We have all seen paper cranes before, but this post is different in that it uses the method of making the paper crane to talk to your children about the disaster in Japan, as well as approaching the topic of death with your children. I would definitely leave the ‘age appropriateness’ up to the parent, but they have some great links on there, and the pictures are so detailed that hopefully we all could make these! The ‘helping’ part of his paper crane tutorial involves a link where you can send your cranes, and they will donate $2 for every crane…they are trying to reach 100,000 cranes! Head on over to Modern Parents, Messy Kids to learn more about this project.
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Spring Activities to Get Kids Outside
By the end of March where I live we are starting to have more warm days than not, and all we want to do is spend more time outside. Luckily we can make it educational and a little fun, too, with these spring activities involving the outdoors.
Of course it’s great to do things that will get kids outside and keep them going outside, like starting a garden or installing bird feeders and going out to regularly fill/check on them. Making seed bombs is a fun thing you can do inside and then use outside to see what grows. Or make these for Mother’s Day gifts! Get the instructions from Natural Beach Living.
Make your own bubble wands (and/or your own bubble solution) and get outside to blow bubbles. If you want to make a giant bubble wand, you can find out how from It’s Always Autumn.
If you have access to a sidewalk you can make your own sidewalk chalk (or chalk paint) and draw or play sidewalk chalk games. First up, get the recipe for chalk from Princess Pinky Girl, then get some ideas for sidewalk chalk games.
I personally love hopscotch because it gets kids moving, but you can also print out or come up with your own spring movement activity cards (these are from From ABCs to SATs) and take them outside to use in a game or just let kids go wild hopping like bunnies and waddling like ducks. I love the idea of a spring themed game of Red Light, Green Light where kids have to do the movements as they go.
And of course nature walks are great all the time, and there are all sorts of themes you can use, from collecting different colors to textures, shapes and more. I love this one for a fairy house building activity from Glitter on a Dime. First kids can walk around and collect materials, then design and decorate their fairy homes.
Steph at Modern Parents Messy Kids says
Thank you so much for including my post on your wonderful site!
Along with the how-to visuals and the links you mentioned, there is also info. on a great project aiming to collect 100,000 paper cranes from students world wide. For every crane collected, $2 is donated towards Japan disaster relief.
Thanks again.
Sweetharsh says
Carters also has a paper crane tie in and thought it flies in the face of DIY I think it’s worth mentioning. You can also receive 10% off when you deliver your cranes. http://www.carters.com/Cranes-For-Kids/cranes-for-kids,default,pg.html