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ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR LITTLE

Here are some ideas to spark your creativity as you plan activities with your Little. Be sure to check back every month to see great new ideas!

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FUN THINGS TO DO IN PERSON

1. Surprise your Little by celebrating their half birthday. 2. Make a thin layer of Jello-O and carve it into letters, numbers, figures, etc. 3. Together, write a family newspaper for friends and relatives. 4. Take a walk together with a memento bag and collect interesting leaves, rocks, or junk. 5. Go to the bank and open a saving account. 6. Design a Christmas card together. 7. Make a bug cage and catch bugs. 8. Eat lunch with your Little at school. 9. Weave a ring out of grass. 10. Paint graffiti on the walls of a room a few days before it is to be repainted. 11. Buy shares of stock in an inexpensive company and watch it make or lose money. 12. Look up new words in the dictionary. 13. Use a globe to locate friends, travel destinations, and current events. 14. Go on a sound scavenger hunt with a tape recorder. 15. Go shopping at a secondhand store for dress-up clothes. 16. Make a collage of your lives with pictures cut from magazines. 17. Make giant soap bubbles. 18. Plan an imaginary vacation. 19. Roast marshmallows with toothpicks over the flame of a candle. 20. Learn a simple magic trick and amaze your friends. 21. Show your Little your high school yearbook picture. 22. Paint an original T-shirt. 23. Go for a walk through a hardware store and explain the function of various tools. 24. Compliment your Little’s character and skill three times for every one compliment of their appearance. 25. Find all the living things on a one-foot square of grass. 26. Trace around your Little on a piece of butcher paper each year to show how much your Little has grown. 27. Learn to count to ten in a foreign language. 28. Go to a volleyball or basketball game at the high school your Little will attend. 29. Write a letter to your Little on your match anniversary telling them what you’ve noticed about them in the last year. 30. Have an art show featuring your Little’s masterpieces. Invite your friends and family to come and buy original, signed artwork. Set low prices and everything will sell. 31. Practice filling out applications for everything. 32. Make homemade potpourri with dried flower petals. 33. Help your Little make a list of everyone who loves them. 34. Explore the attic. 35. Paint a special message on a wooden cutting board as a present for mom. 36. Wash the car. 37. Make a calendar of the big events of the year. 38. Write a poem about your Little and read it at a special occasion. 39. Feed the birds. 40. Look through a book of house plans and pick out your dream house. 41. Help your Little write a letter to the author of their favorite book. 42. Buy a rubber stamp or stickers with your Little’s name and address on them. 43. Start a coin or stamp collection. 44. Get a book of animal tracks and explore a pond or trail to see what animals live there. 45. Create a tornado in a bottle; put colored water in a two-liter bottle, connect another bottle to it like an hourglass, turn it over and give it a swirl. 46. Go on a camera scavenger hunt. Let your Little take the pictures. 47. Tape record messages to send to grandparents or other loved ones who don’t live nearby. 48. Stencil a border pattern around the top of a wall. 49. Go on a newspaper scavenger hunt. 50. Read biographies of people who did great things and let your Little know they can do great things too. 51. Learn to program a computer in BASIC language. 52. Finger paint with chocolate, lemon, or strawberry pudding. 53. Make mini-pizzas using English muffins. 54. Make maracas by coving light bulbs with layers of papier-mache and when they dry, gently break the glass and paint. 55. Write a letter to your Congressional representatives regarding an issue important to both of you. 56. Donate old toys and clothes to a community shelter. 57. Check out a tree identification book from the library and discover which trees grow in your neighborhood. 58. Using the letters from a big word, see how many smaller words you can create. 59. Train together and participate in a one-K fun run. 60. Role play meeting new people so your Little will have more confidence in unfamiliar situations. 61. Invite someone who has lived in a foreign country over for dinner to talk about life in that country. 62. Use of book of names to find the meaning of your names. 63. Build a log cabin out of Popsicle sticks and glue. 64. Watch a potter throwing on a wheel. 65. Use a magnifying glass to examine all kinds of little things. 66. Make a tent using blankets stretched over chairs. 