Audiobooks – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Audiobooks – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

We've been listening to audiobooks with our kids since the oldest was a toddler. Then we listened to things like "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum and "Catwings" by Ursula K. LeGuin. We spend more time driving around in the car than I care to think about, and listening to audiobooks makes all that time feel somewhat more productive.

Not every audiobook we've tried has been a winner. Sometimes the stories just don't capture the kids, sometimes the narrator is difficult to understand, or the kids just have other things on their minds and are daydreaming out the window instead of listening. That's why we now take breaks between books, and don't listen every single time we get in the car. Sometimes we need music, or just some quiet time for our own thoughts, but before long, we are all ready again for a new story.

Since we are all at the same place in the story, it is easy for us to talk about it together too.

Long road trips can be a great time to try out a family audiobook. Because they can be pricey, we usually borrow cds from the library. 

Stay Cool Indoors with Building Blocks – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Stay Cool Indoors with Building Blocks – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

I was going to write another post today about building with Legos with your kids. We are big fans of Legos in our house. Yet as I thought about what I wanted to write, I realized that any sort of building block would work.

When the heat is keeping you stuck playing indoors, building blocks can be a ton of fun. Especially if the whole family gets into it together. Especially if you aim for a creation on as grand a scale as your building materials allow.

My girls once used every type of building block they had, along with most of their little plastic animal toys, to build a zoo that took up their whole room. I think the Ikea wooden train even got involved (mimicking the train ride at the Oakland Zoo, I’m sure.) On another occasion, they recreated Ponyville from their beloved TV show and Comic series ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’.

What your family chooses to create is entirely up to you and the things you love, but make it big! If the kids (and the parents) aren’t ready to let it go when it is time for clean up, try taking a few snapshots of it to remember it. Or, if you can still make it to the beds and the bathroom, consider leaving it up another day. It’s something your family created all together – just be proud of it and have fun!

Backyard Wading Pools – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Backyard Wading Pools – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

My kids are of an age that I would have thought that little backyard wading pools would no longer hold an interest for them. I was wrong. Both their grandparents have small inflatable pools, the kind that don’t really hold much more than a foot of water or so, and the girls can happily spend the whole day out there, sitting in the shallow water with some bath toys, or splashing around.

We still have to be careful on these 100+ degree days, to not let them spend too much time in the sun; an umbrella for shade can be great help. Also, it is easy to let the shallowness of the water lull the grownups into a sense of complacency – so we must remember that drowning can happen even in a very small amount of water and there is no substitute for adult supervision.

Still, these pools can be found very inexpensively. If the prices seem high to you right now, watch for clearance sales at the end of the season, and you’ll be able to pick one up for next summer for almost nothing. We have no real yard space to speak of, it’s twelve feet square at best and completely paved in concrete, so it is not a yard that screams ‘summer fun’, yet a little pool out there makes even my tween as happy as a clam for a few hours on the hot days.

Well worth the investment in my opinion. 

Make a Scale Model Solar System - Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Make a Scale Model Solar System - Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Back when my oldest wanted to learn about the solar system for the first time, I obviously thought we should make a little model. Once I actually got a closer look at all those kits they sell in craft stores and elsewhere, I was disappointed. There was never any sort of consistent scale. For example, in most kits Jupiter is bigger than Earth, but sometimes, not by much. In some kits the sun was even smaller than Jupiter.

Now, I know making a scale model solar system is hard, but I felt so many of these kits would be misleading to young kids who don't realize how different these packaged solar system kits are from reality. They just don't do justice to the vastness and the amazing sizes they way they should. They certainly don't do much to inspire awe and wonder of the natural universe.

Thanks to Google, I was able to find this wonderful website for making your own scale model solar system:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/

You can plug in a size (the diameter) for the Sun you want to make, then it will tell you what the diameter each of the planets should be, and their orbital distance from the Sun. Your sun will need to be big if you don't want tiny dots for planets. We were going to use a hula hoop, but ended up just making a big circle with a piece of cord so we could have bigger planets. That way, our Jupiter came out to be about the size of a Frisbee, and we then measured and cut the other planets out of paper. Then we taped the planets to sticks so they would stick up out of the ground as we placed them in their orbits.

This is one caveat of the scale model solar system - Keeping the size of the planets in scale isn't too hard, nor is keeping the orbital distance, but doing both at the same time can be very tough. For example - in our model where the Sun had a diameter of 46 inches, and our Earth's diameter came out just under a half inch, if we kept the orbital distances consistent with that scale, Pluto would have to be over 16,000 feet away from our Sun. So we ended up with two scales, one for planet size, and another for orbits. The kids looked at the numbers with me, so they sort of knew that we were changing things from what they really should be.

