Magical Day of Make Believe

I wanted to do something fun for Valentine's Day for my kids. So, I decided to turn it into a Magical Day of Make Believe.

Ahoy there me hearties! It's a pirates life for me. It's time to begin our treasure hunt. A grand treasure has been hidden is this here lands and it's our job to find it.

I have made some simple clues for younger children. The average house should have these places to hide clues. You can find a zipped file of the clues HERE. The Treasure will be hid in your car with the pirate flag.

The first thing is to have the kiddos dress up like pirates! The Dollar store has lots of accessories for this;)


Now have the kids make the treasure map!

1: Gather supplies
2: Rip out shape of map
3: roll into a ball
4: Open and spritz with water
5: roll into a ball again and work with the paper until it is soft
6: Let dry in the sun
7: Draw the treasure map

Have the kids find the 'treasure' by following the clues! Good luck mate!

I found THIS cute printable for a treasure map. You could cut the paper bag to the size of a piece of paper and print it on that, but I think it's fun to have the kids make their own and let them color this page!

Magical Day Of Make Believe #2

"Off we go to explore the moon." (That's a quote from a children's show my daughter watches, but at this moment I can't remember the name of it.)

This week is outer space. I kept this one simple.
First we made a mobile of our solar system. Download HERE.

or Martha Stewart has instructions to make one found HERE (I have a toddler so this was a bit more complicated then I was going for)

We sat in our "rocket ship" (chairs laying on the ground) and blasted off into outer space. Remember there is no gravity in space so we moved silly and jumped really high;) Then we looked at the planets in our solar system and talked about them. You can download the planets and information HERE.

Magical Day of Make Believe will placed on hold through the Holidays. It will start again when my son goes back to school Jan 16th. Yes you read that right. Can I just say who the heck planned this Holiday break. They don't get out of school until Dec 23rd. I would have way rather get out a week earlier and started a week sooner.

African Safari

Welcome to the first of the Magical Day of Make-believe series, where play time is fun for everyone. Let's go on an African Safari. Have an adult or older sibling who can read be the tour guide. (download HERE).
Every great explorer needs his gear. A must have are binoculars.

Most importantly, we need animals! (download HERE).
Cut out the animals. If you want to re-use them laminate the pictures. Hang the pictures of the animals at the kid's eye level. This is a great activity for a park (if weather won't permit, just do it around the house). For older children, make them harder to find. Have the children search with their 'binoculars' to find an animal. Once an animal is spotted, as a tour guide it is your responsibility to tell a little bit about the animal;)

After all the animals have been found, gather round the campfire for snacks of animal cookies and milk.

Magical Day of Make Believe

I am in the process of making a few printables for a "Magical Day of Make-Believe". It will give you a few ideas to have a wonderful day using your kid's imaginations. I will be doing 1 a day. The fun starts next week. Here is a sneak peak into what the first one will be:)

So, just a heads up I might be MIA for this week, but that is only to bring you some serious goodness next week:) Cheers!

Organizing Nature

My daughter is a collector of all things in Nature. Where ever we go, she has to pick up some 'treasure'. Whether it be a rock, a dead leaf, a stick, a feather, a flower, pulling a few leaves off a plant, or what ever catches her eye. She finds value in even the most ordinary of things. She doesn't like to throw it away. But ever week we dump it all outside and she gets to refill her bin with new treasures. It has a lid that snaps on and off very easily for little hands. The lid allows her to set it next to her where ever she goes and even take it to bed with her.

So, instead of stifling the curiosity of children and their need to explore the world around them, get a $1 bin with a lid and have them help you dump it out every week to make room for the next weeks treasures. The only rule is, you can't have more then what will fit in the bin:)

I read something like this somewhere in a book and I can't remember where, but I loved it. This is me paraphrasing it:)
Children are very imaginative. A simple bowl of water, a few toys that float, and maybe some measuring cups can keep a kid entertained for hours. Give them a few ideas of how to start and sit back and watch them get to work. You will be amazed at what they come up with. A sibling and or friend helps things get off quickly and tends to keep them focused longer. Leaving you time to watching the magic happen:)

Magical Day of Make Believe

Welcome to the Magical Day of Make Believe series. I am offering these for free to encourage creative interactive play with parent and child. This is where we make play time fun for all. There will be tutorials and printables in each section.
 
NOTE: These are for personal use only. You can NOT sell any items made from this file or any modification of this file. You can NOT sell these files or any modifications of these files. Please respect the time and effort that went into these.