Ideas from YOU

We hope that you are enjoying and benefiting from our posts on this blog, and we really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and ideas with us! In that spirit, and to encourage more sharing, here are some of the gems we’ve received from you:

Jumping Letter Party: For morning movement, our two kids (5 and 7) have a jumping party, and it has a letter of the day theme. As they jump, they come up with words that start with that letter and make a plan of what they will do with them. After they finish jumping, they might act out the words for parents to guess. They might use Legos or playdough to create the letter. They might cut out a giant letter and write as many of the words as they can on that letter. Finally, they use pipe cleaners to add to a growing alphabet decoration on the mantle.


Graphing Playdough Colors: The picture explains it all, but you could imagine doing this with other toys or household items, or even with things you collect outside!



Playing Hangman: Can you solve the puzzle?        

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt: Starting from a park or central location, families have put together scavenger hunts using natural clues, but you could also make your own. (Or get some inspiration on PBS Kids with this Nature Cat Scavenger Hunt and related episode, or with this Daniel Tiger clip, or this Shape Hunt with Dinosaur Train! You could get some inspiration and practice some measurement and counting skills with this Peg+Cat Treasure Hunt video too!)

Neighborhood Dance Parties: At the same time, everyone puts on music and starts dancing. Stream it with friends on Facebook or go out on your lawn to dance from a distance with your neighbors. (Our oldest’s band teacher just told all the 4th graders to go outside at noon on Thursdays and play a song on their instrument for others to hear. Thank you, thank you for the recommendation to play their instrument outdoors-ha!)

Neighborhood Art Show: As your children make artwork, display it on a door or window so that people passing by can see it. You can also use chalk on driveways or sidewalks to say hello to walkers passing by and to share art and spread joy.

And finally, some Funnies to start off your week:

I’m loving the Borowitz Report! Here’s one on Trump distancing himself from his prior comments, and another on Trump and his TV Ratings!

In honor of April Fool’s Day, Marion included this amazing-ness in the notes about potential future projects from our Leadership Meeting at work this week:

KidLaunch: NASA is looking for a research team to support its 2021 initiative to send 10 children, ages 2-8 to the moon. The aim is to examine whether early, real-world space experiences lead to a better understanding of Earth and Space Science, relative to children’s Business-As-Usual exposure to related concepts and skills.

And I saw this tweet featured in a list put together by the Huffington Post: "Parents! Please post the board games and non-iPad things you are doing with your kids this week so I can block you!"