Conduct Happiness

By doing something for others!

ADDED January 30, 2009

A great way to "Conduct Happiness" in your neighborhood is to tidy up your street.  I like to make it fun for the kids.  First, I deem each child a "Conductor of Happiness" and tell them that we will be conducting happiness in our neighborhood today by tidying up our street, since clean streets=happy residents.  I give each "conductor" some type of bag--usually from the grocery store (preferably NOT reusable this time.)  We make it a game and count how many pieces of trash each one can find.  Make sure each child keeps track of how many items they have picked up--a great exercise in counting for the little ones.

Important note: You will need to keep a keen eye out for items that should not be picked up and possibly turn the circumstance into a teachable moment, such as, "We don't touch (insert inappropriate item), but let mommy pick it up with her "Easy Reacher"

When your street is absolutely tidy and you have "conducted" plenty of happiness for your neighbors, place the trash in a proper receptacle and see how many items each child has put in their bag.  (Make sure you scrub their little hands really well with soap and warm water!)
The prize?  You decide, but I like to give kisses--one for each piece of litter the child found.

 

 Many special thanks to the multi-talented Janelle from Conduct Happiness for this outstanding activity and thank you for your continued support of TIF! 

 

 

 

 

Trace and color!

The game with two activities in one!

ADDED January 29, 2009

To play this game and make the craft you will need a few things that every house with kids is guaranteed to have.  First you will need some paper, any kind of paper will do but is should be at least 8.5 x 11. Second you will need a small basket of toys, these toys should be small enough that they will fit easily on the paper.  Lastly you will need a pencil and of course at least two people to play the game.

Once you have gathered everything, here is how you play.  One person will be the Tracer and the other person will be the Guesser.  First the Guesser should leave the room, next from the basket of toys the Tracer needs to select one toy and using the paper and pencil, carefully trace around the outside edges of the toy.  They really want to just get the silhouette outlined.  Once the outline of the toy has been transferred to the paper the Tracer should put the toy back into the basket.  Then call the Guesser back. Now it is the Guessers turn to guess what toy the Tracer traced. For older kid the guessing is usually rather easy but still fun. Once the toy is guessed the Tracer and Guesser switch each doing the others job.

After a few rounds of tracing and guessing grab some crayons and the Guesser and Tracer now both become the Artists and they can color their master pieces.  Have Fun!

Four Hints

Guess the animal using four clues

ADDED January 28, 2009

If you need some quick entertainment, here is a fun game you can play with your kids.  First you need to think of an animal, lets say you are thinking of a mouse, then using four clues have your kids guess what animal you are.  Here are the four clues I use.

I will start with, "If I were an animal I would walk like this"  A mouse is very fast so I will scurry around the room.
Then I will let the kids guess what animal I am. If there are no correct answers I will continue.
"If I were an animal I would make this sound"  A mouse makes small squeaky sounds so that is what I'll do. If my identity is still a mystery I will continue with, "If I were an animal I would be covered in fur". If that clue is not enough I will finish with,"If I were an animal my name would start with the letter M". If no one is able to guess what I am then I will reveal my secret clearing the way for someone else to think up and act like another animal.

This game can be played sitting or standing, you can act out the clues or just use your very best descriptive words to explain what animal you are being.
Please remember don't try this in a busy restaurant they may ask you to leave or call an exterminator.  Have fun!

Where are we going and what should we take?

Get those imaginations packing for fun!

ADDED January 27, 2009

Here is a fun question to ask your kids at breakfast:  "If we were going on a trip to the jungle for two weeks, what would we need to take?" It is interesting to see what they would take and why.

If they get stuck for answers, you can start them off with some leading questions.  Here are a few examples: Should we bring our suitcases or our backpacks? What should we put in the suitcases? Will we need hats, boots and jackets? Should we travel around in a car or on an elephant?

My son, being a realist and very fond of numbers, decided to break it down in numbers:  he needed to pack 14 pairs of pants, 14 shirts, 16 pairs of underwear, 12 pairs of socks, hiking shoes, a guide book and money. He also wanted to stay in a hotel.  My daughter, on the other hand, was really not interested in packing clothes.  She just wanted to make sure all of her stuffed animals would be able to come.  She also would rather stay in a tent near a river or on a mountain and would ride on the elephant if it was trained.

