Playing with Children

Announcing a New Blog!!

2010-03-20T12:00:00.000-10:00

So after doing some thinking, I realized that I wanted to take this blog in a different direction. I wanted to incorporate more of my love of books--particularly my love of children's books--into my blogging. So I've started a new blog. It's called Storybook Party and you can find it at http://storybookparty.blogspot.com/

The blog takes a children's book and then has songs, activities, crafts, games, etc., to go along with that book. Almost all the activities will make sense if you haven't read the book though.

My goal is to have a variety of activities ranging from ones that take a bit more preparation to ones that take little or no time at all to get ready. Eventually I'd like to have interviews from authors/illustrators and contests and other fun activities.

So check it out and if you have a link to this blog, please change it to http://storybookparty.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Instruments

2010-02-24T21:20:00.005-10:00

The other day, my kids and I made some simple home made instruments. We put rice inside two paper plates and stapled them together (I'd recommend beans instead, the rice tended to sneak out.) We also put rice into a plastic cup and put another plastic cup over it--so that the two mouths? of the cups were together, and taped them together. Presto-chango, maracas instead!

Then I got out my violin and the kids and I had a hootenanny. (Isn't that a fun word? If you use it at least once a day, it makes life a lot funner.) I was surprised at how much the kids liked to shake their instruments while I played. Lucy, being the princess she is, would throw a temper tantrum every time I wasn't playing fast enough. And ho-boy, did she want me to play fast. If you are not an amazing violinist like myself (said with copious amounts of sarcasm), that's okay, you can just play the piano like my sister, who is amazing with no amounts of sarcasm at all. And if you can't play the piano, you could play the harp or the bazooka or the banjo or an mp3 or a CD if you have to. I was going to say something about trombones, but it wasn't appropriate for children, so I picked bazooka's instead. Because those are so much more appropriate. (Yes it's late. I know it's only 9:30, but for a mommy of three, that's late. Do you know my children woke me up more than ten times the other night?)

Anyway, play some music and shake and dance with your kids. By the way, you can also buy instruments from the store, if you prefer. They have some fun ones. Just remember--the louder they are, the more the kids love 'em. And your neighbors all love happy children, right?

Some other games you can play--stop the music every once in a while and your children have to stop too. Or else have a music parade. Give someone a baton, or a stick, and let them conduct. Play faster when they conduct faster, slower when they conduct slower. Stop when they do. And march around the house while you do it.

What other games can you play with musical instruments?

Contact Paper Stained Glass

2010-02-20T19:57:00.010-10:00

So the title of this post is pretty boring, especially considering what a cool craft this is. But I don't know what else to call it. First one to come up with an awesome name--to match the awesomeness of this craft--gets an awesome feeling inside.

Part of why I like this craft so much is because it's fun for most kids. My six-year-old loved it, and so did my two-year old. And we had a fourteen month (I think, I keep forgetting ages) friend over and she had fun doing it as well. Even my four-year old liked it, for as long as he can be expected to like a craft. He's not really into art.

Basically what you'll need is some clear contact paper and some stuff to stick to it. Tissue paper is really fun, and I think cotton balls are a must. Glitter works well, if you don't mind a bigger mess. We took apart some fake flowers so they would lie flat. Ribbon and paper would work

too.

If you have a short table, like a coffee table, that is the most fun. For optimum fun, take a piece of contact paper as long as the table. Start to peel off the back, and then tap it to the edge of the table, sticky side up. Once it's taped to the table, it's a lot easier to peel the rest of the backing off. Once the back is off, tape the other side to the table.

Then let the kids decorate. The cotton balls are really fun. Just stick the cotton ball down on the paper, then bring it back up. It will leave behind a fluffy little cloud. Just let the kids go at it and have fun. For you up-tight Moms out there, relax, let the kids do it there way, it's okay. There is no right or wrong. ;) (Sorry, just thinking of a kid's craft class I went to where it turned out to be more of a You-just-watch-while-mommy-does-it-because-you-will-probably-do-it-wrong class. Really, who cares if the pumpkin looks wonky?)

You can reference the first picture so you can hopefully see what I can't explain very well.

Once they are done decorating, you will need the help of a somewhat more coordinated person. No, I'm not saying you're not coordinated. I just meant that in addition to your wonderfully talented self, you will need another person who is probably not your two-year old to help you. Cut another piece of contact paper the same length as the one on the table, peel off all the backing, and then stick it to the contact paper on the table. Sticky side down, in case you were wondering. When you are done, this should not be sticky at all. If you are sticking to the artwork, you did it wrong. The easiest way to stick the contact paper together is to hold it over the paper on the table and line it up before you press it down.

And then when you are done, you can cut it into smaller pieces. I think these would make fun place mats, especially if you edged them with something. They're also pretty fun in a window. And that was our awesome craft for the day. It made me all happy, like I was being a good mommy. That way I could let them rot their brains in front of the TV with a clear conscience.

Necklaces and Bracelets for Charity

2010-02-17T19:24:00.005-10:00

I've decided that I want my children to be more service oriented. Wow. That sounds like fun. You can bet my kids were thrilled when I told them.

I figured one thing we could do is make crafts for the Festival of Trees. (also here.) For those of you who don't know, the Festival of Trees is awesome and all the proceeds go to benefit Primary Children's Hospital. And everything there is donated--all the crafts and trees that they sell, the people that work there, the guys who drive the trucks to deliver the trees--yup, all donated. Plus, when I was younger one of those close peoples-I-knew stayed there for several days when (s)he found out (s)he had diabetes. (I'm being vague so I don't get accused of disclosing confidential medical history.) So anyway, good cause and all.

I even made my poor children watch a few clips off the internet about sick children in hospitals. I found a few commercials--not from Primary Children's, but that's okay. And then we talked about those less fortunate than ourselves and how we can help them.

And that used up my good mommy quotient for the month so it was TV shows from then on out.

Anyway, I figured we could do some simple crafts. I found some wood beads that had large holes in them and some of that fancy beading-type string. The necklace above used some fake hemp, I think. My kindergartner has been learning about patterns in school--which he loves doing--so this was right up his alley. I told him to pick a pattern and stick the beads on. Then I helped him with the middle bead and he reversed the pattern back the other way. I helped glue on the clasps and voila! (sorry, too lazy to figure out how to get that slashy thing on the a) a pretty good looking wood necklace, if I do say so myself. Yup, that necklace pictured is the one my kindergartner made. I'm pretty proud, actually. (And just for the record, he decided to give that one to his teacher, which I also figured was a worthy pursuit. We'll make some more for the festival.)

For my four-year old, I got some plastic beads (again, with large holes) and some of that stretchy plastic string stuff. I just let him put the beads on in any pattern he likes and he made a stretchy bracelet, intended for a little girl. I figure we'll stick several of the bracelets together and that should be good. I know I've seen random-patterned beaded bracelets in the store before. Right? Right?

