Talking without moving a muscle!

ADDED November 27, 2009

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and we hope everyone had a great time.

At more than a few dinner tables across America last night, somebody or other uttered the words, "I'm so full I can't move a muscle."  (I am certain that that got said at our table last night.)  Well, that's where the inspiration for today's activity comes from.

Today we'd like your kids to take a few moments and try to speak without moving a muscle.  A muscle on their face, that is.

Tell your kids to try talking without moving their lips. 

Give them some silly things to say.  Such as, "Up and down, all around.  Left and right, all day and night!"

Everyone should watch each other carefully.  Can you see lips moving?

(If your kids show some real talent at this exercise, you might want to encourage them to pursue a career in the exciting world of ventrilloqusim.)

Of course, it's fun to try the opposite, too.  Have your kids try talking with tons of mouth movements.  Tell them to really exaggerate their lips when speaking.  Do this one, of course, after you've all recovered from your big Thanksgiving dinner!

(Thank you to Mel B for the perfect cute photo!)

A round-up of our top, gratitude-filled Thanksgiving ideas

ADDED November 26, 2009

1.  Try not to overeat. (I usually fail at this one.)

2.  Smile.  Even if you're not overly happy at dinner -- sometimes family gatherings can be hard -- smile anyway.  It might just help you feel better.

3.  Tell some Thanksgiving jokes to the kids.

4.  Need to kill some time with the kids before the big gathering?  Take a walk together and make a simple leaf sculpture.

5.  To explain the concept of Thanksgiving to young kids, use the word "lucky."  More about that here.

6.  If you've got some paper and crayons on hand, your kids could make "Thanksgiving Travel Maps" for each of the evening's attendees.  It's fun for the kids--and helps the kids connect with each adult.

7.  Are you hosting dinner?  Have you guys made place cards for the guests?  You could turn it into a fun and very positive game.  "Guess Your Seat" place cards.

8.  If the kids have a lot of energy -- well, you might want to get some of that energy out before dinner.  Play a quick round of Thankfulness Tag.

9  Out of activities and need something to occupy the kids immediately?  Well, have them make you a Thanksgiving surprise!

10.  Have a festive, safe, and very happy Thanksgiving!

(Thanks to eraphernalia_vintage for the most excellent thankful photo!)
 

Exactly how grateful is your family, anyway?

ADDED November 25, 2009

Length:  A few minutes.

Parental Involvement:   Explain the concept of adverbs -- think up some with your kids.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Think and use words.

 
Here at Today is Fun, we do love kids to have fun each and every day, but we also try to sneak some learning into every activity.  Today we'd like to sneak some learning into Thanksgiving.

Today we'd like to discuss the concept of adverbs.  Do your kids know what those are? 

Adverbs are words that describe how an action is done. 

How do we look forward to Thanksgiving dinner?  Eagerly.  How do we cook for
Thanksgiving dinner?  Busily. 

(Most adverbs, you can tell our kids, end in -ly.  But not all.)

Adverbs also can "add more meaning" to other words.  For instance, if you and your kids are feeling grateful this Thanksgiving, an adverb or two would help you guys express exactly how you're feeling grateful.  Here's an example:  I am seriously and incredibly grateful for the existence of my beautiful wife and family. 

So this Thanksgiving, try to work in some adverbs.  Have you and your kids discussed things about which they're grateful?  We hope so!  But now, it's time to add the "how" they feel grateful.  Sit down with them and ask how they feel grateful about those things. 

Does a kid in your house feel very grateful?  Very is an adverb!

Really grateful?  Adverb!

Super duper grateful?  Yes, technically an adverb, too.

If your kids are seeming to grasp this concept of adverbs, you guys could sit down and try to think up all the adverbs you can.  Hungrily?  Solemnly?  Exactly?  Of the adverbs, you guys listed, which can apply to Thanksgiving and feeling grateful?

We are insanely crazily appreciative that you (even occasionally) visit and read our blog, Today is Fun.  We hope you are incredibly, pleasantly capable of taking our ideas and making them into fun, real world activities for your family!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving, people!

(We'd like to express our gratitude -- sincerely -- to xybermatthew for the turkey dinner photo above.)

A beautiful drawing to show how everyone arrived

ADDED November 24, 2009

Length:  Fifteen to thirty minutes.

Parental Involvement:   Discuss travel, help with actual distances the kids where needed.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Draw and imagine.

