Quick Takes: Money Grows... in a bank!

Here are two illustrations re saving money that I photographed while watching a TODAY show segment over a year ago.  They are very impressive even though each has a "but."  I think they are still wonderful.

The first graphic:

This can be used to show kids the value of steady saving and the importance of not touching your savings.  In it a single $1000 investment put in the bank on the day of a child's birth has only grown to $1595.62 in the first five years and only to $6,487.04 by 20 years. BUT, when the child retires at 65 years old the account will have almost half a million dollars [$435,664.43 to be exact!]  The but?...The sad part about this image is that I don't know anyplace you can invest $1000 and get a 9.8% interest rate these days!

The second graphic:

This shows the concept or and power of compounding where money pratically explodes. By compounding the money goes from a simple penny [1¢] on the first day to over 5 million by day 30! [$5,368,709.12   to be exact].
It is a good teaching tool to warn of the dangers of compounding interest on doans and credit cards. At first most kids will not believe the second graphic so be prepared to hand them a calculator and let them try it themselves.

Image credits: photographed from a 2011 TODAY show segment with Jean Chatzky. 

Quick Takes: Loving Books

I love books!  One of my children once good in trouble at school for exaggeration about the number of bookcases we had in the house. She had not exaggerated... we did have 27. I probably have more now.A friend emailed me this photo of an usual bookcase.

Wouldn't this be a great idea for school or library wall to house a free book swap ? !

Quick Takes: The Inner Child

When I win the lottery.....

Im going to release my inner child with a staircase shortcut like this---

P.S. And for my aging soul... an elevator for the ride back up!    :-)  

Quick Takes: Super Moon Tonight

Don't forget to go outside tonight at moonrise with your kids and wonder at the moon. Make some memories... make an adventure of it!

Tonight is a once a year "Super Moon" when the moon comes closest to the earth. It will be 14% larger and 30% brighter according to scientists. This is particularly noticeable when the moon is near the horizon.

I've been told that it is an optical illusion that the moon seems so much larger when it is near the horizon than when it is full up and high in the sky.  My logical mind understands, but my eyes are still fooled!


For a video about tonight's Super Moon check out science.com You have to wait through a commercial first, but it has some beautiful photographs of previous super moons and explanation of super moons.



Images credit and thanks to: space.com, stefanoderosa.com, americandigest.org

Quick Takes: Inspire!

Last Saturday I shared my favorite movie [fictional] to get kids thinking about changes they can make.  I mentioned a book of true stories to follow up. Here are two more books that should be part of your home library or community library.  Borrow one and choose chapters that fit your particular child or children. Don't wait for them to read it.  Read a chapter to them.  Talk about it the next night at dinner. Maybe make it a weekly tradition this summer! Find things around your own community that your child can DO.  Help them see they can make a difference!

1. Real Stories, Real Kids, Real Change:
   Courageous Actions Around the World
   by Garth Sundem
  pub: Free Spirit Publishing,  2010

  Thirty true stories of teens and kids as young as 6 years old who through heart, stubbornness, and courage achieved significant change. Very current [including a story from the tsunami and other events the kids may recognize from the news] This is a GREAT book to own and to recommend.  Inspire your kids to believe that change and courage come in all sizes, all ages, all nationalities, all genders... and how might it be living in each of them?

2. Kids with Courage: 
    True Stories about Young People Making a Difference
   by Barbara A. Lewis
   pub: Free Spirit Publishing 1992 [but still cool!]

This is an older book, but its stories are still moving. It includes 18 individual stories of courage broken down into the areas of crime, social action, heroism, and the environment.





Image credits and thanks to: jacketflap.com, freespirit.com

Quick Takes: My Favorite Movie to Inspire

I recently had the chance to see one of my all time favorite movies and realized I had never posted a recommendation for it on this  blog.  The movie is a very little known story from 1987:

Amazing Grace and Chuck

 The two leads in the movie are played by a young boy [his only movie I think] and a pro basketball player, Alex English, which may have contributed to the movie being overlooked by many.  However the movie also boasts some serious star power.... Gregory Peck playing the President of the United States, Jamie Lee Curtis, a young [pre-CSI] William Peterson plays the boy's dad, and Frances Conroy plays his mother. Avid TV and movie viewers will also recognize other familiar lesser known faces in various supporting roles. Mike Newell directed the movie and later went on to direct hits such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Enchanted April."

