You’ll need:

• A container – wide-mouthed glass jar or tupperware
• A lid you can poke air holes in.
• A creature
• Habitat material – dirt, plants and stones from near where you found your creature will make them feel most at home.

Our latest creatures were roly polies.

The boys found material from our yard to make the roly polies comfortable in their new jar home.

They carefully and lovingly created a habitat for their short term pets.

We used a wide moth jar and a piece of plastic with holes poked in it for a lid.

They boys enjoyed watching, discussing and caring for their “little roly poly friends.”

We looked up roly polies online to learn more about them.

We took out a couple of the bugs and drew them in our notebooks, then I asked what we had learned about the roly polies that the boys wanted to include on their page and they dictated their facts to me so I could include them in the notebook entry.

Questions you can ask:

Where do these creatures live?

What do you think this creature eats?

What do you think eats it?

Do you think this is an adult or a baby? (We learned that a grasshopper in our yard was bright green as a baby, but brown as an adult.)

Where can you identify your jar pets?

We read about our roly polies on Wikipedia after searching for their common name.

I also found the sites insectidentification.org and bugguide.net which are filled with information about bugs and may help you identify your jar pet.

Tips:

Use common sense when handling any wild creature.

Only keep your jar pets for a short time – let kids know ahead of time to set that expectation.

Keep the jar pets at kids eye level so kids can easily observe the creatures.

For more summer fun, be sure to check out my Camp Mom! Summer Activities Pack, designed for kids ages 2-9, on sale through August.

Fun for More Than One:

Keeping Jar Pets is a Great Activity for Ages 5-8.  Here’s how to involve children of different ages.

Babies: can enjoy being outside with siblings, look at the jar pet while being securely held by an adult.

Toddlers: can enjoy searching for a jar pet, collect materials for the habitat, enjoy looking at the jar pet – beware of storing the jar within toddler reach otherwise you may wind up with an escaped bug and broken jar.  Toddlers may enjoy playing pretend and storing a plastic bug in a shoebox for “their own” pet.

Older children: can make plans and create a habitat for long term jar pet keeping, help younger kids construct the habitat, write about or draw the jar pet, search out identification and care information about the creature.

 

One of my goals recently is to have a couple ten minute “Special Times” (one-on-one time) with each of my kids each day.  You might think ten minutes one-on-one is short and would happen every day naturally, but it doesn’t seem to happen without me making it a priority, and just that short time of concentrated attention is making a big difference for all of our happiness.  Having a few easy to pull out activities to suggest to the child I’m having special time with makes it easier to be sure this ten minute connection happens.

During Special Time we do an activity together and card games have been a real hit for this time. We also play card games together as a family, but they work especially well as a little connection activity during one on one time. Here are five of our favorites.  The links below are Amazon affiliate links:

Spot It  is a quick matching game – each card has one item in common with each other card, but ONLY one thing.  It takes quick eyes to spot the matching items.  The game comes with five different ways to play and when you play one on one with your child you can alter the rules as needed to make it enjoyable for them to play.

My only issue with playing this game with younger kids is that the version we have (pictured above) has rather odd images.  You can learn or make up the names of them (weird hand shape! question mark! target!), but if I could go back I would buy the version they have out now called Spot It Jr.! Animals which has cute pictures of animals – much easier to recognize than the pictures on the original Spot It cards.

Uno – This classic is such a great ten minute game.  Kids can start learning it very young and you can play simply at first, just matching colors or learning their numbers.  By the time they’re five years old or so, they can play on their own against you, and there’s just enough luck involved that they can win occasionally,even when you play at your best against them.

Aquarius is a little like dominoes with cards.  It requires no reading, features colorful cards and quirky rules for play.  You might have to help younger kids understand what to goal is, but even if they don’t quite get it, they have fun linking up the cards.

Story cards – We use story cards as story starters, as inspiration for mini books or sometimes to sort into piles for which activity would go with which season.  We have a set of cards I made from free printable on the Montessori for Everyone Site.  Scroll down to “Season Matching Cards” and you’ll find a whole set of pictures for each season that you can print and laminate.  Above I’ve linked to cards with a similar idea: eeBoo Tell Me a Story – Mystery in the Forest, which includes instructions for a variety of imaginative games.

