The Mediocre Mom's Guide to Greatness

Tuesday November 17th, 2009

Today’s Activity:

Get out your pots, pans and some wooden spoons and make a band.

Note:

You can use the oatmeal or coffee canisters as drums and an empty bottle of soda to blow in.

Evaluate:

Max has been asking to make a band nearly everyday when he hears the silverware clang together as he puts it away.  They both enjoyed choosing songs to sing and making as much noise as possible.

Reminder:

Have you been using your gratitude jar?  Leave a comment letting me know what you are thankful for today.  Today I’m thankful for the joy I find in my children.  Elese has been talking a lot about her “finger elbow” and today I realized that she’s been talking about her knuckle.  lol I thought that she was so cleaver to think to call that.

Tags: band, gratitude, indoor, music, pans, pots
Posted in Quick Activities | No Comments »

Thursday November 5th, 2009

Today’s Activity:

We have a lot to be Thankful for, we just forget sometimes.  Write thank you notes to loved ones reminding them (and you) that they are appreciated and loved.

Note:

These can be purchased or you can have your little ones make and color them.  These can go to daddy, grandma, a neighborhood friend, or anyone else you can think of.

Evaluate:

This was a great activity to give me a little down time to plan my attack for the grocery deals that start tomorrow.  Looking back I probably should have made a Thank You note too.  Anyway, I gave the kids some paper and crayons and asked them who they were thankful for.  Then I let them color pictures for each of them.  They came up with very random people.  For instance Elese wrote a Thank you note to a friends twin daughter because, “She’s cute, huh mommy?”…I found it funny that she only drew a picture for Bella and not her twin Sophia they are both cute and look exactly alike.  She also drew a picture for my SIL and when I asked her what she loved about Aunt DeAnn she started singing Happy Birthday to DeAnn.  Max had a better grasp of what being thankful means with a picture for his friend read with a note thanking him for being his best friend as well as a picture for me.  Max has been fascinated with the word fat lately.  A few days ago he said, “Noahs tummy kind of sticks out like this (showing a fat tummy with his arms).  I didn’t want to say fat.”  So today as he drew a picture of my mom (and me) he shaped us like the letter five (“long neck, tummy fat, Mr. 5 wears a hat”) and said, “Mommy your tummy goes like this a little bit and grandmas goes like this alot!”   So not only was this activity a good way to show gratitude but it was also very entertaining and a little bit depressing.  lol

Tags: cards, gratitude, indoor, notes, thank you
Posted in Average Length Activities | 1 Comment »

Monday November 2, 2009

Today’s Activity

Make a Gratitude Jar.  First find an empty mason jar (if you don’t have one an envelope or even an empty shoe box will work).  Second, either draw and color a picture of something Thanksgivingy (a turkey or perhaps a cornucopia) or you could find a picture online and just print it out.  Then cut out the picture and attach it to the jar.  Finally cut out strips of paper that are thick enough to be written on.  Each day at a convenient time for your family (we always did it at breakfast) have everyone say something they are grateful for and write it on a strip of paper and put it in the jar.  On or around Thanksgiving take all of them out and read them again.

Note:

My friend, Brittney, posted this idea on her blog last year so I did it with my family and LOVED it.  We are now making it a family tradition.  It was so much fun to see what everyone was grateful for.  It could be anything from, “I’m thankful for mommy and daddy” to “I’m thankful that we are having pancakes for breakfast today.”  It was fun to see what the kids were thankful for and it was good for them to hear that mommy and daddy are grateful for them.  I dated all of the strips of paper and kept them so that when the kids get older we can look back on what they were grateful for when they were young.  Thanks Brittney for this GREAT idea!

Evaluate:

The kids and I are all sick with a cold today so this activity was a great one to do because it didn’t take too much energy.  The kids loved taking a break from resting on the couch to trace their hands and color their turkeys.  Here’s what we were thankful for today; Max: Having a house to live in.  Elese: Dora the Explorer.  Me:  Daddy is coming home!  (my husband has been in Mexico for work since late Wednesday night and I can’t wait for him to get home today!)  What were you and your little ones thankful for today?

Tags: gratitude, jar, turkey
Posted in Average Length Activities, Crafts | 2 Comments »