Hot Family How-Tos

How To: Do standing abdominal exercises while pregnant

Want to maintain strong abs during your pregnancy? You've come to the right place. This free maternity fitness guide demonstrates a simple standing exercise routine that will strengthen your abdominal muscles without putting pressure on your vena cava. Learn how to keep your abs strong during pregnancy with this video exercise lessson.

How To: Make a CO2 powered bottle rocket

Sure, carbon and oxygen are two of very most fundamental building blocks of all life on Earth — but what have they done for you lately? With this free video guide, you'll learn how to build a safe, simple carbon-dioxide-powered bottle rocket with baking soda and a spent soft plastic waterball.

How To: Use a fertility microscope to determine ovulation

Another way to track your ovulation cycle is with a fertility microscope. A fertility microscope allows women to identify their most fertile days by testing and viewing the visual changes that take place in saliva throughout the monthly cycle. This method is reliable and effective, and can greatly increase your chances of getting pregnant. All this requires is saliva, so it is not invasive and doesn't use needles. So, check out this tutorial for advice and instructions on how to use one of th...

How To: Make goop out of Elmer's glue

You wouldn't think it would take much to make "gloop" from Elmer's glue but, as it happens, it's an art. And with this family-oriented video tutorial, you'll learn just how to make the goopy stuff for yourself. For more information, and to get started making icky, sticky gloop for yourself (or for your kids) watch this free how-to.

How To: Breastfeed with tips from Parents Magazine

Breastfeeding can seem scary for new moms. Not to worry, although it may seem odd at first, breastfeeding is actually the most natural way to feed your child. Once you get used to it, it will seem like second nature. Because a lot of moms have issues the first few times they try to breastfeed, Parents Magazine has put together this tutorial with advice and tips for new parents. Check out the video and you will be feeding your baby with no problem soon enough. Breastfeed with tips from Parents...

How To: Use the clutch hold technique while breastfeeding

There are various positions you can use when you breastfeed. All of these positions provide different benefits for your baby. Posture, comfort, and ability to eat properly are all some of the things that are associated with different positions. In this tutorial, learn how to use the clutch hold position for breastfeeding and improve the feeding experience for both you and your little bundle of joy. Use the clutch hold technique while breastfeeding.

How To: Make a caterpillar baby toy

In this crafty parent's how-to, Erin Bried, author of How to Sew a Button (And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew) demonstrates a method for making a simple baby toy, what she calls the Cinchy Ichy Caterpillar.

How To: Make a hovercraft for less than 5 bucks

In this how-to video, you will learn how to make a hover craft from a meat tray. You will need a meat tray, a piece of cardboard, a 9 volt battery, tape, a propeller of some sort, a motor, and two tires. All you have to do is assemble the motor so that it connects to the battery. Now, place the motor and battery on to the piece of cardboard. Next, place the entire chassis on to the meat tray. Once this is done, connect the wire to turn on the motor. The hover craft will move. Do not keep it o...

How To: Make Christmas reindeer food with your kids

Shelley Lovett explains that reindeer food is, and demonstrates how it is made. Reindeer food is something you can make and then sprinkle on the snow or grass in your yard in order to help Santa's reindeer find your house. All have to do is mix some quick oats with a little red and green colored sugar to make it sparkle. Then you put in in a bag and tie with a ribbon. She has a little tag she ties onto the ribbon that explains what reindeer food is and how to use it. You can print the tag fro...

How To: Develop a child's math skills with an ice cube tray

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to do math with an ice cube tray. Users will need a ice cube tray and counting coins. Users can also substitute the coins for any kind of small counting item that will fit into the tray. There are several ways for the child to do math with the tray such as the teacher directed activity where the teacher gives out an amount of a number and the child would have to count that much using the tray. Users can also use flash cards to solve numbers and simple...

