Printable Seashell Flashcards & Scavenger Hunt

Summer is rapidly approaching — and with it, the promise of getting outside again to enjoy some salty air and sandy toes. If your family is planning a future beach vacation — whether in Florida, California, or a tropical island somewhere — you’re probably on the lookout for fun and affordable activities that everyone can enjoy. So what better way to spend a beach day than hunting for seashells?

There are hundreds of thousands of sea creatures that make shells, and each one is unique. Learning about seashells is a great way to get kids curious about marine life and basic biology. To make learning fun, try these printable seashell identification flashcards. They’re a great way to practice identifying seashells if you’re not able to get to the beach right away.

Click here to download the printable flashcards.

Once you’re able to get to the beach, put your kids’ seashell knowledge to the test by going on a seashell scavenger hunt! The first one to check off five from this printable checklist wins.

Click here to download the printable scavenger hunt.

Seashell collecting is a great way to build lasting family memories. Plus, any treasures you find are free souvenirs! Happy treasure hunting!

How to Plan the Ultimate Staycation

No matter if your adventures take you to another country, or you never leave your own backyard, one of the best parts will always be who you travel with. Even if the planning and travel can be exhausting, many of us look forward to taking trips with our family for the whole year. So why have a family vacation only once a year? Staycations allow you to relax and do fun activities with your family, all without the expense of travel or booking hotels. No matter where you live, there’s likely someplace you’ve never been locally that would make for an excellent afternoon for the whole gang.

To help plan and enjoy your stay in town Mint created several useful printables. Their staycation scrapbooking printables make a great closing activity for the whole family to reflect on the time they spent together. There's a planning template to get the most out of your itinerary, and a budgeting sheet to make sure you don’t go too crazy with the splurges. Recreate the luxury of having breakfast in bed with their interactive menu. Just because you aren’t traveling to a new place with unique local food, doesn’t mean you have to eat what you normally eat. 

Check out all the printables to get started planning your staycation.

10 Fun Photo Scavenger Hunts

Looking for ways to get your kids out of the house on the weekends? From long road

trips to adventurous hikes or zoo days, there are many options to get your kids involved

in a photo scavenger hunt! They’ll love a scavenger hunt since it allows them to search,

discover their surroundings and snap photos of what they find. 

Before you begin, double check to make sure you have the following supplies:

• A smartphone or camera 
• Pencil or pen
• Scavenger hunt lists 
• A grand prize for the winner

The rules are simple, but you’re also free to be as creative as you want. For example,

will you set up groups of teams? Will you add on bonus items to your

scavenger hunt list?

Give each person the list before you start so they have an idea of what to look for.

The first person to find all the items and take a photo within the allotted time is the

winner!  

Step-by-step:

1. Select a place and a theme.
2. Assign a person to be the moderator or judge.  
3. Decide if you want to separate into teams
4. Set boundaries within the decided location. 
5. Set your timer for thirty minutes to an hour.
6. Award the winner the grand prize!

For scavenger hunt themes, find your favorite printable by Shutterfly below. From the

farmer’s market to the beach or even the airport, there’s an option for everyone. Beat

the boredom with this fun activity. They will love spending time together and at the end

of it, they can even create an adorable photo book to compile your photos, look back

on and remember the fun times! 

56 Money Conversation Starters to Teach Your Kids About Money

Financial literacy is a difficult subject to teach to your kids at any age, but it’s crucial that your kids
understand the basics early on so they can form better habits as they age. For example, budgeting
and saving are concepts that kids typically learn by observing you over time, but you can streamline
the process by discussing these principles with them and actually let them take part in the process! 

However, money is not something most kids want to talk about at all! In fact, most kids don’t really
want to think about earning money until they realize they can buy stuff they want with it. Fortunately,
there are ways you can trigger conversations about money so that your kids are at least thinking and
talking about it early on, such as these money conversation starters. 

Wikibuy compiled 56 questions covering financial topics for young kids and teens. All you need to do
is print them out! You can pull them out anytime you’re at the table together, or keep handy in the car
to keep your kids occupied while you drive. The choice is yours, but the important part is that you’ll
discuss money together! These can be especially useful when you’re taking care of financial errands.
For example, if you run to the ATM, it’s a great time to explain what an ATM is and segue into why it’s
important to earn money. 

There are plenty of opportunities to start teaching your kids about money, but the important thing is
that you discuss it regularly. This will build a solid financial foundation and help your kids make better,
smarter financial choices when it really matters later in life. You can download the full list
of money conversation starters here. 

5 Budgeting Printables and Stickers

Though most of us are stressed about our finances, starting a household budget can be a daunting task. Tracking every little expense to see where you can cut back sounds exhausting! 

However, it's important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to budgeting, and many families to choose to spend and save on different activities. 

