Once Upon a Time...

Always remember...Kids are the greatest experts at creativity and imagination!

So, play upon that strength and delightful, refreshing characteristic

 to fill your time together with fun!

Imagine this... you are on a road trip, waiting for a train to go by, sitting in the doctor's office, standing in line, waiting for a show/movie to start or sharing an afternoon with supposedly

 "nothing to do".  This is the time to take a "mind trip" to lands unknown.

The older the child, the more elaborate the storytelling and plot will become. 

Tween and teenagers could have such fun with this!

Storytelling!

Kids love to tell stories, so set the stage to let their imagination soar.  One person begins a story with a sentence or two.  The next person adds to what the first person has said.  Continue the story, adding twists and turns in the story line and plot, until you come to a good ending or run out of time.

Some great story starters:

*  One person's imaginative idea

*  A recent event in the family (an upcoming trip, a new pet or sibling, the start of a new school year,

    a new neighbor, etc.)

*  A recent event in the news

*  Pick out a  person walking by, standing nearby or in the car beside you. Create a story about what

    you think their life may be like, where they were born, how many siblings they have, their

    occupation, etc.

*  A picture from the newspaper, magazine or a book

*  Use a story book.  Look at the pictures and without reading it, make up a new story to correspond

     to the pictures.

*  A photo

*  Cut out pictures from magazines, old calendars, greeting cards etc.  Place them randomly into

    a folder or envelope.  Begin the story by pulling out a picture.  Then, when ideas are needed to

   continue the story, pull out another picture.

*  What other ideas do you have?

 Video record your "add-on story" and play it back all at one time.  Imagine the laughter that would follow! 

Or, you could use this as a great writing prompt. When finished, write down the story in a journal ( a spiral notebook works great).  Add to the journal each time you play the game.  What fun it would be to read the journal entries as a bedtime story.  Kids would love to have their own creation read to them.  Older children can write down the stories themselves.  Adults would write for the younger child.  This, in itself, could be a family activity.

This activity is a good way to build language and thinking skills.  It lets kids practice putting a story in order and helps with memory skills.  But despite the educational and intellectual advantages, it is just plain FUN!

Enjoy your next adventure!

Story Telling Festival!

Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes has been invited to the 7th annual STORY! Festival in Story City, Iowa on Saturday September 22, 2012 from 9-3 in the Story City Public Library. 

There will be a showcase sampling of children's activities from the book that are quick, easy and made with items found around the house. 

Books will be available for sale and can be signed by the author!

This book signing event will only be available on Saturday of this four day event.









STORY! Festival -  http://www.storyfestival.net/

Story City, Iowa contact information:   www.storycity.net ; chamber@storycity.net
                                                               Phone:  515-733-4214

This would make a GREAT road trip to add to your family calendar for this Fall!

Hope to see you there!

The Countdown Challenge

How high can you count?  How fast can you count backwards? 

 Can you count in multiples?  Can you count in another language?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35...

                                                                     ...34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20...

2,4,6,8,10...3,6,9,12...4,8,12,16,20...25,50,75,100...15,30,45,60...

uno,dos,tres,cuatro,cinco,seis,siete,ocho,nueve...

Do you need a quick activity to keep restless ones occupied?  Why not try counting. 

Count as high as you can.  For the two year old child you may be counting up to three, four or five.  For the teenager it may be as high as a billion.  I wonder how long it would take to count that high?  Wow!  What a thought!

Make the task more challenging by counting backwards!  How fast can you go?  Do you always get stuck and have to think in one particular spot? Think about why?

You can randomly count or count "something".  If you are away from home without "supplies" don't fret.  There are things to count wherever you go!  Count buttons on a shirt, cups at the table, people standing in line, cans on a shelf, cars on the road, fingers, toes, people or feet around you (while waiting in line or a waiting room). If you are waiting in a doctor's office how about counting ceiling or floor tile. Try to guess before you start counting, to make the counting game more interesting and fun.

If you are at home, try adding objects to touch to establish one-to-one correspondence while counting.  This establishes pre-math skills and adds colorful fun. 

Examples of counters:  buttons, beads, marbles, pennies, cherrios or grapes (eat when finished counting!) or any other small round cereal, pasta, beans, small stones, etc.  What else can you think of?  These manipulatives also help develop fine motor skills while picking up the objects.  Of course, if you are counting with toddlers and preschool children make sure you count small items with supervision!

For your preschool children, make pointing to and counting objects part of your daily routines.  This will help increase their math skills, enabling them be more successful when they enter school.

If you are thinking, my kids are older, this counting thing is just for little kids...how about:

  *learning to count (at least up to 10) in another language? or several languages?

  *practice counting by 2's, 4's, 6's, 8's, 10's, 12's, 15's, 25's etc. 
    ...now that would be fun and a huge help with multiplication.

  *counting higher than 1,000.  How does that go?  billion, million, trillion...

  *counting backwards from high numbers


Happy Counting!




 
                                          

Simple as One, Two, Three! Fun in a Flash.

A rush of excited anticipation raced through my body.  I hung up the phone, glanced at the clock and sent a whirlwind of activities into motion... my "kids" were coming for a visit!
What is a grandma suppose to do with just minutes before an unexpected arrival of her grandchild?  Of course, the standards were in place...a container of homemade play dough next to a tiny rolling pin and an empty peanut butter jar filled with little cookie cutters waited patiently in a kitchen drawer.  The bucket of sand toys sat in readiness next to the back door.  Children's books were resting on the shelf in hopes of being read.  But, what could we create "on the spot"?

Dinner had to be considered, so a peek into the refrigerator produced two answers!  Frozen pizza and some spur of the moment fun!

