Magic and Mayhem

It’s another cozy day at home for us today, which I really enjoy. Here’s some thoughts I had for ways to fill it. Feel free to join in!

1. Silly similes. Teach the kids what similes are (sim-i-lees– comparison words that use “as” or “like,” as opposed to metaphors which say something is something like “all the world is a stage” or “a sea of faces”). Brainstorm together and list a bunch of predictible ones that everybody knows (black as night, quiet as a mouse…). When you have a nice list, have each child make up a new simile for each phrase. Try to be silly and creative, but still accurate. Then share your lists.

2. Make winter collages and cards from old magazines. We’ve been doing this to make our holiday cards this week and it’s lots of fun. I ripped pages out of a Vogue magazine and the girls and I cut holiday shapes out of them– trees, ornaments, boxes for presents, and so on. Then we folded cardstock in half and glued the collages and stickers onto the front of each card. I encouraged them to really think creatively and it’s led to some neat shapes and beautiful pictures.

3. Play Blackjack (21). Here’s the rules if you’ve forgotten how to play (this page also goes into the math benefits and is written specifically for playing with kids).

4. Start a recipe box timeline. We love our friend Tiffany’s index card timeline that stretches around her house at ceiling level, but it wouldn’t work in our house. What we’ve started instead is a recipe box timeline. The kids pick events to write up and illustrate on index cards and then we file them by date. The front has the year and the main event (along with a little picture sometimes), while the back has a few sentences written up for more information. This is a great way to get an idea of when things happened in relation to each other without needing a lot of room, and you can add to it every time you learn about something from history.

5. Play word concentration. Make up sets of index cards (or just cut up paper) with a word on one and a simple picture of the item on the other. If you have older kids, have them do this. My girls love to make up the cards for Jack. Make sure the words are clearly spelled out in large letters. Some examples are ball, door, arrow, cup, box and truck. Then shuffle them and put them all face down. Play with your child or just cheer him on as he tries to find matches in the fewest turns. (For older kids, use this to drill foreign language terms, match up capitols and states or remember word definitions.)

Have a great day!