Tuesday, April 22, 2008

63 Things To do with my Kids.

My mother-in-law stole an magazine on her last flight because it had an article she read and thought of me. She gave it to me last night and it was awesome. It is a list of 63 things to do to get wild with your kids. I loved them all and am going to do them all over the course of my children's life. I will post my success as I go and let you share in our adventures with us. Here is the list if anyone else is interested. Its fun and it made my mind spring off into a spider web creativity effect and I can add more as I go.

1. Run a marathon. I am definitely going to do this we run everyday and can not wait to run a marathon with my family.
2. Destroy a toaster. When your old one needs to be replaced let your kids experiment with the old one. Take it apart with them to learn how it works.
3. Screen silent movies.
4. Build a super sand castle. they have workshops to teach you how in South padre Island.
5. Vote. Have your kids go with you when you vote teach them young about its importance.
6. Walk off the edge of the Grand Canyon. They have that new see-through glass sky walk.
7. Get old school. Show them you high school year books and let them laugh at you and your clothes.
8. Pull Taffy. We used to do this with my Grandma and I loved it. I can wait to make it a tradition in my home.
9. Tour the world in a trio of American cities. Chicago's Ukraine Village. Washington D.C.'s Little Ethiopia, and Anaheim's Little Gaza.
10. Do lunch. Take you child out of school and take them to lunch with just you and them.
11. Crack Cascarones. They are confetti filled egg shells. Just break of the top portion of an egg. Pour out the eggs contents. Let them dry. Decorate the egg shells as you wish. Fill egg with confetti. Cover hole with tissue paper. Them have a egg-static time throwing them around.
12. Camp out. In your backyard. Pitch a tent and enjoy the stars.
13. Go guerrilla. Commit random acts of kindness anonymously.
14. Get lost in a snow globe. Make your own family version of a giant snow globe. Instructions can be found at hgtv.com
15. Got to work. Let you children see what you do for a day.
16. Explode a volcano. Just a little baking soda and Kaboom. eshow.com has step-by-step instructions.
17. Discover planet Earth. Watch the 11 part series over the course of a couple of weeks.
18. Go puddle jumping.
19. Make a portable height chart. in case you do not live in the same place forever. Our is a piece of 4x4. The magazine suggested a piece of felt.
20. Score a pro baseball. Or at least try to. Do not just try to catch a fly ball ask the players to give you a ball when sitting there watching the game.
21. Make pizza. let you kids do whatever and add whatever they want to the pizza of there choice. Let them be creative and enjoy finding out for themselves why we do not eat, pepperoni with chocolate and jellybeans.
22. "Get" money. Teach you kids young to save and pay tithing or share, there money. Have three piggy banks and label them. Tithing, Spend, Save. Teach them and let them decide what to pay to each.
23. Make snow angels.
24. Read kid classics. My uncle Mike and his family read a t least one book a month with the whole family and would read before scripture study. It was so cool and fun to be there and enjoy in the family time together. It also instilled a love of reading in most of there kids.
25. Give piggy back rides.
26. Pitch in. Volunteer to help clean up your city or town. There are a tone of ways even in the smallest of town.
27. Stuff a time capsule. include not only important things for you at the time you make it but write a note to yourself about why you liked those specific things.
28. Make a tasty breakfast in bed. For mothers and fathers day let your kids help make breakfast and jump into bed with you to enjoy the meal. Isn't that what we are celebrating on these days. HELLO!
29. Swim with the dolphins. Find the closest place to you on the web.
30. Build an obstacle course in your backyard.
31. Get carded in D.C. The book City walks with kids is a book with double sided cards with fun things to do in D.C. centered around kids. The book is by Chronicle books.
32. Watch Julie Andrews. Or whoever your favorite kid friendly actor was at there age.
33. Skate on Olympic ice. You can skate where the athletes skated in Salt Lake city from October to March. Visit utahathleticsfoundation.com.
34. Visit a petting Zoo. Find locations in every state at pettingzoofarm.com.
35. Write thank you notes. Teach you kids young that this is a good way to show your appreciation for those that do things for them. I love sending out thank you for birthday cards and presents.
36. Make mud pies.
37. Launch water balloons. I would totally make this into a science thing and have my kids play around with a whole bunch of launchers and have them build there own. Predict which launcher would go the farthest and see what you can do to make those that do not work as well better.
38. Install a tire swing.
39. See a drive in movie. Love this because there is no stress to keep your kids quiet or worry about them disrupting others with questions about what is going on. driveinmovie.com has locations around the states.
40. Ride a pair of wooden roller coasters. There a a few different locations to choose from. aceonline.org is the roller coaster enthusiasts website with the locations.
41 Meet the Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum’s classic fantasy series comes in many different forms, so your kids can enjoy it over and over again as they grow up:

