Fun Activities for Kids, Families, and Teachers

Hello parents and teachers out there! I came across a great article/radio bit produced by National Public Radio that I just had to share! Since the product I sell, Story Time Felts, facilitates what this research suggests is necessary for kids, I was particularly interested! Here is just a snip, visit the NPR site to read the rest or listen to the 7 minute radio segment:

“It’s interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys,” says Chudacoff (Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University).

“Whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object.”

Chudacoff’s recently published history of child’s play argues that for most of human history what children did when they played was roam in packs large or small, more or less unsupervised, and engage in freewheeling imaginative play. They were pirates and princesses, aristocrats and action heroes. Basically, says Chudacoff, they spent most of their time doing what looked like nothing much at all.

“They improvised play, whether it was in the outdoors… or whether it was on a street corner or somebody’s back yard,” Chudacoff says. “They improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules.”

Continue reading this story at NPR.org…

Are you itching for some new ideas to try this month? The following were sent in by our creative Story Time Felts consultants!

Heart Attack

Something I have always loved doing is to give my friend’s yard a heart attack. Cut out a bunch of hearts from pink and red construction paper. Then you can either leave them blank or write what you admire about your friend on them. Tape some of the hearts to plastic forks. Then comes the fun part, you tape the hearts to your friend’s walls, and stick the forked hearts in their lawn. It is a lot of fun for both you and your friend.

Pages of Love

One of my friends made me a couple of scrapbook pages of things we had done together as roommates in college. It is a nice reminder of the fun times we had together. I have a lot of cute pictures of my daughter and her friend. I know that her mom would love it if I made a scrapbook page from them and gave it to her. Free labor!

Read More

Want some ideas for using all those old Christmas cards?? Here are some! Put the kids to work before they go back to school!

What to Do with Old Christmas Cards

Do you have any other ideas??? Share in the Comments!

A fellow Mompacker, Valerie from Little Blots just had this great craft video featured on You Tube’s homepage today! Check it out, it is a fantastic craft to make with the kids! Thanks for letting me share it, Valerie!
Karen

http://www.youtube.com/v/-642aijaZE0&rel=1

One of our Story Time Felts Consultants, Wendy Varney, who also writes some of our original stories, wrote this poem. I love it!
Karen
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What I Really Want
-A child’s request

Most of the time the TV’s OK,
But Mom I’d rather be with you today.
Play Station’s fun and exciting too,
But honestly mom I’d rather play with you.
I know you are busy with lots going on,
But do you have a minute to sing me a song?
Games and electronics, all varied and sorted,
But really I’d rather you tell me a story.
Just a bit of your time, I won’t take too long,
Before you know it, one day I’ll be gone.

This poem is dedicated to all the busy moms out there, from a mom who wishes she’d realized this sooner.