Childrens Games

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Fun Labor Day Outdoor Party Games for Kids

Labor Day weekend is just another excuse to celebrate holiday time with your family, with good food and fun games. Some people also take up the opportunity to officially bid summer goodbye with Labor Day celebrations! Here are some cool Labor Day outdoor party game ideas for kids as well as adults.

“Happy Labor Day” by Winston is licensed under CC by 2.0

Backyard Bowling Tins: A ball and some old tins are the only requirements to set up this fun activity in your backyard. The difference between the usual bowling games and this is just the fact that the tine here will be stacked one on top of the other, instead of all on level ground like the bowling pins. The end goal is simple - try knocking down all the cans with a single throw of the ball. Whoever does that first, wins! Any type of old tins or discarded cans can do for the purpose. (If you don’t have them, use old cardboard toilet paper rolls instead.)

Toss the Ring: Another tried and tested game that is especially exciting for kids is ‘toss the ring’. Set up a table with an array of treats and goodies (anything small in size that kids might find exciting) – chocolates, a small teddy bear, a red Santa hat, a toy car – and have a ring that is big enough to land around any of these items. Tie up a ribbon a certain distance away from the table; this will be where the kids will stand when they get to toss the ring towards any of the items. Each player gets three chances in all. If the ring lands on any items on those three chances, the kid gets those objects as a prize.

Make Your Own Pizza Party: Okay, so this is not as difficult as it could seem at first glance (you could use a simplified version of this video tutorial as a reference). Plus, it has many benefits to it – one, you need not bother too much about drawing up an elaborate menu for the party; two, kids will keep themselves happily occupied if they are asked to make their own pizzas and three, just basic ingredients (read: toppings) can do the trick here and will not create too much of a mess either. What’s more, parents accompanying the kids can help them whip up their own pizzas. You could end the gala get-together by proclaiming that the most colorful and ingenious pizza will win a special prize at the end!

Making Career Flags: Kids have a fascinating imagination and asking them what profession they would like to take up could bring up some pretty fun answers. Ask them to draw out their choice of professions on construction paper and string them up as flags or streamers to make your garden or backyard vibrant. This will probably help you to literally soak up the festive spirit of Labor Day!

Have a look at these fun holiday activities for kids to get some more exciting ideas. Most of these games are suitable not only for Labor Day but for any other outdoor celebration that involves kids too.

Do you wish to add any more ideas to this list?

[childrensgames-blog]

Parenting Styles - Then & Now

Our homes today abound with technology that comes in all shapes and sizes – the bulky desktop computer sitting on our study tables (yes, I still have one sitting on my desk, decades old and yes, it still functions, albeit a little slower than its modern, sleek counterparts), laptops that are perpetually plugged in to ensure we are always online (sleep mode or otherwise), tablets and smartphones that are our constant companions day in and day out, whether we are at home, gallivanting to the nearest supermarket or traveling to distant locales and so on. In such a scenario, it is but natural that our kids take after us and adopt the same lifestyle as ours – wherein the online world is where they tend to spend a major portion of their everyday routines, playing online games, watching cartoons and even drawing and painting on the internet instead of on paper with paints and brushes.

The question that rears up its head in my mind time and again is this: Are my kids missing out on the little joys of childhood, as a result of the increasing presence and importance of technology in their lives? When I talk about ‘the little joys of childhood’, I mean the act of actual, physical play, the way we used to play back in our childhoods.

“Ruby 3 Girls Playing Vintage Silhouette” by GDJ is licensed under CC by 2.0

If I take a trip down memory lane, here are the bits and pieces of the pleasant picture that looms up in my mind. Playing together in the garden behind our house in a group just short of a dozen; gleeful screams that emanated from playing catch; racing to outdo the other while climbing a tree and getting to its topmost branches; chasing butterflies (I can vividly recall the time I caught a butterfly for the very first time and got a lovely blue powder from its wings on my fingers) and last but not the least, playing or actually wallowing in mud and making mud pies (not of the edible kind).

Ask yourself – when was the last time your little one got himself dirty playing about happily in mud? When I rack my brains, the only remotely similar picture that I can recall is making sand castles on the beach during a summer vacation with my kids. No glorious, gooey mud.

