I talked before about the Grab Bag idea which I liked but didn’t think would delight the kids unless I tweaked it a bit. Anyway, here’s the list I have so far — some of them are things for the kids to do, but others are for ME to do with the kids or on my own, just because sometimes I get busy in my own life and forget to do things with them. Bravewriter has lots of nice ideas and a yahoo group you can join for daily Fly-lady style reminders. This is sort of stream-of-consciousness — I’ve been writing them on index cards and putting them into a bag. Some of these are things we already do, but it helps me remember if I have them listed:
- talk to a child about their area of interest
- ask a philosophical question
- go outside — collect something, OR look for something, OR take nature pics, OR mark off a square and observe it.
- Pull something out of art closet and strew it
- Ditto with game closet.
- Find an online learning game
- Do a craft
- plan a liturgical activity
- memorize a prayer
- get out duplos or waffle blocks or rotate another toy out.
- re-arrange toys in new patterns to inspire new types of play.
- look through books and choose/list ones that various children might like
- do a geography activity
- teach an instrument
- show them an origami craft
- try calligraphy book
- have a handwriting assessment, compare with earlier work
- make a lapbook or memory folder
- make a learning game or booklet
- narrate a visit or experience
- copywork
- dictation
- watch movie with the guys
- picture study — next level of Parent/Child, or something similar
- composer study — play a certain composer or theme.
- poetry and tea/cocoa.
- read science biography
- science demonstration/project
- timeline cards
- drawing or art how-to book
- math game instead of lesson
- free writing
- free drawing time
- draw while listening to audio book
- group read-aloud or project
- coloring
- introduce new chore or life skill, preferably an interesting one.
- work on part of the house together
- work on a habit
- religious unit/theme/focus
- look for an idea on a blog –figure out how to make it work in our household
- sign up for a class or activity just to try it out.
- have a free do-nothing day
- home retreat
- share past memories to make a continuing family archive
- make a compilation of narrations on an experience or movie
- go out to look at night sky
- ask an older child to teach a younger one in an area of expertise
- make something useful — soap, clothes, shelves
- do a service/mission project
- novena or new devotion.
Then of course there are the simple basic obvious stand-bys which I’ve listed here .
Also, a related idea:
