How to keep kids engaged in Holidays

This is article from indidparenting.com


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=+2]Making Vegetable Stamps[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=-1]Can your child make vegetable stamps?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Come summer, come vacations. Children are relatively free during this holiday season. IndiaParenting now serialises fun-filled activities for children that can keep them engaged during holidays and after-school hours. Here is the first in the series. Teach your child to make vegetable stamps! [/SIZE][SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Ask your children to collect these items and supervise their use:[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=-1]Any seasonal vegetable (ladyfinger, capsicum, potato, carrot, radish or baby corn)[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Watercolour tubes[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Knife[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Sheets of paper[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Small bowl[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Paintbrush[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Ladyfinger Stamp[/FONT][SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Take a ladyfinger, wash and cut it into two halves. Squeeze some watercolour (any colour of your choice) from the tube in a bowl and add a few drops of water to dilute it. Mix the paint well with a paintbrush. Keep it little thick to get better results. Take a sheet of paper and fix it on a hard board. Dip the freshly cut face of one of the two halves of the ladyfinger into the paint. Once it is well coated your vegetable stamp is ready for use. Put its impression on the sheet of paper to get any pattern. Let your child's imagination run wild with new patterns.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Potato Stamp[/FONT][SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Take a big potato. Cut it into two halves and draw (with a ball pen) any design (e.g. a star, triangle, an alphabet or your name) on the cut surface. Cut off the unused portions very carefully with the help of a knife to retain only the desired shape. The carved end of the potato will show a colourful pattern when you dip it in the paint and stamp it on a paper.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Multiple stamps[/FONT][SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Not just ladyfinger or capsicum, but most vegetables can give rise to interesting patterns. Even a cauliflower or radish can play wonders. For interesting and exciting colour play, stamp different vegetables at different places on a paper. The collage can yield great results.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]To make the activity more colourful, use more than one colour.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Compare paper impressions of different vegetables on a sheet of paper. The symmetry will leave your child amazed![/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1][/SIZE]

 

Source: INDIAPARENTING.COM


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=+2]Pressing Flowers[/SIZE][/FONT]


[SIZE=-1]Keep your children gainfully occupied. Here's a great activity you can do with them anytime! [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]

Are your children getting bored at home? Here's what you can do:

Take them for a walk in the neighbourhood park, and instruct your children to pick up some fallen fresh flowers and leaves. They could pick up an entire bunch.

When you reach home, separate the good flowers and roses from any dead, rotten or uninteresting pieces. Once you have a nice selection, pluck out the stems from the leaves and flowers.

Get hold of a fat, heavy, old book that you will not be reading. A phone directory will serve the purpose well. Alternatively, you could also use an old exercise book which is no longer required. However, a phone book is heavy and has more pages - so you will be able to press a larger number of flowers and leaves in them.

Place each flower or leaf separately between the pages of the phone directory. Make sure you leave a sufficient number of pages between each leaf or flower.

Keep this aside in a cool, dry place - perhaps your cupboard or bookshelf. It should preferably be kept in a place that is not accessible to sunlight. You could even place the phone directory under something heavy, to increase the 'press'. Keep the book aside for a week to ten days.

Once the flowers have been pressed and have dried, remove them from the phone book. You will now need some colourful chart paper or interesting handmade paper. Cut out the paper and fold once, so it takes the shape of a greeting card. Your child could then write out a greeting with a felt pen inside the card.

Using a thinner pen, perhaps a black micro tip, she should write down a little bit about the flower or the leaf on the back of the card.

Some interesting facts to include are:

• The name of the flower or leaf
• The plant or tree it grows on
• The season and climate the flower blooms in
• Where it was found (which park, which city)

Your child can then proceed to add any more trivia she knows about the particular flower, leaf or plant. Encourage her to be as neat as possible, by drawing thin lines with a pencil and ruler, before beginning to write.

Once this is done, your child can finally stick the flower or leaf on the face of the card, with the help of glue. She could finish off her work of art by signing the card below the leaf.

This beautiful greeting card is now ready to be sent! If your child makes more than one card at a time, she can store the cards between the pages of the same directory so the flowers get further pressed on to the cards.

This exercise not only keeps your child gainfully occupied, but it also helps build her interest in nature. In addition, your child will eagerly try and find information about the flowers and leaves she has gathered. Your child will also be encouraged to keep her eyes open the next time she is outdoors, and pick up any interesting flowers or leaves she finds. She can just come home and place them between the pages of her little 'flower press.' <!--

[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]

--><!-- Article ends here-->[/SIZE]

 

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=+2]SOURCE: INDIAPARENTING.COM[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=+2][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=+2]Project: Scrap Book [/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=-1]Does your child have a personal scrap book, or do scrap books only find their way in your child's life when he has to submit a project at school? Encourage creativity in your child by helping him make a family chart book. Here are some great tips:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Let him make the scrap book instead of buying a readymade one. You will need:[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=-1]Chart paper, different colours[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Cardboard[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Clear cellophane sheet[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Scissors [/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Glazed paper[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Thick felt markers[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Start by making the cover. Cut the cardboard sheet to the appropriate size. Stick a sheet of glazed paper on it (perhaps yellow) and paste your child's photograph or a family photograph in the centre. Your child could then draw a squiggly border around the photograph with a marker. Alternatively, you and your child could also make a collage on the cover. Paste a clear cellophane sheet on top, and the cover is ready. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Cut the chart paper so it is just a little smaller in size than the cover. The chart paper will form the colourful pages of the scrap book, so make sure you purchase a sufficient number of sheets. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Similarly, the back cover of the scrap book will be made of a cardboard sheet, covered with glazed paper and cellophane. Your child needn't decorate it with an image. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Once ready, get the loose sheets spirally bound from your neighbourhood stationary shop. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Here's what you child can put inside his scrap book, so that it becomes a memento he will cherish for years to come:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Choose a few photographs that have been taken by your son, and paste them in the scrap book. Make sure he mentions that these photographs have been taken by him. A little information about when the snap was taken and under what circumstances should also be mentioned. Along with the photographs taken by your child, place a photograph of him and his friends, and a few other family photographs in the scrap book. Don't forget to include a baby photograph. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Do you have a dog or any other pet? Don't forget to include his or her photograph in the scrap book, along with a write-up by your child. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Ask your child to make a sketch of your family, and paste the sketch in the scrap book. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]What is your child's favourite flower? Ask him to pluck one, press it and stick it in a page of his scrap book. Encourage him to fill up the rest of the page with a little write up or 'essay' on the flower. He could include where he plucked it from, why it is his favourite flower?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It would be even more special if this scrap book was made around a particular holiday like Diwali or Christmas. Your child could then include information about how Diwali or Christmas was celebrated that particular year, along with the appropriate photographs. Did he get new clothes? Did he dress up as Santa or a little elf? Take a snap of him in the new clothes or costume and paste it in the scrap book - you get the idea.. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Take your family for children for a professional photo shoot. Include one of these snaps in the scrap book, and frame the others.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Cut out a large photograph of your child's favourite actor, actress or any other idol from a magazine. Fold the face in half, and stick in on a sheet of paper. Let your child sketch the other half as best as he can. Stick this sketch in the scrap book and ask your child to do a write-up on his idol. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Ask your child to select a few of his favourite birthday cards, and paste them in the scrap book. [/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]And finally, when the project is finally complete and your child's scrap book is ready, don't forget to praise him for the hard work that he's put him![/SIZE]