Are we as parents being way too protective about our kids, as compared to what our parents were when we were growing up? Well, personally speaking, I think I am. I am afraid my daughter would fall down a tree if she attempts to climb it, I am afraid she will contract some unwanted infection or a cold if she plays about in mud for a while, and the only time I see my kids playing with other kids is in birthday parties, which reminds me somewhat of the gleeful screams I was referring to earlier that used to be a part of our daily play but are now limited to the annual once-a-year celebrations we have in the confines of our home on birthdays. A pretty sad state of affairs, I hate to admit. To prove my point, here is a very interesting post which talks about modern parenting styles that we are talking about.

Why this sudden outpouring of reminiscences, you may ask. Well, I was listening to Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World a while ago, and the following words struck a chord somewhere:

I hear babies crying,

I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more,

Than I’ll never know

And I think to myself,

What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself

What a wonderful world!

[childrensgames-blog]

The ABC of Summer Slide in Kids

“Hip Hop Kids Gray Request” by rejon is licensed under CC by 2.0

Sand and sun, summer has begun!

And so has the inevitable summer slide. While summer holidays are all about recharging your batteries and having fun, here are some simple ABCs of slowing down the summer slide in kids.

A stands for: Audio books. Some kids enjoy reading, others just don’t have the patience to sit down with a book and discover the world within. Audio books work well in both cases. In the former, they can be a welcome change from physical books, while for the latter it would be akin to reading while not having to read at all. A win-win situation all along. The best part? Audio books come in all shapes, sizes and subjects, even, psst… math.

B stands for: Bedtime stories. Take turns reading out the story with your children. The easiest way to keep your little ones’ reading and vocabulary skills brushed up is by either reading to them or reading with them. Bedtime stories are the best bet.

C stands for: Cook together as a family. When was the last time you remember cooking together in the kitchen? While it can also be a good opportunity to slip in some math talk (say fractions or multiplication tables) during the process, spending quality time together without the need to rush around adhering to timelines is the key here.

Have a happy summer!

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What Play is Silly Play?

“Kids Playing Remix” by SunKing2 is licensed under CC by 2.0

Well, this could be pretty subjective. For one, building a tower with lego bricks may be silly; while others may argue that your daughter could be a future architect. Cuddling dolls and setting up their doll house is considered to be silly play by some, but only for boys. Pray, why, if I may ask? Learning to hula hoop on one arm or one leg – would you call that silly?

To put things into perspective, none of the above can be blindly categorized into ‘silly play’. Building a tower out of lego bricks could work on strengthening your little one’s fine motor muscles, if not turning her into an architect (who knows?) one fine day. Playing house, for both girls and boys, teaches them role-playing in a group, and social skills are extremely important in a child’s early years. Hula hooping is fun and keeps them fit, even helping them in coordinating different parts of their body at the same time.

To put it in a nutshell, no play is silly play. Allow your kids to explore and observe, learn and experiment. What’s more, the goofier they behave, the more fun it is, and isn’t that what childhood is all about?

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Mother’s Day Paper Craft Activities for Kids

“Happy Mother’s Day” by ilnanny is licensed under CC by 2.0

A gift that’s handmade

Is a gift not replaced

Entrapping sweet memories

That can’t be erased.

The time and the talent

That goes into crochet

Is where the real gift lies

When giving art away.

Made with two hands

And the love of ones’ heart

Handmade is extraordinary

And a true work of art.

So when receiving handmade

Rather than store bought

Know in your heart

That someone loves you a lot!

These are the lines from the poem named ‘A Handmade Gift’ penned by Amanda Evanson. A present is always welcome, but if it’s handmade, you know that a lot of thought and love has gone into each little detail. Why not surprise your mom this year with some easy to make Mother’s day crafts on the occasion of Mother’s Day? She’ll definitely love it and will probably keep it as a keepsake forever! (Dads please note: You’ll probably need to lend a helping hand or two to the tiny tots.)