Thanksgiving is our nation's biggest travel day, as you probably know.  While the roads and airports might get a little clogged at times, you have to admit it's nice for people to get out and see friends and family.

If people are coming to your house this Thursday -- or if you're going to someone else's house, that just might make for a fun activity for your kids.

Get out some paper and crayons, and have your kids make a map or two of everyone's journey.  Grandma's coming in from Riverside?  Aunt Jolene is driving in from the next city over?  Bobby and his girlfriend are visiting from college?  Have your kids draw a rough sketch of each person's journey.  The maps don't need to be particularly accurate or at all to scale.  Any correct details that can be included -- such as rough locations or landmarks like oceans and rivers -- would be great to include.

In our house, the kids made the journey a bit more exciting.  They added sea monsters and volcanoes.  That's okay by me, too.  A little imagination never hurt.

The kids can show all the guests their work.  We hope that all the attendees might be a bit flattered by the thought that was put into them and their journeys.  Each guest can describe the journey they took and add details for future maps.  And they can also admire any sea monsters or volcanoes that they completely missed while they were on the road.

Get everybody on the scale at the same time -- or just do some simple math

ADDED November 23, 2009

Length:  Twenty minutes.

Parental Involvement:   Help with math and reading the list below, where necessary.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Compare numbers (bigger and smaller.)  Maybe do some simple math.

Well, here we are.  The week of Thanksgiving has arrived.  The big holiday is this Thursday, as you certainly know.  We're continuing this week with Thanksgiving-themed activities and ideas.

Now, we all enjoy Thanksgiving dinner -- and some people enjoy it too much.  Sometimes the turkey, the stuffing, the cranberries and the many other traditional food offerings are too tempting, and people each too much of all of the above.

Eating too much isn't great, of course, but if it occurs only on Thanksgiving -- well, that's not too bad, either.  It's okay to enjoy the delicious food, as far as we're concerned.

And in honor of overeating, we'd like to present this quirky little math activity.  There are two main parts here:  a little adding and a lot of comparing.

First, the adding.  Have your child add all the weights in your family.  For instance, our whole family (a dad, a mom, and two young boys) weighs 310 pounds.  We didn't include the dog's pounds -- but I suppose that pets are okay if you want to include them.

After the adding, it's time to do some comparing.  The question is:  which weights more, your whole family or a given animal.  For instance, a baby killer whale weighs, on average, 350 pounds.   Therefore, one baby killer whale weighs more than everybody in my whole family!

Here is a list of other average animal weights, for your kids to use in their comparisions:

Flamingo, adult males and females  7 lbs.
Sea otter, adult female   60 lbs.
Elephant, baby (both African and Asian)  250 lbs.
Gorilla, adult male 370 lbs.
American crocodoile, adult 385 lbs.
Zebra, adult males and females  600 lbs.
Giraffes, adult males and females   2,1000 lbs.
Hippopotomaus, adult male  3,300-4,000 lbs.
Blue whale, adult 200,000 to 300,000 lbs.

(We're not professional zoologists, but these are the best figures we could find with some internet searching.  Of course, if your kid's favorite animal isn't in this list, of course you guys can probably find its weight by typing into google "average weight" and the animal in question.)

We hope your kids enjoy this activity.  And take some consolation in the fact that, no matter how much you overeat this Thanksgiving, your family still weighs much less than an adult blue whale.

(Many thanks to today's photgraphers.  Franco Folini for the killer whale, and jencu for the darling weighing boy!)

A color and tell story

ADDED November 20, 2009

It's almost Thanksgiving, everyone's confused we need an artist to draw our foods.  We don't know what we're going to eat its almost Thanksgiving and our meal's incomplete.

The Artist must be able to draw our main dish. Should we eat turkey, steak, chicken or fish?

We also need them to draw our vegetable. Should we put corn, green beans or brussel sprouts on the table?

The Artist will draw the bread we will eat. Is it a baguette, sandwich or pain de mie?

And we will need a picture of our dessert. A healthy piece of Pumpkin or Apple pie wouldn't hurt.

And then draw my face when the meal is done, happy, satisfied and ready for fun.

As Thanksgiving draws closer part of the fun in anticipation of spending time with family and of course eating!  So for todays activity we have a short color and tell story.  Simply print out the pages and let your kids color.  

