Doll Spa or car wash

Are the kids bored, the weather frightful and everyone is stuck inside?
 Then it is time to set up a Doll Spa.
**Remember to only use dolls with hard plastic bodies if you plan to have them get in the water.
You can just wash the hair of a doll with a soft stuffed body.

• Fill a basin, baby tub or even your bathroom tub with warm water
• Cover the floor with bath towels and then let the kids bathe their dolls or wash their hair using a mild shampoo
• They can even wash their doll clothes then hang up to dry
• Have on hand a few beauty products for after the bath: hooded towels, combs, curlers, hair ribbons, and talcum powder.Doll hair is not meant to be blow dried. Let it air dry while styling.

A car wash for miniature cars can be equally fun, especially if you have a hand held  shower nozzle
Afterward, organize the sparkling fleet for a car show!

Bear Tales...Dream Song

Dream Song
walter de la mare

Sunlight, moonlight,
Twilight, starlight-
Gloaming at the close of day,
And an owl calling,
Cool dews falling
In a wood of oak and may.

Lantern light, taper light,
Torchlight, no light;
Darkness at the shut of day,
and lions roaring,
Their wrath pouring
In wild waste places far away.

Elf-light, bat light,
Touchwood light and toad light
And the sea a shimmering gloom of gray,
And a small face smiling
In a dream's beguiling
In a world of wonders far away.

Joke of the week

Q: Why did the chicken cross the playground?

A: To get to the other side!

Pinapple orange smoothie

After Kayleigh is all finished sliding on the "Smooth Orange" Slide we can go home and have this tasty treat.

Combine all these ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. vanilla ice cream. softened
1/2 c. water
3 c. ice cubes
8 oz can frozen pinapple orange juice conentrate thawed.

Yummm!!

BOY

Boy, n: a noise with dirt on it

Tag: Easy as Pie

On a level playing surface, draw a circle that is at least 15 to 20 feet wide ( chalk or stick in the dirt)

Then divide the circle into six equal sections by drawing 3 lines across the center

Now you are ready to play.

• The player who is chosen to be "it" stands in the center of the circle (where the slices of the pie meet)
• The remaining players position themselves around the outer edge. 
• To begin, IT yells "Go"  and then chases after the other players in and attempt to tag one
• The runners may travel in any direction around the circle to avoid being tagged
• But here's the catch: their feet must always land on a line.
• The first person tagged or to step off a line, becomes the new it.

ASL word of the day...Land

Land n. Any part of the earth not covered by water : The last ship finally approached land
           

• Move the right open hand, palm facing down and fingers pointing forward, from in front of the right side of the body in an arch forward and in front of chest.

Bear Tales...School for Sandpipers

School for Sandpipers
elizabeth honness

The small sandpipers go to school
Upon the sandy shore;
The ocean is their teacher,
She has a fearful roar.

She shows them how to catch the crabs
That burrow on the beach,
How to run behind a wave,
Then soar above its reach.

They do their featherstitching
In rows along the sand.
Until the sea erases it
With foam upon her hand.

The grown-up terns and elder gulls
Who scorn their childish fun,
Drop clamshells down to break it up
And see sandpipers run!

Joke of the week

Q: What happens when cows have flashbacks?

A: They experience deja-moo!

You can find Hooogy's like this one on my website @ reneesworkshop.com. Made from cuddle fabric, they are super soft and make a perfect gift for the holidays. Order one today.

Football Defender

Looks like Grandpa gave up watching football on the TV to playing football with the kids

You will need a football and 3 players to play this game

Defender is a pass and catch game with a quarterback and reciever matching up against a defensive back. 

For the young kids, a shorter, narrower field works best. The object is to move down the field and score a touchdown, but the offense can proceed only by completing passes; there's no running with the ball after the catch ( and thus no tackling). Three completions make a first down. If the offense fails to complete the three passes in a four down series, the players switch positions. 

Quarterback to receiver,

Receiver to defender

Defender to quiarterback

and play marches back down the field in the opposite direction.

An interception automatically entitle the defender to switch places with the quarterback

Be the Best

Life 

doesn't 

require that 

we be the best,

Only that we try 

our best.

Jackson Browne

mirror image

This is something that Actors and Performers practice

• Two players pair up and look into each others eyes
• One person starts with an action such as a wave of hand etc
• The other person "mirrors" the first person by doing exactly as he/she is doing.It looks like what you would see in a mirror
• Move slowly . How well can the two of you look like reflections

ASL word of the day...Glasses

glasses pl n. Corrective eye wear consisting of two glass or plastic lenses set in a frame usually with earpieces.    Grandma had to wear glasses for her nearsightedness.
same sign used for: eyeglasses

• (shape and location of eyeglasses) Tap the thumbs of both modified C hands, palms facing each other, near the outside corner of each eye with a repeated movement.

