1.   When children are using carpenter tools, it's nice to show the artistic use of tools along with the functional. Boone was experimenting with the tools and taught us this the other day.

You will need a piece of pine wood, a hammer, both Philip and standard screwdrivers, and a nail punch. Show the child that if you hammer the screwdriver into the wood, a design will be made in the wood. It's something of a wood stamp. The Philip's screwdriver makes a cross, the standard makes a straight line, and the nail punch makes a circle. The Philip's screwdriver and nail punch make a nice hugs and kisses pattern. One could design a border on a picture frame, create a pattern on a small piece of wood for a paperweight, or decorate a set of building blocks.

2.   Children love to work with dough. The soft feeling of the dough with the fine texture of flour is a treat for any child's hand. Some day when one needs a quick and fun project, make some dough with your children and play with it. Mix flour and a bit of water and you have dough. Sprinkle flour on the table surface that you will be working on. This keeps the dough from sticking so that it's easier to work with and easier to clean up. Kneading with its pushing, rolling and punching is always a favorite. The only problem with this project is that you have to throw the dough away as it will spoil. (Yes, there is play-do, the dough that lasts forever, but it is different from dough.) Once every one has mastered the techniques of mixing, kneading and rolling, one can easily begin making biscuits for a meal. And remember the fun song, 'Shortnin' Bread. The rhythm of the song is a natural for kneading.


3.   Hard boiled eggs are a new addition to our school lunches. And peeling the eggs is as much fun as eating them. Show a child how to roll the egg to crack the egg shell, and then how to use the side of their thumb to push and then lift the shell off in large pieces. We all pretended we were birds, chirping and pecking our way out of the shell. Then we peeled ever so carefully to see who had the largest shell. Depending on the tastes of your children, either deviled eggs or egg salad are easy to make with all these peeled eggs. A chef showed me his secret - to make egg salad easily - put the eggs in a bowl and mash them with a potato masher. If you let the children make the salad, they will be much more inclined to take that first taste and love it.


4.   It was summer, my sister and I were hungry for lunch, my Mom was busy with her home accounting business. She would say - 'how about a picnic?' Susan and I would wonder how she would set up a picnic with papers spread everywhere and the phone ringing amidst her simultaneous home projects. She would make mustard sandwiches (2 pieces of white bread with a squirt of yellow mustard), put them in a wax paper sandwich bag, and we would sit on the back door step - having our picnic in the gangway of our house. Gangway is a city term for the sidewalk and narrow bit of earth that is between two houses. Your gangway connected your front yard sidewalk with your backyard sidewalk. But the gangway only existed when it ran between the two close buildings. So there Susan and I would sit, enjoying the sun and our mustard sandwiches. When we were done eating we would always use the wax paper bags for collecting. We would collect rocks, or flowers, or bugs. And whenever we go on a school hike, there's always a loaf of bread and a squirt jar of mustard in my back pack. And the children just love mustard sandwiches.


5.   One is always looking for healthy additions to our diets. We all drink orange juice, but put an ice cube in a glass of orange juice and it becomes juice a la orange. There's something about the tinkling of the ice, its float ability, and the crisp taste the extra coldness gives to the juice that makes juice a la orange so enjoyable. We even let one lucky children drink out of the cardboard frozen juice container. And as a result, juice a la orange has become our favorite summer drink.


6.   The shirt basket has come in handy many times for us. When one is picking up just about anything, one can use the shirt basket. Just pull up the end of your t-shirt and hold it towards your body — that will be the basket. You have to hold the end to keep the basket intact, just as you would have to hold a basket handle. When one comes upon a patch of blackberries, or has to clean up all the Legos or blocks, or collect every so many beautiful rocks - having an instant basket is a great help. Skirts make huge baskets as well!


7.   Children eventually will want to learn how to tie their shoes. And parents are always happy with this request for independence. But learning just where to put which lace is challenging. What will be a tremendous help is to have a different color or pattern for each half of the lace and a story. Then when a child is tying, the parent can help the child with easy color clues.

Using a magic marker is the easiest way to make a section of lace a different color or to make stripes or dots. One half is colored or marked; the other half is left alone.

Then think of a character that your child would enjoy and give a name to each half section of the shoe lace. The laces could be the white dragon and the striped dragon (you drew stripes on one section) or the white bunny and the spotted bunny (you drew spots).

The story: the white dragon (the first loop) is waiting for his friend. The striped dragon comes over and gives him a hug (wrap around the first loop) and then goes down into his cave to get some toys to play with (push under the white loop). Then the striped dragon comes out and they play with the toys together (pull loop out for final tie). Children enjoy the story and the different colors make the tying process so much easier.