Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Flower Personification ~ For After School Writing Fun

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Have you ever tried giving human characteristics to something nonhuman? It’s called personification and it’s a fun way to get kids hooked on writing. They may not realize it, but they’re probably very familiar with personification. It’s prevalent in many movies (Cars, Toy Story), tv shows (Doc McStuffins, Thomas & Friends) and children’s books (Corduroy, Otis, or The Little Engine That Could). And, those are just a few examples I could come up with off the top of my head. Recently, I set up this personification activity for my daughter to give her a little after school writing practice.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Pictures of flowers
Notebook paper
Glue
Markers
Pen or pencil

Set-Up:

To set-up the project, I found several close-up pictures of flowers to print. I used the search term “flower” in the Creative Commons search and found many choices. (The Creative Commons is a great place to find royalty-free images to use for projects such as this.) I downloaded several different pictures, added them to a Word document, and printed in black-and-white. You could also search through coloring pages to find your images. Finally, I cut out each image and glued them to the top half of a sheet of notebook paper. The process was simple and only took a few minutes of my time.

When Miss First Grader got home from school, I had the sheets all ready for her. I let her pick out a flower then gave her a writing challenge.

Use the marker to give your flower a face and turn it into a person. Once you’re done, give your flower a name and then write four sentences about your flower person.

Since this was our first time doing this project, I guided her through the writing a bit. I asked questions such as: “Where does your flower live?” “What do they like to do?” “What are some of their favorite things?” I tried to get her thinking about her flower as a person and not just a flower.

Miss First Grader named her flower Daisy. Daisy is 6 years old, likes pizza, and is always happy. I love to see her imagination at work!

Is your child not interested in flowers? Look for pictures of vehicles, buildings, trees, or toys instead.

Make it a family adventure!
Cost: Under $5. You probably have everything you need already.
Planning time: 30 minutes. Most of your prep time will be spent finding images and printing.
Ages: 6 and up. This project is best enjoyed by kids who are comfortable writing. If you want to do this with a younger child, let them dictate their ideas and a parent or older sibling can help with the writing.
Time needed: Around 30 minutes

If you want to do this as a family adventure instead of an afterschool project, add in sharing time. Let everyone take turns acting out their flower character. It’s fun to see where everyone’s imagination takes them!

Tulip Letter Match Game

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This spring-themed Tulip Letter Match game is a fun way to help kids learn their uppercase and lowercase letters. I’m all about keeping learning fun at home and turning something into a game is the easiest way to add that element of fun. All it takes is a few supplies and a little bit of time to create this simple game.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Two colors of construction paper
Scissors
Marker
Thin cardboard (recycled cereal box) for template

The game is very simple to make. I started out by making a quick template of a tulip with some cardboard I found in my recycling bin. I wanted all of my flowers to be the same size and tracing a template was the easiest way to achieve this. I traced 26 tulips on each color of construction paper and cut them all out. (The cutting took the most time out of the whole process.)

Next, using my marker, I wrote the lowercase letters on one color of tulip and the uppercase letter on the other color. Once you’re finished it’s time to play!

Ways to Play:<

Place them all face-up on the table. Encourage your child to match each set of letters.

Make it a little more difficult by only laying out one set of letters. Leave the other set in a pile and have your child pick up one letter at a time from the pile. They need to match that letter before moving on to the next one.

Place all the letters face-down on the table. Flip over two tulips at a time, one of each color. Play like you would a standard memory game and try to find matches. This is a perfect way to play if you’re looking for a little one-on-one time with your preschooler.

This game was so easy to make and cost me nothing. Not bad for some fun ABC time!

Kaleidograph Review and Giveaway – Now Closed

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*Disclosure: We were sent free products from Kaleidograph for review. All opinions are my own.

We recently got to review a fun, new product, Kaleidograph. The girls love it and I love it. So *ahem* let me pull myself away from this awesome pattern design toy and tell you a little about it.

 

Kaleidograph is a simple toy inspired by the design toys from the original Froebel Kindergarten system. Each set contains several sturdy, double-sided, die-cut cards that fit in a sleeve about the size of a thick cd case. Each also comes with a double-sided poster showing some of the many possible combinations.

Turn them, twist them, and stack them. The possibilities are endless. Seriously. I don’t think you would ever run out of combinations. My girls loved coming up with their own designs. I tried to challenge myself to duplicate some of the designs on the poster.

