Since I spend most of my time with my kids, I’m working on a list of absolutely-100%-free fun. Here are a few that have particularly amused me lately.
- Borrow musicals from the library. This week we borrowed Singin in the Rain. I’ve never seen the whole movie, but thought we’d all enjoy some singing and dancing. We skipped the dialogue and watched several of the dance numbers. The kids especially liked “Make ‘Em Laugh.” Now if I just mention it Jude laughs.
- Litter patrol. Since the time change we’ve been able to go for a few walks in the evening. Jude tried to pick up trash the first time out and I was grossed out, but promised we’d bring a plastic bag along next time. You’d think we’d planned the best scavenger hunt ever. They ran around picking up garbage like fantastic little environmental geeks.
- Zoo. Not exactly free, but once we bought the membership it feels like free. It’s easy enough to bring food & drinks and the kids think it’s special because we’re eating at the zoo. They are often more enthusiastic about the playground than the kudu antelope, but I can cope.
- Make your own soap. Jude thinks this is a hilarious bathtime game. I give him an old yogurt cup with a little bathwater and a spoon. We add baking soda to make a thick paste and then he scrubs himself with it and giggles. I think it is actually good for his skin. He feels very soft after his bath.
- Print out activity/coloring pages from the Internet. Sam rocks dot-to-dot and Jude is in love with mazes. There are coloring pages to suit any mood. I especially like DLTK and Learning Page.
2 comments:
When my 3 sons were about the age of yours, they were fascinated by "big trucks," aka construction vehicles. A trip to the local gravel pit was always great fun. We would park near the facility in a spot with a good view of the activity and watch all the different vehicles in action. Sometimes we would take lunch along to eat in the car as we watched. The boys had construction themed books at home, so the abstract world was reinforced by the real world, plus they ended up with a good working vocabulary and an understanding of how that industry functioned.
Field trips are as good for the mom as they are for the kids.
Another favorite field trip for my 3 boys was during the "Thomas the Tank Engine" phase. The facility where railroad cars are sorted and shunted into trains is called a "humping yard." We found one in a nearby city where we could park on a hill near the yard and look down on the tracks. Watching an activity like this yields good themes for conversation-you can talk about classifications such as the size, shape, color, functions of cars, geography, careers, transportation, energy conservation, physics, weather, commerce. Young minds are so ready to soak up big thoughts.
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