Vanilla Wafer Cake

Vanilla Wafer Cake

2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 - 12 oz box vanilla wafers
1/2 cup milk
1- 7 oz pkg. flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, on at a time and beat after each egg.
Crush the vanilla wafers and add alternately with the milk
Add coconut and chopped pecans
Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Bear Tales...Fairy Lore

Fairy Lore
rose fyleman

Fairies learn to dance before they learn to walk;
Fairirs learn to sing before they learn to talk;
Fairies learn their counting from the cuckoo's call;
     They do not learn Geography at all

Faires go a-riding with witches on their brooms
And steal away the rainbows to brighten up their rooms;
Fairies like a sky dance better than a feast;
    They have a birthday once a week at least

Fairies think the rain as pretty as the sun;
Fairies think that trespass-boards are only made for fun;
Fairies think that  peppermint's the nicest thing they know
    I always take a packet when I go.

Joke of the week

Q: Why was the elevator getting annoyed?




A: People kept pushing its buttons!

Toilet Roll Bowling

Need an indoor activity? Is it a rainy day? Here is a simple easy game to make and play.
Save all you toilet paper rolls

• To make the bowling pins, decorate 10 cardboard toilet paper tolls with paints, stickers, markers, crayons or whatever you feel like using to embellish the "Pins" 
• Line up the pins any way you like
• Use a small ball for a bowling ball. 
• Make up your own rules

Now just have some fun!!

Success

Success

is liking yourself,

liking what you do

and liking how you do it 

maya angelou

This is a philosophy my father Ron lived by.

ASL word of the day...CUTE

Cute adj. Pleasingly pretty or endearing: a cute doll

• with the right thumb extended, brush the fingers of the right U hand. palm facing down, downward on the chin while changing into a 10 hand

Dolly and Me Charm /Chime Bracelets

Dolly and Me bracelets are lots of fun to make and wear.

Felt
Self adhesive Loop and Hook fasteners (like velcro)
Large eyed needle and yarn
shells or charms

Cut out a strip of felt that will fit around the wrist of your child and doll leaving an 1/2 inch overlap
Stick the parts of the velcro fastener to the ends
With the needle, individually thread short lengths of yarn through the felt along the lower edge and kno the tops ot keep them from slipping back through.
Glue shells or other charms to the strands

Bear Tales...The Finger Church

The Finger Church
eleanor jewett

My mother has the strangest hands
   They make a church; they make a steeple
And when the front door open wide
   They make just half a dozen people

The steeple rises tall as tall.
   Her thumbs make stately, massive doors
And then she laughs and turns her hands
   And out the stream of people pours!

Joke for the week

Q: Why did the music teacher need a ladder?



A: To reach the high notes!

Crayon Rubbings

Want to make a great impression? Grap a piece  of paper, some crayons and find a textured suface and rub.
People have been doing this for thousands of years. Making texture into images and memories into art, something they did before "photographs"
Here Bekah, R.J and Grandma are rubbing dinosaur prints that are in the cement. 

• Locate the object or surface you would want to rub. 
• Lay a piece of paper over the object, then tape it in place
• White paper is fine, but you can use vellum, that way you can see whats underneath. 
• Peel the wrapper from the crayon and rub its side all over the paper. The crayon will catch on whatever is raised, creating a clear image of the surface.

asl word of the day...Baptized/Baptism

Baptized: Bekah was baptized on August 7th.
With both "A hand" in front of the body, palms facing each other, dip the hands to the right and then back to the original position

• (Represents someone being dipped in the water)

Glass Harmonica

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented the glass harmonica? It consisted of glass hemispheres attached to a turning rod and he played it by running a wet finger across the rims of the glasses. The glasses were of different sizes, so each produced different vibrations resulting in different sounds.

Try making your own version:

• Line up glasses of different sizes on a firm surface
• Pour water into each glass
• Have water in glasses makes it easy to keep your finger wet
• Run your forefinger quickly around rims. (notice ther sound varies with the thickness of glass)

Ask a friend or two to join in. Now you have a glass harmonica orchestra!

Bear Tales...The Bunny

The Bunny
adelaide love

I saw a saw a brown bunny run
Across the winter snow
And wondered where he lived and why
He had to hurry so

Perhaps he had stayed out too long
And Mother Bunny'd scold;
Perhaps he hurried home because
His little feet were cold.