Today is Fun is dedicated to helping adults entertain the kids in their lives. The ideas here will keep kids happy and occupied for hours on end, without you having to spend money or buy more stuff. The tips are always entertaining, often educational and developmentally appropriate. We are here to help parents, home schoolers, teachers, and more. Please subscribe now to receive an idea each day. Today is Fun!

Walk the Shape

Free fun for kids in a couple of easy steps!

Posted on October 22, 2010 by steve

kids activities

 

Here we are again with another of our free kids' activities.  This one is as easy as . . . walking!  

Have your kids imagine some nicely tied shoe laces.  You know how a tied shoe has laces that look like two loops that are joined together?  Can your kids imagine that?

And now, can your kids walk that shape?  Can they move their bodies in a path that represents some tied shoe laces?[more]

If they can, great!  They're in.  Keep quizzing them to see if they can walk more shapes.

Can your beloved young steppers walk the shape of a triangle?  (Easy, right?)

How about an octagon?

Okay, now let's make this more challenging:

Can your kids walk the shape of a crescent moon?

Can your children demonstrate the shape of a flower with six petals?

Or the shape of zig zag streak of lightning?

And how about the letter S?  (And if they're capable of that, can your kids walk out all the letters of their name?)

We hope your kids enjoy this easy little exercise.  Walk on!


[Thank you, frankjuarez, for the walking demonstration depicted above!]

Posted in Good Any Time | Leave a comment

A Little Smidgen of Small Words

A bit of vocabulary building fun

Posted on October 21, 2010 by steve
kids activities
 
Today's fun kids' activity focuses on teeny tiny words.  That is, words that mean "small."

There are a big number of words for "little" in English.  Here is a small smattering of those words:[more]
 

Adjectives:
diminutive
itty bitty
microscopic
mini
miniature
miniscule
petite
pint-sized
pocket-sized
puny
shrimpy
teensy
wee

Nouns:
a bit
a couple
a dot
a few
a jot
a pinch
a smattering
a smidgen


Review the words above with your young learners.  Choose a total of five words for your kids to focus on and use during the day.

Next — to give your child an opportunity to give these words a little use — suggest that they  make a small set-up with the tiny toys in your family's collection.  Nothing too big, please!  What little toys can your kids find to play with today?

When the small toys have been enjoyed — and properly put away — have a bit of art fun with today's activity.  Have your children take out some paper and crayons and create some miniature, little drawings.  What could your young artists depict today?  Your kids could choose to represent things that are small — or things made small.  That is, they could draw fleas and flakes — or small, small skyscrapers and supertankers.

(By the way, it usually takes a bit more time and concentration for children to draw many small things.  While the kids are quietly concetrating, you can use this little time as a chance to cook dinner or email a friend!)

At dinner tonight, instead of one big main course, maybe you could serve a smattering of this and that?  Another opportunity to put vocabulary into use!

Finally, at bedtime, can your children use very small actions to move themselves into ready-for-sleep mode?  Can they brush their teeth — and even climb into bed — using little, tiny actions?

We hope you guys enjoy this activity a bit — and that you and your kids take a few minutes to enjoy a little fun!

 
(Thank you to jerine for the photo above!)

Posted in Good Any Time, Good at Home | Leave a comment

Art Museum Plaques and Captions

A little extra information is a good thing!

Posted on October 20, 2010 by steve
kids activities
 
In case you haven't noticed, art museums are pretty cool places!  First of all, they've got tons of cool, creative art in there, right?  Paintings, sculptures, photographs and more — great!

Art museums also helpfully provide plaques with information about what you're seeing.  Captions are good![more]

In art museums, the plaques will provide you:

  • The artist's name and country
  • A description and explanation of the art
  • The materials used in the artwork
  • When the art was made
  • How big the art is (that is, its dimensions)

If you like a piece of art, the plaque's information can help you appreciate it all the more.  The information on the plaque can help you learn more about the piece of art, what it means, and how it was made.  Terrific, right?

These little informational plaques are all good — and today, we'd like your children to create similar plaques for your house. 

Here's what your kids should do:


1.  Find a frame hanging on a wall in your house. 

2.  Study the image in the frame.  Is it a painting?  A poster?  A photo?

3.  On a small card, write down a caption. 


If your children are too young to write — or even if they are completely capable but would prefer — they can "draw" a caption.  The drawing could show how the image makes them feel — or it could be their own, alternate version of the image. 

