I love these extra kits that MGT has been including in the most recent boxes. They come with their own little teacher guide, invitations, thank you notes and materials for games and crafts that could easily be adapted for a wide range of ages. We had a morning of no plans so I prepped the materials and we played about half of the games and did one of the crafts. I forgot to grab the scarecrow poster for the "Pin the Patch on the Scarecrow" game so we had fun making our own (his name is Scarecrow Tim). This game was the biggest hit among the kids. I loved how they would help the blindfolded child find the scarecrow, rather than let them wander around and pin aimlessly. It was sweet. After they pinned on all the patches, we counted how many they had done, organized them by pattern and counted again. Scarecrow Tim got played a few times during the week.
We also played the "Beware the Bat" game. In the guide, you are supposed to hide the cats under the paper bag pumpkin craft that is included in the materials but we only had five kiddos and hadn't gotten to the craft yet so I just spread the cards out on the rug facedown and surrounded them with the numbered pumpkins (out of order). They all ran to get a card and then raced to find the pumpkin. The younger ones didn't quite understand that if they found the bat they were supposed to tag someone else before they got to their number and would in fact simply point out the correct pumpkin and cheer on their cousin. Kids can be so sweet, especially when they haven't been conditioned to be overly competitive. They had just as much fun matching the cats to the pumpkins and then putting them all in numerical order.
The plan was to play these games in the morning, have lunch and nap and then take them to a pumpkin patch in the afternoon. We got them all fired up to pick out their own pumpkins, loaded them into vehicles and fought unfamiliar traffic to arrive at a highly recommended patch only to realize it didn't open for two more days. Thankfully children are resilient and were placated by an hour at a super fun park nearby. We also promised a pumpkin patch with the planned activity for the next day. Unfortunately, while it was listed as a reason to come to this particular venue, it too was closed until October 1.The moral: check the date on the website, not just the time. I am grateful for children who don't hold things against me (yet) and a wonderful neighborhood pumpkin patch a few blocks from my house that I know is open. My plan is to finish the rest of the activities from this pack with our friend on Monday and then go to the patch for Family Home Evening that night to finally bring the whole thing full circle.
No comments:
Post a Comment