Kids Activties: Table or Street Shuffle Board

This game is a variation of the real thing. It is easy to make and very inexpensive. These are two things parents love to hear when dealing with anything. The game will give children ages 4+ a great time. They will have hours of enjoyment from this, and you will enjoy participating.

You will need a table (perhaps a kitchen table or long rectangular picnic table as this can be done indoors or outdoors) or a concrete area around 4+ feet long. The area can be as big or as small as you want and will really depend on how old the participants will be. You will also need masking tape for the table or chalk for the concrete area. The next thing that you will need is some type of pucks. Each participant will need one and you can be color coordinated if you choose to have teams. We used small 5" and 3" plastic bowls from a kids toy kitchen.


Table instructions:


1. Measure a 10 inch section from one end of the table and place masking tape all the way across the width of it.
2. Place a 10 inch piece of tape on the table to divide this section in half.
3. Then measure another slightly larger section and divide it in a similar manner. This will make 4 sections on the table and cover still less than half of it.
5. Assign a point value to each section with the higher point values on the smaller sections at the end of the table.

Now you are ready to play.

1. From the unmarked end of the table, have participants take turns sliding their pucks in an effort to make them stop in a point assigned area of the table.
2. Leave all pucks on the table until everyone is finished. If a puck knocks another puck ahead into another area it is now assigned that point value. Likewise, if a puck knocks another puck off the board the puck that is off the board is awarded no points.
3. The idea here is to add up all points after everyone has taken their turn. If you use teams have one participant from each team take a turn. Then each round will consist of the same until everyone has had a turn.

Concrete instructions:


The same as for table instructions only use chalk to divide up the sections.

Kids Craft: St. Patrick’s Day Thumbprint Pins

In preparing for St. Patrick’s Day each year we all find ourselves looking for or purchasing something green to wear to avoid getting pinched. Instead of buying something, here’s an idea that will give you a timeless keepsake and something green to wear. Make thumbprint art that you can turn into a one of a kind St. Patty’s Day pin.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Green and black stamp pads, tempera paint, acrylic paint, or watercolors.
Cardstock, poster board, or thick construction paper
Contact paper or laminating sheets
Hot glue (or your choice of other craft glues)
Safety pin
Markers

Here’s what you should do:

1. Use green to make thumbprints for leaves of a clover. You can also use a black thumbprint as a pot and small fingerprints for the gold in a pot of gold. Here’s what you’ll have at this point.

2. Next, use markers to embellish and add detail. Draw a stem on your clover and a rainbow over your pot of gold. (You may choose to embellish further with mini pom poms, sequins, beads, glitter, ribbon, etc.)

3. Now you are ready to cut out your pin and laminate it. This will both preserve and protect your keepsake pin. If you are a scrapbooker and have decorative papers, you may want to matt your creation on other paper, prior to laminating for a more finished look.

4. Finally, glue a safety pin to the back and you’re ready to go.

Now you have a personalized keepsake pin with your son or daughter’s fingerprints and thumbprints. Hope you enjoy. And have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

If you enjoyed this craft, you may also enjoy the ideas in St. Patrick's Day Crafts (Fun Holiday Crafts Kids Can Do!) and Crafts For St. Patrick'S Day (Holiday Crafts for Kids).

Children's Book Review: Skippyjon Jones

Written by Judy Schachner

The Skippyjon Jones series is about an adorible Siamese kitten, who has a very active imagination. He is not content to be just the ordinary Siamese kitty, and imagines himself as so much more. In this delightful tale, Skippyjon becomes Skippito Friskito, the great sword fighter. He then ventures to Mexico to conquer Alfredo Buzzito. This book is sprinkled with comedy, music, Spanish, and several little lessons (My favorite, is that if you try, you can conquer your fears, because they are never as big as you imagine.). You child will be thourougly entertained while activating his imagination.

For other books in the Skippyjon Jones series, consider the following:
Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse
Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble
Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones
A Surprise for Mama (Skippyjon Jones)
Skippyjon Jones and the Treasure Hunt
Skippyjon Jones Takes a Dive (Skippyjon Jones (Grosset & Dunlap))

Kids Crafts: Hands of a Child Calendar - January

During my son’s first year of Pre-K, his teachers put together a very special calendar for the parents. I don’t think they would mind me sharing this idea with you on a month to month basis over the next year. Here’s how to start.


