Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Kid’s Co-op

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It’s Friday and you know what that means? It’s time for the Kids Co-op! Link-up your favorite kid-related post and make sure and check out all the fun that has been linked up from other bloggers!

Here are a few of my favorites from the over 200 ideas that were linked up last week!

Growing a Jeweled Rose shares this amazing perfume concoction pretend-play setup.

 

Second Story Window made these wonderful seed discovery boxes.
Now it’s your turn to share! Please join up and share your favorite post. (And, we’d love you forever if you’d link back to us!) Your link will show up on all of the hosts blogs. It’s time to link up, visit some new blogs, and have a lot of fun!

 

Go Outside: Two Classic Games

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It’s usually not too difficult to find something to do outside, but sometimes it’s fun to play a few organized games.

I’d like to reintroduce you to a couple of classic games you probably played while you were a kid.

Red Light, Green Light and Mother May I? are both easy games and suitable for all kids, both young and old. Neither requires any equipment besides room to run and a few willing participants.

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.

Red Light, Green Light

Red Light, Green Light is perhaps one of the easiest games to play. It promotes listening and following directions while allowing lots of active play!

How to play:

You will need one person at the finish line and the rest of the participants will line up a distance away facing the finish line.

The person at the finish line is in charge of saying “red light” or “green light.”

When you hear “green light,” everyone moves as fast as they can toward the finish line.

When you hear “red light,” everyone must stop immediately.

Anyone that doesn’t stop when they hear “red light” must go back to the start.

The first person to reach the finish line wins!

Mother May I?

I loved playing Mother May I? as a kid and was excited to teach the girls how to play. This one is slightly more difficult, but still suitable for young children.

How to play:

One person needs to be at the finish line; that person is “Mother.” The rest of the players need to line up at a starting point.

“Mother” calls on each participant separately giving them instructions on how to move toward the finish line. For example, “Lizzie, take 3 giant steps” or “AJ march 4 steps.”

The participant then has to ask, “Mother may I” and Mother answers, “Yes, you can.” The participant can then move according to the directions.

If anyone forgets to ask “Mother may I?” before moving, they have to go back to the start!

The first person to the finish line wins.

We had a lot of fun playing these games and I hope we play many more times. What is your favorite outdoor game from your childhood?

*Note: Yes AJ did play the entire time with a rubber ducky in her hand! I guess she thought he wanted to play too!

Earth Day Every Day: Be a Friend to Trees

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None of us would be here on Earth if it wasn’t for trees.

We’ve learned about them and looked closely at them, but I also wanted to show the girls why trees are so important.

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.

I found a copy of Be a Friend to Trees by Patricia Lauber at our library and it was the perfect tool to learn about the importance of trees.

While reading the book, we stopped every few pages to talk about trees.

We learned about all the things made from wood and how paper was made.

We learned about the different animals that make their homes in trees as well as the different animals that use trees for food.

We tried to see just how many animals we could think of that used trees for food. And we most certainly can’t forget ourselves. Life just wouldn’t be the same without a crunchy apple to snack on!

We also went on a scavenger hunt to see how many things we could find in our house that we made from trees.

We found our clipboard, the window frames, our coffee table, and a bookcase. And that was all before we got up to walk around! What would we do without trees!

We learned a lot from this lesson. Here are some of the things the girls took away from it:

The world is full of things made from trees.
Trees are an important source of food for many animals (and ourselves).
We need to be kind to trees and not use them all up.
One way we can conserve is to use both side of paper when drawing. (A very important point that the girls are very good about doing.)
It’s important to recycle, so we can make new things out of old things and save a few trees in the process.

The book, Be a Friend to Trees, was a helpful tool in learning about the importance of trees. But, if you don’t have access to the book, the Arbor Day Foundation has some helpful information on their Website. Get the conversation started!

Get Crafty: Ladybugs

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Last week we decided to do out own twist on a classic kid’s craft, the paper plate lady bug.

We were down most of the week with the stomach flu and needed a low-key craft to do once we started feeling better.

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.

We happened to have The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle in our pile of library books and a pile of paper plates in our craft supplies, so we decided to make some simple paper plate ladybugs.

After reading the book, we made our own ladybugs using the illustration on the front of the book for inspiration.

Supplies Needed

Paper plate cut in half
Red and black paint
Construction paper
Glue
Googly eyes (optional)

I started by giving each girl a paper plate half along with some red and black paint.

They painted the background and spots.

To make it a bit easier on the girls, I gave each girl two paintbrushes, one for each color of paint.

Once we were done, we cut circles out of the black construction paper for heads.

As usual, Lizzie had her own idea. She wanted a half circle and did not want to use the googly eyes. She opted for some blue paint to paint her own antenna and eyes.

Remember, with kid’s crafts, the outcome isn’t that important. Let your kids express their own creativity in the process. If they want an all-black ladybug with a few red spots, go with it!

It was nice to get back to normal after being sick and doing a simple craft helped us ease back into our days.