From Fossil Fun Games to Hands-On Activities - Animal Kingdom's DinoLand USA - Part 2

The Animal Kingdom is another of the four theme parks in Disneyworld Florida. The park focuses more on Walt Disney's passion for the natural environment and its proper care, conservation and research. It is the biggest animal themed park in the world. In the seven areas of the park we focus on each of them and their attractions. We take a look into DinoLand USA. The first inhabitants of this planet ruled the earth. Dinosaurs created an impact on prehistoric times. This area of the theme park enables to get to know its early beginnings. Here are some of the attractions that are part of this area that are more hands-on:

Fossil Fun Games - This is an area where kids and adults play in traditional boardwalk games for prizes. Some of the games that are for everyone's challenge are Bronto- Score basketball game, Comet Crasher goblet-toss game, Dino-Whamma mallet strength game, Fossil Fueler water-squirt game, Mammoth Marathon racing derby game.

Kids Discovery clubs - Kids will love this area as it encourages them to be hand-on with a six different varieties of activities. They can choose to construct dinosaurs from piles of bones, do some scavenger hunting, look at the world from the bug's perspective and even become a wildlife detective. Every activity completed, kids earn a stamp and they receive a bonus for completing everything.

Primeval Whirl - Of course a theme park without a roller coaster would be so dull. This ride is like a spinning time machine that give you dips, risky turns, and crazy curves. The coaster spins on its own round and round path and you never know which way would it twirl.

The Boneyard - This playground is set for kids to combine play and applying some fun knowledge about dinosaurs. You can be pseudo palaeontologists for the day where they can discover fossils of some of the usual dinosaurs such as Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex and even the Woolly Mammoth. There are even slides around its multi-level maze to discover, a xylobone where kids can play a musical instrument made of fossilized bones and many areas of discovery.

TriceraTop Spin - This wholesome kiddie ride is perfect for everyone. It seats four passengers. It flies around a giant top as you encounter cartoon comets and some dinosaurs pop up. Your kids would enjoy it as they can navigate this ride whether to go even higher or lower.

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A Mad Hatters Tea Party - Create Some Fun For Kids!

Tea parties are always a fun way to get together, but a Mad Hatters tea party is a different kind of fun. What a memorable way to create some end of summer fun for the kids.

Nonsensical and silly are the goals of this party. All the tea etiquette rules and sophistication of a traditional tea party go out the window, or should I say go through the looking glass?

If you remember, in Alice in Wonderland, the March Rabbit meets with Alice as he is running late for a tea party. The beginning of Chapter 7 in the story, Alice finds herself at a very long table, set for many for tea. Everyone is crowded at one end of this table. This, of course, is the Mad Hatter's tea party.

The Mad Hatter has been condemned by the Queen of Hearts for 'killing time" with his singing. As the story goes, all the clocks and watches say tea time, all the time. Alice is impolitely treated with riddles that have no answers and silly nonsensical poems.

This has all the makings of a very fun event and a way to get the kids to explore their creative side.

Let's start with the invitations. Do you want hats to be the theme? Or maybe the theme is Wonderland and all the characters? Take time to make hand made invitations. Create your own silly rhymes to go with the theme. If you want others to dress up, make them aware of that in the invitation. Ask them to wear an outrageous hat. Or better yet, tell them you have a Mad Hatter hat making session planned.

To create excitement and anticipation of the event, deliver the invitations in costume!

Once you have the theme and have the invitations out, it is time to plan the tea party decorations. The Mad Hatter tea party is all about non conformity, so enjoy and mix and match your dishes, glasses and silverware. Use different chairs too! Table cloths in pastel colors and tea pots with flowers make a great table setting for this affair. Some paper lanterns or playing cards are great decoration ideas to consider too.

Consider creating a looking glass that every one walks through to enter the party into Wonderland. Find a place for the Cheshire cat or at least his smile to appear. And don't forget Dormouse, he would be happy to be placed in a teapot on the table.

More on a Mad Hatters Tea Party

Now, time to plan the menu. It is a party for games and fun. Finger foods are perfect for this event. You can serve the same foods you would serve at any tea party, but have fun and get creative to on the names of the food. Remember, the sillier the better for Wonderland. How does Tweedledee and Tweedledum tarts sound? Courisier and courisier tea cocktails? The Mad Hatter did offer Alice some wine! So serve your ice tea drinks in plastic wine goblets to the kids. Take a ribbon and a name tag and tie it on the base of each glass. Write "Drink Me" on them. Make cookies that say "Eat Me".

For a fun activity, allow your guests to become Mad Hatters, and create their own hats. It is a simple and fun activity for the kids. It takes newspaper, tape, scissors, flowers and a little creativity to make these as tea party favors. It is a great way to occupy the kids and allow them to make something memorable to take home.

