Fridge List

Make a list of things to do that require little or no supervision from mom or dad and put it on the fridge.  When one of your children starts whining and moans “I’m b-o-r-e-d!” He or she can choose from the list.  The trick or rule is: Once they are referred to the list, they HAVE to do something on the list before they bother mom or dad again.  The last item on the list should always be "Take a nap".  Sometimes children just don't realize they are tired until they see this!

Here’s a list to get you started (I found part of this list on the internet but it had no name associated with it to give credit.):

1.  Decorate the back patio with sidewalk chalk
2.  Make a daisy chain (or dandelions)
3.  Take some blank paper and envelopes and decorate your own stationary
4.  Get some magazines out of recycling and make a collage
5.  Get out your Faith in God book/Duty to God and check something off
6.  Paint the dog's toenails
7.  Make a border for your room with continuous paper
8.  Play with Barbies/Airplanes
9.  Measure 10 things with a ruler
10.  Get out your last year's school things and play school
11.  Make a calendar
12.  Decorate bookmarks, "laminate" with clear packing tape
13.  Write a poem about something in the yard
14.  Blow bubbles or take a bubble bath
15.  Make a key tag to hang on your backpack - bead animal, letter beads with your name,or a scripture verse on construction paper then laminated with tape and a hole poked through
16.  Make cookies (from a mix, with easy-bake oven, or from scratch). Share them with a neighbor
17.  Organize sock drawer
18.  Write a play and produce it
19.  Make a castle from toilet paper tubes and boxes in recycling
20.  Write a letter to a cousin or grandma
21.  Write a talk, color pictures to go with it
22.  Find a scripture verse you like and type it on the computer/typewriter or write with fancy letters and color
23.  Make 9 Bees and write Gordon B. Hinckley's "Be's" on them, hide them for Family Home Evening
24.  Play with toy soldiers outside
25.  Make a snack with fruit and vegetables
26.  Take pictures with digital camera (with permission)
27.  Call a friend
28.  Look up your favorite animal in the encyclopedia or dictionary
29.  Find your house on a map
30.  Make a boredom kit for the car or for a friend.  Include word searches, "mad libs", drawings to color, and supplies if you have them 
31.  Fluff up all the pillows in the house
32.  Make a birthday card for a friend
33.  Play with legos/duplos/building sets/Lincoln logs/Tinkertoy
34.  Play a game (Chutes and Ladders, Checkers)
35.  Make a list of movies/books you own.  Put them in alphabetical order. Make a list of movies/books you would like to own.
36.  Make a Christmas/Birthday list
37.  Make animals out of pipe cleaners
38.  Change your bed
39.  Have a picnic
40.  Read a book
41.  Make something with Origami paper
42.  Pick some flowers in the yard, put in vase
43.  Do a secret good deed :)
44.  Look in your Scout book and decide on something you can finish today/Work on your collection
45.  Decorate old socks for a puppet show
46.  Sing a song 
47.  Clean out a drawer; give items to someone in need 
48.  Play a musical instrument in the house or outside. 
49.  look at old pictures or scrapbooks
50.  Visit an elderly neighbor or someone that is ill
51. Make up a recipe and share it with the family
52. Lay on the grass and look at the clouds and make a list of all the items you can find in the clouds
53. Go for a bicycle ride
54. Take a bath
55. Take a nap

Now, consider your children's interests and add to this list. I think I'll go take a bath.

Another Activity for Summertime Fun

We’ll call this “Library Book Hunt.” This activity will help keep your child’s reading skills up to par for the return to school in the fall. Here’s what you do. On a 3 x 5 card make a form that says “In the library, I want to find a book about: (Then list the following) an animal, an athlete, a detective, a monster, a mystery, an outer space adventure, United States History, a scientist, a famous person, a family, a holiday, a place I would like to travel, an ocean adventure, and other (child’s choice). Now, make as many cards as there are children and give one to each of them. Have them put their names on their cards. Then, by the subject they wish to borrow a book about, have them put a check mark. It’s now time to go to the library.

Ask the librarian to explain the basic layout of the room, then let your children inspect the shelves until they each find the type of book they indicated they wanted on their 3 x 5 card.