 

They’re so much fun to play with at home. It’s perfect for quiet time before bed or a rainy afternoon. It would also be the perfect toy to slip in your purse for those times when you’re waiting in a restaurant or a doctor’s office. I love Kaleidograph because it’s completely open-ended. You can try to create the designs on the poster, or you can come up with your own. You can see from the picture below that my daughter was going for side-by-side designs. She tried to see how many she could make with one set. Stack as many cards as possible together or see what you can do with only two cards. Believe me when I tell you, you will love playing with this as much as your kids. Click here to find out where to buy your own set.
Now that you’ve seen just how awesome Kaleidograph is, would you like your own set? Kaleidograph and Red Hen Books and Toys are offering two winners their choice of a Kaleidograph set. That’s right, two of you will get to stay up playing all night long just like I do! (Kidding, I don’t stay up all night long playing, but I do love making designs with these) You can use the form below to enter (USA only). Only one entry is mandatory and it’s easy. Just tell me which set you would choose if you win. Your choices are Contrast, Flora, OpArt, and Crystal. (You can see all the sets here.) All other entries are completely optional!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day Every Day

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Earth Day may be only one day a year, but, it can (and should) be practiced every day. You can’t be too young to learn about the earth and find ways to help. Your littlest ones can go on a nature walk or create a craft from the recycle bin. Older kids can take control and guide the family in ways to recycle, reduce, and reuse. They can implement a plan to reduce their water consumption or make a pledge to turn off the lights.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Here are 10 ideas for families that want to celebrate Earth Day every day.

Set up an at-home recycling station. Teach Me Mommy show you how.

Learn about the world around you and go on a nature walk with How Wee Learn.

Pick up litter around your neighborhood with My Nearest and Dearest.

Learn about composting and start a compost pile or bin in your yard with ALLterNATIVE Learning.

Find ways to conserve water in your home with Kitchen Counter Chronicles.

Play a recycling think and sort game with No Time for Flashcards.

Make a log pile home for creatures in the corner of your yard with Rainy Day Mum.

Search your recycling bin for craft supplies. JDaniel4’s mom has a great list of recycled crafts!

Challenge each other to turn out the lights, like we did here at Creative Family Fun.

Save a tree with these 7 Ways Kids Can Help Save Trees from Go Explore Nature.

What are some of the ways your family celebrates Earth Day every day?

Make this a family adventure!
Spending time learning about the earth and the ways we can be more eco-friendly is always a rewarding way to spend time together as a family. Any one of these links would be a great family adventure. Pick an idea and spend your next family night working on ways to save the earth

Earth Day Pledge ~ Turn Off the Lights!

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I love Earth Day. It’s a great time to evaluate what you are already doing to conserve and find ways to make more of an impact. We already recycle and compost. We’ve planted several new trees. We use cloth napkins and use environmentally-safe cleaners. But, there was one big thing that we could do better. It was one thing that the girls could do themselves and feel like they were making a big difference. It was so simple. We need to turn out the lights!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

According to the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEAA), artificial lighting is responsible for 20% of a home’s energy usage. Wow! We can easily reduce that percentage by turning off the lights when we leave a room and using natural light during the daytime.

The girls were very excited about this idea and wanted to help, but we knew we needed a few reminders. We grabbed a few blank index cards, markers, and tape. The girls made several “turn off the lights” signs, which were the perfect size to hang over (or under) our light switches.

We traveled through the house and hung up the signs in the rooms where we always forget to turn off the lights, especially in the bathrooms and the girls’ bedroom.

So far, the reminders have been working wonderfully. I’ve been hearing my girls’ verbal reminders to each other, “hey, you forgot to turn out the lights!” And, those switches have been flipped to “off” more times than not.

Earth Day may come only once a year, but you can put into practice earth-friendly habits any day of the year. You’re never too young and you’re never too old. Show your kids just how simple it is to make a difference and see how they take charge. Hey, all it takes is turning off the lights!

Make it a family adventure!
Cost: free (Don’t go out and buy index cards if you don’t have any. Just cut paper to size.)
>Planning time: 10 minutes. It would be incredibly valuable to have a few statistics and facts on hand to share with the family. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Energy Kids website is a fabulous resource.
Ages: 5 and up. Everyone of every age can benefit in picking up the habit of turning out the lights, but your kids 5 and up with find the information the most valuable.
Time needed: 30 minutes. Give yourself plenty of time to talk and brainstorm. Maybe this simple idea will lead to more conversation about other things you can do as a family to be more eco-friendly!