Have fun and email us your kids art at info@todayisfun.com!

(click the turkey to download pdf)

The hints will help!

ADDED November 19, 2009

Today's craft is a special way for your kids announce how thankful they are for each person around the Thanksgiving table.  All you will need for the craft are a few pieces of Fall-colored construction paper (red, brown or yellow will work nicely), a pen, and maybe some Thanksgiving stickers if you want to be fancy. 

Here is what you do.  First, fold the 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper into quarters and cut. You now should have four small pieces of paper, fold each of these in half so you have a little name plate.

Next, have your kids put their thankfulness caps on and -- as a family -- think of why you are thankful for each of your guests.  The reasons can be serious ("We are thankful for your wisdom") or a little bit silly ("We are thankful for your brownies.")  Write a reason on each card and have the kids distribute them to the places.  Just make sure your guests have fun trying to find their seats, and I am sure this will be a memorable way to start the special meal.

Have fun -- and I know Steve is not a fan of name cards at the table telling you were to sit (if you are not sure of his position on the subject here is the post).  But I am really hopeful he will like this.

 

Everybody is thankful, really

ADDED November 18, 2009

Part of the fun of Thanksgiving is the meal, and part of the fun of the meal is anticipating it.  Most of the time, however, kids are not consulted when the Thanksgiving menu is being put together.  Today we have the solution: a fun activity that you and your kids can do together that will make Thanksgiving even more special for everybody involved.

Here is what you will need for today's activity: a cookbook (and don't automatically go to one of those kid friendly cook books that are filled with recipes featuring twenty-seven toppings for graham crackers)  -- try a cookbook that has a little more depth.  We have a cookbook in our house called "How to Cook Everything;" it really is true to its name and it's just perfect for today's activity.

Give your kids each a post-it note on which to write their names and tell them, "We want your help. I want you to choose something that we can make together for Thanksgiving."

From there, depending your kids' ages, talk to them about what they want to eat at the special meal.  Spend some time thumbing through the cookbook and talking about what they think might be good addition.  (I always try to steer my kids towards vegetable dishes.)  The key to this activity is spending some time together planning and cooking.  We usually make the kids choose well before Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving day can be a little stressful . . .  and we want the activity to be fun.

So what did my kids select this year?  What did they choose to add to the meal?  Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies and Pear Scones.  Here is a picture of the Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies -- the Pear Scones have not been made yet.  I'll upload a picture when those are done. 

If your kid asks for grilled cheese sandwiches or something along those lines, even that could work just fine.  Fry up a few sandwiches, cut off the crusts, cut into triangles, top with toothpicks and serve them as an appetizer.  Imagine how cute your child's smile will be carrying a small plate of grilled cheese sandwiches that they made and offering them to your family as an appetizer!

Not every aspect of Thanksgiving has to be traditional!  As long as it's positive, pleasant, and full of thanks!  (And thanks for reading this, by the way.)  Don't forget to use the comment section to everybody know what your kids want to add to the meal this year!

It's all in the name . . . and it's a silly game

ADDED November 17, 2009

We like to play tag and we also like thankfulness, so we put the two together and "Thankfulness Tag" came out the other end. Here is how you play. 

A group of players (two or more) decide who is going to be 'it.'  Then 'it' chases the other players to 'tag' them with a gentle touch of the hand.   When a 'tag' takes place, the tagged player is now 'it' and the game continues.

Players can be "safe" from being tagged, however, if they say out loud something for which they are thankful.  For example, parents, pet, or pasta. 

Unfortunately, thankfulness can only save you three times.   You see, when you are tagged after blurting out something for which you are thankful, you don't become 'it', but you must hold your hand in place where you were tagged on your body. The second time you are tagged, you must hold your other hand where you were tagged the second time while still holding your first hand in place. The third time you are tagged, you are 'it.' 

This game is a lot of fun for parents and kids alike. I like to hear what kids are thankful for, and everybody looks very silly running around with their hands in odd places.  Have fun and let us know in the comments section the silliest thing that your kids are thankful for!

But make it easy to find!

ADDED November 16, 2009

Thanksgiving is coming, and TIF is your go-to source for daily Thanksgiving activities every day over the next two weeks.

We all know that the best part of Thanksgiving is in the name -- it's about being thankful.  For today's activity, you will need some pens, sticky notes and thankfulness-thinking caps.

