"Children of all ages love Theme Days, where everything they do revolves
around one idea, whether it's dinosaurs or detectives, school days or
birthdays. I originally came up with these ideas so that my college-age
sitter could keep my three children (then ages 6, 3, and 1) happy while I worked
in my home office. All the books I'd seen either addressed many things
for, say just two-year-olds to do (not challenging for the older ones), or just
one type of activity (e.g. crafts) for a range of ages (not enough for more than
an hour's play). I decided to find lots of things for lots of ages to do
together, and the idea grew into a family project. From there, friends who
claim to be "creativity impaired" said it was just what they needed,
and their children enjoyed with the testing." Pamela Waterman
The following is an excerpt from The Absolute Best Play Days.
It is only a small portion of the section on Flags and Signs.
Unfortunately, we are limited in space so we are unable to share ALL the
terrific book and video suggestions, project directions, and indoor/outdoor
activity ideas that Pamela Waterman has put together in her book.
Flags/Signs
Art/Craft
* Everyone can create a flag or pennant of
his/her own, or copy from an encyclopedia, decorating it with things that
interest them. Use a construction-paper shape, then add stickers, starts cut
from paper, strips of crepe-paper streamers glued on, and lots of
coloring. Mount each child's flag on a separate dowel or yardstick for
marching in a parade, or string them all together along one string across the
side of a room, like pennants.
* Make tiny flags and tape them to unsharpened
pencils. Stick them in the sides of plants in flowerpots, or all together in a
little vase.
* Make a windsock out of construction paper
and crepe-paper streamers.
* Explain that nowadays, we often use painted
signs or lit-up signs instead of flags of old. Ask them if they can draw
some well-known signs: a Stop sign, a No Parking sign, and a McDonald's sign!
Draw some signs yourself, and ask children if they recognize/can read what they
are: the name of the grocery store you use, their favorite toy store, the name
of their preschool, a donut shop they like, etc.
Snack-time:
Cut the crusts off white and wheat bread, then
cut them into even "stripes." Alternate stripes side by side on
a plate. Have children use tiny star-shaped cookie cutters to cut stars
from slices of cheese and meat. As desired, arrange stars on top of bread
stripes, stuck on with a bit of butter or mayo, then nibble the strips as finger
food.
Cut pennant-shaped flags from sliced cheese,
then decorate them with children's initials made from thin pretzels, slivers of
apple, or rows of raisins.
Cut the corners off toasted bread slices to
make eight-sided signs. Squeeze a jelly STOP or anything else on the
shape. Add a bacon-strip handle.
Order
the Book
The
Absolute Best Play Days