Parents CornerThis is from a booklet I put together for local parents. Summer can be long with young children if you don’t plan ahead. I am sure there are many local places and things to do in your county too. Remember to get together with other families to play and share. Other parents can be a wonderful sounding board and source of support, and your children will love it. This may give you some ideas of where to start to look. Places to Go and Things to See This Summer
Playdough and Goop RecipesRainbow Stew 1/3 cup sugar Place mixture in a large saucepan and cook until thick. Divide mixture into 3 parts and put a primary color in a zip lock bag. Your child can mix and change the colors, with In the bag until done. Cooked Playdough 2 cups flour Mix all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture is like a thick lump. Turn out of the pan onto the counter or cutting board and kneed smooth. Squeeze Bottle Glitter 1/3 cup flour Mix flour, salt, and water in a mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add color as desired. Spoon into a squeeze bottle such as a mustard or ketchup bottle. Squeeze the mixture onto heavy paper. The picture will sparkle when dry. Weird Stuff 3/4 cup cornstarch Mix the ingredients on a cookie sheet or tray. It should appear solid when in the tray or being held and can be formed into a ball but melts away when loose. If the mixture is too thick add water, if to thin add cornstarch . To save allow the mixture to dry in the tray and crumble into a baggie. Add water for reuse. Finger Paint 1 cup flour Combine all Ingredients until smooth. Paint on a smooth surface such a freezer paper, plastic, or a smooth easy to clean table. Clean and Simple Finger Paints Spray shaving cream on a smooth surface Mix Ivory Snow and water with an electric mixer Pour liquid starch, liquid laundry soap and color onto the painting surface. Put colored finger paint in a zip lock bag and tape the top with duct tape. Your child can move the paint and make designs but there is no mess. If you put 2 or more colors in a bag you can experiment with mixing colors. Colored Bubbles 1 cup granulated soap or soap powder Dissolve soap in warm water and stir in the food color. Give your child a cup 1/3rd. full of the bubble mixture and a straw to blow through The Shakaroo 1. Staple about 20 strips, of different colored tissue paper, one inch wide and about 12 inches long to the tube of cardboard found in the inside of waxed paper containers 2. Using a stapler, staple ends of paper to the end of the tube. 3. The result: a colorful, rustling PomPom with a quiet sound! Music makers Put a few beans or marbles in an aluminum pie pan. Then place another upside-down over the first pie pan and staple along the edges. Make one for each child. If made out of paper plates the children can decorate them. Yarn Decorations Place glue-soaked yarn around a blown up balloon in a decorative pattern. When yarn is thoroughly dry, pop the balloon and paint the "cage" with spray paint. Other fun ideas Let a child help make his own card game by selecting pictures from a magazine to be glued onto poster paper pieces or index cards.. Then the children can play matching games, finding similar items such as trucks, trees, animals or just dots. CookingMud Balls peanut butter Mix ingredients together and form into small balls. Roll the balls in carob powder or chocolate milk powder. Travelers' Snack Equal parts: raisins, nuts, and dry cereal Mix ingredients in a large bowl and divide into plastic bags to save for later snacks. No-cook chocolate fudge 3 oz. softened cream cheese Mix well and press into greased pan. Chill. Cut and eat Fruit Dip 7 oz. Marshmallow cream Cream together until smooth. Serve with strawberries, melon balls, grapes and other fruit Finger Jell-O 1 envelope unflavored Jell-O Stir together the dry ingredients. Prepare as directed for flavored gelatin. Cut into blocks. as These can be eaten with fingers as they do not melt as fast as regular jello. Peanut Butter Playdough 2 cups peanut butter Mix ingredients in a large bowl. Give the child a piece the size of a ping pong ball on a piece of wax paper. The child can roll It around and make shapes or just eat it. Trail Mix 2 cups fish crackers In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients. In another bowl stir together melted margarine and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over cracker mixture. Stir to coat and add pop corn. Spread evenly in a large baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, cool and store in an airtight container. Large Muscle ActivitiesBalance Board Find a long board 2-8 inches wide and 4-8 feet long. Have your child walk, run, walk backwards, take tiny stops, take big steps, walk sideways, or any other challenges you can think of. You may have to demonstrate if your child has not done it before. Bottle Bowling Gather 10 large empty bottles such as detergent or soda bottles and a ball about six inches in diameter. Pour sand in the bottoms of the bottles and place them like bowling pins on the grass or a sidewalk. Have your child roll the ball toward the bottles trying to knock them over. Toss For a game of toss, roll several pair of socks into a ball and fasten them with a rubber band. Line up several pair of shoes and throw the balls into them. Cardboard Box Play Provide a large empty cardboard carton for a playhouse. Let