The Bouncy Castle in Space

MsJudy said:

Everything makes kids wild: wind, rain, full moon, a yellow jacket or gopher on the playground...

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Cold weather, hot weather, toots, stupid new toy comes out, escaped class pet, mildly interesting announcement, field trip, upcoming field trip, paint, PE class, humorous song, dirt, videos, large beetles...

Oh, yes, any kind of insect in the classroom is good for at least 15 minutes of drama!

Oh, definitely. And... having a sub. Burping. Change in lunch menu. Sirens outside. Assemblies. Dropping barometric pressure. Indoor recess for any reason. Fire drills. Remote possibility of snow...

RuthD said:

Oh, definitely. And... having a sub. Burping. Change in lunch menu. Sirens outside. Assemblies. Dropping barometric pressure. Indoor recess for any reason. Fire drills. Remote possibility of snow...

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I hated indoor recess! But all the talk of school's got me thinking about classroom visits. When I worked at Intel we used to do school visits once a year and a couple of times I visited my local special ed. class (I think they call it resource now). Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the kids would just die when we gave them little bouncy ball with Intel processor chips inside.

After the first year I realized giving the balls directly to the students was a HUGE mistake!

Hopefully, someday I'll be able to make classroom visits as an author.

Oh, and Kitty, The east bay is a couple hours away, though I might be able to make it, depending on when. I may end up being in LA, well Anaheim, around then as I'm going to try to take the kids down to Disneyland right after Christmas.

20 kids decorated gingerbread houses today after church. I decorated mine after piping icing cement onto their's while they attached all the goodies. Two of them dropped theirs before they got to their cars. The looks on their little faces was heartwrenching.

I used to make these huge sugar Christmas cookies - tree, snowman, angel, and take them to my daughter's special ed. class. I'd fill decorator bags with red, green and white icing and let them decorate their cookies. That's a fun way to spend a few hours and make a kid's day.

I almost got my kids a gingerbread house today, but decided against it because they always fight over who gets to do what. Pffft. Anyone know of any good ideas to make smaller, personal ones that doesn't involve a lot of baking? (I stink at baking!)

MsJudy said:

Oh, yes, any kind of insect in the classroom is good for at least 15 minutes of drama!

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We used to get a cat at my school. He knew the best paths to cause the maximum amount of mayhem, just by strolling through. Then after they'd put him outside he'd find another way in and repeat the whole process.

Sage - what a bummer. I hope that clears up soon.

Morgan - We did an easy one in Kindergarten one year. They're not too pretty, but then, most Kindergarten stuff is more about the process than the product, and everyone had fun. We started with little individual milk cartons, and used frosting to glue on graham cracker siding and then decorated them with little candies.

Me, I'm having trouble being patient. I want to nudge the agents who have my full, but I know I should wait. Funny story - When I was little, I went to a nursery school at Stanford (sadly, this doesn't mean I can put Stanford on my resume under Education.) During my time there I participated in an experiment in delayed gratification. They put me in a room with a marshmallow. If I could wait for the researcher to come back, and not eat the marshmallow, I would get another one. I have no recollection of doing this, and when they send me questionnaires as an adult, I always wonder if I waited or not.

And then I have a good belly laugh. Of course that marshmallow was toast as soon as the researcher left the room. Who am I kidding?

SheilaJG said:

Morgan - We did an easy one in Kindergarten one year. They're not too pretty, but then, most Kindergarten stuff is more about the process than the product, and everyone had fun. We started with little individual milk cartons, and used frosting to glue on graham cracker siding and then decorated them with little candies.

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we did this one at a community event this weekend. i thought it was so clever. here's a link: http://embracinghim.com/tag/milk-carton-gingerbread-house/

SheilaJG said:

Me, I'm having trouble being patient. I want to nudge the agents who have my full, but I know I should wait. Funny story - When I was little, I went to a nursery school at Stanford (sadly, this doesn't mean I can put Stanford on my resume under Education.) During my time there I participated in an experiment in delayed gratification. They put me in a room with a marshmallow. If I could wait for the researcher to come back, and not eat the marshmallow, I would get another one. I have no recollection of doing this, and when they send me questionnaires as an adult, I always wonder if I waited or not.

And then I have a good belly laugh. Of course that marshmallow was toast as soon as the researcher left the room. Who am I kidding?

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I've read about that experiment!

I'm very impatient, too, at least when it comes to reaching my personal goals. But I know that waiting is part of the process, so I'd better learn to pretend to be patient, at least.

