Save the Dragons! Kids' Club Creativity

My girls have been "all about dragons" for weeks now.  My older daughter has scoured the library for every book with the word "dragon" in its title all summer.  This led to a two-week intensive planning session between my two girls for a "Save the Dragons!" club that they ultimately held with five additional friends this past Friday.

Some of the Save the Dragon! Club girls acting out fearsome dragons

These girls do nothing halfway.  My seven-year-old created a book that introduces the club, outlines famous dragon killers from history (thanks to Wikipedia), lists the rules for the club, and has drawings of all the various kinds of dragons in the world.  An excerpt:

In the old world, dragons roamed the earth freely. Then man was created and started killing the dragons. And then new people came to earth and tried to save them. Can we do it? If we try, maybe just maybe we can save the dragons.

Rules for the club include:

Protect the dragons. Never ever say or write that dragons are not real. No potty talk. No lying. If you leave dragon club not believing in dragons one little bit, you can't come back to the next dragon club. Take care of each other. Take care of stuffed animals. Raise your hand. Dragons matter!

Seven-year-old club leader reading the rules

My eight-year-old created a second book entitled "Dragon Watch: A Research Book." (The fact that it has a subtitle was very important to her!)  Her book includes a dragon's possible daily schedule, an extensive chart of dragon types, general facts about dragons gleaned from a computer game they like to play online, and sections with pictures and information about different dragon types, including Drakes, Serpents, Wyverns, and Nagas. There are even diagrams of their body parts, and a quiz to make sure you've been reading with attention!

The girls didn't have as much time to share their books and research as they had hoped, so much of this will be saved for the second Save the Dragons! club meeting.

During the first club meeting they were busy with:

Crafting paper houses for nano-dragons (very small dragons):

Eating the "dragon's head" snacks that the girls designed and created, which all of the club members enjoyed:

Going outside for dragon-themed outdoor games using pool noodles and lots of running around. (You will notice that two additional club members have joined at this time):

My seven-year-old was the official club leader, with my eight-year-old serving as "co-leader," and there were moments when the pressures of leadership threatened to get the best of the younger one.  It can be tough when expectations do not meet up exactly with reality, and though I had tried to encourage her to go with the flow and remain flexible with how things evolved, there was some stress when games were not played exactly as she had hoped.

I also think that our second Save the Dragons! club will be limited to 1-1/2 or 2 hours to reduce stress brought on by over-excitement and activity.

But I am mightily proud of the creativity and planning my girls put into this fun activity for their friends, and I saw lots of smiles and genuine interest from club members who had no idea what they were getting themselves into!

I don't think I ever organized such a well-planned and elaborate club for my friends when I was a kid.  How about you?  Did you participate in any fun, informal clubs when you were young?

Battling Summer Boredom

This past week on Facebook, I posted a picture of a list I have given my girls this summer in an effort to eliminate "the b-word" from their vocabulary.

That's "bored," in case you haven't already heard it a thousand times from your kids so far this summer!

The list is entitled, "Mom, I'm Bored!" There are two full pages of ideas for how they can spend their time (and "watching tv" and "playing computer games" do NOT make an appearance).

Last year, I gave them a similar list, but when they complained about being bored and I sent them to the list, they just said, "There's nothing on here I wanna do-ooo-ooo!" (You know that voice, right?)

So this year, I added a rule to the list: Before they can come to me and complain of being bored, they have to do at least three of the activities from the list for at least ten minutes each.  The goal is, of course, that something they end up doing will spark their interest and keep them busy for a lot longer than just ten minutes.

My Facebook friends were interested in getting a better look at just exactly what activities are on the list, so I thought I would create a blog post.

Here is the complete list of activity ideas:

“Mom, I’m bored!”

You can’t complain to Mom that you are bored until you’ve done at least 3 of the following things for 10 minutes each!

·         Read a book.

·         Write a story.

·         Create a magazine.

·         Bird-watch in the backyard.

·         Practice fancy lettering.

·         Draw a map.

·         Teach yourself to juggle.

·         Write a letter to a friend.

·         Play with Stella. [That's our cat.]

