1. Eat at least one (home-cooked) meal a day together. This helps your family twofold. You can make sure your children are eating nutritious, well-balanced meals, and everyone can reconnect as a family.

 

2. Examine your family’s food choices. Start reading the labels on the foods you buy for you and your family. Try to avoid foods with a lot of preservatives and additives. If you need a master’s degree in chemistry to comprehend the list of ingredients, put it back on the shelf.

 

3. Make regular trips to the doctor and the dentist. At the doctor, make sure all vaccines are up-to-date. In addition, older family members should schedule yearly physicals and regular blood tests. Schedule regular dental checkups every six months. Instill good dental hygiene early for your younger children by instructing every member of the family to brush and floss their teeth regularly.

 

4. Unplug. One night a week, or two nights a month, make an effort to unplug—the TV, the phone, the computer—and connect with your family. Not only is it a great time to bond, but it stimulates your mind and helps make an emotional connection.

 

5. Get physical. Everyone knows the great benefits of exercise, but finding the time to squeeze in a workout can be challenging. Rather than have your family train for a marathon, become involved in local charity walks. That way, your family will be getting exercise and helping out a worthy cause—plus, you can work the walk around everyone’s schedule. Or, if you have a dog, get the family together in the evening and take your pooch for a stroll. Plan weekly bike rides; instead of going for a “Sunday drive,” go for a “Sunday ride.”

 

6. Sleep tight. Make sure everyone gets the recommended amount of sleep every night. Try to get your sleeping patterns on a schedule—go to bed and wake up close to the same time every day. For adults, this means a good six hours, and it varies for children depending on their age. According to experts, older teenagers do well with eight or nine hours a night, while toddlers need up to 14 hours.

 

7. Reduce caffeine. If your family consumes too much caffeine, start by reducing the intake, instead of just eliminating it altogether. Try to stay away from buying sugary sodas at the store; they contain hidden calories, as well as caffeine.

 

8. Stay protected. Limit your family’s time in the sun, and make sure they wear sunscreen—especially during the summer months.

 

9. Keep it clean. Washing your hands is a little step that can go a long way on the road to good health. Make sure you teach your children to lather up before meals, after visiting the bathroom, and after touching any dirty objects or surfaces.

 

10. Drink up. Experts say drinking water can help keep you healthy and hydrated. Eight to 10 glasses every day is the recommended amount.

 

 

Try this fun, open-ended three-dimensional activity. Children will love experimenting with the various ways to use the materials.

 

To reinforce fine motor skills

To promote hand-eye coordination

To encourage cooperative play

To encourage tactile exploration

 

 

Before You Start: You will need smooth and pliable air-dry clay, paper plates (or trays), various collage materials such as feathers, foam shapes, straws, pipe cleaners, jewels, craft sticks, clothespins, buttons and beads.

 

Place the collage materials on paper plates or trays where the children can reach. Give each child a lump of clay or putty on his or her own paper plate. Let them mold and poke the clay into any shape or design they choose. Allow the young ones to use the collage materials to stick into the clay.

 

Encourage the children to experiment with the materials. This is a great open-ended activity for both tactile exploration and artistic expression.

 

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

cold water

1/2 cup cornstarch

4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid

food coloring

4 to 6 wide mouth jars

 

Stir the gelatin into 1/3 cup cold water; set aside. Measure the cornstarch into a saucepan and stir in 2 1/2 cups cold water until dissolved. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir until thickened. Remove the pan from the heat and blend in the gelatin mixture and the dishwashing liquid.  Allow the mixture to cool and spoon it into jars. Stir in a generous amount of food coloring.  Store at room temperature in airtight containers.

Sidewalk Paint

 

Just combine 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup water. and 6-8 drops of food coloring. Give them a bunch of paint brushes and turn them loose on the sidewalk. The paint dries to look just like a sidewalk chalk creation!

 

Making an “All About Me” book can be a great way for children to enhance their self esteem, confidence and increase overall self awareness. The process of compiling our books was as much fun as pouring over the finished project. You can use almost anything to create an All About Me book. For ours, we used file folders.

 

I cut two in half so there were 3-4 “pages”. I interviewed the kids about their likes and dislikes and they helped me choose photos for their book.

 

I broke it down into 3 sections: Who am I?/Me and my family, My Favorites, Meaning of my name/special note from mom.

 

 

I covered each separate page with contact paper, making sure to press out any wrinkles. I hole punched the ends and threaded ribbon through the holes to create the binding.

 

Tips and Ideas:

 

~Create an ongoing “journal” book, where kids can add to it as often as they like.

 

~Make one every year, so you can see how your child’s personality, favorites and self perception change over time.

 

~Children are fickle, so remember that they might like Barbie today, but tomorrow they migh like something completely different!

 

~ I did most of the mounting of the photos, etc. But thinking about it now, I wish I would have had them add more decoration like stickers, etc.

For our stART project this week, we read The Eency Weency Spider and made bottle top spiders. My kids LOVE this book because it is musical and you can push a button and sing along as you read the book. It is about ten little spiders who creatively find ways to get up the waterspout.

 

So, we decided to make spiders. We used the following items to make our spiders: yarn, glue, googly eyes, and a snap bottle top. (These are the kind of tops you find on ketchup bottles that snap open and closed. Our tops came from our Agave Nectar bottles.) Cut four pieces of yarn each about 6 inches long. Open the snap bottle top and center all four pieces of yarn inside. Snap the top closed so that the four pieces of yarn make 8 legs. Then, use glue to add on the googly eyes.

 

 

It’s like drawing with 3 mediums in one project.

 

Fill an ice -cube tray with Tempera paint. Insert a craft stick into each cube & freeze. When completely frozen, paint draws like chalk. As it softens, the effect is as a crayon, and then like paint. This demonstrates solids becoming liquids.

