Monday, June 23, 2008

Boredom Busters-index cards to the rescue!

Howdy all! Here's a quick boredom buster for your wee ones seven and older though some of the younger kidlets may totally be up to this. Remember, YOU know your kidlet best so if these following projects are too much or too little for your kidlets, feel free to adapt them as you will.

Project One: Crazy Creatures

What you need:
*index cards, any size, though the bigger, the better (4 for each creature)
*markers, colored pencils or crayons

scrumdilly-do it!

Each creature should have three or four parts. We used four parts last week but you can easily omit the legs card and turn it into legs and feet. Have your kidlet draw a head on the first card, as centered as they can. The next card gets the torso drawn on, including arms. Card number three is for the legs (or legs and feet if you are only using three cards) and the final card gets feet.Create at least four different creatures so that the mixing up part has more options. On the back of the cards, write out which body part they represent. For example; head, body, legs and feet. Place cards face down on the table top mixing them up. build a creature by randomly drawing 1 of each body part. Flip the cards over to see what you made. For added fun, create a story for each creature with a one or two line sentence for each body part (This is Martin. Martin is afraid of ice cream, He loves to roller skate, his favorite food is toy cars). Place those cards face down, with the body part written on the back and select one from each section. Flip your cards right side up next to the corresponding creature part and read your creature's story out loud. Each time you play, you can create a new story for your creature.

We started with ball point pen but moved on to markers so that the colors would pop. Sometimes we would flip all the cards over and try to rebuild the original creature. I added additional feet and bodies to mix it up a bit. We didn't write our stories down but we did create super powers for them. There are oodles of variations you could do. Try making each creature a specific color and then play a memory version of the game. The first person to create the original monster ends the game. This activity acts as an imagination booster. It includes sequencing skills, small motor skills, hand to eye coordination, memory skills and reading and writing practice. It is also portable! Throw all the cards in a small fabric bag, envelope, tin box, etc and you have a creature lab wherever you go. Add some blank cards and markers and your wee ones can add to the set while you are waiting for an appointment, out to eat or at a friends not-so-kid-friendly home. Have fun!

12 comments:

  1. Super fun idea!! I have a stack of index cards just begging to be used - can't wait to try this!! :o)
    Lisa

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  2. Super glad I just found your blog via a friend's recommendation to check out your wonderful flickr photots. Adding to my feeds and will follow your posts!

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  3. What a wonderful idea!! I found you via Crafty Crow. I think this index craft would be wonderful for all sorts of learning & playing. Thanks!

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  4. Mind if I blog this with links to your post?

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  5. thank you everyone! i would love to see what your wee ones come up with in the scrumdilly-do! flickr group!

    lori ann, post away, let me know the link if you can. thank you!

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  6. Awesome idea! My kids will be all over this one, this is a great 'plane trip' idea too.

    Thank you :D

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  7. We did the activity last night so I'll upload pictures and post by the weekend. I'll share the link here when it's online! Thanks again for the great post!

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  8. Posted at last (now that our electricity's back on, lol!)

    http://colorcozy.sampasite.com/color-cozy/color-cozy-blog/Puzzle-People-Game-Make-it-Yours.htm

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  9. This is such a clever idea. I have tons of index cards that the boys brought home at the end of the school year.

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  10. Great idea. After the kids make'um I'll stash'um away for times when we're in waiting rooms and other boring places. Thank you!

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  11. Wanted to let you know that I moved this post to my new blog: http://www.simplemakes.com/2008/09/puzzle-people-game-to-make-yourself.html

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