Some everyday tricks are so useful and simple they can come in handy to more than one generation. Yet over time, they’re somehow forgotten, and they turn into what’s called “grandma’s tips.”
To be an unforgettable grandparent, you need to do memorable things with your grandchildren. Here are 19 unforgettable activities to do with grandchildren. These are grandparent tested and grandchild approved!
1. With an average of 7 children per family, the Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world.
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My kids love to play this fun game! The game of SKUNK, that is!
The Churchill School of Adulthood continues with this lesson on why men shouldn't be afraid to start a family.
A great way to get kids thinking is to offer them the chance to play with words and images. I've riffed on this theme several times here at The Book Chook. Today I want to suggest a simple project that nevertheless involves kids in research, reading, decision making, going beyond superficiality and delving into meaning (perhaps), and communicating a message to an audience. It touches on many aspects of visual literacy, particularly if we stay alert to opportunities to get kids thinking about what they see. It's also crucial to encourage children to think about how they can get their message across to others. The project is to choose a quote and illustrate it. Yes, I told you it's simple. Having kids think about quotes and explain their meanings is an excellent discussion starter. Going a step further, to collect quotes and illustrate them, makes a great digital project. It's handy if teachers have a short period available on the computer, or perhaps for early finishers in the classroom. But it can also be done at home, or using pencil and paper, or photographs and lettering. Mostly I'll focus on the digital. Where can we find images that are free and legal for kids to use? What resources are available to combine images and words? And where do we find quotes for children to use in such a project? 1. Image websites These are some of the sites I use to find free clip art and photos that are made available under a license meaning we can legally use them. You and your kids always need to check an image's license to be sure it's legal to use it. Some licenses require attribution; others don't. Wikimedia Commons: Repository of lots of public domain images which means they are out of copyright and able to be used. Some images are just free. Always check though, license should be under the image. Searchable - see top right search box. Morguefile: Free even for commercial use. Searchable. No need for attribution, but courtesy to give it anyway. Philip Martin Clip Art: Free for non-profit use, and lots of educational clipart. I love his cartoonish and colourful style. Picnik: Picnik is not only an image editor, but has quite a lot of clip art available for use in your Picnik projects. Recently Google bought Picnik and decided to discontinue it, BUT it's available still through Google +. 2. Resources for combining words and images All of the resources listed here are good places to go if you want to combine words and images. You may have software available that you prefer, and of course, Photoshop is the Rolls Royce of image editing. However, chooks prefer to keep it simple. At these websites kids can learn to upload an image, and add text to it. Picnik: I discussed Picnik in Play with Words and Images at Picnik Pizap: I discussed Pizap in Play with Words and Images at Pizap Big Huge Labs Motivator: I discussed Motivator in Book Chook Favourites - Making Posters Iaza: I discussed Iaza in Visual Literacy - Play with Images at Iaza 3. Quote websites There are stacks of quotation websites online. Google "quotes" and your preferred subject, and you will get pages of hits. Some have ads, so be sure to supervise your child and check websites first. Here are two I found: Wisdom Quotes My Inspirational Quotes - Kids Children should look long enough to find a quote that resonates with them. Perhaps they'll choose: "It is not the gift, but the thought that counts." (Henry Van Dyke) They might need help teasing out how best to illustrate that quote, or they might choose just to type it onto a plain background. With the Van Dyke quote for instance, it may help them to think of an instance where the quote would be exaggerated, or try for a play on words. Is one animal getting a gift that would be really no use to him? An elephant might get a luggage type of trunk from his friend, but still be glad of the thought. A mother might be secretly appalled by the mess produced by the making of a gift, yet love the thought behind it. Some online quote collections may not be accurate, so consider triple checking with other sources. Or look inside your own books, your Bible, or Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs. Song lyrics and poetry can contain treasure too. I think it's important to attribute the source of a quote if possible, so encourage kids who are making quote collections to remember to record the origin of their quotes. Once children have chosen a quote, they need to think more about illustrating it. Can they find an appropriate photo or piece of clipart? Should they create a diagram, or a map, or a flow chart? Would a comic or cartoon convey the meaning best? What sort of font will best suit the subject matter? Younger children will stick with the literal meaning, but older kids will delve deeper into meaning. Can they use editing effects to create a mood to match their quotes and images? You and your kids can play with the project and come up with variations. Instead of a quote, challenge kids to come up with a way to illustrate and communicate the meaning of abstract nouns like "optimism" or "fear". Or find an image, and create a caption that goes with it to make viewers laugh or pause for thought. So many thinking skills being developed and so much fun being had! The finished product could be printed out. It would make a wonderful class project and the results could be made into a slideshow and embedded on a class blog. Here are some quotes I liked : No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers. ~ Author Unknown I think drawing a pencil topped by an eraser would be within my scope as an artist, and I know kids could draw some kind of extremely imperfect individual wielding it! All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. ~ Walt Disney Find my illustrated quote third from top. Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig. ~ Robert Heinlein Find my illustrated quote at top. We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. ~ George Bernard Shaw Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. ~ Frederick Douglass Find my illustrated quote second from top. Here are some more articles you might like: Visual Literacy Activities with Online Resources, Visual Literacy Activities with Children's Picture Books, Book Chook Favourites - Playing with Words and Pictures. Image credits: 1. BookChook filled Skitch with colour, added clipart and text at Picnik. 2 Wikimedia Commons Text added at Picnik 3. Wikimedia Commons Text and frame added at Picnik.
