It’s been a while since we had a Time-Out Thursday post. T.O.T. is all about having fun without spending a fortune. Here are some great ideas to make your fall a little more fun!
1. Host a drive-in movie – Use paper plates and craft supplies to turn an ordinary box into a car. Park the car in front of the tv and catch a screening of a favorite movie.
2. Dance party – Push all of the furniture out of the way and jam out to your favorite tunes.
3. A fingerprint tree – My children have never experienced the beauty of watching the leaves turn colors, palm trees are green all year ;) Paint or draw a trunk on a piece of paper (butcher’s paper, craft paper or the backside of old wrapping paper works great!) and have your child dip their fingertips in different colors of paint, press fingertips to the branches to create leaves. (We originally did this as a 100 day project for school, one thumbprint for each day of school)
4. Make fairy houses from twigs, moss and other things you find outside. Yes, that’s a pic of my 9 year old just because she’s pretty. I thought I had a picture of the neat fairy houses Disney had up during their Flower & Garden Festival but I don’t.
5. Create a donation box. Place blankets (used but with a lot of life left!), towels, jackets and winter clothing into the box. Add some nonperishable food and personal hygiene items, and maybe some small toys and games. Drive these items to a shelter, food bank or local church for distribution. Many schools collect these items during the winter months as well. It doesn’t take much to brighten someone’s day and it’s a good way to declutter before the holidays.
This is a project my family is going to concentrate on this fall. We have been on the receiving end of other’s kindness and I can tell you from experience that the difference just a few cans of food, or a toy for Christmas morning have made in our lives won’t be forgotten.
6. Go on a butterfly/insect walk before it’s too cold. Visit a park or some area where there is some undeveloped land and see what kind of bugs you see. Have your children draw or photograph the bugs so you can identify them at home.
7. Plant your socks – Wear an old pair of mom or dad’s socks outside your shoes and walk around the yard. Remove the sock without turning inside-out and plant the sock. Do this every season so you can see what grows throughout the year.
8. Feed the birds. Coat a pinecone with peanut butter, rolls in seeds and set out for the birds (or squirrels!)
9. Drink hot cider. You can make hot mulled cider easily using your coffee pot. Place the mulling spices in a coffee filter and pour the cider in the water reservoir, brew as you would coffee.
10. Turn everyday items into fall decorations. Use markers to draw jack-o-lanterns on oranges. Use a straight pin to gently scratch jack-o-lantern faces into the peel of a banana, the design will appear within a few hours. Tissues or small white trash bags can be turned into ghosts with a little bit of stuffing, a bit of string and markers. Cut pumpkins and cats out of construction paper and use spray glitter paint or puffy paint to decorate.
11. Create a leaf rubbing. Place a piece of paper over a leaf and rub a crayon over it. Don’t stop at the leaf, make rubbings of the sidewalk, tile floor, tree bark, etc.
12. Create “stained glass” leaves from old crayons. Remove the wrapper from old crayon stubs and grate or peel the crayons. Place the peelings between two piece of waxed paper (waxed sides on the inside!), set your iron to low and lightly iron the waxed paper until the crayon peels melt. After it cools your child can cut out leaf designs. To permanently seal the leaves you can use a bit of puffy paint or glue to coat the edges, hole punch and hang leaves.
Our kids love drive-in movie night! We do this at least once a year and make boxes for each of them! It is neat to see someone else use this concept as well.