Here is one of my handsome men beading his bracelet.

And here is my other handsome man proudly displaying his creation. My two-year old actually beaded a little bit, and if I had been there to help her, it probably wouldn't have fallen off the string and she too might have had a bracelet to show. That's the problem with trying to do things with three kids and only one me. I'm a few hands short.

And if you want to do this craft without sending it to The Festival of Trees, I suppose you could do that. (But just think of all the warm-fuzzies you'll be missing out on.)

This would also make a good present for Grandma. (Hey Grandma--would you like to specify your design before we make you these for Mother's Day?)

Life-size Self Portrait

2009-11-23T19:57:00.005-10:00

This is a fun and fairly simple project to do. Pretty much all you need is butcher paper or any other type of paper that comes on a roll--you can even use the wrong side of some wrapping paper--and some markers.

Roll the paper out on the ground so that it is a little longer than your child. The paper we used wasn't quite wide enough, so we had to tape two sheets side by side. Have your child lay down on the paper and trace around their body. Then have them decorate it. You can even label body parts, if you want. My oldest son did a pretty good job of making a self portrait--right down to the yellow swoop on his shirt.

He really loved this project. That is a 100% genuine huge smile on his face. He was so excited to do this--said it was his best artwork ever and called this his masterpiece. So of course my two-year old started calling her picture her masterpiece as well. After they were done, we hung them up in their rooms.

My four-year old has never been into drawing or coloring much, but he does love his scissors. Originally, his did look much like the other two, with his body traced on a sheet of paper, but he branched out a bit more on his and this is what he ended up with. He will probably be more of an abstract artist when he grows up.

And of course, you can do this on a sidewalk/driveway with sidewalk chalk. A little less permanent, but a little easier. Not that this was all that hard.

Training Dummy

2009-11-16T20:52:00.004-10:00

Okay, so the real dummy was mom for buying her sons costumes that involved swords. Especially when she knew that the swords would inevitable be used on each other. But the boys were so excited and the costumes were cheap...how could I say no?

Obviously, I couldn't. And even though I knew it would happen, I still wasn't too happy with their sword fights that always ended with one of them crying. And me yelling. And one or the other seeking revenge.

So my brilliant idea was to build a training dummy for them to hit instead of each other.

Now, I know it's past Halloween, but my kids love wearing their costumes any time of the year. It makes for a good dress up. So if you too were silly and bought costumes that involved a sword, here is a chance to put them to good use. And if you were smarter than I, your child can use a stick or their bare fists or whatever else you've got.

So, to build one of these very cool training dummies, grab a long sleeve shirt and a pair of long pants. (Preferably ones you don't care about) Tie off the legs and arms and neck hole. (I just tied knots in the sleeves and legs, but you could use string if you want.) Now stuff the shirt and pants. Crumbled-up newspaper would work. I used plastic grocery bags because I have a million of those under my sink. I'm too cheap to buy those reusable bags, but I still feel guilty throwing away the plastic bags. I figure if I reuse the plastic ones, then that makes it all okay, right?

Anyway, stuff the shirt and pants. Then tie off the bottom of the shirt and top of the pants. I'd recommend string or yarn, although I used ribbon because that's what I could find. Then tie it to a chair. I used a trick or treat bag for the head, but you could use a paper plate or a stuffed pillowcase, or whatever else you can find.

Now comes the fun part!!!

Beat it up until it falls apart! Yay!!

My oldest was a ninja for Halloween, just in case you couldn't tell.

The other two were pirates. Since I know you want to see how cute they were, I've included their pictures as well.

Butterfly Clothes Pins

2009-08-11T06:23:00.001-10:00

B is for Butterfly!

My little boy is growing up! My oldest started kindergarten last week, and goes all day. Well, until 2. But he starts at 7:55. Does that seem a little early for kindergarten to anyone else? I have to get the poor kid up at 6:30. Which means that my alarm goes off at 5 so that I can eventually roll out of bed at 5:30 so that I can get my scripture study done, get dressed, and do a few (very few) other things before he wakes up. (We have two separate rooms in the hotel so I can thankfully get up without waking up the kids.)

Anyway, the main reason I mention this, besides because I enjoy complaining, is because you will probably notice fewer pictures of my oldest now that he is no longer with us during the day. Yesterday it was just me and the Wumbumpagus (That's my four-year old, poor guy. I suppose we'll stop calling him that before he's old enough to be embarrassed by it). Which is good for him. Being the poor middle child he doesn't get enough attention. I'm actually really excited to be able to play just with him while his sister takes his nap and his brother is at school. I'm hoping it will be really good for him at that he will stop taking out his aggressions on his sister and brother and mother. If that doesn't work, I'm thinking some sport where he's actually suppose to hit or kick o tackle other other people or run around screaming. Football? Wrestling? Karate? Water polo?

Anyway, back to the craft.

You will need:

~clothespin

~tissue paper about the size of a sheet of paper or napkin

~marker

Draw a face on your clothespin. If you want, you can use markers to decorate your tissue paper or napkin. If you do this make sure to put a piece of paper underneath your tissue paper. I seem to remember using food dye perhaps mixed with water when I was younger to kind of tie dye the tissue paper. Unfortunately we don't have any food dye in the hotel room, so I can't try this out. Anybody know how to do this?

Lie your tissue paper flat and pinch it together in the middle. Stick it inside your clothespin.

Now you can play with your butterflies. WeI had fun trying to hit the ceiling with them. When I was little, my sister and I drew swimsuits/bikinis on our butterflies and made them several pairs of wings--one for the swimsuit competition, one for the evening gown competition, etc. Then we had a butterfly beauty contest.

I was surprised at how excited he was to play with his butterfly.

As a side note, we bought some markers to decorate our butterflies. Fortunately for us, the store was out of normal markers so we bought some Pip-Squeaks Mix-'Ems. They were super fun to play with--you can mix two colors together and then either draw so that you see both colors at the same time, or else make it more like a gradient.

I've seen so many different types of markers at the store. What ones have you tried? What ones do you really like?

I'm Back!

2009-08-10T13:29:00.000-10:00

After how long has it been? I'm finally back. I know ya'll missed me. Cried buckets at night 'cause I wasn't here

Did anyone notice I was gone?

The last month or so has been kind of crazy. We left Utah, stayed in California with family for a week, and then flew to Hawaii. Where we are going to live for 3 years!! Yay! I'm so excited! So far I love it here! (And here are a few more exclamation points just because!!!!!!!)

Right now we are living in a hotel until September when we move into our cute little house. I must admit that part of the reason why I haven't blogged for a while is because my playing with my children has often consisted of handing them the iphone during dinner so that they'll be quiet, stop salting the table, and stop using the silverware as drumsticks. Thank goodness for all those fun apps.

