Daily Idea #106: Edible Necklace

My favorite day at camp when I was kid was the day we would make a necklace out of Cheerios or Fruit Loops (or some similar cereal). I don’t know what made it so exciting because the necklace never lasted longer than a few hours, at most, and it certainly never lasted long enough to show my parents my creation at the end of the camp day.

Today, I am bringing back that nostalgia and my kids are making their own necklaces out of edible jewelry. You can use regular string or edible string (my favorite is Twizzler’s brand pull and peel) and your favorite circular cereal. Tie a knot around the first piece of cereal to keep them from falling off the side on which you then start stacking them and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Daily Idea #105: Constellations

Since yesterday we looked at the stars in the sky, for today’s daily idea we wanted to see what the constellations looked like up close.

What you’ll need is an empty toilet paper roll, tape, a pushpin, your phone flashlight, scissors, and sturdy paper (like construction paper).

I am including a printout from www.playgroundparkbench.com with printable constellation circles both with constellations and blank circles for you to make your own. Print these out either on card stock or on regular paper to then tape to construction paper circles.

Once you have the paper printed, use a pushpin to make holes where the dots are. Cut out the individual circles and if you are using card stock tape your first circle onto the end of the toilet paper roll. If you are using regular paper tape the circle to the construction paper to make it a little sturdier and repeat the hole punching with the pushpin to go through the construction paper.

When you have the circle taped to the end of the toilet paper roll, use your phone flashlight to shine through the open end of the roll onto a flat surface (the wall, the floor, etc…) It is better if the room is darker, but no need for the room to be pitch black. You’ll see the pattern of the constellation shine through onto the wall.

Thank you to www.playgroundandparkbench.com for this free download and great idea!

Daily Idea #104: Stargazing

Today’s daily idea is actually for tonight. I love stars. I love the planetarium and studying the galaxies. What is out beyond the Earth is fascinating. But we live in a city so sometimes it’s difficult to see what’s in the sky at night. Thankfully, I can drive with the kids about 20 minutes away to see the stars but sometimes we can see the brighter stars and closer planets at home.

For today we are going to look up some common constellations (the Big Dipper, Orion, the Little Dipper…) along with any planets that may be close enough to Earth to see in order to know what we are looking for when looking up at the night sky. Then tonight, we are going to have a little bit of a later night treat (not too late) and drive to a place where the lights are dimmer from the city and see if we can spot the constellations we learned about during the day.

Daily Idea #103: Play a Board Game

It’s Friday! We’ve made it through another week and here in CA we’re on a semi lockdown again. But this afternoon, we are going to enjoy our time together and get to playing board games. My 4 year is really good at Jenga so that’s his choice; my 6 year old has recently gotten into Sorry; my 9 year old likes Farkle.

So get out some games and play. If you don’t have many board games or if you are tired of the ones you have, create one!

Daily Idea #102: S’mores

S’mores are a key summer food that our family absolutely loves. We even found gluten free graham crackers for my one child who has a gluten issue so we can all enjoy this delicious treat.

One thing I always thought had to be true was that you had to eat s’mores around a campfire which really dampened my view on the dessert when campfires are not readily available. Then I realized that a stove or a non scented candle can have the same effect to toast that marshmallow (or get it to that nice charcoal black if you really like the burnt sugar).

So this afternoon, we are going to make s’mores. We are going the traditional route of the graham, chocolate, and marshmallow sandwich but you can crush your graham crackers in to a pie crust (just add about a tablespoon of butter to get it to stick together), melt your chocolate to pour it on for the first layer, and decorate the top with the marshmallows, then put it under the broiler for 30 seconds-1 min.

Daily Idea #101: Catapult

Who doesn’t love watching small items fly across the table? Maybe us adults since all I can think about is what sort of mess I have to then clean, but my kids love watching all things fly.

Today, we are using different objects to see what creates the best catapult— a plastic spoon vs. a metal spoon, or a fork, some chop-sticks with rubber bands… Experiment with different ways to create your catapult and see how far you can get a bead, a pompom, a lego piece, etc… to fly.