Finally, we can’t forget games played with regular ol’ playing cards.  Get yourself a copy of Hoyle’s Rules of Games and try a few card games.

• Kings on the Corner – was a favorite in my husband’s family when he was growing up.
• Gin Rummy – This is what my grandma taught us when we’d come to visit, might be harder with young kids.
• Go Fish – There is something delightful about telling your opponent, “Nope, go fish!”

Those are a few of our favorite card games to play with our 5 and 8 year old (the 2 year old also gleefully “plays” when she’s on someone’s team ).  What else can you recommend?  I love having these easy to games for connection time and would be happy to add more.

For more game recommendations for kids, check out these posts:

4 Fun Learning Games from A Mom With a Lesson Plan – I want all of these now, but Mastermind for kids is particularly intriguing to me.

Funny Games for Kids - I’ve never tried the cooperative games she lists.  Race to the Treasure looks neat!

If you gather together a basic art kit you can do do a huge variety of fun projects and it won’t take so long to set up.  Gather your basic arts and crafts supplies into one spot with a drop cloth and possibly an old shirt for a smock and start exploring some of these art projects.

Painting and Drawing:

• Read a story- ask your child to draw a character or scene from the book
• Draw three squares on a paper, help your child draw a comic.
• Play pass the drawing- great doodling fun for many ages
• Draw with crayons, then paint over the crayon drawing with water colors.
• Paint with water color then draw over the dried painting with markers.
• Gently heat crayons over a candle flame and let your child make dots and blops.
• Place flat objects on the table and do rubbings- try leafs, coins, fabric or string
• Write a secret message with white crayon, let your child paint or color with marker over it to discover the message.
• Paint water over a page and then draw with washable markers, alternatively, draw with washable markers and then paint over with water.

Glue, Tape and Decorate:

• Make a 3-D paper sculpture by taping or gluing pieces of folded or looped paper to a page.
• Dive into the recycle bin and create a junk sculpture. (A robot, a town or a spaceship are popular here.)
• Make a card for anyone for any occasion. Draw, glue on decorations, write down what your child would like to say.
• Decorate a shoe box  or jewelry box to make a treasure keeper.
• Find some #6 Plastic in your recyclables and try making recycled shrinky dinks
• Try making a collage picture with ripped up pieces of construction paper.  Draw a shape and fill it with bits of paper.
• Draw with glue on paper and allow to try, paint or color over the bumpy picture.

Cut and Fold

• Make crowns to decorate by taping a strip of paper into a circle.
• Fold a piece of paper a few times and experiment with cutting out shapes.  Cut out snowflakes.
• Make Paper Dolls or a paper doll chain to decorate.
• Fold a paper airplane and give your child the coloring supplies to decorate it.
• Trace your child’s hand and your hand, cut each out and compare.
• Make a paper chain for decoration or to count down to a special day.
• Make a book and let your child dictate a story to you.  Stories of events in your kids life or re-tellings of storybooks work well.

Sometimes I can manage a quick trip alone, but mostly I have all three kids with me.  My goal is to make going to the grocery store a time that we enjoy being together instead of a crummy chore to get out of the way.

Strategies for Making Grocery Shopping With the Kids More Fun

Try out a few of these strategies on your next grocery trip  and maybe it can be a connection time instead of a struggle.

Maybe start with lunch in the deli – I know, it’s usually not great food and it takes MORE time then, but it makes for a simple yet special time with mom or dad and nobody will be shopping hungry. When timing is right, this is a fun one for us.

Make the kids grocery lists – You can create you own from newspaper clippings or just writing down a list.  We’ve got these things called Trip Clips (this is not sponsored by them, I just still use the product a lot – which was sent to me when they were previous sponsors of CWK.) On the Trip Clip site you can print grocery lists that include a picture of the foods to shop for and how many to get.  I never regret it when I take the time to print the kids personalized lists. It keeps them on target at the store and gives them reading practice too.

Get yourself organized – I know you’ve heard it before, but having a meal plan and making a list before shopping makes it easier.  For a long time it just wasn’t happening for me though. The way I’m finally managing it each week now, is through using emeals Family Meal Planner (affiliate link). This way I just print their list, cross off the meals I won’t be using and add in a any extra groceries we need (lunches, breakfasts) and I’m set. It makes it so I can shop for a week’s worth of food without buying all the wrong stuff and wasting it.