Other than that...does it count if I watch TV with them?

I suppose I could blog about going to the beach--the warm water, the white sand, the palm trees, the sun, my tan ;).... but I don't want to make anyone too jealous. The beach is definitely our favorite activity as a family. The sad news is that our favorite beach will be covered by twenty foot waves in the winter, so we probably won't be playing there in a few months. We'll have to find another beach (I know, life is so tough).

Anyway, just posting to let you know why I hadn't posted and that I am going to post either tonight or tomorrow depending on when I get the pics from our last exciting craft loaded onto the computer.

So, how has everyone else's summer been?

Pudding Finger Paint

2009-05-13T02:00:00.002-10:00

What you'll need:

Chocolate pudding

Paper

As you'll notice from the pictures, we didn't have chocolate pudding. Well, we did, but I couldn't find it in my highly organized pantry. So we used coconut pudding, which had flakes of coconut in it that turned out looking pretty gross once they were on the paper. Not that my boys cared. But chocolate works a lot better.

Basically, just use the pudding as you would finger paint. Depending on your kids, it can be quite fun. I actually did this project because I don't have as many things for younger kids, and I thought my baby girl might enjoy it. But she wanted to eat the pudding and she was a little stressed when I started smearing her treats on a piece of paper. She did make one picture, but then decided she wanted to eat the rest. In fact, you might want to make sure each child (if you do this with more than one) has their own bowl of pudding, since there is a high likelihood that they'll eat the paint as they go and you may not want to share germs.

Popsicles

2009-05-08T16:19:00.000-10:00

P is for popsicles!

What you'll need:

Popsicle sticks (you can find these in the kids craft section at Wal Mart or the craft store.)

small paper cups

Juice (100% fruit juice is highly recommended. But watch out for those sneaky juices--like those V8 splash things or Ocean Spray--that look like they're super healthy but then turn out to be mostly not juice.)

optional: stiff paper or cardboard from a box.

Pour the juice in the cups, stick in a stick. You'll probably notice that the sticks are lopsided. If you want to fix this**, you can trace the wide part of the cup onto a piece of stiff paper (while it's empty) and then cut out the resulting circle about 1/4 wider than the line. Fold the circle in half, and make a small snip in the center of the folded line. Put the popsicle stick through that hole. (Cardboard would be harder to work with, but it would also hold the stick better.) Place the circles on top of the cup, adjust the stick as needed, and tape the circles down if you need to. Place the cups in the freezer on a flat spot. If you need to, once the juice has started freezing, you can adjust the popsicle sticks again so that they stay completely in the center.

Once the popsicles are completely frozen, peel away the cup and enjoy! (We eat our popsicles in the tub--less sticky juice running down their clothes.)

**Hallie said "What I do is just use plastic wrap and insert the stick." This sounds like it's ten times easier to do, so I'd recommend trying this method. Thanks Hallie!

Life is messy

2009-05-07T16:29:00.002-10:00

So, I just felt like posting about my kids and, umm, what they like to do in their free, unsupervised time. This picture is one from when I left my children by themselves for just a little too long...

And today, I got stung by a bee at the park. Between my toes. I'd forgotten how much they hurt. (Poor me, I know.) I put the kids in the tub while my mom helped me get the stinger out. I just bought a brand new bottle of bubble bath today--the biggest one they had--and my four-year old dumped almost the entire bottle into the tub. I drained all the water and still had an inch or two of bubbles at the bottom. So, that was their last bubble bath for a while.

I tried to make my son feel the severity of what he had done, but I obviously didn't get the point across. He started calling himself The Bubble Maker.

Contest Winner

2009-05-01T03:44:00.001-10:00

Sorry I've been so lame about posting. Rough times being apart from my husband and having to deal with life. But enough complaining from me.

So, the contest ended a while ago, but I'm just now posting the results. Sorry to all those very anxious to see if they had won.

And the winner is...

Ariana!

Please email me your current address and I will send you your very cool prize.

Do you...Sing a Clean-Up Song?

2009-04-22T03:30:00.001-10:00

I'd forgotten about those. I used to sing them with my first child, but I haven't with the other two.

I forgot about it until the other day, I told my little girl to start cleaning up, and she started singing "Clean up, clean up" all by herself. She must have learned it at day care or nursery.

They're really useful. If you do it consistently, then your kids will start cleaning up as soon as you start singing it.

Does anyone do this?

What song do you sing?

I know of two:

Clean up, clean up

Everybody, everywhere

Clean up, clean up

Everybody do his share.

(Is that how it goes?)

The other one is sung to the tune of Goodnight Ladies.

Goodbye toys

It's time to say goodbye.

You can of course change toys to whatever word is appropriate for the things you are picking up.

Fishing Game

2009-04-20T03:22:00.002-10:00

F is for Fish!

Once again, I was surprised at how much my boys liked this particular activity. There are some activities I try that I think my boys will really enjoy and then they turn out not to be so excited about it. This one, I wasn't as excited about, but my boys ended up really liking it.

Anyway...

Things you will Need:

~Heavy paper or cardstock

~yarn or string

~stick or wooden dowel (a broomstick will also work)

~a strong magnet

~paperclips

Cut the paper into fish shapes, then place a paperclip (more to make it easier for smaller children) on each fish. Make a fishing pole by tying a piece of string to your stick, then tie a magnet to the other end of the string. Make sure it is a fairly strong magnet so that it can easily pick up the fish.

Spread the fish out on the floor, and let your kids "go fishing" by picking up the fish with the magnet. This can easily be turned into a learning game. We wrote letters of the alphabet on the back of each fish, and then when they caught a fish, they had to tell me which letter it was and what sound it made.

You could put different numbers on the back of each fish and then have your child add each number up to see what their score is.

You could either put different shapes on the back of each fish, or else have your child fish for shapes instead.

You could do colors and have your child tell you what color fish they caught.

You can also use this game as a way to pick different things to do. Put the name of a song or an activity on the back of each fish and then you sing or do whatever is on the back of the fish that gets caught.

What other things can you think of to do with this game?

Contest Reminder

2009-04-10T05:19:00.000-10:00

Just a reminder that each time you leave a comment, you will be placed in a drawing for this utra cool prize. I really appreciate comments--they let me know what you like and don't like and will hopefully help me improve the site. Rules for the drawing here.

Tissue Paper Candle Holders and Cans

2009-04-09T16:34:00.000-10:00

C is for cans and candles.

What you'll need:

~small pieces of tissue paper in several colors

~decoupage (you can make your own out of equal parts white glue and water)

~a can or glass jar or cheap glass vase (If you are using a can, you might want to spray paint it white first)

~paintbrushes

Spread the decoupage on a small portion of your can or jar, then stick the tissue paper to the decoupage. When that area is covered, spread more decoupage on, and cover with tissue paper. Repeat until the whole jar is covered with tissue paper. Let dry for an hour or so, then cover the whole jar with tissue paper. Let dry.

