Considerations When Planning Children's Activities

As you consider activities with your children remember... 

•  Always keep your child's age and stage of development in mind before doing an activity.

• Modify as needed, for your child's skills and the different ages of your children. 

• Custom design activities around your own family's interests, values, skills and talents.

• Safety and supervision must always be a priority!

Jiffy, Nifty Bean Bags!

Jiffy Bean Bags

Quick bean bags can be made by filling a plastic Ziploc bag with rice, beans, barley or popcorn.

Or, just grab a bag of beans from the pantry and have a few minutes of fun. 

 Put it back in the cabinet when you are finished and it will be waiting on you for the next meal.

Grab the empty can from dinner preparations or use a cooking pot, empty trash can or basket.

  Any clean, empty container will work for your bean bag target. 

Or, tape a picture on the floor

or mark a spot with a masking tape "X".

 Look around, what can you find?

Toddlers get a challenge by tossing into a cake pan of any size, due to its wide opening. 

The older child is challenged by containers with smaller openings.

Keep moving the throw line back as success is achieved.

Rule of thumb: 

the younger the child,

the larger the opening and the closer the throw line should be to the target. 

The older the child,

the smaller the opening and the farther away the throw line can be from the target.

Shoulder Pad Bean Bags

Have a little time to whip up a bean bag that will last through many play times?

 If you have taken out shoulder pads from one of your blouses/tops,

these can be sewn together with beans, rice or barley inside.

Shoulder pad bean bags are fun because they are different colors, patterns, textures and sizes.

 Their fun shape is held easily in a little hand.

Playing catch with a bean bag is lots of fun and doesn't hurt if you miss and get hit. 

This is great for the beginning catcher.

Bean bags are also fun to just hold and squish. 

Because of the different textures, colors and sizes, shoulder pad bean bags can also provide a nice quiet activity for the child that needs calming down.  The manipulation and textures seem

to have a calming effect when used in this manner.

Tin Can Fun!

One of the best investments I ever made, was in the purchase of a hand operated can opener

 that left smooth edges on my tin cans after opening.  Not only did it spare me occasional blood shed, it provided containers that could be used for a wide variety of purposes.

Tin cans can be used to store pencils, markers, paint brushes, crayons, small toys etc.

It is fun to decorate, paint or cover the outside of your can, personalizing it for its intended use.

You can cover cans with wrapping, construction, colored or contact paper, even fabric.

But, if you want to use an empty tin can for a quick,easy, fun activity consider using it for a...

Ball Toss Game

Materials Needed:

1.  An empty tin can or combination of cans.

2.  Something to toss...

     -  rolled up sock

     -  a ball of foil

     -  marshmallows

     -  a paper ball (squish up a piece of paper into a tight ball)

     -  a bean bag

     - or any kind of ball (tennis, golf, rubber etc.)  

Ages:  anyone who is interested age 2 - 92... really!

           School age, Tweens and Teens will be able to think of more complex rules and challenges.

Remember... the younger the child the larger the opening should be; and, the closer the throw line should be to the can.

       

Playing Options

1. Line several cans up in a row. Decide on a throwing line.
    This can be a line in the tile or a piece of masking tape placed on the floor.

2. If using more than one can, use a rubber band to hold your cans together.  Three rubber bands
    added at the top, middle and bottom give your target more stability.

3.  Points can be assigned to each can, if desired. Write the number of points on each can.
     Use all the same size can, or for variety use three different size cans, to make the game
      more challenging.

3. Lay a can on its side. Use a ruler or yardstick to "putt" your ball into the can.

Can you think of other ways to play?



Overlooked Treasures!

I left home late last night.  I was in a hurry for a meeting. Then, a rainbow tapped on the side mirror of my truck and followed me all the way to town playing hide and seek behind the curves of the road. The sun shone a spotlight on all the trees new Fall outfits and created a golden glow that warmed my soul.  I was glad I was late. Otherwise, I would have missed

yesterday's present from God.

Double rainbow.  This photo was pieced together with two shots that were taken in Story City, Iowa

And so it goes so many times in the "screen era" that we live.  Hurry, rush, text, face book, twitter...

Today, stop and take a breath!  Look around and see what "presents" you are missing.

Find the simple joys, amazing beauty and overlooked treasures that whisk by you each day.

Ideas with a kid twist.

1.  Go on a scavenger hunt.  Shout out things that are cool or you never noticed before.

2.  Set a timer and give everyone so many minutes to come up with as many things as they can find in that length of time.  Then take turns sharing with each other the overlooked treasures that are around you.

3.  If you are driving, the person riding "shot gun" is the treasure spotter.  This person is the look-out to spot hidden treasures with only things seen in the side vehicle mirror!  Switch turns, and now it is the person in the back seat's turn to spot treasures only seen from the side window.

4.  Go for a walk down the road/street or in a park.  Decide on stopping points as you move along the trail.  At each point stop and share all the different things people have seen.  You might even have to backtrack when someone says, "Where?  I didn't see that!"  Or just enjoy the walk, pointing out things as travel along.

5.  Find a comfortable place to sit (couch, deck/patio, yard etc)  Just sit and look around you.  What do you notice?  How do you feel?  What do you see?  hear?  smell? 

6.  Get comfortable in an outdoor location with a pair of binoculars.  What can you find?  How do things look differently than viewed with the eye alone? 

Maybe you would like to write in a journal about what you see and how you feel about it;  or, draw pictures/sketches of the treasures you find.

What else can you think of?

Good Luck with your treasure hunt!

Foil Sculptures

Foil has many uses.  But, one of the most interesting, easy and surprising uses is for sculpting! 

Sculptures, animals, people, jewelry, necklaces, earrings, boats... anything your imagination

 can think of, can be created with a piece of foil. 

Push it, squish it, fold it, bend it, twist it, mold and cover with it

...and create to your heart's desire.

School- age kids and Teens (yes, teenagers!) seem to really love this activity.

a bracelet topped off with a "rose", made by a teen girl.

Modeling a bracelet,  with a "dove" sitting in the front and a "flower" in the back.

This boy couldn't wait to see if his "boat" would float!

Wishing you lots of foil fun!