67. Teach your Little to use a fire extinguisher. 68. Squeeze fresh orange juice. 69. Tape record yourselves reading your favorite stories. 70. Tour the state capitol. 71. Go to the airport for lunch and watch the planes take off and land. 72. Share photographs and home movies of you as a child. 73. Roast pumpkin seeds in the oven. 74. Take your Little with you to vote. 75. Volunteer to ring a bell for charity at Christmas. 76. Get creative with some lumber, hammer, and nails. 77. Volunteer to visit your Little’s class to tell students about your profession. 78. Open the hood of a car and point out various parts of the engine. 79. Give your Little an old billfold or purse. “Accidentally” leave a dollar or two hidden inside. 80. Speak highly of the people in your life. 81. Read books about famous inventors. 82. Enjoy a fresh coconut or pineapple. 83. Watch the activity at a construction site. 84. Build and paint a birdhouse. 85. Learn to tap out your names in Morse code and to sign your names in sign language. 86. Order sea monkeys or Chia pets and watch them grow. 87. Skip rocks on water. 88. Photocopy each others hands on a copy machine. 89. Buy a yo-yo and learn how to do tricks with it. 90. Make a video movie. 91. Have business cards printed with your Little’s name and a catchy slogan. 92. Go to a photographer’s darkroom and learn how negatives and prints are made. 93. Visit a farm and milk a cow. 94. Look in the phone book to find people with your same last names. 95. Set up a roadside lemonade stand. 96. Using play money, show your Little how you spend the money you earn. 97. Get a chemistry set and perform your own experiments. 98. Write to the President and ask for a photo. (You’ll receive a picture and a whole packet of information.) 99. Build a house of cards together. 100. Have notepads imprinted with your Little’s name. 101. Make your own code with numbers representing letters and send each other coded messages. 102. Teach your pet a new trick. 103. Visit a college. 104. Make pancakes from scratch. 105. Learn to identify three constellations. 106. Paint an old piece of furniture. 107. Learn CPR. 108. Do something for an elderly friend. 109. Learn new words in a foreign language. 110. Rent a bicycle for two and tour the arboretum. 111. Learn to use a real camera–one in which nothing is automatic. 112. Go ice-skating and get hot chocolate afterwards. 113. Explore the children’s museum. 114. Help your Little make dinner for their mom on her birthday. 115. Have a Monopoly tournament. 116. Visit a hospital and look at the new babies in the nursery. 117. Surf the Internet. 118. Learn how to fix your bikes. 119. Visit a nursing home and read or sing to the residents, or ask them to describe what life was like when they were your Little’s age. 120. Whack golf balls at the driving range. 121. Shop for hats bearing the insignia of your Little’s favorite sports teams. 122. Walk around a boat show, sporting show, or Star Trek convention. 123. Bake and frost cutout cookies. 124. Rent a canoe. 125. Assemble a model or bookcase. 126. Work on home improvement projects together–painting, wallpapering, or remodeling a spare room. It provides great talk time and quite a few laughs, too. 127. Make foods from around the world and learn how people live in that country. 128. Have a carpet picnic on the living room floor and watch a movie. 129. Meditate together. 130. Maintain a scrapbook of all the things you do together. Include ticket stubs, menus, pictures, brochures, programs, and other mementos. 131. Rearrange the furniture in your living room. 132. Visit a coffee shop to sip hot chocolate or soda while playing chess, checkers, or backgammon. 133. Research an important event or issue at the library. 134. Tour the big libraries at a college or university. 135. Sit at the mall or in a park and watch people. 136. Create s’mores with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate chunks. Heat them in the oven, microwave, or over an open fire. 137. Learn how to dance. 138. Take turns styling each other’s hair. 139. Learn how to sew an outfit for your Little. 140. Do aerobics in the living room or visit a health center. 141. Decorate eggs–not just at Easter. 142. Plan a trip around the world or around the USA. It’s a great way to sneak in a geography lesson. 143. Tell each other stories. Start by giving the other a starting sequence, such as “I was walking to school the other day and I saw . . .“ 144. Create a bead necklace or bracelet. 145. Volunteer to build a house with Habitat for Humanity, help people at Special Olympics events, or serve Meals on Wheels. 146. Make a fondue meal or a fruit-and-cake fondue for dessert. 147. Take an art class together. 148. Shoot a round of pool. 149. Learn to make homemade root beer or ice cream.