Family Newsletter!

I am super excited to do this one with my daughter and husband. It's kind of like sending out Christmas letters, but could include a lot more. You could essentially use any program from Word, to Open Office, or an actual Newsletter construction program.

Here are a few suggestions (I have not tried them personally, so use discretion when you choose one)

Word (Click this link for instructions)
Publisher (LINK)
Word Draw (LINK)
Smile Templates (LINK)

And now here's the hard part. You may be like me and want to share your news with family and friends all the time, in newsletter form, because somehow, it makes you feel important. Well I'm going to put the kabash on that idea right away! Who has time to write newsletters constantly? May I suggest that you stick to Easter  and Christmas? Or perhaps for each person's birthday? (This is an EXCELLENT way to start a family history book, btw). The choice is yours, but from personal experience, I would say to be careful not to take on too much. It's easier to start small, and do more newsletters later than to attempt a lot all at once. And now for the second hardest thing. Choosing what to include....

Choosing what to include will have a large bias depending on how many people you have in your family. If you and your husband have 5 kids, you might want to forgo drawings by the kids, whereas if you have one child, you will likely have space to include it. The choice is yours, but here are some ideas.

Recent pictures (any snapshot is fine)
Upcoming dates of importance (Dance Recitals, Graduation, Birthday Party, etc)
Current Address and Phone number (especially important if you recently moved like we did)
Family News (Graduations, births, etc)
Special successes (Aced a test, job promotion, etc)
New house (Or apartment, condo, garden, etc)
Family History/Genealogy story
Stories written by the kids
Pictures drawn by the kids
Family Vacation Summary (with pictures)
Favorites (Family Recipe, Game, Book, Activity, etc. You could also do this for birthday newsletters)

The options are limitless. And if you feel overwhelmed, just think what you would tell someone that you hadn't seen in years, and you were catching up over lunch. Start with that, and build from there.

Good luck with everything! Don't worry about it being perfect, especially in the beginning. My daughter's birthday is coming up, so I'm going to make a newsletter for her to send to family and close friends. What kind of newsletter would you try?

Activity: All About Me

This is a fun activity that can help the children figure out their likes and dislikes, do a craft project that is centered around them, and learn to take the initiative with only a little help from an adult (in the form of cutting and gluing).

Here is what you need:

Magazines (particularly kids ones)
Old Catalogs (kid or toy centered)
Old books
Family pictures
Markers
Glue/paste
Colored paper
Scissor

Now you can let the children cut out the things that they like and glue them to pieces of paper. These papers will become a book, so you may want to cut them in half or in quarters first. As it looks like the kids are starting to finish up, serve some sort of healthy snack (you can find ideas here and here) and allow the glue to finish drying. once dry, staple the pages together and you have a book all about what your child likes and/or dislikes. As a genealogist, I think it would be awesome to do with every year close to the child's birthday. But of course what I wish I could do and what I actually do don't always seem to match up, but we shall see.

What do you think? Have you tried anything like this?

Activity: Familiar Faces

Not really living close to my side of family, I've been trying to figure out a way for Mia to remember who certain people are, and I think I finally found one. What you need to do is make a picture book of any family or friends that call your house or cell regularly. You can buy little photo albums for a dollar at the dollar store, and then just slide in the pictures. This when, when someone calls, you can show the picture to your little one, and they will be able to match a face with a voice. Of course Skype helps this along too, but we're not always by the computer, or able to sit down for a long conversation. You can also use the pictures to practice for a family reunion (so your kids won't be afraid of the people that are excited to see them, and might hug them), preschool, playgroup, etc.And since children like things to be predictable, this idea is a great way to prepare a shy child for what is coming in the future that will be new to them.

Have you done something like this? Did it help? What event/task/etc did you use it for?

Activity: A New Kind of Old McDonald

I found a really cute idea the other day to change the words of Old McDonald. You can use it for a lot of topics too. Here are some examples:

Old McDonald had a cold, EIEIO, and with his cold he had a cough, EIEIO.... etc.
Old McDonald had a house....
...Pet store...
...Candy store...

So basically, you just sing Old McDonald, but you change the words depending on what you want to sing about. Easy as that! My husband and I like to talk about the family. Here's how we do it....

Old McDonald had a family, E-I-E-I-O
And in that family he had a mommy, E-I-E-I-O
With an I love you, and an I love you,
Here an I, there an I, everywhere an I love you!
Old McDonald had a family, E-I-E-I-O.

As you can see, you can really change the words many different ways. Have you ever tried anything like this? What words, topics, or phrases did you use?