Backtrack January 18 : Children's Museum

Fairy Rose

image from the flowerfairies.com - one of the many roses I love, but not the one I love the best

Do your children beg for you to tell them stories? Does this make you panic?

I used to answer "yes" to both. I usually tried to redirect with , "I'm not good at stories, but I'll read you a book." I like books. I read well. Seemed like a much better plan. Ethan went along with this. On the rare occasion he persisted in the need for an actual story, I managed to drum up a lesser known Bible character or fairy tale. I slipped through the early years of Ethan and Anna Kate this way.

But not Rose. Rose the snuggler. Rose the "will you lay down with me for just a few minutes", then inevitably, "will you tell me a story?" child. Now what?

There is a lovely storybook called Rosy's Visitors (I just bought it for a penny plus shipping - you can too!) about a little girl who hauls her treasures in a wagon to a hollowed tree and prepares to entertain many magical guests. The name and concept, not to mention the whimsical illustrations made this story stick in my imagination, and was, I believe, part of the inspiration for what happened next.

I said, "okay." And I began the Fairy Rose stories. I thought I was just telling a story called "Fairy Rose" about a little girl who found a magic fairy tree and twirled around inside and turned into a fairy. From there all sorts of little adventures have been possible. Initially, Fairy Rose's adventures were based on my girlhood daydreams of being able to turn into a fairy and sneak into homes and leave things for people who were sad or in need. Fairy Rose has done those things. One day she gathered butterflies to fly to the garden outside the window of a sad shut-in she visited earlier that day as the girl Rose. But sometimes she just has fanciful adventures.

Tonight we were reading a book of children's prayers. One illustration showed children sliding down a rainbow. Rose, in all seriousness, asked how you can slide down a rainbow (she has a gift for seeing these things as realities), and thus provided the inspiration for tonight's tale of a lake fairy named Misty who always had the best secrets. And today Misty showed Fairy Rose and Fairy Anna the secret of how to slide down a rainbow.

So the one who was unable to tell stories has become (at least in her daughters' eyes) a master storyteller. For me the secret was to take an imagining that both they and I could relate to, and then keep making up stories about that one thing. That way, I feel like I'm sort of telling a story I already know.

What stories do you tell?

this is, of course, copyrighted by Alicia (just in case I ever write a book)

Making the most of your southern snow days

I have to start this post with some dressing tips. I know that most southern kids don't have snow suits, but I also know that with a little thought, they can do better than hoodies and sweats.

The first thing to remember is waterproof. So if you have running pants, please use them. Put sweatpants or pajama pants under them, but if you have something nylon, put it on top. Same thing for the top. A nylon windbreaker is a better jacket than a hoodie. Put on an undershirt or pajama top, another top, a sweatshirt, then your waterproof jacket. Even if it's a thinner jacket, the waterproof layer will keep you warmer in the long run, with layers underneath. And then, shoes. That's a little trickier, but still the same principle. Plastic bags can be tied over shoes and tucked under pant legs. Put a hat on your head. Put at least two sets of those cheap little stretch gloves on, and have a dryer ready with a couple of towels to absorb moisture and dry those babies fast during cocoa breaks.


Okay, now that you're dressed to enjoy the day, here are some more ideas:

1. Make snow cream or sugar on snow. We tried sugar on snow last year and it was a hit! I've managed to not replenish our real maple syrup, so we're going to giver snow cream a try this year.
2. Make a snow turtle or other snow sculpture. Snow snakes are even easier.
3. Have a snow ball battle.
4. Make snow angels.
5. Eat icicles.
6. My kids love to make a mini snowman and store it in plastic in the freezer. It would be fun to retrieve for your Fourth of July party. Family Fun suggests using empty egg cartons to store mini snowballs in the freezer. :^)
7. How about some snow games?
8. Scatter seed on top of the snow for the birds. They will thank you.
9. No sled? I think that some of your summer pool inflatables will work. Just be prepared to replace them. Let me know in the comments, what other sled substitutes work. We have sleds and saucers, so we haven't experimented much beyond that. Family Fun suggests finding an intertube at Pep Boys and has a great plan for making a snow slide.
10. Spray paint the snow.
11. If you really have a good bit of snow, you can use these snow fort ideas.
12. And when you're building your snowman, keep this idea in mind for a photo op.
13. If you're planning ahead and like a good project, how about catching a snowflake and keeping it forever?