This is a party to play croquet, card games and silly rhyming games. Depending on the age of the children, you can create games suitable for their age level. Some may love playing "opposites". Everything in Wonderland is not as it appears to be. Make rules that everyone is called their name backwards and when responding to a question on should answer the opposite of what they really mean. It can create laughter as the kids get inventive with their questions.

A Mad Hatters tea party is a great and fun way to create some end of summer fun for kids! It allows them to be creative and silly. This is a party that will be talked about for years to come.

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4 Fun Games Your Kids Can Play Using Magnets

Magnets produce a magnetic field and offer the opportunity for children to take a fun and entertaining science lesson. They also provide an opportunity to enjoy some fun, magnetically charged games. Smaller children will enjoy searching the home, or daycare, for magnets while older children may enjoy more complex activities. No matter what your child's age, you can use the following games to inspire your child's learning and have a little fun.

Go Find the Magnets

This game is great for younger children. It combines the physical and scientific properties of it with a scavenger hunt. Children can learn about the different surfaces a magnet is attracted to. Collect a number of magnets. You can use refrigerator magnets attached to colorful plastics to make the game easier for smaller children.

Place the magnets around the home on surfaces the magnets are attracted to. Review the types of surfaces attach to with your child. Once the review is complete, tell him to find the ones you placed around the home.

Magnet Automobiles: Avoid a Crash!

For older children, playing with small cars is a fun way to pass the time. Collect small magnet bars and attach them to the front of several small cars. Make sure you attach them in the same exact location. They should line up when the cars are placed on the floor.

Tell your children to roll the cars on a smooth surface, such as the kitchen floor, as they normally would. Ask the children what happens when the cars get closer to each other. Ask them if they can push the cars without touching them.

Paper Clip Grab Jar

Fill a wide-lipped, clear glass jar with regular tap water. Make sure you fill the jar to the top. Drop five paper clips per child into the glass jar. Hand each child a magnet. Tell them the goal is to see who can get the most magnets out of the jar first.

When the children place the magnets on the sides of the jar, the magnets will respond. They should drag the magnet to the top of the jar and use their fingers to get their magnets out. The first person to get all five magnets wins the game.

Play a Game of ISpy

Collect at least ten decorated magnets or create your own using colorful items, such as cuttings from cards or scrapbook materials. Tell your child to close her eyes and place the magnets around your location, preferably on metal objects, such as the refrigerator. Tell your child she can go grab a magnet once she identifies it.

Say "I spy with my little eye..." and describe the magnet. Give clues until your child finds the magnet. Then, allow your child to go through the same process.

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Fun Games For Halloween - Parents Use at Home When the School Bans Kids Halloween Activities

Many school systems are trying to be politically correct and therefore ban kids Halloween Activities during school hours. This leaves many parents searching for educational, yet fun games for Halloween to use at home. Parents might search for free games on line, or purchase a fun Halloween activity book at a bookstore or find an downloadable eBook. Here are some ideas of the sorts of educational games or activities kids love and can be used to reinforce their skills.

• Word Puzzles are always fun and simple activities to give children. They are generally individual so can be used in the car, while in a waiting room, or on a rainy weekend afternoon. Word puzzles would be variations on word searches, unscrambling words, or creating words based on a theme.
• Mazes are always a great problem solving activity, quick and simple. Educational mazes might have problems to solve or riddles to answer along the way, generally ending up with a secret word or phrase.
• Math worksheets provide many options for kids Halloween activities with quality, fun exercises that motivate students while giving extra practice on skills covered in school. These worksheets might be a riddle, puzzle or even a Sudoku type problem but they all need to use current math skills to be effective.
• Writing prompts used at home will challenge the family to write some fun and interesting Halloween stories and share with each other. Parents can motivate the students to get some journal writing in with few complaints if they find some different and interesting prompts.
• Brain Teasers or trivia cards are always an engaging way to pass time with the family. Families at the dinner table or while riding in the car can take turns reading brain teasers or Halloween trivia. Many of these promote problem solving and higher level thinking skills while the children think they are just having fun!
• Game boards with a Halloween theme give the family a break form the standard games they use all the time. Finding Halloween board games that tap into school topics, math vocabulary, problems solving make it even better.

Parents searching for educational, yet fun games for Halloween will be better off if they find one or two products that have quality activities spanning several grade levels. That way all the children in the house can use just one resource, and there will always be new activities available for future years. It is also important to be sure there are enough activities at each skill level so the resource can be used several times during the holiday.

If the school system near you bans kids Halloween activities and you happen to love the holiday, then finding fun games for Halloween to use at home will be just the thing for you. Parents looking for an alternative to handing out candy could even run off a bunch of downloadable puzzles on orange paper, roll it up with a cute bow and hand it out for trick or treating!

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