Imagine That and Make It So

According to many teachers and parents and my own observations, children are not developing their imaginations anymore because they don’t have to use them for anything. Everything is presented to them in a “no-imagination-necessary” form through the media, through toys and even through many of the activities in which they partake. If they cannot imagine, they are at a distinct disadvantage for being able to create their own reality by conceiving, believing and achieving.

As parents, there is much we can do to change this direction. We can make sure that a child has some free time when daydreaming is encouraged. (It is certainly not welcome in a classroom, during a sports activity or afterschool class or program.) Provide a comfortable place where a child is relaxed and open to ideas or inspiration. Sometimes this can be a tent made of sheets or a little “sleep-in” time on a Saturday morning, a climbable tree, a hiking trail, or a walk in the park. So often children are criticized for “not paying attention”. Even Einstein was quoted as saying that “Imagination is more important than knowledge”, so it seems to me that situations where imagining is not only permitted but encouraged are a positive switch from the norm.
It is also helpful to provide first-hand experiences for children. Something as easy as time to browse in a hardware store, museum or pet shop might be just the thing to stimulate ideas. Key some things to areas of interest and introduce others that are completely new to the child. Excitement over new knowledge can prime the imaginary pump.

Instead of toys or TV that provide “everything”, give a child books to read and materials that require their own ideas to make them work. Try empty boxes, cardboard tubes, empty plastic containers and jugs or scrap pieces of wood or fabric. You might just be amazed at the response and the creative things they do with them.

Another idea for developing creativity and problem solving (which also requires imagination) is questions. Ask, “What would happen if…?”, “How can you make that work?”, “If you added … what would that do?” and other questions of this nature.

Over all, provide positive reinforcement for their creative thinking and, when possible, join them with a little of your own.

Easy Summer Fun for Kids

Children have free time, but parents don't usually get a summer break (unless they are teachers). Because children look forward to special time and attention from parents during summer vacation, here are some of the simple things we did with our children that gave us time together and made memorable moments.

• Get wet! Run through lawn sprinklers, sit under a sprinkler or misting system, swim, get a bunch of spray bottles and spray one another with water. Water plants and get some water from the hose on yourself. Put toys in a bucket of water and wash them. Play house and put play dishes or doll clothes in a pan of water and get them clean. Blow bubbles. Put some water in a bucket and use a big old paint brush to paint water on the sidewalk.


• Tell stories around a campfire. If you can't go camping, tell stories around a bar-b-q grill in the backyard. Of course, marshmallows and s'mores add to the fun.


• Collect bugs and other critters. Watch them. Bugs can be watched in a clear container with netting held over the top with a rubber band. Lizards, frogs and similar creatures were at home in a bucket. We always took photos of our wild guests before letting them go. This is also an opportunity to teach children which insects, spiders and other critters they need to avoid for safety reasons. After getting acquainted, the critters were always set free.

• Make a sandcastle, even if you are not at the beach. Mud works too and you can rinse a muddy child off with a hose before they go back indoors.
  
  
• Keep track of the state license plates that you see on cars and try to collect a list of all 50 states before the summer ends.

Make the most of the time you do have with your children during the summer. They remember the little things and appreciate them. When we talk to our grown children, we confirm that it wasn't the big vacations that built strong family relationships and made them feel special. It was all those special times doing things like catching bugs and painting the sidewalk with a brush and water.

Ways to have Summer Fun with Watermelon

Have a Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest. (Kids will often do this on their own.) Save some seeds and plant them in time for watermelons for next year. Use a melon ball scoop to make melon balls and eat them. They are much more fun than ordinary pieces of watermelon. Carve you melon. Cut a melon in half and scoop out the red melon. Carve a design that goes through the green rind and exposes the white. Use it as a decorative melon bowl to hold fruit salad or berry sorbet.

30 Ways to Help Children Enjoy Camping

We've been a camping family since I was an infant and I frequently comment that we really live in a tent! Whether you are a regular camping family or have just decided to give it a try, here are some ideas for activities that keep children interested and learning during a family campout. Satisfy their curiosity and teach them to be safe while having a great time in nature.

1. Watch for animals, birds and bugs. Make a circle of string and see how many living things are in your circle. You might even make a list of all the birds, insects and other critters that you see during your camping adventure.



2. Look for rocks and fossils on the ground. Learn to identify what you see. Kids especially like rocks with crystals. Some areas have an abundance of fossils on the ground if you know what to look for. Find out before you go.



3. Learn the names of trees, bushes, and flowers. There are dozens of books and websites that can help you identify plants, and it's fun to know the names of different ones. Do a little research to find other information. For example: Ponderosa Pine trees smell like vanilla, not pine.



4. Blow dandelion seeds and make a wish. Some trees have seeds that fly like whirly-birds. Toss them in the air.



5. Look at the clouds and find pictures in them. This can be especially fun if you happen to be lying in a hammock stretched between two trees.



