Who's Your Mama?

In a recent Parenting magazine, I read an idea of a game to play to help children learn to consider the places from which food comes.  Ideally, though far, far, far from perfectly, we try to eat food that comes from a real, natural source:  the ground, a plant, a vine, a tree, an animal.  My kids love bacon and the first time they realized that it comes from a pig, it took some time to sink in.  

Sorry, Olivia.

Back to the game.  Select a food and ask your kids who the "mama" of that food is.   It might look like this:

Me:  Milk...Who's your mama?

Kids:  COW

Me:  Good or not good?

Kids:  GOOD!  (generally accompanied by a THUMBS-UP)

Me:  Now, let's talk about if this cow is grass fed or if it's pumped full of hormones.  (Just kidding, I don't really say that...we'll save that for another day, little Eli and Abby.  Cow is good enough for now.  And standard cow is pretty much what mommy and daddy can afford, anyways.)

 

Here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

Who's Your Mama in Action 

Our goal is playing this game?  Finding food that has a NATURAL mama instead of a FACTORY mama.  Again, we are not perfect (Who could possibly live without Oreos?), but we are trying to make strides away from the factory. 

All this to say, Who's Your Mama is a favorite around here and, by request of the kids, we play it a lot.  Plus, it's just the cutest thing to hear your two-year old say, "Who's Your Mama?"

 

Indoor Carnival

We celebrated Eli's birthday four different times.  That's a lot of birthdays for a five year old and a lot of birthdays for a five year old's mom.  Each celebration was wonderfully fun, but it was still four celebrations.  You've heard of this?

 Well, my husband and I felt that it could have been this:

Taken after the second of four parties.

On the fourth day of parties, I had some restless troops who needed some help waiting until said party was going to begin.  I had one game in mind and Eli invented the rest.  It was an Indoor Carnival, indeed. 

Game #1:  Beanbag Toss:  My One and Only Idea

We cut a cereal box in half, leaving the front/back panels each attached to one side panel.  Did that make sense?  A hole was cut in the middle of each.

These were then taped, by the side panel, to a table.

We brought out the beanbags and started tossing.

Eli elected to toss from a rocking chair.  I guess at another year older he was really feeling the aches and pains of aging.

Game #2:  Dueling Beanbag Toss

Eli wanted to tape a target to each side of the table and have he and his sister toss simultaneously.  You can imagine how this ended, with the sister sobbing on my lap after a beanbag bounced off her cute little face.

Game #3:  Cup Pyramid Knock-Down

The face says it all on this one.

Game #4:  Beanbag Toss:  A Variation

I happened to snap a picture of the only one that made it successfully to its target.

You can see the sister in the chair...still recovering from her beanbag-to-the-face injury.

Game #5:  Bowling

Cups...a basketball...bowling, of course.  Nice form, Buddy!

Game #6:  Hanging Cup Ball Toss

Eli did actually make a shot into the clear cup on the bottom. 

So, there you have it.  One game that turned into six.  Now, I did end up with a crying girl that never quite recovered and messier house than when I started, but, I also got this:

Worth it.

A Tribute to U2

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to a U2 concert in our very own hometown.  It was amazing.  AMAZING.  So, while I was watching the concert, I found myself thinking, "This is amazing.  AMAZING.  I need to do something with the kids that uses something U2ish."  Thankfully, the following song was early on in the concert and I didn't have to be totally lame, trying to think up a kid activity for the entire concert...

 

Nail Polish Game

Abby loves nail polish.  A girl after my own heart.  Strangly, she won't let me paint her toes, but she loves to just play with the bottles.  I guess they are pretty cool little bottles.  So, this morning, we played a Nail Polish Game.

We selected some polishes...notice...there are no OPI bottles in there.  We don't play games with OPI nail polish.

I painted a small bit of each color on a paper plate and we were ready.

The Nail Polish Game:  Abby would pick a bottle and put it on the matching color on the paper plate.  That's it.  You can see how thrilled Eli was with The Nail Polish Game.

It was also fun to feel the nail polish on the paper plate.  Abby would touch it and then say "cold."  We did talk a bit about how the nail polish felt and looked, which I wasn't even planning on doing until Abby said "cold,"...practicing good descriptive words...smooth, shiny, pretty, cold...

She did like it, though this face doesn't show it.

I had a cute little video of us playing our game, but am experiencing technical difficulties.  Bummer.

I am now off to paint my toes...or change a diaper or do dishes or throw in some laundry.  

I guess toes will have to wait.  

Bummer again.