Handmade Paper Notebook

Extremely easy and quick to make, you could add a fun little twist to it by giving the pages a particular shape. Do not make it a full-sized notebook; instead, cut out colored construction paper in one particular shape of your choice, with a size similar to post-it notes. It could be a red heart, or a yellow flower (with, say, 3 petals), or even a sky blue cloud. Begin by drawing out the object of your choice onto the corresponding color of construction paper. Next, using a pair of blunt scissors cut out the shape. The notebook need not have too many pages too, just 12-15 would do. Finally, punch a hole into the pages on one side and string them together with a bright ribbon. Write ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ in colorful letters on the cover and you’re done! Pssst… in case you wish to make your gift even more special, fill in each page with one reason why your mom is the best/coolest in the whole wide world. Needless to say, you’ll be the apple of her eye for many, many days once she reads those heartfelt messages!

Handmade Paper Bookmark

If you’re very short on time and/or if your mom loves reading books to unwind, a handmade paper bookmark is the way to go. You can use thick construction paper or cardboard for this simple craft activity as well. Cut out the paper (in the color of your choice) into a rectangle that can easily fit between the pages of a book and punch in a hole at one end, inserting a narrow ribbon into it. Next, you have many options: either put your drawing and painting skills to work on the bookmark and make it a fine example of modern art, or better still, write out a short and sweet message that your mom will cherish each time she turns the pages of her book. Alternatively, have a look at this interesting origami bookmark tutorial for a step-by-step procedure.

Can you think up of any more easy DIY ideas to add to this list?

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Exciting Easter Party Games for Kids

It’s Easter season again and a good enough excuse for a party in the backyard. Nothing too fancy, just an excuse to unwind and for the kids in the neighborhood to have fun (especially since neither of my kids have birthdays anytime soon). Here are three exciting activity ideas I came across and found to be a good fit for our impromptu home party.

Easter Bunny Race

“Easter Bunny Illustration” by GDJ is licensed under CC by 2.0

I have a couple of old sacks lying in the outhouse, waiting to be discarded. Here’s the plan: We’ll have an Easter bunny rabbit race for the kids. There’ll be a start line and a finish line. Each kid will be inserted into a sack of their own, with a round, cottony ball attached to the sacks’ behinds (aren’t they bunny rabbits after all?) and bunny rabbit ears flapping on their heads. You can easily make hairbands at home for that purpose; a tail and flapping ears definitely help getting into the spirit of the game. Parents can cheer their offspring standing on the sidelines as their kids hippity hop their way to the finish line – or even topple down in the attempt of finishing the race! To get a better idea of how it’ll be like, watch this video of kids hopping away.

Easter Eggs in a Haystack

“Easter egg” by floEdelmann is licensed under CC by 2.0

Get hold of two big baskets or barrels or cartons. Fill them up with lots of hay or even Easter grass, if you have some. Now divide the kids into two different teams, assigning one box to each team. Next, you need to add Easter eggs to each box – as many as the number of kids such that each kid has one for his or her own. To make the game more interesting, write the names of the kids on the eggs, each egg with one name. The goal of the game is for each kid to retrieve the egg bearing his name by rummaging through the hay. It could be a sort of a race where both the teams are lined up at the starting line and when the whistle blows, the race begins. One kid from each team at a time races to his respective box, finds his egg and races back. Only then can the next kid begin the relay race. The team which finds all its eggs first is declared the winner.

If you don’t want to go through all the hassles of organizing a party at your place and would like to celebrate Easter spending quality time with near and dear ones, have a look at these Easter activities for kids that have a whole lot of ideas for the entire family. It has fun printables and handmade Easter greeting cards, coloring pages for younger kids and a variety of easy DIY Easter egg activities, amongst others.

Here’s wishing all of you have a happy and blessed Easter!

[childrensgames-blog]

Toys - Then and Now

The dictionary definition of a ‘toy’ goes thus:

An object for a child to play with, typically a model or miniature replica of something, e.g. a toy car.

A toy could also be broadly called by the following names: plaything, game, model, miniature, imitation, etc.

The term conjures up a whole plethora of different images in my mind, pretty contrasting if I tend to compare those of our childhood to those of today. Here is an interesting Washington Post article which talks about the same subject. Those days we led totally unplugged lives, not glued to a TV or phone or laptop or tablet screen but playing with actual, differently shaped physical objects, both indoors and outdoors. These days, some of the games are the same, but in an entirely different virtual form of sorts.

