mom sectionmom section
Kids can exercise both at home and indoors in the summer in a number of different ways. Get fun ideas for exercise for kids at home and indoors with help from a professional dance fitness instructor in this free video clip.
"Oh When the Saints Go Marching In" is a classic song that has been around for longer than most of us have been alive. Learn about fun ideas for kids singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" with help from a professional singer and musician in this free video clip.
Creating a playground in your back yard is a great way to make sure that your kids get plenty of exercise outdoors while having fun at the same time. Shop around for a variety of playground accessories that could fit inside your yard so that there's something for everyone to enjoy.
Use fun song and dance ideas for kids to get them up and moving at parties. In classrooms, music and dance activities provide the perfect energy outlet for days when bad weather keeps them indoors. Musical activities help even shy kids to express themselves. Children learn to build self-confidence and tap into their creativity during musical group sessions.
Dedicating a room in your home for your children's play allows them to make a mess and express themselves freely, and allows you to close the door on their free expression without it impacting the other rooms in your home. Personalize your children's playroom with custom wall paint tailored to their personalities and style. From stripes to polka dots and even a chalkboard finish, there are endless paint options available for your child's play room.
The newborn phase passes quite quickly, so many parents want to capture those first few tender weeks in a special photograph. Highlight your baby's small size and delicate frame with contrasting props and people. Since newborns are often sleepy, they are willing participants. Plan the photography session around feedings and fussy time, but don't fret if you have to try again another day. Take advantage of quiet, alert moments as well as those of deep sleep --- both make wonderful photos.
Decorate food for children as a way to make meal time more inviting or to sneak extra veggies on their plates. Inspire children to try new foods and experiment with new flavors by decorating food into works of art. Add a few drops of food coloring to give light-colored foods an interesting hue or for a holiday, such as green for St. Patrick's Day. For older children, provide food ingredients, buffet-style, transformed into block shapes, balls and strings so that each child can construct his or her own work of edible art.
Positive reinforcement is a great way for parents to encourage desirable behavior from their children, and also turns the process of "behaving" into a fun, light-hearted game. There are a range of awards which parents may present to their children and different methods for doing so. Give awards if enough effort is shown by children, or encourage healthy competition between children by giving just one award to a sibling each week.
Every person can help make the world a better place, including young children. When you teach your children to dispose of their garbage and other trash, you raise them to be mindful of the earth, and these habits will last through adulthood. Your children will teach their own children, and Mother Earth will thank you for it.
Fall is an exciting time of year, with many opportunities for messy projects with children. We experience a variety of changes and celebrations, including the transition from summer to fall, the beginning of a new school year, Halloween and the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Parents can engage their children in a range of creative activities on the weekends or after school. Use this season as a time to enjoy the colors of fall, explore the outdoors and experiment with arts and crafts.
When you keep children entertained, they are easier to manage. While babysitting, consider activities that you can do together. It can help make time pass faster for both of you and it's also a way to maintain a close watch over children. There are a variety of activities for adults (over 18 of age) to do with children while babysitting.
A baby's first birthday is something that is more for the parents. A baby will not remember what her first birthday was all about or what she received as presents. The parents will remember all these things, take pictures and create the memories. It is also a great opportunity for extended family to celebrate the birth of the baby. There are many different ways to celebrate a child's first birthday.
Learning to be responsible at a young age can increase a child's potential for future achievement. Unfortunately, many children today are not taught the kinds of morals and values that lead to responsibility. They lack the sense of duty that was standard in previous generations. Teaching your children to be responsible does not have to be an agonizing task. In fact, there are many fun and easy strategies for helping your children become more accountable.
A passport is a booklet that identifies a U.S. citizen and gives them the freedom to travel the world. Many museums, schools and organizations have taken the idea of a passport and modified it for children's programs. Now children can tour a city, a set of museums or complete a class project and receive stamps in their passport to earn a prize. Try one of these passport ideas with your kids.
Breakfast provides your child's body and mind with energy to play and learn throughout the day. Starting the day without a healthy breakfast can impede her ability to focus and leave her drained by the time lunch rolls around. You can make several healthy breakfasts without spending more than a few minutes every morning. Mix up breakfast everyday to keep your child from becoming bored.