This 1987 movie does not pretend to be a realistic way of ending the threat of war but deliberately and literally leaves viewers with the message... "but wouldn't it be nice."  Although the movie is fiction and takes place at a time when the fears and political enemies were different,  I have used this movie with my kiddos and my students to start the conversation about the impact that anyone, even a child, can have when they champion a cause.

To follow up with real-life examples I share chapters from a wonderful, award-winning book:
It's Our World ,Too!- Young People Who Are Making a Difference: How They Do It and You Can, Too!   by Philip Hoose. It won a Christopher Award for "artistic excellence in books affirming the highest values of the human spirit. Every chapter celebrates a child or teen who has made a significant difference through their effortsand every chapter is true!  [pub 1993 by Little, Brown and by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 2012].

Check these out.... please!  Share them with kids you know.

Quick Takes: Operation Beautiful..Great News!

I have great news for anyone who has a girl between 8 and 14 on their gift list this Christmas or Hannukah!
One of my favorite books to share is coming out with a followup for adolescent girls! It will be titled:

Operation Beautiful for Best Friends  by Caitlin Boyle.
While it is not yet published, it is scheduled for release December 20, 2012 and I can barely wait! I have already pre-ordered one for each of the girls on my gift list! Consider it as a wonderful gift  for a girl you know and care about.


Caitlyn Boyle has compiled the story of an amazing campaign to transform the way we look at ourselves using nothing more complicated than a simple post-it note.  To get just a glimpse of this quiet revolution in the making---

P-l-e-a-s-e........Check out her website: operationbeautiful.com

Boyle's first book was:
Operation Beautiful:  Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-it Note at a Time

Order the book online, or used, or through your local library for free. But check it out!  Especially if you have daughters, but even if you don't.  All children today are bombarded with images of what they "should" look like, be like, feel, think, etc.  Reading [even browsing] this book will fill you with ideas for showing your children [and maybe anonymous people in your world] with more positive messages.

How long does it take to jot a post-it note?  Try it.... we can change lives!

Quick Takes: In Praise of Birthday Cards

In this day and age of digital conversations, skyped conversations, e-cards, and texting language the art of written communication is undergoing drastic changes.  But... don't give up on all of the traditions of writing!

Consider introducing your children to staying in written touch by encouraging them to send greeting cards.   Birthdays or holidays are great places to start.  They can make them or buy them... even the discount stores have cute greeting cards these days.

A card does not require a great deal of writing... a sentence or two is fine, so it isn't too intimidating even for children who aren't fond of writing. Pictures can start the smiles that continue when the recipient sees the name and/or note inside!

Cards and notes, however short, help people stay in touch across the miles or across the moods. Everyone loves the surprise of a personal note in the pile of junk mail, even more so now that personal mail is less common. Teach your children the habit of sending cards, and later notes, and they will always have friends and family who delight in hearing from them.

Image credits and thanks to savvyhousekeeping.com, comepraywithus.org

Quick Takes: Kids Easy-Bake Chicken Recipe

Today's Quick Take is an easy recipe for kids learning to cook.

Easy Coated Chicken:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut boneless chicken into chunks.
Shake [in a small bag] or dredge to coat with dry salad dressing mix.
            [We use1-2 packets of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix]
Place chicken on a cooking sheet and put in the oven to bake.  [I usually turn it once halfway thru]
Bake 30-40 minutes depending on size of chunks and your oven.

[For best food safety teach your kiddos to use a food thermometer to check internal temp. Safe for chicken is 160 degrees]

That's IT.... Two ingredients. No fuss. No stirring.

Try it tonight!


PS: It works with pork too!

Quick Takes: Homemade Beads

Make or use a batch homemade modeling playdough [see yesterday's post for one possible recipe].

Roll beads to desired round, oval, square, rectangular shapes.

Make a hole in each bead with a nail or a rounded toothpick.

[Make it big enough for the string or lace you will be using later.]

Options:

....roll in food coloring without blending, shape and cut into beads before adding holes and baking.

.....Paint to decorate if using white or plain dough.

Bake at 225 degrees a few hours until hard [or leave out overnight to dry thoroughly].

For easy bead-stringing without a needle, dip the end of a string in glue and shape the end into a point. Hanging with the point down, let it dry thoroughly. If you have made the hole in each bead wide enough, a shoelace will also work.

Note:  For younger children be very careful to make the beads large enough to avoid a choking hazard. 