Toys Back Then

“Bloques” by iramsej is licensed under CC by 2.0

Good old LEGO was our favorite family toy back then. I remember whole evenings spent poring over those brightly colored building blocks, only to leave them scattered around for someone to trip on (usually mom) the next morning. This was a game that had endless possibilities, with no rules to be learnt as such. We made bridges, then cars and trucks and bikes to run on them and eventually even alien-looking robots to chase after those vehicles!

Jigsaw puzzles were for the patient kids, those who liked to pore over them for hours on end. Another vivid memory is that of the fascinating view-master, which had a lever to click and showed wonderful slides and images within a whole world of its own.

Evenings always meant outdoor games – playing hide and seek, catch, rolling in the mud – basically getting all our hands and feet and everything else dirty. It was so much fun!

Toys Now

“Video Game Controller Icon” by isaiah658 is licensed under CC by 2.0

Like there are two sides to a coin, the modern day toys and games have changed both for the better and/or for the worse, depending on how you look at it. For one, there is an endless variety of online games available, even educational ones that can go a long way in capturing your child’s attention effectively.

The other day, someone at school asked my daughter if she had ever jumped on the trampoline. She replied saying why, of course she had and multiple times, on this flipping game she found online!

My son is a keen lover of animals, but unfortunately for him (fortunately for us though), no animals are allowed inside our house. So he has to keep content with his favorite virtual pets online that he gets to feed and pet and even buy things for, from time to time. A stark contrast from the times gone by, I must say.

The Common Link

Monopoly of course, has survived successfully through the ages. So has the Rubik’s cube, although its new, completely electronic avatar is more popular. Barbie dolls with a more modern fashion sense and a wide variety of professions are still the fad. And of course, this list can’t be complete without the much-loved, tried and tested play dough in all colors. I guess some things never change, do they? Thankfully so!

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The Funniest Kids’ New Year Resolutions

“Kid and Cake” by j4p4n is licensed under CC by 2.0

Making and keeping New Year resolutions is no mean feat, even for adults. More so if you are a kid and have an entirely different world view altogether. Here are some masterpieces of actual resolutions kids came up with, obviously in a very serious frame of mind.

I am going to stop picking my nose. It is going to be hard.

Open a present every day.

My New Year’s resolution is to not make one.

I am going to help doggies like if they are stuck on cliffs.

I’ll delete fewer of mom’s apps.

Play video games.

I resolve to eat more bananas because I only eat two or three every day.

I will eat all the cake.

I tried to pick a favorite out of these but failed miserably – each one is better than the last! Gems of a kind, don’t you think?

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3 Spookily Fun Halloween Games for Kids

The Halloween spirit is in the air and a good opportunity to indulge our little ones in some fun games to soak up the spirit of spook, albeit in a fun way. Have a look at these Halloween activities for kids which can keep your young ones happily busy, or read on for some fun games that can be played with a bunch of kids at home, all the while munching along on candies and treats.

Pin It Up

All of us have played the evergreen ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’ game in our childhood. To give it a spooktacular twist, you could try playing ‘Pin the Boo on the Ghost’s mouth’ game as a fun alternative. Simply paint a white ghost (or even a spooky jack-o’-lantern) with its mouth open on a black sheet of chart or construction paper and pin it up on the wall.

“Spider” by Clker-Free-Vector-Images is licensed under CC by 2.0

Cut out speech bubbles with ‘Boo!’ or ‘Whaaaagh!’ written on them, blindfold the child and ask them to pin up the spooky dialogues on the ghost. The one whose ‘Boo!’ or ‘Whaaaagh!’ emanates right from inside the mouth of the ghost is declared the winner. An alternative could also be a spider web like the one above with a spider to be stuck on its center while blindfolded.

Bowl and Roll

This is the usual bowling game but with a quirky Halloween twist to it. You can make it as creative as you wish. The simplest way is to get hold of 10 toilet paper rolls (with the toilet paper on it) and use a black marker to draw eyes and an open gaping mouth on one side of each. Just stack them either one on top of the other or like the ten pins which are arranged in a normal bowling game, hand your child a ball, some empty space and whee!

