Kisses!

Whoa! Thanks you all so much for the lunch ideas! I'm full (hee hee) of great ideas now! See, I knew you had it in you! You were just holding out until you knew I meant business! I really appreciate all your input and I do know that you all care about me, even silly things like lunch, and was just being a stinker about saying you didn't yesterday! Love you all!! 

So I wanted to let you in on a great idea I stumbled on last week. I had the pleasure of having a really fun addition to my family for most of  the week. Little Allie got to come and stay with us all day while her mom got an opportunity to work.The first day Hailey and Allie were in their own little imaginary world. I barely noticed them. The second day they played outside almost the whole day and I really only had to redirect them about playing in the water. It was so hot you know, like 70 degrees! That means getting the pool out to little girls. I don't think so. By the third day I knew the kiddos were going to need some help if we were going to have a squabble free day with no mention of the dreaded, "we're bored!" So I cooked up a plan, a  way to encourage them to do actual activities that they always turn down when I suggest them. When Allie came I sat them down and told them that I would have a series of challenges that they could accomplish that day and for each challenge finished they could earn a Hershey kiss! 

 

They were so excited! They scrambled to begin the first challenge and continued with enthusiasm all day. It worked like a charm and they had so much fun. I hardly had to do anything and it had a giant pay off: busy, happy kids! 

So here is a list of some of the challenges I gave the kids but you could add just about anything. I kept it to fun, play things because we had a friend over, but you could definitely add some chores to that list too and maybe add a bonus kiss for each chore they choose to complete.

1 kiss for each puzzle completed anytime during the day. 

( this was a favorite)

Build a lego tower

 

The Lego towers, Ethan's, Allie's and Hailey's.

make a nest with an egg out of playdoh

Allie's tiny nest

Hailey 's geometric nest

color an entire picture

Allie and Hailey's artwork!

 find the biggest and smallest shell in the collection

play outside for half an hour

ride bikes for 15 minutes

Ethan  earned extra kisses by naming each planet and a few moons too!

 The cool thing about this is that it was all about doing things we already had but the kids had forgotten how fun they can be. They enjoyed being creative and were so proud of all the things they accomplished. The bonus was that they got engrossed in each activity and spent a long time working on them. They enjoyed the process not just the reward. When they went outside to ride bikes I heard them playing an exploring game that lasted much longer than 15 minutes and they had a blast. The challenges provided them the groundwork to open up their creativity and to enjoy the simple things of childhood! I think this is a valuable activity that I will pull out on some of those long summer days when the kids need a little inspiration to get them going. The hardest part was keeping my hands out of the kisses!