If you use a glass jar, you can use these as candle holders. Cans can be used to hold crayons, or if you use a can that comes with a plastic lid (formula, coffee, etc.) then you can cut a slot in the plastic lid and use it to hold coins. What else can you use them for?

These were the cans my boys made. They are currently holding crayons. They did cans because we learned about C today.

Sticker Tag

2009-04-08T15:46:00.001-10:00

I had a lot of fun with this one when I was younger.

Each player needs a sheet or two of cheap stickers. And then you play tag where everybody is it. Each player tries to get as many of the other players as possible with their stickers, while trying to avoid getting stickered by others. The person who wins is the one with the least amount of stickers on his person at the end of the game. If you want to be really tricky, give everyone a different sheet of stickers, and then you can tally up how many times they got the other players minus the number of times they were hit.

If you play this at someplace like Wal-Mart, the skill of having to avoid "civilians" and the added bonus of getting to annoy other people make it even more fun to play. The game ends when you run out of stickers or when security comes to kick you out.

Recipe: Strawberry Banana Smoothies

2009-04-07T09:11:00.000-10:00

~1 banana

~1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

~1 1/2 cups milk

~2 heaping cups frozen strawberries

sugar to taste.

Toss it all in to the blender, turn it on, and viola--a healthy and yummy (you don't hear those two words together very often) smoothie.

Sorry about not knowing how much sugar to put in. I like stuff really sweet, so I'm not sure how much sugar normal people would like. I would guess 2 tablespoons, but you might want to start with less than that and add more if you need it. If there are any normal people out there, would you let me know how much sugar is good?

One really nice thing about this recipe is that the measurements don't really matter. I usually just toss in however much I feel like of everything, and then add enough milk so that my blender can blend. Then I put in some sugar until it's sweet enough for me.

Probably about 4 servings.

Silly Sentence Generator

2009-04-06T08:50:00.002-10:00

The pigeon built the moon.

I'm having a hard time explaining this craft, for some reason. Let me know if it makes sense, and how I can make the instructions clearer. My boys had lots of fun with this one, so I want it to be understandable.

This is a fun little contraption that lets kids make up their own silly sentences. My boys (who can't read yet) thought it was quite funny to move the different parts around and have me read whatever sentence they came up with.

The first thing you'll probably want to do is look at the middle picture. Click on it to make it big if you want. You can either print this out, or else draw your own. (My version makes enough for two.) As you can see, it's fairly simple. You'll probably want this portion to be on card stock.

If you printed it out, cut along the solid lines. If not, cut a piece of card stock in half the hamburger way, then cut 6 slots, in the same pattern that I have in the picture. The slots need to be wide enough for you to stick the strips of paper through.

If you want, let your child decorate this.

Then click on the last picture I have and print it out. Cut out the strips. I've left some room so you can add your child's name and some friends' names on the first strip. (You can of course make your own word strips if you want.)

Place the first strip behind your card stock, then thread it through the top slot, then through the bottom slot. You should now have a little window with a word peeking through. If you move the strip of paper, a different word should appear.

Do the same thing with the other word strips.

You'll want to make sure that they are in the right order, that they are facing the same way, and that they are right side up.

Now, make those word strips into a ring and glue the ends together. You can kind of see what it looks like with this picture:

Now, your children should be able to move the circles of paper around to make different sentences.

As a variation, you can make the first word strip with pronouns: I, he, she, we, you, they. Then make the second word strip with verbs such as is, are, am, were, was, looks, look, looked, etc. Then the third strip has words such as beautiful, funny, ugly, etc. The idea behind this is that the kids have to match up the right pronoun and verb. Instead of "We was", it needs to say "We were."

Do you...Fly Kites?

2009-03-30T23:57:00.001-10:00

This is Joseph flying his kite at the park.

As a reminder, these "Do You?" posts aren't necessarily supposed to be new ideas, but more likely ideas that you already have thought of at one time or another. I know that I at least I tend to do things and then sometimes forget about them, so I always like to have reminders of things that are fun to do.

We saw the kites at Wal-Mart. We decided to try a blow-up kite. It seems those kinds are afraid of heights. The more string we let out, the lower it got. It seemed to do okay at about ten feet in the air, but any more than that and it wouldn't fly. So, unless your kids are really small, I'd recommend a different type of kite. On the other hand, if you take off the strings, they're pretty fun to throw around the house.

My dad actually spent some money on a kite and got one almost guaranteed to fly. If you can't get his to fly, you won't be able to get anything to fly. My favorite though, are fighter kites. My brother has one. When my kids are older, I want to get some. They are super fun to fly, but you can't really chase after kids while flying one of those. (I'm not yet good enough to have the kite chase the kids for me.)

Any fun kite flying stories or ideas out there?

(I love getting comments--it makes me feel special.)

And, we don't have a letter K yet, so K is for kites.

"You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost" Paper People

2009-03-30T16:44:00.002-10:00

G is for ghost story....

Once upon a time there was a cute little girl walking down the street. She was minding her own business when all of a sudden....

Boooo!!! A scary ghost jumped out and scared her half to death.

This fun little folded guy actually looks like this:

When you unfold him.

These people are pretty fun to make and play with.

First thing to do is click on one of the people at the end of this post and then print him or her off. There are three choices: boy, girl, and easy, which is also a boy. If you want an easy girl..no, that doesn't sound right...a simple girl?...that's not what I'm going for either, anyway...let me know and I'll draw one for you. (If I'm in a good mood, otherwise you'll hafta draw it yourself.)

The next step is to color your chosen person.

Then fold it.

Dotted line means you fold the paper away from you, solid line means you fold the paper towards you. It's easy to tell if you are folding it the right way, because if you are, it should look like a fairly normal person when you are done. It's sort of like folding a paper fan, but not quite.

And now you are pretty much done.

One fun thing to do with these is to either tell a ghost story, or else read a picture book with ghosts or monsters. Fold your person up normal, and when you come to a scary part, unfold it and scream!

It's also fun to draw your own. The easiest way to do this would be to print out one I've done for reference. Fold up the one I drew, then take a blank piece of paper and fold it up the same way. You'll want to draw a normal person on paper while it's folded. Pay special attention to where you draw the eyes and mouth--you'll want to make sure to draw those on a fold. (You can look at one I've drawn for reference.) Then unfold it and connect the lines.

My kids enjoyed these quite a bit. My oldest especially enjoyed telling me a ghost story with his little girl. (My boys both did a more complicated person, but they were kind of difficult for them to fold and unfold. If you have a small child you may want to do the easy one.)

