Sorry for being 5 days late in getting this Holiday Advent kids activity to everyone- I just found it! Not that we all need to build more excitement toward Christmas, but it IS fun!

Thanks to Activity Mom for this printable, downloadable series of advent kids activities. The printables include countdown cards, the activities and materials list, all to make the countdown to Christmas fun AND educational.

Make a big deal out of the countdown cards and your child will look forward to everyday’s new activity. Activity Mom has several good suggestions for how to do this, but my favorite is to choose the activity in the morning so they have all day to look forward to it. Pick the activity card out of a Santa Hat, unwrap it ( if you’ve got the energy to wrap each one), pluck it off the Christmas tree- the how doesn’t really matter.

The Advent activities themselves are both games and crafts, so if you want to order them (as opposed to a random pick each day) to vary the activities- go for it. And it’s a good idea to gather up all the materials needed for all the activities so you can just grab and go.

Looks like Activity Mom has lots of good ideas for little kids – take a look. It’s always a good idea to have a storehouse of kids activities you can pull from when you hear ‘I’m bored’.

From my twitter followers, an author Dad who writes books for kids in the very affordable Kindle format. I love books, can’t bear to part with them if they were good, and am totally out of shelf space. So, I’ve switched to reading electronic books- they’re less expensive to purchase and storage is a non-issue.

While I would never recommend that a child’s books ALL be in the electronic format, it does open up a whole new arena of kids literature that might not otherwise be available. Think how many children’s classics started out as bedtime stories- the Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings, and I’m sure many others I can’t think of right now. Besides, not every pleasurable reading experience has to be a literature classic- there’s certainly a place for reading for fun, and that’s what this author is all about, by his own admission.

Don’t own a Kindle- no problem. There’s a free kindle app for both PC and MAC that you can put on your laptop or desktop, and of course there’s a kindle app for the iPad as well.

Funtastic Tales is a compilation of three Kindle books written by Fun London. In the author’s own words: “I like to write stories that are fun, that have action, that entertain, that make us laugh and remind us that life can be an adventure.” All three books have received solid 5 star parent reviews on Amazon, so you know these stories are truly enjoyable. [NOTE: If you make a purchase through the link on this page, I make a commission from Amazon, and that seems fair to me.]

If reading on a laptop or Kindle gets kids to read more, I’m all for it, and I’d suggest it might be worth a try if you’ve got a reluctant reader. The app is free, the books relatively inexpensive and it all might just help to get reading in among your child’s other favorite kids activities.

I’m beginning to get the idea that ThinkFun just plain makes great educational games that kids are just plain going to have fun playing. And for kids birthday party gifts, I’m ALWAYS in favor of educational instead of plastic, throw-away junk.

Seems every night on the news we hear how we need to develop more math and science skills in our kids, and this game will sharpen those math skills while being fun. Under $10 right now at Amazon and geared for kids 6 and up. The games are quick so they don’t lose interest in the middle. A great game to keep those math skills sharp. Solid 5 star reviews from parents on Amazon. [NOTE: If you make a purchase through the link on this page, I make a commission from amazon and that seems fair to me.]

Easy to play. Roll the big 12 sided die to get a target number, then roll the 6 regular die and use the 4 basic math operatives ( + – * / )to get to that target number. To quote one of the parent reviews on Amazon “It’s small, cheap, and a great way to get kids to practice math with out it being dull!” The other often repeated comment among the parent reviews is ‘flexible’.

Why not give a birthday party gift that you can feel good about and that actually builds needed skills while still being good fun? How about getting one for your house when they need a kids activity and you’d just as soon it be educational as well as fun?

Popcorn is a snacking staple in my house, and it has made an appearance at every kids birthday party we’ve ever had, but I never thought to do popcorn balls! They’re way more fun, prettier when you include a little food coloring, and can actually be a party activity if your hosting a cooking party or something to keep them busy at a sleepover. So my thanks to Nancy Myers for reminding me about popcorn balls in the post over at  LJWorld.com about cooking with kids.

Use your air popper or the microwave popcorn, and even little kids can manage to make popcorn balls without too much help. You should probably be in charge of melting the marshmallows, margarine and corn syrup, but they can do the measuring and some stirring. And since they are in fact a bit messy to make, they’ll love it!

You’ll find a good recipe, at least according to the reviews, for popcorn balls over at allrecipes.com. Ms. Myers in her article does suggest the food coloring, but I’d keep the shades pastel (ie not too much food coloring) so the hands don’t get totally stained.

