Sometimes the best ideas evolve out what’s right in front of our faces.

Dora has a little activity shelf near our school area to keep her busy while the big kids do seatwork.  I change out the toys every week or so to keep it interesting.  Apparently, on this week, what I chose wasn’t interesting enough because passing by I spied this.

Do you see it?

Maybe a close up will help.

She placed the grasshopper and frog with their matching colors.  Funny thing was that while I had pulled out the puzzle for her to play with; the little figures came from who knows where.

That got me to thinking about other color matching we could do with that puzzle.  A quick house search yielded magnetic refrigerator clips and Candy Land cards. 

I cannot even explain all the games they derived from these simple tools. But they had fun.  Lots and lots of fun.

And I had quiet.

In the words of Sister, “We’re not really a sporty kind of family.”  But we are trying to remedy that this year.  Will found a PE curriculum that fits us just right because it’s written by a mom who as a child experienced all the not fun parts of phys. ed. and took those out of her book.  We do fun stretches, fun games, fun challenges and on top of all that we’re learning the basics about a variety of sports.  This week’s sport is Football.  (That’s American football not to be confused with soccer.)  I knew I wanted us to play a version somehow but there are only two kids big enough to play and we are in a heat advisory (over 100 degrees) all this week.  Also, I was not about to allow football throwing in the house so we came up with something else. 

Using a tape measure and some white electrical tape we turned our large dining room table into a football field.  The kids did the measuring, dividing and number writing and we called that math for the day.

  marking the yard lines

  up one side

  and down the other.

  Finished!

Our table is just shy of 10 feet long so for simplicity’s sake we didn’t measure out the end zones. Nor did we do all the hash marks for single yards.  Despite these discrepancies and, you know, the fact that it was a table …. indoors, we managed to make our little game work.

Our other supplies included two dice, two different colored rolls of tape (to use as markers) and an origami football that Sister made by following this video.

Oh, and we also referenced the book Football for Fun! by Kenn Goin because we know nothing about football and it seemed like a good idea to have a reference.

In case you’d like to play, Simple Family Football works likes this.

1. There is a coin toss.  The winner chooses to Kick or Receive first.

2. There is a kickoff.  The “football” is launched from the 10 yard line (instead of the customary 30).

3. The Offense “catches” the ball where ever it lands.  This is the first line of scrimmage.

4. The Offense launches the ball from the line of scrimmage.  The Defense rolls a die to determine what happened:

** A roll of 1 or 6 means the pass/run is good and the landing spot becomes the new line of scrimmage.

** A roll of 2 means the Offense fumbled the ball but kept possession (move the ball back 10 yards from where it landed.)

** A roll of 3 means the Offense fumbled the ball and lost possession (play proceeds from the last line of scrimmage.)

** A roll of 4 means the ball was intercepted (the landing spot is the new line of scrimmage.)

** A roll of 5 means there was a flag on the play.  The Offense rolls the second die to determine who gets a 10 yard penalty. (an even number and the Offense gets the penalty, odd and the penalty goes to the Defense.)

5. Using this method, play continues until the someone scores a touchdown.  Then the scoring team chooses to either Kick a Field Goal for the extra point or try for a 2 Point Conversion.  Again the ball is launched and the Defense rolls to determine the outcome.

** The Field Goal is good if any number BUT a 1 or 6 is rolled.

** The 2 Point Conversion is successful ONLY if a 1 or 6 is rolled.

6.  Just as in real football there is a kickoff after each score.

7.  We timed our game @ 30 minutes with a break at half-time to put the little kids down for their nap.

** I also made two special rules at the beginning that we discussed but never actually used.

1. The Offense may choose to attempt a Field Goal anytime they are between the 20 yard line and the End Zone.

2.  The Offense may also choose to Punt if the situation seems hopeless.  We never used this one because play moved pretty quickly and even though we (kind of) kept track of downs it was rare that anyone ever got past a second down.

There you have it: Not so Simple indoor, on the table Family Football.

Let us know if you play.  Maybe we could start a league.

Dora loves stickers!  See?

So when I saw these in Target’s dollar section, I knew they were an activity waiting to happen.

