Here is your official invitation!

Join @ThermosBrand on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 12pm CT along with @charpolanosky (that’s me) for our Twitter Party #TBFTP (Thermos Brand Fall Twitter Party). Share your tips and get advice on staying active in the cooler months. Participate and win prizes like the vacuum insulated Sipp food jars!  No need to RSVP, just follow @ThermosBrand and use the #TBFTP hashtag to win!

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

We are going to talk about fun activities to do with the family this fall from where to find the best pumpkins to what to pack for that fall ball doubleheader to comfort food and everything in between. Join in the conversation and you will be eligible for prizes – super cool, stainless steel, dishwasher safe Sipp food jars to be  exact. Trust me, these are not your Mother’s Thermos containers that you had as a kid – no, they are way better!

As the co-hostess for the Twitter party, Thermos sent me a few of their products to try out. I have to say I am truly in love with the new stainless steel designs. First, they don’t leak. Second, they are dishwasher safe. And third, they are so much better for the environment.

I chaperoned my daughter’s classroom on a field trip to a botanical research facility last week and decided to take my new Thermos cooler with me. As you can see from the photo it looks more like a purse than a standard cooler. I was able to pack a healthy lunch and drinks for my daughter and myself in the cooler and everything was still cold at lunch time. I will be testing out the cooler and the Sipp food jars this weekend as we head to a swim meet. If you have never been to a year round swim meet, they can take forever! Since my daughter will be swimming four events over the course of a few hours I need to have good fuel ready for her in between races. The Sipp will come in handy as I can put Ramen noodle soup in it at 6:30 am and it will still be warm by 10 or 11 when she is ready for it.

Don’t forget – Wednesday, October 12, 2011 from 1-2 pm Eastern (12-1 pm Central time) – meet me on Twitter – Just follow @ThermosBrand and use the hashtag #TBFTP to win!

Have you heard it yet? Those words synonymous with summer vacation… Mom, I’m Bored? Why not shake things up a little and take some local day trip or be a tourist in your own home town?

When my kids were younger, there were a few of us who all had kids the same age and we planned weekly field trips in the summer for the whole crew. We took turns deciding where to go which was good for getting some of us out of our comfort zone and trying something new. The kids all had fun and with a little planning, flexibility and a sense of humor, the Moms survived, too.

I recently wrote an article for Kellogg’s Snackpicks.com on Local Family Activities with tips on where to go and what to take so your day can be about making memories not managing meltdowns. I invite you to head over to Snackpicks.com and give it a read, then come back and leave us your best tips for summer fun with the kids!

My boys are 10, 8 and 3 and I am very happy that I am raising creative boys who love to draw, make up stories and make lists. They however are not huge fans of printing or handwriting but I hope this activity will help with that.

Start by taking a trip to the dollar store to stock up on summer notebooks. Pick up notebooks in all shapes, sizes and types like the exercise type books like the kids use in school, small purse sized note books or my personal favorite spiral bound books. The purpose of notebook shopping is to encourage your kids to WRITE, DRAW OR CREATE daily. The notebooks are inexpensive enough that you can pick up a bunch, small enough to fit in a purse for outings, great to use in the car, airplane or cabin and inspiring enough to even the toughest convert.

You can let the kids decorate the front on a rainy summer day. Give older kids their own set of multi color pens (also available at the dollar store), rubber stamps and stickers. Scrapbook supplies and ribbon (great to tie a pen or pencil to a spiral note book) also help to personalize each book. The key is to set aside 5 minutes a day to encourage your child to put pen, pencil or crayon to paper.

Here are thirteen (13) motivating ideas to get your kids to write or draw in their books.

1. Creative writing prompts for older kids like “I am going on a trip to the (fill in the blank) and I am going to need… and have the list or draw what they would need. ClassroomJr.com has a large selection of Story Starters for kids of all ages.
2. “Make me a list” – kids can make a wish list, a toy list inventory, grocery store, things I want to do over summer break
3. Make a rhyme
4. Have your kids purposely write backwards or upside down and have them decode their work at the bathroom mirror
5. Write some jokes or riddles (even if they have heard them a thousand times before the point is to get then to write them down)
6. Teach them to play Tic Tac Toe (visit Printables4Kids.com for blank Tic Tac Toe sheets and Dots and Lines Game sheets), hangman or create their own word searches and have them switch with their siblings or friends
7. Have kids color an emotion like happy, sad, angry, etc.
8. Give them the advertisements section from the paper and have them collage a page with pictures or have them cut out individual letters to create their names (for the very young or create sayings with the other letters)
9. Write a story
10. Practice handwriting or printing by putting your own prompts in your child’s book (Create your own handwriting worksheets)
11. Have your “start” practice their “autograph” or for the younger kids just practice writing their name
12. Have the kids make a space alien, princess, cat, dog or other favorite object out of the letters in their name
13. Illustrate a comic (my oldest loves to do this)

