Week 2 Activities

{Receive these posts once a week via email, by subscribing to my Blog in the right sidebar or below. }

Activity #1: Outdoor Scavenger Hunt. Have your children draw or write about 10 items  to look for – write each one on a different notecards. Have your kids exchange notecards. Then, go on a walk and look for those items.

Activity #2: Homemade Play Dough. It is so much softer than regular play dough and keeps for about 3-6 months in a ziplock bag or other sealed container. I doubled the recipe to have more. I also laid a towel down on the table for easy clean-up. I got this activity from the great book, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids. 

1 cup flour, 2 teaspoons of Cream of tartar, 1/3 cup salt, liquid water colors or food coloring, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.

1. In a bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, and 1/3 cup salt.
2. Then, add the water and oil. Mix well with a whisk until there are no lumps.
3. Add food coloring or liquid watercolors in and stir. It’s fun for the kids to watch the colors mix.
4. Pour the mixture into a pan and heat on low medium heat on your stove. *It’s pretty tricky to stir for the kids, so the adult should stir it.
5. Stir it often. It should take a few minutes to start coming together and will no longer stick to the pan. Then it is ready.
6. Put the playdough out on the counter to cool.

Activity #3. Create Your Dreamhouse. Write about what your dreamhouse would look like
– slides instead of stairs, upside-down house, etc.? After they write it, have them create a model of it with boxes, paper towel tubes, tinfoil, straws, etc., create it with play dough, or draw it.

Activity #4 “Tennis”. If you have tennis rackets and some balls, play tennis in the driveway if you have one. We have spent hours and hours doing this each week. We score like tennis, but it’s more like ping pong since the “court” is small. Draw boundaries with chalk.

*As a side-note, I do not think we have to constantly entertain our kids. I think it’s great for them to entertain themselves. These activities are just simple ways to open up their imaginations and creativity and offer fun ways to connect with each other. Enjoy!*

Also, Spring Break is next week so I won’t be sharing weekly activities next week- just content. Enjoy your week!

Faith & Parenting Content

Click here to watch a 3-Minute Encouraging Video I created.

My 9-year-old daughter screamed, as tears drenched her eyes, “Why do people and pets have to die! I hate it!”

She had just heard that our neighbor’s dog who she adored died of a brain tumor and has also heard about the coronavirus affecting so many people.

We’ve shared what’s going on in very limited doses with our kids and prayed about it, but we have not talked excessively about it.

Still, later as I made my bed, she innocently said, “My new year’s resolution is going to be that no one dies next year.”

What a bittersweet expression of yearning for all to be well.

It led to a valuable, not drawn-out conversation. I told her that it’s difficult, but life on earth doesn’t last forever. Jesus does.

My daughter found comfort being reminded that when we believe in Jesus, we live forever with Him.

She was able to move forward and started talking and giggling about other things.

It can be a hard thing for our kids to process, but if we keep pointing them back to Jesus, they will have hope.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot…
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance…
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.

For more on Faith & Parenting, join me at LinseyDriskill.com.

Enjoy These Fun Activities!

Yesterday, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the different homeschooling approaches.

But, after my best friend who has homeschooled for years told me she only does it 3 hours a day, I was relieved (She does the 3 hours straight with two short “brain breaks”. She also recommends “Easy Peasy” Homeschool.)

So, here’s the simpler schedule I created:

Someone recently wrote how she couldn’t believe churches were “giving in and closing” – how those who go to church right now were “succumbing to the world”.

As Jesus followers, we are called to look beyond our self-interests to the interests of others.

The church is the people of God. It is NOT a building.