Tuesday Tip

Just a quick post today...
I realized that conference is coming up pretty quick and I still hadn't finished the workbook/journal for the older kids that I had planned on doing. So, here it is. I made this workbook specifically for my older kiddos. (The link for the workbook for younger children is on my right sidebar under quiet books.) I think it's got enough of a combination of "fun stuff" vs. "learning stuff" to keep them occupied for at least 1 session of conference. FYI: I also designed this little workbook/journal to coincide with one of my favorite ideas from the article in the Mar. Ensign about preparing children for general conference. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my favorite ideas out of the article was to have each of the kids think of 3 (or however many you want) questions as they watched conference and then make a game of it the next night for FHE...who was paying the best attention??? The questions could be anything from, "What color tie was Pres. Monson wearing?" to "Who spoke about temples in the Sunday morning session?" I know my big kids would get a kick out of this...but I think that even my little ones would too. So...with that in mind, in this workbook the kids have to write down 3 things they heard in each talk and then come up with a question at the end of the talk.

Conference Journal - Older Child

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Newspapers kids Workbook

FYI

Just a quick FYI...

There have been a few problems with trying to print or download the conference workbook I posted last week and the quiet book I posted a few weeks ago. I have gone back into Scribd and uploaded the documents again, but I made them public instead of keeping them private. I'm not sure if that will make a difference or not, but we'll keep our fingers crossed. If you're not able to print it directly, you should at least be able to download it to you computer and print it from there. (I made the switch on the original post or you can also find a link on the right sidebar.)

Also, please note for future reference, I will post any links to the quiet books or workbooks that I make on my right sidebar. I will most likely do a post about them to let you know about them, but occasionally they might just end up on the sidebar without any notice. If there is something specific you would like me to try to do a quiet book about let me know and I'll work on it. Thanks!

Thursday Things to Do

What are you doing this weekend? I'd like to say we'll be doing something really fun, BUT, I'm pretty sure we'll be sanding the basement. Hopefully your weekend will be more fun. There are a lot of things going on this weekend...something for everyone I'm sure. Here's the scoop: (Click on the links for more info)

MUSIC

BYU Men's and Women's Chorus Concert - Mar. 13-14th -de Jong Concert Hall

The Osmonds - Second Generation Concert - Mar. 14th - Scera Theater

Light of the World - Mar. 15th - Scera Theater - FREE Admission

SPORTS

BYU Baseball vs. Utah - Mar. 13-14th - Miller Park

Utah Flash Basketball - Mar. 13-14th - McKay Events Center

FAMILY

Kids Time at the Covey Center - Mar. 14th 1pm - 2 pm - $3/child, parents are free

Museum Monday - (at Thanksgiving Point) - Mar.15th, 5-7pm -$10/adult, $8/child

Tuesday

Wow...today has been a busy day. It's almost dinner time and I'm just now getting to this post. Better late than never I suppose!

Well, once again I don't really have a great tutorial for you, but I've been working on a conference worksheet/journal for younger children since conference is coming up so I thought I would share it with you. One of my previous posts talked about some of the ideas mentioned in the Mar.2009 Ensign to prepare children for conference. I really liked the idea of having each of the children come up with questions for a family night conference quiz on the Monday after conference, but I didn't know if that would be possible with a 3 year old. I tried to design this little workbook so that it would entertain my 3 year old but also so that, given a little direction I could help him come up with 3 questions about things he remembered for conference for our FHE quiz. (I'm also going to do a workbook for older kids...just check back later.) The pictures are mostly from the gospel art kit and the Friend. Hope it's useful to you...

Conference Journal - Young Child

Publish at Scribd or explore others: kids Workbook

Word of Warning: I didn't really do a great proof-read job on it so hopefully there are no major mistakes. Let me know if you find any and I'll fix them and then re-post it. Again this can be downloaded through Scribd. Sorry for the inconvenience but I'm not super computer literate and this is the easiest and most convenient way for me to do this at this time and registering is free so it's not too big of a deal!

Friday Favorites

Kid's love books. I love books. In fact, in what's left of my spare time you can usually find me reading a book...and guess what, it's usually a kids' book or a young adult book (I like to preview them for my older kids.) Today, I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite children's authors with you.


Tedd Arnold - He is both author and illustrator for his books. This particular book is one of my favorites of his. Love the rhyming and repetition, and of course the illustrations are great. My kids also like his books about Huggly (the little green monster.) Admittedly, I have not read all of his books, but my kids and I have both enjoyed the ones that we have read.

Audrey Wood - Kenny's grandma introduced us to these books and she has been one of my favorite children's authors since. She and her husband work together...she writes, he illustrates. Some of her books are funny. Some are serious. Some teach lessons. Elbert's Bad Word is one of my favorites...but King Bidgood's In the Bathtub is right up there too.