“Ten Pin Bowling” by mohamed1982eg is licensed under CC by 2.0

However, if you have more time on your hands or are more of the artistic kind, you can wrap a set of plastic bowling pins haphazardly with tissue paper or toilet paper, such that each one of them resembles a mummy. Draw on the eyes and leave out the mouth for added effect. To make the game particularly Halloween-like, the rolling ball could be orange in color like a pumpkin, with yellow eyes, nose and a mouth drawn in an evil lopsided grin. Have a look at this simple video tutorial on how to go about it using readymade white tape and stick-on eyes. Bowl on and roll on!

Wrap up the Mummy

There are two objectives to this game – one, waste lots and lots of toilet paper (point to be noted here for parents and guardians – please opt for the cheapest toilet paper you can get your hands on) and two, having fun rolling over and over. It works best in a group of kids and goes like this: The children are divided into pairs with one kid being the ‘wrapper’ (the person who will wrap the other or ‘mummify’ them) and the other being the ‘mummy’ in question.

“Mummy” by OpenClipart-Vectors is licensed under CC by 2.0

Put on some good music and let the wrapping game begin. Give the kids a fixed time duration, say 60 seconds; the shorter the better since the game is more fun if the time is less. The pair that manages to convert one of themselves into a mummy fastest wins.

Have a spooky and fun Halloween season, folks!

[childrensgames-blog]

How to Help Your Child Use A Dictionary

As far back as I can remember, we’ve always had a thick, hard-cover dictionary with yellowing pages propped up on the top-most shelf of the bookcase at home. I think it was handed down to my mother from my grandfather, who was a professor in the university and was never seen without a book in his hands. Once I started reading newspapers and novels as I grew up, the habit of keeping a dictionary alongside and referring to it every now and then stayed with me. And it continues to stay with me till date.

Children’s Dictionaries

“Dictionary” by geralt is licensed under CC by 2.0

Introducing your kids to the dictionary can be an enlightening experience for them, especially when they get the hang of how to use it. The best way to pique their interest is to introduce them to colorful children’s dictionaries, replete with color-coded pages for alphabets, accompanying illustrations and fun facts along with words and their meanings. This will do away with the monotony of simply looking for a word in alphabetic order, mentioned in mere black and white. Most of the children’s dictionaries have large, easy-to-read fonts and alphabet locators on each page to make it easy for the kids to find a particular word. For your reference, here is a comprehensive list of some of the most popular children’s dictionaries available today.

Reading Out Loud

Just handing out a dictionary to your kid and expecting they’ll use it will not necessarily work. The key is to make them comfortable with it. The easiest way to do so is to read together – making them read out loud to you and then stumbling upon a new word, looking it up in the dictionary and eventually understanding the context – this is how it goes. If this is done regularly, say you could ask your child to read out a story to you at bedtime instead of the other (more usual) way around, keeping the dictionary handy on the bedside table, it could slowly and gradually become a habit, even when they read alone at times. Getting them used to how the alphabetic order works may take some time, but patience should do the trick.

Reading Activities

“Children’s Books” by PublicDomainArchive is licensed under CC by 2.0

There are a number of fun reading games and activities that can make your kid more familiar with using the dictionary. If there is a group of kids, the speed word search game could be a good idea. Divide the kids into two teams (even 2 members in each team would be good enough if there are fewer kids) and hand them a dictionary each. Call a word out loud and each team needs to find it in their dictionary. Whichever team member calls out the correct page number on which the word is specified wins a point for his or her team. This could go on for several rounds till a winner team is declared. Another interesting classroom activity could be for the kids to find a new random word every day from the dictionary and note it down in their notebooks. A designated day of the week, all the kids would read out their weekly words to the whole class, which would then pen them down. This way the kids could be encouraged to look up and learn a whole bunch of new words every week.

Would you like to add your own dictionary and/or reading ideas to this list?

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All was well with The Boy Who Lived

The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.

Rings a bell, anyone? Well, to ardent lovers of Harry Potter and his magical, wizarding world, these words will definitely bring back memories. But why are we suddenly talking about Harry Potter, of all things? Because September 1, 2017 is D-day.

                          Image courtesy: Digital Spy

Remember the last scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Stationed on platform nine and three quarters, our bespectacled protagonist and his friends are seeing off their kids to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a momentous occasion. After all, Albus Severus Potter, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy are beginning their stint at the best magical school in the world.

