based and I was having too much fun with Hazel and Steve to get pictures. Yes, we did these activities and had some quality family time!! These boxes are perfect for that! The first activity only Hazel and I did. We started with making yarn bird cages. Now Hazel and I had made yarn Easter eggs before, and I knew this was not a craft Daddy would want to do, so we did it while waiting for him to get home from work. Hazel knew it was going to be messy, so she put on her apron and then we mixed the glue.

Then she helped cut yarn. Next we glued them to balloons. We had to make more glue since Hazel put it on a bit heavy and we made two rather larger bird cages.

Hazel got bored and really doesn't like messy hands for long, so she colored the birds for the cages while I finished them up. Then we hung them from our kitchen light to dry overnight. We woke up to find the orange balloon had been popped by one of the cats. Oh, well. After popping the other balloon, I cut out the birds and hung them in our bird cages.

After doing this and waiting for Daddy, Hazel wanted to play with balloons. They happened to do an activity with balloons in her gym class that day, so she was so excited to try it more at home.

Daddy enjoyed making marshmallow shooters to aim at ninja balloons and the balloon powered fountain with us. We still need to do the balloon rockets. Overall our experience with Together Box is wonderful. They give you some fun ideas with all the supplies to have some quality family time. The activities are fun and educational and the instructions are easy to follow. Now Hazel of course wanted to expand her lesson and began asking questions about how balloons are made. I went to the library and we found a book: Balloon Trees by Donna Smith. It explains the whole process from tree to package.

Now if you want to try Together Box, they are offering my readers a special of 50% off your first box with the coupon code: "crafty".  The prices per month range from $24 - $29 depending on how many months you buy. If you are looking for a way to add some fun family time into your busy schedule this box program is for you. They send you everything you need and the activities are fun and easy and with three to four activities in a box, you have one for each week or so in the month. I would love to hear about your family experiences if you order them!!

Virtual Book Club for Kids: The Amazing Pig by Paul Galdone

It is time for the Virtual Book Club for Kids!! This month the featured author is Paul Galdone. Since so many of his books are classic tales, I considered doing Cinderella and counting it as my Fairy Tales in Different Cultures, but to be very honest, I couldn't think of a fun craft or activity to do that we haven't already done with some form of Cinderella. So we decided to feature The Amazing Pig.

Celebrating Valentine's Day with 1 Corinthians 13

I love teaching Hazel about God when talking about love. I saw this wonderful craft over at Meaningful Mama: Heart Peacock Craft Teaches True Love. I fell in love with it and knew we had to do it. I love that it visualizes 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. (Source)

We used the patterns provided at Meaningful Mama. We added and eye for the peacock and some legs. Hazel told me it needed legs, so we used a pipe cleaner. To make the peacock, we used cardstock. I cut out 16 hearts and one body. Glue the hearts together so they overalp and then add the body. Hazel put the body on, so it is a little crooked. Then you add the words.

The words are of course from the Bible. We taped the pipe cleaner on at the end--folding it in half and then folding the ends to be feet.

Besides reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, we also love the picture book by Lisa Tawn Bergren, God Gave Us Love. We wrote about it during Advent for the week of Love. For some more Valentine themed ideas check out:

• Valentine's Day Crafts some with Scripture and Bible References
• Simple Felt Hearts for Garland or Wreath
• For the Love of Geometry: Geometric Love Poems
• Strawberry Heart Muffins
• Felt Heart Gift--Hand Sewn
• Lavender Heart Sewing Lesson (Hand Sewing)
• Preschool Made Simple Valentines
• Valentine Tea Party
• Valentine Swap & Lots of Valentine Crafts
• My Valentine's Day Pinterest Board

Sharing Saturday 14-6

Thank you to everyone who shared last week and to all of you who took time to check out what others had shared. I'm running late with this post since there were so many wonderful ideas shared!! If you have not had time to check out all of them (over 100), please do. They are so inspiring! Instead of sharing most clicked (it was a tie), I thought I would share some favorites and Olympic-themed posts as well as some Valentine-themed posts. Now the favorite is really one for Hazel since she LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There are also many more wonderful posts (and even more Valentine-themed ones)!! I had a hard time choosing which is why there are so many shared!

Valentine's Day Crafts

We have been so busy with other February events, that I haven't had time to share some of the Valentine's Day crafts we have been doing. Here are three simple crafts.