The First Page:

This page held a picture of my son, the calendar year, and the following poem:

The Hands of a Child
Written by Amy Ethridge

When you look at the hand what do you see?
There are just some lines most would agree.
But take a closer look this very minute
And notice the treasures that are found within it.
The hand can be so many things,
From tulips to beautiful butterfly wings.
A Santa, an apple, even a heart,
A pumpkin, an umbrella, that’s only a start.
The hand can be a leprechaun trying to hide.
It can be the sunrise to brighten the day.
It can be a fish swimming away.
It can be a turkey strutting along,
Whatever you make it, you can’t go wrong.
Just take a little time to look and see,
Where these hands came from,
And you’ll surely agree
Your child, the artist, reaching his goal,
Created this for you with body and soul.
Keep it and use it till the time has past.
Then put it away so the memories will last.


The Second Page:



Here there was my child’s handprint and the following in print.

“I know you wipe some away,
But these handprints were made to stay!
So keep them forever, a treasure they’ll be,
A special ”I Love You”,
For you from me?"


The Third Page:


The month of January!!! There is a small calendar with snowflakes and a snowman. Using white tempera paint and overlapping fingerprints form my son’s hands, he made a very special snowflake. Above the calendar and snowflake is the following rhym.

Snowflakes
Snowflakes white are dancing down.
Dancing, dancing . . . all around.
Each one is different, it’s surely true.
Here’s one I made from me for you!

The next page, of course is February. I’ll be sure to post it before the end of the month. So you’ll have it to enjoy all month long. As with any craft or art project, this one too can be customized to fit your desire. And your imagination is your only limitation! Happy crafting. Hope you enjoy the handprints.

Children's Book Review: Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words

Written by Jane O'Connor
Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

This is only our first Fancy Nancy book. However, Nancy is the typical girly girl. She dresses up plays pretend and takes full advantage of her imagination, all while embracing all things fancy. In this book, Nancy introduces children to 26 very fancy words. Some they are familiar with, but many they are not, for instance "Repondez s'il vous plait", to you and I, RSVP. My own little girly girl was completely taken in by the brilliant illustrations while we read, totally identifying with the character. She wants to be, and in many ways already is, just like Fancy Nancy. This darling little book encourage imagination, pretend, and builds vocabulary.

Here are a few other Fancy Nancy titles to check out if you enjoy this one as much as we did.
Fancy Nancy
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
Fancy Nancy: Let's Get Fancy Together!

Letter to All: My Apologies

Dear reader,

As any of you with children know, the holidays are a very hectic time of year. I failed you, and let the holiday chaos keep me from updating the site and sharing more ideas with you. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Our ornaments came out great. We did 25. I did a set for the baby, and each of the older kids painted their own. We used markers on the first couple and water colors on the other three. Then, we embellished with glitter. (Tip: For those of you who don't use a rolling pin often, like me, you may want to dust the surface you are rolling on with flour and then the dough periodically as you roll it out. I did not do this, and the dough stuck to my rolling pin A LOT.) The ornaments are currently scattered on the tree. When I take down the Christmas tree over the next few days, I'll gather them and post a picture for you. We enjoyed the activity so much that we will be repeating it as a new family tradition.

Also, as we are bringing in the New Year, I've made a few resolutions. I won't share them all with you, but one is to keep this updated for you, my reader, and share as many ideas, books, and thoughts with you as possible. I'll also keep an eye out for any good sales on kid related products.

Hope you'll visit again soon. My apologies for the break in posts. And I look forward to any responses you have or thoughts you'd like to share.

Yours sincerely,
Eve Lawson

Letter to Parents: Focus on Giving - Crafts Your Kids Can Give as Gifts

Of our four children who are walking and talking, our 7 and 10 year olds realize that Christmas is not only about receiving gifts. They realize that the season also centers around the idea of giving. Our two 4-year-olds, however, want everything that they see.

In an attempt to shift the focus from receiving to giving, we tried to make giving fun for them and cost-effective for us. So, we started searching for gift ideas that we could make.