By starting early, parents and other caregivers can instill in children the importance of being active and productive citizens. Teaching these citizenship lessons does not have to be complicated, but can instead be integrated into childhood play. As you next prepare activities for your child or the children in your charge, craft some citizenship-themed projects for them to complete.
Most young children love playing make-believe, and one way to encourage their creativity is to create or buy a mythical or magical costume. If you know a young lady who loves reading fairy tales, you can find a wide variety of costumes that will make her feel like the perfect little princess. If you are dealing with a boy who wants to win every game or race, you can choose from mythical heroes known for their bravery.
Baking cookies is a fun way to have quality time with the grandchildren and may also teach them a thing or two about baking. Incorporate stories, such as Greek myths, into your baking time if desired or get creative with unique versions of classic cookie recipes. Through it all remember to enjoy the time with your grandkids.
The beach provides plenty of opportunities for photography. Parents should encourage kids to take a variety of photographs and to mix up taking close-ups, using the zoom, and distance shots. Kids tend to either take scenic shots or people shots so parents might have to guide children to take a mixture. Beach photography is all about fun and experimentation.
Breakfast is a healthy part of kick starting your day off in the right direction. Living busy lifestyles makes it easy to skip what is called the most important meal of the day. Studies suggest that a healthy breakfast is important in helping children and adults lose and maintain weight. For those on a healthy weight loss plan, according to Web MD, breakfast plays a vital role in making dieting and exercise more effective.
If you're trying to think of something for kids to do, consider setting up a homemade carnival. A great idea for a school, church, club or neighborhood, this is a fun and stimulating way for kids to spend several hours. And organizing the carnival yourself ensures that you can keep the costs low.
Coloring is an activity enjoyed by kids all across the world. Coloring is generally using crayons or colored pencils to fill in outlined pictures to make them complete. There are more fun ideas a coloring enthusiast may stack on top of this, such as downloading free pages and books, utilizing coloring games and puzzles and even using online coloring books.
Youth organizations and groups are always in need of extra funding for activities and projects. Attaining this funding, from sources outside family and friends, is a difficult task for most youth. People are willing to donate and help youth organizations but making them aware of your fundraising campaign is a difficult task. However, there are many fun and interesting fundraising ideas that are excellent for youth groups and do raise a substantial amount of money.
While it is a good idea to be prepared in the case of an emergency during high-risk weather seasons, emergencies can happen at any time and being prepared for any emergency all year long is essential. Preparing for emergencies is not always the most fun task, but necessary, and creating fun ideas for emergency preparedness helps keep friends, co-workers and families geared up and ready.
It's not hard for a child to get distracted and wander away from a parent in a park or crowded area. Kids' ID kits aid parents in the recovery of their child by immediately providing law enforcement with a complete identification record. The ID kits contain information including a photo, birth date and other important information such as medical conditions.
Sometimes it is hard to come up with dinner ideas for kids because they can be picky eaters. You may be able to get your kids to try new foods and eat their vegetables if you take a creative approach. Preparing creative meals can be fun for the whole family.
Because parents want their kids to eat a good lunch, they send them to school with nutritious foods in their lunchbox. But sometimes those lovely sandwiches and carrot sticks end up in the school garbage because the kid wants something different, or just something else. You can't always predict what your kid wants to eat, but if you use a little imagination, you can pack a lunch with good food that he'll eat.
Most kids love to cook or make food items themselves. Allowing children to help will teach lessons about measuring, mixing, food safety and may encourage them to eat foods they wouldn't normally try. Cooking with children is also a family activity that provides a special "together" time. Fun cooking ideas and recipes add to the enjoyment of families cooking together.
As a supplement to nutritious eating, vitamins can help provide essential nutrients for growth and health when taken daily. Convincing children to make vitamin-taking a habit, or just getting them to take vitamins with reminders every day can be a challenge, especially for younger children. Help your kids get the hang of vitamin-taking and even value or look forward to it by helping the pills go down with incentives, treats and education.
Kids need their hair to be cut if they want to avoid tripping on their locks, but generally kids would rather play than spend the time it takes to cut and style their hair. Kids' haircuts, unlike adults', should be designed to get the kid out of the styling chair as quickly as possible and back onto the playground.
