Gratitude Wheel (free PDF)

 I was looking online for Thanksgiving/gratitude crafts for my kids to do during Thanksgiving break (since they are losing interest in our gratitude tree that we've done for several years) and found the idea to order Thankful Wheels or Gratitude Wheels. I wasn't sure if they would get here in time and spent way too much time designing my own with my limited photo shopping skills and thought I would share it here for anyone else who needs something to entertain their kids during Thanksgiving break...

Spring Break Target Practice

If spring break is coming up and you're scrambling with ways to entertain your kids, why not review their basic math skills and work on some target practice?

For this activity, you'll need some Nerf guns, balls, some paper towel or wrapping paper tubes, and empty box, and some glue.

Cut your tubes to different heights and glue them to the bottom of the box. Write different numbers on each tube to represent their value.

Have your kids aim and shoot at the tubes. As they play, they have to add up their points. This was fun for my 10, 8, and 3 year old!

Thank you Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls for the fun idea. I'll be linking up to Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie.

Rockin' Out this Summer!

Our city is going crazy over this new rock game...hiding and finding painted rocks!

In the collage above, the top two pictures are rocks we found, and the bottom two are rocks we painted and hid. The rules are simple:

• On the back of the rock, write the hashtag for your city. Check on Facebook to see if there's a group already, or start your own.
• Hide your rocks around town.
• If you find a rock, take a selfie or picture of it and post it to the group Facebook page.
• You can leave the rock, re-hide the rock somewhere else, or keep it. If you keep it, you have to replace it with a different painted rock.

In our community people of all ages are getting involved. It's so much fun finding rocks and there's a huge variety from talented artists, to rocks clearly painted by 2 year olds. My kids have spent hours painting, hiding and hunting for rocks.

I've read that it started as the Kindness Rocks Project, and has spread throughout the country. Get involved while your kids are out of school and see how much fun it is!

Skee Ball at Home

One of my husband's co-workers gave him an inflatable pool full of ball pit balls. This ball pit has been lots of fun for my kids...especially my 2 year old! But, I have found some other uses for these balls lately...Skee Ball being one of them!

All you need are some balls, laundry baskets, paper and tape.

Cereal box boomerang

I know this isn't technically a boomerang, at least in the traditional shape, but my 6 year old and I had so much fun with this cereal box boomerang!

We played with them outside, and between the wind and the boomerang itself, they were completely unpredictable. It was entertaining to say the least for both of us to throw our boomerangs and try to chase them or predict where they would go. It was a treat to have everything work and have them come right back to us.

All you need is a printer, cereal boxes and scissors. You can find the template at Angelfire. Thank you ikat bag for the fun idea!

Pom Pom Races

If you're looking for a fun, quick activity, have your kids race pom poms!

All you need is straws, pom poms, and masking tape. Put a strip of tape on a hard floor to split up the players. Then have them blow their pom poms with the straws from one end of the racing lane to the other! See who can blow their pom pom across the finish line first, or have them time themselves and try to beat their personal times. My boys loved this, and they thought it was especially funny when I got down on the floor with them to race.

Thank you PBS Parents for the fun idea! I’ll be linking up to Making Your Home Sing Sunday, Mama Moments Monday,  Mom’s Library, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, The Mommy Club,