MOPS

Dear Walters Wife,
This past week, our kids were home from school due to extreme cold weather. The kids got on each others nerves and fumbled for things to do. What did you do on snow days with your kids? Stir Crazy Mom

Dear Stir Crazy,
Of course, that was a long time ago. We had a 2 story house, with hardwood floors, so we let the kids put on their roller skates and skate some of their energy off. It did create lots of noise, but it was "fun" noise and not fighting noise. When the weather was too cold to go outside, we did crafts. I would pop popcorn and the kids would string it into long sections to hang in the trees to help feed the birds. We always had flocks of house finches and cardinals in our trees. If we had a couple of oranges, we cut them in half, scooped out the pulp and juice inside for dinner. I would heat up some suet and mix it with peanut butter and seeds that the birds liked. We poured that mixture into the hollowed out orange cups, placed them in our shed to firm up. We used string to hang those cups on branches of the trees. Then we had a contest to see who spotted different types of birds.
We mixed up homemade playdough and made flat, rounds that we used to press our handprints into. I used a nail to create a hole near the top so when they were dry, the kids painted them and we hung them on the wall over the coat hooks near the back door.
The children loved to cut out shapes and make "pictures" with colored paper and create a story that went along with the pictures. I would make a front and back cover for each of them with their name and the date. I had a paper punch that I used to make holes down the leftside of the created books. Then the children used pieces of yarn to bind the books together. They loved to present them to Walter when he came in from his work that day.
Sometimes the children would make friendship booklets to give to elderly friends. Each page was an idea the children could do to help them with chores around their home. It was always a good idea to be thinking of others instead of just themselves.
Oh, there was always much to be done back then. When the weather was not so frigid outside, Walter would make a "Fox and Goose" pattern in the yard for the children to play outdoors. They shoveled snow for the neighbors and delivered homemade cookies just as an act of kindness.
You might ask your kids to think of 2 things they can do for others that would bring joy to someone else. I think they will be surprised at how it makes THEM feel.