The kids will make the popcorn balls by shaping the gooey mixture with their hands- the messy/fun part! Have them coat their hands with either vegatable shortening or margarine so the mixture doesn’t stick to them. Have some colored cellophane and curling ribbon to wrap any they don’t eat to take home. And plenty of soap and towels for cleaning up the hands.

I love it when fun birthday party food can actually be a birthday party activity and get the kids having fun being creative in the kitchen. It’s all to the good. You can even just make them with your kids or have them make popcorn balls for the family some home movie night.

Legos are another terrific toy that are not just fun but that build skills as the kids play, so they make great kids birthday party gifts as well as a kids activity to keep in your own toy box. I was reminded about them after posting earlier this week on the many benefits of crafting with our kids, and the same applies to Legos.

Very few households, whether populated by boys or girls, are without any Legos. And there are seemingly thousands of different Lego sets you can choose from for kids birthday party gifts.  They range from quite sophisticated and expensive to simple and basic, and even the bigger duplo blocks for the little kids. But here’s two different ideas for you for Lego birthday party gifts.

1- As shown here, this set of 650 basic Lego blocks in assorted bright colors makes a great addition to an existing Lego collection. These tend to be the smaller, narrower sizes that are often very useful when building your own creations rather than following along in a kit. This kit is nothing but bricks, there are no specialized pieces, so it’s perfect for the child that wants to build on their own.

2- For the passionate Lego fan, why not join up with a few other moms for one of the snazzy sophisticated Lego sets with the matching fancy price tag? Divide it between 3 or 4 of you and you’ve given a terrific gift that the Lego fanatic will be overjoyed to receive.

[NOTE: If you make a purchase through the link on this page, I make a commission from Amazon and that seems fair to me.]

They may be low tech and a bit old fashioned, but Legos are still around and the product offerings still expanding because kids love them and parents love the small motor skills and creativity this toy teaches. So put Legos back in your bag of tricks and remember about them the next time you need to purchase a kids birthday party gift. And, you might want to refer to this post about including a home-made Lego book along with your gift of the basic lego bricks.

Kudos to the MotherNatureNetwork for reminding us of this rainy day or snow day or just plain slow day activity for our kids that actually helps us parents keep order. Wish I’d though of this one back in the day.

Give the kids something fun and then get something back in return when everybody’s stuck inside on a weather day, – the reverse order usually works better with kids. Before you take them sledding down the big hill or outside with their buddies for a big snowball fight followed by hot chocolate, get an hour of cleaning out time from your kids.

You participate with them in the sorting, and make it fun so it doesn’t feel like punishment. Turn up the music and sing and dance while you sort out. Go through the toy box one day, the bookshelf another, the stuffed animals on yet a another day. Then there’s the movies and dvd’s and video game shelf. Maybe you’re even up to tackling some dresser drawers, but that’s pushing it with the kids.

Just as Mother Nature Network suggests, make 3 piles- garbage, donate and keep. Then turn it all into a real lesson in giving some afternoon shortly thereafter and take them with you to actually donate the stuff. They’ll feel good about that, and it might even make them more willing to repeat this cleaning out process next time .

There’s nothing wrong with a little bargaining where you get some help keeping the house in order when you give them a fun afternoon that could have been all boring. In fact, you can use any of our suggested kids activities as a bargaining chip!

This is just too far out and too much fun not pass along even tho’ it has nothing to do with kids birthday parties. But where there’s kids, there’s families and this makes for great Halloween Family Fun.

Would you believe 265 pumpkin carving patterns in 15 categories, and growing every day between now and Halloween! Yes, they’re in it to make some money so they aren’t free, but you can have all 265, or however many there ends up being, for $20 or the 2 you really want for $2. Get your 25 favorites for $5. Suits just about any budget.

Along with the printable pattern transfers to get the design on your pumpkin(s), there are full instructions for carving, preserving, lighting, even pumpkin photography- all on-line as well as printable to take with you.

Got a bunch of teens all ramped up about Halloween? Give them something constructive to do before it gets dark and host an afternoon, early evening pumpkin carving party. Display the creations on your front steps Halloween night and you’ll be the envy of the neighborhood.

Or, gather your extended family and a few select friends or neighbors for a cider and donut and pumpkin carving party Sunday afternoon, Oct. 30th. Everyone will have a great time. Just make sure you have enough carving tools to go around. Really- the best kids activities are those that involve everyone doing something fun together. And this will be remembered by all involved.