This momentous occasion falls on September 1, 2017, according to the story. So while September 1 always was exciting since Hogwarts Express steamed off for the beginning of a new term every year, this year is officially ’19 years later’, making it an extra special September 1. Wish to reminisce about the magical times gone by? Here’s a complete timeline of events, as they unfolded.

Accio, Harry Potter!

[childrensgames-blog]

Monster Bookmark Activity for Kids

Monsters can be cute too; especially if they are not real and in the form of friendly little faces peeking out from the corners of the pages of a book. Here’s a fun activity for children to create a colorful monster bookmark for their bedtime story books.

                  Image courtesy: Reading Rewards

What you need:

· Origami paper in a bright color

· A pair of scissors

· Glue stick

· Googly eyes

What to do:

· Fold an origami paper into half.

· Re-fold the top two corners of the folded paper upto the center (in the form of an inverted V).

· Cut off the excess paper rectangle at the bottom.

· Cut again through the middle (from where the paper is folded together).

· Unfold the two triangles and fold the two resulting squares again into half, twice over. Unfold.

· Now four small squares will be visible once you unfold. Cut out one of them, leaving three intact.

· Again, cut out the bottom halves of the two adjacent squares, such that one full and two halves remain.

· Fold the two halves of the half cut-out squares inwards into a triangle and apply some glue at the inner corners to keep them in place. This makes a paper pocket to fit onto the corner of your book pages.

· Now ask your child to stick on googly eyes, crooked teeth or crazy ears to the monster and your scary bookmark is ready!

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3 Fun Water Activities Kids Will Love

We’ve all been talking about how to prevent the summer slide in kids, but what about the R & R (read: Rest and Recreation) part? Come summertime and the best way for kids to cool off and have fun is to head outdoors and play with water. Along those lines, here are 3 fun water activities kids will love to mess about with this summer.

Doll Bath Time

“Toys” by Elektro-Plan is licensed under CC by 2.0

Remember the baby bath tub stashed away in a remote corner somewhere in an unknown recess of your house? It’s a good time to get it out for some splishy-splashy fun with your little one. Even though she might have outgrown it, her dolls will easily fit in it. So why not utilize it and make it an enjoyable garden activity to keep your little one busy this summer?

All you’ve got to do is place it in your garden or backyard a safe distance from the house (or anything that’ll get damaged if splashed with water). Use your hose to fill it up, add some shampoo to the water to create a foamy bath and you’re set for a peaceful afternoon without the kids breathing down your neck! Just make sure the dolls to be bathed are waterproof or use old ones. You can also set afloat a couple of floating bath toys into the tub to lend a more realistic feel to the set-up. Arm your kids with an old towel or two and they’ll have a gala time scrubbing away their beloved dolls!

Chalky Water Fun

I have yet to come across kids who don’t like to get their hands, feet, face, clothes and everything else messy. This is the ideal water activity for them. If you have a walking path leading upto your house or a backyard with a solid concrete flooring, that is the perfect setting for this activity. Stock up on lots of sidewalk chalk in all colors (for those not in the know, sidewalk chalk refers to ‘thick sticks of colored chalk of a type used for writing or drawing on pavements or other hard outdoor surfaces’).

Simply wet the concrete ground with a water hose, dress up your little ones in old clothes that are okay to get messy in and set them loose on the wet concrete with sidewalk chalk in their favorite colors. Let them draw, scribble, paint or roll in it to their heart’s content! Hand them a brush to have fun mixing up different blobs of colors together with each other and coming up with brand new hues.

Ice Cube Painting

“Ice Cubes” by AdinaVoicu is licensed under CC by 2.0

Fill a couple of ice trays with water. Add a different water color into each cube compartment, stir and place in the freezer to set. Once the ice cubes are ready, get hold of a large piece of woven-knit white fabric and spread it flat like a table cloth onto a table in your garden. Hand your kids a couple of ice cubes each and allow them to work as amateur artists on the fabric. Needless to say, there will be squeals of laughter accompanying their artistic work, thanks to the freezing cubes slipping through their fingers!

In case you need some other ideas to keep the kids busy indoors, here are some interesting summer activities for kids that’ll keep them gainfully occupied through the holidays. Do you have any other fun summer games that can be added to this list?