Check out how we played while we waited for the pizza to cook!

The cardboard under the pizza quickly became a three piece puzzle. 
It was cut into three pieces and a different number added to each piece.

He is three years old and we were practicing counting to three.
Any number of pieces can be cut.  The pieces do not even have to be pie shaped.  Any angle cut can be used.

 Older children could practice learning fractions with this same concept

Foil removed from a dish in the freezer worked great crushed up into a ball. 

We tossed it into a cake pan!  Older children can use a plastic storage container with a smaller opening to create a greater challenge.

When this fun wore out, dinner was on the table!

Quick, easy, fun! 

We saved our new games for another visit.

But, you wouldn't have to. 

They could be popped into the recycling after you have a few minutes of fun

while a meal is being prepared.

So, the next time you have impatient children wanting to know when dinner will be ready, or you have an unexpected little visitor, think before you toss into the trash . 

It could be an activity in disguise!

ANNOUNCING!!  exciting news...

For your ease and convenience, the new book Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes has just been listed on Amazon.com and can be purchased for $21.95.

For additional information about this book, places you can attend a book signing, Magical Moments workshops or presentations follow:  http://facebook.com/hiddensplendor

For those of you following this blog from the beginning, you know it was created from the inspiration of a book I recently wrote entitled Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes Over 500 Quick Easy Activities for Adults and Children to Share.

A passion exists  within me to promote the family unit, strengthing relationships and helping to improve our society and world one family at a time.  The family is a great place to start to create a better future for our world.

Kristi Carambula, Administrator for Early Childhood Programs

B.A.S Communication Disorders, M.A. Educational Leadership

Kalamazoo RESA, Kalamazoo, Michigan

shares her views of this new book and its effects on families and children: 

"How did children spend their time before video games, computers, texting, children’s TV programming 24/7, and DVDs in homes, bedrooms and cars?  Why were children who grew up prior to the “screen time” era hardly ever bored?  And why were they so prepared for success in school and for choosing what they wanted to do or be when they grew up? 

The answers are all in the amazingly easy to follow, wonderfully easy to do, imaginative trip down memory lane prepared for parents and caregivers by Becky Baxa in her “Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes” - a book with 500 activities for adults to share with the children in their lives.  Reading the book just made me smile as I travelled through the various ways to make everyday materials become an exciting and satisfying learning laboratory for children.  Most of the activities are displayed with photos and happy smiles.  You, too, will be led back to your own childhood when a box was a fort, a building block, a post office, a puppet theater… you get the idea. 

If you are a parent, grandparent, child care provider – or someone who just wants to enrich the life of a child, buy this book, enjoy each page, and use it to make every day moments with the children in your life fun teaching and learning experiences.  You will be making memories that they will carry with them for their lifetime!"

Story Time

The sky is overcast today.  I hear an occasional rumble, as if someone is moving furniture above my head, and the rain is tapping out a soothing rhythm on my window pane.  The draw is great, as if magnetic, pulling me to the book on the end table. 

I can't remember NOT reading.  I read as a child curled up in the dog house with a cat on my lap and on each side.  I remember reading in the barn, in the car or any other place when I could.  In fifth grade I won a contest for reading the most books during the school year.  Reading! 

 A passion that opened up volumes of excitement and new information.

When my children were born, the reading adventure took on new depths and dimensions.  We read together almost every night until they were in High School. Oh, the adventures we had through the pages of a book!  Each summer found us at the library with a special library bag.  Each child could pick out seven books to read... one for each day of the week.  We chose a family series for me to read to everyone.  We participated in the library weekly programs.  I remember more than once my children rushing in with a new found treasure, screaming in excitement, and asking,

"Do we have a book about this?"  If we didn't, off to the library we would go,

to learn more about the latest discovery.

 As they moved into their tweens and teens, when reading a book didn't seem as cool, we subscribed to magazines about their interests.  Magazines are great for many ages.  Your Big Backyard,

Ranger Rick, National Geographic for Kids, Highlights, etc. are great kid magazines. 

As the kids get older, magazines that will enhance and encourage hobbies and/ or interests are nice additions to their reading activities.  Hunting, Fishing, Model Railroad, RC Cars, Horses, etc. 

There seems to be a magazine associated with just about every interest. 

Find out what your children enjoy and encourage healthy past time activities. 

These early efforts are worth the time and money as kids move into their teens.

Every day is perfect to read, but there is something about a cloudy, rainy day that just begs for you to pick up a book, curl up with a blanket in a big soft chair and escape into a literary world.  The nice thing about reading is that it has no age limit.  There are books for every age and reading level.  Infants start with plastic and cloth books, toddlers progress up to cardboard books, school age children have books with lots of pictures and ones with stories written for their reading level.  As we get older the pictures disappear, for the most part, but the thrill and excitement of a story on the written page never diminishes. 
Open the flood gates for imagination, knowledge and learning today!  Grab a book and let the adventure begin!

Water "Painting"

It's hot, the sun is blazing and you can't make it to the pool. 

You don't have a sprinkler, so what can you do to cool off?

Grab an empty, clean dish detergent bottle.  Fill it with water and head to the sidewalk.

Water art is fun for the older child and

just squirting water all over the place is fun for the littlest child. 

This is a fun way to "paint" pictures on the side of the house too.  

Predict how long it will take for your creations to evaporate.  Which piece of "art" lasts the longest?

Let your school -age children research the properties of evaporation. 

What other experiments can you do with this concept?

Another way to cool off is to fill a spray bottle with water and have a water mist "fight"!

Don't forget the sunscreen!