How To: Make a box tops holder

Box Tops are a great way to help your kids school generate more money. A formula can could help you keep your box tops neat and Tidy. Take paper off of can then tape paper to the side of the can. Then you can decorate as you please to match the decor of the room your putting it in. Scrap book paper works as a great paper. You can also use stickers to complete this. For the lid you can spray paint them but first you should cut a hole in the lid so the box tops can slide right in. You can make ...

How To: Make a dragon puppet out of recycled materials

This video is about how to make a puppet dragon out of household items. First, a piece of card stock paper is cut in half the long way. Next, you must take an empty 18-pack egg carton and cut off a strip of egg slots. Using a stapler, the two pieces of paper are connected long ways, with the egg strip stapled on top of it. This forms the body. To make the head, a small cardboard box is stapled to one end. A smaller cardboard box (about half the size of the one already used) is glued on top. F...

How To: Make a Thanksgiving "Book Of Thanks" with your kids

Childcareland demonstrates how to make a Thanksgiving book of thanks with kids in this video. A book of thanks can be done by a group or an individual. It begins a title page which can be labeled to reflect whether it is an individual book called "My Book of Thanks" or an group book called "Our Book of Thanks" or a general book called "Book of Thanks". The back page is a blank match of the cover page. In the middle are five pages labeled "I'm thankful for" with a line for older children to wr...

How To: Do leaf rubbings for a children's acitivity

In this Family video tutorial you will learn how to do leaf rubbings for a children's activity. For this you will need a flat surface. If the table top in slightly uneven, put a sheet of construction paper on it. The materials you will need are sheets of paper, crayons and leaves. You can also use fabric leaves if your area doesn’t have any leaves. Take a leaf; put it upside down on a flat surface so that the veins are on top. Put a sheet of paper over the leaf and hold it down with one hand....

How To: Make your own slimey gak at home

In this how-to video, you will learn how to make your own gak. All you need is borax, food coloring, and school glue. Take five tablespoons of water and mix one teaspoon of borax in a plastic container. Take one tablespoon of white glue and mix it with a tablespoon of water before adding it to a different plastic container. Add three or four drops of the food coloring of your choice. Now, mix it with a spoon and add two teaspoons of your borax solution to the new mix. Once that is done, mix i...

How To: Make leaf size sorting bags for a kid's fall acitivity

Shelley Lovett shares a great children's fall activity to help develop math skills - leaf size sorting bags. All that is required is three paper bags and some construction paper. Use the construction paper to cut out three different-sized leaves, and to make three labels saying 'small', 'medium', and 'large'. Then simply glue the small leaf and small label on one bag, medium leaf and label on the next bag, etc. To make the loose leaves of the three different sizes they place into the bags, si...

How To: Make a mosaic apple with your kids

Shelley Lovett of Childcareland shows us how to make a mosaic apple using colored construction paper. This is a fun to do project, which enhances a child's motor skills. The basic outline of the apple is available on the website. It can be printed out and then cut out. Shelley has used red, green and brown colored construction paper, the traditional colors for apple. But she also stresses that we should let children use whatever colors they prefer. It will make the project so much more fun. S...

How To: Make a tissue paper heart with your kids

This video explains how to make a tissue paper heart with your kids. The first step taken by the instructor is to cut about thirty small tissue paper squares with the color of your choice. The instructor then takes a large piece of construction paper and cuts out a basic heart design then puts light dots of glue all over the construction paper heart. The heart is then covered in the tissue paper squares until the entire heart is evenly covered with the colored tissue squares. The last step is...

How To: Make wind chimes with your kids

Lynn Snodgrass shows how to make chimes by using small clay pots and popsicle sticks. You can tie them together by using plastic string or regular garden string. The pots can be decorated with paint or you can apply stickers to the pots. 1. Use the sticks tied with the string as the base that holds the pots together. 2. Thread the string through the opening in the clay pots. The pots will have already been decorated with the stickers and the paint and will already be dry. The next step is to ...

