Real Life Solutions

Toddlers are full of energy. For them the whole world is just one big adventure. So just how do you keep these little explores busy?

Here are a few fun and educational activities you can share with your toddler:

Draw a Giant Picture – Buy a large piece of cardboard (poster size) at your local arts supply shop and have fun drawing a huge picture with your toddler. You can use finger paints, crayons or markers. If your toddler is young just let him scribble or dab paint onto the poster board. Talk about the different colors as your drawing, for example say “Wow, your orange tree looks really nice. Mommy’s going to draw a red balloon now”

You can even take turns lying on the sidewalk and draw a body outline of each other using chalk. Once you have the outline draw in the face and features.

Make a Mask – Using paper plates help your toddler cut out eyes, nose and mouth and paint in the colors of your toddler’s favorite animal. He can be a cat, tiger or even a mouse. Once you finish with your masks, put them on and pretend to be animals. Toddlers love pretend games and this activity will help build their creativity.

Go on a Field Trip – Nothing fancy, just go to the local pet shop and show your toddler all the different types of animals or fishes. You can also go on field trip to look for bugs around your neighborhood. A field trip to the supermarket is great fun too. I’m not talking about your weekly shop but just a special field trip where you buy only a few items but your toddler can help you choose, weigh and even pay for them. This usually works great with fruit and vegetables since there are so many different types.

Show your toddler the different types of fruits and name them. Talk about the different colors and textures. Let them be just like you and place the items in your shopping cart and on the checkout counter. This is a great way for even young toddlers to start learning about their environment and the foods we eat. You can even make a special fruit salad when you get home.

If you are looking for some fun Autumn activities for kids, you’ve come to the right place.  Fall winds blow and leaves make their decent from tree limbs. It is the perfect time for fun autumn activities for kids.

Here are some fun Autumn activities and craft ideas that you can do with your kids: 

Create an autumn yard collage

This is a great way to get your kids involved in beautifying your front lawn for the fall season. Materials you will need to create your autumn yard collage include hay bales, pumpkins (all sizes), scarecrows, witches, cornucopias, etc. Anything related to fall will look wonderful. Stack your hay bales to create a backdrop. Next, place a huge scarecrow (or witch) on the center of the stack. Then add other complimentary fall accessories like cornucopias, corn stacks, ghosts, etc.

Make a haunted tree

Making a haunted tree is a fun activity for everyone. It is especially great to do right after raking leaves. First, pick the biggest, best tree in your front yard; preferably one with many long, crooked limbs. Next, take small white trash bags and stuff the top half with leaves from your yard. Twist and tie the bag into a knot, or use a twist-tie to close the end where the leaves stop. Turn upside down and you have a ghost! Make as many of these ghosts as you can, then tie them to tree limbs. As the fall winds blow, your ghosts will haunt your tree.

Happy Autumn Cards

Supply each kid with markers, paper, glue, glitter, stickers, etc. Let them make several autumn cards and write a special message on the inside of each one. After any wet appliqués are dried, gather the cards and take them to your local nursing home to distribute among patients.

Leaf Tracings

Fold 10 sheets of copy paper in half and crease in the center. Bind the booklet by punching two holes in the spine, threading yarn through the holes, and tying the ends. Take your kids to the park. Challenge them to find and trace as many unique leaves as possible.

Book of Leaves

Make a booklet, as described above. This time, have your child search for odd-looking leaves to collect and place in their book. Then give them an encyclopedia and let them research their leaves. Have them write down the name of each leaf and three interesting facts about the leaf.

Leaf Characters

Draw and copy different types of leaves onto thick construction paper. Let your kids cut out the leaves and apply glitter to add sparkle. Next, have them create leaf characters by gluing leaves together to create a face, body, and limbs. After the glue dries, they can draw faces on the leaves with markers.

Leaf Collage

Gather as many types of leaves as you can find. Glue the leaves in any kind of arrangement onto a piece of construction paper or cardboard. Alternatively, spread white school glue across an entire sheet of paper or piece of cardboard. Crumble leaves at random over the glue. When the glue dries, you will have an awesome leaf collage.
 

Using one or more of the fun Autumn activites for kids ideas above, will be sure to add some smiles on the kids faces.

When children or teens are depressed they often have a lack of hope for the future.