Have fun with this one as you get those imaginations racing, and let us know what your kids would take with them on their trip.  Personally I would rather go to Hawaii for two weeks, taking a swimsuit and couple of  shirts, but I am still waiting for someone to offer!  (On a side note we would be more than happy to write up a review of any family vacation destinations.  Yes, we prefer to fly first class, and we are always available at info@todayisfun.com.)

 

 

Vocabulary builder

Teach your child other words for BIG

ADDED January 26, 2009

Big is a fine word.  It describes size, height, amount, and even age.  It can also describe importance, volume and quality.  The problem is, though, the word "big" is, well, it's too big.  It does too much -- so much in fact that sometimes using it can be a big problem.

So today while you are driving to piano lessons, eating dinner as a family or getting ready for bed, have a little fun making up sentences with the word "big."  Then encourage your kids to remove the word big and replace it with a more descriptive word like "king-sized" or "monolithic."

Start by having your child list other adjectives that do the same modifying work as big.  Here is an example sentence, "That is a big tree".   Fine . . .  but it does not create a specific picture in your mind that describes the size of the tree. Here are a few sentences my kids came up with:

"That tree is enormous."
"That tree is huge."
"That tree is tall."
"That tree is large."
"That tree is gigantic."
"That tree is massive."
"That tree is towering."

And here are a few of my attempts:

"That tree is monolithic."
"That tree is tremendous."
"That tree is fully grown."

In just a few minutes, we had all expanded our vocabulary and were on our way to becoming better writers.  (I mean superior authors.)

-Paul

 

Photo credit is given to the visionary genius of:martyportier and several_bees

thanks!

 

Quick tips: Waiting Around Activities

(Part one of many)

ADDED January 24, 2009

 

 

We've all been there before:  stuck waiting somewhere with the kids.  These times are especially difficult, both for kids and parents.  You've really got to bust your behind to keep the kids behaving.

So today we unveil Today is Fun Quick Tips, a list of quick, entertaining and satisfying tips.

Here are some Quick Tip activities for waiting around:

Clock counters / Sink testers. How many clocks do they have in the waiting room?  Or the house?  And do all the sinks work?  (This last was especially good a couple of years ago when our family was looking at homes to buy.)

Have you kids make a list of something. For instance, if you're waiting at a restaurant, the kids could make a list of what's on the table:  salt shaker, sugar packets, soy sauce, etc.

Look for a minute.  Have the kids look around for  a minute and then close their eyes.  With their eyes closed, can they tell you everything they've just seen?

Name everything in your room.  Have your child close her eyes and envisage her room.  Ask her to tell you everything she has in there.

Hand tricks.  What can you make your hands do?  Think of shadow puppets minus the shadows.  Make your hands impersonate different things:  a butterfly, a bat, stairs, a house.  (Not to brag, but my hand can transform itself into a very realistic brontosaurus.)

We'll be presenting more Quick Tips in the future, on this and other subjects.  (Speaking of which, if anyone out there has any other ideas for keeping kids quiet, happy, and in their seats, we will gladly accept them!)

 

--S

 

(Photo courtesy of zoutedrop.)

 

Serif vs. Sans-Serif Extravaganza

More fun with letters

ADDED January 23, 2009

 

Yes, your kids know their alphabets.  Many can probably write in block letters and even cursive.  Now it's time for them to learn yet another aspect of letters : serif and sans-serif.

Serifs are those little lines on the ends of letters.  Look for them on the tops and bottoms of capital H's.

If letters are printed without those little lines, they are called "sans-serif" (meaning "without serifs.")  The letters you're reading now, here at Today is Fun, are sans-serif.

Once you've explained serifs to your little ones, it's time to start playing with them:

First, take your kids and explore the world, both at home and at large.  Can you spot some serifs on the drive to school today?  Do you have any sans-serif letters around your house?  Where?

Make your next trip to the supermarket a serif vs. sans-serif extravaganza.  If your kids want to, let them keep a tally of the number of things they see with serif letters vs. sans-serif ones.