Here are some of the ideas we found and tried:

I. Paperweight:

1. The website we found this idea on suggested using postage stamps to cover a rock. This is a great idea and sounds like it would be very cute. It is also a great idea for younger children. However, we decided to try a few alternatives. You can use anything heavy for your paperweight. An old book you do not want, a discarded box that jewelery was purchased in (filled with sand, dirt, plaster, clay, or anything to make it heavy), an expired can of tuna, whatever you can find that is the right size and weight will work. Then use your imagination and decorate, disguise, and change your item to make a one-of-a-kind gift.

• Here are a few ideas:
• 
  If you are using a box or can, wrap it. You can do this with plain printer paper, construction paper, brown paper, or scrapbook paper.
  -Next Decorate your paper. If you’ve used plain paper, you can draw on it, paint on it, use stickers, or cut out pictures from magazines or family photos.
  -If you used a patterned scrapbook paper, you can jump straight to embellishments. You can add glitter, ribbon, rickrack, tags, layers of graphic shapes in a variety of colored papers, buttons, sculpey or model magic clay, etc.
  -If you’ve only used paper products, you can seal your creation with a gloss sealer, modge podge, or white glue. If you are using embellishments of other materials, sealing should happen prior to adding these.
  -If you are using a rock, but do not wish to decopage it with postage stamps, photos, or images, you could simply paint it. These can be quite beautiful and make wonderful keepsakes.
  -If your child is too small to sign their creation, a hand or fingerprint in paint is a great way to let them mark the peice. You can always take a Sharpie and write in their name and the date created.
  2. Box of Love: We found this idea also, on another website. I have not altered the idea tremendously, but my kids loved it so much, I thought I should share it with you. You take any small box; wood, paper mache, discarded jewelry box, etc. Wrap and decorate it. Then attach the following poem:
  This is a very special gift
  That you can never see.
  The reason it’s so special,
  Is its just for you from me.
  Whenever you are happy,
  Or even feeling blue,
  You only have to hold this gift
  And know I think of you.
  You never can unwrap it,
  Please leave the ribbon tied.
  Just hold the box close to your heart,
  It’s filled with love inside.
  We took some small wooden boxes we’d bought for fun at Michael’s. The kids opened the boxes, said a bunch of "I love you’s." Gave several kisses, and hugged the inside of the box. Then they closed them tight, so all the love would not get out. Then we painted our boxes with Acrylic Paints. They had a blast. Then we tied a ribbon and the poem to each box.. They were so excited!!!
  3. Cookie Cutter Ornaments - Here’s what you do. Mix 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 2/3 cup of water together in a bowl with your hands until it is the consistency of stiff pie dough. Add water as needed to reach the right consistency. Set the mixture aside overnight. The next day, roll the dough out and use christmas shaped cookie cutters to cut out shapes in your dough. Insert a paperclip or ornament hook into the dough for your hanger. Then lay these out on wax paper and allow to dry for several days. Once they are dry, you can decorate them. Felt tip pens, markers, water colors, and craft paints all work beautifully. The ornaments can be embellished with glitter, stones, buttons, ribbon, etc. You can also use a smaller cutter and cut a hole in the middle and glue a picture onto your ornament. As with any project, your imagination is the only limit to what you can create and do. (We will have all five kids for Christmas. I will be preparing this ahead of time for the kids to do. Once the project is complete, I’ll post a picture of our ornaments for you.) You can group the ornaments into sets of 6, 10, or 12, wrap them or put them in a decorated paper mache craft box and give them to family and freinds as a personalized gift.
  I hope you’ve enjoyed these ideas, for more you may want to reference

Children's Book Review: The Biggest, Best Snowman

Written by Margery Cuyler
Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand

This charming story is about Little Nell, who lives in a big, big world. Little Nell is told that she is too little, but she and her friends see things differently. By the end of the story, the reader sees that no one is too little, and that with the help of friends anything is possible. This beautifully illustrated book also shows us that if we believe we are capable of more than others do, all we need to do is keep trying and eventually, the rest of the world will see in us what we see.

Kids Craft: Turkey of Thanks

Here is a great craft I heard about from my son. They are doing this at school. This craft teaches the vital lesson of thanksgiving and gratitude.

