Create Your Own Jigsaw Puzzles

Items You Will Need:
Piece of Cardboard (approx 12" by 12")
Colorful picture from a magazine
Scissors
Pencil
Glue

Directions:

1. Place your picture on the cardboard and trace around it with a pencil.
2. Cut the cardboard on the outside of the line you just traced. (this means the cardboard will be just a tiny bit bigger than the picture)
3. Glue your picture onto the cardboard.
4. Let it sit and dry for a few hours, or even overnight.
5. When the glue is dry, cut the cardboard into the shape of jigsaw puzzle pieces.
6. When you are finished, mix up the pieces and try to put it all back together again.

Add even more fun to this craft by doing this with a friend or two. When you have all finished creating your Jigsaw Puzzle, trade with each other and see who can put together a puzzle first.

 

Not only do kids of all ages love to play games, games are a creative and inexpensive way to entertain children. With a little imagination you will soon have them making up their own games!

Whether you're looking for birthday party games or just something to keep the little ones busy for a little while, I think you'll find these games easy to learn and fun for all ages.

Bean in Your Shoe
One player goes out of the room. A dried bean is given to one of the players to put in his or her shoe. Play some music and have all the players dance, each child pretending to have a bean in their shoe. The player that left the room comes back and tries to guess who has the bean in their shoe. If they guess right, the person with the bean in their shoe gets to guess next. If they guess wrong, they get to leave the room again and try again. If they guess wrong a second time, they get to choose who gets to leave the room next.

Grin or Bear It
All players except one line up in a row. One player moves down the line, making faces to try to make each player in line laugh. The children standing in line try not to laugh. The first player to laugh gets to take the next turn trying to make the other players laugh.

Living Sculptures
Divide the children up into pairs. One person gets to be the clay, and the other person gets to be the sculptor. The sculptor molds the clay into any shape they want to (without hurting the clay). Faces can be arranged into odd expressions, arms and legs can be bent and arranged, and heads can be turned or tipped. When all the sculptors are finished with their creations, they get to put their sculptures on display. The pairs get to switch places after the exhibit.

Nursery Rhyme Game
Divide the players into teams. The leader assigns a nursery rhyme to each team. The teams take turns acting out their nursery rhymes. Whichever team guesses the nursery rhyme correctly gets to act out the next one. Continue for as many nursery rhymes as you can think of.

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Rachel Paxton (rachel@creativehomemaking.com) is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home decorating, crafts, and frugal family fun, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com and Suite 101 at http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/creative_homemaking. To subscribe to their monthly newsletter send a blank e-mail message to FreeRecipes-subscribe@egroups.com.

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Science that Rules!

A local Science Fair Proves that Kids and Science do mix! Not only do they mix, but they do extremely well together. Move aside Sponge Bob...move aside Nintendo....because when it comes to having fun while learning, Kids Science Rules!

Upon arriving at a Science Fair, it became obvious that we should make mention of it in this issue of "Just for Kids". Dozens of children at the Drums Elementary/Middle School participated in this very well orchestrated Science Fair. The childrens projects varied from very simple illustrations to complicated miniature working models and contraptions, but what appeared to be the important overall aspect of the fair was that these were kids having fun by doing the best they can.

This science fair is a reminder that fun and games have no barriers. Learning can be fun! When you take the boredom out of any learning experience, children will excell.

For every student who participated, we congradulate you on your sincere efforts to do your best. Below are pictures of just a few of the many wonderful exhibits. Click on any image to see its larger view.

Is your class or school doing something unique...a Craft Fair, Science Fair, Gymnastic event?? Let us know about it. Take pictures, write a few paragraphs about the event and send your submission to us using the Just for Kids submission link found on our Submissions Page.