This would be a really nice one-on-one activity for mom or dad to go on with just one child at a time. Repeat visits during the summer would help your child complete the project I described on May 7, 2010.

We’ll make good readers out of them yet!

A Book Of Their Own In No Time At All

I have few regrets concerning my life. Today, however, I do wish to share one thing that I wish I would have had the insight to do—to follow through on, and that is helping each of my children to start a journal, a book written by them in their handwriting, illustrated by them, told in their own words.

It really would have been quite simple if I had established a time each day or each week for journaling and made that time sacred. I think...no...I know I was always too focused on “get the work done so we can relax and watch a good show on television or a movie in the VCR.” (Here’s the subject of the blasted TV again. My! It’s a time waster!)

At any rate, I know I don’t remember the shows we watched; but I surely would like to remember some of the things my children said and the things they did. I would love to read from a journal that they wrote. And, I am sure my children would like to read about their experiences and thoughts of childhood, too.

A few weeks ago, I found a box of things my daughter, Michelle, kept from her school years. There were little books her teachers had had her make that were so precious. As I read some of her thoughts in her childhood handwriting, I had the thought that I had no idea she was really concerned about certain things. In recent years she has told me of her childhood concerns and I had wondered how exact Michelle’s memory really was; but now, here I found these concerns written down and they had been real.

So, take some advice from someone that can tell you what you will regret if your children grow up too soon and you have no record of their childhood from their perspective. Have your children start journaling! Be firm on this. Have your whole family start sitting down together with a journal in front of each person and have each family member write about his day and or week. Encourage each writer to record personal experiences, funny incidents, scary moments, exciting times, hopes and wishes, unusual dreams, personal thoughts, things learned in school, holiday fun and summertime happenings.

If you are faithful in daily or weekly writing time, it won’t be long before each family member will have written a book. Then, I know you will have no regrets.

Make Plans for Summertime Reading

I think the following idea (if followed through with) would be very beneficial for your child and the outcome would be a treasure to be talked about and remembered for years to come.

Get a sketch pad or binder with blank paper for each child. Have art supplies ready for all. Now, have your children read books of their choosing during the summer. Each time your child finishes reading a book, ask him to write down the book’s title and author. Then have him draw his favorite scene from the story. As each picture is completed, add it to the child's binder.

This binder will grow thicker as more and more books are read and illustrations are made. Can you imagine Grandma admiring the creative work? Can you imagine your child’s sense of accomplishment as he reviews all the books read and pictures drawn. Over a period of time, your budding artist may even see improvement in his art ability. I wish I would have had this motivation as a child. I loved to draw but could never think of new things to draw. Books could really give way to your child’s imagination with drawing.

DOOR TRIVIA

This might be something fun and that you might wish to start planning for school’s end and summertime stimulation. Post different trivia questions on a main door in your home (perhaps the drinking glass cupboard door). Challenge your children to find the an answer to that day’s question by the following evening for dinner. Then, have an enjoyable table conversation about what was learned. Of course, in the beginning you may need to give help in teaching your children how to investigate, but hey, isn’t this your goal—to have more ways to interact positively with your children? This has many benefits for the doing. Your child has something fun and stimulating to do each day. He keeps his mind open to learning. You will have things to talk about around the dinner table. As already mentioned, you will have a motivation for positive interaction.

To make this even more fun, you could create a rewards program if the reward of “learning” is not enough. 1) If you have more than one child participating, participants of each day could have their name put in box for a drawing that is held weekly or monthly. 2) You could have a prize box for participants to choose from. 3) The winning child of the day could be excused from a chore. 4) Coupons could be earned by a point system and then redeemed when earned. I guess part of the fun of this idea is for you to decide what would best fit the needs of your family. Even the “door question” could be made specifically for each child in the family according to age and you could color code the child’s question thus older children’s questions could be harder than younger children’s questions.

Now, here is a list of possible questions you might ask (just to get your brain flowing):

1) Where was George Washington born? 2) How old is Mickey Mouse? 3) What is the world’s longest river? 4) What is the world’s tallest mountain? 5) How many Presidents of the United States have their been? 6) How heavy was the heaviest person in the world? 7) Why do people’s voices changes when the breath in helium? 8) Why do people hiccup? 9) Why do leaves change color in the fall? 10) What famous people share your birthday?