Daily Idea #365: GeoCaching

To round out our full year of daily ideas, we are getting out of the house; and I mean, really getting out and exploring our neighborhood! I had heard of geocaching years ago and never really looked into it but for our 365th daily idea I thought, “this looks like the perfect activity to get us out into the world”.

For those who have never heard of it, geocaching is a scavenger hunt to find a cache somewhere in your area. To get started, download the free app onto your phone. Use the app (and your brain power) to find a geocache. When it’s found, you can sign the “guest” book or trade a treasure; the important thing is to leave it where it was found so others can find the cache as well.

Www.geocaching.com is an amazing resource to start learning about this worldwide activity.

Daily Idea #364: A-Z’s of Gratitude

Every Friday night our family sits down for a meal together and we talk about the great parts of our week along with the challenges we had that week. I love that I get to hear from my children (and my husband) about how they felt their week was overall; sometimes, I hear about things that I didn’t know happened and other times I get a different perspective of an experience I shared with them.

For today’s daily idea we are taking this activity to the next level and sharing with each other the things for which we are grateful. The catch, however, is that we are going to do this in alphabetical order. The first person will give something they are grateful for starting with the letter A (affection, for example). The next person will give something they are grateful for beginning with the letter B (butterflies, for example). This will continue around the table until we get to Z.

Daily Idea #363: Boom, Snap, Clap

Today’s daily idea can be played by one’s own self or with multiple players. Either way, it’s a really fun beat game.

For each word that you see, you also say it out loud.

When you see the word “boom” or “ba-boom”, that means you hit your chest with an open hand (once for boom and twice for ba-boom).

When you see the word “snap”, that means you snap your fingers.

When you see the word “clap”, you clap your hands together once. If you are playing with multiple players, you clap hands with the person next to you or across from you.

When you see the word “shhh”, you hold your pointer finger up to your lips and say shhhh.

The first round is played with just the right hand. The second time through, use just the left hand. The third time through, use both hands.

Daily Idea #362: “Chinese” Jump Rope

A few weeks ago my daughter received a Chinese jump rope in a grab bag; you know the kind, a circular, elastic rope, about 6 feet long. I completely forgot how to play with one (it’s way too big to be used in the hand games of cat’s cradles) and it got shoved into a toy box. A good friend of mine, happened to send me an text for a daily idea that included a Chinese jump rope and I thought, “We need to bring this simple game back”. So, thank you to my friend for sending today’s daily idea!

Typically this is played with three players; for those who don’t have three players, you can use a chair or two as stand in players. Two players (or the chairs) stand facing each other (far enough away that the rope is taught). Position the rope around the backs of the players ankles. The third player takes their turn by jumping in various patterns in, out, and on top of the rope until they make a mistake. When that player misses their jump or makes a mistake, they will then switch out with one of the side players. Play keeps rotating when the jumping player misses. If the jumping player gets through a round of jumping without any mistakes, the rope is then moved up to mid-calf on the side players and play continues. Each round the jumper gets through without missing, the rope is moved up higher and higher. Below is a picture of the various patterns for jumping.

Daily Idea #361: What Time Is It?

It’s officially summer! We’ve been creating daily ideas for over 15 months, and we are finally in the last 5 days to round off a whole year full of activities.

For today’s daily idea we will be marking time by creating a sundial. Use the medium of your choice (legos, rocks and a stick, a paper plate and a pencil…) and mark the center of the space. At the top of the hour, any hour— 9am, 10am, 11am… and place the sundial outside in a sunny spot with no other shadows. Mark with a rock, another lego piece, a marker… where the shadow falls with the number of that hour. For example, if the start of the hour that you place the sundial outside is at 10am, the place where the shadow falls is marked as 10. Continue to do that every hour (or approximate where the hours would be from there) to create the rest of the 12 hour clock.

Daily Idea #360: Spray Water Bottle Fight

There is nothing more fun than getting soaking wet in a water fight on a hot summer day. We’ve done the water balloon piñata and the thimble water fight, but we’ve never used spray bottles. For today’s daily idea we are taking out the spray bottles to use in this epic water fight. You can find inexpensive spray bottles (that are usually more effective and last longer than small water guns) at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, or Walgreens. Fill them up, get some bathing suits on, and get outside for some super soaker fun.

