Daily Idea #225: “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?”

For most of our daily ideas, prep is absolutely minimal because I know how busy we all are and how nice it is to just have an idea and tell the kids, “Here’s something to do. Go!” With that said, today’s daily idea requires a tiny bit of preparation.

We are going to build a snowman, but in the process of building said snowman, we are going to race. Some people call these “lines”; some people call them “suicides” (but I’ll explain in a bit)

First, to set up, I am going to cut out pieces for the snowman based on how many players I have. Each player will have 3 circles of differing sizes (think small, medium, larger) cut from white construction paper, 3 smaller circles from black construction paper, a long triangle from orange construction paper, and a black top hat. Feel free to add more parts of the snowman (eyes, arms, etc…)

Then I am going to set them up at different intervals away from the start. To play, each player has to run from the start to the first item closest to them. Once they have picked up that item, they race back to the start. Then they go to the next item which is farther away and retrieve that. Repeat until all snowman parts are collected. Once back at the starting line with all the snowman parts, build your snowman!

Daily Idea #224: Let It Snow!

Around most of the United States yesterday, it seemed there was snowfall that left a significant amount of snow with which to play. But for some of us, it will never get cold enough to snow. So today, if you are sick of the cold outside or want to have some of your own snow inside, we are going to create paper snowflakes.

ITEMS NEEDED:

Printer paper

scissors

Take your printer paper and fold it in half and then in half again and in half one more time. With your scissors, cut out triangles of different sizes along all four edges of the paper. Then open up your paper to its full size. If you want to get more creative with your snowflakes, you can round the corners or cut some half circles instead of triangles.

Daily Idea #223: Air Band

My family loves to sing; some of us more so than others but we all will break out into song at least once a day and usually everyone joins in when one person starts. The thing at which we are not so good is playing instruments. So for today’s daily idea, we are going to get our best air band moves out and play along to a playlist. Whether it is air guitar, air piano, air drums, or any other instrument you can think of, get your best rock star on and totally air rock out!

Daily Idea #222: Sock Snowball Fight

In the spring, we had a paper snowball fight; my kids had a blast and threw their “snowballs” at each other for a solid hour! For today’s daily idea, we are bringing back the “snowballs” but in the form of socks. Ball up a sock at a time (if you have a pair, it makes for a little bit of a harder snowball) and let the games begin.

Here’s a clip from the movie Elf with Will Farrell for some inspiration🧦

Daily Idea #221: Hot Hands

This game is so much fun and so obvious, I can’t believe I haven’t posted it yet! I am sure all of us “adults” played this game when we were kids and have probably even played with our kids before, but for today’s daily idea it’s our official activity!

To play this simple game, one person places their hands out in front of them, palms up. The other person places their hands (palms down), on top of the first person’s hands. The player whose hands are on the bottom has to move one or both hands as quickly as possible to try to tap the back of one or both of their opponent’s hands before they pull them away. If the person whose hands are on the top gets their hand tapped, players then switch (whomever was on the bottom is now the player whose hands are on the top and vice versa).

Daily Idea #220: Lead the Blindfolded

Leading someone by showing them what to do or doing whatever it is for them often makes difficult tasks much easier but it doesn’t actually teach them what to do. Sometimes we just can’t find the right words to get our point across in teaching. Today’s daily idea will hopefully bring more awareness to the words we use and how by guiding (and not doing) others the tasks at hand can still be completed.

Blindfold one person with a bandana, a sleep mask, or other such cloth. Guide the person through a few obstacles in a room; over or around a pillow on the floor; stepping through toys scattered about; through the doorway of the room.

Once all players have taken turns try upping the stakes. See if you can lead the blindfolded person to the backyard or into a completely new room with your guidance. Or maybe do a simple task in the kitchen like taking a butter knife and spreading butter or cream cheese on toast, or even seeing if you can lead them to getting toothpaste onto their toothbrush to brush their teeth.

Be safe, have fun, and GOOD LUCK!

Daily Idea #219: Balloon Core

Well, my kids broke into the balloons Friday afternoon so today’s daily idea is thanks to them! We blew up a balloon for each child and had them lay on their backs on the floor. Seems easy so far. They then had to lift their legs to form a 90 degree angle with their bodies and balance the balloon on soles of their feet. What a great core workout! It sounds easy; it was not! Give it a shot😏

Daily Idea #218: Upside Down Dreidel

Now that our dreidels have come out, I have shown my kids my mad skills on spinning a dreidel upside down. For today’s daily idea, I am going to try and teach them (and you) how to do this— unless you already know, in which case— SPIN AWAY!

First, really look at how your thumb and forefinger spin the dreidel the right way. It’s almost like you are snapping your fingers without making a noise. Now, flip your hand so your fingers are facing the ceiling and do the same motion. The idea is that you will spin the dreidel with the same motion but as you spin and let go of the dreidel, you move your hand out of the way.

Daily Idea #217: Spin the Dreidel

Tonight starts the first night of Chanukah and we are going back to basics. For today’s daily idea, we are taking out the dreidels and playing a good old fashioned game of spin the dreidel. If you need a refresher for the rules (or maybe have never sat down and played), I am attaching a beautiful picture that I found with the rules all laid out.

Daily Idea #216: Letter Creativity

Have you ever seen a grouping of letters, or an acronym, and wondered what it stood for? In our family, we love putting our own words into these to make a funny slogan or a sentence.

