An Easy Game to Keep Kids Entertained

As I write this, we’re getting to the part of summer that I think is hardest for kids and parents alike. It’s too hot to want to be outside, you’ve probably already had your big vacation or trips to various places you like to go during the summer, but school is still a ways off.

It’s easy to succumb to the lure of watching lots of movies or spending even more time on devices, but it’s great to try to get a little more family fun in while you can.

Enter the doughnut game.

This is a low-prep, quick and easy game that you can play with kids of just about any age and even adults will find it fun.

It’s sort of like a lower stakes version of Jenga, and just showing you a picture will basically tell you all you need to know about how this game goes, but go ahead and click over to the original at Playtivities to learn all the details of how they play it.

I love the idea that once you have your doughnut you can play this just about anywhere and at any time. When my daughter was younger I always had a bag of colored pencils in my purse (since she loved to draw and color but they don’t melt like crayons do). If you have that you can just tuck a doughnut into the same bag and you’ll be ready to play when you need to wait at a restaurant or any time the dreaded phrase “I’m bored” comes up.

Get all the details on how to prep and play the doughnut game over at Playtivities.

And if you are still hitting the road and need some more activities when you travel, check out this collection of road trip printables.

[Photo: Playtivities]

Next Plan Idea:

Books to Get Ready for Back to School

Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply