My friend Carmen, from Albuquerque, New Mexico shared this great idea with me about how she creates special memories with her grandchildren. After they have done something together, she writes about it in her “Remember When” book. For example, if they went to the zoo she might write: Remember when we went to the zoo and the bear roared so loud that it scared Angie and she spilled her drink. She also includes photos. When her grandchildren come to visit they love to look through the book. It is now a tradition so the grandchildren will often ask her “Are you going to write that in the Remember When book?” As the grandchildren get older they can write in the “Remember When” book or even start their own.

Munchkin Radio is an online radio station for kids 8 and younger. They play great kid’s music including lullabies. They have a birthday club and lots of other fun things and it’s free. Check it out. Go to Munchkin Radio

Fun idea for a back-to-school celebration.
Video Directions

While we were on a family vacation at a lake, it was my grandson’s birthday. They love Star Wars so their mom made light sabers for all the kids. She bought a bunch of water noodles at the dollar store and wrapped black tape around one end for the handle. They were an inexpensive favor and the kids had so much fun pretending with them.

I love getting out my family memory serving tray when the family gathers together. It seems we never tire of looking at the photos and remembering the vacations we took to a favorite cabin several summers in a row. Even though the grandchildren are not in the photos they enjoy identifying all the people and find it hard to believe their parents were once as young as they are now. You can make your own memory serving tray.
You’ll need:
tray (I bought my metal tray at a thrift store for $.50 but you could use a plastic or wood tray)
photos or memorabilia
Mod Podge (you can get this at any craft store)
paint brush
clear acrylic sealer (find at any craft or home improvement store)
Directions:
1. Wash and dry tray.
2. Decide how you want to display your photos and trim to fit tray.
3. Spread Mod Podge on the tray with a brush and apply photos.
4. Brush Mod Podge over all your photos. It will dry clear. If you are going to use your tray for display only you can stop here. If you want to use it for serving I would suggested spraying a clear acrylic sealer. Follow the directions on the can. It has a very strong smell so do it outside.
Tip: I just use my tray for bread, rolls or chips. I’m not sure what will happen if it gets water or other moist food items on it and I don’t want to take the chance of ruining my photos.

Kids of all ages will love these.

Frozen Banana Pops
You will need: ¼ banana for each child
¾ c. chocolate chips
3 T. margarine
Optional – coconut, crushed nuts, graham crackers or sprinkles
1. Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2. Peel each banana and cut into quarters.
3. Put a popscicle stick or skewer into each segment, place on a cookie sheet and freeze.
4. Melt chocolate chips and margarine over love heat.
5. Remove from heat and dip frozen bananas into chocolate mixture.
6. Optional – roll in coconut, crushed nuts, graham crackers, or sprinkles.
7. Put chocolate covered bananas on the cookie sheet and return to freezer.
8. After the bananas are refrozen, they are ready to eat.

My friend Jane told me about a cute and easy apron idea for your grandchildren. No sewing involved! It keeps them clean while you’re cooking and it can be washed and reused. You’ll need 1 dish towel for each child. Fold the towel in half then put ribbon or string across the inside fold. This becomes the waistband. Tie around the child’s waist. If you need your grandchild covered across the top just pin the towel at his shoulders and tie a ribbon or string at the waist.

This is a fun, easy, and inexpensive party game. All you need are 12 balloons. The object is to see how many balloons you can hold onto in 2 minutes. You can use your teeth and toes, you can put them under your arm and between your legs.

Wouldn’t this be a fun purse for back to school. It’s from Family Fun.

Instructions
1.Begin by cutting out a back pocket of an old (but not threadbare) pair of jeans, being careful to cut outside the seams so the pocket stays intact.

2. Sew a long piece of ribbon, an old belt, or braided rope to the sides of the pockets to make a shoulder strap.

3. Next, let the outside of the purse become a canvas for ornaments. Decorate with iron-on transfers, fabric paint, beads, patches, or appliques. More ambitious kids might embroider their initials or other designs on the denim for an authentic seventies look.

4. To hold the purse shut, sew strips of Velcro, buttons or snaps to the inside of the pocket.

These books are make from items you already have around the house. It’s a great activity and you’re recycling too!

Name Book

This is from Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord’s recent newsletter. I was fortunate enough to attend this workshop.
We made this simple name book as the introductory activity in the teacher workshop in Utah this summer. Each person had one sheet of copy paper with writing on one side, two covers cut from cereal boxes (for US Letter paper the covers were 3″ x 4.5″), glue stick, scrap paper, and scissors. On each table was a pile of miscellaneous collage papers. A good way to place them is in styrofoam trays for vegetables from the supermarket. I led the class through the construction of the accordion book. Each person then cut the letters of her (or his) name out of the collage papers and glued them across the accordion.
I like starting with this activity because it gives a taste of both aspects of bookmaking in one small package: following directions in the construction phase and independent creative work in the name phase. It also uses the accordion book as one long panel rather than separate pages and sends the message that book s can be places to experiment and have fun.
We did a show and tell of our books and used them to introduce ourselves. We then hung them from a yarn line for some instant room decoration. You could also have branches in a container and hang the books.
If you are doing it with a class, I think it’s important for you to make a book along with the children. I think we need to take every opportunity we can to show our students that we are all in this together. We often forget that we are asking them to put themselves on the line every time they write something and share it and we need to acknowledge it and sometimes do the same.
Get more bookmaking ideas from Susan