Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Coin Matching Game

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I can’t take credit for this game, but I did want to share it with you since it is such a great idea. I found the original idea at this post from Sun Scholars.

This is a relatively simple game and it takes just a few minutes to prep. I took a scrap piece of card stock, a handful of coins and my Sharpie. I traced the different coins and wrote in how much each was worth.That’s all it took! I always present it to Lizzie with the exact coins she will need.

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Matching the size can be a little difficult as some coins, such as the penny and nickle, are very similar in size.But, I don’t necessarily want Lizzie to just learn the size of the coins; I want her to start associating each coin with how much it’s worth. This game has been so effective in helping her learn this concept. She also seems to really enjoy playing it, therefore, it tends to show up in our preschool corner on a regular basis.

Tiger Masks

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ROOOOAAAARRRRR!

Since our exploration of Japan was such a success, I decided we’d continue on with our trip around the world and stop off in India. Since India is one of the few places in the world that tigers live in the wild, I knew the girls would enjoy learning about them.

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We enjoy making masks, so making a tiger mask was an obvious choice. (Plus, I’m always trying to find ways to use up that 100 pack of paper plates I bought!).I cut eye holes out of the plates, found our orange paint and a bit of yarn to tie the masks around the girls heads. For the stripes, we tore strips of black construction paper.

The first step was painting and we painted the entire plate orange.While the plates were drying, we pulled out the book about tigers we had found at the library. Lizzie was fascinated! She soaked in the information, learning about tiger habitats, what they eat, how they mark their territory and how big tigers can grow.

The part of the book that made the most impact on Lizzie was the danger that tigers face and the reasons why they are endangered. We talked about illegal hunting and the destruction of their habitat. If you think that a 4-year-old wouldn’t understand, you would be wrong. The book broached the subject simply and honestly and Lizzie’s natural empathy towards animals really helped her understand.

Once the paint was dry, we moved on. It was time to glue on the stripes.While we were gluing, we talked some more about tigers. Lizzie was determined to do that beautiful animal justice.

She was quite concerned that we didn’t have any white paint or paper out. She knew that tigers had white fur in addition to the orange and black. She finally solved the problem herself by using glue to make the white fur. (I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the glue would dry clear!)

This project turned out much better than I anticipated!I had originally planned on reading the book prior to starting the project, but since the girls are young, I’m learning to be much more flexible.The craft seemed to have much more meaning when we read the book while working on it. We learned a lot, made a really cool craft and most importantly planted the seed about wildlife conservation.

Travel Activity Bags

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As you’re reading this post, I’m probably off on an epic road trip with my girls.

To say I’m a bit nervous is an understatement. I’ve never traveled this far alone with the two of them, so I’ve been preparing and preparing and preparing to make sure I have plenty of stuff to keep them occupied.

The girls are 4 and 2, so I tried to come up with activities that were mess-free and they could do without any help.

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1. I recycled a few old greeting cards to make color-your-own finger puppets. Each girl will get two finger puppets and a box of crayons. Once they’re done coloring, they can stick their fingers through the holes and have fun!

2. I found vintage Betsy McCall paper dolls that I could print myself. I printed them out on card stock and the dolls themselves have been reinforced with a double layer of card stock. Each girl will get one doll and three dresses.

3. I bought them each a clipboard and printed out A LOT of coloring sheets, dot-to-dots, tracing pages, etc. I plan on giving them a few at a time. I’m also bringing plain drawing paper as well. Most of the printables I’m using came from Education.com.

4. I made three sets of mini notebooks. (I’ll have a tutorial for you soon!) The first set is for stickers. I’ll give each girl a sticker book and a selection of stickers.

5. I also made doodle books. Each page has some sort of shape, line or squiggle. I hope they’ll use them to kick-start their own drawing. If not, maybe they’ll at least color them pretty!

6. The last set are little sketch books. I mixed up the paper is this one to make it a bit more interesting. In addition to the plain copy paper, I also added lined paper and pink paper.

I’m also bringing along a few books for them to read, audio books for all of us to listen to and a supply of movies, cause I have no qualms letting them watch movies the entire way if needed!

How do you keep your kids occupied on a long car trip?

Book Bingo

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Lizzie has a tendency to not want to try new things, whether it be food, clothes or books.She’ll latch on to a specific book and want to hear it over and over. Or, she’ll want to wear the same outfit day in and day out, all the while refusing to wear a new shirt we just bought.

Now, I know this is very normal for a 4-year-old, but I’d still like her to branch out a little and be more willing to try new things. That’s where Book Bingo is (hopefully) going to help.

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I made up a grid with a selection of different book topics. I made some very broad and others quite specific.I put some selections on there that I know are favorites, such as an Amelia Bedelia book and a fairy tale book.

I then added all sorts of different subjects, such as books about dogs, horses, shapes, bugs, etc.

Her goal is to have us read one book of each subject. She’ll get to put a sticker in the square once she’s read the book.

There’s one catch. It must be a book we’ve never read before! Once she’s filled in the entire board, we’ll go shopping and let her pick out a new book.  I’m hoping this motivates her to try something new.

I do have one more goal in mind with this game.I’d like her to start helping me pick out books at the library. Usually, when we go, the girls will go off and play with all the different toys (or in Lizzie’s case, computers) while I pick out books.

She’ll then grab a Dora book on the way out the door. I really want her to discover the thrill of searching through the shelves for just the right book. I’m hoping that a whole new world will open up to her while she’s looking for a book about space!

Do you have a hard time getting your kids to try new things? If so, do you have any tips you could share?

A Girl and a Glue Gun

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Yes, I did hand Lizzie a glue gun and no, I was not insane at the time.I had been thinking about the idea ever since I read this post by Teacher Tom. I knew Lizzie was capable and I also knew she was careful enough to handle it. I also knew that this activity would work best if we tried it while AJ was napping. I’m definitely not ready to help a 2-year-old with a glue gun!

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We had checked out the book Hannah’s Collections by Marthe Jocelyn at the library recently. This is a story about a girl and her many collections of various odd and ends. She collected popsicle sticks, old stamps, feathers and just about everything that captured her interest. In the end, she made a sculpture with her collections.Lizzie was very interested in the book and the sculpture. I knew she would love to make one of her own. And luckily, this weekend provided the perfect opportunity when a very tired AJ decided to take a nice, long nap!

I got out the glue gun and we pilfered through all of our craft supplies we’ve been stockpiling. It was time to make our own sculpture!

Before we started, we had a lesson on glue gun safety.I showed her the parts of the glue gun that got really hot, the places she could touch safely, and how to operate the glue gun. And yes, in case you were wondering, I was by her side the entire time!

She had great fun gluing and piecing together her sculpture.She learned that hot glue dries quickly, so you should know what you’re going to glue down before applying the glue.

She learned the best way to apply the glue and how best to stick down your pieces. There were times when she wanted me to apply the glue and other times when she wanted to give it a go herself.

In the end, we had two great sculptures and we also had a lot of fun together!

I would have no problem letting Lizzie use the glue gun again. She had fun, she felt grown-up and learned about the amazing things you can do when you learn to use certain crafting tools responsibly!