Doreen Cronin - I don't know if my kids have enjoyed these books as much as i have, but I think these are hilarious. I love the duck!

Robert Munsch - This post wouldn't be complete without mentioning Robert Munsch. Thomas' Snowsuit is one of my all-time favorites (I laugh just thinking about it,) but there are so many more good ones...The Paper Bag Princess (I had this book when I was a kid!) Love You Forever, Makeup Mess...to mention a few.

So there ya go...plenty of books to keep you and your kids entertained for a few days! Take a trip to the local library and check something out. You won't be disappointed!

Friday Favorites

When I was a little kid I used to listen to music as I went to sleep. I listened to the "Let's Sing Together" cassette tape (I'm getting old) every night for a long time. It got to the point where I could sing every song in the right order with all of the different voices. Funny enough, I can still remember many of the songs, the order, and the voices today...even funnier, Kenny used to listen to the same cassette and he can do the same thing. (I guess that means we were meant for each other!) My beloved cassette tape lasted through my first child (who I must say, loved it too) but then some mischevious little hands destroyed it. Since that fateful day I've searched high and low for something even comparable to my "Let's Sing Together" music...something fun, something churchy (so we can listen to it on Sunday), and something that the kids actually want to listen to. I've finally found it (well, technically I found it about a year ago) and because it is "Let's Sing Together" good, it goes on my favorite's list!

I guess times have changed. The kids would probably make fun of my favorite tape (if they could even figure out how to use it) but they LOVE to listen to these CD's. There was a point in time that Rylen would ask for them to be turned on every time we got into the car. I suppose you could say this is my "Let's Sing Together" tape made current! The kids' favorites include the Snowman Song and Peanut Butter and Jelly. Anyhow, if you don't have these already, put them on your list. The kids will love them!

Tuesday Tip

Today's post isn't so much a tip or tutorial (for you at least.) I've been trying to teach myself a little bit about photoshop, so I've been doing a lot of playing around. While I was playing around I decided to make a little quiet book for church for Rylen. (I'm always looking for something to hold his interest for a minute and keep him quiet through sacrament.) Anyway, I love the new song the kids are learning in primary this year, "The Family is of God" by Matthew Neeley and I thought I would make a little book out of that so...

GGUF Binder


(GGUF stands for God Gave Us Families.) I think I made this in a 4x6 size...to be put into one of those little photo books that you can buy at the dollar store, but if you're printing it off in Acrobat, then you can also print multiple pages on the sheet (making it smaller.) I would print the pages off on cardstock (or regular paper and then mount on cardstock for stability) then you could put them in the photo book OR you could just laminate the pages and hook them together with a binder clip or something and voila a quick little quiet book for your small kiddies that will also help them learn the words to the song for primary. Enjoy! Oh, and if you happen to want a bigger size leave me a comment and I'll try to figure out how to resize it.

The Family is of God - Quiet Book

   Publish at Scribd or explore others:            How-to-Guides & Manu              Books              Fiction                  kids              Primary      

*Also, I had to upload the book to scribd. Not the most convenient place to put it because you have to register on the site to get the book, but registration is free. I'm also hoping that you might be able to print it directly from the view in this post. Click on the iPaper button and it should give you an option to print, but if you want to download it you'll probably have to go to scribd. Let me know how it works. Thanks!

Thursday...Things To Do

So, you would think this post might be about a romantic restaurant or date idea for the big day, but you couldn't be more wrong! (haha) My suggestion this week is for a family activity.

One of my family's favorite activities (especially the younger ones) is Kangaroo Zoo. It is a "...unique indoor active play and celebration environment which caters to the needs of children and parents alike..." (Their description.) Basically it's a big building full of those big blow-up jump houses where the kids can run wild for hours on end and get really, really, really tired!!! (my description...I think mine's better, don't you??)

The kids go in looking like this (well not exactly):

They do a little bit of this:

and come out looking like this:

How can you beat that? The kids have fun and get all tired out, leaving (what could turn out to be) a nice quiet...dare I say, romantic, evening for mom and dad. (Hey, who needs a babysitter...just tire out the kids, put them to bed, and let your Valentine's night begin.)

*Just a quick note: Kangaroo Zoo is open Monday thru Saturday from 10am-8pm (approx). Once you're in, you can stay as long as you like so it's a pretty good value. Cost is between $5 and $8 and there is no charge for watching.

Sorry to anyone not in our area. Better luck next time, but I'm sure there is something similar in your area. Now go out, have fun with the kids...and then have fun with your valentine!