Tag Archives: activity

Create Your Own Summer Bucket List!

The term “bucket list” was popularized in the 2007 Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie. The idea is to make a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket” (which is an idiom referring to death.) Even though that sounds kind of morbid, the idea has taken off as something much more positive and people create bucket lists to log the things they want to do at some point in their life.

With that said, a Summer Bucket list is a list of things to do before this summer ends.

Click here to print your own summer bucket list

Click here to print your own summer bucket list

Get lots of ideas to put on your list on our APIA Summer Fun Pinterest Board.

Passover is April 7-13

Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah, is a Holy Day, observed by several religions, beginning on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan and lasting seven days (in Israel and among some liberal Diaspora Jews, and eight days among other Diaspora Jews) that commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt; it is also observed by some Christians to commemorate the deliverance from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus.

Here is a website with Passover activities, crafts and recipes for kids: Chabad.org

Celebrate Grandparents Day

grandparents

Grandparents Day is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. This year that will be September 11.  This is not a widely celebrated holiday, but most grandparents would still appreciate being remembered and would particularly enjoy a homemade gift or card.  Work with your children to create a simple but special surprise.  Use a photo of the child or the child and the grandparent to make it even more special.

Photo by ScottieT812

Outer Space Activity Fun

Here is another fun website with ideas to go along with this week’s Outer Space theme.

Get Crafty: Space Mobile

Make your own star mobile!

Space Mobile CraftWhat you need:
  • – Yellow construction paper
  • – String or yarn
  • – 2 plastic straws
  • – Hole puncher
  • – Scissors
  • – Pencil
  • – Eraser
  • – Stapler

Steps:

1. Draw 6-8 stars on the yellow construction paper. Each one should be a different shape or size.
2. When you’re finished, ask a parent to help you cut out the shapes. Cut around the outside of the lines and then use an eraser to remove the pencil marks.
3. Parent Alert: Using the hole puncher, pierce a hole at the top of each star.
4. Cut a piece of string for each of the stars and tie it around the hole. Tip: Vary the length of the string to help your mobile come to life.
5. Parent Alert: Pick up two straws and make the shape of the letter “X” with them. Staple the straws together where the two meet.
6. Cut and tie a long piece of string to where the staple is and then tie the rest of the strings to one of the four limbs of the X.
7. Hang your mobile by the long string in the middle and in your room from the ceiling or in a favorite corner somewhere around the house. Now, you can look at the stars anytime you want!

Craft from Funschool.com

Also: Printable Space Word Jumble & Shuttle Shuffle

Au Pair in America 25th Anniversary Cultural Fair is Today!

Click here to view full information about this spectacular event.In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Au Pair in America and the beginning of legal au pair programs in America, we will be hosting a Regional Cultural Fair. 

When: April 9th, 2011, 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Where: Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park 
               7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo, MD 

Who’s Invited: This is a free family event and open to the public.

All of the clusters in the DC/MD/VA area will be participating. We expect to have au pairs representing over 35 different countries. Anyone interested in learning about other cultures and the Au Pair in America program are invited. For more information, email me at cicaupair @ aol.com

Perler Beads

In the kids activity kits a few months ago, I included a perler bead fish craft.  I heard from some of you that the kids had a lot of fun making those.  My kids love perler beads.  There are days where they will work on bead projects for hours.

If you want to give them a try, you can find mini kits for $1 at Michaels and A.C. Moore that include everything needed to make one small project.  Perler beads are a great fine motor skills activity.  If you have kids ages 3-5 who have trouble with the tiny beads, they now have a larger size available that will be easier for them.

From this:

To this:  (Here is a gallery of my kid’s perler creations from the past 6 months.)

Activity Kit Info & Links – February/March

As promised at last night’s meeting, I am posting some photos and links that will assist you in doing a few of the projects I have given you.

Newspaper Seedling Cups

Click on the photo below to go to a web page with step by step photos and directions for the seedling cup I showed you at the meeting.   If you have older kids and are looking for something more to do with them, there are lots of videos on YouTube of how to make these using all kinds of different techniques including some origami folds.

Newspaper Seedling Pot

Newspaper Seedling Pot

Butterfly Craft

Click on the photo below to go to a web page with complete project instructions.

Butterfly Craft Project (click on the photo to go to a web page with complete instructions)

Butterfly Craft Project

Shamrock Decoration

Below is a picture of what the completed shamrock project might look like.  They can be decorated using paint, markers, crayons, glitter glue and stickers.

shamrock

Shamrock Decorations

I hope you will use these ideas as a starting point to come up with lots of other fun projects and activities to do with the kids.

Snow Day Boredom Busters #2 – Indoor Physical Activities

It’s difficult when the weather is too snowy, wet or cold for kids to play outside and get all of that great kid energy out.

JuggleGirl

Here are some indoor physical activity ideas:

  • Create an indoor obstacle course in the largest, kid safe room in the house (playroom, basement, family room, etc.)  Use large cushions and toys to create places for kids to climb over and under.
  • Turn on some music (kid music or other music that is appropriate) and dance.
  • Play freeze dance. Tell the kids to dance when you turn the music on and to stop dancing when the music stops.  Let the kids take turns being the leader,  controlling the music.
  • Do the limbo dance.  Play music and challenge the kids to go under the limbo pole as it gets lower and lower.

kids_dancing

  • Make paper airplanes and see how far they can fly.  Remind the kids not to throw them at other other people.
  • Mark small squares on the floor and challenge the kids to see who can stay on their spot the longest.  Make it tougher for older kids by having them stand on one foot.
  • Play ball toss games with soft items like rolled up socks.   The younger the children the larger the container they are tossing into should be.  For very young kids, use a laundry basket.  For older kids, use something smaller like a box, basket or large plastic mixing bowl.
  • Build a fort using blanket and furniture like chairs and tables.  Or if the kids have a small play tent put that up.
  • Play sports charades.  Charades is a game where you act out something while people try to guess.  You can do this with sports actions, using no equipment, just making the actions.  For example – hitting a golf ball, pitching a baseball, serving a tennis ball, bowling, etc.)
  • Jump rope. Jumping_rope.
  • Play with a hula hoop.
  • Try juggling, top spinning, or yo-yo contests.
  • Play hide and go seek.
  • Play “keep the balloon up”. Use one balloon per child or one balloon per small group. The group may add additional balloons as they gain control and awareness. *

* Safety Note – Balloons are a choking hazard, supervise children when playing with balloons and make sure to find and throw away any pieces of popped balloons.

Gingerbread Playdough

I friend shared this recipe with me and I thought it would be a lot of fun on a cold snow day like this.  It is gingerbread because of the color and smell, but it is not to be eaten.  Since the ingredients are all food, it is safe if the kids sample it.  I can guarantee it will not taste as good as it smells though.

gingerbread playdough

Gingerbread Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and knead* until smooth.

*knead – to massage, shape and press with your hands as you do with dough or clay.

Tips

  • If you are working with older kids, you can have them help make it.
  • If you are working with younger kids (6 and under), I recommend you make the playdough ahead of time and just bring it out for them to play with.
  • Lay wax paper on the table to protect the surface where they play with it.
  • Bring out playdough tools and/or kid-safe kitchen tools (cookie cutters, plastic knives, etc.)