Here is the idea:  we are all thankful for those around us.  However, sometimes we get a little lazy when it comes to telling them how exactly they make us feel thankful.  So with your pens and sticky notes ready, have your kids brainstorm a few specific things for which they are grateful for each person.  For a favorite aunt, things could come to mind such as tickles, lunch, reading, smiles, helping and even bike riding.  Then turn these things that your kids are thankful for into little notes.  For example, " I am thankful for Dad's tickles" or "I am thankful for Mom's hugs".  Once the notes are complete, you will need to move to phase two of the activity:  hiding the notes.  Have your kids hide the notes around the house so that in a day or a week the person that the note was written for will find it.  If you are going to a grandparent's house for Thanksgiving, don't forget to bring your notes for them;they will enjoy finding the notes in their medicine cabinet, on their pillow, or taped to the milk.

Have fun!  What are you thankful for? Use the comments section and let us know.

(Thanks to winterofdiscontent for the photo)

Print this one out and let your kids fill in the blanks

ADDED November 13, 2009

Length:  Twenty to thirty minutes.

Parental Involvement:   Download and print.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Answer queestions about themselves.  Do some drawing.

Today's activity is very simple -- and that is a good thing.  Today we've created an activity book for your kids.  Download it for free here.

This book should be easy and fun for all.  It's all about your child.  Each page allows them to express themselves about themselves.  There are blanks to fill in and spaces for kids to draw appropriate illustrations.

For instance, page one is "Just so you know, because you might not, my favorite sea creature is ___________"

And so on from them there.  Fifteen pages all about your kid.  And, like a favorite sea creature, the pages are all a bit off the beaten track.

A fun, perfect, all-about-your-kid activity for this weekend.  Please enjoy!

Mix it up for fun!

ADDED November 12, 2009

Length:  Twenty minutes or so.

Parental Involvement:   Explain the concept.  Help mix around letters.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Spell simple words.  Use some creativity.

When you take a word and mix up the letters to make a new word, that is called an "anagram." 

For instance, if you take the letters in "Today Is Fun" and mix them up, you get "Untidy Sofa."  (Um, is that a good thing?)

Anagrams are a great "exercise" for kids' brains.  To make an anagram, kids have to look at a group of letters and see what possibilities exist for other, different words.

Kids who are just learning to spell don't have huge vocabularies, and can't necessarily find a lot of words from a given set of letters.  But anagrams can be fun, even for young spellers.  There is some magic for kids in seeing the same letters create different words.

For instance, let's take that old standby simple word, "cat."  Move a couple of letters around and . . . voilá, 'act.'  Another different, perfectly good word.

Can you and your kids come up with some anagrams of your own?  Keep them short and simple. 

Here are some we thought up:

ship (hips)
tub (but)
rat (tar)
bus (sub)
bats (stab)
dew (wed)
gust (tugs)
eat (ate or tea)
ten (net)
ton (not)
newt (went)
heart (Earth)
silent (listen)

You guys can also type a word into this website and get some anagrams.  Try your names, too!

We hope you all have some fun and get those brain muscles pumping.  We also hope you will keep coming back to visit your friends here at Untidy Sofa.
 

(Thanks very much to David Bleasdale for the letter jumble photo above!)

Encouraging -- and celebrating -- the wrong way of going about things

ADDED November 11, 2009

Length:  Fifteen minutes to half an hour.

Parental Involvement:   Explain the concept.  Admire how wrong everything looks.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Use some creativity and go about things all "wrong."

Young kids are bursting with ideas.  Sit down with your young and say, "Let's draw a picture together," and you'll see what I mean.  Your kid will have an idea or two of what should be drawn and how.

And this is great.  Ideas are wonderful -- almost magical -- and should be encouraged.

Unfortunately, as kids grow up, they become less confident and less full of ideas.  Kids become afraid of being "wrong."  Teachers, parents, and peers are quick to point out a child's remarks and thoughts that are "wrong" or different.

Growing up can really stifle creativity.

We're here to keep creativity in the mix.  We don't know what the future world will bring -- but it will require creative, new ideas.

So today, we'd like you to have your kids practice being wrong.  The point here is to get them acclimated to and comfortable with doing things in a novel, unusual, and yes, wrong way.

Have your child get out some building blocks (or Legos or Tinker Toys, or whatever you guys have on hand.)  Next, tell them to build a house.  As always, your children will have a lot of great ideas.  Great!

