It’s time for Screen-Free Week (April 30-May 6, 2012), the national celebration where children, families, schools, and communities spend seven days turning off entertainment screen media and turning on life. It’s a time, as the organizers say, “to unplug and play, read, daydream, create, explore, and spend more time with family and friends.”
Are you up for the challenge. Here’s how it works in our family…
We don’t always associate springtime with tradition, but every season is an opportunity. Here are 5 ways to celebrate create spring traditions with your family. Pick one of these or make your own.
1. Food. Is there something you make every spring to celebrate the season or special holiday (Passover and Easter are right here, but Mother’s Day is on the horizon, as well as May Day)? Share its origin with your children by creating a special recipe card including a photo, the recipe and where the recipe originated from (e.g. family member, friend, etc.). Ask your child to share a memory about eating the food.
Welcome Spring! Edible Rhody Kids is created in partnership with Kidoinfo. Grab this season’s copy of Edible Rhody, available at various locations around Rhode Island. Read about how kids can learn to grow their own food followed by a list of resources, activities and books to share with your kids. Click on the chef’s hat for a theme-related recipe!
Ever wonder where the tomatoes in your taco come from?
1. Take a walk in your neighborhood/park/woods and see what is starting to bloom. Identify plant species or make it a scavenger hunt.
2. Create instant works of art with sunlight and found objects. Make a sun print using construction paper or with special light sensitive photo paper (available at Utrecht or Providence Children’s Museum gift shop.)
This is a creative way to explore nature with children. Grab a bag and take a walk around your neighborhood. Collect natural materials from your yard, a local park or while hiking. Almost anything can be used to create faces – sticks, leaves, pine cones, rocks, acorns, seeds, flowers, etc. Kids can sort or count the items before they begin. Arrange your found objects into faces (or robots, aliens…) Optional: Use chalk to outline the face first. Make your nature family then take a picture to document it.