Here’s what you need:

• Empty tissue box
• Construction paper in fall colors
• Markers
• Scissors
• Glue
• Wiggly eyes (optional)

Here’s what you do:

1. Wrap your tissue box with brown construction paper. If it is square, leave the hole at the top, and leave it open. If your box is rectangular, then you’ll want to stand it on it’s end so that it is tall. Again, leave the hole open.
2. Then draw the turkey’s head with face, eyes, beak, and wattle using your markers.
3. Trace your child’s hand prints on several peices of paper in a variety of fall colors. Cut these out and glue them to the back of your box to create the turkey’s tail.
4. Each day, have your child write something that they are thankful for (if they do not write yet, write this for them) and place it inside the box.
5. On Thanksgiving, you will have a great way for your child to share all the things that he or she is grateful for when you allow them to empty the turkey and read what is inside.

This craft reminds our children of the importance of taking a moment to celebrate the many wonderful things in our lives, the many things that we have to be grateful for. This also encourages gratitude to be a part of every day. If we live our lives in a spirit of gratitude, we are likely to receive more to be grateful for. We are also much less likely to take things for granted, even the little things. Happy Holidays!!!

Kids Corner: Thanksgiving Favorites

It's been a while since we did a Kid's Corner. When I mentioned it to my kids, they were anxious, as always, to share their favorites. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we decided to share our favorite Thanksgiving books and movies.

Thanksgiving Books:

• A Turkey for Thanksgiving
• Too Many Pumpkins
• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Peanuts)
• Scarecrow Finds a Friend
• Pioneer Thanksgiving, A: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841
• Franklin's Thanksgiving (Franklin)
• Disney's: Winnie the Pooh's - Thanksgiving
• Turkey's best Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Movies:

• Winnie the Pooh - Seasons of Giving
• Garfield: Holiday Celebrations (Garfield's Halloween Adventure / Garfield's Thanksgiving / A Garfield Christmas)
• Alvin's Thanksgiving Celebration
• Peanuts Holiday Collection (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown / A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving / A Charlie Brown Christmas) (Deluxe Edition)

We look forward to hearing what your favorites are. Please send a comment and let us know. Have a safe and happy holiday season.

Kids Craft: Thanksgiving Mosaic

Many of the world’s great civilizations used mosaic art to depict important images in special places. During my travels to Italy in college, we visited Venice. The cathedral there had a dome over the alter that beautifully depicted religious scenes and icons in mosaic tile. While we can’t create something of that scale with our kids, we can help them to see the beauty in mosaic art and gain an understanding of the effort that went into these great works.

Here’s what you need:

• Tempera, craft, or poster paint (fall colors)
• Pumpkin seeds or dried beans
• Glue
• Card Stock or poster board
• Small disposable dish and disposable fork

Here’s what we did:

1. We used dried red beans (because we had them in the house). However, any dried bean will work. A variety of beans can be used unpainted, or one type of bean painted for color. We painted ours with craft paint. I squirted some paint into the bottom of a disposable bowl, poured in the beans, and let the kids use a disposable fork to stir and mix the beans into the paint until they were all coated in paint. We did not get a perfect coating on all the beans, but we decided this would make our mosaic more interesting. We spread the painted beans out on a sheet of paper to dry, making sure that no two beans were touching while drying.
2. While our paint was drying, we took a 9 x 12 inch sheet of card stock. (This was actually part of the packaging from one of the kids’ Halloween costumes.) We cut it into fourths. My son and daughter each drew a fall/Thanksgiving picture. My son drew the Mayflower, and my daughter a leaf. I drew them a turkey and a pilgrim hat on the remaining two fourths.
3. Once our beans were dry, we pulled them off the paper where they were drying. Then we squirted glue onto our pictures, in small sections. Carefully placing colored beans onto the glued sections, we proceeded to finish our mosaics.
4. Once all the beans were glued into place, we let our pieces dry.

A Few Quick Tips:

1. If your kids are really young, you may want to use bigger beans like lima beans or butter beans. These will be easier for little fingers and will cover a larger space more quickly.
2. Remember that your drawings will be colored in with small objects and these will restrict the detail possible. Remind your children of this when they are drawing their pictures so that they can use large, generalized shapes as opposed to very detailed line drawings.
3. Begin your mosaic with the most important item. For example, on our pilgrim hat, we began with the top of the hat. I squirted glue onto the top portion that was going to be black and we filled that in. Then we did the gold buckle. Following that the red stripe, then the brim.
4. If your kids are getting tired, or you fear that their patience will not last to completion of the project, you can remind them that they can space their pieces out a little. Again, on our pilgrim hat, the beans are very close on the hat, but spread out some on the background.