Once that house is done, tell your kids to make another house, but to make this next one "wrong."  Not much further explanation should be needed.  Your kids will have ideas about this version, too!

When the "wrong" house is finished, examine it with the builder.  What is wrong about the house?  Maybe the roof is on the bottom -- or the chimney is.  Maybe it has seventeen doors and no windows.  The possibilities are endless.

Finally, ask your young builder, "Even though this house is 'all wrong,' are there any details or features that are good?  Are there any new ideas you had about houses when making this 'wrong' one?" 

Maybe your kid won't like a thing about the 'wrong' house.  Or maybe everyone will agree it's strangely pretty.  Maybe you guys will wonder why doors can't be all glass, like windows. 

Wrong can sometimes -- maybe even often -- be good.  Am I wrong?   Have fun!

Fun finding the time on the other side of the world

ADDED November 10, 2009

Length:  A few minutes.

Parental Involvement:   Explain the concept.  Get out a world map -- or find one on the computer.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Listen and imagine.

If it's noon at your house, somewhere else in the world it's midnight.  Isn't that wild?  When your kids go to bed at eight in the evening, somewhere else on Earth it's eight in the morning, and the kids there are eating breakfast. We all know this "opposite side of the world" thing is true, and yet, it does seem strange when we think about it.

Today we encourage you to explain this to your kids -- that the sun is always shining somewhere on Earth, and that it's always the "opposite" time of day somewhere.

Also, we want you guys to figure out where in the world is the "opposite time" from you.  For instance, we live in the Los Angeles area.  Around the world from us is the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.  Now, when we go to bed at night, we can think about all the kids just starting their day in Dubai.

Here's how you can find the time zone that is opposite yours.

We've made a quick list below where in you can find where it's "opposite" time.  (If you live out of North America and want to know, email us and we'll help you out!)

Eastern Time Zone.  The "opposite" time is being enjoyed right now in Bangkok, Thailand, as well as Vietnam, parts of Russia and Mongolia.

Central Time Zone is "opposite" from Dhaka, Bangladesh; Bhutan; as well as Kyrgyzstan; and parts of Kazakhstan and Russia.

Mountain Time Zone is "opposite" from much of Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and the Maldives.

This activity also can serve as motivation to learn about far away places, such as Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.

We hope your kids are interested and excited by this activity.  And we hope you have fun with this, day or night!

(Thanks to puroricotico for the many clock photo above.)
 

In defense of that poor little holiday

ADDED November 09, 2009

Length:  A couple of minutes -- any time you see decorations.

Parental Involvement:   Explain the concept.  Feign outrage.

Kids Should Be Able to:  Spot Christmas decorations.  Enjoy the holiday season.

As we went about our business this past weekend, my family was surprised to see Christmas decorations everywhere we went, and in great quantities.  It seems no sooner do the Halloween decorations go down than the Christmas ones go up!

The little town where we live has tinsel candy canes attached to every streetlight.  The pharmacy has a whole gigantic Holiday section right near the cash registers, full of decorations, knick knacks, and gift items.  The nearby mall, of course, has all its halls fully decked, and every mannequin there sports a Santa hat.

We love Christmas and the holiday season.  And we understand and respect that merchants are trying to get people in a holiday shopping spree kind of mode.  But...

What about Thanksgiving, people?  Have we all forgot about that holiday?  Shouldn't Thanksgiving get its due, too?

In the coming weeks, we'll have some Thanksgiving activities and crafts here for you to do with your family, but for today, we would just like to encourage your kids to be on the look-out for Christmas decorations.  While we want you all to enjoy those decorations, we want you to remember poor, sometimes seemingly forgotten Thanksgiving.  Every time you or your kids spot some Christmas stuff, you guys should say out loud, "What about Thanksgiving?  Thanksgiving comes first!"

When I did this with my kids this past weekend, it was a big hit, I must say.  My 5-year-old and even my 3-year-old remember Thanksgiving day and remember it as an important family holiday.  Both kids really enjoyed my mock outrage at seeing so many Christmas decorations, and they felt quite inspired to find them and point them out to me.  It became a very fun, very absorbing activity for us all.

"Christmas?!  What about Thanksgiving?  It comes before Christmas!"

So this week, and in the weeks that follow, please don't forget Thanksgiving.  Encourage your family to become Thanksgiving enforcers and rememberers, too!