Still, we found the biggest park we could, and laid out our circle for the Sun, then measured off the distances to stick our planets in the right places. Even though we had to plug in different numbers until we had Pluto no more than 50 or so feet away, the final model was very impressive, and illustrated much better the amount of 'space' in the Solar System.

It was a very fun and educational afternoon for us all. I am actually looking forward to doing it all over again in a year or so for the younger kiddo. She helped the first time, but she was so little, I don't think she could appreciate it yet. It really isn't as much work as it sounds like, with the help of the calculator at the Exploratorium website linked above. It is a very worthwhile activity.

Color – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Color – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Coloring is often viewed as a preschooler activity. However, it can be a surprisingly fun activity for older kids too. There are even some coloring books that are designed for adults. Younger kids love for their parent to color with them. Sure, sitting a filling in a coloring page may not feel terribly productive, but it can be bonding time with your kids, and can be relaxing.

Wash the Car – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Wash the Car – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Washing the car may sound more like a chore than a fun thing to do, but it’s one of the easiest chores to turn into a good time if you try. First, swimsuits are required. When you have fun washing the car – you get very wet. Some of the washing and rinsing time should be dedicated to squirting each other with the water hose. Water guns can get involved too if there are more kids than can comfortably take turns with the hose. A big bucket of soapy water and a couple of big sponges are tons of fun as long as you aren’t trying to stay dry or clean.

Expect that washing the car in the fun and wet way will take much longer than washing it in the efficient, tidy way. The key to the fun is taking the time to let some water play happen. When the car is fully washed and rinsed, then there can be a short period of more serious time to possibly dry or wipe windows. But my kids even like that part.

Make Ice Cream – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Make Ice Cream – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Even without an ice cream maker there are ways to make ice cream easily at home (Plus, you can control the ingredients!)

We have used the ice-cream-in-a-bag technique and it really is as easy as it sounds:

http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html

You can also add some flavoring like cocoa, strawberries, etc. The bag technique for ice cream making is only good for a small serving (each kid can make their own), but if you want to make a big batch – I was surprised to find out how affordable the bigger ice cream makers can be.

Run Through the Sprinkler – Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

Run Through the Sprinkler – Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

Running around in the sprinkler was a staple of my childhood summers. I really don't hear about kids still doing this. Maybe I travel in the wrong circles. Tell me do your kids still like to play in sprinklers?

A week or so ago though, our plans to visit the local pool fell through and my oldest suggest getting the sprinkler out, and they had a blast jumping around in the water. So if you haven't dragged the old lawn sprinkler out in awhile, give it a try on the next warm day.

Start a Summer Book Club for Kids - Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

Start a Summer Book Club for Kids - Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

There are a bunch of resources that encourage kids to read over the summer. Libraries and book stores offer summer reading programs with prizes. Having a group of friends to share your favorite books with, though, can make reading that much more fun.

If you want to start a children's book club for the summer, I suggest keeping it fun. Pick books that the kids would probably not read in school, and don't worry if they have a lot of 'literary value'. If your child is interested, you could pick a theme, like books about dragons, or superheros, or books with strong girl leads. Think about what the kids you want to invite like. Maybe you pick books that have a film adaptation you could watch after you finish the book. Let the kids talk about what they want, and just be ready to throw out a question or idea if they run out of things to discuss on their own.

Maybe have a snack or craft to go along with the book if it lends itself to such things.

The Great Bug Hunt – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

The Great Bug Hunt – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

I don’t remember why my kids and I started hunting for bugs, but afterwards, I was amazed with how much fun it was. Even the littlest one, who normally doesn’t like bugs – is even afraid of some – put her fears and disgust aside to join in the hunt.

We had gone out for a short hike, but The Great Bug Hunt would work at your local park or playground, or even your back yard. All you do is look for bugs. As many different kinds as you can find, and announce to the rest of the group when you spot one. Ants, butterflies, ladybugs, bumblebees, flies, and any other bugs you come across all count.

That’s it. Thant’s the whole game. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but try it out anyway, and let me know how you like it.

