Daily Idea #146: Labor Day Jobs

Today is Labor Day in the US and to celebrate all the people who work in myriad ways (which means all of you— office workers, parents, teachers, garbage collectors, police, etc…) we are going through the alphabet to come up with a job title beginning with each letter. Once we are finished we will discuss what each child does for work around the house to help as well as what they want to be when they grow up. For younger children you can print out a picture of someone in that profession and have them color it in.

Daily Idea #145: Pressed Flowers

Nature walks can be very calming. Listening to the sounds of the wind or the birds, breathing in the fresh air, maybe even feeling grass or sand between your toes. Trying to take the feeling into our everyday lives is challenging.

For today’s daily idea we are going into nature and each picking 5 small flowers; flowers of different species and colors. We are going to bring them home and press them to save and turn them into an art project in the next few weeks (so save those flowers once they are pressed).

To press flowers, place them in between 2 sheets of wax paper and then place that inside of a heavy book. Leave your flowers in the book for the next week or two and we’ll be doing our art project with the finished flowers then.

Daily Idea #144: Rain Sticks

I remember as kid trying to make a rain stick in my art class and while the process was fun, I never thought it really sounded like rain; the rice would just slide from one side of the tube to the other. With a little research (thanks to Pinterest), I have figured out how others have solved the very same issue and so today we are making rain sticks!

Items needed:

Paper Towel Tube

1/4 cup of dried rice

tin foil (2 pieces: one 10” long, one 7” long)

Tape

Broom handle and a wooden spoon handle

strong paper (like construction paper)

scissors

How to make a rain stick:

1) take the 10” piece of foil and twist it into a stick like shape

2) wrap this around the broom handle to make a spiral and carefully remove from the handle once it has its shape

3) take the 7” piece of foil and twist it into a thin wire shape

4) wrap this smaller one around the wooden spoon handle to make a spiral and carefully remove from the handle once it has its shape

5) insert the smaller spiral into the larger spiral

6) make your covers for the paper towel tube by tracing a the circle for each tube opening onto the thick paper. Then trace another circle 1” larger around the smaller two circles. Cut out the 2 large circles. Cut about 5-6 slits from the larger outer circle to the smaller inner circle

7) one circle gets attached to one end of the paper towel tube and secured by folding the flaps down onto the tube and taping the slits

8) insert the foil coils into the tube

9) add your rice

10) secure the other end of the tube with the second circle you cut out and tape it all up

you can decorate a piece of paper and tape it to exterior of the tube if you’d like, or you can leave the tube the way it is. Turn over and over and listen to the sound of the “rain”

Daily Idea #143: Penny Top

When I was trying to come up with today’s daily idea, my son kept spinning a coin on the table. It gave me the idea to look up how to make a top out of a coin. Here are the full instructions we are using for the Penny Top.

Items you’ll need:

a coin

A piece sturdy paper (like cardboard from the cereal box)

Markers or sharpies

Hot glue

a cup (in order to trace the circle for the top)

scissors or X-Acto knife

How to Make a Penny Top:

1) Use the cup to trace a circle onto your paper and cut it out. Make a slit in the center of the circle for your penny and cut it out using the X-Acto knife or scissors.

2) Color your circles however you’d like.

3) Attach the penny to the slit in the circle by hot glueing it vertically in the slot from the underside (you can peel off the hot glue later in case you want to use your coin for something else).

4) Once it’s dry, spin away!

Daily Idea #142: Become an Interviewer

Since we’ve all been somewhat socially distanced for what seems like forever, we’ve been loosing touch with some of our friends. Plus, in today’s day and age of the internet, the person behind the screen has gotten lost.

For today’s daily idea we are putting on our interviewer hat to ask the “5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and How (and sometimes Why)”. Pick a person that you may not have spoken to lately and ask them about their summer. Ask them the “5 W’s” and report on their answers. Maybe you’ll find an interesting story in someone else’s experiences and maybe you’ll learn something about a friend that you didn’t know before.

Daily Idea #141: Geo Board

My kids love making shapes. They love finding shapes in every day objects. And they manipulating their environment. We are making geo boards! For today’s daily idea, you need 3 things: a cork board/ IKEA cork trivets (or a place on your wall where you don’t mind making very small pin holes), pushpins/ thumbtacks, and rubber bands.

Start by taking 10 or so pushpins and placing them in random spots around your board (or on the wall). They shouldn’t be placed in any order— no need for straight lines or order. Give the rubber bands to your child and let them have fun by placing them around however many pushpins they’d like.