How To: Do with finger paint writing with your kids

Shelley Lovett from childcareland demonstrates a fun activity involving finger paint that parents can do with their children. She uses finger paints and a pan to make a virtual canvas that is self contained and easy to clean up. She first recommends that only one color be used. She indicates that by using multiple colors, it may result in a brown ugly color and therefore should be avoided. She then spreads the paint onto a flat pan. After the paint is on the pan, parents and children are able...

How To: Teach your kids the "Ten Little Kites" learning song

In this how-to video, you will learn how to teach your kids the Ten Little Kites song. First, cut out different colored pieces of paper into kite shapes. Paste them onto the finger tips of two gloves. The words of the song go to the tune of Ten Little Indians. The lyrics go: One little, two little, three little kids. Four little, five little, six little kites. Seven little, eight, little, nine little kites. Ten little kites flying through the sky. Count them, Count them, Count them with me, t...

How To: Make slow motion discovery bottles with your kids

In this Family video tutorial you will learn how to make slow motion discovery bottles with your kids. Shelley Lovett from ChildCareLand presents this video. For this you will need small size empty water bottles, clear corn syrup, confetti and rubber cement to seal the bottles. Fill up to quarter of the bottle with confetti, then pour in the clear corn syrup and fill up the bottle. Then put the cap and seal it. The confetti is all at the bottom of the bottle. So, turn the bottle upside down a...

How To: Make a foam collage

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make a foam collage. The materials required for this project are: card stock paper, several different colors of foam paper, scissors and glue. The project focuses on preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school crafts. Begin by cutting the pieces of paper foam into different shapes and sizes. Then simply apply glue on the pieces and stick it onto the card stock paper. Continue doing this to cover the entire sheet of card stock. This video will be...

How To: Make a Hovercraft with Common Household Goods

This video illustrate us how to make a hovercraft with common household items. To build one, first of all, collect all of the items required for making it. You need a CD, bottle cap, balloon and super glue. Then start by applying glue to the lower end of the cap and sticking it to the center of the CD and let it dry. After it has dried, blow up the balloon and secure it up on the bottle cap tightly. Now open the bottle cap and let the balloon deflate.

How To: Do a cotton ball snowman kid's project

Shelley Lovett from ChildCare shows us how to make a cotton ball snowman. This is a great activity for developing fine motor skills. The snowman comes in a several variations, there is a snowman that has circles on its tummy so that children would have to try and place the cotton balls inside the circles. There is a snowman that comes in black and white so that the children could decorate the snowman's scarf, mittens and hat. Now on the plain tummy snowman, you'd just apply glue all over the ...

How To: Make a cupcake shaped book

Childcareland demonstrates how to make a cupcake shaped book in this video. First, make a pattern page from a regular piece of paper. It should be designed like a cupcake. Place the designed pattern on top of a thicker paper like construction paper or card stock. Place five pages of regular paper behind the thicker page and finally place another thicker page at the back of the stack. Glue the cupcake pattern to the top, thick page, slightly to the left side. Then staple down the length of the...

How To: Make a paper tissue wreath with your kids

This is a demonstration of making a wreath with tissue paper. For this you will require tissue papers cut into squares, golden colored yarn, golden dust. For tools you require a pair of scissors, a hole punch, glue, paper dish. To start with cut the bottom of the paper dish neatly so that the uniform rim remains. Now apply glue to the rim in the form of spots and streaks. Now take each of the tissue paper pieces crush them and press on the glue. When the whole rim is covered with crushed tiss...

How To: Develop a child's motor skills with pop beads

According to Shelley Lovett Pop Beads are a wonderful addition to any early learning environment. In this video Lovett starts by showing all of the different shapes, sizes and colors the Pop Beads come in. She also explains to the viewer where the beads can be purchased. Lovett then demonstrates how the unique construction of the beads makes it somewhat difficult to snap them together. Yet is it the required pinching and grasping that makes playing with Pop Beads so beneficial to developing a...

