In my mind, I picture all of my readers having craft skills flowing out of their fingertips like a craft tsunami.  (Which is so not me.)

And since I suppose that my readers are so crafty, I suppose that they frequent craft stores to get their craft ‘fix.’  (I get my fix by going to a computer store and inhaling deeply of the essence of a computer with an Intel Core i7 processor and 12GB DDR3-PC1600 RAM.)

My readers probably even read the craft store ads in the newspaper and have the craft store’s web site bookmarked.

If you, Dear Reader, are one of those kinds of folks, well, today there probably isn’t anything here for you that’s new.

If, on the other hand, you, Dear Reader, are a teensy eency weency bit like me, this will be of wonderful interest to you.

Michael’s Craft Store has a web page that has some great Easter craft ideas. Like those Easter eggs that you see here on my page.  (I love the little yellow fellow’s teeth!)

And fun finger puppets. And bunny baskets.  And little lambikins.  Sweet yellow chicks.  If you’re in the market of an Easter craft idea to do with your grandchildren, Michael’s has some fun ideas.

Just thought you’d like to know.

In the book Goodnight Opus, Opus slips into pink bunny jammies and Granny reads his favorite bedtime story.  When Granny dozes, Opus ‘departs the ‘text’ and heads off for the Milky Way.

After stopping a couple of times along the way (one time to commiserate with an overworked tooth fairy), he arrives at his destination where he feasts on ice cream.

When Granny finally wakes up, she discovers Opus asleep on the kitchen floor clutching a carton of ice cream.

Have you ever read Goodnight Moon?  This book pokes fun of the book (in a nice way).  Grandchildren will absolutely love this book and Granny won’t mind reading it 210 times to a grandchild!

And this book sparked an idea.  Here it is.  If you can find bunny pajamas, BUY THEM! Right this very instant.

If you are a seamstress, you could make some jammies if you can find bunny material.  (Pajamas are fairly easy to make.)  Or, you could simply add a bunny applique to PJs.

Next, buy the book.  Then, invite your grandchild for a sleep over.  Present him with the PJs and the book.  (It would be fun if Granny had her own bunny PJs, too . . .) At bedtime, put on your jammies, and read the book to your grandchild.

You could also make Bunny Biscuits, or Bunny Bread, Bunny Marshmallows, Easter Bunny Cupcakes, or Bunny in a Cup. These treats are fairly easy to do and very tasty!

Or, you can make Rice Krispie treats and use a rabbit shaped cookie cutter to cut out Rice Krispie Bunnies.

Now, Easter is coming up.  Soon.  Like before you know it. As in if you blink twice it will be here. It’s just a hop around the corner.

So, start now to find the bunny jammies.  Buy the book. And collect the ingredients for the bunny treats.

Then, when Easter comes, have a grand bunny extravaganza with your grandchild.

Lemme tell you a little story.  Ben, a young father that I know, has a son in the second grade.  Ben told me that every night it was a battle to get his son to do his homework.  It took an hour and a half to get his son to do 20 minutes worth of math homework.  Then Ben discovered Khan Academy.

Khan Academy was established by Salman Khan. Khan is a commodities broker and has a BS in mathematics from MIT.  (And a BS in computer science and a BS in electrical engineering both from MIT and an MBA from Harvard. I think it is safe to say he is rather smart.  Rather.)

Khan’s young cousin was struggling in math and she asked him to help her.  The only problem was they lived hundreds of miles apart.  Being the smart problem solving person that he is, Khan created a little video.  He posted it to YouTube so his cousin could access it anytime she wanted — and as often as she wanted.

Time went on.  She asked for more help so he created several more videos.  Then, Khan noticed something.  His videos were getting lots of hits on YouTube.  That meant lots of people were viewing them.  This gave him an idea.  Khan quit his commodities broker job and started Khan Academy where he developed videos on how to solve mathematical problems.  And it was all online.  And it is all free.  Free as in nobody has to pay anything for it.

There’s lots more interesting facts about Khan Academy that I could share with you.  But I won’t.  I want to get back to Ben’s story.

When Ben learned about Khan Academy, he had his son log on.  Ben sat by his son as his son worked through some problems.  The son willingly spent 30 minutes on the site.  The next night, his son logged on to Khan Academy without any nudging from his father.

