Thankful in November: Day 11 to 14

Day 11: Kool-aid coloring pages! We used a cornucopia coloring page and outlined it with glue, then sprinkled different colors of kool-aid over the different fruits. They smelled so good!

Day 12: Color by number cornucopias from 3dinosaurs.com. She has a ton of great printables (many of which we'll be doing in the coming days). We turned it into a dice game and they colored in the items that matched the number they rolled. They aren't great at staying in the lines, but at least they are getting better at staying on task the whole time.

Day 13:  Follow the directions Thanksgiving coloring page. It was a 'find the circle with the pilgrim hat and color it green' kind of game and they seemed to like it. We had to change it up a little towards the end and only do outlines (it took almost an hour to do this game!) but we made it to the end!

Day 14: We made treat bags for their preschool friends (found the idea on Pinterest). They are filled with bugles and Runts and look like tiny cornucopias!

Almost halfway through the month and it's been great so far! Lots more to come : )

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

Are you stuck inside on a cold or rainy day? Do you have sick kids who can't attend playgroups or go to the nursery, keeping you at home and confined? Are your kids tired of their toys and acting out because they are bored? Try this!

Set up stations around the room with different sets of toys. I used three different puzzles, a shape sorter, stacking cups and pull-back cars. Depending on the ages/stages of your kids, you can make things more challenging by mixing all the puzzle pieces together instead of sorting them by puzzle, spreading out the stations or maybe even using blindfolds.

Treat the game like an obstacle course. Time them and see how fast they can complete all of the activities. They can compete against each other if they are close in age or against their own best time. Take turns with the kids setting up the different activities and rules - they might think of ways to use their toys that you wouldn't have. Here are some other ideas for stations:

• Build a block tower X blocks high (varied based on the age of the child)
• Say all the sounds of the Little People farm animals as you hold each one up
• Do a somersault or jumping jacks
• Say the alphabet or count to 20
• Roll a ball towards anything resembling bowling pins (toilet paper/paper towel cores)
• Make a snake out of play-doh

The possibilities are endless... and you can bet that they won't be bored with their toys for much longer!

Autumn Scavenger Hunt

Halloween decorations are starting to rival Christmas decorations! Why not make a game out of it?! Create a scavenger hunt list or a BINGO card with all the things that your kids think they will see during a walk around the neighborhood. You can include pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, tombstones, spiderwebs, ghosts, colored lights, blow-ups... anything! Then go for a walk and let your kids find the items on their list or card. Get little toys as prizes, or make coupons that are "good for one piece of candy" that they can cash in after trick-or treating. As a family you can get some exercise, play a game and use your creativity. What do you think? Image from FamilyFun.com

Alphabet Treasure Hunt

My kids love playing peek-a-boo, so I'm already seeing plenty of games of hide and seek in our future. I started thinking that we can (and should) take the things that our kids love to do already and use them to make learning more fun. If your kids are old enough, try this: Get magnetic alphabet letters for the refrigerator and hide them around the house (use one room for little kids, the whole house for older kids). Give them some time to race around to find the letters and bring them back to the refrigerator. Help them identify the letters and put them in ABC order. If any letters are still missing, help them figure out which ones are missing by singing the alphabet song. What are some other ideas for teaching kids their letters (and numbers)? As an added incentive to contribute your ideas, you'll get another entry in my blog giveaway for commenting!! If you haven't entered yet, see the post below for all the contest details!

Treasure Chest Wipes Container

As my boys were quietly and steathfully pulling all the wipes out of the wipes box, I came up with an idea for toddlers through pre-school aged kids. When the box is empty, fill it with a random assortment of objects you have around the house and have your kids put their hands through the slot to feel the items. If your kids are both able to do it, have them write down what they feel (or draw the items if they can't spell yet). You might want to tell them how many items you put in the box. After they have made their guesses, reveal the items and see who got the most correct.

Try to get creative with textures. Some examples of items you have around the house:

• The cap to a 2-liter bottle or gallon of milk
• A magnetic refrigerator letter
• A clothes pin
• A toy car
• Doll shoes
• Legos
• Feathers
• A beaded necklace
• Cotton balls
• Q-tips
• A binkie
• Chapstick

For Round 2, name an item in the box that you want them to find. Time them to see how long it takes to feel for and produce each specific object.

For Round 3, for older kids, give them a letter of the alphabet and have them feel around until they find an object that starts with that letter. This can be a timed game too.

And keep in mind: prizes always make games more fun!

Appy Kids

No ladies, that's not a typo. I mean Apps as in for iPhones, which I am not lucky enough to own, but I'm sure some of you are. Here are a couple kid friendly apps that you can pick up for next to nothing - and the peace and quiet they'll provide is priceless! There are tons and tons and tons available, but here are just a few that sounded like homeruns. $2 Each FirstWords: Vehicles or Animals This one is best for older kids. They use their fingers to push the letters into place to spell words, making the graphics come to life once they are spelled correctly.

Balloonimals Great for any age. When you blow into the microphone on your iPhone, a balloon inflates, then shake the phone and watch it twist and turn into a T-Rex, unicorn and other creatures.

Wurdle Ages 5 and up. Great for teaching spelling and phonics. Makes learning new words fun in a fast-paced way.

$1 Each Preschool Adventures Probably best for 3-4 years and up. Choose from six simple activities dealing with ocean colors, space shapes, a monkey body, farm sounds, animal matches and dot-to-dot numbers.

Scribble Great for any age. Draw and erase as much as you want with no mess to clean up afterwards!

iColoringBook Great for any age. This app gives you 30 pages to color, or you can download the Lite version for free (which gives you 10 pages to color). [For $2.99, there is also a Curious George coloring book with 48 monkey pages to color.]

Free!!Free!!Free!! BubbleWrap Just as it sounds. When your kid needs a distraction, let them 'pop' til they drop.

Dress Chica Probably more girl-friendly, but no one's judging : ) Choose hats, scarves and shoes for PBS KIDS Sprouts characters.

Brain Tuner Ages 5 and up. Test your basic math skills against the clock.

Worth the $4.99 Baby Monitor Going on a trip and don't want to pack your bulky monitor? Download this app and simply place the iPhone next to your baby's crib. If noise is detected, the iPhone will call a phone of your choice (like you're cell phone). That's awesome!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

My parents are big into landscaping, so as a child, we took a lot of trips to home improvement stores looking for the perfect plants, scrubs, trees and flowers. And as a child, it was boring! My sister and I would occupy ourselves by collecting paint color samples and wallpaper samples and leave the store with guilty grins like we had stolen something. The beauty though, was that they were (and still are!) free!

Home Depot offers a Disney line of paint colors. They come on 2x2" cards and the color is in the shape of Mickey's ears. Here are a couple thoughts:

• Pick up two of several different colors (2 reds, 2 blues, etc) and play Memory with them - you remember the matching game from when we were kids
• Pick up two of several different colors and write RED on one, ROJO on the other (ORANGE/NARANJA; YELLOW/AMARILLO; GREEN/VERDE; BLUE/AZUL; PURPLE/VIOLETA; PINK/ROSADO; BROWN/MARRON; BLACK/NEGRO; WHITE/BLANCO) to teach English and Spanish pronunciations and spellings. You could either glue them together (front English/back Spanish) or keep them separate to mix up like flashcards.
• Pick up two of several colors that match the motif of your child's bedroom (pinks, blues, etc). Cut out the shape of the Mickey ears, glue together and hang on string to create a mobile to hang in their room.

Did any other ideas come to mind? Please share!