4 to 8: Ease your child into the Oz universe with Robert Sabuda’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz pop-up book (Little Simon). The spinning cyclone, rising hot-air balloon, and set of wearable emerald-tinted eye spectacles will get them hooked.
8 to 9: Watch the classic 1939 film. If your kids startle easily, you might want to fast-forward through the flying monkeys and melting witch.
9 to 12: Read Baum’s books—all 14 of them. Dorothy’s adventures didn’t end when she returned to Kansas. In fact, she soon sets up shop in the Emerald City, taking Auntie Em and Uncle Henry with her. Grab the Dover edition of the books, complete with John R. Neill’s delightful illustrations, and introduce your child to Jack Pumpkinhead, Ozma, Rinkitink, and the rest of Dorothy’s new friends.
10 to 12: See Wicked, the smash Broadway musical about Elphaba, Glinda, and life in Oz before Dorothy showed up. Reserve a seat at the permanent shows in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, or catch the tour near you this summer.

12: Watch Return to Oz, the 1985 cult classic. A quasi-sequel to the original film, Return incorporates characters and plot elements from Baum’s later books, including Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz.
Adult: While your kid watches her fifth straight showing of Oz, amuse yourself by reading Salman Rushdie’s The Wizard of Oz, part of a British Film Institute series on classic movies.

42. Race downhill. I have many, one in particular, fond memories of racing downhill with my siblings. I will never forget them.
43. See stars. On the Hollywood walk of fame.
44. Fly to the home of flight. Manteo, North Carolina. See the Wright brothers museum with films and reproductions of there first fliers.
45. Bottle up lightning bugs. Go east of Kansas and catch these guys by the hundreds.
46. Make a mobile. visit artcyclopedia.com for a guide.
47. Sled in sand. Add furniture polish to the rails of you sled and go for it.
48. Bust mutton. In English ride a sheep.
49. Make a bird feeder. Buy a bird book at the store to indentifiy the birds that drop by for a feed.
50. Teach good greetings. How to talk and communicate successfully. How to introduce yourself under every circumstance.
51. Hunt for fossils. If you do not have someplace near home to do this. Make your own with some bones and sticks in the back your.
52. Meet your inner pirate. There are tons of pirate celebrations year round in many different locations. search for the closest near you and find your treasure.
53. Grow a carrot top tree. Kind of like a potato in a jar. Just cut off the top of a carrot and put it in like warm water and watch it grow new leaves.
54. Eat king cake. Its a mardi gras classic and the best is found in Lafayette, Louisiana at Meches Donut King.
55. Do Disney. Smee this one for you. You can not let your kids get to old before you experience Disney world of Disneyland.
56. Play with shadows. Perfect FHE. Put up a white sheet and a light and write your own shadow puppets story. Get crazy and use your feet as well as your hands.
57. Learn Math. This is such a cool idea. Instead of chalk boards and dry erase boards. Cover them with shaving cream and let them use there finger to work out problems. Then just smooth it over and do another one.
58. Beckon butterflies. Make a butterfly garden. There are tons of books that explain how and I am sure you could find instructions online as well.
59. Ride an electric trolley. They have them in Dallas for free and San Francisco for a price.
60. Spin in a circle. At my house its called twirling. We see you can last the longest without falling over.
61. Sail into the sunset. If you do not have a sail boat. Rent on out or go on a tour.
62. Climb a tree.
63. Saddle up. Find a place to go on a horse riding adventure. It is an awesome alternative to hiking. And you get to be in nature. Can not beat that.

3 comments:

The Pea said...

You are awsome. Anytime come and skate Olympic Ice. You can also swim in the olympic pool and watch the athletes train in the summer.

Unknown said...

Thank you for taking the time to list all these great activities to do with kids. I am a grandmother and was looking online for just such ideas to use with my grandkids. I enjoyed the music and appreciate how you delineated each idea with a different color.

Cheryl

GraceGirl said...

Thanks for these cool ideas and awesome music while I was reading. I loved all the ideas. I am always creating and searching out things to do with my kids. I also recommend the book "Go outside" by nancy blakey. It should be a book that every parent has.