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Do You Use a Needle Minder?

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magnetic needle holder

After talking about waxing embroidery floss the other day, I got to thinking about other accessories or things that are optional but could potentially save you a lot of trouble when you’re doing cross stitch.

Another thing that falls into that category is a magnetic needle minder.

As you might guess from the name, these little gadgets stick to your cross stitch fabric by way of a magnet, then you can stick your needle to the top of the needle minder when you aren’t working so it won’t wander off/fall into the couch cushions when you aren’t working.

There are a lot of really cute needle minders out there these days. Swoodson Says has a fun collection of needle minders on her site you can browse, or search for them in your favorite place for indie crafts.

Do you use needle minders? Have a favorite kind? We’d love to hear all about it.

[Photo via Swoodson Says.]

Looking for more Fall-themed Cross-stitch patterns and charts? Check these out on Etsy.

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Minecraft Learning Activities

If your kids have been into Minecraft for a while or are just getting into it because of the movie, now is a great time to add some Minecraft learning activities to your rotation.

There has been a lot written about using Minecraft in homeschool environments in particular and the things that kids can learn playing Minecraft such as using creative thinking, learning about rocks and minerals represented in the game, resource management and using modeling within the game to learn or show what they have learned.

You can also challenge kids to construct things within Minecraft with these challenge cards from The Canadian Homeschooler. Working on specific tasks emphasizes logic, reasoning, problem solving, creativity and coding skills.

And don’t miss the resources and challenges from Minecraft Education itself, which has ideas for learning about computer science, cyber safety, math and climate science among other things.

Of course you can also use Minecraft as a way to enhance learning outside of the game, and Homeschool Superfreak has a good list of ways to build on experiences in Minecraft for real life learning such as problem solving, teamwork, geography and architecture. Techie Homeschool Mom has tips for designing your own unit study around Minecraft.

Momgineer has a post on learning about world landmarks with Minecraft, and Teaching Math Literacy has a post for using the game to teach area and perimeter.

Years ago I shared this Minecraft multiplication game, as well as a set of lesson plans and activities with a Minecraft theme.

Pixel Paper Craft has a full printable Minecraft Monopoly game, where the spaces are resources and there are even change ideas to use. So fun!

1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 1 has a good set of Minecraft worksheets for kindergarten, which includes math activities, reading, colors and more. You’ll find graphing and coin counting, phonics and rhyming words and color practice using Minecraft objects, to name a few.

Older kids might enjoy the Minecraft writing prompts from Write Shop.

Make a Minecraft themed Lego number line with this tutorial from Stir the Wonder. Add a die and make it a race to the finish as well as counting practice.

Rock Your Homeschool has printable Minecraft activity sheets that include a word search and scramble, maze, instructions for drawing a creeper, characters to color and more. There’s also one where you can draw your own Minecraft skin.

Rainbow Printables has tutorials for drawing Minecraft characters, and Rock Your Homeschool also has 10 color by letter pixel designs of Minecraft characters and creatures.