If you would like resources for additional craft ideas here are a few books that might spark your interest:

1. All New Crafts for Thanksgiving (All-New Holiday Crafts for Kids)
2. Crafts For Thanksgiving-Trd/Pb
3. 175 Easy-To-Do Thanksgiving Crafts (Creative Uses for Recyclables)
   

As always, there are limitless variations possible. You can do this project again and again. Change theme, do a Christmas one. Change materials, try pebbles, beads, buttons, tiles. You’re only limiting factor is your imagination. So use your imagination, and have fun!

Kids Craft: Hand and Foot Print Turkey

Here’s another one from my childhood. This adorable turkey uses your childrens’ hand and foot prints. It can be used as a decoration and then saved from year to year as a keepsake. Best of all, no two will be exactly alike, so each of your kids can make their own unique Thanksgiving turkey.

• First, take a sheet of brown construction paper and trace your child’s feet. You can do this with, or with out shoes, but you will have a more rounded turkey if you leave the shoes on.
• Cut out the feet. Glue the heals, one on top of the other, allowing the toes to be spread apart slightly. This will give your turkey a fuller body.
• Trace your child’s hands. Cut out several in a variety of fall colors.
• Glue the hands to the back of the feet, these will become your turkey’s tail.
• Now cut out and glue a beak, wattle, eyes, and feet onto your turkey.

Additional options:

• When tracing and cutting, use the reverse side, the one you have not written on, as the front of your turkey.
• The eyes can be drawn, made with construction paper, or wiggly eyes can be used for fun.
• If your turkey is flat (no wiggley eyes), you can glue the entire thing to an 11 x 17 sheet of paper and laminate it to make a place mat. Or you can just laminate the turkey to save from year to year.

Enjoy this craft, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kid’s Activity: Cornucopia Confusion

Here is a great Thanksgiving game for family gatherings. It is a variation of Musical Chairs. Here’s how you play:

1. Create a circle of chairs using one less chair then there are players.
2. One player will be the leader.
3. All players, except the leader will take a seat.
4. The leader will then name each player using typical Thanksgiving dishes to name the players. For example: turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie, stuffing, corn, etc. The leader may name more than one person a particular name.
5. Once each player is named, the leader will call out two dishes. For example: pumpkin pie and corn. The players assigned these names must switch places as quickly as possible.
6. The leader continues to call out combinations of dishes in succession until he or she decides to call, "The cornucopia has tipped over." At this time, all players hop of and find a new seat, including the leader. The player left with out a seat becomes the new leader. And so, the game continues.

Our family is large enough to play this game at home, but we also enjoy it with a group on Thanksgiving with other family members are there. We hope you enjoy this activity with your family.

As will most of our activities and crafts, this activity too can be altered to fit other occasions. We've used it at parties, calling it Birthday Boogy. In this instance, we named the players party related items like: candles, cake, presents, pinata. The first leader was the birthday child. This is only one example as you can rename it for any gathering.

Hope you enjoy the game. Happy Thanksgiving!

Children’s Book Review: The Turkey Ball

Written by David Steinberg
Illustrated by Liz Conrad

This festive book is an easy fast read. Through its excellent use of rhythm and rhym, it gets the reader actively involved in the spirit of the book. It is as much fun to read as to hear. The author makes great use of onomatopoeic words, then translates them for the reader. The illustrations throughout the book are bright, colorful, and imaginative. You’re kids will love this book. It is a fun Thanksgiving read.

Kids Craft: Thanksgiving Hand-print Wreath

Are you and your family thinking of Thanksgiving yet? It is right around the corner. (Only three weeks away.) Here is a great craft idea for Thanksgiving that will get the whole family involved. And, as usual, there are a variety of things you can do with this, by just using your imagination . . . and a few simple tips. This idea, while aimed at Thanksgiving, could be done for a variety of holidays with only slight variations.

Here is what you’ll need:

• Colored paper (scrapbook or construction), craft foam, or felt (all in autumn colors)
• Poster board, cardboard, or foam core board.
• Scissors and/or exacto knife
• Glue
• Embellishments - These can be buttons, berries, pom poms, pipe cleaners, ribbons . . . You name it, you can use it.