(Thank you to Joe Shlabotnik for the photo of the, um, not-Thanksgiving decoration.)

A print 'n' play game from TIF

ADDED November 06, 2009

Here at TIF we like adventure and going to new places is one of our favorite activities.  This weekend however we can not afford to go to anywhere exotic so we created a memory game with some famous world and U.S. locations.  This game will help teach some very famous world locations, practice reading some potentially tricky words, create interest in the wonderful world around us and most importantly have fun while doing it.

Here is how you play, the rules are like those of tradational memory, all cards are placed face down, you pick two, if you get a match you get to go again if you do not pick a match the turn moves to the next player but the twist with this game (and we like twists) is that to make a match you need to match the picture with the words identifying the location.  For example if you pick the card with the words "Mount Rushmore, Keystone, South Dakota, United States" to have a match you must pick the card with a picture of Mount Rushmore. That's it have fun and don't forget to print n play.

Do you play any other types of memory with you kids? Use the comments section and let us know!

(Click to download page 1)

(Click to download page 2)

It's really that big!

ADDED November 05, 2009

Here at Today is Fun, we toil night and day to bring you the very best in free crafts and entertainment for your kids.  But sometimes an idea is so easy and right in front of our faces that we ask ourselves why we didn't think of it sooner -- and today's activity is just one of those times.  The "Giant Menu" is simple, obvious, and just might keep your kids occupied for a few minutes while you put the finishing touches on the rack of lamb you are preparing for dinner.. . .

A build-'n'-play activity

ADDED November 04, 2009

Spaceships are inspirational.  They are made by a few dreamers destined to become legendary explorers.  (They are also useful for battling enemies, for saving galaxies and for general interplanetary transportation.)  Today's spaceship craft is sure to inspire even the youngest astronaut.

To create this space ship, you will need two paper plates of any size (the larger the plates the bigger the spaceship), tape, straws, bowls, one of those plastic bubble cases that come from a vending machine, and anything else that looks like it belongs on a spaceship.  The sky is the limit . . . literally. 

The craft can go one of two ways: you can ask your kids if they want to make a spaceship from the aforementioned items, turn 'em loose, let them build any kind of spaceship they can dream up or you guys can follow the simple directions below.  Your choice.

All that is needed for space inspiration.





First, with the plate or bowl on a table, trace the plastic bubble and then -- following the line carefully -- cut a hole in the center and remove for the navagation systems (probably something that a parent needs to do).

Next, with the top of the plate facing down, put the plastic bubble into the hole, like this.




Third, tape or staple the plates together.

Next, decorate with a marker, add lasers, landing gear, guidance systems, tractor beams, and secret hatches.  Check out this custom space cruiser (escape hatch not pictured).

We hope your kids enjoy their interplanetary explorations and don't forget to send pictures!  

Do you like this craft? Then please let us know in the comments section.
 

Just a few words will make a big, fun difference!

ADDED November 03, 2009

Next time you need a quick activity that's certain to get your kids riled up, try to add some words to the story.  You can play anywhere and with any age kids.   Try it -- you'll like it.

Here is how you play:   the first person starts the story with a brief sentence.  After that, it is up to the other players to add some words to create a truly unique and fantastically hilarious story.  For example, a story could start like this, "I was eating a frozen yougurt..." The second player can add the word "when."  Then the next player adds "a talking dog asked if he could get a lick."  See?  Hilarious and imaginative!  This game is a great way to add to your kids' vocabulary and have a silly time while doing it.

Here are a few starter sentences to get your kids going:
 

Next time you are looking for some powerful vocabulary-building hilarity, add some words to the story!

thanks to arjanvandergaag for the photo!

 

An activity every month . . . and some handsome art to boot

ADDED November 02, 2009

There are a lot of holidays coming up, and we have a perfect post-holiday activity for each one.  After every holiday, have your kids draw a picture of a special memory that they made of the day.  Halloween just ended so if you have a few minutes that need to be filled today or later this week, grab a pad of paper, review with your kids a few of the events that happened on Saturday (getting free candy was popular at my house), and then set them free to draw.  Anything special is fair game, and the more detailed the better.

It's a fun way to relive the day's events and a perfect way to spend some time today.  Then, one day down the road when your child comes home from college with their sweetheart, you will have a collection of art from 2009 to embarrass them with (along with some tasteful bathtime photos.)