My kids love to be outside in the winter. They have spend countless hours playing in the snow, making snow forts out of snow piles, sledding and even ice skating in the driveway. (It has been an icy winter.) The only chanllenge that we face with keeping active during the winter months is figuring out what to do when the weather is too cold to head outside.

Here are some ideas for what to do on those very cold days.

1.  Family reading.  Cuddle on the couch and read a book to your child. Make it a special book, one that may be a little longer or more complex than what they are used to reading and hearing.

2.  Break out a craft that has not been done before or has not been used in a while.  My kids and I had fun with Shrinky Dinks recently. I forgot how much fun those are.

3.  Have your children put on a puppet show or skit.

4.  Building with Legos or classic wooden blocks is always a hit around here.

5.  Do a science experiment. We can make goop over and over again and experiment with quantities of ingredients to see how the outcome changes.

6.  Turn the music up and dance that energy out.

What do you do on those days that playing outside is not an option?

The answer to yesterday’s Thursday Thinker is:

When you add three hours to 10 o’clock you get one o’clock! This is when you can get three to ten and get one as the correct answer.

If you enjoy our Thursday Thinkers try:

When can you add three to ten and get one as the correct answer?

If you enjoy our Thursday Thinkers try:

The homework debate seems to be back in the spotlight again because of an article this month in Parenting Magazine. My own children are in 1st and 3rd grade. My first grader receives homework Monday through Thursday and the 3rd grader gets a homework packet every Monday and had to turn it all in on Friday.

I am not against all homework for children of this age, but I am against homework for homework’s sake.  Recently my first grader had a homework project that he was given a month to complete. He had to write about one event from every year of his life, so basically 7 events. This was a daunting task for him and I actually think it did more harm than good. I would love to know what educational objectives were being met by having the children do this project. In talking with other parents, I know that I was not the only one with a child that found it difficult. I did not feel that this type of project for this age of child was appropriate.

My children don’t receive a ton of homework, for the most part. Sometimes it does just seem like busy work, especially for the 1st grader. That, I do not like.

So, what are your thoughts on homework? Do you think that you child gets too much, too little, not the right kind?

It amazes me how many craft projects we end up with. Many of these come from school, but we do create crafts at home. When I do crafts at home with my kids this year I am going to do my best to create items with them they have a function. One of the fun projects that we have done is to create potholders with out potholder loom. We have one in our kitchen and my kids have also given a couple to their grandparents as gifts.

One of the things that I would like to do this year is to make things like soap. I have been looking for an easy recipe, but have not found one yet. If you know of a recipe that is easy and kid safe please let me know. Maybe it will get the kids to wash their hands a little longer. One could only hope!