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Tons
of Fun In February!
Love
is not the only thing that makes February irresistible!
By Deborah Shelton,
the author of The
Five Minute Parent:
Fun & Fast Activities for You and Your Little Ones
Get out your
calendar and a nice bold pen and make note of these
fun activities
to do with your kids! Each one is a
memory
in the making!
National Blah
Buster Month
* Get rid of the winter blahs and think Spring!
* Wear a hat, a scarf or even a pair of socks in wild and
vivid color combinations.
* Visit a flower shop to find a mixture of wildflowers to
brighten your home.
Black
History Month
* Take a trip to the library and immerse yourself in the
inventions, books, civil rights activities and great deeds
of black peoples throughout history.
* Create a picture time line of your research findings,
complete with dates, accomplishments and photos or drawings.
Canned
Food Month
* Donate cans of food to homeless shelters and food banks.
* Use cans of food as light weights for exercise.
* Make a pair of stilts from two empty coffee cans. Turn
each coffee can upside down, so the plastic lid is on the
bottom. Poke two holes, one on each side of the can, near
the top (a grownup’s job). Next, thread rope through the
holes and tie off inside the can. The tied rope should be
long just long enough to be held waist-high when standing on
the cans.
National
Cherry Month
* Make a root beer float and top it with a long-stemmed
cherry.
* Cook cherry pies for your family to enjoy. Roll out
biscuit dough and fill with canned cherry pie filling. Fold
the dough and crimp the edges. Fry the pies in oil. Sprinkle
with powdered sugar. Yum!
* Take this opportunity to brush up on cherry trivia: Rick
Kraus holds the record in the International Cherry Pit Spit
Competition, with a cherry spit of 72 feet 7 1/2 inches!
Return
Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
* Yes, you read that correctly. As you might have guessed,
there really is only one way to celebrate this occasion...by
returning shopping carts to the supermarket!
Groundhog
Day (Feb. 2)
* Make groundhog sock puppets with brown or gray socks.
* Play a game of shadow tag! This is much like a regular
game of tag, but instead of tagging the person, you tag
their shadow.
National
New Idea Week (Feb.
9-15)
* Find new ways to reuse and recycle common household items.
* Invent a better (and humane) mousetrap.
* Do a little bit of research to learn about Thomas Edison's
many inventions. (His birthday is February 11.)
Valentine's
Day (Feb. 14)
* Go on a heart-finding expedition! Take pictures of hearts
found in nature, (such as leaves or shadows), on clothing,
painted on shop windows, or even the heart-shaped oil stain
in the garage.
* Create a love curtain with paper hearts and thin ribbon or
yarn. Punch a hole in the top of each paper heart, and
thread the ribbon through the hole, then tie off. Repeat
this for all of the hearts, and hang the strings in a
doorway.
Solar
System Day (Feb. 19)
* Learn the names of all of the planets. When you know the
names, and their order from the sun, learn the names of the
moons of each planet.
* Celebrate by inviting friends and family over for a
star-gazing party!
French
Fry Friday (Feb. 28)
* Make your own batch of French fries to celebrate!
* Poll family and friends to find out who makes the best
fries in town (McDonald's, Jack-in-the-Box, Uncle Edward,
the cook in the school cafeteria, etc.).
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About the Author:
Deborah Shelton is the author of The Five Minute Parent:
Fun & Fast Activities for You and Your Little Ones.
Visit
The Five Minute Parent for fun rainy-day activities,
family
links, and a free email newsletter filled with craft
ideas,
guest articles, contests and so much more!
http://www.fiveminuteparent.com
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