Butteryfly Hats

2009-03-30T09:19:00.000-10:00

B is for butterfly!

What you'll need:

~Poster board or cardstock

~Paper

~Glue/staples

~Decorations--we just used colored paper. You could use crayons or markers or glitter or stickers or whatever you have lying around.

If you want to use a template, you can print off the one at the end of this post. The butterfly body may be a little too big, so when you go to print, there should be an option to scale it down. (If any of you try to print stuff off from the blog, let me know if it works or doesn't. I know it does with my computer and printer, but I'm interested if it does for others.)

Start by cutting a strip of card stock/ poster board about an inch wide and making a head band for your child . If you use card stock, you'll have to cut two strips to fit all the way around the head.

Cut out the butter fly wings and butterfly body. You can either use those directly, or else you can use them as a template to trace it onto construction paper. Or you could cut out your own butterfly wings. Same goes for the body

Decorate the wings.

Glue the body to the headband. We also cut a small strip of black paper, curled it around the pencil, and stuck that to body for the butterfly-sucker thing. (You know, that thing they stick in flowers--what's it called?) Glue/staple/tape the wings on. You'll want them far enough apart so that your kids can see, but if they get too far apart, they start looking like elephant ears. (Hey--another project!)

Let the headband dry if you used glue, then enjoy!

As another idea--if you want to learn about shapes, you could cut out a bunch of different shapes and let your child use those. Talk about what shapes they are putting on the butterfly as you go.

Pancake Pictures

2009-03-21T16:44:00.001-10:00

P is for pancake!

What you'll need:

~Pancake batter

~food coloring (optional)

~these plastic container things that squirt out stuff and I don't know what they're called so I took a picture of them (optional):

First thing to do is make your pancake batter. Doesn't matter what flavor as long as there aren't any chunky things--like blueberries--in it. If you're going to use those plastic bottle things, then you'll want to beat the pancake batter so that it's smooth--even if the directions say not to. Depending on how thick it is, you may want to water it down a tad. Doing all this to the pancake batter means that they may not have quite the same texture as they otherwise would. My kids still liked them though--even more than normal pancakes.

Once you have the batter made, put it in the bottles. If you'd like, dye half the batter whichever color you choose. We did purple because that's my boys' favorite color. This helps the pictures show up better, but it isn't necessary. If you don't die the batter, the pancake batter that you put on the griddle first will be darker than the rest because it will cook longer.

Depending on how complicated the pancake you want to design is, you may want to put your batter on a cool griddle/frying pan. Some of these pancakes took a while to finish, so the stuff that I put down first was pretty done by the time I got the last of the batter on the pan. But only do this if you are using colored batter.

The first thing you'll want to do is make the outline. It may be a good idea to have a needle or pin nearby in case your bottle top gets clogged with a clump of batter.

If you don't have the bottles, you can spoon the pancake batter onto the pan, but you won't be able to make as complicated a design as you would with the bottles. Depending on your art skills, you can make this as simple or as complicated as you want. If you use any letters, make sure they are a mirror image.

Then fill in the outline with your other color of pancake batter. If it's not already on, turn the heat on and let your pancake cook. You may not want this side of your pancake to be too dark, so don't let it cook for too long. Then flip it over and cook the other side.

Here is the finished product:

Here is an attempt at a dragon:

Here is an attempt at a unicorn. Thankfully my son has a good imagination. The first time I tried to make the unicorn, the bottle got clogged and then spewed out a blob of pancake batter when I squeezed really hard. Michael wasn't upset though--he just told me that was the unicorn horn.

Apple Prints

2009-03-16T17:38:00.001-10:00

A is for apple and ants.

This is the messiest project we've done for a while, so make sure you're prepared. You'll probably want to cover your work area with newspaper or plastic and make sure your kids are wearing old clothes or a paint shirt or both.

What you'll need:

~Paint. (We used red, green, and yellow 'cause they're apple colors, and then black for the ants.)

~paper plates or bowls, margarine lids, or something similar

~apples

~knife and cutting board

~paper. (Heavier is better. Construction paper works well.)

First, cut the apples in half. Either way works well. As you can see from the picture, depending on the way you cut the apple, you'll either get a circle or a more apple shape. You can also cut the apple into slices if you'd like.

Squeeze a fair amount of each color of paint onto a different plate/bowl/lid for each color. Let your kids dip the apple (cut side goes into the paint) and then stamp it onto their paper. The apples can get slippery with the paint, so this can be pretty messy.

For the ants, let your kids dip their fingers into the paint and then make 3 fingerprints right next to each other for the ant body. Use a paintbrush or marker to make legs.

These are the pictures my boys did. Lucy woke up from her nap right as we began these and demanded lunch, so I wasn't able to help them as much as I would have liked. Joseph ended up painting with his apple rather than stamping, but they still had fun.

Skittle Math

2009-03-16T17:04:00.000-10:00

We like skittles, so for us this is skittle math. But it could also be M&M math or gummy bear math.

To do this, you'll need a piece of paper, a pencil, and some small candies.

To start off, I write out the numbers 1-10 at the top of the paper. This helps Michael who sometimes forgets what they look like. Then I write a simple math problem such as 1+3=.

I then have Michael (or Joseph) count out one skittle and place it below the number one. Then he counts out three skittles and places it below the number three. I then have him count how many skittles there are all together and he writes the answer down. (For Joseph, I write the number for him and have him trace over it.) He gets to eat the skittles and we do another problem. Joseph especially loves this. He is a candy monster.

Milk Jug Mitts

2009-03-14T17:08:00.000-10:00

M is for milk and mitt.

I keep saying that I was surprised by how much my kids enjoyed an activity, but with this one, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed playing with these things.

They're really simple.

What you'll need:

~at least 2 gallon-size plastic milk containers

~knife and/or scissors

~small ball, about the size of a baseball. (Hey! you could probably use one of those. Although with my small children, our ball was a little softer.)

The first thing you'll want to do is wash out the milk jugs with warm soapy water. After you do that, cut off the bottom with your knife/scissors. After you've cut off the bottom, cut a U shape out on the same side as the handle. Hopefully these next two pictures will show you what I mean.

Do this to each of your milk jugs. Grab your ball, now you're ready to play! We played catch with these. We used them to both catch and throw the ball. It was pretty fun. If you make enough of these things, you could probably come up with a game (perhaps similar to lacrosse?) and have even more fun.

Joseph couldn't quite get the hang of these things. But Michael did pretty well, as you can see from the top photo. I don't play enough sports with my kids, so they're not particularly athletic.

Michael and Joseph had a hard time playing catch, so they figured it was easier to just roll the ball from one to the other.

How does it feel?