Introducing the kids to the summer note book is a healthy way to promote literacy, creative writing and it promotes a great pre-organizational skill set, too.

I can not wait to see how my boys’ summer notebooks look at the end of the summer! We will have a great keepsake. I hope this helps you to create lasting memories of your summer vacation and help you to create moments that will last.

Remember it is not the days we remember it is the moments.

By Karen Owen of KarenMomofThree’sCraftBlog

I am always on the look out for new crafts and activities to do with my kids and with the age range I have (9, 12, 14), sometimes it can be a challenge. Whether you are snowed in, have kids home sick, or just want some new ideas for quick, inexpensive crafts and activities to do with the kids today, check out this assortment I have gathered from some of my favorite sites across the Internet. There should be something there for just about any age child – girl or boy!

1. Make homemade puzzles using popsicle sticks and Modge Podge

2. Print paper dolls from the upcoming movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2

3. Perfect for the older kids – make a hovercraft from a CD and a balloon (tip of the hat to FreeStuff4Kids for finding it)

4. Too cold to go outside – set up your own hopscotch game indoors

5. Make a no-sew tutu in minutes that any little girl would love – and with a little bit of creativity you could make one for her favorite doll, too

6. Open your own felt pizzeria! There is something irresistible about felt food…

7. A movie party will be more fun when you make your own movie tickets and popcorn container

8. Make a  penguin finger puppet

9. Conversation marble magnets are fun for Valentine’s Day or any day – even for decorating a locker

Building toys have always been popular in this house, but nothing, not even Lego, has stood the test of time like the Marble Run.

I bought our first Marble Run set when my son was about 5. He already loved the building aspect of the toy but being able to run a marble through his creation was mesmerizing. When my girls got to about the same age, we actually picked up a second set of the interlocking plastic marble run tubes so they could all build their own individual marble runs or construct one ginormous creation together.

My son is now 14 and my youngest daughter is 8, but as you can see from the picture you are never too old to create a marble run. They spent about an hour working the angles, adding funnels and moving parts in order to maximize the height and fun factor.

I just heard that another set – one with some motorized parts and marble elevators (Quercetti Marble Run with Motorized Elevator) is on my daughter’s Christmas list already! I can’t wait to see what they end up building with a third set added in.

Here are some of the better Marble Run sets – click on the image for details and ordering information.

Quercetti Transparent Marble Run Quercetti Marble Run Vortex Quercetti Marble Run with Motorized Elevator Super Marble Run by Galt Toys Quercetti Super Marble Run Vortex Plastic Marble Run – 62-Piece Kit Plastic Marble Run – 48-Piece Kit Wooden Marble Run Singing Tree Marble Run

School is almost out and parents across the country will be looking for inexpensive activities to do with the kids all summer. KidsBowlFree.com is a program sponsored by bowling alleys across the US. The program allows you to register your children and receive coupons for up to 2 FREE games of bowling a DAY per child all summer long. All you pay for is the shoe rental.  For a nominal fee you can add up to 4 adults as well.

Bowling is one of our family’s favorite activities – whether we play it on the Wii at home or make an event of it and go to the bowling alley.

As summer nears, I will be looking out for more inexpensive, family friendly activities to highlight here. If you hear of anything or have activities that your kids have enjoyed in the past, please leave a comment!

Our family loved the first Madagascar movie so much when the second one, Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa came out, it was put on the must see list. I took the girls to see it yesterday and while it was cute and had many more story lines in it than the first did, I still like the first one better. The basic premise is that the animals finally get the airplane running so they can leave Madagascar, just to end up crashing in a game reserve in Africa. It just so happens it is the same one that Alex the Lion was from. He gets reunited with his parents and the rest of the story revolves around Alex proving his worthiness to his parents and the tribe. There are plenty of side stories going on – from Marty the Zebra coming to terms with his uniqueness not being about his outward appearance rather his inner self, Melman the neurotic Giraffe gets the courage to tell Gloria his true feelings, and others.