Teenage suicide and suicidal ideation is a profound expression of hopelessness. It is often experienced as an overwhelming feeling that what they do is never good enough and inside, they are never good enough.

A vision board helps depressed children or adolescents to start imagining their dreams and goals for the future. The very process of making the vision board together will open a door for your child or adolescent to talk about their experiences and to start to address the negative thoughts that are in their head. Some teens may prefer to do it completely on their own, but you will have plenty of grist for the mill to talk about when you see their finished board.

Below I will share some tips on how to create vision boards for children:

The vision board can be a bulletin board or simply a white Styrofoam board. The process is to make collages of photos, magazine clippings, written affirmations, lines from poetry, and quotes which all represent their “outcomes”. They can also include special cards, letters, and certificates, written by others that say positive things.

In the centre of the vision board should be a photo or picture of your child or teen. It needs to show through their facial and body language that they are feeling happy. We suggest the most recent photo if possible. This reminds then where they were and they can be and feel happy again. Revolving around this centre-piece are visual images of goals that the child wants to achieve that will contribute to feeling happy again. For example, feeling happy at school, having a closer inner circle of friends, feeling joy and creativity, a special project they want to be involved in, or their dream job or career in the future.

It can also include other goals such as working somewhere, learning to play an instrument, getting back to playing tennis again or another sport, submitting their poems to magazines or designs to companies, showing their artwork at exhibitions. It therefore is a mixture of inner and outer manifestations that the child wants to create and new beliefs that they want to install in their brain.

Help them to set their sights high; dream a little, but also be realistic. They will need to show the visual manifestations of what they want in each of these four areas:

1. School
2. Sports/activities
3. Family life
4. Social life

Examples include making new friends, improving their sport or getting something they really want.

They think about what they want to achieve in the next five years from now. For a younger person it might be 1) obtaining GCSEs or 2) going on a special trip or adventure.

For adolescents, it might be: 1) what kind of person they want to be as an adult, such as a loyal and honest friend or a hard worker, and 2) what kind of job they would like to have.

Encourage them to imagine what sort of qualities they want to have in the next five, and then ten years. Since the dominating thoughts of a child with depression have been disempowering, hurtful, painful and negative, it is important to write very strong affirmations which will eventually eclipse the irrational destructive and toxic beliefs and gradually transform themselves into physical reality, helping the childs mood to become more on an even keel again.

The positive statements on the vision board should reflect the opposite of the negative thought patterns that they have. For instance, if your child has low self-esteem and suffers from a lack of confidence, then the statement could be something like “I am becoming more confident” or “my confidence is growing each day”. Another example is “I am” or “I am becoming” more… joyful, self-assured, positive in my thinking. These are important statements to help your child think of and write down.

It is very powerful to sit with your child and in a quiet place with beautiful peaceful music, and say “lets just try this exercise, nothing to lose. Imagine yourself already feeling as though your dreams have become a reality, your prayers are answered, or you have already reached your goals. This lifts one to a much more elevated mood.

Explain to your child that an affirmation can become even more powerful when it is turned into a song or chant. This is called an incantation because it is said with a focused purposefulness accompanied by body movement. Sometimes people proclaim this loudly when drumming, dancing or whatever movement they prefer.

Children and adolescents also can find and use quotes of their favourite person in history, current day celebrities or great role models in their life. Usually these great people have been resilient through trials, tribulations and adversity. They can choose their role models who are celebrities or famous people from both past and present who also suffered from depression (e.g. Mandela, Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Einstein, Mother Theresa, Mozart, Abraham Lincoln, and Melanie C of the Spice Girls, Princess Diana, etc.).

Using the information above will help you to create vision boards for children that they will be happy to look at and aspire to.

Be sure to visit ‘How To Help Your Child Beat Depression. is a great resource that gives practical advice on recognizing depression in children/teenagers and offers essential tips on how you can cope with the challenges.

Summer is here and families everywhere are planning out some fun vacations to celebrate the beautiful weather. Amusement parks and renting cabins are popular ways to spend your summer, but not everyone can afford them.

Here are some no-cost ways to spend your summer with the whole family throughout the season:

Start a book club- Pick a spot in the backyard, and lay down a blanket large enough to fit the whole family. Have some cookies, lemonade and whatever snacks you choose to have. Use a book from the library and take turns reading it out loud. You can even discuss some things that occur in the book. Consider making it a weekly event and invite your neighbors and friends to participate as well.