·         Make miniatures.

·         Put on a puppet show.

·         Make a collage of magazine pictures.

·         Make a set of ATCs. [These are Artist Trading Cards.]

·         Set up dominoes, then make them fall.

·         Playing a rhyming game with your sister.

·         Create a handmade book.

·         Read the Bible.

·         Make up similes (“___ is as quiet as a mouse,” “____ is as noisy as a train”).

·         Create decorations (rugs, pictures) for the big doll house.

·         Write in your diary.

·         Design your own flag.

·         Blow bubbles outside.

·         Play Simon Says with your sister.

·         Lay on your back outside and find pictures in the clouds.

·         Have a face-making competition with your sister in the mirror.

·         Play the smile game with your sister:  Don’t smile first!

·         Build a fort with a blanket or sheet.

·         Call a friend.

·         Play soccer in the backyard.

·         Play a musical instrument.

·         Draw a picture.

·         Write a message with words and phrases from magazines.

·         Make a greeting card.

·         Draw with stencils.

·         Practice cartwheels.

·         Play Scrabble with your sister.

·         Play “I Spy” with sounds or colors or letters.

·         Write a letter or poem using alphabet rubber stamps.  (Put a table cloth on the table first, and wear a smock!)

·         Make letters with Play-doh.

·         Run through the sprinkler.

·         Play at the water table in the backyard.

·         Play with the garden hose. 

·         Make a backyard field guide, drawing and describing all the plants, insects, and/or animals you see.

·         Turn on music and dance.

·         Play veterinarian with your stuffed animals.

·         Have a staring contest.  Don’t blink first!

·         Make lunch or a snack for your mom.

·         Sing a song.

·         Explore with a magnifying glass.

·         Use a flashlight in the closet to make a shadow show.

·         Dust the furniture.

·         Organize your toys.

·         Make a postcard.

·         Sort buttons.

·         Build something with LEGOs.

·         Do a bead project.

·         Do a rubber stamp project.  (Put a table cloth on the table first, and wear a smock!)

·         Have a fashion show.

·         Play a board game.

·         Play a card game (UNO, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, WAR, Go Snorkeling, Five Crowns)

·         Make up a new game.

·         Practice math with a calculator.

·         Memorize a Bible verse.

·         Invent something.

·         Create a scavenger hunt for your sister.

·         Jump rope.

·         Play hair salon.

·         Go ant-watching in the backyard.

·         Do a puzzle.

·         Construct or draw a maze.

·         Race cars.

·         Track the weather.

·         Start a collection.

·         Play with sidewalk chalk in the driveway.

·         Make a bookmark.

·         Make animals and other pictures from your thumbprint.

·         Play Follow the Leader with your sister.

·         Sweep the floors.

·         Color with crayons.

·         Make a sticker picture.

·         Have a tea party.

And on page two:

·         Write to your grandmother.  Or all of your grandmothers!

·         Vacuum the carpets.

·         Make up a song, poem, or rhyme.

·         Create an alphabet book.

·         Designate a letter of the day, and do activities that start with that letter.  Speak using words that start with that letter as much as possible.

·         Build with Lincoln Logs.

·         Look through your baby book.

·         Build a Mighty Beanz race track.

·         Make up some tongue twisters.

·         Make a list of your very favorite foods.

·         Create patterns with coins.

·         Sing some songs:

o   I’m a little teapot

o   Itsy bitsy spider

o   Head, shoulders, knees and toes

o   The wheels on the bus

o   If you’re happy and you know it

o   This little light of mine

o   He’s got the whole world in his hands

o   London bridge

o   Old Macdonald

·         Pick out things you can sell in a garage sale or donate to children in need.

·         Do a craft from the Independent Crafts Folder. [I included easy things they could manage on their own.]

·         Make a Rainbow Loom bracelet or ring.

·         Work in your Wreck This Journal, or create a new journal of your own.

·         Get a toy from the basement that you haven’t played with in awhile.

·         Pretend play:  Harry Potter

·         Pretend play:  My Little Pony

·         Pretend play:  Dragons

·         Practice pitching and catching softballs outside with your sister.