Daily Idea #140: Paper Tubes

It’s been over 4 months since we have been socially distancing (some states more so than others). In that time period, we’ve amassed a large quantity of toilet paper rolls and paper towel tubes.

For today’s daily idea we are taking all those paper tubes and creating a wall maze. We are mixing some of the short toilet paper tubes with the long paper towel rolls to create different sized tubes. We are taping some together to form a “Y” shape, an “L” shape, and zigzag. Then we are taping the rolls to the wall with spaces in between each of those tubes so that when we drop a small ball or a Pom Pom into the uppermost tube it will go from one creation to the next.

Daily Idea #139: Paint in a Bag

I love to watch my kids get creative with painting. The pictures that come out of a plain piece of paper and a paint brush blows my mind. With that being said, I hate the mess. So if you are like me, here’s an idea that has virtually no mess and is still excellent for creativity.

You’ll need a gallon size plastic ziplock bag (or something that has a secure closure), a piece of paper (5inX4in), and small dollops of paint (however many colors you and your child choose).

Place the paper in the bag with a few dollops of paint (about tablespoon sized dollops) and close it up. Place the bag on a flat surface (to keep it in place you can tape in down but it’s not an absolute necessity). Let your child use their fingers to smush the paint all over the paper and see what comes of it.

Once your painting is complete, leave it in the bag to dry— you can display it in the bag or wait for the paint to dry out (which takes a while).

Daily Idea #138: Sensory Bottles

It’s amazing to see how something so simple can be so calming. When our senses are on overload, concentrating on something small is supremely helpful. For today’s daily idea we are making a sensory bottle for each child so when they are feeling overwhelmed they have something to look at to center them.

I am attaching the link at the bottom with the various different kinds of sensory bottles you can make; we are making a simple one with Orbeez (or Jelly Beedz), baby oil, and an empty water bottle.

To make your sensory bottle, start by making your Orbeez. Take a teaspoon of the beads and soak them in water for about 4 hours. Once they have expanded, drain the excess water and put your beads into the empty water bottle (it should fill about half-3/4 of the bottle). Fill the bottle with baby oil. Close and seal the bottle with super glue to make sure it can’t be opened by unwanted hands.

Here is the link with all the various sensory bottles you can make (including this one).

Daily Idea #137: Screaming Your Frustration

We have a rule in our house (that all of us don’t always abide by) that we don’t scream; We are loud and to others it may be louder than what they are used to, but screaming for the sake of screaming is out. And there are times when we get frustrated or overwhelmed and have that urge to scream, so what do we do?

We practice when we are calm. First, we go through various animal sounds from little animals with quiet sounds to big animals with loud sounds. (What sound does a mouse make? What sound does a monkey make? What sound does a lion make?) As they get louder and louder we try different ways to muffle the sound. Can you scream or roar into your hands or a pillow? Which makes the sound quieter? Work with different ways your children can make their noises and finally get to what sounds people make— whispering all the way up to screaming. Through all this noise making, talk through how important it is to not keep your feelings inside; it is healthy to let them all out.

With all this vocal exercise behind us, we then go through what we should do if the overwhelming urge to scream comes to call. In our house, we use a pillow to muffle the sound. My kids all love having the ability to grab a pillow and just scream into it. They feel better after getting their frustration out and we all don’t have to have our ears blown out.

Daily Idea #136: Non-Spinning Fidget Spinners

Well, we are a few days in to school and fidgeting is back. But if you are like me, I can’t stand the fidget spinners. So we looked up ways to make non-spinning fidget spinners and they have been music to my ears (or really non-sound music to my ears).

Here is our favorite one.

You’ll need two things— some bolts and a large nut. I try to use things that we have around the house and I know that some of you may not have nuts and bolts in your house, but this is worth the few dollars at Lowe’s or Home Depot or wherever else you choose to get supplies.

And it’s as easy as that. You screw 2-3 bolts onto the nut and let your child screw and unscrew the bolts to their heart’s content.

Daily Idea #135: Cleaning Help

I know this doesn’t sound so exciting since who really wants to clean, but teaching kids how to help around the house is really important. Plus, my kids LOVE to clean (even though sometimes it adds to the amount of work that gets done). So for today’s daily idea we are sweeping!

Mark a square on the floor (this works best on non carpeted floors) with painter’s tape or masking tape. Have your child sweep all the dirt from the room into the square. Then show them how to use the dustpan to pick it all up. You can make this into a game by putting different squares in different areas and timing each child on who gets the most dirt piled up in the least amount of time.

Daily Idea #134: Fill the Backpack

Today is our official first day of school for 2020! That doesn’t mean much of a change in our house since zoom classes for my homeschoolers don’t start until after Labor Day, but it doesn’t mean we don’t mark it with something fun.

For today’s daily idea, we are going to fill our backpacks (or as I grew up calling them, book bags). This is a great exercise in following instructions as well spacial relations. Everyone gets a bag. The leader then calls out an item everyone needs should find to put in the bag. You can make it related to school items (notebook, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, etc…) or you could make it silly by adding things like your favorite stuffed animal, or a roll of toilet paper.

Enjoy! Cheers to the first day of school! Here’s to creating something great out of this wacky year.

Daily Idea #133: Bedsheet Parachute

I remember when I was little that any time a colorful parachute was brought out I knew something fun was going to happen. Well, we don’t have a giant parachute at home, but we do have top sheets (lots and lots of them since my kids don’t use them on their beds).

Today we are pulling out a top sheet, each of us is grabbing a corner, and we are shaking til out hearts’ content. Each person can pick out a stuffed animal to place in the middle and we can either try to shake them out of the parachute or try to keep them in the parachute. We don’t have enough small balls with which to do this same thing, but we may use small pillows or paper crushed into balls. You can even take turns sitting under the para”sheet” and shaking it.

Daily Idea #132: Turtle Walk

Most people have started their school year and can see already that it involves a lot of screen time and not much movement. For today’s daily idea we are getting moving again by doing a little turtle walk.

Take a pillow and strap it to your child’s back with a belt or a scarf. Have them walk on their hands and knees both with their behinds up in the air as well with their bellies up to the sky. They’ll look like turtles with a shell on their back the first way and then like a turtle that has been flipped over onto its back the second way.

As always, have fun with it. Make it into a race up and down a hallway or a room. Enjoy!

Daily Idea #131: Plank Challenge

We’ve had a few days of getting work done which means sitting still and everyone in my house needs to get some energy out so we are doing a plank challenge today!

For today’s daily idea, instead of trying to beat the clock, we are going to try to beat each other’s times (i.e. whomever holds it the longest wins!). Get down on your stomach, bend your elbow under your shoulders with your forearms on the ground, toes pointed into the ground and lift your body to form a plank.

The last one standing (or planking as the case may be) gets to then decide on one 30 second activity for the rest of the people playing to do (jog in place, jumping jacks, burpee, etc…)

Daily Idea #130: Name Poetry

Poetry has always been a love/hate relationship for me; not having rules for writing that are congruous can be frustrating for someone who likes order. However, I love simple poetry like using my name or my children’s names to create something new.

With that in mind, today we are using our names to create a poem. The twist is that you are not going to use your own name. Pick someone in the family (make sure everyone has some one else’s name so no one is left out and there aren’t any duplicates) and come up with words or sentences to describe that person with each letter of their name.

EXAMPLE with my name KELILA:

a mom who never forgets the Ketchup

Even when the bottle empties

the kids all cheer, “Let’s hear it for mom!”

all because I brought the red stuff.

so Let it never be said that

Anything slips by mom

Daily Idea #129: Edible Sand

We are very fortunate to live so close to the beach but for those who either don’t have that luxury or can’t get to the beach for whatever reason, today’s daily idea is for you!

You will need Cheerios (just Cheerios for a gluten-free version) and graham crackers. In batches, grind up both the Cheerios and the graham crackers to your desired consistency either by food processor or by hand (using a plastic bag and a meat pounder or rolling pin). After each batch put them in a large storage container. Once the container is filled with as much “sand” as you’d like, put in various toys for digging and playing.

Viola! Bring the sand to you. And bonus points for the fact that this sand is edible and so much fun to play with!

Daily Idea #128: Letter to Me

Because we all know this year of school will look very different than what we are used to, we are starting new traditions that could very carry over to other years. Just because it is different doesn’t mean it is bad and we should show our kids that adapting to change is part of learning (even if we are not so good at that ourselves).

For today’s daily idea, we will be writing a letter to ourselves for us to read on the last day of school. We are including anything about which we may be excited or nervous as well as what each of us hopes to get out of this year. If your child is too young to write a letter, they can draw a picture and narrate to you what they would like written. When you are finished, put it away for the end of the year.

Daily Idea #127: School Name and Mascot

As I said on Friday, schools have either started or are staring soon and for many people it looks very different from anything families may be used to. One major difference as a homeschooler is that you may not have a name for the school. We are part of a charter school but we have never even been to the brick and mortar building that the school owns for their library and offices.

Creating a name and coming up with a mascot for your school this year is a fun way to get everyone involved in this new way of schooling.

I’d love to see your school names and mascots so send them over by email or post here!