we like to make warm treats- waffles, cookies, etc....they can't do alot, but they can stir and pour. both of my sons have pirate aprons...and they really get into it.

We do a lot of craft projects on rainy days. Lately I've been getting cheap unfinished wooden frames from Michaels or Joanns (a buck a piece). Dd loves to decorate them with markers and stickers then picks out a pic to put in the middle. We also do (washable) fingerpainting. She gets real excited when I tell her we'll mail the finished product to her grandparents.

Recently, I visited our friends who have a 5 year old son. They are wonderful young people, educated, with careers, friendly and dedicated to the education of their child.

Together, they created a game that has the same rules as the game of Ludo. The difference is that all players start from the same place, the road to house is much longer, and there is only one “home”.

The winner is the player who reaches the “home” first.

On the way a child has to pass a number of obstacles. When he lands on the square with the letter S, he draws a card with a Serbian word that should be read, the letter M means to draw a card with a mathematical task appropriate to the age of preschool children, the letter E is the word in the English language.

There are plenty of fields with pictures of animals, and a field with a picture of a rooster means that a player needs to crow, a picture of a pig means grunting, and so on ... There is a physical activity, some squares command players to do 15 sit-ups, 10 squats, 10 push-ups...

If somebody does not fulfill the task, he must return back.

My little friend and I played the game 2 times. On my way to “the home”, I had to calculate, cackle, and grunt etc, I did squats and crunches two times; luckily I missed the field with the pushups. Everyone had fun, especially when I was doing 15 sit-ups on the host’s living room floor, dressed in a casual suit, after the delicious and abundant dinner.

The game is really useful, because it contains both mental and physical activity. The child has a chance to develop his creativity already in the built phase of the board for the game, and now he is improving his knowledge and develops his skills while having fun.

I strongly recommend this game to adults, too, especially the part with physical activity.

Um, clean??

No, seriously.

I have three young kids and my house can easily look like the storm blew threw it after a whole day inside. So when we have extra time inside, I break things up by supervising multiple short cleanup sessions (5 minutes or so). It keeps the house neater, but also generally gets the kids interested in something new (a toy they find under the couch perhaps). And it helps keep a clear area for my kids to play in. Some fun "cleanup time" music helps make it a game.

Maybe your son would like to wash some of his toys or shoes in the bathtub or sink? Even a bucket of sudsy water in the middle of the kitchen floor if that works. Add in a couple of types of brushes and sponges and it's actually quite fun. Who knows, something might even get cleaned!

It might even be a good day to fit in a lesson about dusting, vacuuming, or wiping down a table. My kids get such a kick out of using the vacuum. I keep a spray bottle of "kid safe" cleaner on my counter (half water, half vinegar) and I sometimes have one of my kids clean the dining room table with that.

Rearranging the furniture in a room can be fun activity too. And then it's a whole "new" space for a child to explore and play in.

A young child could help reorganize and clean a bookshelf. And that might turn up some books he hasn't looked through in a while.

Also, purging kid clothes or toys? I like to involve my kids in that sort of thing anyway. And again, going through toys might bring to light something that hasn't been played with for a while.

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Proud Mommy of Three Supercool Kiddos!

We've been making musical instruments lately (drums made out of oatmeal containers, stringed instruments with rubber bands) and then filming ourselves. The videos are hilarious and will make great mementos eventually (I hope).