Tortoise and the Hare Game

Items Needed

bunny ears (1 or 2 pairs)

1 - 2 green plates

duck tape

black marker

cones or jump ropes

At least 2 kids

A printed out story of the Tortoise and the Hare

With a black marker, draw shapes on a green paper plate to resemble a turtle shell. Next, fold a long piece of duck tape over (sticky sides together) to make a "strap". Fold a 2nd piece to make a 2nd strap. Duck tape the straps to the paper plate. Cut a small strip open at the end of the tape (but not all the way to the end), kind of like you're making a button hole.  When the child puts the "shell" on his back, you can put the straps around his waist and pull one strap through the "button hole" to keep it on. 

Mark off the starting line and halfway line with cones or a jump rope. 

Race 

First, read the kids the Tortoise and the Hare story. Then explain that you'll be having your own tortoise and hare race.

 Explain to the kids that they will get a chance to be the tortoise and the hare. Divide the kids into 2 groups and have them stand in 2 lines behind the starting line. When you say go, the first 2 kids will put on their rabbit ears and hop to the halfway line, turn around and hop back to the starting line.  Then they will take off the ears, put on the turtle shell and crawl like a turtle to the halfway line, turn around and crawl back. 

The team that gets all their players back over the starting line first, wins!  You can make many variations of this game. For little kids, you can just have 1 line so they're not racing against anyone and no one wins or loses.

Or you can have one line of kids that are turtles racing against one line that are rabbits.



Find the toys in the jello - messy game

Items Needed

Jello mold or bundt cake pan

Knox Gelatin box (containing 4 packets)

1 box flavored jello (the bigger size box)

Water

Little plastic or rubber toys

In a large bowl, sprinkle gelatin and jello in 2 cup of cold water.  Let stand 1 minute. Add 5 cups hot or boiling water and stir until gelatin and jello are completely dissolved; about 5 minutes. Pour a small amount into the mold, add a few toys, and chill in the refrigerator until firm. (Keep the remaining liquid mixture out on the counter.) After a small amount has set, place another batch of toys in mold and then cover with a little more of the liquid mixture. Refrigerate until set and repeat with toys and liquid until mold is full. As each layer starts to set you can move the objects around if you want them positioned differently.

After completely set, dip mold in warm/hot water (I filled the sink) and run a knife around the edge, invert onto a plate and shake to release. When inverted you might need to use a knife to break the seal.

Then, let the kids start diving their hands into the ooey-gooey jello for some messy fun.  We did this for Clayton's 4th birthday party and the kids searched for little toy lizards in green jello. The game was to see how many lizards they could catch.

Pretzel Trees

Items Needed
Blue construction paper
leaves - preferably small ones
skinny pretzel sticks
glue

This is a fun fall craft. Take the kids "leaf picking". Collect small leaves from bushes, trees, or fallen branches.
Glue several pretzel sticks onto the paper as the tree trunk. Then glue other sticks fanning out from the trunk, like tree limbs.
Let the glue dry. (Otherwise, the pretzel sticks will slide around). Then glue the leaves around the pretzel "branches".

Thanksgiving Candy Corn Turkeys

Items Needed
paper plates
brown construction paper
candy corn
black marker

Cut out a brown turkey head and body (kind of like the shape of a bowling ball with a circle on top.)
Glue it to a paper plate. Then let the kids glue candy corn on like turkey feathers. 
It's a good way to use up leftover halloween candy corn!

Gingerbread House Party

We have an annual tradition of hosting a gingerbread house decorating party with a few families. It's fun for all the kids and is a great holiday tradition to start.
It is quite simple to host. You just buy the gingerbread kits they sell at the grocery store, Michaels, etc and a few extra bags of M&Ms, candy canes or other candies.  Pre-assemble the houses, put out the frosting and bowls of candy and you're all set! If you're not into candy, buy different types of cereal - shredded wheat, fruity cheerios, etc.

 You can get as fancy as you like. If it's little-kid-decorated, it may end up like the one above. The ones below are the Chicago Botanic Garden's versions. Pretty amazing, huh?

How to make a prairie sunbonnet

Do your kids like Little House on the Prairie? Or are they interested in pioneer days? If so, you can make them a prairie sunbonnet.
I will try to post my own instructions and tips soon, but here is where I learned how to do it.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1978-07-01/Make-Your-Own-Sunbonnet-in-Less-Than-Two-Hours.aspx

Click on "Image Gallery" for the pattern and dimensions. 
I was able to shrink the pattern down a few inches to make it fit a little girl.

Rice Krispie Eggs

Start making rice krispie treats using the directions on the back of the marshmallows or rice krispie box with 1 exception. Double the amount of butter called for. Yes - this makes them less healthy, but are rice krispie treats really supposed to be considered a helathy snack? Plus, if you don't, the treats turn rock hard within a few hours and are rendered inedible.  When the marshmallows are melted into the butter, add a few drops of food coloring. If you want 2 different colors of eggs, divide the marshmallows and butter between 2 pots and add a different color in each.  Stir in the rice krispies. (3 cups in 1 pot and 3 cups in the second pot if you're making 2 colors.)
Scoop some krispie mixture into plastic easter eggs until they will be full when closed.  (Some say to spray the eggs with PAM first, but I found that mine didn't stick to the eggs and then I didn't have to deal with greasy plastic eggs when we were finished.)
CLose the eggs and let the rice krispie mixture cool, about a half hour to an hour.

Remove the plastic egg and the rice krispies should be in an egg shape.

Homemade Lemonade

For a fun summer activity, try making homemade lemonade with your children!

RECIPE
1 - 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, about 4 -6 lemons
4 cups cold water (to dilute)
* pureed frozen strawberries

Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.
While the sugar is dissolving, squeeze the juice out of 4 -6 lemons, enough to make 1 cup of juice.
Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 4 cups of cold water. Refrigerate 30 - 40 minutes.  If the lemonade is too sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice.
*Note - we added some pureed frozen strawberries to make strawberry lemonade and the kids liked it better than the regular. 
Another tip - you can add some white grape juice to make it a little less... "lemonadey" .

Cardboard fort

If you ever spot a large cardboard box being thrown away, (and it's clean, of course), GRAB it! It makes a great fort, tent, boat, etc. Duck tape and wrapping paper tubes, string and cups...let the kids' imagination run wild!

Ants in your Pants craft

 Items Needed
construction paper
raisins
glue
scissors
Black marker

Cut out "pants" shapes from construction paper.  You can take your marker and draw a line about an inch from the top of the pants. You can also cut out "buttons" (or circles) from construction paper and draw dots on them to look like buttons. If your kids are old enough, they can help with the cutting and drawing.  Put drops of glue all over the pants. Have the kids stick the raisins on the glue drops. They can also glue on the button. Once the glue is dry, you can draw legs on the "ants".

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