I printed out this simple alphabet page.

handed her the stickers,

and got out of the way.

Here’s where she finally turned to me and said, “I don wan any more.”

And I say, “Okay.”

                                            The End.

(This is not only fun alphabet practice but stickers are great for practicing fine motor skills.  Unfortunately, they can become quite frustrating while those skills are still developing.  To help limit frustration I often take off all the “border sticky” and then hand Dora the sheet.  In most cases this makes it a lot easier for her to get the actual stickers off.)

Freaky Thing #1

It’s getting close to 10am, the kids are upstairs so I jingle the bells (Our signal that they need to come to the balcony to see what I need.)  Sister comes, “Yes?” she asks.  I shake my head - a signal to wait.  I don’t want to have to repeat myself for Brother but what I intend to say is, “If you haven’t had breakfast yet then you need to come get something now.” 

Brother bursts onto the scene, clearly agitated at having been interrupted he exclaims, “I already had a banana!”

Sister looks sideways at him, “What?”

“I already had a banana,” he repeats. looking at me in a ‘Can I go now?’ sort of way.

Sister is still looking at him as am I; neither of us saying anything.  Sensing our puzzlement, I suppose, he asks, “Wait. What did you say?”

“She didn’t say anything,” Sister offers.

Freaky Thing #2

I am culling books to make room on our bookshelf and come across a craft/activity book I’ve never used.  It looks interesting so I take a break to thumb through it.  Near the end there is an activity for “Mixing Colors”.  The book list the ingredients you need (Simple things from the kitchen ~ I have them all.) and it tells how to assemble them but it does NOT tell what happens and there is no picture.  I call the kids.  “Lets do this and see what happens!”  I could bore you with the details or I could send you here and you can see for yourself.  These are the daughters of my long-time bloggy friend, Leslie, who, from the date stamp on her post, was writing about the very same activity at almost the same time we were doing it.

Freaky Thing #3

It’s time for the kids to help with dinner.  They are upstairs again so I am walking across the room to jingle the bells.  Before I get there Brother comes out onto the balcony,

“Sister come on!”, he calls.

“What?”,  she replies.

“Mom needs us.”

Welcome to my life … the new Twighlight Zone … apparently.

A couple of weeks back we had some snow fall around here ~ 21” of snow to be specific. 

And even though, technically we could have gotten out and about if we really needed to; taking four children out in a car in near zero weather is not on my list of wise things to do.  So, when Sunday rolled around we stayed home (and the following Sunday too.)  And then because the cooped up children were going stir crazy we decided an activity was in order and because we didn’t want to feel like heathen we chose a Bible activity.  In particular a study of the the Armor of God and we had a blast with it.  The first Sunday, we made this little guy, did some coloring (this page for Sister and this one for Brother) had general discussion about Ephesians 6:10-20 and sang a song.  That was it.

The following week we reviewed the scripture using this outline, colored this guy and played an ultra cool game where we labeled armor items, hid them around the house and made up clues for the kids to follow.

Here were the clues (You know, in case you want to replicate this awesomeness in your own home bible study):

This item would protect your head in a shower.

This one isn’t for dinner but you might find it there.

Find this one on a shelf with other swords of the spirit.

Run downstairs to find these. You’d need them to go out.

This is true. One item is hidden under a bed.

If you “bee”lieve then you could shield yourself from “sticky” situations.

Once all the items were found the real fun began ….

I love teaching my kids and I love that the Bible doesn’t have to be stuffy.

I was appalled when I realized my children had never played hopscotch before this evening back in April.  The neighbors came over later and they also had never played.  Amazing the jewels that we are losing in this technical world of ours.

More Old Fashioned Games to Remember

Two thoughts to share from Cousin E’s 4 year celebration this past weekend. 

First, isn’t this the cutest wrapping paper ever?

My little sis made it using sheets from one of those monster size coloring books.  Love this idea. 

Second, if you’re ever stumped for a birthday party activity try letting the kiddos decorate the cake.  I have yet to find an age that doesn’t enjoy expressing themselves with frosting.

