Build a Zipline for Your Elf on the Shelf

We never did Elf on the Shelf with my daughter, but her classrooms in elementary school had an elf, and I could see this being a fun group project you could do in a classroom tinkering session or you could do it at home.

Challenge the kids to see how they can build a zipline to transport the elf (or another small doll if they aren’t allowed to touch the elf) from one place to another.

If the elf moves around it can start the day in a high place and the kids can figure out how he or she might get down.

There’s Just One Mommy has all the details and ideas for materials the kids might use to build their zipline, so you can offer them those sorts of things to start or have them find their own materials to use.

[Photo: There’s Just One Mommy.]

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Activities and Ideas for the 100th Day of School

We don’t really have any travel to speak of planned this summer, and my daughter is old enough that any lengthy time in the car is usually spent with an audiobook or watching videos. But I remember the struggle of keeping little kids entertained on long trips, especially if you don’t want them on a screen the whole time.

I recently saw this post from Creating Really Awesome Fun Things, which is a roundup of 26 road trip games, ideas and activities that kids can do. From stringing beads onto pipe cleaners to felt busy boards, travel journals and using a pizza box to contain colors, trains (or cars) and more, there are lots of fun and easy ideas here.

I’m a big fan of printable road trip activities, and even have a whole post all about printables for road trips. I used to always do some kind of license plate game, a map, mazes and I-spy style scavenger hunts, which are fun for everyone in the car to play along with. (You can also find some patriotic road trip mazes here.) If your road trip includes a camping trip, check out these camping themed printable games and activities.

Productive Pete has a super cute map of the United States (pictured above) that kids can use in lots of different ways while on the road. They can color the states you travel through, or all the states they’ve ever visited, or use it to give the license plate game an extra challenge as they try to find each state on the map. You can quiz older kids on the state capitols, which you might need to brush up on yourself (guilty!).

Do you have particular games or activities that you always have on hand when you are doing a road trip with kids? I would love to hear about them!

[Photo: Productive Pete.]

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