For today’s daily idea, each person is going to take turns and say 5 letters and the rest of us are going to come up with words starting with each letter to create a slogan or a sentence. For the older kids, I am challenging them to come up with a Chanukah themed slogan. For example: H.A.M.E.P.= Have a merry everything people!

Daily Idea #215: Lego Chanukiah

We are Lego obsessed in my house and any chance to build something new with Legos is received with 100% enthusiasm. Also, Chanukah begins Thursday night. We are starting to get out the collection of Chanukiahs and candles and the kids love being involved with setting everything up (we have good sized collection that comes out every year). So, for today’s daily idea, we are challenging each other to create our own Lego Chanukiahs. The only two rules are that 1) there should be 8 branches to represent the 8 nights of Chanukah and 2) there should be one more branch that is higher than the rest to represent the shamash (the candle that lights all the rest every night).

Daily Idea #214: ActivitieZ

We have spent many hours as a family coming up with different categories to then list something in that category using every letter in the alphabet (i.e. things we see in nature, breakfast foods, types of vehicles or brands of cars). With that in mind for today’s daily idea, we are going to make a list of movements from A-Z and then actually do each movement. For example: C— Crawl or W— Walk.

Daily Idea #213: Superman!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s your kid doing the Superman challenge! For today’s daily idea, we are going to see who can hold the Superman pose the longest. Sounds east… its not.

To get into the Superman pose, lay flat with your belly on the ground. All you have to do is lift your arms and legs off the ground and then lift your head like you are looking at where you are flying. Now, hold that pose. Hold it for as long as you can and see who can stay like this the longest.

Daily Idea # 212: Simple Ball Rolling

Today’s daily idea is all about getting back to basics; we are going to sit on the floor as spread out as possible and place our legs in an open V shape. We are going to roll a ball across the circle we have formed out of people (or back and forth if there are only 2 people) and just simply practice some gross motor skills in rolling and catching the ball.

Daily Idea #211: Human Catapult

I saw a picture of a game online that included many people in the actual play and thought, “What if only one or two people played?” And I somehow got to the following game: Human Catapult!

All you need is a ball (think soft— if you don’t have a ball, use a pair of socks rolled up into a ball) and a little space. Lay on your back with your knees up like you are about to do sit-ups. With your arms up over your head (so your arms are on the ground as well), hold the ball. You are going to swing your arms up and over your body to then do a sit up but when you get to the top of your sit-up, throw the ball. If you can playing with a partner, have your partner catch the ball and throw it back. If you are playing by yourself, throw the ball at a blank space at the wall and see if you can bounce it back to yourself. Repeat until you can’t do anymore catapults.

Daily Idea #210: Exercise Ball

Years ago, I got an exercise ball from my parents. At the time, I didn’t know that it was used for pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. And now, almost 15 years since I got that ball, my kids LOVE when we blow it up and let them play with it. So, for today’s daily idea, the kids are going to blow up the ball (that’s part of the fun for them) and they can roll around on it for the day. Once the ball is blown up, set challenges for them. For Example— see if they can roll from one place in the room to another without using their feet on the floor. Or, by rolling back and forth, have them pick up objects on the ground and move them.

Daily Idea #209: How Can I Be Better?

I am sure all of us, as parents, go through the various ways we can be better parents continually throughout the day, the week, the month, the year. Subsequently, we also may go through, in our heads, how our children can behave better, or work harder in school, or myriad other things. For today’s daily idea, I am putting it in my kids’ hands to find out my strengths and weaknesses in parenting. I want them to come up with ways I can improve as well as be open to hearing what I do well as a parent and should do more of. But I will also come up with a few things for them as well— What makes me proud? What brings a smile to my face? In what ways can they improve certain behaviors?

You may be surprised by the lists 😏

Daily Idea #208: Freeze Dance

I was looking over all the daily ideas that we have done over the last 8-ish months and I realized we hadn’t danced in a long time! So, for today’s daily idea we are playing freeze dance. Alexa/Siri/Google make it so easy to play nowadays and there doesn’t need to be one person in charge of stopping the music (although if you wanted to play that way, go for it!). All you have to do is ask Alexa/Siri/Google to play freeze dance and they will pick the music and start and stop it whenever they want.

Daily Idea #207: DIY Wrapping Paper

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, allI can think about is gift giving. Whatever your tradition, the season of gifts is upon us. What better way to give a present then to wrap it with homemade wrapping paper?

All you need is paper slightly bigger than the dimensions of the box the gift is in and various items to decorate. I am going to use a big roll of butcher paper and then cutting each paper to size.

Lay out the paper and have each person either sit in front of one section of the butcher paper or their have their own piece of paper. Using your tools for decorations, have fun and create a pattern or a picture for your wrapping paper. There is no right or wrong way to do this. After everyone has finished, let it all dry and then when you are ready to start wrapping your gifts, you have this amazing homemade piece of art to give as well!

Daily Idea #206: Thanksgiving Kitchen Cloth

I don’t know about you, but we go through dish towels at a slightly alarming rate. I feel like I am always washing and folding (and then wondering why I fold because we use them so quickly). So, for today’s daily idea, we are making a Thanksgiving memory dish towel.

ITEMS NEEDED:

White Dish Towel

Different colored Sharpies

Lay the dish towel out on a flat surface. If you are nervous that the sharpie may go through the towel place some cardboard under the towel. Out line each family member’s hand with a different color sharpie starting with the largest hand all the way down to the smallest hand. Then have each family member sign the towel anywhere they want. Label it with today’s date and Thanksgiving and you’ve got yourself a memory dish towel that you can use whenever you need.