At home, your child should grab some markers or crayons and write a fully-serifed alphabet.  Which letters get a lot of serifs?  Which get no serifs?  Can numbers be serifed up?

Finally, which style of letter do you like better?  Does your child have a preference?

I would have liked to close this post with a reference to a serif ceremony, or perhaps a serif sheriff.    Instead, I'll just say:  enjoy your serifs today, everybody!

 

--S

 

(Many thanks to Russ Neumeier for the assorted letters photo.)

Copy King (or Copy Queen)

A fun, additional way to play with art and drawing

ADDED January 22, 2009

 

 

Okay, your child has just completed another drawing.  Great!  We like art, especially kid art.  But does the art and the fun have to end now that the drawing is complete?

Here's a way to have even more fun with crayons and markers:  make a copy of the masterpiece.

(This is actually one of the ways people copied pictures before computers.  Remember that time?)

(Neither do we.  How did people send emails back then, anyway?)

Here's what you do:  With a pencil and a ruler, lightly draw a box around the picture.  (If you don't have a ruler handy, use the spine of a book or the side of a Kleenex box.)  Then draw two, nicely spaced-out horizontal and vertical lines across the picture.  This shouldn't take very long, and you've now made a grid.  You've broken the picture up into nine small boxes.  Next to the boxes, we like to write A, B, C on one side, and 1, 2, 3 down the other side, so we can easily refer to them as A1, A2, A3, and so forth.

Now take a blank paper and duplicate the 9-box gird, complete with letters and numbers on the side.

Okay, you are (or your kid is) ready to start copying.  With the lines and boxes you've drawn, you can focus on what needs to be drawn in what area.  Instead of taking the whole image and needing to copy it, you can focus on small chunks.  See how your child's drawing fills each box.

Now as far as we're concerned, the copy does not have to be exact.  In fact, the copier might just want to intentionally change or enhance the second version.  Change the color of the grass from green to purple.  Whatever fancy strikes you.

Copy one of your kid's drawings, and then create a drawing to be copied yourself.  Take turns!

 

Instead of using kids' art, you could also do this activity with a scenic from a magazine.  The copy will never be exact, but it can be an interpretation and a fun way to get those little landscape artists inspired.

 

The whole point here, in addition to it being a fun activity that really works, is also to show that when you take something big and break it into smaller pieces, it becomes manageable.  Hmmm....there might even be a life lesson there somewhere.

 

Inauguration Day

What better excuse do you need to have a pageant?

ADDED January 21, 2009

 

Today is a very special day for America, and what do you do on very special days?  Why, celebrate, of course!

Today will feature many parades and speeches. 

First of all, if your kids are old enough, you should certainly tell them about why today is special for America.  (No matter your political persuasion.)  First, we're getting a new President today.  America's smooth transition of power is something to be proud of.  Also, today we're getting our first President "of color," as the phrase goes.  That is pretty cool, and pretty historic.

Okay, now on to the activities part of this post.

When was the last time you had a pageant in your house?  In order to participate in a pageant, of course, you need everyone in special clothes.  Everyone will walk in a special way (marching is good, so is parading) along the predetermined route.  And some impressive, pomp-and-circumstance music wouldn't hurt either.  It really would be great if everyone (adults included) joined the procession.  And you guys might want to change the musical and wardrobe selections occasionally, to see how those affect the marching.

If your kids are a bit older, you might want them to try a speech or two.  Have them get up on a 'rostrum' (somewhere elevated -- a chair would work nicely) and have everybody else be the audience.  They can talk about anything they'd like, such as food, family, toys, fun.  (We don't recommend any political topics for kids, but you can decide.)  If they're able, they should speak in important-sounding, "speechifying" tones.  Take turns, and of course, at then end of the speech, everyone needs to clap!

Have fun this Inauguration Day, and if you don't mind, God Bless America!

 

(Boy saluting photo courtesy of respres.)

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Everybody!

ADDED January 20, 2009

 

We'd like to take a moment to honor this great American.  

 

And if your kids are off of school, see the today's syllable-flipping activity below.  (We also have a couple of other fun, keep-the-kids-busy activities posted on the site.)