[childrensgames-blog]

Patriotic Party Games for the Fourth of July

“Ball” by LincolnN is licensed under CC by 2.0

Fourth of July is just around the corner and the perfect occasion to chill out with fun, patriotic party games that require little or no effort, plus are a cause for a whole lot of excitement for the children too. Here are a few interesting ideas:

· Balloon popping – with a little patriotic twist to it. Blow up blue, red and white balloons and pass them around in a group of kids like passing the parcel. Insert a ‘Winner!’ note in one balloon of each color (3 in all). When the music stops, the kids will burst the balloon they have in their hand at the moment. Those who burst the one with a note inside get a surprise gift.

· Backyard baseball match – Who can say no to a baseball game, that too in the backyard of your own house? Pool in with parents of your kids’ friends and pre-decide to have a potluck snack party to go with the spirit of the game – peanuts, chips and hot dogs.

· Pin it on – either the stripes on the flag or the hat on Uncle Sam, while blindfolded. A customized version of the evergreen Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Feel free to add more fun ideas to this list!

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3 Baking Recipes to Try Out With Kids

‘Your kids will never remember the long hours you spent putting bread on the table. But they will remember that one awesome afternoon you spent baking with them.’

May 17 is celebrated as World Baking Day in several parts of the world. For someone like me who is not exactly an expert at anything to do with the kitchen, occasions like these are just opportunities to try one’s hand at baking something scrumptious for your near and dear ones. Here are three appetizing recipes to bake which you can try out with your kids and have a gala time bonding (and creating a mess) in the kitchen!

Chocolate chip cookies

“Chocolate Chip Cookies” by pixel1 is licensed under CC by 2.0

If there is a tried-and-tested baking recipe that can never go wrong plus has been an all-time favorite of families since generations, it has to be chocolate chip cookies. After all, even if you mistakenly drop in the entire bowl of chocolate chips into the cookie dough, the result will only turn out to be all the more flavorful! Preheat the oven to 170-180 degrees C and have your baking trays ready with baking paper. Add the butter, sugar and vanilla essence to a glass mixing bowl and ask your little one to whisk it up together. Once it takes up a cream-like texture, add the eggs, salt and flour into it and mix it up again. Let your kid drop in as many chocolate chips as she wishes, pop the tray into the oven for 10-12 minutes and you’re done!

Sponge cupcakes

“Muffins” by congerdesign is licensed under CC by 2.0

I firmly believe that a little cupcake goes a long way in solving life’s problems (albeit temporarily) and making one cheerful. Hence, why not try baking a simple sponge cupcake with your little tyke? Preheat the oven to 170-180 degrees C as in the case of chocolate chip cookies, and get your muffin tin ready, all lined with baking paper. Whisk together some margarine along with sugar and one at a time, add the eggs, beating throughout. Finally add the flour and mix it in uniformly. Ask your child to spoon the resulting creamy mixture into the paper-lined muffin tins. Set the tins to bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, till you notice the upper crust turning into a delicious golden brown color. Once cooled, add to the cupcake the frosting of your little one’s choice. My son likes a simple melted layer of chocolate frosting on sponge cupcakes, and draws his very own pet on it himself (he loves playing these pet games) using homemade butter frosting (made from softened butter, sugar and milk).

Jam macaroons

“Macaroons” by stux is licensed under CC by 2.0

A definition of macaroon I came across online was ‘a hearty lump of sweetness made of shredded coconut and condensed milk’. The best part about whipping up this ‘hearty lump of sweetness’ is that it is super easy to make. As in the above two recipes, preheat the oven to about 180 degrees C and line your baking tray with baking paper. All that this 2-ingredient recipe requires is some desiccated coconut along with sweetened condensed milk. Combine the two in a mixing bowl, ask your kids to make tablespoon-sized balls of the mixture and bake like before until golden-brown. If your child likes cherries, let him add one to each macaroon. Or else, let him add a blob of orange marmalade or guava jelly onto the top of each.

Would you like to add more to the list?

[childrensgames-blog]

An Indoor Gardening Experiment for Kids

Gardening is a wonderful way to introduce kids to the world of science and nature. It is an experiment with nature that can be carried out with the kids, both outdoors as well as indoors. A fun and simple way to begin could be by setting up a basic terrarium – a mini garden of sorts in a glass jar or bottle - and entrusting your children with the responsibility of taking care of it.