We were given the opportunity to review the Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa game for Wii and I will say, take what you would spend on going to the movie theater and buy this game instead! The game is already a family favorite. Kids as young as 4 or 5 all the way up to the grown ups will have fun with it. We took the game to our family Thanksgiving get together and it was a huge hit with everyone.

You can play with anywhere from one to four players. There is a story mode where you are working your playing through the story – traditional video game style (jumping over things, catching things for extra power, etc). But there are also a bunch of mini games that are entertaining.

One tournament mode allows you to play “hot potato” with a Durian (it looks like a glowing piece of fruit), play musical chairs, and do springboard diving with Gloria. I wish I would have taken a picture of my 5 year old nephew and my two thirty-something brothers playing this together – it was a hoot.

My 12 year old likes playing soccer against the Foosa and my girls like popping the balloons in one of the other mini games. There are other games like the dance, matching, racing, chess and more.

At $49.99, Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa is well worth it. It has something for everyone and high repeat play value. I highly recommend it!

My kids are looking forward to Thanksgiving but more because they get 5 days off school and they get to see their cousins than anything else. I’m sure I will hear the words, “I’m bored” more than once in the next few days, but I’m ready for it. Here is a long list of free, fun activities and projects for kids to do with a Thanksgiving theme:

• Printables4Kids – activities include Print and Play Turkey Tic Tac Toe, Count and Color Plymouth Pups, Thanksgiving Word Scramble, Thanksgiving Word Search and Thanksgiving Coloring Pages
• Check out the cornucopia coloring page and the directions for making a Thanksgiving tree at FreeStuff4Kids.
• Animal Jr. is a fun new site full of great kids activities including a printable Turkey mask, Thanksgiving turkey coloring pages, and a fun online game called Turkey Bowl.
• Make the CUTEST pilgrim hat cookies from gingersnaps and my favorite, Reese’s peanut butter cups.
• How about this cute paper bag turkey craft? Or get creative with wooden spoon dolls?
• You can spend hours at Family Fun going through their Thanksgiving crafts and recipes.

Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy your time with family and friends!

Use it or lose it is a saying that applies to so many aspects of life, but definitely brain power. If you want to stay sharp and ward off dementia in your older years, one of the best ways to do it is by playing games that make you think.  Playing games that make you think is just one of 15 ways you can increase brain power according to Brainz.org.

My favorite games include:

Smarty Pants: Trivia for Everyone for Wii – players answer trivia questions in a variety of categories but with a bit of a twist. You may have to play tug of war with your opponents, you can bump the spinner and change your opponents categories, and do a dance for double points. You enter your age when you play the game which helps the game make sure you get age appropriate challenges. This is a favorite family game in our house.

Scrabble – a true classic game for the ages.  Scrabble is available in so many formats including classic board game versions, online versions (Get SCRABBLE FREE with GamePass), mobile versions and even versions for Facebook and other social media sites. Check out the new variation that is for kids and grown ups called Bananagrams.

Boggle – there are so many variations of the game Boggle and it can also be found in a classic board game form, online variations, and you can make printable versions of the game, too. The goal is to see how many words you can make out of a group of random letters moving from letter to letter without skipping over one. I even have this for my mobile phone – for when I am bored out of my mind at the doctors or dentist office.

The Game of SCATTERGORIES – roll a letter and then see how many words you can think of that start with that letter that also are the answers to certain category clues. It is fast paced game that kids and grown ups can enjoy.

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, and Big Brain Academy are all available for Nintendo DS and other game systems. All three contain a range of games and activities guaranteed to make you think creatively and challenge your brain power.

Cranium -  the Cranium series of games has something for everyone – kids, grownups, big thinkers, and creativity hounds. The new Cranium Family Edition is perfect for family game nights combining the best of the original Cranium with a simpler format and slightly shorter game.

Even a simple game of solitaire, the daily crossword puzzle, or I Spy with the kids is brain exercise that will boost your brain power.

What have you done for your brain today? Better yet, here are 7 more skills to help you get smarter.

My family and I going to go TV free this week! Care to join us? I think it is time for my kids to have a Disney Channel Detox and reconnect with their toys, the fresh air and find their manners again. You can read my full post and join us at Weary Parent.