 

Have a great day!

 

(And thank you to medium as muse for the use of the image above.)

Happy Inauguration Day!

ADDED January 20, 2009

   

Syllable Flipper

A quick and tricky way to get those little minds going

ADDED January 19, 2009

 

You're driving.  The kids are in the back, and they're getting restless.

You ask, "Who knows what a 'Nut Dough' is?"

Well?  Does anyone?

Chances are very good that everyone will be baffled by this Nut Dough thing.  So give them this simple clue:  Say, "nut dough nut dough nut dough nut dough nut."  Now does anyone know what that thing is?

Try this syllable-flipping trick with any word you'd like.  Just make sure to say the first syllable last.

Here are some flipped favorites for you to try out:  Ray hoo, Pee pup, Mee mom, Yon cray, Fish gold, Kull tick, Knee fun, and of course, Larious Hee.

You guys can also try flipping the syllables in your family's names -- or in the names of favorite characters.  (We're very big fans of Lung Tai in this house now.)  And of course, see if your kids can pull off a syllable flip or two themselves.

We hope this simple game is fun and Full use.  (You can't really flip one syllable words, we've discovered.)  Spend some time with those kids, and have a great time Day to!

 

--S

 

Many thanks for the use of the photos:  Sprinkle Donuts courtesy of Flirty Kitty, and Clapping 3-year old by Rageman.

Learn the Planets

Just in case you ever get lost in space

ADDED January 16, 2009

 

When you take the time to really look, the night sky is endlessly fascinating, extremely breath-taking, and frankly, more than a little bit humbling. Have you taken your kids outside at night recently, so that you guys can do some star gazing?

Something fun you can teach your kids is the order of the planets in the solar system. All you need to do is teach them a simple sentence, and they'll be able to remember the planets in order every time!

First, you can start by telling your kids about our solar system. The sun's in the middle, surrounded by the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. (Pluto's recently been demoted to a mere hunk of ice.)

Next, to help the kids remember the planets in order, you can throw out this simple, short sentence, "My Very Educated Mother Just Saw Uncle Nick." The first letter of every word is the first letter of each planet in our solar system. Get it? (If you learned a different such sentence in school, please let us know in the comments below.)

If your kids enjoy learning about the stars and planets, you might even want to take a trip to the library and check out a book on the solar system. Or NASA has a kids' website where you can get lots of kid-friendly space information.

Here at Today Is Fun, we believe that nothing can get a conversation going better than a little information and education. And remember, you guys aren't just having fun, you're getting the kids well on their way to becoming inter-planetary astronomical geniuses.

 

 

Photo credit is given to the talented and popular:

cfuentes

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Find this, count that, and hide behind me!

Three ways to walking fun

ADDED January 15, 2009

    

 

When it is time to go for a walk, some child inevitably does not want to go. This kid is too tired -- or they walked so much already today or their legs can't move or a scraped knee from the week prior is starting to hurt again. 
   
    So what I do is transform everyone in to secret agents. You've never heard of a secret agent that didn't feel like walking, have you?  And every little secret agent has three jobs:  finding something, counting something, and -- if they see another thing -- hiding behind me.

    This game might seem a little confusing at first, but it all will be clear quite soon.  As the captain of the secret agents, you'll need to have the answers to the following three questions before you can start assigning missions:
   
    1) What is something your kids will see on the walk that your kids can find?  It can be anything: an old car, a barking dog, a motor home, three trees in a row, or even a spider on a web.
   
    2) What will the kids see that can be counted?  It can be: silver cars, yellow houses, newspapers or even joggers with iPods.
   
    3) What is something that your kids will see and can hide from?  It can be a brick house, red flowers, black mailboxes, for sale signs or even birds.

    Once you figure out what your agents need to find, count and hide from, you can turn your walk into a secret mission. Tell them,"I need a spy to go with me today, the spy will have to: find a motorhome, count all the yellow houses they see, and hide behind me if you see any birds (because the birds might be robots controlled by the bad guys.)"

    All it takes to get a grumpy kid excited is a little imagination-stimulation.  And don't forget to use the comments section to let us know if everybody successfully hides from the bad guys!