The only caveat, of course, is that you must let go of your ideas about beauty.  Kids look at cake decorating from an entirely different perspective. (Namely, how much frosting can we get on here before the grownups make us stop.)

Remember this board game by Parker Brothers?

It clearly states on the box “Ages 8+” and yet the board and the little people and the little weapons (especially the little weapons) have fascinated Brother for the couple of years now.  He’s five.  About once every couple of weeks or so he pulls out the board and the people and the weapons and wants to play a round.  Unfortunately, although he is older and can read a little, he is no more ready now to play the actual game with the actual rules than he was at age three when this obsession started.   Sooo, we made up new rules.  Our version has nothing to do with who-done-it but it does use the critical pieces (the weapons).  Here’s how we play.

*Lay out the board with the people in their proper places

*Have the children place the weapons in whatever rooms they like.  One weapon per room.

*Have each player choose the character they’d like to be. (This character’s location will also be their starting point.)

*Remove the character cards from the deck and deal out (face up) the remaining cards making sure that in the end everyone has the same total number of cards. (Any odd cards may be returned to the box.)

*Roll the dice to determine order of play.  Highest # goes first.

*The goal of this new game is to advance your playing piece to every location in your hand by rolling the dice.  The first player to do so is the winner.

A Few Notes:

*Because you want to travel by the most efficient path possible (and it make the goal clearer for  little ones) it is a good idea to arrange your cards (or help little ones arrange theirs) in the order you wish to proceed before play begins.

*After you visit a location or pick up a weapon turn that card over so you (and the other players) will know how close you are to finishing.

*You may only turn over one card per turn.

*If you roll more than you need to enter a room but you enter the room anyway, you forfeit the extra spaces.

*It takes two turns to use a secret passage. One turn to enter a corner room and the next turn to use the passage. Even so, this is sometimes a great way to get to the opposite side of the board.

**************

Here is a sample hand dealt to Professor Plum:

Since his starting point is next to the Study and the Library it makes the most sense for him to go one of those two places first.

After he visits the Library and the Study, Plum will make his way across the board to the Lounge to pick up the Candlestick. He could, if he wanted to, go through the Hall to get there but it would cost him an extra turn to do so since he cannot enter and exit a room on the same turn.

Finally, in this sample Professor Plum must pick up the Rope and visit the Dining Room but by a strange quirk of fate the Rope is IN the Dining Room.  It will take three turns for our poor Professor to accomplish his tasks. He must enter the Dining Room (turn over that card), exit the Dining Room, and then enter the Dining Room again to pick up the rope (turn over that card).

At this point Professor Plum has completed the round and if he did it before anyone else he is the winner.

***********

This makes for a much simplified game that most ages can play.  Also, it’s good for short attention spans (mothers and children) because it only lasts about 10 minutes while a typical Clue round is much longer.

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I may have gone a little bit overboard.

We made and sent approximately 35 Valentine’s all over the US and even some to France in a pen pal type exchange.  Then, one week later, we made another 30 or so cards for our local homeschool group.

With a boat load of candy to choose from each child made “Love-bugs”.  Too cute.

A few days ago Brother gave me gave me this:

It’s a post-it note with those precious words that make every mother’s heart melt…which was obviously the effect he was going for because a few minutes later he appeared with this:

It’s a post-it note invitation which (loosely translated)reads  “You are invited to Brother’s birthday party tomorrow.”  He handed one out to every warm body present and made a few extra for absent family members.  It was easy to see how serious he was. Fortunately, Brother’s concept of “tomorrow” precisely correlates with Annie’s - It’s always a day away.

Skip ahead to this morning - Sister’s away at a sleep-over and won’t return until around 11.  When she does The Cousins will come too.  Perfect setup for an impromptu party if ever there was.  A quick trip to the store and we had everything we needed for our “Happy Snow Day Party.” (Happy Snow Day because unlike Happy Birthdays there are no presents.)

My two little helpers washed grapes and celery, made Kool-aid, blew up balloons and vigilantly monitored the state of the cake.

After the festivities, Papa appeared with a grand scheme for more fun.

I’m not certain who enjoyed the day more… the kids or the grandpa.

What crazy fun do YOU have when it’s cold out?