Hit List #3: Ten Essential Toys (Creative & Cheap)

TEN ESSENTIAL TOYS 

(Creative & Cheap or FREE!)

1. Puzzles Fun for any age.  They can provide hours of fun while teaching 

patience and logic.

2. A Costume Trunk Include clothespins with discarded outfits to customize the fit.  You can get all sorts of shoes and dress up clothes at garage sales or thrift stores.

3. A Craft Box Include crayons, markers, scissors, stickers, glue sticks, string and plenty of paper.  Leave the kids alone (depending on their age!) and let their creativity bloom!

4.  Legos Kids love these tiny plastic squares.  They can built and create almost anything with these-cars, rocket ships, castles, houses or entire cities.  This isn't just for boys.

5.  Balls  You can kick them, throw them, shoot them, roll them or even sit on them.  Get as many sizes and styles as you can!  Your kids will play with these from childhood through adulthood.

6.  Dolls Give them clothes to change them, bottles to feed them and blankets to keep them warm.  Use a box with a pillow and a towel for a bassinet.

7.  Puppets  Help your kids make their own hand puppets out of socks or papier-mache.  Use a table with a blanket over it as a stage.  Then let the show begin.

8.  Cardboard boxes  From shoe boxes to refrigerator boxes, it's amazing what kids can do.  The more variety and number of boxes the better.  Add duct tape to join boxes and markers to decorate them.

9.  Bug Jar & Magnifying Glass Go on a bug search and examine what you find with the magnifying glass.  Teach your kids to safety scoop up the critters and place them in a sealed, clear plastic jar with some holes on top.  Watch the bugs a few hours then let them go!

10.  Play Money & Toy Cash Register  Play store and stock it with empty food boxes or cans.  Provide a pen and stickers for pricing.  Then take turns being the cashier or the customer.

*From the book "List to Live By"

Hit List #1: Sibling Glue (Growing in Friendship with Eachother)

Helping To Grow Your Children in Friendship with Each other!

There is so much talk these days about "family togetherness" and I am ALL for that...but often overlooked is a very important and potentially LIFELONG bond that can be cultivated between siblings.  I feel so passionately about this that I wanted to dedicate a page of the Cole Place Blog to it so we can come together as parents with ideas and plans on how to make our children become the best of friends!

Check out this AWESOME radio broadcast about helping to cultivate a sibling-friendship for your kids in the hopes they will remain close, even through the adult years!

(What I love about this show is that it isn't just how to get your kids to STOP fighting but talks about research that was done on what the contributing FACTORS are involved in siblings that have strong relationships)

Click on this link to LISTEN to these shows:

Binding Siblings Hearts Together

Factors That Lead to a Strong Family

SIBLING FUN JAR

Can I get a SHOUT OUT from every amazing mother out there that is constantly playing referee to their bickering children?!  Well, I for one am sick of it.  I have accepted that this will SOMETIMES just be life, but I refuse to play referee 24/7!  Thus, the "Sibling Fun Jar" was invented.  It's free, it's simple and it's SANITY some days!  

I just took a jar, decorated it then filled it with little notes decorated with the boy's fave superhero and animal stickers.  When they get into an argument, they each must close their eyes and draw out a note from the jar.  

These notes say things like, "Hug your brother as BIG as you can."  "Act like a silly monkey until make your brother laugh."  "Look your brother in the eye and tell him one thing you LOVE about him."  "Hold hands with your brother for 5 minutes (Mom sets timer)."  You get the idea!

It breaks up the usual lecturing (and I assume "in ear and out the other" most days) and gets them having fun and blessing the other person instead of being selfish and trying to get what they want.  Of course, make this age appropriate.  My examples apply to a 3 and 4 year old!  Although I would like to see two teenage boys holding hands for five minutes...what a scene that could be!

After they are do their "fun note", we try to complete the disagreement with a hug and apology...it seems like a little laugh before this though helps the apology to come more from the heart (in general, laughter helps with EVERYTHING!).  This is just a little idea that works for the Cole kids.  Let me know what works for you!