Writing on the glass

If you have a sliding glass door or a big window within your child's reach, hand them a few dry erase markers and see what they come up with.



Let them draw what they want....

....or, turn their dry-erase session into an educational experience.
Have your child complete a pattern, or practice writing their letters and numbers. Have them draw a picture from a story you read earlier....or tell them to draw a picture of something that rhymes with ______.

Lots of fun. And it keeps them happily occupied for a nice long time :)

Notes from Mom and Dad

Here is a simple little activity that will help your kids feel extra special every day.
Have your child help construct and decorate their very own mailbox then stick it on the refrigerator where they can check it each morning for special notes that Mommy and Daddy leave them.




A perfect beginning to the day.

Share the art

Are you like me and have WAY more art lying around your house than you know what to do with?


(and would they happen to all be images of princesses by chance?)

Well, it may be time to start sharing the love. Have your child help you fold up the pictures and place each one in an envelope. Ask them who they would like to send each of the pictures to (a friend, neighbor, family member, teacher....) Write the appropriate address on each one, and have the child slap a stamp in the corner.
Then off to the mailbox they go.

Talk about how excited everyone is going to be in a few days when they open their mailboxes and see what's in their envelopes!

Let the games begin

Tonight get the whole family together for a little friendly competition.
Have each person think of a contest for everyone to participate in.

Here are some ideas:
Who can make the funniest face?
Who can spit the seeds the farthest?
Who can think of the most words that rhyme with....
Who has the best dance moves. (We did this one :)
Who can blow the biggest bubble
Who can eat their pudding the fastest
Who can answer the most questions correctly...

etc.

At the end of the competition, conduct an awards ceremony and hand out the prizes.
Our prizes consisted of children's books that I found at Goodwill for 25 cents! But anything will do.

Have fun (but let the kiddos win some of the time too )! ;)

do re me

Pull out the ol' keyboard or any other musical instrument you have around the house and give your child a basic music lesson. Teach them a simple song to play back to you during their own recital.
Today we learned how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb.

But that's not what this video is all about....



Gotta love Hannah Montana.

Put it on the map

Talk with your child about the unique characteristics of the United States of America, and discuss why it is such a special country to live in. Show a picture of the American flag......then ask if they would like to create their own country today.

Have them think of a name for their country, then allow them to create their own flag.
Ask them a few of the following questions to help jump start their imaginations:

Who will live in your country?
What kind of plants will your country have?
What are some things in the U.S. that you would not like to be in your country?
What kind of rules will you have there?

Have them draw a picture of their new country and describe it to the rest of the class (or family).

This is "Amomica"


Here, the trees are made of spinach and redvines, the rivers are made of fruit smoothies. The main sources of transportation are Magic carpets and dancing dolphins. In Amomica there are no bugs or spiders....and the volcano grants your weather wishes.


This is Tia Land: A land where everyone plays music, and the lady bugs eat the spiders. To get from here to there you must ride the birds, and if you want a snack, Tia Land is known for it's big juicy strawberries, as well as its delicious coconuts.






This is a fun one for moms too. Give it a try!

Just ducky

Look what we made.

Kinda freaky looking, but still pretty cool.

Click here for a list of fun crafts made out of pipe cleaners.

They're fun and take little to no skill. My kind of craft :)

Dig it up.

Pick a letter of the day and collect a bunch of small items that begin with that letter. Also find a few small items that do not begin with the letter.

Pour some flour into a mixing bowl, and bury your items in the flour. Cover them up well, so your child will not see.

Give your child a slotted spoon to dig with. When they dig an item out of the flour, have them say the name of the item and decide whether or not it begins with the letter of the day. Have them put all the items that begin with the designated letter in one bowl, and all others into another bowl.



We chose the letter C and used the following items:
Clip
Chapstick,
Crayon
Candle
Cracker
Raisins,
Button,
Pretzel
and others

Every kid loves to dig! Miss Tia had a great time with this one.


Want to make an easy craft? With a Cereal box? ;)
Draw a picture of a character and glue it to a piece of cardboard from a cereal box.
Cut holes in the torso for your fingers to go through and pose as legs.



My girls got a kick out of the ballet show I put on for them. Make a whole family of them and put on a puppet show.

Family Matters

If you live far away from family like we do, your children may not know their extended family as well as you would like them to.

This week help your kids get to know their relatives by centering your weeks' activities around them.

Start out by sending a few questions out to your relatives. Ask them things about themselves that you would like to share with your children.
Do they have a favorite food? favorite dessert?
What are their hobbies? What are they afraid of? What kinds of activities did they do with their families when they were younger? Do they have a favorite memory from their childhood?

Compile their answers and dedicate each day of the following week to a certain family member, or a group of family members.

Here's what we did.

Day one was Great Grandma and Grandpa G day.
At breakfast that morning, we read an account that Gma had written about some of her childhood memories. My girls got a kick out of her experiences and found a lot of similarities between their interests and hers. We talked about some of my own memories of my Grandparents, and about the things I loved most about them. That day we ate a few of their favorite foods, played their favorite childhood game (kick the can) and made a craft in honor of Grandpa's profession: Making false teeth.







The next day was Great Gma and Gpa Z.

We started the day talking about Daddy's memories of his grandparents, and I read their answers to my questions aloud. We found out that Gramma Z's fav game growing up was Dodge Ball! So of course we had to play. Then we had a yummy lunch consisting of Grandpa Z's favorite: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with soup. The girls enjoyed learning about their hobbies and fears as well as Granpa's favorite tv shows. Miss Hayley found out that her and her Great Grandpa share a common interest: Fishing!

Grandma and Grandpa S: were next.
We started the day similar to the others, but this time over Pancakes! (Which just so happens to be Gpa's favorite breakfast. We found out that one of his favorite childhood memories was laying in the grass and smelling his Mom's homemade cookies in the breeze. Since baking is a hobby of Grandma's we baked some yummy choc. chip cookies together. That night we played one of Grandma's favorite games: Red Light Green Light.

On Papa's birthday we honored him with his favorite dinner: Tacos, and talked about one of his most embarrassing moments as a child, freezing on stage in the middle of a talent show :) This helped miss Hayley feel better about some of the silly things that she considers to be embarassing moments in her life :). We had fun discussing my memories of him. We plan to finish 'Papa day' this evening with a game of baseball and a round of Big Booty. :)

We have several family members to honor yet, and we are so excited to continue with this activity. My children now know so much more about their Grandparents and have developed an appreciation for, and a special connection with them by experiencing the things they've experienced.
Try it out and let me know what you do!

Join the club

Start a book club with your kids.
Hang up a piece of paper somewhere in their room where they can keep track of all the books that they read or that are read to them each day.

Set a certain number for them to work toward, and once they've reached their goal, give them a special reward. (We have our goal set at 15)

I used to use toys and treats to motivate my girls, but lately I've been raiding the Goodwill around the corner and buying all the children's books I can get my hands on since they're only 25 cents a piece. I wrap them each in wrapping paper, and each time their goal is met, they get to choose which book they'd like to unwrap.

They treasure these books because they are their very own and they earned them. So far they've earned three books each and are working toward another one.

I highly recommend trying it out with your family!