 

 

Photo credit is given to the talented and popular:

jamesjordan

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Thumbs up? Thumbs down!

A possible hit TV show.

ADDED January 14, 2009

 

When my family and I are driving places in the car we often find ourselves listening to the radio. Everyone is happy as we ramble along . . . until the music stops, and the radio ads begin. This is when I frantically change the channel searching for music, trying to avoid the latest information on mattress sales or low, low auto financing.

As I spin through the presets on the radio, it is fun to let everybody vote before landing on a station. To get the kids talking (and sometimes keep them from falling asleep), I will stop on each station and ask them to put their thumbs up if they like the music and thumbs down if they don't.

One of my kids always gives thumbs up to Top 40 and funky oldies. The other will give a double thumbs up to classical. It is very interesting to see what they like and why. Try it with your kids and see how they vote. (And if you want, get them talking about their vote . . . and respecting the votes of others.)

 

And please, please when I break out into song, get those thumbs pointing right up!

 

 

Photo credit is given to the talented and popular:

amatthews for the blue shirt guy, 41339216@N00 for the double thumbs up girl, daedrius for the thumbs up kids

 

Higher or Lower?

Spend a few quiet moments and hum some fun

ADDED January 13, 2009

 

Next time you are feeling musical try this fun activity called "Higher or Lower."  All you need to play is some sort of musical instrument -- and if you don't have that you can always hum or make a fine giant kazoo.

The rules are simple: you make a musical sound, and your kids try to make a sound that is higher or lower.  There are no winner or losers, just some ear exercises for everyone.

Once the kids have mastered "Higher of Lower," another game you can play is "Match My Note," wherein you hum a note and then have your kids try to match it.  Surprisingly enough, most kids can match notes with ease and will become experts after just a few rounds .  When this happens, have them softly hum a note and see if you can match it.

Have fun with this one.  Who knows:  you might be starting to train a very famous opera singer or violinist?  (Or, less excitingly, a master heavy metal, monster rocker.)

 

-Paul 

 

Photo credit is given to the talented and popular:

kables for the building with notes, erix for the train station
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

 

But this is that and that is this?

Fun with Homophones (two words that sound the same but have different meanings)

ADDED January 12, 2009

English has a lot of confusing words.  It can be plenty difficult learning to read and write (or is it right?), but then throw the tricky homophone into the mix, and it is enough to break (or is it brake?) a kid.

 

So here at TIF, we are at the ready to help take some of the confusion out of homophones.  With just a little practice and explanation, you can take this subject, make it fun, and have your kids ahead of the pack in no time at all.

What we like to do at our house is: first we talk about all the words we can think of that sound the same but have different meanings.  There is always flour and flower, knight and night, nose and knows and the ever-popular ate and eight.

When we have identified a few key offenders, I use each word in a sentence, for example, "I ate my dinner at eight o'clock." And, "Eight kids ate eight eggs, they were famished so they ate eight more."  I always try to make the example sentence as silly as possible; I think it adds to the fun and keeps the kids engaged. Then I give my kids a chance to make up a sentence using a tricky homophone.  And of course each one sentence gets progressively more silly.

This is a great activity to use anywhere you have a few minutes to kill, and since you are just talking about words, it's perfect for the car, while waiting at baseball practice, in the line at the market -- really anywhere.

We will be looking for your silly homophone sentences in the comment section below and would like to hear (or is it here?) from you!  See (or is it sea) you soon.

 

-Paul

 

***UPDATE***

One of our beautiful and intelligent readers Jackie left this helpful and insightful comment:

Homophones are fun. Go here http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/homophones.html for a great song about homophones.

Thank you Jackie!

 

Photo credit is given to the talented and popular:

stansich for the apple ,kentigern for the eights ,savannahgrandfather for the peach 

thank you!

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Building Bit by Bit

Every budding architect gets a turn

ADDED January 10, 2009

 

Building toy buildings is a great activity to entertain kids.  It gets their motor, creative, and planning skills all into the mix.

And here's a fun, simple twist:  building bit by bit.  Basically, everyone takes turns adding to the creation.