Daily Idea #100: Counting Warm Up

This is one of my favorite things to do in acting when warming up my voice and my body for a show; for the 100th daily idea, I felt we needed to have something to mark the day that was bigger than other days and this little energy buster is the perfect one.

The way the activity works is that you shake your right hand in the air, then your left hand in the air, then your right foot, and finally your left foot. With each shake you count off from 10-1 (so shake your right hand 10 times, left hand 10 times, right foot 10 times, and left foot 10 times). On each subsequent round you count down from one less. So on the second round you shake your right hand counting down from 9-1, left hand from 9-1, right foot from 9-1, and left foot from 9-1. On the third round you count 8-1, fourth round 7-1, etc…

Daily Idea #99: Slow Motion

Who doesn’t love watching real life actions in slow motion? My kids will ask for me to record everything possible in slow motion just to be able to watch it back.

For today, use that phone function and record some actions in slow motion. Have the kids jump up in the air, or throw some confetti (if you feel brave enough to then know you have to clean up said confetti), record a HotWheels car race, or just have the kids shake their head “no” really fast.

Play them back and enjoy slowing time down!

Daily Idea #98: Red Light, Green Light

We love playing Red Light, Green Light in our house and have added some new rules to keep this game fun even for older kids.

The basic idea behind the game is that one person is the caller; this person is in charge of calling out the colors. Everyone else has to do an action based on the color that has been called.

Red Light: Stop moving

Green Light: Go

Yellow Light: Go super slow

White light: Go backwards

Blue Light: Go in a circle

Add your own colors for the lights with your own rules for your family and have everyone take turns being the caller.

Daily Idea #97: Pillow Fight

It’s Friday! And that deserve some celebrating 🥳 We also need to get some energy out today so this afternoon we are going to have a pillow fight!

We have some basic family rules to keep everyone safe: no hitting others’ faces, no hitting when a person cannot defend themself, make sure you listen to the other people to ensure no hitting if a person isn’t ready or is taking a timeout. You can make up your family rules but have at it, and have fun!

Daily Idea #96: Build a House of Cards

We used cards yesterday to play various card games and today we are using those same cards to build a house or a tower of cards. Try stacking them in different ways to come up with some varying techniques.

Here are some pictures to help start the process.

Daily Idea #95: Play a Card Game

Card games are usually easy to learn and so much fun to play. Even young kids can play “War” (the deck is split is half and each player flips a card face up. Whomever has the higher card wins both cards.)

So grab a deck of cards and play “War”, “Spit”, “Egyptian Rat Screw”, “Solitaire”. I am including a link with a a list and an explanation of 75 2 player card games here.

Daily Idea #94: Play Hangman

We’ve been trying to keep up with some school work while on summer break without actually making it feel like work and my kids have been playing many rounds of Hangman (and without even realizing it, they get practice spelling).

For today, play Hangman. As many rounds as you can muster; once the kids get the idea, let them play without you. For those kids who are young and may not be able to spell, this is a great way to teach small words like MOM, DAD, and DOG.

Here is an example for those who may not remember how to set up a Hangman board

Daily Idea #93: Talk Like a Pirate

I know there is actually a day dedicated to speaking like a pirate and today is not that day, but I don’t know exactly what day that is. However, for the past few summers we have gone to a pirate celebration that we obviously can’t attend for now. So to honor our summers past we are speaking like a pirate today!

What that means in our family is that every time we hear an “R” sound, we just elongate it. So “park” becomes “paaaaaarrrrrrk”. The first few times feel really silly and then once everyone gets into it you realize how many times you say the “R” sound and it’s hysterical!

Daily Idea #92: “Potato Sack” Race

We need to move today. We’ve been doing a lot of crafts and projects which means too much sitting.

Today, we are taking some pillow cases and having a “potato sack” race. We don’t have potato sacks and pillow cases for the kids are just the right size. Each child gets their feet and legs into their pillow case and hops from one place to another. Make it a straight line race or if you don’t have a long enough space for that they can hop from room to room and whomever reaches the end destination first wins.