Need a great Thanksgiving website?

Look no further! Scholastic's got you covered. Take a voyage on the Mayflower, learn about daily life, and the Thanksgiving feast. Than be sure to go to the printables for :

readers theatre script and character puppets

a printable Mayflower board game or "Turkey Teller" game

standing paper Pilgrims and Indians

Thanksgiving stationary and recipe cards

a turkey puppet

period recipe: red pickled eggs

make oiled paper windows like the Pilgrims'

pilgrim draw and write page

bookmarks

Cute calendar and symbols

turkey graphing

make a Wampanoag picture dictionary

reward cards

make a Wampanoag house

cranberry activities

Plant pigment napkin rings are a really cool activity (that I'll probably have to save for another year)

Does anyone else find using an empty toilet paper tube for a Pilgrim hat snack holder (and maybe even the napkin rings) disturbing? Of course, you could cut down a paper towel roll.

There are a few more free printables and gazillions more if you become a site member.

Have fun, and Happy Thanksgiving!

graphic also a free Scholastic printable

Veteran's Day 2009

My great-grandfather died last week. He was a World War II veteran. So was my grandfather (different side of the family). One told great stories. One didn't like to talk about the war. He claimed to not have seen much. I think he still saw too much.

So tomorrow we honor those who served. The greatest generation is dying out and if you have the privelege to have these family members or friends still with you, I encourage you to go and listen to their stories while you can. And thank them. Don't forget the grandpas and uncles who fought in Korea and Vietnam and the brothers and sisters who served in the Middle East.

The US Dept of Veteran Affairs has put together a wonderful teachers guide this year. I look forward to reading through most of it with my kids tomorrow. It includes activity pages, a readers play, and coloring pages. It also has an article about the role of Walt Disney in the war effort (during World War II). Here's a nice propaganda film referenced in that article:



We'll also be reviewing "Flander's Field" and making the poppies for remembrance that we didn't get to last year.

Nature Park Pics

Our day that was predicted to be "sunny" turned out a bit cloudy. So I had two challenges: catching the peaking sun for the best pics, and not losing all the good shots to blur from Bella's happy bouncing in the sling. Next time, Brian's going to have to carry her :^)

She decided to lay down for a pic

So Anna had to too :^)

Yep, I'm taking your picture again, babe

our Bella Grace, "beautiful gift"

We were on a mushroom hunt - Rosie, especially,

likes to hunt for mushrooms

Never know how many more of these pics

I'm going to get. I'm holding tight to and savoring

every bit of little boy that's left.

Anyone know what these are?

This one makes a pretty desktop wallpaper.

Orionid Meteor Shower

This is the annual meteor shower from Halley's comet debris. The best part? It peaks at 6 AM EST, so you can watch it and get sleep. :^) Check Space.com for more details.

Home Depot Kids Workshops

If you haven't been to one of these, or haven't been lately, check them out! The project for August 1 is a very nice-looking message center that would make a great Christmas gift from a child to their grandparents. The best part - apron, workshop, and materials - all FREE.

While you're at it check out Lowe's version too. Woohoo!

More Christmas for kids

1. Going carolling is easy with this ready to print Christmas carol book.
2. At Christian Preschool Printables you can print Christmas bingo pages made up of the nativity story pictures. And on the next page is a Road to Bethlehem file folder game and a nativity puzzle.
3. No kids activity list would be complete without The Toymaker. This year I'm planning to have the kids make the Dodechahedron of Little Snow Guys after reading (or rather looking at - it's perfectly wordless) The Snowman (this version is an easy reader just right for Anna Kate) and watching it on DVD. And I think that I have a resident artist or two that will enjoy learning to draw this Santa.
4. And Edhelper has a lot of Christmas worksheets, some are free, some are only available with a site subscription.

