Playing crazy hair-do or make-up is always great fun!
Mommies know that having 3 days to sleep in is a rarity, but as much as we love the slower mornings, having a full-house for 3 days can be overwhelming if there are no activities for the children. Of course many kids drag themselves out of bed at 11:00 a.m., pour themselves some soda, grab a donut and sit in front of the boob tube playing video games until dinner time or later. Fortunately, if you are reading this article, you are not one of those parents. Congratulations! You are a great parent if you try to plan activities for your kids that are entertaining, educational, and a way to bring the family closer.
Here are some ideas to help you continue to be the great parent you know you are.
Ages 8 – 12 Backpack bag family project
This project is great for back to school and can be used for boys and girls.
Materials: An old pair of jeans, scissors, a sewing machine, old cotton belt from old robe
• Zip the jeans and turn them inside out. With a pair of fabric scissors (a parent's job), cut off both jean legs 3 inches from the crotch. Set aside. Next, fold the cutoff jeans, matching up the side seams as you would to press front and back leg pleats.
• Using a sewing machine (or a close, even hand stitch), sew closed each leg opening 1 inch from the cut edge. Trim the denim 1/2 inch from the stitching.
• Turn the jeans right-side out. For a handle, thread a cotton belt through the belt loops, pull like a draw string, and stitch ends together. This can be worn as pack-back back, or carried as pocket-book.
Ages 4- 7 Family Scrapbook
This project can be great fun and keeps the children thinking about their family while encouraging creativity and media awareness.
Materials: One photo of each family member, all the shopping ads you got in the mail this week, several sheets of construction paper, glue, children’s scissors
• Let the children glue a picture of each family member on the construction paper, one family member per sheet.
• Give the children the store ads and tell them to find things that remind them of their daddy, mommy, sister, brother, grandma, etc. Let them cut out the pictures from the ads and associate them with the photo.
• Now for a little competition, let them watch one of their favorite children’s programs and each time they see an image or commercial that has one of the items they cut out from the ads they can glue it to that person’s personal “page”. When you decide they have had enough time to do this, the family can go over each person’s page and glue all the pages together for a personal family scrapbook.
Ages 13-17 Memory Trivia
This project does not require many materials, but does rate high in the family bonding experience. Just find an old picture or yourself and/or your spouse when you were anywhere from 13-17, and some glue or scotch tape.
• Glue your picture onto a piece of blank paper or construction paper.
• On another piece of paper write the following statements:
• My favorite music group was…
• My favorite TV show was…
• My favorite song was…
• My favorite thing to wear was…
• I hated…
• I loved…
• My parents drove me crazy when they…
• At school I mostly hung out with…
• I dreamed of owning a…
• The first time I drove a car was with…
• My first boyfriend/girlfriend was…
• My favorite car was…
• For lunch every day my favorite thing was…
• Behind my parents back I ate…
• My best friend was…
• The worst grounding I ever got was for…
If you have several teenagers let them pick questions or split between them, and let them try to answer these questions by interviewing family members, or looking up fads and trends from the 90s , 80s, or 70s online.
When they think they have the correct answer they get to write the completed statement around your picture on the paper.
When all the questions are answered, sit down with them and tell them the true answers. This is a great activity for bonding with kids, it’s funny, and they’ll have the final project as a keepsake.
For more great family projects and crafts click here.
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