Are these potatoes or are they some weird, alien vegetable? Yes, they are potatoes, though certainly not the normal, nice, smooth kind you usually buy in stores.
Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a rabbit I see?
This looks like a faraway relative of the manatee or something.
What do these spuds remind you of?
Everything is more fun when its… fun! Here are some ideas that help make work more fun, whether it’s washing dishes or shelling beans. I hope it helps!
1. Listen to an audio-book – If you like curling up with a book, but your hands are occupied, try audio-books. We have several at our library, and some of our favorites are Freddy the Pig, and Hank the Cowdog. (These are also available in book form.)
2. Play a game – Just because your hands are busy doesn’t mean you can’t use your brain! Try these classics:
20 Questions – Choose one player to think of something in one of the following categories: Animal, Plant, Mineral, and Other. The other players take turns asking questions to try and figure out what the “it” person is thinking of. If it is guessed within 20 questions, whoever guessed it gets to be “it.” If they don’t get it within 20 questions, the person who stumped them gets to be “it” again.
I Packed My Grandfather’s Suitcase – Choose one player to start. He says “I packed my grandfather’s suitcase, and in it there was ___.” He fills in the blank with something that starts with the letter “a.” Go around in a circle, each person starting with “I packed my grandfather’s suitcase.” When it’s the second player’s turn, he repeats what the first player says, making sure to include whatever the first player chose for “a,” and he also adds something starting with “b”. Keep going like this until you either reach the end of the alphabet, or everyone is out but one person. Someone can get out by saying the wrong thing, forgetting what he was supposed to say, or skipping a letter. One variation to this game is to have a certain category that the items have to be in, such as “food.”
3. Listen to music. – This one is simple, but it does make things more fun when you’re humming along to your favorite tunes.
If you looking for ways to make the work go faster, while still having fun, try some of these:
4. Have a race. Who can finish shelling their bowl of beans first?
5. Beat your record. Keep track of the time you spent each time you did a certain job. Try to beat your record, but be careful that no dishes are broken in the process!
6. Set up a timed reward system. – If they get done with their jobs in a certain amount of time, they get computer time, etc. Make the time limit challenging, but not impossible.
So that’s it! Hopefully these will make chore-time a little bit more fun. I’ll go now, so you can get to work!
***Allison***
There are lots of fun things to do with dry-erase markers besides draw on a whiteboard. These things make good boredom-busters, and are good things to do on a rainy day. Some of these things are good for parties too.
The first two things are “painting” your nails, and drawing your own temporary tattoos.
Drawing on your fingernails with dry-erase markers is fun for those who love to paint their nails, or those who aren’t ready for “the real thing” yet. When your ready to “paint” a new design, just wipe off the marker with your finger or the whiteboard eraser.
To completely clean off your nails, wash them with soap and water, and, if you need to, a damp washcloth.
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Now for the temporary tattoos: Just draw anything you like onto your skin. (My nails are “painted” with dry erase marker in this picture, and I have a dry-erase marker “tattoo”)
Just wash skin like you did for your nails, and voila! a clean slate.
This can be used as a party or group game. Draw or print out several sets of doodles beforehand. Give each player a paper with the same doodle on it. Each player makes it into a drawing, then compares it to the other players’ drawings. Every drawing will turn out differently.
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The last thing to do with dry-erase markers is fun and simple: just draw with the markers on a mirror or window. It wipes off easily with a damp paper towel.
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Note: Test out your markers in a small spot before you try any of these activities, in case the markers don’t erase for some reason.
I hope you try some of these ideas out, and have fun!
***Allison***
Over the summer, I’m doing math at Khan Academy, which is sort of an online school. I like to look at the recreational math section too. The “Doodling in Math and More” section is very interesting. Today I watched some videos about Mobius strips. They are basically one-sided twisted loops of paper that can do amazing things. They are very simple to make, and fun to play with. I encourage you to check out the videos here. There are two videos, and one is a very cute story with a Mobius strip.
Have fun!
***Allison***
If you like to draw or doodle, you’ll like this! These circle doodles are really fun to make, and they turn out really neat. They’re only made out of circles, so they’re easy too.
To start with, draw a circle.
Next, draw a few more circles inside the big one.
All you have to do now is fill in the leftover space with circles, circles and more circles.
(Sorry for the blurry pictures here)
You can stop here, or keep going. You could make a stepping stone,
Or go color crazy!
Experiment with drawing the outline of the circles in different colors…
Then make a bunch of bubbles!
There are so many things to do with this. What did you draw?
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I learned how to draw this from this video. (It’s called “Infinity Elephants”) There are lots of other great doodling videos here.
Have fun!
****Allison***
We were having fun the other day with a little game I made up. You basically try to get the other person to draw exactly the picture you drew, but by only describing it in words. There’s an example of the game below. You can try playing it too, and compare your finished drawing to the picture farther down the page.
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I drew a simple picture for Megan, then I described it in steps for her.
“Draw a small circle in the middle of the paper.
Then draw a half-circle below that circle. Make sure that it’s touching the circle and the bottom of the page.
Inside the half-circle, draw 8 small circles.
In the middle of the circle that you drew at the beginning, draw a small triangle with the point facing down.
Above the triangle, draw two dots, spaced apart.
Coming out from the top of the circle, make three squiggly lines.
On top of each line, draw a small circle.
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Now compare mine and Megan’s:
Mine:
Megan’s:
I guess I should have told her to draw an arch instead of a half-circle, huh? Anyway it’s fun to see how they turn out. Sometimes they’re practically the same, and sometimes they’re totally different. Oh, and there are a couple of rules for this game. Of course, you can make up your own version, but I think it works best if you use these rules:
1. No questions- if somebody says,”Draw a triangle,” you can’t ask the size, its position, etc. It’s up to the person telling you how to draw it to give you the details.
2. You’re not allowed to look at anybody else’s paper until the end of the game.
3. You can’t erase anything-make sure the person who’s giving you instructions is finished before you draw!
4. If you’re going to draw, say, a window, you can’t just say, “Draw a window,” you have to say something like, “Draw a square with a plus sign inside it.”
So there you have it! I hope you enjoy playing this game. We’ve also found a website that has lots of fun printable games like Sudoku, word searches, crossword puzzles, and mazes. You can customize most if not all of them. For instance, in the word search, you can type your own words to use in the wordsearch, change the fonts, and other good stuff. If you’re interested, here’s the link: theteacherscorner.net
Have fun!
***Allison***
I am writing this secret note almost two years later. This is the ONLY secret note I have ever done on my blog thus far! If you find it, CONGRATULATIONS! I am heartily surprised. X D !
Allison Marie 