2009-03-14T17:00:00.001-10:00

This is the baby version of the last post. Find several objects that feel different. For example, find a furry teddy bear, a smooth apple, a hard ball and a soft ball, a cup filled with ice water and a cup filled with hot water. Set them out on the couch or coffee table or some place where your child can easily see them. Then tell your child to find the object that is furry or smooth or squishy or hard. Touch the objects with them and explain the words they may not know. You might want to include a few objects that they have to touch in order to know which one is which. For example--they might have to touch the balls to see which one is soft and which one is hard. They will have to touch the cups to figure out which one is hot and which one is cold.

What's inside?

2009-03-14T16:45:00.000-10:00

This is simple, but I was surprised by how much my kids enjoyed it.

What you'll need:

~paper bugs--lunch sack size

~objects to go inside

~tape or stapler

Basically, what you do is place one object inside each paper bag--make sure your kids don't see what is inside. I had five different objects. (Depending on your kids' attention span and how much they enjoy this game, you can do more or less.) Staple or tape the bag shut, and then let your kids feel the object through the paper bag and see if they can guess what is inside.

If your kids are younger, you'll want to go with fairly obvious objects. With my kids I used a sippy cup with handles, a giant Lego, a fork, a marker, and a pair of scissors. Joseph opened the scissors before we got to them, so I don't know if Michael would have gotten it. (Joseph didn't really play.) But Michael was able to guess the cup, Lego and come pretty close on the marker.

If your kids can't guess one or more of the objects, you have several options. You can just tell them what that is. Or you could give them a clue. But I prefer one of these two options:

If they can't figure it out, you can have several objects for them to look at that are similar to the object in the bag. For example, if you have a maker in the bag, you could have a pencil, a knife, and a marker out for them to look at. Help them see the differences between the different objects: Is it flat or round? So it can't be the knife. Is it thick or thin? So it can't be the pencil...

The other thing you can do is to grab a blanket, place the bag under the blanket, open it up and take out the object so they can't see what it is. (Or, you could just blindfold them.) Then let them feel what the object is outside the bag. More than likely, they will be able to get it. If you do this, you can talk about your sense of touch. As them what things they can feel about the object that they couldn't feel in the bag. For example, they can feel the texture--smooth or rough. If it's metal, they can feel that it is cold.

For younger children, you could just blindfold them (if they'll let you) and hand them objects as they are. Ask them about what they are feeling: is it hard or soft, smooth or rough, etc.

You can also use this as a game to play at something like a baby shower. Use objects that have to do with babies--baby lotion, baby powder, thermometer, picture frame, etc. You might want to have a few odd shaped and unusual objects if you are playing with adults. Hand everybody a piece of paper to write down their answers, then pass the bags around and let them see if they can guess what is inside.

Recipe: Octo-dogs on a Bed of Macaroni

2009-03-14T06:17:00.000-10:00

O is for octopus!

So I'm not really sure that I can call this a recipe, but it is a really fun way to play with your food!

Things you will need

~1 box of Macaroni and Cheese, prepared

~1 hotdog per child

~knife

~plate

~whole cloves (extremely optional)

Once your mac and cheese is cooking, you can start preparing the octo-dogs. Start by cutting it length wise down the middle. Leave about 1 1/2 inches of the hotdog connected at the top for the head.

Now cut both those pieces that you just cut in half. Again, leave the 1 1/2 inches at the top.

Now you should have an octo-dog with four legs:

You can leave it like this if you want. But as we all know, octopi have 8 tentacles, so if you want to be anatomically correct, you should cut each leg in half. (This is rather tricky to do while trying to take a picture with one hand.)

Now put your dog on a plate and spread out the legs. Microwave him for about 20 seconds. (Time will vary depending on your microwave.)

Now, take him off that plate, put some macaroni on the plate, and then replace the octo-dog. Make sure his tentacles look good and octopusy.

If you want, you stick two whole cloves in the "head" for eyes. This is really unnecessary since you''ll have to take them out before your kids eat them, but they do look cool, so if you're going to be take pictures of your creation, go ahead and do it. If your octo-dog will not be posing for a photo shoot it may be a waste of cloves.

This is Michael with his octo-dog. He was so excited to see this and promptly proclaimed me the best mommy ever. (He doesn't say that nearly enough.) I must admit though, that I'm never too excited to feed my kids mac and cheese or hotdogs. I mean, the nutritional value is what, a negative number? They do have those boxes of 50% whole-wheat mac and cheese, and those do make me feel better at least. But it's a food that I know he will eat and it is easy, so....

Contest and Prizes

2009-03-14T03:46:00.000-10:00

Every once in a great while (when funds will allow) I'd like to have a contest with the prize being some utra-cool thing for you to do with your children. I figure that since this blog is new, now would be a great time to have a contest.

Click here to see the very cool prize.

I don't know if you guys are familiar with the Klutz books, but I think they are very fun. I loved them as a child--so many fun things to do. Well, this is one of my favorite to do with my children. (They're still too young to do any of the other Klutz books, although they do have Chicken Socks books for younger kids.) These bubbles are cool! If you live in the right conditions--lots of humidity--you can get bubbles that are twenty feet long. Wow! Since we live in about the driest place on earth--Utah--our bubbles were not that big. But we were still able to get 1-2 feet bubbles, which were bigger than any others we had previously blown. But we are excited to try it out in Hawaii.

So, how do you get this very cool prize? Very easily--by leaving comments. Every time you comment, you will be entered into the contest. (Unless your do something silly like leave the same comment over and over and over again. Those comments will only be entered once.) Which means that if you comment, you won't want to do it anonymously if you want to enter the contest. (Anonymous comments are still welcome.) So let your friends know about this site, and you can all enter the contest together. And it doesn't matter where you comment--I'll check all posts for comments.

The contest will end April 25, 2009. (subject to change based on my whims and desires.)

Letter of the Day

2009-03-13T18:35:00.000-10:00

I am trying to teach my children the letters of the alphabet. One fun way to do this is to have a letter of the day. I pick one letter and then brainstorm all the different words that I can think of to go with that letter. I think up activities and games and crafts to do with those words. Then I give Michael and Joseph a sheet of paper and as we go through the day, we make a list of all the P words that we find. (Michael can copy the word if I write it first on another piece of paper. For Joseph I just write the word on his paper and he traces over it.)

For example, if P were the letter of the day, I would think of words like pig, picnic, paper, pretzels, pudding, popsicles, puppet, pizza, pepperoni, pasta, pail, pirate, party, pancakes....

So we might start off the day with pancakes. We would add the word "pancake" to our list. Then maybe we would make paper bag puppets. "Paper" and "puppet" would go on our list. We might have a picnic with pepperoni pizza, pudding, and pretzels. "Pepperoni," "pizza," "pudding," and "pretzels" all go on the list. Or maybe we'd have a pizza party instead. We might make pictures out of pasta, or else build sand castles with a pail... you get the idea. As we go I make sure that we sound out the first letter of each P word, so that hopefully my kids will be able to remember what P says.

