Children's Activities For Stay-At-Home Dads

Here is another game recommendation from our favorite toy store. There are six Find it Games that you will find challenging for the entire family. These games are a contained adventure that promises a new challenge every time you play. They never need to be put away and are great for travel. All ages will enjoy the hunt for the hidden objects buried within the layer or recycled plastic pallets.

Find it Original is an adventure in earth tones. This game has 47 objects buried within and are much smaller than the kid's version. This one may not be appropriate for the younger crowd.

Find it Kids has 48 hidden items like the hard-to-find penny, marble, balloon and letters. This game encourages object identification and letter recognition

Find it Bird Watch contains 24 bird, 19 bird watch related items, hard-to-find penny and bird guide.

Find it At the Beach came out in June 2006 and contains 40 hidden beach theme items and the hard-to-find penny. Colors in this game are blues, greens and coral.

Find it At the Zoo, contains 39 animals and the hard-to-find penny.

Find it Deluxe Edition contains 70 items, deck of cards, spinner, timer, check off pad and instructions for 6 ways to play.

All games have the hidden items listed on the top of the game and can be played alone or with a group. Just spin it, shake it, twist it for a fun game played anywhere. This is a wonderful traveling game!

As mentioned before, some of the best times with our children are in physical activity. We just wrote a blog about a discovery of a website for helping our children become healthier.

Childhood obesity is on the rise and a concern for all of us. The state of Delaware has created a wonderful program called 5-2-1-ALMOST NONE. This means eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, spend no more than 2 hours each day in front of a screen, have 1 hour of exercise each day, and almost no sugary beverages. You can go to their website and find this resource sheet on more resources for implementing the program.

I know you will find this information helpful.

It's spring and a wonderful time to do an art project with flowers. First, you can get photos from the internet or wonderful books from the library about Georgia O' Keeffe's beautiful paintings. What you will discover, as you look at her paintings, is that she simplified the shapes and flattened the colors. She did close-up, enlarged images of ordinary flowers.

You will want to encourage your child to look at the flower from a different point of view. Put the flower in front of your child and have him fill up the paper with the flower. Notice that O'Keeffe's petals go off the page. Your child can first draw the flower and then paint it.

The size of the paper for a younger child may be 12" x 18" and an older child may want a paper that is 18" x 24." You will need water-based paint, a flat brush 3/4," and a round brush for some detail. Another suggestion is to use a limited color palette, too many colors will make it too busy.
You can get a small bouquet of flowers at the grocery store. It is really important to have real flower before your artist.

"I started out to paint big flowers in the 20s, when everything was going so fast. Around then, I saw a painting with a flower in it-it was so beautiful, but so small you really could not appreciate it. Then and there, I decided to stop time and paint that flower on a huge scale-then you could not ignore its beauty."
-Georgia O'Keeffe

This is another wonderful board game that was recommended to us by our favorite store. It is based on the award-winning illustrator Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed book series.

The game is easy-to-learn and teaches counting, strategy, helps to develop fine motor skills. The object of the game is to get your five monkeys on the spring action bed before it pops. If the monkeys jump off the bed, it's time to start over!

I would recommend this for children that are 4-8 years old. It may be too complicated for the average three year old.

Artist Louis Nevelson (1899-1988) was an Abstract Expressionist Sculptor that created beautiful wood assemblages typically painted in jet black, white or gold.

You can help your child create wonderful sculptures like those of Louise Nevelson by simply collecting some found objects to glue onto a box lid.

We collected cardboard paper towel rolls, large buttons, pieces of wood, and cut cardboard pieces in the shape of triangles, squares, etc. You can even use old toys and other found objects. Use a lid off of a box for the base and glue the found objects to it. Encourage your child to vary the sizes of the objects on the lid as the pieces are glued to it.

After the glue is dried, spray paint the project with one color. Take this project outside to paint it. Your child can also use tempera paint (one color) and a large brush and paint this project himself.

This project is for all age ranges.

When we were shopping for board games this Christmas, our favorite toy store suggested the new game, Foggy Boogie by Blue Orange Games. This is a beautiful all-wood color recognition and memory game for ages 4 and up, for 2-6 players.

This description is from the manufacturer's catalog: It's nap time at the pond but the baby frogs still want to play. Baby frogs try to be the first to hop around the pond without being seen by the adult frogs. Players guess or remember which adult frog popping eyes will freeze the baby frogs in their race.

This game has already won a Major Fun Award and has been nominated for more awards. It is colorful and funny and older children enjoy the opportunity to show off a superior memory.

The game retails for $23.95 and can be purchased at Amazon for $18.99 (this does not qualify for the $25 free shipping) or Barnes & Noble for $19.08 (this does qualify for $25 free shipping).

This game is wonderful for color recognition and memory and does it in a fairy tale way.

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Rush Hour Jr. is the creation of Nob Yoshigahara and manufactured by Thinkfun. This board game is a traffic jam sliding block puzzle designed to challenge the sequential-thinking skills of younger players.

The age range for this game is specially designed for ages 6-8, but we have played it with younger players as well.

