Surviving At Home

Eventually older kids will tire of having parties with princess or cartoon themes and your easy days of shopping online to pick a party theme and then having all the paper items arrive in a nice little box will be over. Time to resort to your own imagination!

If you’re posed with this challenge, be sure to allow at least 4-6 weeks for planning so you can find all the supplies you need and have your child get involved in making lists for supplies and decorating ideas.

One year my niece wanted her party theme to be France and it stumped my SIL until she started thinking about all the things France was known for. She decorated their basement with small tables and chairs, just like a bistro, and served finger sandwiches made on croissants along with fondue. The kids also had a taste of different French pastries and her cake was decorated like the French flag. Each child was given a beret when they arrived, pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre hung on the walls, and they even set up an easel so kids could take turns painting a masterpiece.

A very similar setting could be made if your theme is Italy. The kids can make their own pizzas, your craft could be decorate your own apron, and pictures can include the leaning tower of Pisa and the Roman ruins. Ask your local pizza place if they have extra placemats to spare (the ones with the map of Italy would be perfect) and/or small pizza boxes for leftovers. Add a red and white checked table cloth to complete the look of your piazza.

I’d love to hear some other ideas for a foreign party theme!

Do your kids like to read during the summer break? My daughter is a very good reader but she doesn’t pick up a book during the summer because it resembles schoolwork. Why not “kill two birds with one stone” as they say and reinforce good reading habits while learning some history?

The Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne are a great source of adventure, even for kindergarteners. The main characters are Annie and her brother Jack who discover a strange but magical treehouse filled with books. Simply by opening the books, they are transported to another time period for a new adventure.

This summer your kids can join the adventures of Annie and Jack by collecting stamps in their very own passport. Simply go to the Magic Treehouse website to download and print your personal passport, read the books, answer questions online, and collect your stamp to add to your passport.

There are also free printable pages, information about the author, and even a writer’s lesson plan for your young Shakespeare.

Yet another way to make reading and learning during the summertime fun!

My daughter just finished 4th grade and her teacher coordinated a fabulous project to end the year. Have you heard of Flat Stanley, the little cartoon kid who got flattened by a bulletin board and ends up getting mailed to all different places? Well, Flat Stanley sure was busy during May because he visited each of our state’s 62 counties and sent back pictures for the kids to write a report, which eventually was presented to our governor. Awesome, huh?

Even my 5-year-old enjoys the Flat Stanley books (yes, it’s a series now) and it’s really easy to make your own flat child. Flat Stanley’s shape is basically that of a gingerbread man, only cut out big. A firm piece of 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper should be fine, or card stock. Once the shape is cut out, have your child draw a face and clothes, decorating their flat person any way they like. It can look like them, a friend, or favorite cartoon character…there’s no right or wrong way to do this!

If you want your flat person to travel, ask your grandparents, aunts, uncles, or faraway friends if they’ll cooperate by taking your flat person on a tour of where they live or on vacation with them and taking pictures with a disposable camera. I wish I had thought of this sooner before my own parents travelled to Scotland last month. It’s really funny to see scenic or historic pictures with Flat Stanley poking his head into the frame!

Once you get the pictures back, you can help your child create scrapbook pages with the photos or have them decorate the cover of a small photo album they can call their own. You can even show them on a map exactly where their Flat Stanley travelled and how near or far it is from your own home.

If you really want to get ambitious, have your first friend send Flat Stanley to one of THEIR friends instead of sending him straight home to you. And then they can send it to another friend and so on. This could truly become a trip around the world but it also depends highly on the friends’ willingness to participate and to send it back to you.

Here’s a high-tech idea for older kids: send out your Flat Stanley to your first friend along with your email address so all the friends along the way can write to you with where they’re located and what they’ve done with your Flat Stanley. You could even start a free blog to keep the participants and other friends up to date on Flat Stanley’s travels.

My mother thought this was a great idea so her Flat Nana went to a quilt show with her in Vermont! The girls got a chuckle out of that picture!

If you have an older elementary child and would like to suggest this project to their teacher, they can check out FlatStanley.com, which is a teacher-only website for other participants.

Aren’t you surprised that I chose the patriotic red-white-and-blue theme for this 4th of July week?

As we celebrate our country’s 231st birthday, it’s a great opportunity to refresh our own memories and teach our little ones about our wonderful country’s history.

This book is a great way to teach children of all ages about the 50 states of our country. Preschoolers will enjoy learning the names of the states and finding their home state on the map while older children can brush up on their geography. No need to read the book in order. Start with your home state and plan a pretend car trip around the country using the front page map. Then read about the states that are on your “trip”.

 Young preschoolers will enjoy learning their states while they develop their manual dexterity with United States jigsaw puzzles.

Older elementary students will enjoy the challenge of chasing Carmen Sandiego around the world in a variety of computer games. Yes, she’s a thief, but your child plays the “good guy” and has to answer lots of clues about various places in the world in order to collect clues for finding her. Some of the questions asked were tough for me to answer!

I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday this year! Enjoy the time with your familes and little one!