Once your child's caption card is complete, help them affix it to the wall under the appropriate frame.

Here are some ideas for you and your kids to use on the caption cards.  These are just my examples — your results may be quite different!

Mom and Dad on their Honeymoon
2002
Tahiti
Unknown Photographer

Monster with Giant Scary Teeth
Sophia
Crayons, Markers, Glitter, Glue.
2010

Our Family Last Christmas
Photographer:  Grandma
2010

Unknown Picture (It's a poster.)
Mommy Says She Has Had This For Years
Unknown Year

We hope you guys all enjoy this one — and that the caption you dream up for this activity is:  fun, fun, fun!

Posted in Good at Home | Leave a comment

Liking Scale

Educational, easy, and fun!

Posted on October 19, 2010 by steve
kids activities
 
Do your kids like scales?

Not fish scales — we're not talking about those!

And not scales for seeing how much things weigh — not those either!

We're talking about scales that measure other, more abstract concepts.

Today's kids' activity focuses on scales that measure how much your children like things.  As in, "On this scale, how much do you like . . . "

Today, we've even created a free, download- and printable scale that you can use with your kids.  We're going to get kids thinking about things they know in a slightly different way — on scales![more]

We'll even introduce the concept of negative numbers.  (This last is often a tricky subject for young kids to grasp — but we believe it's rather easy here!)

And it will be fun for everybody!

Here's the first question to ask your kids:  "How do you feel about birthday cake?"

And give them these choices:
Like
Neutral
Dislike

(If need be, explain the meanings of "dislike" and "neutral" to your young interviewee.  Dislike means, of course, "don't like."  Neutral means "I don't care, one way or another.")

This should be a pretty easy question for your kids to answer.  Most likely, your child likes birthday cake.

The choices above represent a scale.  That scale has three different positions (or options) for your kids:  like, neutral, and dislike.

Let's add two more positions:  really like and really dislike.  Now our scale looks like this:

Really like
Like
Neutral
Dislike
Really dislike

(Here is our downloadable, printable version of the scale that you can use with your kids for this activity.)

Now you guys can explore how much your kids like or dislike any given item.  How much do your kids like cats?  How about rain clouds?  Olives?  Orangatans?  You won't run out of items to discuss!

Use the printable scale to help the kids point out their feelings towards each subject being evaluated.

Finally, you can use this scale to introduce the concept of negative numbers.

First, assign positive numbers to the things your kid likes.  If your child likes something, you can say that the thing gets one point.  If your child really likes something, then say it gets two points.  For instance, I really like chocolate chip cookies.  They are definitely a plus two for me!  I like cauliflower, but I don't really like it.  Like, but not really like means plus one.  Lettuce is generally something I could take or leave.  I feel entirely neutral about it.  Zero points!

Does this make sense to your children?  Now let's deal with things your children do not like.  These things "take away" points.   For instance, beets are just not my favorite food.  I dislike them.  Minus one!  And old, moldy beets:  minus two! 

Please let us know how this goes over in your house.  We hope that your kids learn something and have fun in the process . . . and are feeling totally plus two!

Posted in Good at Home | Leave a comment

Dawn and Dusk

Two very special times of day!

Posted on October 18, 2010 by steve
kids activities
 
Sure, everybody knows day and night, but are your kids familiar with dawn and dusk?

Dawn and dusk are two special times of day — or rather, they're the special times between day and night.

Have your kids witnessed dawn and dusk?  If it works with your schedule, try to go outside and view dawn and/or dusk.  (Depending on where you live, one or the other may be easier to work in.)

Try to view dawn before the sun has risen — or dusk after the sun is below the horizon.  Ask your kids:  how does the world look during this special time of day?  And ask them:  if you were to draw the world at this time, what would be the main color you would use?[more]

After your kids have answered you, encourage them to go inside and draw a picture occuring at dawn and dusk.  Does that drawing look different than their "regular" drawings?

For truly advanced young thinkers, ask how dawn and dusk look different from each other.  (Do they?)

Finally, you guys can also do a Google image search for dusk and dawn, to find interesting photos of our world at those times.  (But please be careful, especially for "dawn," I found a disappointing amount of photos I would deem not-safe-for-kids.)

We hope your family enjoys this educational activity . . . from dawn to dusk!

(And thank you, alexbrn, for the perfect photo above!)

Posted in ages 2-8, Good at Home | Leave a comment