                    “Botanical” by Pexels is licensed under CC by 2.0

What you need:

· An old glass fish bowl, a wide-mouthed flower vase, mason jars or old wine glasses

· Sand

· Potting soil/compost

· Colored shells/pebbles for decoration

· The succulent/plant you wish to grow

How to set it up:

· The simplest of all terrariums consists of soil, sand and pebbles along with the plant. First of all, lay down the bottom-most layer of pebbles, followed by a layer of sand on top of it.

· Next, add 2-3 layers of soil (depending on the size of your terrarium) and a pinch or two of compost/fertilizer.

· Finally, select the plant. The best bets are succulents – Jupiter’s Beard and Blue Heron grow pretty well. Aloe vera is a useful plant too, to be used for soothing small scratches or wounds.

The kids need to make sure they water it every week or so (using teaspoons so as not to flood the terrarium), plus 3-4 hours of indirect sunlight on a daily basis (such as from a window sill). An added advantage: Turn this entire project into an exciting science lesson experiment for the kids – it could be describing the life cycle of the plant in question, the layers of the earth and how a plant takes up its nutrients from the soil/fertilizers, plus the sense of responsibility one needs to have in order to care for everything in nature. The icing on the cake? A terrarium can be a beautiful addition to the home as well as an ideal gift for your friends next door!

[childrensgames-blog]

3 Fun April Fool’s Day Pranks to Play on Your Kids

Okay, I have to admit that our family is not exactly what you would refer to as a bunch of jokesters. We’re a pretty serious group in everyday life, now that I come to think of it. Well, works well for me! I’m planning to surprise my kids with a couple of pranks this April Fool’s Day… Thanks to their impression of me as an ‘oh-so-serious’ mom, I’m pretty sure they won’t even get a whiff of the jokes coming their way!

For the ‘Geeky’ kids --- The Computer Mouse/TV Remote Trick

         “Remote Control” by tookapic is licensed under CC by 2.0

Evening time means TV cartoon time for my younger one and virtual games on the computer for the elder. There’s a simple tried-and-tested trick that can be played on both the unsuspecting little tykes. A piece of sticky scotch tape to cover the remote sensor at the bottom wouldn’t be visible and would do its bit in the buttons of the remote not working. For the computer, do something similar with the sensor on the lower half of the mouse. Cover it up with tape and the poor mouse won’t take the cursor anywhere on the screen at all!

For the ‘Jazzy’ kids --- The Balloon/Confetti Trick

             “Confetti” by –flowerinmyhair is licensed under CC by 2.0

Both these ideas can work as pretty good birthday surprises too. For the balloon trick, get hold of the largest trash bag you have at home and tape it up outside and across your child’s bedroom door, in such a way that when the door is opened, the bag tips over. Now all you need to do is blow up some balloons and fill up the bag (when the little one has marched off to bed). Be there to witness their exclamation of surprise when they open their door the next morning, with the balloons descending all over them! As for the confetti idea, simply add some to the paddles of the ceiling fan in their room and wait for the moment they switch it on. The former requires a bit of patience and time, what with blowing up the balloons and all, while the latter is a perfect last-minute doable job, albeit a little messy one. You could always set about your little one to work in the end collecting the confetti bits and pieces from remote corners, with something appetizing like chocolate chip cookies as a reward (speaking from personal experience, anything that has chocolate in it almost always works in getting things done at a fast pace in our place)!

For the ‘Early Birds’ --- The Soap/Shoe Trick

                                   “Shoe” by wbtmag0 is licensed under CC by 2.0

When it comes to getting ready early in the morning, my daughter dons this prim and proper avatar – she’ll be all nicely combed and bathed and ready at the breakfast table before time, in stark contrast to the younger one. Hence the trick in question, which I chanced across online the other day. Pretty simple – just paint a bar of soap with transparent nail polish; the result – it won’t lather! I thought this was a bit mean but come on, April Fool’s Day it is, fair enough, no? And for the younger one, I was also thinking of stuffing cotton balls or toilet/tissue paper into his shoes. I can even imagine the look on his face, trying to figure out how his feet grew so much overnight!

Do have a look at this video for some more elaborate April Fool’s Day pranks to try out on your kids. Have fun!