Christmas for Kids

1. Easy Christmas Star craft - we've been slowly working on these the past few days, allowing the glue to dry and doing the next step the next day. We are covering ours in glue and glitter and they're turning out very well - we're even going to flip them over and glitter the back so that we can hang them anywhere.
2. Lots of simple paper crafts at first-school - my girls thoroughly enjoyed cutting out the snowman and pasting him and their chosen hat and scarf to a bright piece of construction paper. I have my eye on the Christmas Bell Angel and the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus Craft for this upcoming week.
3. We're going to see The Nutcracker on Thursday, and I'd like to work on this printable stage production. At the very least, I'm planning to make these cute Nutcracker finger puppets. You could enjoy these while watching a video of the Nutcracker (this version is my favorite) or even just listening to highlights.
4. Isn't this Reindeer Six Pack the cutest thing ever? It would make a great gift for the soft drink-loving grandparent in your kid's life.
5. Ooo. We have plans to use our half gallon of peppermint ice cream to try to imitate Chick-Fil-A's heavenly peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes, but if that hadn't already been the plan, I'd be making this Peppermint Christmas Punch.
6. Build a virtual snowman at Holiday spot
7. Print Christmas-themed math worksheets at kidzone- and here is a Christmas word problem sheet - and some more colorful math sheets here
8. Print a Christmas Bible readings chart and let your older kids read the Christmas passages for themselves.
9. Fun set of language arts related North Pole worksheets from Kids Domain
10. Do your kids love the Grinch?
11. I've got so many more links to share, but must get some shut-eye. Here's a page full of lovely links for you to explore on your own. I'll try for installment 2 soon.

A Day at the Apple Farm

We shook up our annual apple picking tradition by going to a different orchard this year. The main reason for the change was the opportunity to try out a corn maze. It was hot in that open field and it's a good thing that it didn't take us long because the natives got restless quickly. They also had some really cool stuff at the p[layground, inclusing the tepee and the bouncing tubes. But all in all, I think we'll be back at our beautiful, cool mountaintop orchard next year.

Stuff I'm printing today

1. Crayola's Nature Walk activity page - my kids are going to take this to do at their Gran's for a seasonal little science/art/writing activity
2. Crayola's Autumn Leaves coloring page - I'm going to have the kids color these with their crayola :^) markers and then cut them out and make a border over the deck doors
3. There are other fall Crayola activity pages here.
4. Wondertime's Autumn Adventure cutting pages for Rose
5. Halloween bookmarks from Jan Brett to enjoy this month.

Scavenger Hunts

Can you tell that I'm an all or nothing sort of person. I break my blog silence, and now I can't shut up!

After some political posts - did you call your senators yet?! - here's some fun for you and your kids.

Wondertime has posted some great scavenger hunts, and links to even more. My favorite is the "Get the Green" scavenger hunt. So print and go have a green afternoon tomorrow.

Romancing your husband - Dates

Some people say that to have a healthy marriage you should have date nights. I wouldn't go that far. Many couples throughout history did just fine without "date nights." But they probably still carved time for each other. To take a walk, to talk, to plan, to dream.

How does this romance your husband? Well I can't speak for everyone, but my husband looks forward to our date nights even more than I do. When I'm away from the kids, I am more relaxed and carefree, and I can focus just on him. he can really relax and unwind too. We feel young again. We can do the things that we enjoy without interruption. And I don't have to tell you how date nights with your husband will usually end, especially if the kids aren't home.

Our date nights are easy. We're very blessed to live near Brian's parents, and they enjoy having our kids sleep over one night a week. Obviously this doesn't always happen due to illness and other factors, and sometimes we have work that must be done or a meeting to attend, but usually we have a date.

Now I am very cheap. Having a free babysitter has already eliminated a huge expense, but we still do cheap stuff. A typical date night will find us at Hardees with a buy one get one free thickburger coupon and a shared soda. Then we head home to a DVD rented from the $.99 vending machine in the grocery store or a missed season of a favorite TV show. That was about all that we could do most of the winter because of Brian's health. As his health continues to be in a much-improved state most of the time, we look forward to revisiting some of our older date ideas.

