Tips for
Wholesome Family Activities
This is the place to be if you're a parent! Here's where you can find
useful tips for wholesome family activities. Stick around and follow
the links to some great ideas.
Travel
Box Games
Make a travel box for your child. You will need a sturdy container with
a lid that can be used as a game board or table. An aluminum cake pan
with a plastic lid works well. Cut out a large piece of felt to fit on
the inside of the lid. Cut out small felt shapes of different colors
and store them in a small zip-lock bag. Inside the cake pan, store a
pad of paper, some crayons, a couple of books, a pair of dice, a deck
of cards and the bag of felt shapes. You might also include a small
cloth bag with a drawstring. Fill the bag with small plastic cars,
animals, people, etc.
To make a felt board, have the child lay the cake pan lid on
his lap upside down and then lay the large piece of felt inside. He now
has a surface on which to arrange and rearrange the felt shapes.
Children can play Fish, War, or just enjoy sorting their deck
of cards.
Using the dice, one child can roll both and try to get pairs
or different combinations of a number, such as a six, or two children
can each take a die and see who can get to six first. First roll a one
and then continue rolling until a two is rolled, then a three and so
on.
Find enjoyable books at your County of Los Angeles Public
Library and ask about a vacation loan.
Fighting
the TV Habit With Books
Can parents fight the television habit with books?
Yes, turn off the television set and read. Let your children
see you enjoying books.
"My mother loves to read and so do I."
Read aloud to your children.
"My daddy reads to me every night."
Yes, there are still some mothers who iron! Continue reading aloud
after your children have learned to read themselves. Children can
understand more complex books than those they are able to read.
7
Neat Things To Do With
Young Children
- Read Arlene Mosel's TIKKI TIKKI TEMBO and learn to say his
name by heart.
- Learn how to sing your phone number to the tune of
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
- Teach your child to type! Two or three letters a day are
plenty.
- Learn how to sew on a button after you read CORDUROY.
- Learn a new song or poem by heart. Man shall not live by
Jingle Bells alone.
- Draw a puppet on a thumb. Drape it with a scrap of cloth.
Teach it to sing a song like "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly."
- Play "What's Missing?" Put a small number of objects on a
tray. Let child look as long as desired. Cover tray. Remove one object.
Let child guess what's missing. Your turn now!
Summer
Outdoor Fun
JUNIOR OLYMPICS
Set up an obstacle course or activity course in your yard. Gear the
activities or events to the age and ability of your children. The idea
of the course is to set up a series of activities that each child tries
to complete in a set amount of time (a kitchen timer or egg timer is
great to have for this event). Activity suggestions: transferring water
from one container to another with a small cup; riding a trike or big
wheel a certain distance; throwing a ball through a hoop; hopping from
a chair to a fence; wadding up paper and tossing it into a basket;
rolling a ball across the grass with your nose; etc. Let the children
help dream up different activities...the sillier the better. Adjust
rules and time allowed for different aged children.
Going
Visiting???
When planning to visit adult friends or relatives not accustomed to
entertaining children, the outing will be more enjoyable for all with
some advance preparation. A blanket or beach tower spread out will help
define a play area for younger children. Pack a lunchbox or daypack
with items like puzzles, picture books, a cassette player and story
cassettes, Legos, small dolls, dominoes, small cards, pencil games and
pencils with erasers.
A lunchbox kit may be made up by painting a lunchbox inside
and out with non-toxic spray paint or covering it with contact paper.
Painting the lid with blackboard paint, available in large hardware
stores, will provide a different writing space.
Preschoolers may enjoy: magnetic letters to stick to the lid,
chalk with a small sponge for an eraser, a notepad, crayons, gummed
labels or stickers, a small picture book or two, finger puppets, a
small box of animal crackers or raisins and a small can of juice, and a
coloring book.
For older kids, try a pack of playing cards, chalk and sponge
eraser, a notebook, pocket-sized puzzles, books, jacks, rubber stamps
with an ink pad and paper, pencils and a book on drawing or cartooning,
bubble mix and a blower for outdoor use, and a magnifying glass.
Zoo
Tips
For a closer look at the animals, try to visit the zoo on weekdays when
it is less crowded. Saturdays and Sundays are the zoo's busiest days.
The best time of day to see the animals are early mornings and
late afternoons. Few animals are active in the heat of the day!
You can see over 2,000 animals and birds at the zoo.
See baby animals in the Nursery.
Revised03/07
