The kids have accepted all of their Wednesday challenges this summer like champs. This week’s challenge may get them out of bed a little earlier than usual, but it’s all about relaxing and being present. As part of winding down the summer, we wanted to make sure we got in a little beach time when the beach […]
I’ve been keeping score at baseball games since I could lift a pencil. When I was really young, I used to help my grandpa track at-bats on the single game score-cards or programs they’d sell at Yankee games. When I was a little older, I took a break from the paper and ran the electronic […]
Did you know that table tennis is an olympic sport? Well, Torontonians might just give the rest of the world a run for their money, if not at the Rio Olympics, then in about 10 years, when all the little ones grow up. Over the past few years, in several of our city parks, these beautifully […]
Last year’s 101 Things to Look for at the Art Museum was such a hit with the kids that I thought I’d come up with another free printable Scavenger Hunt for our next trip to the Royal Ontario Museum. I derived our list from the holdings of several large Natural History Museums in Europe and […]
This week, we’re doing all things Pixels for Toby’s family birthday. Since Donkey Kong was part of the film, I decided to whip up a version of the classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game featuring the Kong himself, of course, and by adding my fave Centipede as the “tail.” First up, you’ll find a […]
Make your own piñata? Who knew? Without a papier-maché base? Even better!! Check out these awesome piñatas we made for Toby’s family birthday party!!! It’s actually fairly easy to make your own piñata! DIY Pacman [Or Any Shape] Piñatas Materials Cereal Boxes Scissors Masking Tape Glue Small Paint Brush Tissue Paper Strong cord and/or a […]
A few years ago, we had “Crazy Fruit Day” in which we decided to do a blind sampling of all of the strange fruits we picked up in Chinatown. It was so much fun, we decided that we needed to do yet another blind tasting challenge this summer! This time around, we decided to have an […]
It’s been a little cold and grey, so I thought I’d get the kids interested in some indoor fun. Since we love surrealist games, I thought I’d come up with a few variations on old favourites. Here are the Three Surrealist Games for Kids we played! Exquisite Corpse Supplies Blank Paper Pen, Pencil, Crayons or Markers Method […]
Some days you just need to take it easy! Just the other day, we set the kids loose in the backyard, and they ended up knocking two items off of our Summer of Funner Bucket List in one fell swoop. First off, they used chalk to make “targets,” and I taught them how to make […]
Toby had a Birthday Bash on Thursday. Since the weather was good, we decided to “keep it simple,” or, as simple as you can with a large group of 8-10 year olds, by playing minute-to-win-it-style outdoor games and, in general, just goofing around. Since we did our own DIY Skylanders Giants Invitations for the party, I […]
September 5, 2011 Over the past few days, I have been supposing that this last entry for our Summer of Funner 2011 would be something like one of those top-ten lists the media produces over the lazy days of the new year. I thought that I would write an overall assesment of our highs and […]
August 26, 2011 On Tuesday’s Egg Day, we began a 3-day experiment. We placed a raw egg into a mason jar full of vinegar and sealed the jar, setting the whole thing aside for a few days. At that point, the kids hypothesized that the egg would explode inside of the jar. This morning, we had a look at […]
August 23, 2011 Egg day couldn’t begin without a little thematic breakfast! No, the kids would NOT eat it, Sam-I-Am, they would not eat Green Eggs and Ham! But, I did! And, after I managed to hard-boil about a dozen more eggs, we got to work. Today, we completed several “Egg-speriments,” including the old egg-through-the-bottle […]
August 16, 2011 Sure, we’ve painted with pineapple skins…We even attempted to grow one from a crown on our windowsill…Still, this year’s “Crazy Fruit Day” took the old “Pineapple Day” up a notch. Today, we played a Name That Fruit Game, we created Still Life pieces with ink and watercolours, and we operated a Blind […]
