Tag: teens

Music Critic’s Club

Music Critic’s Club

onceadayamazing

Bossy or a pushover? It seems like kids fall into one camp or the other. One of the most important skills of childhood is learning to express thoughts and feelings openly and appropriately. Enter the Music Critic’s Club! Kids will just think they are having fun, but they are also learning a great skill: to have an opinion and to accept other’s opinions.

Put together a varied collection of songs on CD’s, old records, or playlists. Don’t forget some tunes from when you were young! Give kids paper and write down numbers 1-10. Play a bit of each song and let them rate it, expressing reasons for their rating. Pre-teach kids to accept each other’s opinions, even if their brother gives their favorite song a 1! This is good training for opinionated parents, too! Practice validating your kiddo’s response instead of trying to convince him that Milli Vanilli deserves a solid 10, controversy notwithstanding.

If you are being amazing on the go, turn to different radio stations and rate from whatever is playing.

Have fun with your little music critics!

 

Have fun with

Spy Cookie Capers

Spy Cookie Capers

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My husband is masterful at inventing creative dates. Before we were married, he once told me to be dressed all in black when he picked me up. We went to his apartment, made cookies, donned black knit caps, and went out on “capers” as he called them. In the cover of the dark night, we found our professor’s houses. We rang the doorbell, left cookies, and ran. It’s how I’d imagine Pollyanna doorbell ditching if she ever did such a thing. I thought the date was fun, and knew he was a keeper.

Try it with your family tonight! Sneaking around corners like a spy is part of the excitement, so don’t forget to dress in black and get into character! (Just don’t act too suspicious. You don’t want to create fond family memories of jail time!)

Sardines

Sardines

onceadayamazing

Whole Family/Under 10 minutes/

How we love to play Sardines! Grab flashlights for the weak-hearted, turn off the lights, and have a great time before bed with this reverse game of hide and seek. We had a great time playing tonight, except for our spoiler kitties. They kept stalking the hiders and alerting everyone to where they were!

  1. One person hides, while others count to 30 in another room with the door closed.
  2. When you find the hider, quietly join them!
  3. Once everyone is packed…like a sardine…into one hiding spot, repeat with another hider.

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