Here’s what you’ll want to do:

1. Cut out the shape for your wreath. You can make your wreath a circle, oval, or even a square. The choice is yours. You’ll do this with the Poster board, card board, or foam core.
   
2. The three materials suggested were chosen for your so that you would have a material choice that would work with the type of project you were wanting to do. If you are wanting a quick fun project, that you will not be keeping from year to year, then use card board or poster board. Both of these are disposable and either inexpensive or free. If you would like something a little nicer, use the foam core board. This can be found with poster board and matte board material at your local craft store. If you can not find it, a sales associate should be able to help you. This is basically two pieces of poster board sandwiched around a 1/8 inch layer of foam. It is very durable and can be cut with an exacto knife.
3. Next, trace the hands of each member of your family. And cut out the shapes. If you are doing a large wreath with a small family, then you will need more than one pair of each person’s hands. Cut multiples if needed. For this, you will use either colored paper, craft foam, or felt in autumn colors.
4. If you are wanting to do this fast, easy, and with out much expense, you will use construction paper. If you want a nicer quality, with out huge cost, and may not keep this from year to year, then you may want scrap book paper. If you will keep this for several years, then you will likely want to use craft foam or felt.
5. If you do not want to pay for craft foam or felt, but want a nicer finished product, then you can use a technique called Paper Toile. To do this, take your hand prints cut from scrapbook paper and lay them front side down, onto your computer’s mouse pad. Then take a rounded surface similar to the tip of a sharpie lid and trace around the handprint. You will do this about an 1/8 to a 1/16 of an inch form the edge of the paper. Begin softly, and practice on a scrap page, till you get the right pressure. If you are patient, you will be able to create a rounded effect on the edges of your handprints. This will give them a little extra depth and add a nice finished detail to your wreath.
6. Once all of your handprints are cut out, lay them out on your wreath so that your wreath shape is covered. Now you can glue this down.
7. It’s time to embellish! It’s also time to use your imagination. You can change the whole mood of your wreath based on how you embellish it. Buttons placed in small clusters of 1 to 3 around your wreath would have cute, hand-crafted feel. If you used pipe cleaners (maybe swirled into a circle) and pom poms you are creating a much more lighthearted and whimsical feel. Or you could use berries and bows. This would create a sophisticated affect. The choice is yours.

And, as always, you are only limited by what you can imagine. Lay out your options, if you don’t like the look, don’t glue them down, change them to something else. Most important of all, have fun!

Kids Activity: Thanksgiving Turkey Hunt

Thanksgiving in America traditionally involves a turkey. Each year, we take our kids on their own personal Turkey Hunt. They LOVE it. And we have a blast too.

First, we cut construction paper into fourths. (You can use index cards if this is easier and readily available. You can also use regular printer paper or loose leaf paper. Whatever you have on hand will work.) Then we give each child three or four pieces of paper, and take a few pieces for ourselves. We then make a turkey on each. Some years we’ve gotten carried away with our crafting and made 3-D turkeys instead.

Here are some ideas for your turkeys:

1. Trace your child’s hand and let them color it in, drawing a beak and feet.
2. Trace their hand on a sheet of construction paper, cut it out and glue it to your sheet.
3. Let them use paint and a hand print to make their turkey.
4. Let them draw or color the turkey.
5. Use craft items like craft foam, feathers, wiggly eyes, and pom poms, and felt to build a small turkey on the page, or independent of the page.
6. If you want, you can print small clip art turkeys and let your kids color them.
7. You can use fancy lettering to decorate the word Turkey if you don’t want to draw or make one.
8. Or, if you’re feeling really silly, you can use pictures of your kids and call them your “little turkeys”.
9. As always, your imagination is the limit to what you can do.

Once our turkeys are complete we need cages to keep them in once we’ve caught them. We’ve used brown paper sacks, shoe boxes, tissue boxes, and even ziplock bags for this purpose in the past. Pretty much anything will work. If you are using something disposable, you can decorate it or draw bars on it like a cage.

