Activity Village News

9th February 2007

If you have any behavioral issues with your kids, you might want to check out the Better Behavior Wheel, from Robert and Julie Butler. We've been recommending it at Activity Village for nearly two years now and have had great feedback from purchasers (as well as resorting to it ourselves on occasion!) Available as a real product (sent internationally) or as a digital download, the Better Behavior Wheel allows you to set consequences for undesirable behavior that fit your family - and the unusual and very clever twist of having to spin the wheel to discover your punishment works wonders to take the stress out of the situation for the parent and reinforce the message for the child. This is an excellent product and we recommend it highly.
Product review here
Get the Better Behavior Wheel

Prepare for a busy time ahead, with Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year just around the corner! We have some new printables for both holidays this week, which we hope you will enjoy.

We've had some snowy weather in the UK and at times it can be difficult to keep the kids occupied (and exercised!) when it it too cold, dark and wet to go outside. One game we have often resorted to is "Beans":

Beans!

Beans is a great game to play with children of all ages. You can play with 1 child or 100, you can play indoors and outdoors, you can play just for fun or to warm up the children for a sporting activity, or to use up some excess energy!

An adult calls out the “bean” and the children do the correct actions as follows (and we are sure you can think up plenty more of your own). Keep calling out new “beans” and see if the children can keep up.

Jumping bean:
Jump up and down on the spot

Running bean:
Run (or jog) on the spot

Chilli bean:
Shake and shiver as if you are cold

Jelly bean:
Wibble and wobble your bottom like jelly

Broad bean:
Do jumping jacks stretching your arms and legs wide out to the side

String bean:
Stretch up tall and wiggle your fingers in the air

Has been:
Drop to the floor and “play dead”

Been round the world:
Run round the room or in a large circle

WHAT'S NEW AT ACTIVITY VILLAGE?

We have some super new Chinese New Year printables this week. Firstly a Year of the Pig poster / cut out to print and display, which makes a stunning mobile or window cling too. And secondly some cheerful Chinese New Year posters to print, featuring a delightful boy and girl.

We also have a super new Chinese New Year craft to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Pig
Cheerful pig pencil topper

Make a Valentine card collection box for your classroom or kitchen with supplies that you will have lying around the house:
Valentine card collection box

Here is another quick and easy Valentine craft, adaptable for all ages (and for dolls and teddies too!)
Valentine crown

Older children will enjoy adding some intricate decorations to these Valentine salt dough plaques
Valentine salt dough plaques

Here is a super idea for kids to make for their mothers this Valentine's Day.
Heart plant stick

We have a new early learning Valentine's Day file folder game to print, assemble and play with your kids (the first of a new section of File folder games)
Valentine Number Match File Folder Game

Some more "camouflage" animals - our unusual coloring pages for older kids with a hidden surprise or two - to add to our African animals theme
(Coming over the weekend)

Some new puzzles and word searches on African animals and Africa
(Coming over the weekend)

Remember to have a good look around the following pages:

Valentine's Day (14th February)

Chinese New Year (18th February)

Mardi Gras (20th February)

St David's Day (1st March)

HAVE YOU SEEN?

"We particularly enjoyed some of your printables games. I put a stack of Battleships and Skeleton Game print-outs in the car (I gave the kids a die within a mini plastic container, as you suggested in Dice Games), and they kept us going for ages and made the car journey pass a lot faster and easier."
Emma, Dorset

ACTIVITY VILLAGE POLL

Here are the results of last week's poll:

We certainly have some very busy children!

This week's poll asks "How much you would normally spend on your child's birthday gifts?" - something many a nosy parent would love to know! Click over to the home page to give your vote and find out what other parents are spending...
Activity Village Poll

THIS WEEK'S POEM

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,
"Good gracious, how you hop
Over the fields and the water, too,
As if you would never stop!
My life is a bore in this nasty pond;
And I long to go out in the world beyond:
I wish I could hop like you,"
said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

"Please give me a ride on your back,"
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo:
I would sit quite still, and say nothing but 'Quack,'
The whole of the long day through;
And we'd go the Dee, and the Jelly Bo Lee,
Over the land, and over the sea:
Please take me a ride! Oh, do!"
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

Said the Kangaroo, "I'm ready,
All in the moonlight pale;
But to balance me well, dear Duck, sit steady,
And quite at the end of my tail."
So away they went with a hop and a bound;
And they hopped the whole world three times round.
And who so happy, oh! who,
As the Duck and the Kangaroo?

Edward Lear

THIS WEEK'S QUOTE

"Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you
are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you
don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were
gone. There is a place that you alone can fill."
Jacob M. Braude

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