Holiday Contest and Give Away

Holiday Giveaway: Register below for our feed delivered to you by email and be registered to win this Holiday themed Memoir Photo Album.

Winner will be notified by email and item shipped by Kidzense.

Drawing will take place on January 1st

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Blogging Idol 2

Blogging Idol 2 will take place between November 1st and November 30th. During that period 104 bloggers will compete to see who can gain RSS subscribers more efficiently. You can track our standing in the contest via the Live scoreboard that displays contestants with their initial and current RSS subscriber count, as well as their net gain of subscribers. There is almost $5,000 in prizes.
If you subscribe to my blog through November you will be help me get one step closer towards My Dream becoming a Blogging Idol (Just kidding about the Idol part... sort of)
And I will provide you with articles with Activities to do with your Kids, Coupons, Tips on Education, finding a Babysitter and more. It's a win win Proposition!

Thanks in Advance,

Mike at Kidzense

---

Subscribe to Kidzense Feed

Hop scotch

Believe me when I say that before I had my daughter I could not have drawn a hop-scotch board or told you the rules but all that has changed and like most things that you learn more about you find there is a lot more to learn than you initially thought. Sure the basic Hop Scotch Board is simple to draw and the rules are straight forward (I have laid the basic game out below) but in reading about the game I found there are as many variations to the game as you want to dream up. Some variations can include hopping multiple times on a single square, singing songs or rhymes while moving thru the board, and creating elaborate boards that branch off instead of the normal stacked pattern.

Equipment: Chalk, sidewalk, Driveway, or Play-yard.
Play: Draw the layout with the chalk - 2 single squares, 1 double square, 1 single squares, 1 double square, Turnaround or Home. (Some Variations are listed at the bottom of this post)

Rules: The first player tosses the marker (typically a stone or bean bag) into the first square. The marker must land completely within the designated square without touching a line or bouncing out. If the marker lands in the wrong square, the player forfeits his/her turn.
If the marker is successful, the player hops through the court skipping the square with the marker in it. Single squares must be hopped on one foot. For the first single square, either foot may be used. Side by side squares are straddled, with the left foot landing in the left square, and the right foot landing in the right square. Optional squares marked "Safe", "Home", or "Rest" are neutral squares, and may be hopped through in any manner without penalty.
When players reach the end of the court, they turn around and hop back through the court, moving through the squares in reverse order and stopping to pick up the marker on the way back (and hops in the square). Upon successfully completing the sequence, the player continues the turn by tossing the marker into square number two, and repeating the pattern.
If while hopping through the court in either direction the player steps on a line, misses a square, or loses balance, the turn ends.
Players begin their turns where they last left off. The first player to complete one course for every numbered square on the court wins the game.

Origin: Hopscotch began in ancient Britain during the early Roman Empire. The original hopscotch courts were over 100 feet long! They were used for military training exercises.
Roman foot soldiers ran the course in full armor and field packs, and it was thought that Hopscotch would improve their foot work. Roman children imitated the soldiers by drawing their own boards, and creating a scoring system, and "Hopscotch"

Some Variations:

Let the Games Begin

For Christmas this year I thought about getting a Wii. Fortunately that was not possible (I could not believe I was one of "those parents" getting caught up in the Toy Fad Frenzy) I say fortunate because it not having a game system lead us to explore other game options like Board games, improvised games like Obstacle Course, Living room relay, and Scavenger Hunts , and some computer games (Online puzzles, Kid Pix, and Some others). The plus over video games is that we connect as family better than I think we may have with a video game system, also in addition to general entertainment there is a lot of learning going on. Some of the games we have are educational in nature so there is some intended learning built in Out of this world has a bunch of Space and Earth facts and practices counting skills since you need to move the number of spaces that you roll with the dice. Aside from the intended learning's built into the game there are also the learning's that come from playing any game such as: following directions, playing by the rules, playing fair, being a good winner and loser.
So were having fun as a family and sneak in a little social and cognitive learning while were at it.