Thank-you for the milk carton idea. That would be great for my four-year-old. I've heard of using graham crackers too. Anyone have any experience with that?

MorganMarshall said:

I almost got my kids a gingerbread house today, but decided against it because they always fight over who gets to do what. Pffft. Anyone know of any good ideas to make smaller, personal ones that doesn't involve a lot of baking? (I stink at baking!)

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You can build them with graham crackers glued together with icing from a tube.

ETA: Guess I could have read the rest of the thread before posting...

we used the graham crackers. We use half a "sheet" for the ends, and a whole sheet, set longways, for the sides. Then two full sheets longways for the roofs. we just use the powdered sugar frosting, made rather thickly, for the cement.

some of the best decorations are generic fruit loops, twizzler twists, peeled apart for long strings. the kids also loved all the shaped and flavored marshmallows that are available now, and they are so lightweight that they don't want to fall off. We also used lots of red hots and spice drops. another cheap and light decoration are the little smartees.

hope you have a great time!

Thank you for the suggestion, Ruth. I had just been given it when I posted. Sissy, that sounds perfect! And mini marshmallows? I never thought of using those! Thanks!

As for waiting on queries, I'd rather be doing that than yet another rewrite. Fun times!

MorganMarshall said:

I almost got my kids a gingerbread house today, but decided against it because they always fight over who gets to do what. Pffft. Anyone know of any good ideas to make smaller, personal ones that doesn't involve a lot of baking? (I stink at baking!)

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I've done many a graham cracker house between my two kids and their respective classrooms. It's best to build the houses ahead of time and let them dry. Especially with little ones. That way they are more sturdy for less than gentle fingers. Last year I bought a pre-made kit from Walmart that ahd five houses, one for each member of my family. We had to supplement some extra frosting and candy (kit was a little light), but we had a ton of fun. Walmart has the same kit this year as well. I need to remember to pick one up.

OOH! A kit with more than one house? That sounds perfect, thanks! My kids range from four to fifteen, so it's not always easy to come up with something that they can all do/will all enjoy.

Also, I meant to say "Anyone know of any good ideas to make smaller, personal ones that DON'T involve a lot of baking?" No idea how I failed that simple grammatical rule so badly. Pfft.

My kids range in age from 16 to 3 and we really enjoyed putting these houses together. Okay, so I had to twist the 16 year old's arm, but once she started, she was obsessed with having the best looking gingerbread house.

That sounds like my thirteen-year-old. My fifteen-year-old is still a child in a lot of ways, and an artist to boot, so it's easier to get her to do these things than her little sister.

Sage said:

I made tons of the milk carton gingerbread houses in school when I was a kid. I always wanted to make a real one

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Real ones are actually pretty difficult. Proper gingerbread is soft, so it's easy to damage the walls during construction. Icing dries slowly, so you have to find a way to prop the bits up until they stick together.

I've seen it done by 10-15-year-olds. It was like the apocalypse had struck candyland, leaving behind mangled gingerbread rubble. Not a single house made it out in one piece.

This is why schools don't make real gingerbread houses. They're thinking of those poor homeless gingerbread people.

Here's another idea: Take sugar ice cream cones, turn them upside down, cover them in green frosting and decorate. Candy Christmas trees!

That's what I have my kids make every year, because they're simpler than the graham-cracker houses. Glue them to a paper plate with a little frosting before you start, and they turn out really cute.

One of my girls even figured out how to stack the mini marshmallows and make an army of little snowmen around her tree. Very cute.

And it was such an interesting picture on the difference a year of maturity makes. Last year, my kinders all just wanted to pile a bunch of candy on a cookie and eat it. None of them had the patience to spend more than 5 minutes on their trees. But the first-graders... The only reason they stopped was we ran out of time and frosting.

About getting together--it's possible. I'm in Santa Cruz, so that's 2 hours from SF. And my sister still hasn't decided when she'll be in town. So I can't say for sure I can make it, but it'd be fun to meet if we can figure out the details!

MsJudy said:

Here's another idea: Take sugar ice cream cones, turn them upside down, cover them in green frosting and decorate. Candy Christmas trees!

That's what I have my kids make every year, because they're simpler than the graham-cracker houses. Glue them to a paper plate with a little frosting before you start, and they turn out really cute.

!

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Thank you for sharing this, MsJudy! I've been trying to come up with a project my kiddos will be able to handle. This will do the trick!

You guys should all totally get together! I'll be very jealous, though.

And candy Christmas trees? That's genius. Easy. Fun. Yummy.

OOH! Now THAT sounds perfect! Thank you Judy!