the children decorate it with crayons, gluing on old scraps of material or pictures cut out of magazines. Stepping "Stones" Put colored paper stepping stones on the floor in a crooked line, some close and some far apart. Let a child walk on them. For greater challenge he can do it while trying to balance an object on his head. Balloon basketball Bend the loop of a wire hanger into a circle. Hang it on a doorknob, bending the circle straight out from the door. Stand four feet away and throw a balloon into the loop. Throw and Catch Using balls of a variety of sizes have your child throw to you, throw at a wall; catching the balls as they come back to them or s you throw them. Small Muscle ActivitiesSearch and Cut Give a child a magazine and suggest several things they might look for to cut out. Piggy Bank Help a child make their own piggy bank. Make It from a salt box, using the spout for a snout, spools for legs, and a colorful pipe cleaner for a tall. Make the eyes and mouth with magic marker. Magazine Stories For an older sick child at home from school, have them cut words from a magazine and make sentences and stories from them. Game For a funny game, color eyes, nose, and mouth on a paper plate. Place two flat buttons on the plate and jiggle It. If the button lands on each eye, score ten points; If on one eye score three points. The score of twenty wins the game. (For older children). Camp-In This can allow peaceful coexistence while you entertain Let the youngsters take sleeping bags and a packed dinner to a camp-in site - the playroom or a bedroom, where they have privacy. They will be content and the parents can entertain their guests in peace. It will remain a special treat for them if the number of times they are allowed to do this is limited. Necklaces Create a variety of necklaces by stringing macaroni, colored paper squares, circles, and stars, and pieces of plastic drinking straws. String a variety of buttons (large for safety) on a string for necklace Finger Paint Grease a large cake pan and sprinkle with flour. It Is ready for finger painting. Puzzle Make a jigsaw puzzle by gluing a large picture on a piece of cardboard. Cut the picture into interesting shapes to make a puzzle. This is especially fun if a real photograph is used. Refrigerator Drawing When busy in the kitchen, tape a large piece of butcher paper to the refrigerator door and give your child some felt-tipped pens or magic markers to draw with. This will keep the child busy and creative. Water Water play is very entertaining and a summer treat. Let a child stand on a sturdy chair at the sink. Set a pan of water in the sink and give them a funnel, small plastic pitcher, measuring cups and spoons, or bathtub toys to play with. For soap bubbles, give them a plastic drinking straw and a cup filled with a mixture of soap flakes and water. Add a bit of cooking oil and the bubbles will float in the air without breaking. Be sure the child is old enough to blow, not suck, Carpet Drawing When stormy weather keeps the children indoors, they can "draw" on the carpet or floor with pieced leftover yarn, and they love it. They can make houses, animals, people, or room length missiles. The best reward is the ease in cleaning up. Feel Box 1 Using cardboard, mount various different textured objects.
Feel Box 2 Cover a cardboard box. Cut a hand size hole in one end and have child feel and identify various objects. Fill box with objects that the child can identify or let him match textures from the list above. Smell Bottles Collect various uniform bottles. Put cotton in each one with a drop of scent on each. Use extracts, perfume, juice and spices. Lotto Games Cut out magazine pictures of uniform size. Mount on boards in 4 columns. The first column will have the object to be matched. The next three columns will have one picture that matches the picture in the first column and two other pictures. The object is for the child to match the two similar pictures. Rocket Ships: Make rockets out of a toilet paper roll, with a single egg carton section for a top, and a square of construction paper as a base to which the rocket may be glued. The children can paint these. Walkie-Talkie: Make a Walkie-Talkie out of two juice cans, or similar cans, with a hole in the bottom and about five feet of wire or nylon string held taut. If one child talks and another listens, this really works. Sound Games Play guessing games with containers, all the same size, with an object inside. Have the child identify the- object by its sound. Use marbles, bells, seeds, salt, cotton, pebbles, liquids and string. Simple Puppets Start with small paper bags folded flat so that the square bottom of the bag overlaps one side. Color the puppet's face using the overlapped area as the puppet's mouth. Anns, ears, and other features can be added to make the puppets more Interesting. Tissue Paper Designs On colored construction paper, draw the outline of a simple shape. Cut large sheets of tissue Into small squares and roll into wads. Dip wads Into glue, then press side by side to fill in the outline. |
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CONTENTS (except as noted) ©2003-8 by Pediatric Services524 Kentucky St E-mail:Click here to ask a question.DESIGN ©2003 by William Blinn CommunicationsWorthington, Ohio 43085 Articles written by Pediatric
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