There are 40 challenging cards starting with beginner to expert puzzles. The cost of this board game is $15.95.

Rush Hour Jr. has won 21 prestigious awards, here are a few; Dr. Toy, Best Classic Products 2006, National Parenting Publication Honors Award 2005, Parents Choice Best 25 toys in 25 years 2003, and Grandparents Magazine Top Games 2003.

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Blokus is a great game for the whole family, grades K and up. This award winning game develops logic and special preception and is tactical. It is easy to play as well as challenging and it's never the same game.

Our grandson loves it! This game's awards include; Mensa Select winner, Astra 2003 Good Toy Award, Dr. Toy 2003 100 Best, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2004 Platinum Award, 2004 Teacher's Choice Award, and 2003 Parents Choice Award.

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Some of the best shared activities that you can have with your children involve some form of exercise. You could throw a Frisbee or a ball, just "Be a Player" and have fun. Afterward, you can have them help you prepare a healthy snack. Remember children emulate what they observe.Being Healthy with Small Steps"

See our article "Being Healthy with Small Steps"

Some children, who do not enjoy drawing and painting, love to create sculptures. I have found that some boys really excel with this three-dimensional medium.

Here is a very simple art project for your young budding artists. Collect scraps of wood (smooth cuts, no splinters) of various sizes and shapes, small popsicle sticks, empty wood spools and blocks. For the base of the sculpture, you can cut a base approximately 4"x6" in which to glue the scrap pieces. We have asked lumber yards for scrap pieces for this project.

It would be a great idea to explain that a sculpture is a piece of art that generally is to be viewed from all sides, unlike a two-dimensional painting.

I would suggest using Elmer's glue to create these sculptures. However, older children can use a hammer and nails to attach the larger pieces of wood to the base. All you really need for this project is approximately eight or nine pieces of wood.

Finally, you can use a single color (water-based paint) to unify the sculpture or simply leave it as it is.

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I have a BFA in Art from Bradley University and most of my life I have been a professional artist. You can google me, Sandra K. Yocum. A few years ago I taught at a private school and I would love to share with you some of those lessons.

As a mom, I didn't believe in coloring books but supplied our children with large blank pieces of paper and plenty of crayons, pencils, chalk and paint. It was not my desire to make our children artists, but to help them think in a creative way. Creative thinkers are needed in every profession.

Lesson 1: The book Mixed-up Chameleon by Eric Carle is a wonderful catalyst for some very creative art work. After reading the book, you can give your children some paper and encourage them to create their own mixed-up chameleon.

Crayons, markers, and colored pencils work well. If your children can use scissors or can tear, construction paper can also be added for additional texture and color.

The fact that you are creating an animal that is mixed-up gives your child total creative freedom.

Lesson 2: Your children are very interested in what they look like, so self-portraits have a strong intrinsic appeal to them. Give them a safety mirror that they can gaze into and provide them with paper, crayons, or markers. They will create wonderful self-portraits.

If your child is not sure of what to do, demonstrate by drawing yourself. Don't worry, this is merely your interpretation of what you see.

You may want your child to draw a portrait of your whole family. This drawing may not be as detailed as the self-portrait. Just have fun!

Lesson 3: I have taught contour-line drawing to 5 year olds and so can you. Here is what to do. First, set up a still life of objects around the house, not too many items though. Choose interesting varied shaped objects and put them on a table in front of your child.

Have them concentrate on the edges of the objects (contour drawing) by tracing in the air with their finger the outer edge of the objects.

Now, we will take our markers and as we are looking at the still life, we will trace what we see on the paper. Do not look at the paper. You will get beautiful contour-line drawings that will be a family keepsake.

You may want to demonstrate this lesson before your children try it.

Maybe it's the artist in me, but I love beautiful children's books and find such inspiration from them. The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of 19th century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. The Caldecott Medal is awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children. I have two recommendations.

Flotsam by David Wiesner is the 2007 Medal winner. A young boy is on the beach and a Melsville camera washes up. Inside is a roll of undeveloped film and the young boy takes the film to be developed. A surprising view of the bottom of the sea and items from the real to surreal are revealed.

This book will allow you and your children to enjoy the story and illustrations together. A true inspriation.

Gone Wild, an endangered animal alphabet book by David McLimas, is a Caldecott 2007 Honor book. This beautiful black and white contemporary illustration of the alphabet will be a cherished addition to any library. Infants will love the strong black and white images.

An old shirt from dad works well as a smock for young children. Just cut the sleeves off for proper length and you can turn the shirt around and button it up on the back.

Works great and is inexpensive!

When working with small children, it is extremely important to use water based materials. The lessons that are in this lens suggest markers. I would not recommend permanent markers - use water based because there are no fumes and are easier to clean up.

Older children can use permanent markers, but the room should be well ventilated.

Also, you may want to cover any table top with newspaper before each lesson.

This is a wonderful collection of photos of children and why I like kids.

A great site for families to visit for frugal fun by Shel Horowitz. The site is packed full of inexpensive ideas and activities for day trips, vacations, and numerous other information.