Know your shopping style and don’t worry about it –

Some people are able to clip coupons and go to more than one store, if this works for you maybe the kids can help find coupon items for you at the store.  Multiple stores and coupons don’t work for me. I save more money by planning ahead and using emeals (affiliate link) than I do by doing a bad job of keeping track of coupons and trudging to multiple stores.

I do keep a separate list for the few items that are significantly cheaper elsewhere and occasionally make a run to those other sores for those items.  My feeling is: choose the store you know well and can get through quickly and call it good.

Try not using a cart - If we’ve got a smaller shopping trip to do, my kids for some reason do better without the cart to cause fights. If I give them shopping baskets they enjoy being important helpers, so long as I don’t load them down too heavy

Set expectations before walking into the store – Will you be getting a race car buggy? Will you be buying gum? Stopping at the 25 cent machine (curse them!)? A little prep-talk in the car can go a long ways.

Keep giving them jobs – carrying something heavy is a great job. From a sensory perspective, bringing you something heavy like a bag of oranges, gives satisfying sensory input to growing bodies.  Besides – any kid feels good when they can help out mom by doing some of the heavy lifting.

More grocery store jobs:

• Crossing off grocery list items
• Reading the next item on the grocery list
• Reading prices (which is cheaper?)
• Pushing the buggy
• Choosing produce

Play Grocery Store I Spy – If you’ve got beginning readers they might enjoy looking for a particular word or letter “Who can find the word SALE?” You can have kids look for a particular color or get into a game related to food and health: “Who can find three healthy things we like to eat at breakfast?” “Who can spot something here that would give you good energy for soccer?”

Indulge in Grocery Store Fantasy – Good for when the “I wants” come up. You ask questions like: “OK, if the grocery store only carried three things, what do you wish they were?”  ”What if we could only eat candy? Wouldn’t that be funny? What would you eat for breakfast?”

You can indulge in imagining these things without saying yes to actually eating marshmallows and chocolate for breakfast, and the conversation may carry you along far enough to get past the initial desire your child has for Sugar Yummy Pops or Plastic Toy of Doom.

Have an action plan for tantrums and fights – This will depend on your kids and your needs. I have had to leave the store because there was no coming back from the depth of screaming we were heading into. Usually though, I’ve GOT to get groceries shopped for, so we find a way to continue.

• Sibling Fighting: The most common problem I have at the store is my two boys start fighting, usually over who gets to ride on the end of the cart. If my boys start fighting they lose the privilege of riding on the cart (either for the whole trip or for two aisles or whatever limit seems right at the time.) To keep them separate I have one walk up front and one has to walk by me. If necessary I have them actually hold onto the side of the cart. This is a great time to give jobs of spotting a grocery you need or to start playing Grocery Store I Spy

• Tantrums: Obviously, we try to avoid shopping when someone is sick, tired or hungry, but sometimes one of my kids still gets angry.  What usually works is to bring the tantrumming kid up close to me.  For the toddler this might mean having her sit on the handle while I hug her and we walk. For the five year old this means I pause (as SOON as the grousing starts to pre-empt a bigger explosion.) I talk quietly and extremely calmly and work on redirecting or using When/Then ( described in the next tip down) “Wow, we’ve got to get our groceries. Hey, I really need your help, do you think you could find a bag of onions for me?”  <<giving a job again!

Use When/Then – Very calmly state the order of events.  No threats, just: “When we get everything on our list then we can go look at the kids section, now, who can go get me the butter?”  ”When we’ve finished getting veggies, then you can pick out the cereal…”

Give yourself time – It’s so much easier to be patient when you’re not having to rush.  If you can get into the mental mode of this being a playful adventure, it’s easier to relax.

OR…

Try to beat the clock - A whole ‘nother tactic is to play Beat The Clock.  Some times we play this game and dash through the store – it only works if you can keep the excitement up as you go along.

What are your tricks for making grocery shopping with kids more fun?  Scroll down to leave a comment and let us know!

How do you keep a baby’s nap schedule when you’ve got multiple kids?

Does anyone have any advice about coordinating schedules with multiple children? I have a preschooler and a baby and would love to to hear some different ideas about how to make our days work.   My biggest problem is that it is difficult to maintain the baby’s nap schedule.  Seems like it always gets delayed because we’re doing something with big brother. ~Leanna

How can you get kids to really enjoy a photo session?