When our turkeys and cages are complete, we choose our first Guide for our Turkey Hunt. Our Guide hides all of the turkeys in the forest, one room of the house. Once they are all hidden, the Turkey Hunt begins. Our hunters, the other children or players, begin to search for the turkeys. As they are found, our hunters bring their catch to their Guide. The Guide will keep the captured turkeys pinned up according to the hunter who has caught them.

Once all the turkeys have been found, we count how many each hunter caught. The hunter who has caught the most turkeys becomes the Guide for our next hunt. And the game begins again. The kids love it. They have fun making a mess and making their turkeys, then they play with them over and over again until Thanksgiving has come and gone.

Children's Book Review: "Don't Talk to Strangers"

Written by Christine Mehlhaff
Illustrated by Kathi Ember

In light of my last post's emphasis on safety, I thought this would be an appropriate book to review this week. This book does a fantastic job of explaining who a stranger is. It also gives children helpful safety instructions and rules to follow. Through the use of repetition, Emma Lion learns about using the phone, answering the door, getting into cars with other adults, taking candy from strangers, and much more. Her brother Matthew very patiently explains each instance to her and the importance of each. My 4-year-old really got a lot out of this book, not to mention that she enjoyed the characters and the pictures.

Letter to Parents: Safety Tips for Trick-or-Treating on Halloween

Personally, with our world as it is today, Trick-or-Treating has become a nerve-racking ordeal for me. I know, better than most people, that things happen. It doesn’t matter how much we tell ourselves, "That’ll never happen to us." It can . . . the possibility always exists. So, let’s do everything in our power to prevent accidents and bad experiences. Let’s do everything in our power to have a safe and fun Halloween.

Here are some common sense tips that will help all of us to be safe on Halloween:

1. Always keep your kids close by or at least within eyesight. Don’t let them go off Trick-or-Treating without an adult, regardless of how safe you may feel your neighborhood is. (I am speaking of possible threats to your kids’ safety in the shape of kidnaping, but there are other possibilities too. Let’s say, you let your 8 year old son go off Trick-or-Treating with a group of friends, when they’ve gotten enough candy to satisfy them, they return to one of their yards to play. They climb into a tree, or even just onto a porch, and someone falls. Your child could sprain an ankle or break an arm. How much longer would it take to get them the care needed if there was no adult around?)
2. When Trick-or-Treating, be sure that each individual is carrying some thing that lights up, or is reflective. Many costumes and treat bags have lights now. There are also light up Halloween necklaces and other generic light up reflectors you can use. Or you can have them carry a flashlight. This way drivers can easily spot them in the dark.
3. No matter how tempting, don’t eat your candy until it has been inspected. You, as the parent can decide how you want this done. You may be content with a quick visual inspection at home. Or you may want to take the candy to the local hospital or police station for x-ray. The facilities in your community can tell you where these services are offered on Halloween.
4. Get your Trick-or-Treating done within the hours alotted by authorities in your community. If there are other activities offered in your community, take part in those, as they are likely to be a safer alternative. (For example, in one of the towns we lived in, there is a Baptist Church that has activities on Halloween as an alternative to families. They offer games for all ages, prizes, candy, and sell refreshments. Our kids had a blast. Where we are living now, one of the families from the school is putting on a Halloween Party including Hay Rides, Trick-or-Treating, Games, and more.)

Again, these are all common sense reminders. However, I felt they were worth repeating. As I said, I know all too well that life happens, whether you’re prepared for it or not. But it is better to be prepared, and to be in the frame of mind to prevent the preventable. Whatever you do this Halloween, be safe and have fun.

Happy Halloween!!!

Sincerely,
Eve Lawson

Kids Crafts: Li'l Leaf

This charming little leaf is made using your child's hand and foot prints. I remember this from grade school. In one of our classes, we had these hanging from the ceiling, one for each child. He can be hung from the ceiling or on a wall. Here's how we made him, along with a few variations.

1. First I went out and found a leaf in the yard. I copied it, larger, onto a piece of construction paper. I chose orange, yellow, red, and brown for this project since it is fall. I did not like the whole leaf, so I chose the best half and folded the page and cut along the line I liked the most. The side of the construction paper that I'd drawn on became my back side. I then drew a face for the leaf.
2. Next, I got my 4 year old daughter to let me trace her hands and feet. Then I cut these out for her. I let my 6 year old cut his own.
3. Using strips of yellow construction paper, folded like an fan, I made legs and arms. The legs, arms, hands and feet are affixed to the leaf using tape. However, you can also glue them, or staple them.
4. The finished product can be hung from the ceiling or on a wall.