1. Free outdoor summer concerts, from downtown jazz, to university bands, to bluegrass at someone's home
2. Heading downtown for ice cream cones and a walk through the park
3. Many cities, including ours, have free Shakespeare plays in the park
4. Meeting up with friends for an iced coffee (you can get them for free on May 15 at Dunkin' Donuts)
5. Going to the lake for a picnic to watch the sun set
6. Completing a fun project at home
7. Shopping for a special item, such as patio furniture, or a new outfit.
8. Art museum concerts or lectures
9. Tandem biking
10. Roller blading (I really just put this on here for you, because Brian really doesn't care for it, but he used to do it with me. )
11. Reading a book or poetry to each other
12. World music or open mic night at the coffeehouse, another shows documentaries and indie movies

How do I find all of these things?

1. Many cities have free publications that list local events, newspapers do as well. Post any concert schedules you find inside a cupboard door for easy reference.
2. Go to your own visitors center and pick up materials - you'll find plenty of things in your area for dates, family nights, and day trips.
3. Order your own state's visitor guide
4. Bookmark all of your city's websites, as well as all local towns and other nearby cities, and write any events in your date book. We have a town that has weekly jazz concerts, a state park that has bluegrass concerts, a science center that has folk concerts, a city that has weekly concerts on three different nights within 30 minutes of us - and that's just the short list! Don't forget to bookmark recreation district websites, state park sites, and historical sites.
5. Keep tabs on your favorite stores. Whole Foods, for example, often has musicians, cooking demonstrations, and wine tastings. Ten Thousand Villages has cultural events.
   

No babysitter? Try working out a babysitting swap with another couple that you know well. Same night every week, one week you keep their kids, the next they keep yours. Or try working out a deal with a college student - free food and use of the washer and dryer might lower your overall cost. Or maybe a free art or music lesson.

Need some ideas? I love these books:

1. The little black book of Dating ideas
2. The Dating Handbook: 2002 Things To Do On a Date

One of our favorite weekend "getaways" ever was a conglomerate of ideas from lots of books. We were newlyweds and pretty broke (but gas was really cheap!). Friday night we covered all of the electronics in the house and turned all of the clocks around and put the watches away. We slept in with a plan to go to Denny's whenever we wanted to eat since they serve breakfast all day, then we went to see a movie because there were several good ones playing, so we knew that we could choose one regardless of the time of our arrival.

Later we played "spy" following a random car at a distance, and when we lost track of it, we just made random turns to see where we would end up. We ended up not far from another city, so we headed to their mall for a ride on the carousel. It was a crazy, very relaxing weekend.

Cinco de Mayo

Don't laugh, but it just occurred to me today that cinco means five, so Cinco de Mayo means Fifth of May.

I really have never thought much about the holiday. Brian likes it because it gives him an excuse to go out and eat Mexican at lunch, and he loves Mexican food. He also works for a very cool company that loves to celebrate about as much as I do. His top boss is taking, I think, the entire office out for a Mexican lunch (and I don't even know if anyone in the office is of Mexican descent.)

Anyway. Here's some stuff for a last minute celebration of Cinco de Mayo:

1. First read the Wikipedia explanation of this holiday so that we can all be smart together and actually know why this is a holiday. Or have your kids do this informative reading and comprehension activity.
2. Choose a meal plan from Kraft foods, make these taco nachos or Mexican pizza, get some take-out, make tacos, or buy some seven layer dip at Walmart.
3. If you don't have everything you need, why not visit a local Mexican grocery?
4. Read Meet Josefina or some other book about Americans with a Mexican heritage. Or just read a book or two about Mexico. I like this one. And Learning Pages has one for free this month. (Not a member? It's free and their stuff is really cool.)
5. Make this Mexican flag pinata
6. Do the Mexican Hat Dance; we have it on a Music for Little Mozart's CD
7. How 'bout some printables? Learning pages has this fun picture with questions to answer. Apples 4 the Teacher has lots of coloring pages. Family Fun has cute streamers .
8. And finally, crafts. DTLK has a printable Hot Pepper craft. Kinderart tells you how to make a paper bag poncho.

graphic by Celeste’s Holiday Graphic Collection

New Websites

It's always fun to find new kids websites. Angelina Ballerina has a new website! My girls, especially Rose, are big fans. That site led me to:

PBS Kids Sprout - they have the cutest website. Rosie just came down with a fever of nearly 102, and fell asleep watching Noddy video clips.