As you may have noticed--under labels I am putting the letters of the alphabet. I only have a few so far, but as I go along, I will get more. So if you want some help thinking up ideas, just click on a letter and you'll have several come up.

Simon Says--Alphabet Style

2009-03-13T18:09:00.000-10:00

I am assuming every one knows how to play Simon Says--one child is it, they tell the other kids what to do, prefacing everything with "Simon says." "Simon says touch your toes." So everybody touches their toes. "Simon says jump up and down." So everybody jumps. "Now turn in a circle." Oops, Simon didn't say, so now, whoever turned in a circle is out.

This is a variation on that.

To play this game, children need to either be learning or else know the sounds that letters make. If they just know a few sounds, that's okay. The game can be adjusted accordingly.

For smaller children, pick a letter of the alphabet and start brainstorming some action words that start with that letter before the game begins. You'll probably want a list.

The way you play the game is thus:

(We'll use T for our example.)

Tell the kids that if you say a word that starts with T, then they do what you say. If you say a word that doesn't start with T, then they don't do it.

So, I would say:

The letter T says turn.

(Turn starts with T, so everybody turns)

The letter T says Twist

(Twist starts with, so we all start twisting)

The letter T says sit down

(Sit doesn't start with a T, so anybody who sat gets to try again--my kids are too small to be out. Tears would be imminent.)

And for my kids, who are just learning sounds, I really emphasize the T sound in a word: The letter T says ta-ta-ta-turn.

If I use a word that doesn't start with T, then I don't emphasize the sound at all: The letter T says jump.

Other words you could do for T: trip, touch your....(fill in a body part), tumble, tickle. If I say a group of words (like touch your nose) only the first word has to start with T.

To make it really tricky for older children, you can use any letter in the alphabet, so long as the action word starts with the letter that you say. For example:

The letter R says run in place

(run starts with R so everybody runs in place.)

The letter J says jump

(Jump starts with J, so everybody jumps.)

The letter P says pat your head

(everybody pats their head.)

The letter C says stomp your feet.

(Stomp does not start with C, so anybody who stomped their feet is out.)

This version is a lot easier for the Simon, but it's a lot harder for the other players.

So, if you were playing with younger kids and you wanted to use the letter J, what words could you use? Jump, jiggle, juggle, jog, jab, jive... the good thing about little kids is that they do well with repetition. So after you've gone through your list of words, just start repeating them. It will reinforce the letter sound.

If anyone comes up with some good word lists for different letters, be sure to leave them in the comment sections.

Paper Bag Puppets

2009-03-13T16:58:00.000-10:00

P is for puppet and paper.

So, this first picture is a little deceiving, because that isn't the puppet that I will be teaching you how to make. I'm not including instructions for how to make a puppet like that, because if you're good enough to make a puppet like that, half the fun is designing it yourself. So for older kids, find a bunch of stuff--construction paper, markers, crayons, yarn, fake flowers, buttons, fabric, etc.--set it out on the table, give them a paper sack, and let them create what they want.

For the puppets we'll be making, scroll down to the pictures with my kids holding their puppets. That's what we'll be doing. And older kids will probably find those types of puppets fun as well. It's always fun to mix and match faces and see what you come up with.

For this project you will need:

~Paper sack (if you have to buy 'em for this project, you might consider buying white ones. They are a little more expensive, but not much.)

~markers or crayons

~glue

~scissors

~facial feature pages found at the end of this blog.

The first thing you will want to do is print off the facial features. Those are the four black and white pictures at the end of this blog. To print them off, click on one of the pictures. This should take you to a new screen with just a very big version of that picture. Then go to file and print it off. When you go to print these off, pay attention to how many pages your printer is trying to print--it might try to print off an extra page you don't need.

Now, give these pages to your child and let them pick out and color whichever combination of eyes, nose, mouth, hair, etc. that they want.

When they are done coloring them, cut them out.

Now you're ready to glue them to the bag. You want to make sure that you glue the face to what would be the bottom of the bag if it were unfolded. There are two pairs of lips on the mouth page where the lips come in two pieces. These make the best mouth for a paper puppet. What you do with these is place the top lip on the bottom of the bottom part of the bag. Then you place the bottom lip right under it on what is the side of the bag. Hopefully these next two pictures will show you what I mean:

Once you've glued on all the parts of the face let your child draw on clothes or add anything else that they might want to add. Then let the glue dry. Once the puppet is dry, put on a puppet show!

Do you....Dance?

2009-03-13T16:25:00.000-10:00

Since this is the first time I've posted a "Do you....?" blog, let me explain what these are. If you're like me, I sometimes do something that my kids really enjoy, but then forget about it later. Or sometimes I'll have done something as a kid, but I don't think about doing it with my own kids. These "Do you...?" blogs are intended to be about things that you might already be doing, or else have done, but have possibly forgotten about. That way you can start or restart doing them with your children. Also, sometimes different people will have different ways of doing the same thing. If that's the case with one of these posts, I'd love to hear about how you do it. It's always fun to add on to and change the way that I play with my own kids.

So, dancing...

I love to dance with my kids. I'll put on some of my favorite music and we all dance together. Sometimes we all dance by ourselves, sometimes we form a circle, and sometimes I'll pick up one of the kids and dance with him/her. Michael and Joseph will wrap their legs around my waist and we spin and jump and dip. They love to dance fast. As much as I love to dance with them, my favorite is Lucy because she will lay her head down on my shoulder and we can just cuddle as we slow dance. My husband is gone for training right now, so I can use all the cuddling I can get.

So, do you dance with your children?

Leis

2009-03-13T03:09:00.000-10:00

F is for flowers.

I don't know about you, but we just had a snow storm and I am getting tired of the cold and ready for spring. I figured flowers would be a great way to celebrate the upcoming event.

And not only that, but my husband is in the army and in June we are moving to Hawaii!! I am so excited. Warm weather, sun, beaches, no more snow...

Anyway, on to the craft.

For these leis you will need:

~Cheap fake flowers

~Straws. White ones are fine, but colored ones are more fun.

~Pony beads (optional, but recommended.)

~Yarn

~Scissors

~Tape.

You might want to prepare these next few steps without your children waiting to make the leis. These steps don't take long, however, so you can do it with your children, like I did. It's just a little more crazy that way.

First, take the fake flowers and cut them off, right behind the back.

Then take the center out and separate the petals. (This means that when you buy the flowers you need to make sure that the center part can be separated from the rest of the flower.) Your flower will look something like this:

Those green things were what was holding the flower together and they can be discarded. As you will notice, sometimes, but not always, the flowers look kind of funny once they are take apart--this one only has four petals. (We had one flower that only had two petals once we took it apart.) Small children probably won't care, but if you have an older child that wants a more perfect flower, you can put the two flowers on top of each other and string them together so they look better.

