Bottles and Cans, Clap Your Hands!
Got a lot of empty bottles and cans in the recycling from your latest cookout? Before the recycling trucks come, send the kids outside with a broom and ball for a rousing game of Bottle Alley. Players 1 or more Materials sidewalk or driveway chalk many empty plastic bottles and/or aluminum cans broom ball (such as a rubber playground ball) Prep Work With chalk, draw a curvy course...
Read MoreAcorn Catapult Game
Does anyone else find acorns ridiculously cute? Maybe it’s their jaunty little hats or the thunking sounds they make when they plunk down on a wooden deck. They’re even more delightful as they tumble through the air with this acorn catapult game. Materials: jumbo craft stick thread spool 1 large rubber band 1 small rubber band 10 acorns empty egg carton markers scissors masking...
Read MoreLittle Gingerbread Houses
When I catch a whiff of pine and gingerbread, I want to stick an antler headband on my noggin, start decking the halls, and belt out a few carols at the top of my lungs. For the past few years, we’ve had a gingerbread house party with our good friends. I baked all the gingerbread and made the icing and our friends would bring the candy for decoration. Each family made and decorated...
Read MoreNo-Sew Tyvek Dolls
No matter what you’re celebrating in December, chances are it’s going to involve giving your kid something. And while I’m all for letting Santa do the work in my house (hello Amazon.com!) some of my favorite gifts I got as a kid were handmade by my mom or grandma. But since most of us (including me) don’t have the mad sewing skillz of our grandmas, here’s a super...
Read More3 Thanksgiving-Inspired Hula Hoop Games
This turkey day, when dinner’s over and the kids are buzzing on a pumpkin pie high while you’re fighting off a post-turkey tryptophan stupor, gather up some hula hoops and send everybody outside for these three Thanksgiving-inspired games sure to run the kids ragged and keep the mashed potatoes from going straight to your thighs. GAME 1: OLD BLIND TURKEY Man alive, is Mr. Turkey have...
Read MoreWind-Up Trotting Turkeys
You know those turkeys you make out of a hand print? Cute, right? But I never got the point. Even as a kid, I was like, “But does it do anything?” This Thanksgiving, finish the real bird, then keep the kids busy making some nifty little wind-up turkeys. The idea is based on an old-fashioned homemade toy called a spool tank that kids used to make out of...
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