Activity: Big Ears

When I first found this activity, all I could think about what PSAT's, SAT's, ACT's, and any other kind of standardized test that you can think of. You know, when they have you read a story and the you have to correctly identify the point of the story, and various aspects about it? Yeah... I was never did excell at those kinds of tests, which is interesting because I love to read. But regardless of the tests, this activity is still fun for kids, and could actually make a great party game.

What you are going to do is tell a story with lots of descriptive words. If you don't have a story like this on hand, here is how to write one. If doing it for a birthday party, you could write a story about the birthday kid and do it as one of your games.

Before you begin the story, have the child or children clothes their eyes and focus really hard on listening (use their big ears!). Then tell the story, remind the kids to listen for descriptive words (you may want to explain what a descriptive word is at the start of the activity). Once the story is over, you can do a number of things.

1. Have the kids write down the answers to your questions
2. Draw pictures of the objects that they remember (pink dress, blue eyes, etc)
3. Have the kids try to retell the story (you can have one kid do this, or have kids take turns after a few sentences each)
4. Have costumes and things on hand to act out the story.
5. Have coloring pages for the kids to color correctly (again, pink dress, blue eyes, etc)
6. Whatever else you can think of.

That's about it! I would advise keeping the stories fairly short depending on the age and skill level of your kids. And the more you do it, the more you can add to the stories. You could even grab some library books and then add more descriptive words if you like. OOH! Or how about 

Have you done any thing like this? Do you have a descriptive story to share or recommend?

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?