1 Month Weekend Challenge
This post is part of the 1 month weekend challenge. Learn more at the bottom of this page.
Weekend 2: Be Creative
This week I’ll point you to several resources and let you guide your kids to what appeals to them most.
Option 1:
Pen a work of fiction
The idea here is to try and make a story as a family. You can make this as simple or complex as you like. I’ve found that especially when coming up with stories in the beginning, it’s helpful to consider movies or books that you’ve read as structural templates. Think about the Hero’s journey and what he/she has to overcome. What villains will he meet along the way, and what will be the struggle and resolve?
I found a ton of really good guidelines here that will help you: https://www.imagineforest.com/blog/how-to-write-a-story/
For a more simple version, you can look here: https://readingeggs.com/articles/2015/06/19/story-writing-for-kids/
You might check out this handy character generator tool that might come in handy for making up characters in your story - it’s sometimes helpful because it can create certain facts about them like fears, or aspirations etc.
Option 2:
Become Lego Masters
This is pretty simple, the whole family chooses what the lego challenge should be, and everyone creates a challenge to match the prompt.
This site has some handy challenge cards to give you some ideas. Much like Lego Masters, the creations will be judged to ascertain a winner. Consider displaying the final builds on the mantle afterwards.
If this is fun for the whole family, you might consider the 30-day lego challenge calendar. For small kids, this is a useful way to fill the summer days with a *little* bit of structure.
Option 3:
Unleash Your Inner Artist
My kids enjoy drawing, and can create some pretty awesome stuff. I, on the other hand, cannot. That doesn’t keep me from joining them in the experience though. Several years ago we found the youtube channel, Art For Kids Hub. On this channel, Rob and his kids present drawing tutorials, in which both a professional artist (Rob) and his children draw side by side, to give you a sense of what it SHOULD look like, and what it MIGHT look like. As they say on the channel, you can ALWAYS hit pause. So grab some crayons or markers and follow along with a few of the videos on Art For Kids Hub.
If you want to draw freehand and want to incorporate some silliness in the process, I suggest you check out Arty Games. This app essentially gives you prompts as you start drawing. So at first you might have a prompt to draw a man with a crooked nose, then the next prompt says “with purple hair”...the next prompt says, “with horns on his head”...etc. So you end up with some silly stuff. Everyone can compare their finished product in the end.