Additional options to mix it up:

• You can use ribbon to make the arms and legs, instead of construction paper.
• You can use the cardboard that comes off the back of a used note pad for your leaf to make it more sturdy.
• Our leaf, pictured above, is slightly wilted. My son spilled a drink. Since part of the leaf was wet, I took a paper towel and wet it with more of the same drink. I then dabbed this over the leaf to cover our accident. You can do this with tea or coffee to stain you leaf and add texture.
• You can allow your children to draw on the leaf, hands, and feet. Even if they just draw stripes, patterns, or shapes. This would add visual interest and personalize your leaf more.
• Little girls can add jewelry or other accessories to their leaves. These can be draw, real, or created with craft items.
• Boys can add caps, collars, jackets, balls in the hands, shoes on the feet, etc.
• You can embellish your leaf with things around the house, paint it, etc.
• The list could go on, and on.

As always, the goal is to spend time with your kids, have fun, and be creative. There are no rules to creativity, and the only limit is your imagination. :)

Letter to Parents: Photo Books . . . Great Christmas Gift Idea

Dear Parents,

As the holidays draw near, I've been thinking about gifts for my family. I'd like to give my parents something personal that they will treasure. But they have everything that they want and need. So, I found a gift that they can't give themselves. And the more I learn about this idea, the more excited I get about it as a gift and something I can use personally to preserve our family memories.

Most of us have graduated from the traditional 35 mm cameras to digital. If you are like me, you have literally hundreds or thousands of digital pictures stored on your computer's hard drive and backed up on CD's and DVD's. The bad part, is that I print very few of these. It takes so long to print them, and usually, I'll be in the middle of a large print job and the ink will start to run out. The pictures are no good, and I have to start all over again. Not to mention the cost of ink. So, only a few pictures get printed.

And when I want to look back at pictures, or find the ones I want to print and frame, they are not readily available. It's a pain to dig through discs, guess at which one I need, and then search through the pictures. There has to be a better way to do these things.

Shutterfly.com offers unlimited online storage of digital photos. This would alleviate my disc and hard-drive space. They also sell prints of photographs. This will save me the printing time, ink, and storage discs (which I'm told have to be backed up periodically because they don't last forever).

My next concern is that I've wanted to make scrapbooks for my family photos since my 6 year old was born. But, between the time, money for supplies, and the mess involved, I've only finished a few pages. I've been researching a company called Picaboo. This is what I've been SO excited about!!!

Picaboo was founded in 2005 by Howard Field and Kevin McCurdy. They were aware of the massive amount of digital photos that are taken and never printed. They felt that that photo books would be the next wave in photo finishing. And, at prices like $9.99, they are cost effective too. I never considered Photo Books as an option before, because I thought they'd be too cost prohibitive. But, by the time you buy photo paper, ink, a scrapbook, scrapbook paper, and embellishments, it is possible to spend far more than $9.99.

The Picaboo system offers their software for a free download. You build your photo book using this software, then submit your order. Their software includes the following:

• Their books are completely customizable.
• They offer 240 page layouts, then you drop-and-drag your photos into the page.
• They offer dozens of pre-loaded backgrounds with the additional option that you drop-and-drag a background of your own.
• The ability to add journaling with a diverse selection of fonts.
• Story flow tool allows you to group pictures to be placed on a page together based on the theme of the book. Once the book is built, photos are completely editable.
• The software contains photo tools for cropping, enhancing, and correcting your photos.
• There is the option for custom covers.
• Free to share your photo book online.

I am so excited about this tool. I've downloaded the software and can't wait to use it. My parents better be prepared, because all my children's' grandparents will be getting personalized Photo Books for Christmas this year.

Then, it will be my turn. I can see all the books I need to make already in my mind, and I can't wait to see them in person. This feels much more doable than traditional scrap booking, and much less overwhelming.

I'm so excited! If you'd like more information, check out the links below:

• Create a Photo Book. Starting at Just $9.99. Try it
• Shutterfly ¿ Give unique, custom Photo Gifts for all occasions.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I am.

Sincerely,

Eve Lawson