A Treasure Chest Of Activities

The children de cide a certain number of chances for the coin toss. The winner is the one who guesses whether it will be heads or tails the closest number of heads and tails within that number of tries.

Mix Together: 1 cup salt 1-1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup water 2 Tablespoons oil Coloring-few drops Mix with your hands. This dough will keep for three weeks in a plastic bag or covered jar in the refrigerator. Children enjoy mod eling with this mixture and it can be used many times.

Let you child make his own puzzles. Trim the sides of cereal boxes, old paperback book covers, posters. book pages, etc. Cut them apart into unusually shaped pieces. The size and number of pieces will vary with the age of the child. Store pieces for each puzzle in a plastic bag.

Even a young child can make a souvenir book while on a trip. Pick a theme such as People, The Color Green, or Mother Nature. The child can draw his own pictures, take photographs, and cut out magazine pictures which fit the theme. These can be glued in a scrapbook, or even into a plain white tablet, to create his own book.

Have the children look at the scenery outside and study the view for approximately a minute. Close the curtain. Each child, in turn, mentions something he saw, i.e. "There are trees on the hill." Each child gets one point per ob ject mentioned. If he/she repeats one that was already mentioned, he/she loses a point. The child with the most points is the win ner.

This is played like Window Watch. Use any picture that contains an interesting scene with a variety of objects.

This game is played by two or more. One child names the initials of a famous movie or television star and the other player(s) try to guess who it is. One guess only per set of initials, i.e. J.W. equals John Wayne.

Use ten small paper sacks and put a num ber on the front of each sack. The person in charge puts one object in each sack. The objects should be very different from each other in regard to texture, covering, weight, etc. Have chil dren sit in a circle and pass the sacks. On a paper with a list of numbers 1 -10, they record what they thought they felt in each sack. The one with the most correct answers is the winner. No peeking in sacks!

Give each child some kind of blindfold, a pencil, brown and red crayons, and a large sheet of paper. One child is the director while the other's are drawing. The director gives the orders, such as "Draw a girl's face with the pencil. Give her brown hair. Make a red hat on top of her head," etc. After a series of six to ten directions, take off blind folds and compare drawings.

Collect pits of fruits such as plums or peaches. Draw a stripe halfway around each pit. Put pits in a large howl. Toss them up and count one point for each one that lands with the striped side up. First one to 100 is the winner. Indian children played this type of toss and count game.

Fold a plain sheet of paper into thirds for each child. The paper should be folded so that only the top third is showing for the first part of the drawing (the head), the mid dle strip shows for the second part (the body) and the bottom third shows for the last part (the feet). Each child works to draw a detailed head of whatever he wants. After the allotted time, the head flaps are tucked back and the papers exchanged so that another child creates the body and an other creates the legs. The drawing should come to the center of the bottom line of pa per so that the next child can begin his part at the center of the top line -then the draw ing will flow from one part downward.

A hoola hoop can keep one or more children occupied and provide good exerize when on shore.: 1. Twirl hoop around waist, arm, neck, wrist. and ankle. Change direction of twirl. 2. Swing the hoop like a skipping rope. Jump through it. 3. Place hoop on ground. Jump into it and out. Hop around hoop each way, using each foot. 4. Have someone hold hoop off the ground. Move over, under and through it in as many ways as possible. 5. Spin hoop on its vertical axis. See how many times you can run around it, before you have to catch it before it stops spin ning.

Collect smooth rocks of different colors, sizes, and shapes. Assemble rocks to make "critters" such as rabbits, frogs, turtles, owls, cats, dogs, birds, butterflies. Some rocks can be used by themselves if they suggest an ani mal's shape. Glue with an epoxy type glue or cement. Paint whole rock or just add fea tures using small water color brushes with acrylic (water soluble) paints. When dry, spray with clear fixative to achieve glossy sur face. If waiting until you return home to glue and paint, assemble the rocks while col lecting and place those needed to make each critter in separate small plastic bags.

This beach game originated in the Orient. Players are divided in pairs. Each player has the same number of clam shells. To deter mine first to play, each player drops a shell. The one whose shell fails with the hollow, conclave side down is first to begin. The loser places one shell on the ground. The op ponent throws another shell at it in an at tempt to break it. If he succeeds, the loser places another of his shells on the beach. When the thrower fails to hit a shell or his own breaks in doing so, his turn is over and he must place one of his shells down for his opponent's turn. The winner is the one who retains an unbroken shell the longest.

Nature has the best ready-made sand boxes. Find a sandy spot on a beach and let the child create cities, forts, houses, castles, etc. Before leaving home, collect a sack of uten sils and toys for use in the sand box. These might include a funnel, spoons, a sieve, empty cans of different sizes so that they fit inside each other, small cars, trucks, metal people and animals.

Bring along several thicknesses and lengths of string which have had the ends dipped in melted wax. Each child takes one or two strings and goes exploring to find all of the objects which he/she can find to string along on his necklaces.

Children can work alone or in pairs. One list of the letters of the alphabet, a pencil, and a paper sack is needed per player(s). Children explore the surroundings and gather items beginning with different letters of the alphabet. To avoid duplication, as each item is added to the sack, cross out the letter on the list. i.e. R-rock, L-leaf, M moss, P-paper, etc. Player(s) with most ob jects when time is up is the winner. It takes time to find something for each letter, search can last several hours.

Save nine small cat food or tuna fish cans. Number them 1 -9 as if you are playing nine holes of golf. Place cans two to three feet apart on some hard surface. If using a field or beach, child can place a piece of board or tray under his marker each time he makes a shot. Each player will need a large and small button. Press the edge of the large button on the small button to shoot it toward the can. Start from the tee off spot and continue through the nine holes. Do one hole at a turn. Lowest num ber of shots is the winner, just as in regu lar golf.

This can be adapted to fit the location. Try Drop the pebble in the crack, Drop the shell in the tidepool, etc.

Collage designs are made by arranging ma terials of various colors, textures. sizes, and shapes on a surface. The background sur face could be a board, driftwood, or heavy cardboard. A type of tray-like board with sides works well when using sand or small pebbles in the background. Carefully select objects from the woods, seashore, or wher ever you are located. These could include moss, pine cones, rocks, leaves, etc. Look for interesting shapes, textures, grains, col ors, etc. When selecting materials. Arrange all objects on the background before gluing. When pleased with the design's patters, bal ance, and overall composition, glue the ob jects in place. Objects can be collected from several sites along the trip and arranged af ter returning home.