I don't know if you can see, but there are holes in the center of the flowers. However, for my young children, these holes were too small for them to get their yarn through. (An older child should be okay.) So if you have small children, you'll probably want to take your scissors, place them in the hole, and snip a small slit so that it is easier to thread the flowers. Make sure you don't cut all the way through the flowers.

Next, take some straws and cut them into pieces about 1 to 2 inches long. Shorter for older children, longer for smaller. I can't really tell you how many you'll need. (Same goes for the flowers) It all depends on what pattern (if any) your child decides to use and how long she wants her necklace. You can always start with a few straws and then cut more if it looks like she is running out.

Now cut a length of yarn long enough so that your child can easily slip it over her head when it is tied. Leis are usually quite long. If you are using pony beads, tie a pony bead to one end on the yarn so that the beads/straws/flowers won't come off when your child strings them. If you aren't using beads, try a small piece of straw or a really big knot. On the other end of the yarn, tightly wrap a piece of tape around the yarn so that it is easier to thread the beads/straws/flowers. Even as an adult, I needed this. If your children are old enough, a quilting needle might be easier.

Now you are ready to start! (Don't be turned off by this long list of preparations. Like I said, I did all of that with all three kids standing/running around--it really only takes a few minutes to get this all ready.)

Let your kids thread the beads, straws, and flowers onto the string in any pattern they choose. If you want one that looks like the lei at top, I did bead, straw, bead, flower, bead, straw, bead, flower... but as you can see from the pictures below, my children didn't use any pattern, and they still turned out fun.

Once your kids are finished, tie the two ends together with a really good knot. (If you know how to tie one of those, let me know. I usually have to tie several knots. And then retie it when they come undone.)

This is Michael's lei. He is five, and did pretty well with this craft.

This is Joseph's lei. (He is three.) As you can see, he was able to do it. But his attention span for art projects is very short, as is his lei.

And here are my three beautiful children enjoying their leis. (Joseph took mine and gave his to Lucy.) This craft was fun, but I think it might have been even more fun if my kids were a little older. Girls might enjoy it even more.

As a few last notes--these can be made with paper flowers to reduce the cost. But unless you have access to one of those things that will mass produce paper flowers for you, it will take a long time to cut out enough flowers for these. Also, they won't last as long.

Any leftover flowers are great for scrap booking or homemade cards.

And as a variation on this project, if you have a lot more time: you can cut lengths of yarn as long as your daughters window or curtains, then thread them with the flowers, beads, and straws (I would use more beads and straws, less flowers) and hang them from her window in her room.

These are one type of leis you can make. Anybody have ideas for others? How about candy leis? Would you like instructions on how to make those?

Milk Bubbles

2009-03-12T16:33:00.000-10:00

This is another thing to do with those straws that we used to make the leis.

Blow milk bubbles!

Put a very small amount of milk in a cup, place some towels (paper or cloth) underneath the cup, and let your kids blow. They will have lots of fun.

If your kids are older you can try having a contest. See who can blow the most bubbles without having them actually fall out of the cup. If a bubble touches the table--you're out.

Even my twenty-one month old enjoyed this.

This is Lucy--she is winning the contest.

This is Joseph. His bubbles touched the table and so he was disqualified. But he still had fun.

Rock People

2009-03-12T16:17:00.000-10:00

R is for rock!

My five year old actually came up with the idea for this one. He made one of these little guys at preschool a while ago and then lost it, also a while ago. I'm not sure how or why he remembered it, but he did. And he was sad that he didn't have it anymore. So, we made another one.

Things you will need:

~A rock, about the size of an adult fist. And you might want to wash it first.

~Paint (We used acrylic paint. But be careful if you do use this because it will be permanent if it gets on fabric and also once it dries on the table.)

~Small goggly eyes

~Small pompom

~a small piece of yarn.

~Hot glue gun

First let your kids paint the rock. I recommend a paint shirt and clothes you don't like--both for you and the kids. Then let the rock dry. Once it's dry, use a hot glue gun to place the eyes on. Glue the pompom on for a nose and use the yarn for a mouth. Let your kids tell you where they want the facial features, but you probably shouldn't let them put them on.

Voila...a rock person.

Now that they're made, does anybody know what to do with them?

Hot and Cold--Searching for the Alphabet

2009-03-11T16:51:00.001-10:00

I was surprised by just how much my children loved this game.

I would suppose that many of you are familiar with the hot and cold game: send your child out of the room and hide an object. Have them come back in and try to find it while you sing a song. The closer they get to the object, the louder you sing. If they get farther away, you sing softer. This can be played with just you and your child, or else with a group of children. If it's played with a group then one child looks for the object while the other children sing.

This is a variation on that game. Take a small piece of paper (an index card would work) and write a letter of the alphabet on it. Then hide that piece of paper. Then, depending on which letter you wrote on the paper, you can vary the following song accordingly:

(to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell)

The letter B says buh

the letter B says buh

You'll find the letter B

Just listen to my song

(When singing about W, just sing "W says wuh")

When my children find the paper, I ask them what the letter is and what sound it makes. Seeing as how I just repeated the above song about ten times while they were looking for the paper, you would think they would automatically realize that the letter B says buh, but sometimes I have to sing it for them again.

I'm hoping that with this game we are reinforcing letters and sounds at the same time we are having fun. But if not, we are still having tons of fun. This is one of my kids favorites.

Ring Around the Rosies, 2nd Verse

2009-03-11T08:59:00.000-10:00

I have three small children--ages five, three, and one. It can sometimes be hard to find things that they can all do together. But one thing that all three of them love is Ring Around the Rosies.

Until very recently, I only knew one verse to Ring Around the Rosies. At a play group, I learned another, which is really fun. Sing this after you have fallen to the ground, before you get up.

Cows are in the meadows

Eating buttercups

Thunder, Lightening

We all stand up.

For the first two lines, pat the ground in time to the music. For "Thunder, Lightening" beat your hands on the ground really fast, like a thunder storm. And then, stand up (obviously) for the last line. Now you're ready to start all over!

My kids will sing this song until I get sick of it.

Introduction

2009-03-11T08:49:00.000-10:00

For me, playing with my children sometimes doesn't come as naturally as I would like. And though I hate to admit it, I sometimes get bored. I love my kids, but playing transformers gets old after a while.

But one thing that I love to do is create. I love making things, coming up with ideas for new things. I have found that if I put that creativity to use and make up new games or songs or art projects to do with my kids, or else put my own twist on ideas I've gleaned from someone else, then suddenly, I look forward to playing with my children.

And now, I'd like to put my ideas online. Hopefully someone else will find them useful. Maybe someone else will use them. And, if you have any great ideas yourself, please share them. I'll post the best in the blog!