There are lots of healthy kids recipes, with names and designs based on favorite characters:

• Freeze Dance Pops
• Barney's Purple Hummus Dip
• Brussel's Mini-Quiches
• Jay Jay's Chicken Salad Plane
• Banjo's Banana Splits

And after you've tried them out, you can upload a picture of your kids making or eating them. My kids are gonna love that! You can also upload photos for various parts of the Gallery. And there are pages of video clips of sign language words from The Good-Night Show.

There are also pages of simple (and I mean really simple) crafts. No, you might not think they're beautiful, and they might not make good Mother's Day gifts, but they'll keep your kids occupied with simple household materials and lots of creativity. Some favorites:

• Bottle Cap Ladybugs
• Sponge Sailboat
• String Telephone
• Picture Puzzle

• Name Art

And finally back at those creative, veggie loaded, kid-friendly recipes, I clicked a link to:

KidsHealth where there are even more great recipes with sections of recipes for kids with cystic fibrosis, diabetes, celiac disease, and that are vegetarian. as well as educational games and experiments, information on childhood illnesses and accidents from kids' or parents' perspectives, a whole sections of "How the Body Works" videos that Ethan might totally love (though the one I watched seemed a bit slow-moving) The teens section of the site has some good stuff, but also lots of information you would expect from a public school type setting in regard to private matters. There's also a "Growing Up" section that you may want your kids to avoid before turning them loose on the site, on the other hand, it could be helpful if you are needing to discuss puberty and related issues.

Have fun exploring these new sites or just enjoying the links that I found. See you later!

Outside fun

Playtime outdoors is spring and summer at its best. I want my kids to be out and active as much as possible. As the weather continues to warm and schools let out, I've compiled a list of outdoor activities to encourage or suggest when a little variety or suggestion is needed:

1. Pitch the play tent with or without the rest of the tunnel syste
2. Sprinkler
3. Slip 'n Slide
4. Washable finger paint
5. Picnic
6. Charades
7. Baby, if you love me, smile
8. Wagons
9. Giant bubble wands (available at the Dollar Tree)
10. Sidewalk Chalk
11. Make and tend their own small gardens
12. Card games
13. Freeze tag
14. Ball tag
15. Duck,duck, goose
16. Red light, Green light
17. Simon Says
18. Follow the Leader
19. Hopscotch
20. Ride bikes
21. Ride scooters
22. Roller skate
23. Jump rope (and teach the rhymes)
24. Wash the cars, toys, playhouse...
25. Make a toad abode
26. Plant trees from the random seedlings
27. Make rubbings
28. Water guns
29. Pass football (nerf)
30. Play catch
31. Sit and spin
32. Walkie talkies
33. Light sabres

And a few more that require mostly inexpensive purchases:

1. A big ball - the 40" Bigens play ball sounds lie a good possibility, but I can't find one
2. Hula hoops
3. Spray bottle painting with food colored water
4. Chalkboard paint on one side of the shed
5. Two inexpensive tea sets, one for sand and mud, one for real lemonade and cookies
6. Croquet - Brian thinks I'm nuts for imagining that it will be used for something other than pounding each other
7. A clothesline to facilitate hanging a sheet for painting, puppet shows, etc.
8. Chinese jump rope
9. Badminton
10. Stilts - empty paint cans? seems like no one uses those big coffee tins anymore
11. Stomp rockets
12. A cheap pool to put at the bottom of the sliding board for a water slide
13. A tire swing?
14. And maybe even a sand and water table - something like this?

I like to find cheap toys at yard sales that can be left outside. We have a castle toy and a set of megabloks out there for years that are still doing great, as well as various dump trucks, a sturdy bug box, toddler ride-ons, and playground balls, among other things.

Ethan, is, of course, clambering for a treehouse and zipline, but both require a bit more of the "handyman factor", which I pretty much totally lack. We're all hoping and praying that daddy keeps feeling better and better - then the possibilities could be endless. :^)

Spring photo shoot

Last Friday, we handed the kids a camera a set out to find signs of spring. We had lots of fun, but I think our walk down an azalea, dogwood, and wisteria filled residential street last year actually offered more in spring flower shooting opportunity. We'll go back to that next year.

Happy Arbor Day!