I remember anticipating Winter Break with so much excitement every year! Before long, though, I was bored and ready to go back to school with all my friends. Here are some free printable activities I've found lately; ideas for keeping kids (or yourself!) occupied these last days. Try them out with your kids and let me know what you think!
Holiday Village from Claudine Hellmuth
Craft Calendar from Canon
Pop-Up Cards from RobertSabuda.com
Victorian Nursery Craft from Victorian Magazine
Paper House from Whispering Wind
Gingerbread Baby Board Game from Jan Brett
"Believe" Stitchery Pattern from You Can Make This
...and you?
What is your family doing to enjoy the winter holidays? Share your favorite activities (and links, too!) in the comments, or tag on delicious for:simplyla.
Don't forget to comment to enter January's comment giveaway: Layla Legs!
"Easy to play, hard to master"
Those weighty words jump out at me from the instruction page for a stimulating simulator webgame, ElectroCity. Why?
Though the game is targeted to school students, the idea behind it plus the fact that real-world sustainable living, too, is "easy to play, hard to master," stirred my interest enough to send me reading through the how-to and starting my own town, Coziville.
What's the big idea?
“We recognise the importance of sustainable energy generation, energy efficiency and environmental management. We want to help people think about these subjects laterally, and what better way than to experience them first-hand and see the impacts of your decisions,” says Genesis Energy Chief Executive Murray Jackson, whose company funds ElectroCity.
That is a big idea!
My Review
While definitely not the fast-paced game play you'd expect if you're a veteran of popular city simulator games (partly because, realistically, you start with little money so it's a bit hard to get going), this game does a lot for critical thinking and helping players think about the result of their choices. From the how-to: "You need to balance your city’s growth with its environmental impact. Your citizens need electricity and jobs, but they also love their clean green image. So you get to decide whether that forest should be made into a national park or logged and turned into an aluminum smelter." Sound realistic? It is.
Visit their site and, after reading the instructions, click "Start a new game," name your town, and start making decisions! Most relate to the balance between bringing in money and maintaining a pleasant (and sustainable) environment. All make me chuckle. (You can ban TV or set the town curfew at 8pm in order to save electricity... if you don't mind what your citizens think!)
If you're short on time, don't worry; you don't have to register or give an e-mail address, but when you want to save, you'll be given a code to enter when you get back.
... and you?
Your turn! Start your town and comment here what you think about it. Genesis Energy is considering funding a version 2 if there's enough interest, and they'll take into account user suggestions for an improved ElectroCity. And if you make it to the scoreboard, share your town name so we can go check it out!
If you know of another resource for teaching kids (and us not-so-kid-like people) about energy and sustainability, share it here. I'd love to check it out!
Oscar the Pig goes to China! Ooops, that's not right, but since I live in China, I do love that part... before I give away the rest of the book, here's my review.
Who's it For?
Megan wrote Oscar the Pig for both kids and parents. Kids whose Moms are returning to work will identify with Oscar, and kids and parents alike will giggle at the cute artwork, including "piggy kisses" shared by Oscar and his Mommy pig. It's also good for people like me who love China, thanks to a special visit and introduction to a Chinese Panda whom Oscar befriends (I'm only partly joking)!
What's it Teach?
Oscar's panda friend, Chow Chow, reminds Oscar and your kids that even though Mommy's gone at work, she'll always come home and always loves her little piggy (or, kiddie :-D). Megan also wants the book to give moms practical techniques to help ease the transition, but I think a supplemental page in the book or online would better help us make the jump from 'what Oscar's mom did in the book' to 'what I should do every day.'
Is it Simple?
I love to see kids' books that are just that: kids'. Oscar the Pig teaches and comforts kids without any jargon (well, except one humorous reference for the parents about "bringing home the bacon"). The illustrations, apparently pencil and watercolor, are colorful but simple, the kind of art you could use to inspire your child to get creative: suggesting, "draw for me what fun things you will do while I'm gone!," could result in a beautiful, magical scene like Oscar experiences with his caretaker.
That said, and though I realize that books take a lot of work to produce and materials to prepare for publishing, I feel that this, like most new children's books, carries a bit of a high price tag for a 32-page story. It's still a great idea for families who are about to go through Oscar's situation, but I personally (who am not in that situation) would wait to buy it until some more books come out in the series; as a set, Oscar could become a child's favorite character.
Mom's Perspective
Pamela Kramer, whose little one is struggling with separation anxiety right now, wrote about the book on BabyCenter and shared that it's exactly what her family needed. Read her review here and draw your own conclusions!
...and you?
A few questions:
1) what's your favorite educational childrens' book?
2) what topic do you wish you could find a book on to help your kids?
3) is it just me, or are children's books really expensive!?
If you do purchase Oscar the Pig: Mommy Goes to Work, buy from Amazon through one of my links, and you'll be helping support Simple Makes while you're at it!
. It's the first in an upcoming series and is full of cute piggy illustrations like the one above.It was my turn to plan family night, and I had a craving for arts & crafts, while I knew my husband would be in the mood for games and competition. Thankfully, I found a great combo in the Puzzle People Game!