Now, the son is mastering multiplication which he should learn in the third grade.  All on his own, he’s stared learning division — something that he won’t get introduced to until the 4th grade.   Remember, this kid is just in the second grade.  Ben’s son now spends an hour and a half on the site doing math problems and Ben has to fight to get him to stop doing math so that his son could go to bed.

At school when students finish their seat work early, the teacher allows them free reading time.  Ben’s son asked his teacher if he could work on math problems instead.  He created his own problem — a seven digit number multiplied by a 5 digit number.  Think about that for a moment.  That’s like doing a math problem like this:

9483726
x 38259

Do you know any second graders who could do that kind of a multiplication problem?  I didn’t think so.

Part of the reason Ben’s son likes this site so well is that he earns points for getting correct answers.  He also earns badges.  It’s like a game.  And Ben doesn’t care because his son is excited to do math homework.  He is excited to do math problems.  No more tears and no more fighting over homework in the evenings. (Just when he has to stop and go to bed!)

Do you have a grandchild that is struggling with math?  Do you have one that is just starting to learn how to add and subtract?  Do you have a grandchild that is doing calculus and his parents can’t help him with his homework because they don’t know calculus?

Tell them about Khan Academy.  The academy covers K-12 math.  And stuff like rational inequalities, function inverses, polynomial approximation of function, and line integral of conservative vector field.  Now, those words are in English.  I have a BA in English — but I have absolutely no clue whatsoever about what those words mean.  Isn’t it nice that there is someone nice like Sal to help our grandchildren with math problems like these. (There’s also stuff like chemistry, physics, economics, and finance.)

I highly recommend that you share Khan Academy with your grandchildren. If they are young, sit down together to explore and use the site.  If your grandchildren are in junior high and high school, you can sit down together with them, too — if they would let you!

Khan Academy.  Got that?  Good.

Here’s to improving our grandchildren’s ability to do math!

(Disclaimer: I do not get any financial remuneration whatsoever for talking about this site. But, I do get a good feeling inside that possibly, just possibly, by sharing this information I may be helping out some child somewhere in the world who is struggling with math.  And that’s the best payment there is!)

Back in the Dark Ages when my children were little, I would occasionally make suckers.  You know the kind. Sugar, water, corn syrup, and flavoring.  Boil to hard ball stage. Put in a metal sucker mold held around a sucker stick with an elastic band that you could barely see with a high powered magnifying lens.

So, when I saw the directions for these lollipops I was delighted.  Utterly!

The Decorated Cookie shared this idea on her site.  It is so clever.  So easy.  So colorful. Wish I had known how to make these when my kids were little!

All is not lost.  I can make them with my grandchildren.  (Or for them.  At this moment in time, they are just a tad too small to be cookin’ in the kitchen with grandma.)

These Easy Lollies are well, like their name implies.  Easy to make.  Simply put Jolly Ranchers on a cookie sheet, bake them for a few minutes to melt them, and then press the sucker stick in them after you take them out of the oven.  Click here to read her directions. (The Decorated Cookie gave me permission to use her picture.  She is so sweet to allow me to use it!  I graciously thank her!)

Imagine the fun flavored suckers you can make by mixing different flavored Jolly Ranchers.  I think they will be a hit with my grandchildren.  (If I don’t eat them all myself . . .)

If you have grandchildren that live far away, print up the directions on how to make them.  Send them along with a bag of Jolly Rancher candies and some sucker sticks to your grand chickabiddies.  It’s like a party in a box.  Something that is easy for grandma to mail and something fun for grandchildren to do.

Mmmm . . . I was thinking.  What would it be like to put a couple of Red Hots on top of a Jolly Rancher.  It could make for a cinnamony-hot sucker.  I wonder what it would be like to melt a caramel and have a caramel sucker — especially after it’s dipped in melted chocolate.  Or possibly Lemon Drops.  Or Root Beer Barrels.  Or Butterscotch Buttons. (If some of the candies didn’t work, I’d just have to eat my mistakes.  Rough task, eh?)

I feel a creative cooking moment coming on. Excuse me as I zip to the grocery store to buy Jolly Ranchers and then hurry home to my kitchen.

P.S.  You’ve just GOT to check out her painting on marshmallows. I adore the love bug, the snowmen, the zombies, the creepy clowns (that really aren’t creepy), Sesame Street marshmallows, the skellies, and ghosts.