The most wonderful thing about photography is the dual purpose it can bring to our families. It’s a creative hobby that leaves us fulfilled as a moms, but it’s also one that connects us with our children and gives us an instant means to engagement with them too.

Sometimes however, it can be tricky to get our kids on board as happy willing participants in our photography sessions with them.

I know just how frustrating it can be to capture that busy baby, that wiggly toddler, or that independent tween, so today I’d like to offer 3 ideas for keeping your kids engaged and interested in that camera lens of yours.

Let them plan

Have them help you as you plan for a creative adventure or styled photo shoot! Grab a favorite story book and plan a way to re-create a scene from it with a full wardrobe, props, makeup, etc. Or, why not have them tell you their ideas for a family field trip where you can take the camera along. Go to the zoo, the ice cream parlor, or simply the park. The point is to let them choose the location so they’ll let you capture it all!

Let them look

One of my favorite photo bribes I like share with moms is letting your kiddos see the playback screen when your done. Tell your kid(s) “I’m going to take _____ (insert a number you find appropriate here…3, 5, 10?) pictures of you and then I’ll let you see what they look like. OK?” Kids love to see what you’ve done and unlike us they like to see themselves on the screen. Why not allow them to give you their approval after you work your magic behind the lens.

Let them play

Instead letting your kids simply see the pictures you’ve taken, why not let them take some of their own photos? After you get the shots you’re after, pass the camera off to your kids and let them snap a few too. You’ll gain a whole new perspective for what the world looks like through their eyes, but you’ll also have those incredible photos you’ve just snapped of them too!

These tips have helped me capture some of the classic moments that document our life as a family. And, learning to use a camera properly has been a huge part of expanding my creativity and advancing my own self-expression and exploration as well.

Beryl Ayn Young teaches parents how to use their cameras to connect with their kids and beautifully capture family memories  - photography to nourish the body mind and soul. Click here to learn more about Momtographie!

Giveaway – Win Tuition to Momtographie Online Photography Class!!

I am an affiliate of Momtographie and receive a commission for each student who registers through my links – at no extra cost to you.  In fact, CWK readers can get 10% off by using the code cwk at check out!

The newest 6 week in depth Momtographie class starts May 5th – would you like to win free tuition? (worth $249!) Enter by April 29th at Midnight to Win Tuition!

A testimonial from one of Baryl’s students:

I took my camera out during Momtographie class and used it in manual mode for the first time. I was completely comfortable using manual and – WOW! Instant improvement in my photos using the technical and creative tips I learned in class.~Jamie

How to Enter:

Comment below and tell us: What does your family say to get people to smile in a photo?

Is it “Say Cheese!” or something else?  Or nothing?  Comment below and I will select a winner at random on April 30th.  This giveaway is open to people 18 years of age and older worldwide.

Don’t forget – use the code cwk to get 10% off your tuition!  If you register and wind up winning, you will receive a credit back for the cost of the course.  Good Luck!!

Sometimes I get a terrible feeling like I’m missing out on the fun stuff with my five year old.  I wanted more simple and satisfying ways to connect with him. This is why, with help from my readers, I made this list of the activities that are most fun at this age -to let me focus on doing the things he’ll really love and that I don’t want to miss out on.

The Little Kids Must-Do list is filled with simple ideas about how to make the most of this age – I asked for ideas from my readers and have include some of your wonderful quotes as well.

The lovely part about reading all of these is it really does make you excited about the things that you can do with your kindergarten aged kid. This is exactly what we need sometimes – to be re-energized about the FUN parts.

The Little Kids Must-Do List:

Like the Toddler Years Must Do List, this is not meant to be a guilt list, just an inspiration list to help us remember what we love about this age.  Don’t think you have to do everything in order to make great memories with your child, just do the activities that appeal to you.

Play Together

• Make Believe – Act out a Storybook
• Cards
• Board Games
• Dominos
• Face Paint each other.
• Do a puppet show.
• Play Hide and Seek.

Creative Family Fun …I’ve got a 5-yr-old myself and am learning that this is a great age for experiencing things together instead of me just instructing and setting experiences up for them.

