Children love each of the stages of this game:
- Finding pebbles in nature: as far as we are concerned, as we live in the heart of the city children love. it is difficult to find beautiful, round and smooth pebbles within our 10 km radius, so we are content with not super pretty stones on paths and parks Nantes while waiting for better 😅.
- Painting pebbles: what a pleasure to paint beautiful designs on stones! And then the sources of inspiration are endless. With us at the moment, it revolves around Pokémon, Zelda, Mario, or even manga culture easy and simple drawing for kids. On the material side, the ideal with children is to use poses markers because it is easy to use, well covering, and dries very quickly. Otherwise, acrylic paint does the trick. They can optionally be varnished to protect against bad weather.
- Hiding the pebbles: finding good hiding places for your stones is not so simple: it must be sufficiently hidden so as not to jump out in the eyes of all, but not too much anyway.
- Looking for pebbles: Pebble hunting is the favourite part of children. It can also be the most frustrating. Indeed, nothing guarantees that we will find Children love. As it is not yet widespread everywhere, one can very well come back empty-handed from a walk.
- It is finding pebbles: victory! We got one! It only remains to take it, possibly post its photo on the networks if we want to give its news and go and hide it elsewhere. If the pebble is lovely, children may be tempted to keep it. We can do it, of course, but in this case, do not forget to put another one in its place so that the game continues over and over again;)
Idea 10: bake mug cakes
Cooking with children is one of the little pleasures of the holidays. And if it’s to make mug cakes, then it’s the party!
If you do not know mug cakes, are cakes (half-baked) baked in a cup or mug (depending on appetite) in the microwave only for a few minutes. It was pretty popular 6 or 7 years ago.
The mug cakes well have advantages when cooking with kids:
- It requires few ingredients: milk chocolate, butter, flour, egg, liquid cream. In short, you undoubtedly already have everything in your cupboards.
- On the material side, you don’t even need a cake tin or traditional oven. Basic utensils, cups or mugs, and a microwave are sufficient.
- It’s quick and easy to prepare: 10 minutes (20 with little ones) of preparation and 3 minutes of top-notch cooking. We take the opportunity to do the math Children love)
- It’s fun and original: children (and parents) love to eat their cake from the cups. In addition, you can decorate it with a cupcake-style sprinkle for even more fun.
- And of course – most importantly – it’s super good! It looks like semi-cooked chocolate, soft on the outside and runny / melting in the centre.
We’re used to making the recipe shared here, but if you’re in the mood and aren’t a fan of chocolate, you’ll find plenty of significant variations on the Internet.
Idea 11: Make a lava lamp
Who has never been mesmerized by these famous lava lamps from the 1970s? Well, it’s straightforward to make one at home with basic materials. Of course, this will only last a few hours, but the “wow” effect is guaranteed with the children!
On the material side, you need a jar (the bigger it is, the more spectacular the effect will be), a glass, and a lamp. As for the ingredients, plan for the right amount of vegetable oil so that you can fill 2/3 of the jar. You will also need half a glass of white vinegar, 4 to 8 tbsp. Tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate (food) depending on the size of the jar and a few drops of food colouring (red for the washing effect).
All you have to do is follow the steps described in the photo, wait a few seconds, and then admire the perpetual movement of the coloured bubbles that then form.
Our elder was thus able to revise his physics-chemistry program by explaining to his brother and sister the double phenomenon at work here:
- Coloured vinegar and oil do not mix Children love. Since vinegar is denser than oil, it falls to the bottom of the jar in bubbles. It is where the second phenomenon comes in.
- The baking soda at the bottom of the jar reacts with the vinegar. CO2 is then formed in the vinegar bubbles. Since CO2 is lighter than oil, the red bubbles rise quickly to the surface. Once the CO2 is released to the surface, red vinegar bubbles, again denser than oil, come down, meet again in contact with the bicarbonate form of CO2, back, etc …
- And up when the bicarbonate has been used up, after about 1 to 2 hours.
The glowing volcano effect will be even more spectacular if you illuminate the jar with a lamp and turn off the other lights in the room.
Idea 12: carry out writing projects at home
There are quite a few tools available to encourage children to produce writing at home. The idea is that it is not a constraint but an absolute pleasure. So, here, children choose the right moment, their instructions, their theme, and above all. We forget the spelling!
Yes, we admit that it hurts the eyes a little, especially when you are a family of insists;) but it seems essential to us to leave this constraint aside here to not restrict creativity and spontaneity.
Here are three examples of playful writing projects that our 11 and 9-year-old seniors did over the holidays for their enjoyment:
- Create comics: we found them in a small stationery notebook with the boards already filled. Each of our two elders hastened to fill in his notebook. There is even one of the two who started the second. Big success then!
- You can also find blank comic strips on the Internet to print for free.
- Create board games: Inspired by Pokémon, the children each created a card game, imagined the game mechanics, and wrote the rules. Another good way to write a bit without sounding academic.
- Make an actual book: A while back, Jennifer, creator of Kidiconte, kindly sent us a book creation kit for us to test. Our nine-year-old son, who loves to write stories, threw himself on it! He started his book during the holidays: it’s a story of pirates called “The Skeleton Cave.” In this kit, what appealed to us is the fact that the child has a motivating and concrete goal: to write an actual book. There are also sticker sheets to illustrate its story, a small pencil case, and pens. Finally, the issue contains a small writing guide full of great advice to build your story step by step.
Motivation to write objective reached! And once again, too bad for mistakes, the important thing here. The pleasure of deciding on a project on your own and the desire to carry it out to the end 🙂
Idea 13: make funny little animals
It is well known when you are a teacher. You keep everything, saying to yourself, “that will serve me well one day for a DIY” 😉 We are no exception to the rule, and over the years, we have accumulated an impressive amount of Impressive “stuff”: cardboard, bubbles, buttons, beads, string, paper bags, ribbon, lace sheets, beads, pieces of wood, toothpicks.
So yesterday, we put everything on the table, we took out the glue gun, the scissors, the podcast, the paint, and said to ourselves, “Come on, let’s make some funny insects!”. ” And it was off for 2 hours of unbridled DIY. It is not easy for adults with several children because the glue gun is essential.
The kids had a blast! They assembled the elements they liked to create miniature animals without limiting themselves to the imagination. We were also inspired by the colourful insects of Eric Carle and the reclaimed style of Christian Voltz that we love a lot. And here is an excellent way to do a little spring. Cleaning in the cupboards and drawers while having fun with the children!
Idea 14: Solve riddles and puzzles as a family
Remember the riddles and logic puzzles from our 2019 and 2020 Instagram advent calendar? Well, we offer one from time to time to our two eldest. Who is in fourth grade and sixth grade, and who are therefore very old to solve them. It amuses them a lot, and it makes them think without seeming to;)
Another exciting game from an educational point of view consists of offering Children love. Mathematical riddles and riddles for us, parents, by taking inspiration from existing puzzles. Our boys love to try to trick us!