How To: Build your own hovercraft

How a Hovercraft can be build.Brittany is demonstrating how to make a Hovercraft. Since hovercraft needs a base she is using plywood for it. She takes square plywood of 48*48 and finds out its center to cut plywood in circle. Don’t forget to wear safety goggle while cutting the plywood. Then she takes a square plastic to make it an air cushion so that the hovercraft should float. In order to secure plastic to the wood she used screws and a plastic top. Then cut the vent hole and plastic by si...

How To: Develop a child's math skills with pumpkin seeds

In this video, we are shown how to create and utilize a pumpkin-themed mat and some pumpkin seeds in order to teach young children how to count. Using a mat with a picture of a pumpkin on it, as described in the video, you should have a few squares with numbers on it which the children can put on the mat. Then, using a bowl of pumpkin seeds, have the child pick up the seeds and place them on the mat, having them pick the correct number of seeds as correspond to the number of the square they c...

How To: Reycle plastic into easy to make shrink art

The video is part of the awesome web show and this video is about recycling of plastic into beautiful shapes-Shrinky Dinks .At the beginning of the video an old plastic container top is taken and using scissors is cut into a circular shape. The scratchy surface of the circular plastic is coated with one color and on the other side some designs are drawn using another color. This piece of plastic is kept in a microwave oven which is preheated to 350 degrees to shrink it to a smaller size and t...

How To: Develop a child's beginner scissor skills

Shelley Lovett has some tips for helping a young child learn how to use scissors. The first thing you need to do is make sure you have paper and child size scissors available for the child to use. A full sheet cut in half is usually more manageable for a young child to work with. Have the child take the paper and just make cuts into the paper however they feel comfortable. Using colored paper can make it more interesting for them. After that very beginning practice stage has been accomplished...

How To: Help your child stop stuttering

Stuttering is a communication disorder affecting over 3 million Americans. Stuttering can make school and other social interactions difficult. Although there are no instant cures, these tips will help your progression toward speech fluency.

How To: Stop a baby from crying

Dr. Felicia Ferrara shows you her technique to stop a baby from crying. If your baby won't stop crying and you don't know what to do, try the following: Make sure that the baby is well fed and changed. Interact with the child by talking softly, or perhaps by singing a lullaby. Rock the baby gently, holding it close to you.

How To: Choose the best sippy cups for toddlers

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to choose the best sippy cups for toddlers. The sippy cup is a spill-proof drinking cup designed for toddlers. Choosing the right sippy cup will help keep both parents and children clean. The best sippy cup for toddlers is one that you can turn upside down and shake without dripping. Make sure that the cup is simple and easy to clean. It shouldn't have may layers. It is also a good idea to buy sippy cups that have caps. This video will benefit those v...

How To: Change a baby's diaper the right way

This video shows you the proper way to change a baby's diaper. First you will want to gather all of the supplies you will need before you begin. You will need a diaper, some baby wipes and some ointment. Next remove the babies clothes, raise their legs and place the clean diaper underneath your baby before you remove the old one. This is to ensure if your baby urinates or defecates it will go into the new diaper rather than all over your table. Now take the old diaper off, hold the legs up so...

How To: Discipline biting toddlers

Toddlers generally begin to bite between 9 months and 1 year. First of all they don't intend any harm when they bite. They don't know that biting is painful. The best way to deal with it is to try and keep your body away from the baby so that he can't bite you. You should be able to anticipate when the baby is going to bite you. When breastfeeding the best way to get him to let go is to pull him into the breast so that his mouth and nose are covered and that will keep him from catching his br...

How To: Change a baby's pocket cloth diaper

Cloth diapers save you money and are more environmentally friendly than plastic ones. Despite these benefits, they are scary to use for beginners. This tutorial will show you just how easy it is to change a baby's cloth diaper and avoid a mess. Once you master this technique you will never go back to disposable again!