Activities on Shine

Five activities inspired by Hanukkah

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The Festival of Lights is a time rich with meaning, celebrating the miracle of one night's worth of oil lasting for eight nights. Even more, Hanukkah celebrates victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of a temple that had been desecrated. Those are big stories. Sometimes, though, the ideas in the stories might be a little too big for the youngest ones, and what the kids remember are the eight nights of presents, the latkes and the sufganiyot (delicious jelly doughnuts!), and the chocolate coin winnings. We have many Hanukkah-inspired activities to help you engage your kids and capture their attention, help them focus on the bigger ideas behind the fun. Here are some of our favorites:

what to do....

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i am open to suggestions....i have found recently that there really isnt much to do that does not involve drinking or going to the bar....im a single mother of a 7 month old son and i would like to get out, be more active and do more things but i found that there really isnt much to do....a lot of…

Teaching Children Gratitude

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Halloween’s hedonistic greediness is past (has the candy “gone bad” and disappeared at your house yet?), and the Thanksgiving season is upon us. For those of us with young children who tend to mark the passage of time according to holidays and seasons, this new phase of the year offers a chance to focus a bit on gratitude. Many preschoolers, of course, would be glad to skip straight to the December holidays, but when they ask us what season it is now, we’ll be telling them that November is the season of thankfulness.

Families with Style: Celebrate Halloween Together!

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by Diane Jones Randall

Halloween's not just for kids‑- but sometimes, amidst the costumes and trick-or-treat prep, it's easy for Mom to miss out on the fun part! We asked our family style maven, Liz Lange, about her favorite ways to make Halloween easy on Mom and…

Books and Toys to Cultivate Even the Tiniest of Green Thumbs

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Teaching science to preschoolers can sound at first offputting, almost grandiose. Oh, but it's not! It's so fun that it seems almost like cheating to say you're doing it in the guise of opening their little minds to the world around them. Experts tell us that teaching science is essential to children because it's a way of thinking -- using observation, experimentation, analysis to get through life. It strikes us that it's really just a restatement of what these little darlings have been doing every day we've known them -- watching, taking it all in, giving it a whirl, and seeing what happens. Science for preschoolers is code for being curious, plain and simple. And you've got to answer all those incessant "why?"s and "how much farther?"s anyway, so why not do so with the confidence that you are really just engaging in scientific dialogue with a very small person?!

Why are kids so curious?

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Remember little Alice, that “curious child” whose inquisitive streak led her down a rabbit-hole, and all the way to Wonderland? Sitting by her sister on the riverbank in state of drowsy boredom, she spied the waistcoated White Rabbit, and, “burning with curiosity,” followed him into a world of Adventures. Whenever our preschoolers poke their heads into new and often less than safe places, when they pester us with questions about this and that, and ask why, why, why?, we think of curious Alice. And we think that Lewis Carroll understood something important about children’s curiosity.

Mommy Won't Share Her Legos

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With the gift giving season beginning its approach, I am vaguely considering getting a jump start on the usual shopping it requires. But I have a confession to make. I already know that I am planning to buy my boys some fancy new Legos this year. Sure, there's certainly nothing unusual about buying your sons Legos. I expect many Legos will find themselves wrapped up and waiting beneath all sorts of decorated trees in a few months. But it's why I am buying them Legos that deserves the confession. I am really buying them for myself.

Dad Uses His Own Kid to Shield Self from Pepper Spray

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Dad Uses His Own Kid to Shield Self from Pepper Spray

Ahhh kids, so handy. There they are: plowing the fields, working seven paper routes to pay for your new HD…

Building Beautiful Structures with Boxes

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A cardboard box is just that at least until you become a parent and being brainstorming about all the wonderful structures it can become. In its most primitive state, push in the flaps of the top of the box and it can be turned on its side to become a perfect cave that can be filled with blankets for a space of one's own. Or take out a box cutter and create a recycled playhouse by cutting an opening for a door big enough to crawl through and some sideways H shapes for windows that can be opened and closed for hours.