Family Dinner Together and Game Night - Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Family Dinner Together and Game Night

Despite all we hear about how great it is to eat dinner together at the table as a family, we don't usually eat together. We've fallen into bad habits of all going our own ways, to our own screens at dinner time. By the end of the day, we are often so tired that preparing a meal is almost more than we can handle, let alone trying to get the table cleared, set, etc. I'm sure many of you understand.

However, I really want to at least try to have family dinners, but the kids love their dinner TV time, and I admit I like my quiet dinner blog reading. So to make the transition more fun, we are adding game night into the mix. While we are all at the able having dinner, we play a game together.

We started with Minotarus by Lego, and had so much fun, I don't think the kids noticed that they didn't watch any TV. In fact, they were up early today playing it again. We picked it up at a garage sale, and I recommend garage sales a great way to build your game collection.

If you have any fun family dinner traditions, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Draw Your Own Comic - Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Draw Your Own Comic - Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

I recently printed out some blank comic strip templates, and had the kids make up their own stories with them. I thought it might be a little more fun than a normal writing or drawing lesson, but I was happily surprised by their enthusiasiam. Every frame they drew, they would rush to me to show it off.

I used the printable comic templates at http://donnayoung.org/art/comics.htm

I had some difficulty getting them to print well. My printer wanted to cut one edge off no matter how I adjusted my settings, but the kids didn’t seem to mind.

When my oldest was really struggling with her writing, we also used http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ to make writing a little more fun. We printed out one of the comics that had characters, but no words. Then my daughter had to look at it, and imagine what might be going on, then add the dialog. She enjoyed it enough that it completely overcame her dislike of physical writing. It looks like the updated site will let you type instead now, but I bed you could still print out a strip without words if you wanted to try it the way we did.

Make Flowers Change Colors - Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Make Flowers Change Colors - Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

While studying plants recently, we decided to try the age-old flower dying experiment. Although we didn't have as much success as we have had in the past (when my oldest did this same experiment), we are still starting to see some color change, and the kiddo had fun with it.

All you do is add some food coloring to a vase of water, then add your flowers. White flowers tend to work the best - make sure to give then a fresh cut stem before putting them into the colored water. Although, kids will often use a celery stalk as well. I think it's better if there are some leaves still on the celery as opposed to the pre-cut ones.

This experiment shows how plants pull water up through their stems into their petals
 and leaves.

Write a Story Together - Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Write a Story Together - Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Now, I'm not talking about a serious literary attempt here. This is about writing a silly, possibly completely non-nonsensical story. You can do it with just you and your child, or a while group. It can be great for a long car trip. Still, it can be fun if one participant is willing to write the story down as it is created, so it can be enjoyed in it's goofy completeness later on.

Someone begins the story, but only says the first line. Another person makes up the next line - and so on. There should be no discussion ahead of time about plot or what sort of story you think you're going to tell. The first person will have one idea of what the story is that they are telling, but the others will have different ideas, and take the story in different fun and nutty directions. Every takes several turns until the group as a whole agrees the story is done. Usually someone will have to make an effort to bring it to a close.

To go just one more silly step further, limit each person to three words each.

We have also done a group story where each person wrote out their contribution, and we didn't limit the space they had, but everyone only got one turn. It didn't go as off course and silly as keeping each turn shorter, but it was still very fun, and we had a neat souvenir of our family get together at the end.

Cook Together - Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Cook Together - Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

I've had other topics about cooking specific foods together with your kids, but this one is more general. This is to encourage you to have your kids help make dinner. Small kids especially want to 'help' with cooking. The problem is that there may not be a lot they can safely do in the kitchen if they aren't ready or old enough to handle knives or bee near the hot stove.

There is still a lot they can do to help, but you need to think ahead because the non-cutting, non-hot stuff parts of cooking may be things we do without thinking about it in preparation to do the real cooking. For example, my 5 year old loves to break apart the broccoli to get it ready for steaming. Washing vegetables is a great job for small kids. maybe measuring something, even if they need to hand it to you to actually put it into the pot (and you can take a quick peek to double check. Stirring batter is usually safe as well.

Older kids who can be trusted with more dangerous kitchen jobs could be put in charge of a side dish.

I tend to be tired and somewhat cranky at the end of the day when it is dinner cooking time, but when I ask my kids to help out, even though it makes the kitchen crowded, it is always surprisingly fun to cook together.

Try Out a New Playground – Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Try Out a New Playground – Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

With the weather turning toward a very beautiful springtime, we have been spending more and more time outdoors. While we have our favorite parks and playgrounds we visit over and over again, we have also enjoyed finding new ones where we were out running errands, and maybe a little further from home. It is always fun.