Treasure Hunt- Some kids are into anything to do with pirates. You could plan a treasure hunt with their help. Scour your backyard, local beach or park and find things you could put into a treasure chest. The kids could also make some of their own items to place in the chest too. Spend some time searching for pirate information on the internet and use what you find to make up your very own treasure map. Then bury the chest or hide it in the house and let the kids try out the map they created.

Gardening- Make up a small garden or use a small portion of your existing garden. Let each of your children have a row or small area to use to grow whatever they choose to. Each child is responsible for taking care of their own crops. Help them research the item they chose to grow so they can see how to best care for it. When their crop is ready to harvest, they can reap from the hard work they put into growing it.

Help your child’s interests to grow- Find out what interests your child and help them research it. If your child is into sports, you can research their favorite team or print images off the net and start a scrapbook of their team. If your child is into crafts, you can research craft projects on the net and find some that are no-cost and interest the child. Teenagers may be more interested in playing a game of basketball, baseball or visiting a zoo.

Movie night- Some libraries have movies you can rent. Pick a night each week and watch a movie the whole family could enjoy. The children can take turns picking out what they want to watch for that week. Have your bowl of popcorn or whatever snack you choose, and sit back with your family in your own “home theater”.

There are plenty of ways to spend some fun time during the summer that doesn’t cost you money. Use your creativity, imagination, and get ideas from your children on what they would like to do. Plan some of those activities as a family and enjoy your summer.

To gain more tips on family fun, visit Real Life Guidance To Finding More Family Time it’s a lifesaver for so many parents.

A lot of people feel that the summertime is all about going on vacations, tanning and spending lazy days swimming. While these things are great summer activities, there is much more that can be done during the months of summer. This is especially true for those of us with children. Below is a list of small summer activities that you can do with your children. Often times people feel that summer activities have to take up a large portion of the day, but this isn’t true. You can have a lot of fun and make great memories doing the little things below.

Plant Flowers: It’s true that planting flowers may get done quicker if you just do it yourself, but if you have young children it’s much more rewarding to take the time and let them help. Even if you dig the hole and place the flower in it and just let them pack in the dirt around it – they’ll love it. When you’re all done, the satisfaction you’ll see on their faces will make the extra time letting them help worth it. Additionally, because they helped plant the flowers, they’ll more than likely want to help water them throughout the summer, as well.

Make Homemade Ice Cream: One of the best treats enjoyed by all children during the summer is ice cream. So, why not make it a fun family tradition to make your own ice cream? Your children will enjoy and learn a lot as they help with the ice cream making process.

Plant a Garden: It’s important that children learn where their foods come from. So, one of the best ways to help them learn this is to show them. Take them to the store in late winter/early spring and pick out some packets of vegetable/fruit seeds. Then, when the weather is right, have them help you plant the seeds. They will enjoy watching the “fruits of their labor” begin to grow…and eventually get to eat them!

Take a Walk: Summer evenings are too good to let pass by while being indoors. So, take advantage of the great weather and take the entire family on a walk around the neighborhood. If your children don’t want to walk, let them ride their bikes or pull them in a wagon. The activity is very simple, but a lot of fun for everyone!

Above are just a few of the many simple summer activities you can do with your children that are not only fun, but create great memories. Just remember that children are much easier to please than adults. Things like homemade ice cream, going to the park and water gun fights are just as much fun for them as big family vacations. Therefore, look for little things you can do together this summer and have fun!

If you’re looking for fun Easter party games for your next Easter party or gathering, you’ll love this article. There’s something here for everyone.

Here are some great ideas for fun Easter party Games.

It goes without saying the Easter party game of the day will be the egg hunt. These will be very much anticipated and depending on the ages of the kids you can decide whether to do a traditional egg hunt, a separate hunt for the younger kids and a more difficult hunt for the older children (to avoid the older children grabbing all the eggs and little ones being left empty handed).

More fun Easter party games –

You can also do a clue style egg hunt where you place different clues on cards and the children go from one clue to the next finding a small egg at each destination and a final much bigger egg or eggs at the last clue.

Egg and Spoon Race

Easter is the perfect time for this. You can use raw eggs which is the traditional way to play for older kids and can use boiled, dyed Easter eggs for younger kids.

