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    Playing Together: 101 Terrific Games and Activities That Children Ages Three to Nine Can Do Together
    Playing Together: 101 Terrific Games and Activities That Children Ages Three to Nine Can Do Together
    Playing Together: 101 Terrific Games and Activities That Children Ages Three to Nine Can Do Together
    Ebook283 pages1 hour

    Playing Together: 101 Terrific Games and Activities That Children Ages Three to Nine Can Do Together

    By Wendy Smolen

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Ideal for vacation time, trips, family get-togethers, and days when your kids just can’t find anything to do, Playing Together is a treasure trove of parent-friendly projects with kid-tested results.

    Smolen makes getting siblings, cousins, or neighborhood children of different ages together an easy task, providing a collection of outdoor and indoor games and arts and crafts projects adapted to satisfy the interests and skills of children of various ages simultaneously.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTouchstone
    Release dateJan 18, 2011
    ISBN9781439145388
    Playing Together: 101 Terrific Games and Activities That Children Ages Three to Nine Can Do Together
    Author

    Wendy Smolen

    Wendy Smolen, mother of three, corporate wife and Lifestyles Editor of Parents magazine, lives in New York City.

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      Book preview

      Playing Together - Wendy Smolen

      FIRESIDE

      Rockefeller Center

      1230 Avenue of the Americas

      New York, NY 10020

      www.SimonandSchuster.com

      Copyright © 1995 by Wendy Smolen

      All rights reserved,

      including the right of reproduction

      in whole or in part in any form.

      FIRESIDE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

      Designed by Chris Welch

      Illustrated by Jill Weber

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Smolen, Wendy.

      Playing together: 101 terrific games and activities that children

      ages 3–9 can do together / Wendy Smolen.

      p. cm.

      A Fireside book.

      Includes index.

      1. Games. 2. Indoor games. 3. Creative activities and seat work.

      I. Title

      GV1203.S634 1995

      90.1'922—dc20

      95-3527

      CIP

      ISBN 0-684-80249-X

      eISBN-978-1-43914-538-8

      Dedicated to Dana, Riki, and Zak,

      who made me believe in miracles,

      and Paul, who makes me believe in myself.

      Contents

      INTRODUCTION

      INDOOR GAMES

      Story Bags

      Magazine ABC’s

      String Me Along

      Papes

      Pencil Puppets

      Sardines

      Freeze Dance

      Pitch a Tent

      Memory

      Shopping Spree

      Tic-Tac-Toe

      Put On a Happy Face

      Pleasure Hunt

      Sock-It-to-Me Puppet Show

      I Love a Parade

      War

      OUTDOOR GAMES

      Sunny Day Tic-Tac-Toe

      Build a Sand Matterhorn

      Puddle Walks

      Shadow Puppets

      Sprinkle, Sprinkle

      Have a Potluck Picnic

      Go Fishing

      Over, Under, Around, and Through

      Treasure Island

      Giant Slalom Course

      Kids’ Croquet

      Jumping for Joy

      Look Out Below!

