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Free Educational Programs by Mary Jo Rulnick |
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Offer your children interesting, but educational programs by contacting senior care facilities in your area. Most retirement villages offer their residents a well-rounded, monthly activities calendar. There are many monthly activities offered from cultural programs to professional musical programs to non-fiction programs. For example, one retirement center has scheduled a touring company called “Presidents and Their First Ladies” presenting dramatic portrayals of past Presidents and Their First Ladies including the Lincoln’s, Roosevelt’s, and Kennedy’s. Another program offered focused on Rosa Parks. One of the musical programs showcased the world’s only Tuba and Flute duo. This same facility offered calligraphy, painting and Yoga classes to the public.
How do you go about it? Contact senior care facilities in your area and speak with the activities director. Explain what you are interested in and ask if she has any upcoming programs your children could attend. Most centers (and their marketing directors) are willing and happy to open their doors to others as a way to generate interest and media coverage in their facility. One last bit of advice, ask if the facility could put you on their mailing list to receive their monthly calendar of events. Fall Fun and Games What better why to celebrate fall than with the kids. Whether you’re partying with your family, the neighborhood gang or a bunch of little ones, here’s some ideas to get you started. Spider Web Materials for one: To Prepare: Write the child’s name on the toilet paper roll and on the index card. Punch a hole in the card. Put one end of the yarn into the hole and knot. Tape the other end of the yarn to the paper roll. Make one for each child (and adult). To Play: Have children leave the room; drape the yarn of each roll throughout, over furniture, chairs, tables, etc. Be careful not to overlap too many pieces of yarn as they will tangle and be too hard to untangle. First, the children find their roll with their name on it, then they will follow their web until they find the end of the yarn with their card. First one finished, wins. Stress-free Tip: Spread the web over the entire room. Announce “no running.” Budget Tip: Use lengths of leftover skeins or pieces. Pieces can be tied together to make each one approximately five yards long. Cracker Spiders Ingredients for one: To Make: Spread peanut butter on one cracker and cover with the other. Insert 4 pretzels into the filling on one side and the remaining ones in the opposite side for legs. Dab a bit of peanut butter on each chocolate chip for glue and place on top of cracker for eyes. Spiders Materials for one: To Make: Cut the cups off the egg carton into individual sections (12). Paint the cup, or cups if more spiders are needed, black inside and out. Cut eight strips of black construction paper 1/2 inch wide by 5 inches long. Fold each stripe accordion style for the legs. Or use black pipe cleaners instead. Glue the eyes onto the upside-down cup. Glue black stripe onto the side for legs. Time Tip: Paint the cup(s) ahead of time. Dirt Dessert Ingredients: To Make: Place cookies in a zipper-like bag and use a rolling pin over the bag until cookies are crushed. Pour cold milk into a large bowl and add pudding mixes. Mix for 2 minutes with whisk. Stir in 3 cups of Cool Whip and 1/2 of the crushed cookies. Dump mixture into a 13x9-inch baking pan or a new bucket. Tap bottom of the pan or bucket on a hard surface to level out the mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining crushed cookies. Refrigerate for one hour. Tuck Gummi Worms into the mixture. Add a shovel if desired. Yum. Yum. Mary Jo Rulnick The Thirty-Minute Mom Copyright 2004 Co-author of The Frantic Woman’s Guide to Life (Warner Books, Jan. 2004) Copyright © Mary Jo Rulnick 1996-2004 |
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Author and mother-of-two, Mary Jo Rulnick, has been named the do-it-yourself expert and specializes in home and family issues. Mary Jo has written extensively for parenting publications across the country. She is the co-author of THE FRANTIC WOMAN'S GUIDE TO LIFE (Warner Books, Jan. 2004). Additionally, she is the party expert at MainStreetMom.com and has planned, prepared and hosted parties for all ages from toddlers to senior citizens. Her experience includes the position of Girl Scout Day Camp Director, Party Coordinator for a local Elementary School and YMCA, and Events Planner for Senior Living Services. To contact Mary Jo Rulnick, e-mail her at Mjrwrites@aol.com. | ||
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