The family road trip can be a time for bonding, a time for learning about each other’s interests and points of view – a time to practically pull out every last hair on your head for every instance the words, “Are we there yet?” are uttered.

A beloved tradition likely observed even back in the days of the horse and buggy, road trips really can be an enlightening, educational, sane experience for all, with just a little planning, creativity, and preparation. Here are some ideas for games and activities to get your whole gang revved up for a trip long on smiles and short on frustration:

 

Can-Do Cards: Don’t underestimate the power of a deck of cards. There are endless possibilities for all ages, and they lend themselves to hours of entertainment and concentration. If your kids are sick of the standard Go Fish, Crazy Eights, and Rummy games, buy – or check out at your local library – a kids’ card games book for new ideas. Or, buy a deck of quiz or trivia cards to keep their brains plenty busy.

 

Contest Craze: Hold an official family spelling bee or trivia contest, using index cards to write down words or questions. Winners can earn trinkets, stickers, activity or coloring books, trading cards, food treats, money (the younger the child, the smaller the amount), or extra minutes of hotel pool time or stay-up-late time that night.

 

Good Ol’ Games: Use the fallback road-trip games – 20 Questions, the License Plate Game, and I Spy. Or, try the Alphabet Game (you pick a topic – say, animals – and a letter, then have everyone spout off animals that begin with A: i.e. aardvark, antelope, ape…). The best part about this game is that kids can pick the topic of interest – cars, TV characters, countries, cities, foods, names, etc. – and there are 26 possibilities (one for each letter) for every topic. Make the games into marathons, awarding special treats or trinkets to whoever wins each round. Then, have lightening rounds or finals for extra-special awards.

 

Journal Jotting: Buy cheap, but sturdy, journals (or just plain old notebooks or create your own using construction paper, hole puncher, and yarn) and have kids write down and describe what they see along the way. Have them collect something small (a stone, a seashell, a flower, etc.) or buy a super-small trinket from rest stops (buttons, stickers, postcards, etc.) to glue into their journal, describing each stop and each location or landmark they pass. Bring along a stack of old magazines, and have kids cut out and paste pictures into their journals to illustrate some of what they’ve seen (i.e., cows, fire trucks, palm trees, deer, cars, etc.). Buy a disposable camera for each child, so that they can capture their own memories and place their very own pictures in their personal road-trip journals.

 

Make It Magnetic: Stock up on a few super-cheap magnetic games (i.e., tic-tac-toe, checkers, etc.) at the local dollar store or at gift shops along the way.

 

Map Quest: Bring a large map (or smaller map book that little hands can better handle) just for the kids. Have them use stickers and highlighters to mark each road you take on your journey.

 

Road Trip Box to the Rescue: Find a sturdy cardboard box or hat box (one for each child) and paint the top with chalkboard paint (black or green). Stock the box with tons of handy-dandy arts and crafts items and playthings: chalk, chalkboard eraser, washable markers, crayons, pocket-sized coloring books, colored pencils, scrap paper, mini dry erase board, dry erase marker and cloth eraser, construction paper, stickers, stencils, colored pipe cleaners, Popsicle sticks, tape, colored tape, mini pom-poms, child-safe scissors, hole puncher, yarn, and small dolls or action figures. Long road trips are a great time to put kids’ imaginations to the test to create puppets, masks, journals, and more.

 

Silence Is Golden: When all else fails, use the standby game, “See Who Can Be the Quietest.” After hours of singing and crafting, your little ones just might appreciate the challenge of not saying a peep. Make prizes worth their while, with incentives such as: money (quarters, a dollar), gift-shop trinkets or games, and a few extra minutes at the hotel pool or staying up a few minutes longer that night.

 

Sing, Sing a Song: Bone up on sing-along songs. Or, plunk down a few bucks on a tape or CD of “round” songs (you know – “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “Three Blind Mice,” etc.) or sing-along/participation songs (like “Old MacDonald” and “B-I-N-G-O”) that will get everyone – even the most tone-deaf – involved. Buy a kazoo or plastic harmonica for every family member for a little added accompaniment.

 

Tales Aplenty: Bring a few of your kids’ favorite books – or those they’ve been wanting to read – both in the printed versions and on tape/CD. You can listen to the story as the kids read along. If you’d rather not dole out the dough, stop by the library to check out copies of the books and the books on tape/CD before you go. Or, just bring the books, and take turns reading the stories out loud (making sure to use your best character voices, of course).

 

Team Storytelling: Ask each family member to create a line for a story (i.e. “There once was a boy name Hugh…”), then have everyone add a line until you’re all stumped (“who lived in the town’s biggest zoo” … “he often had nothing to do” … “so he decided to make an igloo” … “with a big polar bear named Sue”…). To make things really interesting, go as fast as you can, rhyme as much as possible, and take turns out of order (pointing to someone new each time). Write down the story as you go, then have kids create drawings to coordinate with your silly tale. When you’re done, you’ll have your own custom-made family story.

 

Window Gallery: Use washable window markers to make colorful creations that even passersby can enjoy, or to play endless, paper-free games like tic-tac-toe and hangman. Keep a cotton cloth or dust rag on hand so kids can keep the window fun flowing throughout the trip – just make sure the driver’s view isn’t blocked!

 

Word Play: Have kids write down various words they see as you drive along (from billboards, bumper stickers, roadside attractions and stores, license plates, signs, the sides of semi-trucks, etc.). Ask them to write a story, poem, or song grouping all of the words they see together. Have them read, perform, or sing their creation for everyone when they’re done.

 

Cut down on the fighting and fussing with a little ingenuity and preplanning, and your next road trip will likely be made up of fond family memories – on the road and off.