6. Enjoy the sunset or sunrise. Take a photo of it. In fact, let children take photos of as many wonderful things as they can. An inexpensive disposable camera is a great tool for a child who is camping.



7. Listen to the birds. Listen to the sound of a creek running, a brook babbling or waves coming in on a lake. Listen to the sound of the wind as it blows through the trees. At night listen to the crickets, cicadas, coyotes and other sounds of nature.



8. Toss rocks in the water (unless people are trying to fish in the area.) Skip rocks across the top of the water. Hold a thin, flat rock with your thumb and index finger and toss it sideways with a flick of your hand so that it bounces off the top of the water several times before going under. It takes practice but a child who can do it has a real sense of accomplishment.



9. Take a hike. Take water with you. Practice using a compass. Use a trail map if you can get one of the area where you will be. (Check on-line with the forest service or local park and recreation department.)



10. Build things using rocks and sticks. This can keep children entertained for long periods of time depending on how creative they get with the project. A small trowel for playing in the dirt is a good idea too. Before you leave, take a picture of their construction and then have them return the area to the way it was when they found it.



11. Make shadow pictures using your flashlight. This works great on a tent wall or, if your are at the bottom of a cliff or mountain and have a powerful flashlight, you can put yourself between the light and the cliff and make your shadow absolutely huge.



12. Look at things with a magnifying glass. Check out bugs, flowers, spider webs, bark, rocks, and everything else. In the process teach children to be safe by not touching things like black widow spiders, scorpions or other critters that can be harmful.



13. Look at the stars at night. Find some planets. Identify a constellation. Look for the north star. See the Milky Way! Star charts are readily accessible on-line or you can purchase a star chart wheel which can adjust to your date and location.



14. Learn how to identify and avoid poison ivy, poison oak and anything else that might be dangerous in the area where you are camping.



15. Sing songs while hiking or around a campfire. Silly songs, songs that can be sung in rounds or children's songs can be great fun. Children can accompany the singing by clacking sticks together for rhythm.



16. Tell bedtime stories around the campfire. These are especially fun if they are humorous. Older boys enjoy some that are on the scary side, but adjust to the children who are camping. Make it fun, but not too scary.



17. Toast marshmallows. These toast best over campfire coals. You can make sticks by straightening out a wire hanger and wrapping the handle end with duct tape so that it doesn't get too hot. (Hot marshmallows are very sticky, so watch children carefully.) Add a toasted marshmallow to a square graham cracker with a square of a milk chocolate bar and top it off with a second graham cracker to make a delicious s'more treat.



18. Cook dinner on a stick or wrapped in foil. Hot dogs cook easily on a stick. Meat, potatoes and vegetables can be wrapped in a couple of layers of foil and placed on hot coals. Potatoes can be baked in the same manner. Kids like to know that they can cook outdoors. If they really like it, there are many variations for campfire cooking.



19. Collect pinecones. Collect rocks. Use them to make crafts when you get home.



20. Learn to tie knots. There are so many ways knot-tying can come in handy when you are camping, fishing, or boating. Teach children knot tying skills.



21. Play pick-up sticks with twigs. Collect a group of relatively straight, thin, twigs. Drop them in a pile and see how many you can remove from the stack without moving other twigs.



22. Toss a pinecone and hit it with a stick. Play this variation of baseball. See how far you can make the pinecone go. (Some pinecones are pokey, so handle them with care.)



23. Play horseshoes with forked tree branches. Toss small forked branches and try to get them to land around the base of a seedling or a stick placed in the ground.



24. Use a compass. Let children experiment with a compass. Take short walks using it and try orienting it to a map of the area.



25. Sleep in a sleeping bag or a hammock. This can be pure fun for many children. Parents or grandparents (like me) might want to add a cot under that sleeping bag for a better night's rest. My grown kids tease me because I don't completely "rough-it" anymore by sleeping on the ground.



26. Make your own trail mix. Mix an assortment of nuts with raisins or other pieces of dried fruits. You can make it more interesting with some chocolate chips, small chocolate candies or coconut.



27. Gather fire wood. Sort it into stacks according to size for tinder, kindling and fuel. The tinder is small and used to get a fire started. Kindling is medium sized and logs that will burn for a while are considered fuel. Always be aware of safety around fire and check for fire restrictions before lighting anything, especially during a dry season.



28. Make a table or other item by lashing sticks together. Get some instructions and learn to lash items. Making your own table in the woods can be great fun and leaves children with a sense of self-reliance. There are also many simpler items that can be made by lashing.



29. Learn how to build a teepee or log cabin fire and how to create a safe fire ring around it. Make sure that there is a clear area around your fire and have containers of water handy for dousing your fire. Bring a small shovel so that you can turn over the burnt logs and make sure that the campfire is dead-out. There should be no heat at all coming from the campfire area.



30. Collect leaves and flowers. Make a wildflower bouquet. Many types of flowers bloom more when you pick some of them. If you have a magazine or book with you, place flowers or leaves between the pages and press them. Take them home and dry them to be used for crafts or arrange dried items in a frame.