Image credits and thanks to: budgetbarbie.com, blog.craftzine.com

Quick Takes: Edible Art

For the youngest— [and the young at heart]

Edible fingerpaint:

Make vanilla pudding and let it cool. 


Divide into three different dishes.


Add different food colorings to each bowl. [red, blue, yellow]

Small children can draw on plain paper to their hearts delight and if they get covered with "paint" they can lick their fingers without concern. 


If staining or allergies are a concern, be particular about the coloring used.  


[Alternative: Do the same thing with plain yogurt.]


Image credit and thanks to: theyayagirls.com, raisingsparks.com

Quick Takes: A Joyful Sound!

I saw this just before leaving for my trip but had to wait until now to be able to post it.  They reported on this phenomenon on NBC Nightly News. I then did some online research and found an article about the project, composer Eric Whitacre's 2010 virtual choir performance and a blog about how he creates each virtual choir.  [Note: There has also been a YouTube virtual symphony]   Whitacre  made an instructional video for singers to learn their parts and then continued working to create his exceptional concert.

Can you imagine?....  music created by a virtual chorus.... nearly 3,800 strangers who have never met, probably never will.  Each one singing alone in their own home, office, bedroom, facing their computers individually, yet part of an amazing chorus.

Singing each part alone, yet together via that nebulous "cloud" that is the internet.... they joined together to make amazing and beautiful music!


Cyber music

A Cyber, Joyful Sound !

His 2011 results can be heard here.

Quick Takes: Quilting Bees

I am spending 12 hours today at a Quilting Bee as a mission project at my church.  We are all making the "Quilt in a Day" style quilts so [in theory] we will have as many quilts finished by 8 pm tonight as there are people attending.  We will see.  We are using a simple design similar to the picture at right. 


But it brings me to today's Quick Take.

Pick a day.... any day... and teach your children some appreciation for the days before going to stores to buy blankets [or clothes, or anything.]  Take a scrap of cloth or a bunch of old wash cloths and some thread and a needle.  Give each child four wash cloths to sew together into a "towel"  Have them stitch their name on one corner [or at least their initial if they are younger]. Have them lay out washcloths on their beds to see how many wash cloths it would take to sew a "blanket" for their bed.  Talk about what a difference the invention of the sewing machine made!

Then go online, or go to a museum and show them the amazing hand sewn quilts of today or days gone by.  As a final amazement... have them check out the stitching samplers hand stitched by young children of early days.

Depending on your children's interests:
--add two more wash cloths and with six sewn together they will have a very usable  doll blanket.
--four wash cloths make a good dryer or window washer when helping clean the car.

Who knows?.... you may inspire a future quilter! A logical next step could be the knot-together squares of fleece type of blankets.  If you have a sewing machine, you can help them make simple blankets with just straight stitching, which allow kids to accomplish something big, with small skills.   [If you need more info, let me know!]

Image credits and thanks:  instructables.com, stichinpost.com, notwithoutsalt.com

Quick Takes: Red Plate Special!

Three days ago I promised to explain how to use the extra red plates [or mugs or bowls] that you picked up on sale after Valentine's Day.  Here is one way to brighten an enliven a meal with the use of one of those red plates:

1. Keep a red plate in the cupboard.

2. Any time you choose, serve a specific member at the table with the red plate.

3. The person  with the red plate is granted special privileges:
     [gets to be served first, first choice on seconds, may pass on any part of the meal, doesn't have to clear their place, .... what ever privileges you choose to give the plate.]

4. After dinner, put the red plate back in the cupboard until the next time you feel like pulling it out.

Pull out the red plate for someone who has earned a reward, for someone who is discouraged and needs cheering up, for a guest, etc.  Be creative!   Have fun with it!


Image credit: monstermarketplace.com

Quick Takes: Instant Valentine Treats

I remember years of spending money on cheap valentine cards that came in classroom size packs and were decorated with the cartoon character du jour from Care Bears to Barney to the Wiggles to Disney to Justin B and teen vampires.

Try this quick and simple idea for older kids who still want to pass out a treat or to take to the office next week.
[I saw these special ordered for a wedding and thought how easy they would be to do at home for Valentine's Day.]

1. Buy a bag of candy kisses or hugs. and a package of round sticker dots [red or pink are particularly good for this].

2. Use a magic marker to write short sayings on the sticker dots.   [Love you, Be mine, Cool, Frends, Be Sweet, etc. etc.] Go traditional or be creative!

