Archive for the ‘Seasonal Activities’ Category

#6 Magic Trick Set

Friday, December 10th, 2010

magic-trick-set

A magic trick set is a fun gift to get children. All of my kids have enjoyed performing magic acts. Sometimes we perform the magic tricks at a birthday party, and other times we visit the elderly to cheer them up with magic tricks. Here are some tips for your children to have success:

  • If your child is young, read through the instruction book and choose the easiest tricks that your child can’t mess up. Mark those with pencil.
  • Have your child practice the tricks in front of his brothers and sisters. Help him add flair and confidence to his presentation.
  • Get a top hat and cape, if possible.
  • Make sure to have all supplies ready and laid out on a table with a black sheet over it. We like to put the magic tricks in order. Make sure to have at least five tricks to perform.
  • Give lots of applause at the end of the magic show, and have your child bow to the audience.

Hopefully these tips will help you to have success with your kids, performing fun magic tricks!

#7 Blocks

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

blocks

Blocks are one of those timeless toys. Children can create anything with them! For geography, my children have made Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, an amphitheater, and many other structures.

block-parthenon

My children built a birdhouse out of blocks when we were studying birds.

birdhouse-with-blocks

Even though my boys have not seen the Transformer movies, we checked out the cartoons from the video store. My boys are fascinated with how a car can turn into a robot. Transformers didn’t get into the top 10 toys of our home, but they would have been in the top 20 for sure. My kids made a robot that transformed into an airplane. They laid out the robot, then they re-arranged the blocks into an airplane. Hence, it transformed!

block-transformer

One thing about blocks is that they can be combined with other toys for limitless fun. My children particularly like making cities with ramps for little matchbox cars to drive down.

blocks-roadway

Small children can play with blocks, and I’m amazed that my 10 year old still isn’t bored with them. So it has earned place #7 on my countdown of the best open-ended toys ever.

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#8 Tinker Toys

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

tinker-toys

I remember playing with Tinker Toys when I was little. My favorite thing to make was a swing set. I liked the fact that the toy parts could move even when they were connected together.

My boys have always loved making windmills and other invented contraptions. They also like going into the cupboard to hammer away on pretend nails, especially when they were younger. The children have sometimes added string to their inventions. Recently they made a working fishing pole.

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I found several videos to inspire your children, just in case you already own Tinker Toys and don’t know what to do with them. I saw a fun catapult and a crane, both working great!

#9 Toy Gears

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

toy-gears

Toy gears didn’t originally make it onto my top 10 list of the “Best Toys of All Time” until “art supplies” got thrown out due to the fact that they can’t be classified as toys. Even though we don’t own this set any more, my children played with it for hours upon hours during the 5 years we owned it when they were younger. It seemed to me like it wasn’t as versatile as some of our other construction sets.

gears

However, this didn’t keep my kids from inventing things that had something to do with what we were studying. One of my sons built a Greek structure based on a picture from a book, and a year later, he built a spit for roasting meat during our medieval feast. He did this without any prompting from me. I never would have come up with these structures myself.

gears-2

Of course, all sorts of airplanes and robots can be made, as well as crazy contraptions. Even my young daughter enjoyed playing with the toy gears because she liked turning a crank and watching all the colorful gears go round and round. For this reason, toy gears earned its way to #9 in our countdown for the best open-ended toys.

gears-famous-landmarks

gears-spit