Top 10 Blog Posts of 2019: The Best of Live Well Play Together

Here we are mid-way through January and I’m still over here wrapping up and reflecting on 2019!  No real surprises there, though!  

Last week, I shared my current reading list for 2020 and today I’m excited to share our Top 10 Blog Posts from 2019 on Live Well Play Together. 

These sorts of year in review posts are always fun for me as a blogger – to take time and look back at what was popular in the previous year – and what wasn’t.  It’s interesting to see how things that I wrote such a long time ago can pick up momentum even after the fact.  Or which things continue to be popular season after season.  

And if you’re new here, this might be a fun way to take a look at posts that you might have missed this year!  

Ready to see which posts were the most popular in 2019? 

10 Most Popular Blog Posts for 2019

10. Easy DIY Lacing Cards for Toddlers and Preschoolers

To be honest, we made these easy DIY lacing cards on a whim around here as a way to practice fine motor skills with my oldest.  Lacing cards are great for kids and a perfect quiet time activity!  

We actually made these by re-using empty cereal boxes and I’m happy to report that they are still holding up strong!  

They were so fun, we even made Christmas themed lacing cards this year to add to our collection!

9. 30 Days of Gratitude Calendar for Families

This 30 Days of Gratitude calendar continues to be a hit year after year.  It’s actually a guest post from a couple of years ago – and I still love it! 

It is full of fun activities you can do with kids or the whole family to practice giving thanks.  It’s perfect for Thanksgiving or anytime of the year. 

8.  10 Ways to Strengthen Your Marriage After Kids

This is one that I did write last year that took off.  I feel like we don’t talk about the stress that having kids can add to a marriage.  

On the one hand, we want to be careful not to sound like we’re complaining about having kids (because we are beyond thankful every single day for our kids).  And on the other hand, we don’t want to talk about all our business with everyone.  It’s WAY easier to pretend like everything is fine – especially in our families and marriages. 

But, the truth is, maintaining a strong marriage in any circumstance requires commitment and being proactive.  It’s something that we always knew, but that having kids has really made us know. 

These 10 tips for a strong marriage are useful for parents, but also for any couples who want to be proactive in protecting their marriage. 

7. Rainbow Paper Craft

Another one from a couple of years ago, this rainbow paper craft continues to be a hit.  

We have even done it again a few times we enjoyed it so much!

But, I really would like to know – do you consider a rainbow craft more of a seasonal, spring thing, or a St. Patrick’s Day thing?  It always picks up speed in the Spring and mostly around St. Patrick’s Day, so I can’t tell.  

Either way, I love this craft as a great way to teach color sorting.  It’s good for weather units in school, or even a Bible lesson about Noah’s Ark.  Lots of ways to use this craft – PLUS, there is a free template you can use to make your own!

6. The Best Egg Free & Dairy Free Sugar Roll Out Cookies

The egg-free, dairy-free sugar cookie recipe was another surprising hit this year.  I haven’t talked about it much on the blog, but our youngest was diagnosed with an egg allergy before he turned 1. 

And while I wish that we didn’t have to go through that, I learned a lot about food allergies and have a much deeper understanding for parents who deal with allergies (and often multiple food allergies) on a daily basis. 

We spent a lot of time learning to read labels and finding good egg alternatives and these cookies are proof!  

In fact, even though we’ve outgrown our food allergies (at least for baked eggs) this year, this recipe continues to be one of my favorites because I can lick the bowl without any raw eggs in the mixture!

5. Easy DIY Felt Christmas Tree

I actually wrote this Felt Christmas Tree post in my first year blogging and it made it to the top posts this year.  It’s so funny to look back and see how small my oldest was back then.  We still have that tree though, and it really is a fun activity for little ones during Christmas!

In fact, we loved it so much, we made these mini felt Christmas trees this year for busy bags for the boys and they loved each having their own tree to decorate.  

4. Shape Monster Craft

My oldest asks to make these Shape Monsters every year for Halloween since making these.  They are a fun way to practice shapes and gluing for little hands and it’s always fun to see what they come up with! 

I was so glad to see these in the top posts this year because it’s one of our favorite projects that we’ve done.  

3. Setting Goals with Your Spouse + Goal Setting Worksheet

Setting goals with your spouse – this one is currently trending again on the blog and for good reason!  Lots of good tips to help you set goals as a couple, which I think is actually really important. 

We always make our own goals and resolutions, but it’s important to include your spouse in not only your own goals, but to create goals and things that you want to accomplish together.  

I’ve also got a printable worksheet that you can use to get started on goal setting together, which is helpful!

2. Leprechaun Sand: A Fun Science Experiment for Kids

This St. Patrick’s Day science experiment was  BIG hit around here and on the web!  It’s from a couple of years ago and actually was a last minute experiment that we put together here (hence the unrelated orange play-dough in our photos).  

But, we loved it.  It’s just a twist on the basic baking soda and vinegar reaction experiment, but with a little food coloring and a medicine dropper, makes the consistency of sand.  

You can grab a worksheet for some discussion questions to help think through the scientific method with this one, too – making it a great project for school as well! 

1. DIY M&M Costumes for the Whole Family

And finally, the surprising star of the show this year, was our family’s DIY M&M costumes.  We made these costumes in about 5 minutes each (and you can too)! And we used them for two years in a row we liked them so much.  

I posted them almost on a whim -wondering if they were too simple to merit a full blog post, but I am glad I did.  It turns out, you all love a simple costume idea and this one is perfect for groups or as a family costume! 

Which was your favorite?  Any new ones here that you hadn’t seen before? Or one that you loved that didn’t make the list?  Let me know what you think or what you’d like to see more of this year!

Welcome to the Wednesday Link Party! Meet your hosts:

Jaclyn from Coffee, Pancakes, and Dreams
Brittany from Dreams and Coffee
Mary Leigh from Live Well Play Together
Tiffany from Lake Life State of Mind
Lindsay from Lindsay’s Sweet World
Keri from Cultivate an Intentional Life