In order to make the budgeting process easy and fun, the finance experts at Credit.com have created these customizable budgeting printables to help get you started. You can download the envelopes, expense trackers, stickers, and more below:

DIY Natural Bug Remedies

Now that summer has reached its peak and the kids are getting ready to go back to school, if they haven't already, you may be looking forward to some much-earned relaxation indoors. However, these last few weeks of the season can be much less relaxing if you’re dealing with a bug situation in your home. 

The warm weather tends to bring out more of these pesky critters, but you need to find a healthy way to get rid of them. Pesticides contain chemicals that are harmful to humans and pets as well as bugs, so instead take a look at these DIY bug repellent tricks from TurboTenant  Each of the 8 recipes has been tailored for individual summer pests and uses natural ingredients found in the home! Happy debugging! 

Flat Stanley Adventures in Europe

Our family was sent a Flat Stanley 2 years ago and boy did we have fun showing him around Europe for a few weeks before sending him home! Below is the letter we sent back with him to let his class know all the places he traveled with us! 

____________________

 "Overlooking a stream in a cute German village"

___________________________

Dear Class,

We had so much fun with Flat Stanley we decided to let him stay with us a bit longer so he could enjoy a few more sights in Europe.

Not only did Flat Stanley get to fly over the North Atlantic Ocean to arrive in Germany but we took him on his first train ride to go downtown Stuttgart for "family day" at Oktoberfest. Flat Stanley was a little nervous to go on a few of the rides but we did convince him to go on the ferris wheel during sunset. He enjoyed some chicken in one of the big noisey tents and then took a nap on the train ride home. (october 4th)

"1st train ride in Germany"

"on top of the world ferris wheel"

"train ride home from Oktoberfest"

October 5th we drove to Garmisch, Germany and when we woke in the morning we saw fresh snow had fallen on the Zugspitze, the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains, also the highest mountain in Germany!

"Zugspitze"

October 6th, we drove to Verona, Italy and Flat Stanley brushed up on his Italian by reading in the car. He also took a nap (or 2) with our yorkie, Satine. In Verona, Flat Stanley saw Juliet's balcony and the Roman Amphitheatre, which was built in the first century and is still in use to this day. A pretty fountain caught Flat Stanley's eye outside the amphitheatre but I caught him before he fell in and got all wet!

"brushing up on his Italian"

 "napping with Satine"

 "the view from our balcony in Verona, Italy"

 "Juliet's balcony"

 "Roman Amphitheatre in Verona"

 "Fountain in Verona"

October 7th, we piled back in the car and headed to Venice, Italy. We stayed just outside the city and took a 20 minute train ride to and from our hotel each day. Venice was beautiful! Flat Stanley was impressed with all of the boats and couldn't believe the streets were made out of water!

"gondola in Venice, Italy"

The train station even had Flat Stanley's initials on it "FS". He stood on a few bridges, tried to hop on a gondola ride and enjoyed when we sat down for pizza - a well loved food in Italy!

"Train Station in Venice, check out FS initials"

"Ponte degli Scalzi Bridge in Venice"

October 8th, we wandered around Venice for our 2nd day...took a Taxi boat ride from the train station to the PIazza San Marco, which is a large iconic square and gathering place dating back to the 12th century. There's a large bell tower and a beautiful Basilica in St. Mark's Square as well.

"Piazza San Marco"

 "Piazza San Marco"

We stopped for gelato and pizza, "when in Italy!" and then headed back to Germany the next day.

Again thank you for trusting our family to take care of your Flat Stanley. I hope you enjoy reading about all of his travels and reliving them with all of the photos I've emailed your teacher.

Have a wonderful school year!

Cheers, 

Our Traveling Family

1 Month No-Spend Challenge Tracker - Free Printable

Whether you had a month splurging on birthday gifts or shopping trips, or just want to work on balancing your finances better, it's no secret that tackling these challenges can be tricky. With social media tempting both us and our kiddos constantly to splurge the temptation can be all too real. That's why taking on a no-spend challenge for a weekend, week, or even a month is a great way to fix your budget. Before you freak out, a no spend challenge isn't as drastic as it sounds. It doesn't mean you won't be spending anything, but instead that you'll be spending only on necessities like groceries, bills, etc. AKA, all the less fun stuff.

But just because you're monitoring your spending, doesn't mean it doesn't need to be fun! Credit.com created these helpful (and cute!) no spend printables to make saving easy. The best part about these challenges (and challenges in general_ is that you can share them on your social profiles with friends to help motivate both you and others! In this workbook, you'll run through a series of questions on how to prep for the challenge, then from there begin! We've included a wish list where you can add any temptations/things you almost bought, so that at the end you can calculate how money you would have saved. There's also a calendar to check off each day you achieve your no-spend challenge, and a worksheet on reflection so you can make long term changes!