·         Play chess with your sister.

·         Do some one-minute challenges:

o   Balance on one foot

o   Hop on one foot

o   How many times can you touch your toes?

o   How many jumping jacks can you do?

o   Bounce a ball on the ground and catch it.

o   Dance without stopping.

o   How many somersaults can you do?

o   Gallop sideways.

o   Skip.

 ·         Play dress-up.

·         Go out in the yard and draw what you see.

·         Make up math story problems.

·         Build something with the Mah Jong tiles.

·         Look through a View Master.

·         Build a marble maze.

·         Make a gift for someone.

·         Build something with Tinker Toys.

·         Play with Noah’s Ark.

·         Make a pop-up book.

·         Make a list of things you can do when you’re bored.

·         Put on a play.

·         Go on an imaginary expedition, inside or out.  Pretend you are in a rain forest, on a trip to the North Pole, crossing the desert, or climbing a mountain.

·         Look through your yearbook.

·         Play with the big toy horse in the basement.

·         Play with the big doll house down in the basement.

·         Read through your old books in the basement.

·         Play school.

·         Make up knock-knock jokes, and tell them to your sister.

·         Play with the fairy garden.  Remodel their home.

·         “Play cook” in the kitchen sink.

·         Read a book outside.

As you look through this list with your own kids in mind, you will see places that you would want to customize and change it, based on their ages, interests, and the kinds of things they have to play with at home.  For example, one of my suggestions is to "build a Mighty Beanz race track"--that's a toy we picked up at a yard sale last summer, which is stored in the basement.  By putting it on the list, I am reminding the girls that it's down there if they're interested.  Same with toys like the Noah's Ark and the "big toy horse." If you make a similar list, you could include toys that are packed away that they might be interested in getting out.

I also included some "little kid things," like playing I Spy and singing songs like, "If you're happy and you know it." Sometimes my girls, now 7 and 8, will make fun if something is "babyish," then get totally enthralled in those old familiar things!

I put the list in a storage box, which I filled with different notebooks and activity books that they have accumulated.  Their summer reading assignment from school is in there, summer review activities my 3rd grader got from her teacher, some unfinished coloring books and word find books, their Wreck This Journals--anything that might help them pass the time if they can't think of something else to do.

They each get 16 minutes of computer time each day, and other than a recent infatuation with "Kung Fu Panda" they haven't been asking to watch any television.  They've only been out of school for four days (our district runs until June 21!), and we've had a picnic, a playground visit, piano lessons, a trip to the dentist's office, a free magic show, a birthday swim party, church and a pancake breakfast.  At home, they have been obsessed with the two sets of Goldie Blox their aunt and uncle got them for Christmas a couple of years ago.

"Boredom" has not been the b-word I have been contending with; rather, it's "bickering." We'll see if I've figured out anything to post about handling THAT before the summer is through!  Wish me luck!

How are YOU keeping your kids busy and creative this summer?

Celebrating, Octonauts-Style!

Last Saturday, we celebrated my older daughter's sixth birthday with an Octonauts-themed birthday party.  The Octonauts is one of Katy's current cartoon favorites, because for years she has been in love with sea creatures, and the program takes place under the sea.  A team of animals--a cat, a polar bear, a rabbit, an octopus, etc.--live aboard the Octopod and ride around in vehicles called GUPS, offering medical care and rescue to ocean creatures in need.

Because Katy had a sea creature theme for her last birthday party, adding a few Octonaut-specific details was no problem; mostly it was the same party all over again!

I made the happy decision to skip the crepe paper streamers this time around, and instead I sewed together die-cut fish from the parent/teacher store to make garlands for the doorways.

A total of eight children came to the party, including my own two.  What a perfect number!  It felt less like a stressful party, and more like a comfortably large play date.  When the girls first arrived, they settled down to a pile of Octonaut coloring and activity pages, which I was able to print out from Octonauts.com and 1plus1plus1plus1equals1.net.