1. Line up index cards (we did 3) and draw one character across the three: head, body, and legs/feet. It's okay if it's not humanoid, so long as it can fit across the cards.
2. We then wrote "head" "body" and "feet" on the back sides, but won't do this next time - see below.
3. Mix up the cards.
4. Make up games to play with them! Use your imagination, use her ideas, or try mine, below.
5. Keep 'em for more fun later - we used a simple plastic zip-top bag.
Our Games
Game #1. Story Telling:
After separately drawing our characters, we introduced each with a little (funny) story. The body (middle card) in the photo above, for example, is a young chef who loves cooking, mixing, and his fun checkered pants.
Game #2. Crazy People:
We mixed up the heads in one stack, bodies in one stack, and feet in one stack, all upsidedown. Because we could tell by handwriting what was what, we dealt them out rather than choosing cards (next time we'll leave off the backs). We each had one minute to come up with a name for the newly-created person, along with a story about why they look the way they do.
Game #3. Build-a-Person: We shuffled all the cards together and dealt 5 to each player. The goal was to get a complete, matching, head-body-feet character.
We held our cards so only we could see them and, in "Go Fish" fashion, asked, "Do you have a _____?" Since we not kids, asking "Do you have a bee," "Do you have a car," etc. would be too easy, so we could only ask for body parts.
"Do you have a head? Body? Feet?" If the player had any, they had to pick one and give it to you. If they didn't have one, you drew one from the top of the card pile. Either way, you always ended your turn by discarding one card to the bottom of the draw pile so that your hand ended back up with 5 cards.
The winner, of course, is whoever first puts together a complete, matching person!
This was a fun, silly, game since you didn't have a lot of control over what you got, and you had crazy looking people in your hand the whole game.
...and you?
Share links or ideas in the comments section with other games you get to make & then play. You can also upload Puzzle People photos to the flickr group!
How do you plan memorable family time without adding a huge budget item - “Movies, the Zoo, and Amusement Parks”? Read my favorite ideas and comment with your own.
* Read Together - I don’t even have kids, but my husband and I like to read to one another! Funny stories, folktales, all the DK educational books, and anything else you can borrow or pull off your bookshelf makes for a great time, whether just before bed or any other time. I have great memories of my dad reading a chapter of Alice in Wonderland to my sister and me every night for weeks.
* Take a Walk - My husband and I try to do this every night after dinner, and usually have our best conversation of the day!
* Watch the sun rise or set - Try this out from different spots: a nice window in your house, the apartment roof, a park. Talk, or enjoy the contemplative silence. Kids can tell stories about the shapes in the clouds as they change colors.
* Window shop - When living in the States, we liked to walk the sidewalks of our downtown, looking at the window displays. This is especially fun around holiday seasons!
* Browse - Stores with seating and/or kids’ play areas make great spots for spending time “just looking.” Our chain book store back home had squishy mats all around the kids’ books and a complementary coffee stand with comfy chairs right by the joke books. For a relaxed date setting, our local independent book store had rocking chairs around their fireplace in the classics section.
* Get Natural - Living in the “Natural State” for 10+ years probably biases me, but I think State Parks are one of the best ideas America ever had! These not only have hiking trails, camping sites, and picnic areas, but most also offer free events and kids’ programs, especially when the weather’s nice.
* Stargaze - All you really need is a blanket to lay on so you won’t get a neckache, but if you want to learn what you’re staring in awe at, search for a local Astronomy Club. Ours offered monthly Star Parties where all the amateur hobbyists brought out their telescopes and aimed them at the really cool stuff - Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s moons, and so on. They also ran interactive fun kids’ activities and visually wowing slideshows or movies inside. If you don’t have one nearby, you can still use Star Guides to find out about sky events like meteor showers you can see!
* Use your local Library - Libraries have always been a favorite spot of mine. You know what you can do there: read newspapers, books, play educational games on computers, surf the internet, get help from the ever-wise Librarians. Most libraries offer events and workshops, especially for kids and especially during the summer. My home library hosted concerts for local schools’ music students, craft workshops, book readings, and much more.
* Sing! You don’t even need a sing-a-long DVD. In fact, you don’t even need to know the words to any songs! If you have kids, their creative minds should be sufficient to fuel a family sing-a-long that may involve more giggles than music skills, but that will be a time to remember.
* Volunteer - Look in your local newspaper, keep your eyes open for posts on bulletin boards, and ask around. Washing dogs for an animal shelter, sorting items for a charity rummage sale, visiting lonely people in hospitals or nursing homes, or hosting a knit-athon with neighborhood families provides memorable time together, thought-provoking moments, and a feel-good satisfaction.
* Tell and Write Stories - Storytime doesn’t always have to come from a book! Tell stories you’ve heard, and let everyone practice making up stories. Use history, parables, folktales, your childhood, and the day’s events for inspiration.
* Play Handgames - I plan on writing a post about this sometime soon, so please recommend your favorites in the comments. Patty-Cake, Crocodile, and so on.
...and you?
What are your favorite no-cost family activities? Share ‘em in the comments - I’d love to try them out myself!
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