Search Results for: blog having fun with the three bears

Fun Father’s Day Reads

Forget about the tacky tie, fluorescent golf balls, and the tennis racket-shaped bug zapper.  What Dad really wants this Father’s Day is some quality time with the TV remote, his trusty recliner and a plate of bacon. Of course, what Dad wants for the upcoming holiday and what his enthusiastic young offspring want for him may be vastly different.  Fortunately, the following Father’s Day reads may be the key to compromise.  Kids can cuddle up with Dad on his favorite chair and share quality time reading the delightful holiday-themed page turners… while Mom cooks a pile of pork products for a post-story time … Continue reading →

Family Fun At The State Fair—A Day Of Pig Races And Deep Fried Pickles

There aren’t too many places on the planet where you can watch a retired NASCAR announcer provide color commentary on a race between four pot-bellied pigs speeding around a sawdust track, and then 2 hours later gnaw unforgivably on a deep fried pork chop-on-a-stick. It happens daily at the Wisconsin State Fair. The annual 10-day event is famous around these parts for deep-fried everything, food-on-a-stick, a giant slide and world-class agricultural venues. What more could you ask for, right? That was my thought when I decided to brave the crowds (more than 800,000 descend on State Fair Park in Milwaukee … Continue reading →

Pretend Food: Salad Bowl in Summer Charm

My girls love to play kitchen and restaurant. They pretend to have customers and to be “cookers” as my three year old calls it while my six year old corrects her. They have a well stocked inventory filled with anything a doll or teddy bear could want. Who can get enough wooden cookies or stuffed chicken legs? Apparently, a few dollies had enough and wanted a greener fair served to them. Perhaps they were gaining too much stuffing from all the felt sweets and high stuffed foods. So they traded in their plate of wooden cookies for a bowl of … Continue reading →

How an Apple Can Become a Unit Study

When you are teaching Pre-K through Kindergarten the possibilities are expanding bedtime stories, objects and topics into unit studies or an entire lesson are endless. All you need is creativity and imagination to make an apple a unit study on your own. Let’s take the example of an apple to show how this simple object can teach your child core curriculum. Apples make a nice lesson for those who live near apple orchards. Apple orchards provide a fun field trip and hands on experience which little students crave. If you are making a trip to an apple orchard bring along … Continue reading →

Man vs. Animal Double Standards: Euthanasia

On “And I Thought Declawing Was Bad?”, Samual left the following comment: “I hate it when owners or the police punish the animal for aggression, every animal is aggressive in some way but if it’s to the point where it goes around biting people it’s because the animal has not been taught not to bite. The police need to stop just putting the animals down and punish the owner instead.” Unwittingly, Samual touched on something that’s long bothered me and more than once aggravated me to the point of tears: the double standards that exist for man and beast. I’m … Continue reading →

School Projects

I was going to write that we haven’t been having a whole lot of fun around here lately. My fourth graders have been very busy with research projects. They worked a little bit on them over spring break, but not as much as they should have. They have a wonderful teacher this year who has them very inspired so that not just any old poster with information will do. Instead they’ve made documentary movies, three dimensional displays, PowerPoint presentations, and dioramas. All of this project making hasn’t left any room for fun. In fact, their projects haven’t left any room … Continue reading →

Family Birthday Celebrations

With six people in our family, we manage to make our own party, even if no one else is present. So, this week one of my daughters is having a birthday and it happens to fall on a weekday, leaving us to have a family party on the actual date. She’s planning to have a friend or three over on the weekend, but we’ll make sure she feels special on her big day. Some of the things we like to do for family birthdays are listed below. I hope you’ll like some of these ideas, or maybe you’ll share some … Continue reading →

Looking Ahead for Holiday Shopping

We’ve got a huge shopping season coming and there’s going to be lots of toys, games and more that your kids are interested in. I’m going to start a new series here in the Family Fun forum in late September, most likely. Two to three times a week, I’ll be going through catalogs, websites and even stores to look for the latest and greatest in toys, games and more for gift ideas. I’ll review what I can to give you as parents a better idea of what might be good for your kids and what might not. We’ll grade them … Continue reading →

Extreme Makeover–Children’s Room Edition (Part 1)

My daughter just turned two. The milestone was met with a party, complete with balloons, streamers, cake and ice cream… and a room makeover. I was going to replace her crib with a toddler bed, but that seemed a bit ambitious given the fact that she is very small for her age and still loves her crib. Instead, I decided to change the wall decorations and add new furniture. The transformation didn’t take much effort, just a little coordination. I needed to get my daughter out of the house (my husband took her to see a Care Bears show) so … Continue reading →