Daily Idea #359: Listen Up

I don’t know about you, but my kids’ selective hearing is truly impressive. They cannot hear me when I am standing in front of them, yet hear every word I say when in a conversation with another adult. To play off of this skill we are going to eavesdrop on others.

Now that we are all out and about, there’s a lot more around us to observe and listen to. Instead of adding to the noise, we are going to listen to it. As a family, we will decide on a word or a phrase and then keep quiet in order to listen to those around us. We will listen to see if someone says our predetermined word or phrase. When we hear that word or phrase, we can then play again (or maybe stop eavesdropping on others).

Daily Idea #358: Hole in the Paper

For today’s daily idea all you need is a sheet of printer paper and scissors (and some thinking outside of the box). Have you ever looked at a piece of printer paper, you know, the 8.5”x11” paper, and thought it could be big enough to step through a hole cut in the middle of it? Well, if you cut it the right way, it’s totally possible!

Attached is a picture as to how to cut the paper. Make sure you do not cut the lines all the way through from one end to the other. Once all the lines are cut, open it up and see how you can step through.

Thank you to www.teachbesideme.com for this idea and for this picture.

Daily Idea #357: Bottle Top Pop

While standing in line for something the other day, a family friend showed us this trick and I knew right away it was going to be a daily idea. So, thank you for the science trick (you know who you are)!

All you need is an empty water bottle— one that has thinner plastic is better (don’t forget to recycle it when you are finished). This experiment will pop the cap off forcibly so be very careful not to point it at anyone.

Start by unscrewing the cap enough that it is still on the bottle airtight, but loose enough that you can flick it off easily with your thumb or finger. Grab the bottle at both ends and twist— twist hard enough that it creates a small “waist” in the middle of the bottle. You may notice that the bottle has heated up a tiny bit; increasing the pressure in the bottle increases the temperature. While holding the tension in the twist, flick the cap with your finger to finish unscrewing it and watch the cap fly across the room. You might see some mist released when the cap flies off (if you want to increase the vapor mist, put a small drop of hand sanitizer in the bottle before you twist); by increasing the pressure inside the bottle you have raised the temperature. When the pressure is released quickly, it causes left over water droplets to form a gas. By quickly releasing the pressure, you drop the temperature quickly making the water vapor (which you cannot see) turn into tiny water droplets (which you can see).

You can repeat this as many times as you want by blowing air back into the bottle and repeating the steps. If the bottle gets any cracks in it, it will no longer work.

Daily Idea #356: Doodle Bug

When I was younger I practiced writing my name over and over and over; I practiced in cursive writing, bubble letters, large print, small print, swirls, seriously, any way I could figure out how to write my name, I would.

For today’s daily idea, we are going to do just that. Use your creative juices and doodle your name to heart’s content. For inspiration, I am attaching two different name doodles that I did (probably around 15 years ago and I saved).

Daily Idea #355: Sock Wrestling

There are just those days when you know that your kids will have a lot of energy and will need to get it out productively (instead of somehow making a hole in the wall). Today is one of those days for us. So, for our daily idea we will be sock wrestling!

The whole idea is to try and wrestle the other person’s socks off their feet. In an open and safe space in the house, two players will face off wearing socks but no shoes on their feet (for younger kids, put socks on their hands instead). After setting up ground rules for safety (no pushing, no kicking, etc…), the players then try to remove their opponent’s socks.

Daily Idea #354: Summer Bucket List

Summer is almost officially here; most of our kids are finished with school for the year. Some are going to camp and some are having mommy camp. Whatever you are doing, summer is the time for fun (and maybe some learning snuck in without our kids knowing). With whatever we are doing for summer, it is a time to do what school normally doesn’t allow.

For today’s daily idea, I want to know what my kids want to do this summer that we don’t already have planned. We are going to make a bucket list of summer activities to get done before school comes around in the fall (and hopefully be able to actually do all the things they come up with).

Daily Idea #353: Go Fly a Kite

Flying a kite is one of those activities that seems like it should be so easy, yet can be extremely challenging at times. Finding the right kite, waiting for the wind, running at the right pace to get it off the ground… Well, with all that said, today’s daily idea is to make your own kite and get outside to test it out.