 Laugh Together

• Whoopee Cushion
• Teach them knock knock jokes…and listen to their nonsensical ones.
• Magic Tricks, Card Tricks
• Watch a funny movie on a rainy day – my dad introduced us to The Pink Panther (Amazon affiliate link) when we were this age.

Prickly Mom Oh–and practical jokes like the pack of gum that snaps your finger when you try to take a piece. My little guy offered people gum for HOURS.

Get Outside!

• Fly a kite.
• Point out the Big Dipper… Cassiopeia…Orion – watch for satellites together.
• Water balloons
• Plant a garden.
• Make a sandcastle.

• Dig for worms.
• Search for fairies in the garden.
• Build a snowman.
• Collect rocks.
• Watch bugs.

Josie  - My kids have this great memory of playing in a giant mud hole in the garden. I let them get muddy from head to toe a couple times in their underwear. Had to throw them away because sometimes mud doesn’t come out but it was worth it.

 Have an Adventure

• Go hiking
• Camp out – in your living room, in your back yard or in the middle of the woods.
• Go for tea and cake.
• Visit a beach.
• Try Letter boxing or Geocaching.
• Go fishing

• Play in the rain together.
• Have a picnic.
• Do a scavenger hunt.

Liz - Make a treasure map and discover what a long gone pirate left. Take heaps of photos together throughout the year, you could even have photo expeditions around town. Get lots printed and scrapbook them together to create a permanent visual memory. It’s also a great way to see the world through your child’s eyes.

Read and Snuggle

• Read classic chapter books to them.
• Read books about their body to help them understand it and keep them safe – open the door to conversation about it.
• Play sight word games.
• Enjoy the exciting moments of learning to read – joy in reading a book with your child on your lap, the thrill of them recognizing a word, the pride in this unfolding skill.
• Have a family quiet reading time during the day.

Debra  …We are doing a lot of word scavenger hunts. One of my favorites was something we did last week – I made a list of foods/items at the grocery store, one for each letter of the alphabet. We took the list to the store and my son had to first read the word on his list, and then “hunt” for the item. He was so proud of himself every time he got to check off the item he found.

Learn about being a helper

• Give them family chores.
• Consider having a pet that you care for together.
• Volunteer or donate to the community in a way that’s meaningful to a child.

Barb - Sign up for a short volunteer shift where sorting by colors is involved (clothing drive); take fresh home grown veggies or flowers to a neighbor, take groceries to a pantry, bake goodies or cook a meal for the local firehouse & deliver; take along bags & help clean up the neighborhood when taking a walk, etc..

• Teach them to save up money for something they want.
• Help them delight someone with a gift or handmade card.

Cook Together

• Make s’mores.
• Cook from a kids recipe book.

• Teach them to flip a pancake…fry an egg…cut with a knife
• Let them help you bake or decorate their birthday cake

Make and Create

• Make a Nature Table.
• Color and draw – Make a basic craft kit so it’s easy for your child to be creative.
• Paint – water colors, acrylics, use unusual materials like cars or balls to roll in the paint.
• Get lost in building Legos or other building toys.

Rhonda - we spend hours building Lego and recording “commercials” about the sets we create! This is such a fun age!!

• Make Forts – anywhere and everywhere from boxes, trees, blankets and couch cushions.
• Make Fairy Houses in the back yard.

Christine - Make a tinker box…. Broken items they could “fix” using real tools. Wood, nails, glue, etc.

Learn who they are

• Make time for one on one time - try a birthday date or taking only one child grocery shopping if possible.
• Have conversations at bed time about anything and everything.
• Visit the library, dollar store, or a museum together and see what interests your child.
• Record a conversation with your child.

Sarah - Record them telling you about what they like and who they (we are making a time capsule that he can open when he graduates from high school).

• Let your child take pictures.
• Tell each other lots of stories.
• Start a journal with them to draw or write their favorite part of the day, things that concern them and make them happy or sad.

Maretha - Keep a diary with photos, writing and drawings…Write what they want to do when they are older and why. Let them tell stories and record it just the way they tell it.

And perhaps the most important idea:

Mairi - So much you can do, follow your heart – talk with him, they have such good ideas. Get lost in play….away in adventures! Just BE with them, that’s what they LOVE x

I wish you the very best as you enjoy connecting with your kindergartener.  Let’s add to this list! What do you love to do together?  Scroll down to leave a comment.