Daily Idea #91: Fireworks

I am not sure about the rest of the United States at the moment but here in Los Angeles fireworks have been cancelled. I come at this with mixed feelings; I love the beauty in fireworks but I also have a child who is extremely sensitive to the sound fireworks make.

After doing some research on easy ways to bring the beauty of the fireworks to our home we are going to create our own soundless fireworks this year.

You can use any blank piece of paper you’d like, but we are going to use black construction paper (the colors will stand out more and it will make the fireworks look like they are exploding in a night sky).

With whatever colors you’d like, take a fork (we tried using a plastic fork and it didn’t work so well) and dip the prongs in the first color. Press the dipped prongs onto the paper. Dip them again and press the fork down next the original marks to start to form a circular pattern. Layer with as many colors as you’d like (we used red, white, and blue).

Daily Idea #90: Hide and Seek

Who doesn’t love a good old fashion game of “Hide and Seek”? My kids come up with the most interesting hiding places; places I didn’t even know existed in my house.

Today, take some time to play “Hide and Seek”. Let the kids hide and have the adult(s) seek and vice versa. Just don’t “forget” to actually go and find the person or people who are hiding 😂

Daily Idea #89: Hopscotch

Hopscotch is one of those games that brings back some great nostalgic memories. It’s a game that you can play outside and inside (with a little creativity). It helps gross and fine motor skills. It’s one of the best games ever (in my humble opinion).

If you don’t have an outdoor area where you can make your hopscotch boxes, find a space inside and make your boxes with painter’s tape/masking tape or by taping construction paper/plain white paper to the floor.

If you are going to play outside you can use those materials also or you can just go with the tried and true chalk method.

Once your hopscotch board is set up, use a small stone or a coin to toss onto a number in the board. Hop your way to that number space and hop back.

In case you need a reminder

Here is a small visual as to what the hopscotch board should look like

Daily Idea #88: Worry Dolls

Over the last few days we’ve been speaking more about some of the things of which we are worried. There is a lot going on in the world and while our children may not be exposed to everything they hear a lot of what we say. They express their worries differently and we have been trying to figure out a way to make them feel comfortable speaking about what is on their mind. Besides speaking to us we felt that we could make something that was completely unbiased. So we looked up worry dolls.

Worry dolls are tiny dolls (no bigger than 4 inches) made of yarn. The fable is that you tell your worry to the dolls at night and place them under your pillow. They then take your worries for the night and give your brain clarification in the morning.

You can read more about worry dolls here.

To make your worry dolls you will need:

• small twigs

• sharp scissors or garden shears

• fine yarn in different colors

• permanent marker

• low heat glue gun

Gather a few twigs from the park or the yard. Cut them into pieces of varying sizes no longer than 4 inches.

Wrap the twigs with your various colors of yarn. The secure the starting piece of yarn leave a little extra tail and then wrap the yarn around it a few times. When you change colors, repeat this process to keep the yarn from unraveling. When you finish wrapping all of you colors knot then yard, and then cut it. Dab the knot with some glue from the glue gun. Repeat as many times as you’d like to make a family of worry dolls.

Using the permanent marker, draw eyes and a mouth on your doll. If you are feeling really creative, you can even try to add hair to your dolls.

You can house them in a small baggy to keep them all together. Trade them with friends, tell them your worries, and keep them under your pillow.

Daily Idea #87: Clothes Pin Tag

You’ll only need two people for this game (although you can play with as many people as you’d like) and kids as young as 2 can join in.

Clothes Pin Tag is exactly as it sounds. Using clothes pins (or you can use crumbled balls of painters tape or masking tape with the tape on the outside of the ball and not the inside) attach a few to the back of a player’s shirt. When all players have their clothes pins clipped on you are ready to play.

The object of the game is to then remove the other players’ clothes pins. Whomever has any clothes pins left on their back at the end of the game wins.