Try pulling up Google maps, or whatever mapping program you like and checking out some other parks nearby that you've never been to. Or better yet, if you need to be out for another reason, look up a park near where you're headed to include some playtime in your busy errand running day.

Some parks and playgrounds I've written about here on the blog:

Antioch City Park

http://cabayareakids.blogspot.com/2012/10/city-park-in-antioch.html

Matteo's Dream in Concord

http://cabayareakids.blogspot.com/2012/07/matteos-dream-playground-in-concord.html

Hap McGee in Danville

http://cabayareakids.blogspot.com/2012/09/hap-mcgee-park-in-danville.html

Children's Wonderland in Vallejo

http://cabayareakids.blogspot.com/2008/06/childrens-wonderland-park-in-vallejo.html

Start a Garden – Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

Start a Garden – Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

If you started some seeds indoor earlier in the year, they are probably ready to move outside either into the ground, or into larger pots.

We have never lived in a house with a yard big enough for a garden in the ground. So I have become a good container gardener over the years. So if all you have is a small apartment patio or balcony, you can still create a little garden to grow stuff with your kids.

We have grown tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, peas, herbs, flowers, zucchini, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries in pots over the years. The bigger plants may need pretty large containers to grow well in, but it can be done. Pick a few of your favorite fruits or veggies, and start growing! For tomatoes, or vine-y or sprawling plants like cantaloupe or zucchini, I find that cages help the plant to grow without sprawling out of the pot and breaking the stems.

It isn't too late in the year if you want to start from seed. You can start indoors, or right outside if you want. If you'd rather get more of a running start at your garden, lots of plant centers have good sales this time of year on seedlings.

Each plant will have it's own slightly different requirements about how much sun and water and spacing they like, so just follow the instructions that come with your plant or seed packet, and watch your garden grow.

Play a Card Game – Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Play a Card Game – Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Playing a card game with your kids can have multiple benefits. You get some good fun together time, and hopefully some conversation too, but additionally, many card games are great for math practice.

Simple card games like 'Go Fish' or 'War' are good to play with younger children. Then games like 'Twenty-one' or 'Cribbage' can introduce some simple strategy and mental addition. There are literally hundreds of card games out there.

There are great books full of games, or pagat.com has rules for a slew of games too.

Put Together a Jigsaw Puzzle – Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

Put Together a Jigsaw Puzzle – Fun Stuff To Do Anywhere

I remember putting puzzles together with my mother when I was small, but for some reason I never thought about doing it with my own kids until recently. They did simple 25 piece, then 50 piece puzzles as preschoolers on their own and loved them. Often they would put the same puzzle together over and over again. But when they moved on to 100 piece, they did one or two and stopped. I thought they had outgrown puzzles, but now I think it was something else.

I think they hit a point where the puzzles were more challenging and they became intimidated. We did a 500 piece puzzle together, and in the beginning they acted discouraged before we’d even really begun. Once the boarder was put together, and some other small parts had been assembled enough to be recognizable, their enthusiasm for the project grew. Every piece placed was a tiny celebration.

We didn’t try to put it together all in one sitting, or even all in one day. I think that would have been more than they could take. But we ended up having a lot of fun, and I look forward to another group jigsaw puzzle again soon, although some puzzles at the store have gotten pricey in my opinion, but sales and thrift stores, and garage sales are great places to pick a puzzle up if you want totry one out without spending much to start.

Letterboxing – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Letterboxing – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

After last week's introduction to geocaching, I thought this week, I should introduce geocaching's low-tech predecessor: letterboxing.

Geocaching and letterboxing share a lot in common. The idea for both is to go out into the world, often into nature, and find the hidden container. In geocaching, there will be a logbook, and possibly some swag for trade in the container. In letterboxing, there will be a logbook and a stamp. You can bring your own stamp to mark the logbook with, or just write your name, and you can use the stamp in the letterbox to mark your own book to show you made the find. You should not trade or take anything from a letterbox.

The benefits of letterboxing is that no special technology is required (other than looking the letterbox up online before leaving home.) Instead of GPS coordinates, letterboxing uses landmarks and more old-fashioned treasure hunting terms. For example you could be instructed to find a particularly noticeable tree, and go ten paces to the north, then turn right, and so on.

The downside of letterboxes is that there are far fewer of them around than geocaches. The website we've used is www.letterboxing.org, but we've only found two letterboxes. If you are an experienced letterboxer, and have other online resources you can share, please do so in the comments.