Then we moved onto a craft:  We made paper plate fish that we decorated with markers and stickers.  I laid a vinyl tablecloth on the living room floor, and let the girls work together in the sunshine:

I didn't take a picture of our fish, so here is an example I found online:

source

When it was time for games, we played Captain Barnacles Says (like Simon Says, but renamed for the main character of the Octonauts).  I started out as the leader, and then each of the girls took a turn.  We also played Pass the Tweak (a version of Hot Potato, using my younger daughter's stuffed bunny).  A "fan favorite," though, was Pin the Eye Patch on Kwazii.  I used a picture from Etsy to make my own Kwazii poster, and cut eye patches from black construction paper.  I had a paper mask to cover their eyes from a Pin the Tail game we played earlier this year, but you could cover the kids' eyes with a scarf instead.  I put the girls' names on their eye patches on little round stickers so they could see who got closest.

Finally, we played a fishing game.  I put paper fish numbered with 1s, 2s, or 3s into a children's wading pool with paper clips attached.  The girls all used a fishing pole with a magnet attached to draw out a fish.  Then they could get a party favor from the bag labeled with the same number as the number on their fish.

Do you notice the aquarium scene on the TV screen behind us!  :-)

I borrowed a fun little treasure chest from a friend to store the favor bags.

I set out some munchies, like a  bowl of goldfish crackers and Swedish fish, and a bit of a sea-themed tablescape in the kitchen.

I also made a fun dessert to serve with the kids' lunch.  The idea apparently came from Martha Stewart, but many folks who've done Octonaut themes for their kids have done something similar.  I made blue jello in little clear cups from the dollar store.  Then I cut a slit in the top of the jello and tucked in Swedish fish to make them look like they are swimming around.

Don't put the fish in too far ahead of time, though.  They get terribly gunky after they've been in there for awhile!  On the rest of their Captain Barnacles plates, the girls found shell pasta, dolphin-shaped cheese sandwiches (made with a cookie cutter) and "fish eyes" (grapes).

Some people put more time and thought into the cake than any other part of the event, but I admit that for us, it got the least attention.  I didn't even order enough in advance to get a theme-appropriate cake!  But the cake had balloons, and absolutely delicious frosting, so I was content.  I always serve the little ice cream cups sold in the freezer section of the grocery store to avoid the mess of trying to scoop out ice cream next to the cake.

Back to the vinyl tablecloth on the floor, the girls seemed pretty happy with the cake and ice cream part of the party!

We finished up the party by opening gifts, and sending the girls off with balloons and goody bags.

I was able to print out pictures of the Octonaut characters onto adhesive-backed papers to turn them into stickers for the bags.  I used the same sources as for the coloring pages at the beginning of the party.

All in all, it was a very happy birthday party for my little girl!

Hot Chocolate Cones

It's always a nice touch to give gifts to your children's teachers for the holidays.  When I counted up all the teachers and aides that the girls have between them for preschool and Sunday school, I was faced with providing presents for 14 people.  It can be pretty tough to stay both meaningful and economical for 14 gifts.  Once again, Disney's Family Fun magazine came to the rescue with their recipe for Hot Chocolate Cones.  (I've seen this idea from a number of other sources, as well.)

I purchased cone-shaped cellophane bags from Party City, ten for a dollar, as well as a jumbo cannister of hot chocolate, two bags of mini-chocolate chips, and a bag of mini-marshmallows from Target.  The magazine suggested topping off the Hot Chocolate Cone with a red gumdrop, but we used a red Gummi Bear instead. 

All I had to do was pour the hot chocolate into one of the cones, closing it off with a rubber band or twist tie.  I then trimmed the cellophane above the tie, and dropped that bag into another one.  I poured mini-chocolate chips right on top, and then mini-marshmallows on top of that.  Then I topped it off with a red Gummi Bear, and twist tied the second bag closed. 

Now their teachers will have everything they need for a few warm, delicious mugs of hot chocolate this winter!

I will probably be tying a reindeer thumbprint or jingle bell tag with a ribbon to the top. 

Kids who are four or five can definitely help with the gift preparations, and I think that a child of eight or nine would be able to put these together all by themselves.  They make a great gift for teachers, friends, or stocking stuffers!

Happy Holidays!