When it comes to kids, nothing is better than using imagination, play and learning. Decorating anything for a child is fun, and often they love to be little helpers and put their own input into the project. It is also a way to bond with your child and a successful educational opportunity. Several options exist to decorate a child's wagon for any occasion.
Whether you’re planning a move to a new home or overhauling your existing one, creating a sanctuary for your child gives him a place to rest, play and grow. You may think of kids’ rooms as simply filled with stuffed toys and games, but bedrooms for kids can actually be multifunctional, serving as a place to hone artistic skills and emphasize self-esteem. Kids’ room ideas need not mean a complete revamp of your current theme. Many changes may be completed with just a couple of art supplies or pieces of furniture.
A play tent provides children with private, kid-sized space either indoors or in the backyard. You can create a simple and economical play tent using materials you already have at home plus some imagination. Or you can choose an elaborate themed play tent replete with doors, flags and windows. Play tents are not just for boys--you can give your little girl a play tent experience as well.
Pre-teen children can dress up for Halloween in more mature costumes, but they can still have fun and be kids. Finding appropriate costumes for pre-teens is usually easy because pre-teens often have no problem expressing exactly what they want. Ask your children a month or so before Halloween whether they have any ideas. If not, offer a few ideas yourself to get them thinking.
Kids love to build things. It seems like every day they are building new creations like sandcastles, forts or towers. Woodworking projects are a great way for kids to display their creativity. Help your kids get involved in a woodworking project by helping them build something.
Playing dress-up is a valuable activity for young children, according to licensed child psychologist Laurie Zelinger. It exercises imagination and allows kids to explore their identity by imitating adults. Pretending to be a nurse or a firefighter lets kids try on different roles to learn about the world around them. Providing your child with opportunities to play dress-up can benefit their development.
A picture of your child is a perfect Valentine's Day gift for your significant other, grandparents or aunts and uncles.Try to include your child in the gift-making process as much as possible. This will make the craft not only extra fun, but extra special.
Fire prevention takes place every October, and serves as a time for parents and educators to teach children about fire safety. According to the United States Fire Administration (USFA), fires injure over 30,000 people each year and over 4,000 die in fires. In addition to talking to kids about fire safety, different activities help kids to learn more ways to stay safe and help their family in case of an emergency.
Teaching children the importance of a good work ethic and introducing them to the idea of entrepreneurship at an early age, helps them learn how businesses work to benefit households and society overall. Many kids get their first entrepreneurial experience by operating lemonade stands in their neighborhoods during the summer months. Helping your child incorporate a tiki theme into his or her stand can make the stand more marketable to consumers.
New Year's Resolutions offer the chance to improve ourselves. There's no reason kids shouldn't get in on the action as well. Discuss the idea of New Year's resolutions with your child and ask him how he'd like to improve himself. From there, you can work together on resolutions that are meaningful for your child. This makes him more likely to follow through.
One way to encourage kids' creativity and thinking skills is to have them invent things. Making things besides the typical art project allows kids to consider objects in new ways and to problem solve. Inventing ideas can be easy or very difficult depending on the kids' ages, abilities, interests and items available to them. They can turn into long-term family projects or a fun way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.
For generations, kids have been hosting lemonade stands to make extra money in the summer. If you need some extra spending money to buy and do the things that you want this summer, consider getting together with siblings or friends to put on a lemonade stand. While you might not get rich, you will get some extra money and hopefully learn something about what it means to have a business, too.
Almost all kids love sleepovers and, regardless of age, the thrill of hanging out and staying up late never seems to get old. For parents who want to keep the crowd small, preferring to let their child have just one person at a time spend the night, there are plenty of games to keep them entertained.
Whether you're planning the perfect kid's birthday party or helping your child's class celebrate Valentine's Day, creating the perfect loot bag will have your children thinking you're mother of the year. With a little creativity, you'll never create the same old treat bags again.
All parents wants to see their children spend time in a beautiful room. A kid's room can be made to look like a magical place with a little bit of imagination.
Raising children to make good choices and strive to be healthy is quite a job. Good nutrition and an overall healthy diet is a priority that, if implemented at a young age, will lead to a lifetime of smart choices and healthy eating habits.