I found these super easy instructions (with a video on how to make the kite) on www.innerchildfun.com to make your own kite from pretty common things we have around the house. So get out there and start flying!

Daily Idea #352: Stop the Ninja

Today’s daily idea can be played with 2 or more players; the more people playing the longer the game can be played, but no matter how many people you have playing, this game looks like so much fun.

All players stand in a circle with their hands pressed together. The leader yells out, “One! Two! Three! Ninja!” All players jump into a ninja pose. Going around the circle, each player then takes a turn to try to get another player out by karate chopping a limb below the ankle or the wrist. The person on the offense can only take one step forwards or backwards to “attack”. The defensive player can try and block the attack but if their arm or leg is chopped, they can no longer use that limb. Once all four limbs are chopped, that player is out. The last person with a limb still “attached” is the winner.

Daily Idea #351: Don’t Eat Pete!

Over the course of the year, I have seen references to this game but never bothered to read the instructions. I am not sure why… This morning, I saw the game pop up again, and I thought, “ok, what is this game all about?” And that’s how today’s daily idea is “Don’t Eat Pete!”

All you need are edible game pieces— M&M’s, cheerios, mini marshmallows… Set up your game pieces in rows (as many as you choose— we are starting with 10 rows of 10 game pieces each). Send one person out of the room as the first player. The other players choose one game piece to be “Pete”. The first player comes back into the room and begins to eat game pieces one by one. When they pick up the game piece designated as Pete, everyone yells, “DON’T EAT PETE!”. The game board is then set up again and the next person has a turn.

You can try and trick the player by yelling, “Don’t eat Popcorn!” Or “Don’t eat Penelope!”.

As always, have fun!

Daily Idea #350: Fruit Race

In watching one of my favorite 90’s movies last night, I got inspiration for today’s daily idea.

Each person gets a fruit like an orange or grapefruit. By placing the fruit under the each person’s chin, the player must race on their knees from one of a room or the yard to the other. The main two rules are that you cannot use your hands and you must race on your knees.

Daily Idea #349: Zen Garden

I have been trying to create a fountain out of planting pots, stones, and a water pump in my backyard for over a year now and I am just not getting it right. It’s been stressing me out, even though it is supposed to be a soothing element. This brought me to the idea of looking for other small do it yourself projects that bring zen into our world. So, for today’s daily idea, we are going to create a zen rock and sand garden.

ITEMS NEEDED:

Shoebox lid (or something like it)

Sand (enough to fill the lid halfway)

Some small smooth rocks

Chopsticks

Paint your shoebox lid any color you’d like or leave it natural. Fill the lid with the sand halfway. Place your rocks in the sand however you’d like and use your chopsticks to create patterns and designs in the sand and around the rocks.

Daily Idea #348: Photo Shoot

Who doesn’t love photo shoots? We have given our children the camera to get us, the parents, in pictures; why not put their stuffed animals to good use and use them as a the subject instead of the props.

For today’s daily idea, we are going to set up our stuffed animals in a large photo shoot with other props from around the house. See what kinds of pictures you come up with and have fun!

Daily Idea #347: Marco Polo

Marco Polo is a great game to play in the pool but if you don’t have a pool it’s still possible to play.

In the pool, everyone plays on a even playing level; the person calling “Marco” closes their eyes and tries to tag another player whose eyes are all open and are respond to the call with, “Polo”. Outside of the pool, however, if the “it” person closes their eyes and tries to tag another player, they may trip over something and get hurt. So, in order to play out of the pool, the person calling “Marco” will crawl on the ground to find the people responding with “Polo”.

Daily Idea #346: Frisbee Dart

We’ve thrown a frisbee around in our house many a time. We’ve thrown it too far or too high and someone has to go out of their way to retrieve it but no matter what, fun is had by all.

For today’s daily idea, we are going to be outside throwing a frisbee but it’s going to be more like target practice instead of jsut tossing it back and forth. We are going to set up an empty, large trash can (clean, of course). Standing at varying distances away, each player will try to get the frisbee to land inside the trash can.