Hello magical people! I hope everything is wonderful in your corner of the universe. Here’s a few ways to make some memories with your kids this week.
1. For September, use a white crayon to write an invisible message or fun activity on each square in the calendar. Each day, let your child color the square with a marker to reveal the secret message.
2. Tie-dye some clothes with tissue paper and squirt guns. I first saw this darling craft on Dollar Store Crafts (that’s their versions below!) and loved the versions (and reports on what worked best) at How to… do something.
3. Have a paper airplane derby. You’ll find free patterns for simple to fancy planes, helicopters, rockets, frisbees and more here. This is also a fun way to reuse old coloring pages, worksheets, scrapbooking paper and even maps.
4. Make crab apple cider. If you’re lucky enough to have access to crab apple trees, you have to try making crab apple cider with the kids! It’s easy (no apple press required) and the cider is beautiful ruby red and delicious. We have friends who go to a park near their home every fall to harvest unsprayed crab apples for this stuff since we introduced them to it. It’s a fun, tasty tradition!
5. Do bleach pen altering. Here’s a shirt Victoria did a couple of years ago and here’s how she did it.
6. Invent a secret handshake or special good-bye. Some families have special handshakes that mom or dad do with each child every morning before school. Victoria and I had a long series of signs we went through every night when she went to bed for years. It’s a special way to start the day or end the night and know you’re loved.
7. Start making toasts every night at supper.
8. Have a bake-off for your pup! The internet is full of fun and easy recipes for dog treats, from sweet potato “rawhide” dog chews to gluten free pumpkin dog cookies to no-bake peanut butter oat balls. You can find assortments of recipes on sites like Dog Treat Recipes too. Make up an assortment together and have your dogs do a taste test to determine their favorites.
9. Have a cleaning party with the kids. Dress up in fabulous play dress-up clothes (party hats and/or tiaras are a must!), blast some happy music, grab some fun treats and clean like crazy together. Set a timer for every 15 minutes to take a break and enjoy some treats together, and concentrate on being as wild and wacky as possible as you clean. Decide on a fun family treat to enjoy together when you’re done. Who says cleaning has to be dull?!
10. See if a city near you has a sculpture walk. Our family loves to visit Sioux Falls every year to walk the annual “sculpture walk” downtown. Dozens of artists display their sculpture each year and the city gives out pamphlets that tell a little bit about each piece and let you vote on your favorite. We all walk the streets together checking out all of the works and deciding which ones we like best. I just found out that a city even closer to us has an annual sculpture walk too.
And with that, my dears, I’m off to catch up on the other 99 things on my to-do list! Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to take care of you!
I love your white crayon on a calendar idea! I guess I’ll have to keep that in mind for when my kids are able to read. =)
You don’t have to write words with the crayons! You can make little hearts and happy faces and they’ll still have fun coloring over them to see what’s hidden. 🙂
I especially liked the cleaning party idea and crayon secret message.