I’m super excited about this post. For two reasons.
I finally figured out the best way to use my Dollar Tree window clings. BUSY BOOK!
And Jamba Juice has started putting vegetables in their kid’s smoothies. And they are like in the two dollar range. It’s like a value menu but for Jamba Juice. Have they always had kid’s smoothies?
Okay, first things first. The Busy Book!
At home with the kids? Instantly access any of these printable activity bundles to keep them learning!
How to Make a Busy Book with window clings from the Dollar Tree
Sidenote: Dollar Tree is in NO way sponsoring this post. I just happen to love the place. For the past 6 months or so I have been collecting window clings from there in hopes of making a busy book out of them. They have so many educational and fun window clings, but I’ve struggled with finding the right materials to make the book out of. They stick to glass, but not to laminated pages like I was hoping. As I was organizing our office, I came across my husbands photography portfolio. I believe it is an 11 x 14. To my amazement and delight, the pockets are the exact size that the window clings come in, AND they stick to the special plastic in the portfolios! Let me show you so you know what I’m talking about:
The Dollar Tree seriously has so many different window stickers and they come out with new ones for each of the holidays too. Here are what the clings look like:
use dollar store window clings to make a busy book
and here is what the portfolio looks like:
What also thrilled me is that
is also the same size to fit my Melissa and Doug removable sticker scenes. They are one of my favorite products, except that the sticker scenes are too flimsy and tear. Now I have something to protect them! If you are making the book for a boy you could use the habitats sticker scenes as well as the transportation ones. For a girl you could use the play house sticker scenes as well as the dress up sticker scenes.
This is the farm page from the habitats sticker book
- this is the safari page from the habitat sticker book
Is anyone else as excited about this as I am?
Okay, now on to the smoothies.
Jamba Juice Fruit and Veggie Smoothies
I got the opportunity through the Moms Meet program to try Jamba Juice’s new fruit and veggie smoothies. And just so you know, you don’t have to be a blogger to try and review new products. You can apply to be a mom ambassador through the Moms Meet Program. Basically, you agree to sample the new products with your “group” of other moms and then give your feedback. If you’re gonna drag your kids to a play group, you might as well be getting free products for it, right?
Okay, I’m getting off track again.
The smoothies. My husband and I tried the Tropical Harvest and my toddler tried the Jamba Kids Berry Beet it.
Here’s what we thought:
Both my husband and I thought the tropical harvest was okay. For having veggies in it, it was pretty good; however, if I’m going to pay for a smoothie I will probably stick to one of the all fruit flavors that I LOVE. I am willing to try the Berry upBEET on a future visit though, just because I am a much bigger fan of berries than I am of mangoes. That might have been where I went wrong.
HOWEVER….my toddler gulped hers down! And I would definitely pay for the kid’s smoothies because I’m totally okay with sneaking veggies into her diet in all ways possible. Plus, they are pretty cheap and she had no idea she was drinking something with carrots, beets, broccoli, spinach, kale, and lettuce in it! You can spend the same amount getting your kid a snow cone or milk shake, or you could get them a fruit & veggie smoothie and they will love you just the same.
Each of the smoothies contain 2 servings of fruit, and 1 serving of veggies. No added sugar!
Jamba Juice: click here to see what other fruit/veggie smoothies they have, as well as what they put in them!
Facebook: Visit their Facebook page for offers and promotions. Last month they had an awesome buy one get one free offer!
I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions are my own.
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Steph Almasy says
Our 3yo twins love their Melissa & Doug repositional sticker books (the exact ones pictured above), but I’ve had to store our stickers in Ziploc bags. And of course the pages have torn out of the book. This is brilliant! I knew there must be a clever way to store them. Thank you!
(I found you via Pinterest.)
Tina M says
Welcome Steph! I’m glad to hear someone else loves the Melissa and Doug stickers as well! I have the habitats version and the transportation, and I’ve been wanting to buy the others, but I wanted to wait until I found a better way to store them. This is working great so far!
sue says
I think this is a GREAT idea!! WoW! Thanks for sharing this with us this weekend at One Sharendipity Place! Pinned!
sue @ thet2women.com
Sande Sivani says
I am pinning this idea so I can share it with my grand-daughter who is a brand new kindergarten teacher this fall. Thanks so very much for sharing.
We would like to invite you to party with us at 5:00 on Thursday evenings at the new Blog Strut Peacock Style Link Party to share your very creative and clever idea. Come on over!! http://wp.me/P2Vf55-1K
Shannah says
Newbie here. And I’m going with the saying, “There is no such thing as a stupid question.” I must be really out of the loop because I know what window klings are, but I’m not sure how you are using them in this instance. Are the kids taking them on and off the pages and just re-positioning them, or are they taking them off the pages and putting them on the windows.
I would really like to know because I will be homeschooling my 2nd grader in the fall while juggling a 3 year old.
Tina M says
Shannah, not a dumb question at all! For young toddlers, they can just reposition them on the pages and kind of “free play” with them, but I plan on making customized sheets to slip into the sleeves to make it more educational (watch for printables in the future). Dollar tree has so many educational themed window clings to make this fun. Like for the clocks, the small and short hands are all repositional, so I would make a background that encourages matching up different times on the clock, and for the money one it would be counting skills, and then with the shapes and colors, a background that encourages matching. Does that make sense? Subscribe to this comment board and I will reply when I have some made (if you don’t want to make your own). Thanks for stopping by!
Sowmia says
Glad for the suggestion on how to store the Melissa & Doug sheets but disappointed by your suggestions of which ones girls and boys might play with. I have a daughter and don’t see why I should restrict her to play houses and dress up. I fully intend on giving her habitats and transportation themed items. I know it probably wasn’t intentional, but your comment was a classic example of gender stereotyping that we have to watch out for! Just wanted to bring up that point.
Tina M says
Thanks for bringing it up. My little girl has each of the sets and plays with all of them, so it was not intentional
Shaune says
I LOVE this idea as my daughter is in the stage of taking things off and putting them back on. I wanted to make something but was not sure what stickers would peel off of. This is a great idea for the Melissa and Doug book but the photography folders are so expensive! Do you know what kind of plastic it is or an alternative binder sheet that would work? TIA! =)
Shauna says
Okay so I saw they are Polyester Sheet Protectors but they are still expensive just for the protector sheets. Are they thicker and more durable than school sheet protectors? Did you already try sheet protectors and plastic binder diver tabs for the melissa and doug stickers and it did not work? 🙁
Mary Sue Lamb says
I love your idea and am going to try it for a United States map I am making with my cricut explore and vinyl. I have extra sheet protectors from albums and I can print the map (using cricut explore pens) on white paper and put it in the plastic insert. I then cut out the states in 4 different colors (cricut already has it figured out for me) and the kids can use the vinyl stickers to know their states. Thank you so much for the idea.
Tracy Anderson says
This is great! I have the meliss and doug reusable stickers. What exactly is the portfolio (where can I find one, what type of material (the material where you put the stickers) should I look out for?
Tina M says
Hi Tracy! Check out this post I did last week, this is a much easier way to do it: https://mothersniche.com/sticker-pad-quiet-book/
Meghan says
I am SO excited to try the busy book! I have the DT barn and transportation stickers and I didn’t know what to do with them and thought about a busy book but not a lot of ideas out there. Thank you so much for sharing I can’t wait to make one for my son!
Mel says
Where did you get the portfolio? I would love a link! I really need this in my life. 😂