      Playing for Peanuts

      Penny Bounce

      Bean Bag Toss

      INDOOR ART PROJECTS

      Handprints

      Self-Portraits

      Dioramas

      Magnetic Attractions

      Mobiles

      Dinner Bell

      Stickers

      Collectors’ Boxes

      Grrreat Animal Masks

      Pop Sculptures

      Designer T-Shirts

      Collages

      Totally Tubular Jewelry

      The Mad Hatter

      Personal Place Mats

      Playful Dough

      OUTDOOR ART PROJECTS

      Soap Paint

      Nature Rubbings

      Stone Age Sculptures

      Tie-Dye Flowers

      Papier-Mâché Masks

      Herb Pots

      Creative Cachepots

      Mud and Plaster

      Sunny Day Sundial

      A-mazing Chalk Drawings

      Meet Gunther Greengrass

      Blowing Bubbles in the Wind

      Sand Paintings

      Walking Tall

      Twig Wreaths

      Sand Box Sculpties

      SEASONAL PROJECTS

      WINTER

      Store a Snowball

      Snow Painting

      Peanut Butter Bird Feeders

      Santa Stockings

      SPRING

      Plant a Garden

      Maple Seed Noses

      Love-a-Tree Book

      Color Your Own Lilies

      March Wind Chimes

      SUMMER

      Creatures from the Sea

      Snow in July

      Flower Folders

      Water Works

      FALL

      Pumpkin Pals

      Pinecone Hangings

      Sponge-Painted Leaves

      Leave It to Me

      SPECIAL TIMES

      KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

      Yogurt Dip

      Scenic Salads

      Hand Cookies

      Apple-on-a-Stick

      Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

      QUIET TIMES

      Read Me a Story

      Growing Tall

      Picture This

      Drawing Together

      Letters on My Back

      CAR TRIPS

      I’m Thinking of Someone You Know

      License Plate ABC’s

      Make a Tape

      Car Bingo

      Ten-Minute Stories

      KID-SIZED JOBS

      Make a Menu

      All Sorts of Things

      Ready, Set, Eat

      Washing the Car

      Ready to Redecorate

      INDEX

      Acknowledgments

      So many people supported, encouraged, and inspired me while I was writing this book: my parents, my in-laws, my children's teachers, and friends from ages 2 to 82. All deserve special thanks, but to a few I owe even more—Nancy Schulman, Ellen Birnbaum, and Sandra Jenkins who gave me more ideas than I could ever use; Yvette Dorset who made sure that while I was writing, my children really were happily playing together; my Dad, who finally figured out how to make the dinner bell work; my incredible editor, Kara Leverte Farley, who, despite the fact that she was having a very real baby, still found the time and energy to nurse me through my own nine months of intensive labor; and finally, my family—Dana, Riki, and Zak, the three in-house testers who can personally vouch for every project that was selected (and could tell you wonderful tales about those that weren't), and Paul, my husband, whom I'd dearly love even if he didn't know how to debug my computer.

      Introduction

      Brothers and sisters. They talk together. They fight. They laugh. They love. And best of all, they play. As the mother of three children between the ages of 3 and 9, I delight in watching the interaction of my kids. But I also cringe when the whining starts, flip if I hear the word bored, and lose a lot of sleep worrying whether I spend enough time nurturing each child's individual strengths.

      By necessity, I’ve learned how to have alone time with all three children at once. Quite simply, I organize one basic activity for everyone. Then, within that activity, I create individual variations by age or skill. In this way, each child can play at his or her own level, all benefit from the others’ company, and I can be an active part of the fun.

      Playing Together is a collection of the activities that I’ve found children enjoy regardless of their ages or age differences. Since coordinating several children is complicated enough, the activities I’ve chosen are intentionally uncomplicated, drawing largely on familiar games, art projects, crafts, and imagination. In most cases, I’ve used materials that you’ll have around the house or that are easy to buy. The general directions apply to all ages; the variations are intended to help you adapt the projects to your particular situation.

      As you use the book, please keep in mind that what makes these activities work is their fluidity. In actuality, each one will be as different as your own children. The purpose of Playing Together is not to reinvent the wheel, but to enhance the fun of rolling it around.

      Enjoy!

      Indoor Games

      Hide and seek, puppet shows, cards, and treasure hunts. Take the games you loved as a kid, add a little imagination, and you’ve got a great alternative to the VCR.

      Story Bags

      Fill a paper bag with stuff and you’ll be surprised at what comes out!

      MATERIALS

      A paper bag for each child

      Assortment of odd articles: Try to collect at least five for each bag—for example, a whistle, a scarf, a spoon, a nickel, and sunglasses for one bag.

      DIRECTIONS

      1. Fill each bag with a varied and unrelated assortment of at least five articles. Close the bags so the children can’t see what’s inside.

      2. Give each child a bag.

      3. Have the children look in their bags. Give them a few minutes to think of a story. Then have each child tell a story that uses all of the articles in the bag.

      VARIATIONS

      3- to 4-Year-Olds

      • Work with your child to make up a story. You use one article, he uses the next, you use the third, and so on until all the items are used.

      5- to 6-Year-Olds

      • Have children work together to make up a play using the articles. Use a different bag of articles for each skit.

      7- to 9-Year-Olds

      • Have each child make up a play using the articles. Then the child can act it out, playing the different characters and using different voices.

      Magazine ABC’s

      Magazines can be recycled in novel ways. After you’ve read them, you can cut them, and glue them, and fold them, and use them again and again.

      MATERIALS

      Magazines: any and all that you don’t mind cutting up

      Scissors

      Glue stick

      Paper

      DIRECTIONS

      1. Choose a magazine and find the letter A. Cut it out.

      2. Glue it to a piece of paper.

      3. Find a B. Glue it next to the A.

      4. Continue through the entire alphabet.

      VARIATIONS

      3- to 4-Year-Olds

      • Do one letter at a time. Find A’s all in different sizes and colors. Put them on a single sheet of paper. Do the same with B and the remaining letters. It may take weeks, but ultimately you can make an alphabet book by stapling all the pages together.

      • Find a terrific A. Or two or three. Glue them to the top of the paper. Find pictures of objects that start with A … ants and apples, for example. Cut them out and glue them to the paper. Do the same with B. Continue to the end of alphabet.

      5- to 6-Year-Olds

      • Find all different kinds of A’s. Capital ones. Lowercase. Big, small, and script.

      • Find A’s. Then practice writing A’s.

      • Write your child’s name in cutout letters.

      7- to 9-Year-Olds

      • Find different letter styles: script, balloon, cartoon, gothic. Try to copy the styles. Have your child make up a type style of his or her own.

      • Cut out words and make a short story. Substitute pictures in place of some words to create a rebus.

      String Me Along

      A combination of hide-and-seek and treasure hunt… the prize is your child.

      MATERIALS

      A large ball of string or yarn for each hider

      DIRECTIONS

      1. Designate one child as seeker and the rest as hiders. Give each hider a ball of string or yarn.

      2. Tie one end of each string to a heavy

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