FREE OR CHEAP: SOME BACK TO SCHOOL READING

It's back-to-school time and I wanted to point you in the direction of some articles that will help your kids get in gear for the new school year.

How to Develop Math Literacy in Preschool Kids

How to Help Kids Understand Fractions

How to Get Kids' Minds Ready to Go Back to School

How to Help Learning Disabled Kids with Math

FREE OR CHEAP: 16 IDEAS FOR SUMMER FUN

Summer is almost over. Now is the time to squeeze all the extra juice you can of the last few weeks of warm weather. So if you haven't done any of the following yet this summer, what are you waiting for?

1. Slip 'n' slide/sprinkler party followed by popcicles for everyone. Slip'n'slides are inexpensive, around $20 to $30. Be sure to supervise to ensure safety--I've seen some bad spills when kids got a little too rambunctious.

2.Make homemade ice cream in ziploc bags.

3. Fly a kite.

4.Letterboxing. Haven't heard of this? Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform.

Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.

Check out the official website to find letterboxing locations near you (or start one!).

5.Have a water balloon fight. If you have a little extra money, buy soaker balls which are cloth balls that soak up water to make a reusable 'water balloon'. They are relatively inexpensive (around $5 to $6 for a package of 4 or 6).

6.Have a water pistol fight.

7. Go kart racing.

8. Make aFoamboard doll house/ superhero set. This is a great rainy day activity that can be adapted for boys or girls. You need one sheet of foamboard for kid (which costs like $2) and a bunch of catalogs/magazines for them to cut out pictures of furniture etc... in order to decorate the space.

9.Have a weinie roast and make campfire s'mores.

10. Go for a walk in the dark with a flashlight. Try to pick a night with a full moon and let 'em loose. Add walkie talkies, if you've got them, to turn your midnight jaunt into a secret mission.

11. Make your own pizzas...repeatedly. Older kids should be charge with making homemade dough and everyone should top their own pie.

12. Make sidewalk paint.
Ingredients:
·1/4 cup cornstarch
·1/4 cup cold water
·6-8 drops food coloring
·Paint Brush

Procedure:
1.Mix cornstarch and cold water together in a small plastic bowl.
2.Add food coloring and stir.
3.Repeat the process to create different colors.

Tips:
Use Super Sidewalk Paint for painting hopscotch grids, cakewalks, even make-believe roads and highways for toy cars.

13. Make goop.

14. Find a drive-in theater and go to the movies. Here's a list of drive-in locations around the US.

15. Go somewhere new close to where you live. I live by Lake Erie and we haven't been there once--oversights like that should be rectified. City and national parks with water often have rowboat or kayak rentals at reasonable prices. Go fishing.

Or go to a museum.

Look for Renaissance Fairs in your area (although they can be on the expensive side).

Go to a classic car night at a local restaurant or pub--this is free unless you order food and kids will enjoy people and car watching. Stop for ice cream on the way home and talk about which cars you liked best.

16. Fill a pinata with candy and whack away. Who says you need to wait for a birthday or special occasion? Any time is pinata time. Have kids make a cheap pinata with a brown bag. Let them fill it with candy. Tape it shut. Decorate and whack away.

Low Cost Activity: Strawberries!

Just a friendly reminder that it is strawberry season. This is a great time to locate U-pick farms in your area and take the kids strawberry picking.

Depending on age, there are all sorts of yummy things you can do with strawberries. Make smoothies. Top ice cream. Add 'em to yogurt. Or make strawberry freezer jam which is a great way to save the taste of Spring for the depths of Winter. Kids of most ages will love helping to smash the strawberries for jam--just be sure to wear old clothes.











Photo Credit:jeltovski

Low Cost Activities For Kids: Making Memories For Memorial Day

Juice up your Memorial Day weekend and your parenting with fun and easy crafts for kids from pre-school age up to late elementary from Better Homes & Gardens.  If you can get past the annoying subscription pop up ads, you'll find a wealth of simple, fun crafts that will get everyone's creative juices flowing.

Suite 101 has some Memorial Day craft ideas for the holiday as well.

This is a touching and sweet idea, use face paint to make military tattoos to either honor loved ones in service or explore the art of military tattoos. Here is a great write up on the artistic themes and motifs found in military tattoos. Once, you've had a little tattoo art history lesson, have kids draw their tattoo design first on paper and then help them recreate it on their body with face paint.

If you are tight on cash and time, make macaroni necklaces, but paint the macaroni with patriotic colors.

The Parent Juice family is going to be out of town the rest of the week, so posting will be light, however, we are developing a great biological science activity for you and your kids. Check back next week and learn how you can have a blast with the ants in your driveway.

Photo Credit: Click

Free Activity For Almost Any Age: Use Toilet Paper Like An Egyptian

It's a dreary day of thunderstorms and pounding rain  here at the Juice household, meaning there's no way to go outside and burn off energy. We've colored, built towers, watched Elmo, and been to Gymboree and we still have four hours until bed time.

What to do?