As many people can play as want to, kids and adults included.  Use blocks, Legos, Tinker Toys, even dolls or stuffed animals – whatever you've got.  Each person takes a turn to add one block (or one whatever) to the creation.

In our house, we have a rule that each added block(or whatever) has to touch the one that went before.  Also, in an effort to discourage random and premature knockdowns, we say that anyone who doesn't knock down the structure "wins" the round.  (Yes, more than one person can win every round.)

Here at Today Is Fun, we believe that a little guidance in activities – or just a couple rules – makes all the difference, and greatly enhances the fun.  The activity "build something" with your blocks is fine . . . but having everyone collaborate as a team on the same marvelous mansion or palatial palace, now that ups the fun immeasurably.

 

Give it a try today!  (Just please don't knock down my building.)

 

--S

 

BUILDING BIT BY BIT UDDATE

The lovely, intelligent and inquisitive Julia used the comment section to ask us, " How did you make the cubes?"

 

Well, you ask and we answer, here is the link to the origami cube construction page.

Origami Building blocks

 

Construction of these blocks is best with thin origami paper but construction paper works great too.  In less than 10 minutes you can build quite a few of these delicate building blocks.  Have fun!              -Paul

 

Story Cards

Edge of your seat fun!

ADDED January 09, 2009

 

 

Today we celebrate writers and storytellers.  And today you and your kids will play a game to create some fun stories of your own.

First you'll need to make some cards.  We take two pieces of blank paper and fold-and-tear each into eight pieces.  (To do this, fold the paper in half, then in half again, and then in half again.  Tear along the folds, and when you're done with both pieces of paper, you'll have sixteen identically sized cards.)

Make three stacks of cards; five cards in each.  Have your kids choose a color for each stack.  Have them color one side of all the cards in the stack with their chosen color.  (You'll wind up with a stack of red cards, a stack of yellow cards, a stack of blue cards, etc.)

Now, one stack of cards will be the "doer stack" – the person or animal in the story who does something.  Ask your kids to come up with different "people" (a policeman, a chef, a princess, Grandma, Darth Vader, etc.)  or animals (bear, squirrel, bunny, etc.) to be in the story.  They should draw one person or animal on each card in the stack.

The next stack will be the "what the person or animal does" stack.  Have your kids list some actions on these cards – and try to encourage very different and active verbs:  cook, break, jump, dance, kick, smoosh, etc.  (For "kick," your kids could draw a foot kicking, for "dance," two feet dancing, and so on.)

The final stack will be the "something you can touch" stack.  These will be the items affected by the people or animals in the stories.  For this activity, they really can be anything that can be touched:  a puddle or a poodle, a zipper or a zucchini. 

Once you've got all your stacks ready, it's time to create a story.  Shuffle each stack and then have your kid choose a card from each. 

Help your kid make a story with their selections.  For instance, if they've pulled a princess, a kick, and a zucchini, you get this story: "A princess kicked a zucchini."  (We think extra points should be awarded for funny or creative stories.)  You can also ask your kids follow-up questions for the stories, such as:  "Why did the princess kick the zucchini?"  And of course:  "What happened next?"

Encourage creativity and have some fun.  Hopefully the story at your house today will be:  the kids and the parents (people or animals), laughed a lot (action), while playing this Today is Fun game on the computer (something you can touch.)

 

--S

 

Interview the Expert

A creative activity for you and your kids. They get to have all the answers (and they always get to be right!)

ADDED January 08, 2009

 

This one will work nicely both in your car and in your living room.  You are going to interview an expert -- an expert who also happens to be your child.

 And just what field is your child an expert in?  Well, let them tell you!

Start by announcing to the invisible at-home audience that you're conducting a very special interview.  Say something like, "Today we'll be talking to a very special person, who has some very interesting things to tell us about.  What is your name, my young guest?"

The trick with this game, we've found, is to have some stock starter questions.  Once you've asked those, listen to your kids' responses and then ask follow-up questions.  Your part is really that simple:  just listen and ask more.

Let your children decide if they want to answer truthfully or creatively.  Either is fine for this activity. 

