i was reading
sew liberated's blog and in one of her latest posts she talks about her
fun for nothin' challenge. i realized that
some of the things my girls and i have been doing this summer would fit this challenge. one that stands out is the hopscotch game we played with the little bean bag markers we made.
i know this isn't a new idea, in fact it was one of my favorite games as a kid, but i haven't seen anyone mention this game as an idea for a free or low cost game and source of entertainment for little ones, so i thought i would mention it here. we have since bought a new bucket of sidewalk chalk to use for this summer because when we first came up with the idea to play the game, i only had a piece about 1 inch thick, left over from last year. it was just enough to draw our first game on our cemented walkway in our front yard. but if you have to go buy some chalk, i'm sure they could easily be found in dollar stores everywhere at this time of year. we started out playing with rocks, we found nearby, as markers because we couldn't find anything else. after seeing how dangerous it was to throw the heavy rocks, as they bounced hap hazardously, we came up with the idea of making little bean bags. so off we went back inside to escape the heat for a while and make our markers. i had the girls go through my scraps to find colors or prints they liked and cut 2" x 5" pieces of fabric. i folded the piece right sides together and quickly sewed down two sides to leave a pocket. i then let the girls fill these little pockets with split peas. i recommend using small beans because the bags are so small. lentils and even rice would work as well. i had split peas on hand, so that is what i used. i then handstitched the last side closed using a blanket stitch. because the bags are so small and we filled them up as much as we could, i couldn't use the sewing machine for this step. so if you do as i do, i wouldn't recommend using the machine for this last step or else you might have a big mess and possibly ruin your machine if any small beans or rice get stuck in your dog feeds. and that is all! the bean bags should have a nice weight to them to make tossing them at long distances easier. they also don't bounce so they are safe to use.
i hope everyone likes this idea and i get to see more and more moms writing in their blogs and posting pictures of their kids playing hopscotch!
i was reading sew liberated's blog and in one of her latest posts she talks about her fun for nothin' challenge. i realized that some of the things my girls and i have been doing this summer would fit this challenge. one that stands out is the hopscotch game we played with the little bean bag markers we made.
i know this isn't a new idea, in fact it was one of my favorite games as a kid, but i haven't seen anyone mention this game as an idea for a free or low cost game and source of entertainment for little ones, so i thought i would mention it here. we have since bought a new bucket of sidewalk chalk to use for this summer because when we first came up with the idea to play the game, i only had a piece about 1 inch thick, left over from last year. it was just enough to draw our first game on our cemented walkway in our front yard. but if you have to go buy some chalk, i'm sure they could easily be found in dollar stores everywhere at this time of year. we started out playing with rocks, we found nearby, as markers because we couldn't find anything else. after seeing how dangerous it was to throw the heavy rocks, as they bounced hap hazardously, we came up with the idea of making little bean bags. so off we went back inside to escape the heat for a while and make our markers. i had the girls go through my scraps to find colors or prints they liked and cut 2" x 5" pieces of fabric. i folded the piece right sides together and quickly sewed down two sides to leave a pocket. i then let the girls fill these little pockets with split peas. i recommend using small beans because the bags are so small. lentils and even rice would work as well. i had split peas on hand, so that is what i used. i then handstitched the last side closed using a blanket stitch. because the bags are so small and we filled them up as much as we could, i couldn't use the sewing machine for this step. so if you do as i do, i wouldn't recommend using the machine for this last step or else you might have a big mess and possibly ruin your machine if any small beans or rice get stuck in your dog feeds. and that is all! the bean bags should have a nice weight to them to make tossing them at long distances easier. they also don't bounce so they are safe to use.
i hope everyone likes this idea and i get to see more and more moms writing in their blogs and posting pictures of their kids playing hopscotch!
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