The kids split up into teams and take turns racing against each other. The object of the game is to NOT drop the egg, the team who finishes first wins! This type of game is lots of fun and can burn off a tremendous amount of energy.

Pin the Tail on the Easter Bunny

Cut out a large bunny shape out of construction paper or buy a large bunny cut out and cut out the tail. Give each child a cotton ball with a double sided piece of tape on it, blindfold and let the children take turns pinning the tail on the Easter bunny. This is, of course, a spin on the traditional pin the tail on the donkey. Lots of fun.

Bunny Races

Using sacks or old pillow cases, set up a bunny race. Divide the kids into teams and let them take turns racing. They have to hop in their bunny sacks to the finish line.

Most fun Easter party games can be adapted to suit children of all ages with a bit of creative thinking.

Christmas is a wonderful time to bring your family together. Many families establish certain rituals that are attached to specific holidays. This year, spice up your holidays with some fun family Christmas activities.

Christmas Caroling – Christmas carolers are almost a thing of the past. This year, gather your family, bundle up to keep warm, and go Christmas caroling through your local community. Be sure to visit your local nursing home, as they love these types of holiday celebrations.

Make a Gingerbread House – A gingerbread house is a very fun way to involve your family in a long-loved Christmas tradition. Bake the pieces to your gingerbread house, then let the entire family construct and decorate the house.

Make Handmade Christmas Cards – Instead of buying your Christmas cards, make your own this year. You can purchase all the materials you’ll need at your local scrapbook shop or craft store. Buy blank note cards then decorate them. Insert your family’s Christmas photo inside each card before you mail them out to family and friends.

Lighting of the Tree – A fun family Christmas activity is to make it a special occasion to erect and light your family’s Christmas tree. Plan a special day of family fun. At the end of the day, gather your family to decorate and light the Christmas tree. Then, sit around your beautifully decorated tree and read the Christmas story while you sip on eggnog or hot cocoa.

Chose one or more of these fun family Christmas activities that are sure to create memories that will last for a lifetime.

Flowers that bloom in the summer are gorgeous – it is no wonder that people choose to go preserve flowers as long as they can by pressing and drying them. There are many methods to preserving flowers and each can be tailored to your style. Experiment with some of these preserving methods and find the method that works best for you.

* The simplest way to preserve flowers is to air dry them. Flowers can be air dried virtually any place where there is low humidity. You might consider using your attic, a pantry or even your closet.

To air dry flowers, tie them in small, loose bunches to avoid crowding and hang them upside down in a low-humidity place. In this fashion, drying the flowers can take up to two weeks depending upon the humidity level. Flowers can also be dried laying flat or standing upright in a vase or other container. Be careful with upright flowers, though, as they tend to lose their shape easily.

* Pressing flowers is another way to preserve them. To press flowers, all you need is some paper and a heavy object. The only downside to pressing the flowers is that they will lose shape as they are pressed flat. To press your flowers, place them between sheets of paper such as newspaper or old pages from a book. You can layer the papers on top of each other and then place a heavy object on top of the papers to press the flowers.

This method will usually take between two and four weeks to allow your flowers to be completely dry. It does not matter what kind of paper you use as long as it is not glazed. Glazed paper, such as wax and parchment, will not absorb the moisture and may make for moldy flowers.

* Flowers can also be dried in a flower-drying solution. Silica is a great way to dry flowers without much work. Place silica in a container and arrange flowers in the container. Silica should be covering the flowers and the drying process will be done within the week, depending upon how many flowers you have in one container.

Brightly-colored flowers tend to be the best preserved. Deep colors will fade slightly while white flowers will turn a slight tan or off-white color. Almost all flowers can be preserved and there are many ways to preserve them. Preserving your flowers is a great way to ensure that you have color in your house through the winter months.

Many people preserve flowers they want to keep as keepsakes and they also preserve flowers and give them as gifts.

Father’s Day will soon be here.   Many people look for  good inexpensive fathers day gift ideas during this time and there are many to choose from.  You know you’d like to get him something nice, but maybe an expensive gift isn’t in the budget.

Here are  six inexpensive fathers day gift ideas to make the father in your family feel loved and appreciated.