3. Peel off each sticker dot and place on the flat bottom of the wrapped candy kiss.

4. Fill a bowl or basket with the kiss and hugs with sticker bottoms


Pass them around and have some quick and easy valentine fun.

Quick Takes: Pre-Super Bowl Fun

There has been a lot of chatter this week about the Super Bowl and as a New Englander I do not even dare to talk about teams... but everyone can agree [I think] that we will see some fun, clever commercials.  So for a quick take today here are three short international commercials for bus travel touting the advantages of traveling in groups.

For a quick laugh click and check these out!

            penguins        Or  maybe you prefer        ants   vs.   anteaters


My favorite?   .... the crabs:

Enjoy!

Quick Takes: Yes Day PS

Yes Day  . . .  .
                       Important P.S.
So, I heard from a couple about the Yes Day idea and realized that I had omitted one key element in describing my family celebration of Yes Day.  When I have done Yes Day, I pose it as a day without "No"s.  That means not just from me, but from them.  The challenge is to get through the whole span of time without anyone saying the word "No." 

It's kind of like a team contest, with everybody pulling together to keep the word "No" away.  For example, that means that the kids "can't" say "No" to a parent request either!  [See how it can be a good thing?] You may find that kids will be helping you by discouraging a sibling from making a request that would require a "No" for safety reasons or other significant issue.

Not a single person [which is how to not ruin the day by saying "n_  one"] wants the Yes Day to end before the day is over.  It also helps children find more creative ways to word things than a flat "No".  "Would you like to do my chores next week dear brother?" one child might bait a sibling. "I would love to, but I am afraid that is impossible right now." might be the careful response. The game gets fun and while I wouldn't want it everyday.... for one Yes Day, it can be a lot of fun for everyone.


Image credit: mildlyrelevantthoughts.com, mysalestactics.com

Quick Takes: Creative Rewards # 61-65

Today's quick take is five more creative rewards for your kids. This is generally a once a month feature that offers alternatives to stickers, food, or purchases for treats and rewards.  Examples are for a mix of ages and genders and locations. Adjust for your own kids and your own region. [Creative Rewards #1-60 can be found if you search "Rewards."]

61. If you live where it is possible, build a snow sculpture 
 

62. Get a “Skip a Chore” card

63. Choose a weekend family activity

64. Make s'mores or toast marshmallows over a stove burner.

65. Go to a movie theater


Image credits: mbd2.com, wn.com

Quick Takes: Easy Kid's Chicken/Pork Recipe

Okay, I'm both late posting and no pictures to offer.  My phone/camera for some reason is refusing to send pictures and after fighting with it for most of the morning I am giving up and posting without them! Sorry bout that folks.  Trust me... this recipe looks delicious when made.  [My grandson made it last night for the demo pictures that I can't seem to transfer!]

I think one of the best tools for independent living is the skill of making easy, nutritious meals independently.  Here is a great, kid-friendly recipe for chicken or pork.

Easy Ranch Chicken or Pork

chicken or pork [I use boneless breasts or pork chops] enough to serve the family
1-2 envelopes of dry ranch dressing mix [depending on meat quantity and size pieces]

1. Cut the chicken or pork into manageable sizes. [Pork chops do not require cutting, but chicken cooks faster if cut into chunks or strips.
2. Roll the meat in the dry dressing mix till coated at least lightly. [If easier put the mix in a plastic bag and shake the meat around until covered.]
3. Cook meat in non-stick pan or electric griddle, stirring as needed to be sure meat is thoroughly cooked.  [If pan is not non-stick you might need to add a bit of oil, but we use no oil with our non-stick griddle, just the liquid the cooking meat makes. ]

That's it. That's all there is to it!  Serve with rice or noodles or potatoes and vegetables and/or salad.
It is delicious, easy even for kids, fast, AND healthy to boot!

P.S. If I get the dang camera working I will add the pictures later!

Quick Takes: 365 Thank Yous

Today's quick take is an interesting book for you to consider checking out at your local library, inter-library loan, or bookstore.

Author John Kralik was having a really tough stretch and was buoyed in a dark moment by an unexpected thank you note he received.  As an experiment he challenged himself to sort of return the favor... every day for a year.  He set out to write a thank you note each day and every day for one full year.  The book 365 Thank Yous chronicles both the experiment and how the process changed him along the way.

I've toyed with trying the experiment with my kiddos next year.  Anybody else interested? Maybe we could collaborate? Let me know!

Image credit: hyperionbooks.com