So in my attempt to be a more fun and creative mom William, James and I went on a nature walk the other day. It would have been much more enjoyable (for me) had it been crisp and cool as autumn walks should be. The heat didn't seem to bother William though. Before we left I decorated a brown paper bag and he got to fill it up with all the neat things we found on our walk--rocks, feather, rocks, flowers, rocks, leaves (and he really wanted to find an ant to bring home). On our arrival home we dumped everything out and did some "rubbings". You know, where you put the leaf (or other object) under the paper and color over it.Tonight we made jack-o-lantern pizzas. This was one of my favorite things to do around Halloween while I was growing up. William enjoyed it as well and was so excited to show the pumpkins to Rich when he got home.
This is about the extent of my creativity lately. When I read posts like this or this or this I feel as though I should be able to come up with something... and yet, well nothing comes. I recall my mom doing fun stuff with my sisters and I when we were young--problem is I can't recall at the moment what those things were!
I'm in desparate need for projects to make the day go by--so that the television remains off a little more and I keep my sanity. So I come to you, my dear readers, for suggestions. What do you do for fun? What fun projects do your kids like to do? What did YOU do as a kid? What creative outlets do you find successful?
My creativity consists entirely of trying to interpret violin concertos. When I was little I just liked to play a lot of make-believe--on my bike, with dolls, cars. Just whatever. We didn't do a lot of "creative" activities. It looks to me like you've already got a lot of good ideas. Sorry I can't be more helpful. I'm sure all those folks out there with kids have lots of ideas.
ReplyDeleteHey, I must admit that I have those same moments also. I have found that my little girl, Madelyn (3 1/2) loves to do preschool activities (handwriting, glueing, cutting, coloring, making paper sack puppets, oh and stickers are a big hit at the Call's (doesn't matter where they go or what they look like either) etc.) We are also dedicating each week this month to do something with Halloween (you've seen the blog). We use to always go on walks in the wagon and with the trike. Playdough was also a hit but I believe you have already tried that. My little girl is into magnets also right now (don't know if there is much to do with them but at least an idea).
ReplyDeleteHopefully this helps a little. I would also love some more ideas as to waht to do. Oh we also go to the library for story time.
p.s. Heather from Lori and Heather's blogs.
My friend just pointed me in the direction of familyfun.com. She printed out a cute witch and let her little girl color it and then put brads in it so the arms and legs move. She says this website has tons of great ideas and projects.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Jeanine, it seems you are also overflowing with great ideas! (Lucy and I did leaf rubbing last week too - it was a great hit!)And the pizzas are too much! I LOVE 'em!
ReplyDeleteAnyway...we've already had an e-mail dialog about this and you know that I'm in your same boat.
Love the flow of ideas, though! Keep them coming everyone!!
soooo not the creative type...esp. when it comes to keeping kids entertained. I only watched a 3 and 1 yr old for 5 hours this week and 1 1/2 of those hours were spent in front of a movie...some babysitter I am. But one idea my mom does is give kids a cookie sheet and cool whip and then they get to "draw" with the cool whip and then erase it to do as many pics as they want. not really sure how it works, but it sounded fun to me. good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe print cards at the Fisher Price little people site and send them for holidays and birthdays, Lainey loves it and I love teaching her to be thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteWe did leaf rubbing, too the other day. We have tea parties ALL THE TIME! (Please can I not pretend to slurp AGAIN today??) We go to the library nearly every week and check out their calendar for other free events. (we went and say a play for free, so much fun. They do pj storytimes occasionally.)
I have a stack of ideas from Parenting mag, they use an everyday item to make something (egg cartons, oatmeal rolls, etc) but they require some thinking ahead to get the rest of the supplies. Check out the mag from the library.
I'm like you say you are (but you really are not) needing ideas to keep 'us' (meaning Lainey) busy and the tv off! It's gonna get harder the cooler it gets...
Jeanine, just found this site, and I thought of this post. Check it out: mykidrocks.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple of fun things I did at kindercare that the kids loved. We made spiders with cut our round construction paper and legs out of yarn. The kids liked that a lot. Then they drew a picture and we cut it into a puzzle. I don't know if Will is into puzzles or not. Anyway, I'm enjoying reading these creative ideas on your blog. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteLots of great ideas. Thanks! Olivia's too little for a lot of these things right now, but I made a list of all these great ideas for future reference. I have a feeling it's going to be a long Michigan winter so I need a lot of ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe pizza idea is adorable!!
ReplyDeleteUmmm, Amy, why don't you have a blog? Jeanine, why doesn't Amy have a blog? This needs to be remedied ASAP!
ReplyDeletethose are very creative ideas! i think i would run out of ideas too though. you can try enchantedlearning.com - they have tons of ideas and print outs to do with kids!
ReplyDeleteYea! Thanks for all the great ideas! I'll for sure be using them. If you think of any others PLEASE post on here! One more thing that I thought of is cutting William's sandwiches and tortillas with cookie cutters.
ReplyDeleteHeather... I don't know why Amy doesn't have a blog because we keep bugging her to start one... maybe you should start bugging her too!
You should just set up a blog for Amy and let her figure it out.
ReplyDelete