1. Let the children make him a T-shirt with their handprints on it. The craft is very simple and your children will love the opportunity to create something special just for Dad. Find fabric paints in Dad’s favorite colors and purchase a 100% cotton T-shirt for each child to decorate. Put the fabric paint on a disposable plate and then have the children place their hands on the shirt. Follow washing instructions after the paint has dried. You may want to have the children sign and date the shirt so Dad can see how much the children have grown.

2. Let Dad know you support his dreams by opening up a “dream fund” for him. You don’t have to fill the entire fund up immediately, but you can add a little here and there every year to help him make his dream item a reality. Maybe you could save change in a jar for him to add to his dream fund or put aside as little as $5.00 a month. Before long there will be a good sized amount in the account and he’ll be well on his way to getting that dream tool or new big screen TV.

3. Many newspapers will run special advertisements for major holidays, and that would include Father’s Day. Purchase a small ad in your local newspaper to let Dad know how much he means to you and how much you love him. Just remember to put his name on the ad or someone else might think the ad’s for them!

4. Gasoline prices change every day. Why not give Dad a gift card specifically for his next fill up? Not only is this gift practical, it will also let him keep that much money in his pocket for the week. He can either put the money into his dream fund or splurge and eat out with the guys at the office one day during the week.

5. If the Dad in your family is like most men, he most likely loves to grill. Why not purchase an inexpensive white barbecue apron and decorate it yourself? You can dye it any color and then use fabric paints to write “Kiss the Cook” or “Never Trust a Skinny Cook.” He’ll be sure to use the apron the next time he grills.

6. Plan an outing for everyone in the family to enjoy on Father’s Day. This might be something as simple as a picnic in the park to something more elaborate like planning an entire day going fishing with him. Whatever his favorite activity is – golfing, bicycling, playing card games, or just watching TV – do that activity with him. The time spent with him will mean more than any cheesy tie you could ever buy him.

Don’t forget to feed Dad on his special day. Many restaurants have special prices for Dads. If you can’t afford an entire meal out, why not treat him to his favorite ice cream? Perhaps these six inexpensive fathers day gift ideas  have sparked some creative ideas of your own. Remember, whatever you choose to do with Dad on his day, as long as you let him know how much you love him, he’ll probably be happy.

Grab More Fathers Day Gift Idea’s Here

Instead, now is the time for families to get creative and enjoy time together by turning their home into an entertainment destination. There are a variety of ways to do this, and here are a few ideas for having a frugal “family night in” without sacrificing the fun:

Movie night: Start by picking a theme — action flicks, comedies or even westerns. Once you pick a theme, why not dress up in character? The whole family will have fun putting their costumes together. Before the evening begins, gather the family and take a trip to your local grocery or convenience store to prepare for the night. Pick up a few snacks, a frozen pizza for dinner – or perhaps indulge a sweet tooth. Instead of driving to a local video store, simply rent a DVD at redbox on your way out. Available in grocery stores and other popular retail locations throughout the area, redbox is a fully automated DVD rental kiosk featuring the latest new releases for a low nightly rate.

Game night: Playing games can be a great way for families to spend time together. Not only are they fun but they can help foster manners like sportsmanship. Let each family member pick one game for everyone to play. It doesn’t really matter what games you play as long as everyone gets to participate. Keep score and give out a prize to the winner of the night – perhaps the winner gets to pick out the next game or can sit in the pre-designated winner’s chair.

Dinnertime fun: Turn the kitchen into a full-service restaurant. Plan a fun, multi-step meal and assign each family member a responsibility. Pick a head chef, a sous chef and at least one person to set the table. Or, assign each family member a meal course. You might even choose a menu from somewhere around the world, like Greece, Italy or Mexico – then at dinner learn about that country. Pose questions and see who knows the answer; you might learn something new.

One last tip that may help you fund any one of these activities is to use your spare change that many consider “found money.” Let your kids hunt for change around the house or dust off the family coin jar and head to a Coinstar machine at your local grocery store or other retailer. The average household has $90 in spare change and this could easily fund your “family night in.”

Don’t let the rising costs of going out keep you from having fun. Stay in and enjoy the time being with family. You never know when you might create a memory that lasts a lifetime.

To find a redbox location near you, download the free iPhone app from redbox or reserve a movie online, visit www.redbox.com. To locate a Coinstar Center, visit www.coinstar.com.

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