One family used a practical tool to teach their child to be flexible and avoid a tantrum. Teaching flexibility is a valuable life skill!
Create a story basket full of storytelling props to retell favourite fairy tales together in a playful way! So easy to set up with items from around the house and beneficial for so many strands of early literacy development. As part of our on-going Playful Storytelling series, co-hosted with the gorgeous blog, One Perfect Day,...Read More »
Find tips and instructions on fun games for kids and toddlers. See both fun activities, great learning games or educational things to do with kids.
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while
Every few months, the following conversation takes place between me and my mom, husband or another victim friend. Me: {deep sigh} Something is wrong with me. I am so, so tired! It's so weird! I felt fine (fill in the blank amount of time) ago, but now! It's like I want to take like five naps
First Grade Fun
The average life expectancy for men was just 47, and only 6% of Americans graduated from high school.
A collection of short riddles i have gathered over the years. I'm sure u know most but it's nice to be reminded of a few. Useful as warmers/ creating classroom discussion etc. answers provided.big kiss - ESL worksheets
Hack your Jenga game for some EXTRA family fun!
This is part 2 of a 6 part hands-on unit on Inventions and Simple Machines. Build and test catapults, lift an adult using a lever, test out screws of various threads, and more! My lessons are geared toward 3rd-4th grade level children and their siblings. These are lessons I created to do with a weekly homeschool co-op. We meet each week for 2 1/2 hours and have 13 children between the ages of 1-13. Use these fun lessons with your classroom, family, after school program, camp, or co-op!
Classical music for babies increases the development of speech and language skills & math. Here are 8 ways to use classical music for babies to help with their intellectual and emotional development.
Y'all it snowed ALL DAY LONG here! That is definitely rare for South Carolina. And today was the "small storm." We only ended up with 2-3 inches (which would usually be considered a HUGE storm for us) but tomorrow we could get 8-12 more inches! WOWZERS! They're saying it could be in the top three storms ever on record here! Needless to say, I'm going to have a few more snow days. :) So, I thought this would be the perfect time to show-off a new little game that I've been trying out in my classroom. Have you heard of TENZI? It's a new game for me...and my kiddos are eating it up!! They would pretty much do anything for a chance to play this game. It is a dice game. Not necessarily educational, although my brain is already racing with ways I could incorporate it into lessons. Definitely with probability! When you buy the game, it comes with 40 dice - ten each of four different colors. This means that 2-4 people can play with a set. You can see I have 8 sets in my classroom - enough for all of my students to play at the same time. It's really simple. Each player rolls the dice (at the same time) and looks for the number they have the most of - they "claim" that number and pick up any dice that are not on that number. They continue to roll (as fast as they can) any dice not on that number until finally they are all on the "claimed" number. Once this happens, they yell, "TENZI!" The first person to yell it wins. My kiddos are obsessed. Since it's not really educational, they've just been playing it during indoor recess (I know we've all had more than our share of THOSE this winter) and at dismissal time. In fact, it has been my saving grace during dismissal time. They are so occupied and focused. LOVE. It's also a fun game to make your husband (or friends) play with you. :) Take a look at this video from Tenzi to see just how much fun people of all ages have playing it... I also love the fact that there are many different versions of play. I actually used this as a reward for my kiddos. If they won on the scoreboard, I showed them a new "version" of play! Ha - I'm telling you...they eat it up! They absolutely LOVE that they're able to beat the teacher at this game (every now and then, at least). :) So, here's my thought for making it educational. Once students have claimed a number, they can set aside, not only dice that land on that number, but also dice that add up to that number. Example, if you claimed the number 6 and on the next roll, you didn't have a 6 but you did have a 4 and a 2, you could set those two dice aside (together) as a 6. I can't wait to try this version with my kiddos! I'm going to call it SUMzi. I know teachers are the BEST at making things into learning opportunities, so what are your thoughts? How would you use this game in an educational way? Of course, you could always use the 40 DICE in many ways in the classroom, aside from Tenzi! What are you waiting for? Do you want to give this game a try in your classroom? I'm giving away TWO SETS to ONE LUCKY TEACHER! Enter below and I'll choose the winner on Friday (unless this storm causes us to lose power, in which case I'll choose the winner as soon as possible...let's hope not). a Rafflecopter giveaway
As a Grandparent, you can encourage your Grandkids imagination. These activities will also add to the connection and bond that you already share.
Free and Funny Sports Ecard: "Cycling" - we've all been doing it since we were 7 years old. You can take off the spandex shirt and get out of the road, champ. Create and send your own custom Sports ecard.
Learn how to use secret handshakes for family fun & strength. Use this simple yet engaging practice to deepen family relationship & develop memory skills.