Why, break out ancient Eypgtian arcehology and toilet paper, of course. Isn't it obvious? This activity is messy and a bit wasteful, but if you do it right, toilet paper will buy you an hour of free time. Here's how...

1. For older kids, make like an Egyptian and TP your offspring. Yes, I'm serious. First, visit National Geographic's mummy page or Discovery Kids Mummy Maker to learn about mummies. Then, hand kids a roll of toilet paper and instruct them to make themselves into mummies. Supply stickers and markers for children to decorate their bandages with. This is a great activity for sibling groups because they will help wrap each other up.

Then play Walk Like An Egyptian by the Bangles and encourage a mummy dance party. (Discussion of the 80s pop culture movement is optional and perhaps better left unexplained.)

2.For older preschool age kids or younger elementary age kids, use toilet paper as a measuring tape and have kids number the squares sequentially in marker. For example, how many toilet paper squares tall is your child? How big around?

Wrap them up in toilet paper or let them wrap and unwrap you. Play TP catch or roll TP on the floor to see who can unravel the most toilet paper in one push.

3.Toddlers will marvel at how the toilet paper unravels as it rolls. Put on some upbeat music and let them run wild. If they have the coordination to kick, play TP soccer, which for toddlers means kicking TP around the room, missing often, and occassionally wiping out.

4.For infants, substitute tissue paper for toilet paper and use a pacifier to avoid unwanted snacking. Tissue paper works better for infants because it's more durable, comes in a variety of colors and designs, and crinkles delightfully in little fists. It provides sight, sound, and tactile stimulation to get baby's brain buzzing.

5.Most kids would enjoy toilet paper streamers in a door way for an impromptu, sensory stimulating curtain that will take peek-a-boo to a whole new level. Secure streamers with painter's tape to minimize potential damage to wall finishes.

Mess Control

You will have toilet paper every where if you don't confine kids to one room. Shut doors, lock the baby gates, and set some ground rules.

Provide a trash bin and suggest kids dispose of toilet paper they are finished with.

If you want parenting time-out, though, let the kids run wild in limited space and deal with the mess later.

Engage kids in the clean up by making it a race to see who can clean up the most toilet paper first.


Photo Credit:jeltovski

Entertain Toddlers & Infants With Hidden Surprises

Today's shot of parent juice is a link to an ehow article about hidden surprises. Basically, while your little one is napping, you are going to set up a bunch of cool surprises using toys and household items you already own.

Which, in case you didn't notice, makes this a free toddler activity. More importantly, this activity should keep toddlers busy for 20-30 minutes.

If you rotate toys, this would be a great activity to bring in a few items your child hasn't seen in a while.

The key is to set this up in secret so when they wake up it's like Santa had a party in your living room with the Easter Bunny and left all their cool toys behind just for your toddler.

So hop to it!

Photo Credit: Charmaine Swart

Cheap Toddler Games: Bubbles And Rhymes

Here’s a quick, easy,mostly free toddler game anyone can do. All you need are some bubbles and bubble wands. If you can, try to buy Gymboree bubbles as those last longer allowing for toddlers to pounce on the bubbles and pop the bubbles with glee. The Gymboree bubble solution costs between $3-$6 and can be found at their clothing stores or activity centers. However, the drugstore brand Magic Bubble works almost as well as the Gymboree bubbles for half the cost. If you are really itching to spend some money, invest in a bubble machine which run around $20 to $30.

As for bubble wands, this time of year most drugstores sell assortments of wands for around $5. The only reason I suggest making the investment is they have mini bubble wands that yield a ton of small bubbles.

However, before you break out the bubbles, first do the following rhyme with your toddler, but omit the bubble lines at the end. Run through the rhyme a few times so they start to learn the movements. This rhyme also teaches the concepts of high and low and body awareness in relation to height. Plus, it gets little bodies moving and burns energy.

Each word in the rhyme gets a clap. The rhyme’s movements are pretty self explanatory. When it’s time to go fast, clap fast, when the rhyme says to go slow, clap slow etc...

Once you add the bubbles into the mix, encourage your toddler to chase them down. Depending on your toddler’s energy and interest level you can stretch this activity out for 20 minutes or more (although, fair warning, it may involve repeating the rhyme several times).

Clap, clap, clap

Clap your hands high

Clap your hands low

Clap your hands fast

Clap ‘em real slow

Clap ‘em by your ear

Clap ‘em by your toes

Clap your hands quiet

Clap your hands loud

Now let’s clap some bubbles

Pop,pop,pop

Clap, clap, clap

Note 1: I am fearless and blow bubbles in the living room. I have not had any permanent stains, but sometimes the bubble solution leaves soap skid marks in the rug that come out once we steam clean the carpet. If you don’t own a steam cleaner, this may be an activity to do in the basement or outside on a calm day.

Note 2: This toddler activity is great for mixed age groups. Babies will enjoy clapping and watching the bubbles even if the finer points of the rhyme pass them by.


Photo Credit: Tinah via Morgue File