Here are some of our stock starter questions:

 

This pastime also works well for visits from grandparents or other relatives.  It can keep many generations occupied and entertained at the same time.  (And for best results, remember that the kids are the creative and comedy stars of the show, not their parents asking the questions.)

Many special thanks to fab father extraordinaire, Mr. David Silverman, of Mar Vista, California, for suggesting this A-plus activity.

 

--S

 

Ranger interview photo courtesy of kevin cole

Lots more fun ahead in 2009!

Don't forget: We're here to help

ADDED January 06, 2009

It's the first full week of 2009. Welcome back, people.

2008 was a great year for Today is Fun. 2008 saw hundreds of posts of which we're proud (that is, all of them), and hundreds of new subscribers. (If you're one, thank you very much for joining us! If you're not, please subscribe now by clicking here.)

We're very happy and grateful for 2008, but now it's onto 2009, a year in which we'd like to "kick up our game" a notch. We're hoping to offer more fun, creative, and just plain better ideas in the coming year. In 2009, we hope to help you and your kids have a lot more fun at hardly any expense. We're also going to be featuring many educational ideas, as well as ones that develop character.

Thanks again for a great 2008. Let's all have a great 2009.

Photo Walk

Wasting "film" is fun!

ADDED January 05, 2009

 

Ah, the blessings of a digital camera.  Remember when we were all kids, and our parents didn't want us to waste film?  That is now a thing of the past.

Take your little ones on a walk around the block.  Bring along your digital camera, and take pictures of whatever intrigues them.

It'll be fun to get outside, and it'll be fun for your kids to direct you as to the picture taking. 

Get your kids talking about why they want certain pictures taken.  (My kids wanted a lot of shots of tires, for example.  They said they like to look to see which tires are muddy and which aren't.)

During the walk, explain to your kids that they can take some of their photos and re-create them with art stuff.  You can show them one of their pictures on the computer, and then they can draw it using markers and paper.  And they can change the image to suit their imagination.  For instance, my boys wanted to change a row of cypress trees into rocket ships lined up.  A garage door with many panels was chosen to become a board game with many squares.

Finally, you can save your kids' photos on your computer and review in the future.  It's amazing how photographing something makes it "more" of something.  Suddenly it's not just a walk around the block, it's a "special walk with Mommy's camera!"

Have fun, and please be respectful of your neighbors on the walk.  Don't trample your neighbors' flower beds, so you can take pictures through their windows of them eating breakfast.  The excuse "But my kids told me to" might not work so well!

 

--S

 

 

Daily Triple Treat - Friday Edition

Three more fine ideas to keep your young ones busy on break

ADDED January 03, 2009

The week of Daily Triple Treat concludes wtih a bang.  Enjoy!

 

Inside Treat-  Have an Un-decorating party.  Clean up all that holiday mess and have some fun while doing it.  Put on some party music, find important jobs for the little hands and make it a good time for all.  Why not make the clean up fun!

Outside Treat-  Make a boomerang. To construct a boomerang that really flies you will only need two things a cereal box and a stapler.  Lay the box so it is flat and cut out the two long skinny rectangles where the nutritional value information is listed. Lay one of the rectangles on top of the the other creating a large X  and staple together.  Next fold one inch of each of the four ends in towards the center and now you are ready to go.  To fly your boomerang go outside hold it vertically in the air above your head, gently throw it and it magically returns. 

Educational Treat-   try one of these 3 number related activities

1,

2,

3.

Daily Triple Treat - New Years Day Edition

Picture review, a star walk, fun with letters

ADDED January 01, 2009

 

Our week of daily Triple Treats continues!

 

Inside Treat- Spend some time reviewing your pictures from the last year with your kids. This could be a fun traditation for the whole family to enjoy.  Make it a game, see who can name the location or the people in the picture.  Or if you chose, make this activity a little more introspective and take turns sharing your memories from the past year.. 

Outside Treat-  Tonight take a star walk.  Bundle up, make some hot chocolate, grab a few flashlights and spend a go star gazing.   Try to spot Orions belt, one of the Dippers and if that is to advanced you can always play First to Find the Moon.
Educational Treat- Try one of these letter related activities
1,
2,
3.