2 Simple Ideas to Entertain the Kids this Summer

Posted on May 31st, 2009 by wwaddell.
Categories: Digital Photography, Scrapbook Articles, Training.

2 Simple Ideas to Entertain the Kids this Summer (Part 1 of 2)

By: Wes Waddell

 

“School’s Out for The Summer” as the classic KISS song goes.  These words begin causing stress for many a parent weeks before the actual event takes place.

 

Why?

 

Because every parent knows that within days… sometime hours, the dreaded whine begins: “Mommy, I’m bored… there’s nothing to do!”, “I don’t want to go outside, there’s no one to play with!”  The historic echo’s still ring within the walls at our house, even now after the kids are grown and on their own.

 

The good news is that I’ve found a new way to keep my grandkids entertained for not just hours, but for days and even weeks during the summer, and no, it’s not sending them to grandma and grampa’s house!  I’ve taken an old page from my grandmother’s bag of fun and turned it into a new technology children’s game.

 

We call it “The Digital Mystery”

 

Appropriate for kids ages 6 and up… especially good for “Tweens” and young “Teens.”

 

No! you can’t get it in stores…  at least not yet ;-)

 

All you need is a cheap digital camera, a small notebook with pencil and a few minutes of your time creating story lines.  I’ll explain the story lines in just a minute; first let’s talk about the equipment.

 

I said cheap digital camera for a reason.  Kids are sometimes hard on things… I know that’s nothing new to you.  But the younger they are the harder it is for them to take care of things and to keep track of them.  So, depending on age, just pick one up that you can get in almost any chain store these days. Your only requirement is that it needs to hold at least 36 to 40 images in its memory so you aren’t bothered every few minutes downloading them to a computer. Of course older kids will be able to do this themselves.

 

The notebook and pencil can be anything from pocket size to a school notebook. They’ll be using it to take small notes on what they see in each photo they take. Younger children will need more room to write and older kids will want something that can fit in their pocket or camera case. If you use a larger notebook, consider putting it in a small backpack or shoulder bag for them to carry it in… don’t forget to put their names on it!

 

Now, on to your small part in the game.

 

The object of the game is to tell a story using digital photographs and notes or comments for each picture.  Your part is to come up with a few story titles for them to start with.  Here’s a few things to consider when you start listing the mystery story titles:

 

  1. The younger the child, the smaller the area they have to explore. You may want them to stay in the back yard or on your block.  If you live in an apartment complex, you may need them to stay in a play area or inside the building itself.  So, you wouldn’t want mystery titles such as “What the neighbors did today” if you want them to stay in the back yard. You might want titles such as “Bugs of the 123 Willow St. House” or “What Else Lives at 654 Bluebird Lane.” My 6 year old granddaughter loves “What My Teddy Bear Did Today.”
  2. Your titles need to hint at some kind of mystery or puzzle that needs to be solved. You want the kids to have a definite purpose with the photos and story and not be able to just take random pictures of just any old thing.  You want them to think (age appropriate) and take some time… preferably a lot of it; in coming up with the final story. Tweens and Teens love to play the part of the detective or spy. Give them titles like: “What Changed in the Neighborhood Today?” or “Who Worked on Our Block?” One of my 10 year old granddaughter’s favorites is “Wildlife of Our Street.”
  3. While you don’t want them peeping in windows or invading the privacy of siblings or others, you do want to nurture their natural curiosity and imaginations.  Depending on the child, you may need to set some basic ground rules and consequences for breaking the rules.  The bottom line is that you want them to have fun, but at the same time you want them to be courteous to others.

 

Getting Started:

 

It’s best if you begin planning a few days before school’s out.  Having 8 to 10 Mystery titles (per child) all ready to go before you need them will make your life much easier and ensure that they have plenty to keep them busy.

 

One quick note:  This also works really well for vacations and day trips too.

 

Here’s how we play it at our house:

 

I set up a storyboard using a piece of white poster board.  I have a column for each of the grandkids with their name at the top of the column.  Below I have rows about a ruler wide all the way down the page.  Under each name I have a story title for each child that is different and age appropriate. 

 

After every 5 stories, there’s a prize that they earn for getting to that point.  I never have more than 5 stories listed at any time for each child as I keep that part of my mystery as to what comes next and what the next prize will be.  After they finish one story, I add a new one to their column so that they always have five listed and one prize they are working towards.

 

Depending on how long they will be staying with us, I try and make the last prize a really special one that I know they will cherish.  Last summer we took them to a water park at the end of the week.  This summer, since they are a bit older… we are looking at getting them new digital cameras now that they know how to use them and take care of them.

 

Next, I’m the editor for a fictional news site.  I have final say over all completed stories (just like in the real world) and I get to send them back out to fix any parts of their story that I find missing.  This serves the purpose of both, keeping them busy longer, and at the same time teaching them to complete the whole story with quality (age appropriate again) work with complete thoughts.

 

That’s it! Off they go to start their first story and you are free to do what needs to get done around the house… even if that’s to relax or take a nap ;-)

 

In part two, we show you how to keep them busy by actually creating the story on the computer using the photos and notes they take here.

 

Until then…

Get the Greatest FREE Digital Scrapbook Gift… EVER!

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This Digital Scrapbook Site is a Treasure

Posted on May 15th, 2009 by wwaddell.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Hi, This site is a treasure. I love it.

Thanks………Debbie Knahs

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Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School Scrapbook Project

Posted on May 1st, 2009 by admin.
Categories: Scrapbook Articles, Scrapbook Tips, Training.

Hi Kathy,

I teach at Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School. Each “house” (homeroom) has been assigned the project of creating a “house” scrapbook. I am the technology teacher and would like to come up with a way that the students ( grades 7-12 – 400+) could create their pages online and then print them and put them in the scrapbooks. The younger students in grades 7 and 8 LOVE to play cut and paste, but my sophomores, juniors and seniors need help with ideas and creativity!

Soooooo – I am not a scrapbooker – I am a “techie” and would love to give the kids a site where they can put their own photos, scripts, etc and then we could have the pages printed. Can you solve my dilemma?

I am guessing that this might be an annual activity! We have 36 “houses” looking for project help and a budget – although slim – to work with!

Mary Lou Connors

Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School
Syracuse NY

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Hi Mary Lour,

Not a problem.  You can use our FREE Digital Scrapbooking 101 course and lessons to get the kids started.  The software, course and a good sample of templates are all included at no cost (FREE) what so ever.  Just go to:

www.ComputerScrapbookTraining.com

to sign up and set up your account for free.

If you need more ideas and samples, we provide our memberships to schools – One membership for the entire school to use.  If you are interested, just drop me another line and we can go into details on how you can make that happen.

Happy Scrappin’

Kathy Waddell

www.PrincessCrafts.com.

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