Any Ideas Moms?

I saw a cute idea on Pinterest the other day. You make a calendar for the summer and each day of the week has a theme and you do an art project and cook food catered to that theme. The girls calendar looked something like this:

Monday: "Swim in the sea", make a fish craft project and make homemade fish sticks for dinner.
Tuesday: "Monsters in my closet", Make a monster puppet and have "monster mash" for dinner (they were loaded mashed potatoes).

Anyway, I think you got the idea. It may keep her occupied with keeping track of a fun calendar of lots of arts and crafts.

Video games.

i'm serious.

I'm sure you have already thought of all the educational stuff out there - but what a cool thing to remember as an adult - My MOM sat and played Mario Brothers with me when I was a kid after surgery. Coolest mom ever!

(and the trade off is the fun and bonding you get being "interactive" with a recouping kid)

Hugs to your daughter in advance - make sure you keep on top of her pain meds judiciously - it's very important and helps her heal faster to manage her pain. Also give her prunes to eat because pain meds can cause heavy-duty constipation.

(Sorry - you can tell I've been through this before, and it's the first thing that I think about...)

Board games and story telling is really important. If you can run by an educational store that sells educational games, that's excellent. Do you remember the old TV game "Concentration"? A child's version of that is excellent. She would play Hi Ho Cherrio til you are sick of it, I'm sure. And "write" stories with her furnishing a beginning, middle and end.

All my best, to you both!
Dawn

Library, movies, zoo, aquarium. Not sure what all you have in your area. If you go to the zoo or something like that she can ride in a stroller or wagon. Good luck and God Bless!!!

Guess it depends on what kind of surgery. Hernia, ankle, or major abdominal. That would help me give you suggestions.

yep. local library. most have a 'once a week' act/storyteller especially with summer in full swing soon. my library has a craft day in the summertime too - one day a week as well. If you have two libraries near you, perhaps one place has their "show" on Mondays, one library has their "show" on Wednesdays. (that's the case near me. Yay summertime!) Check it out and you may be pleasantly suprised.

Your local library might have some good activities. Also, many movie theaters offer free or $1 summer flicks. You could also do the zoo, aquarium, and crafts. Hope she has a speedy recovery! We thought our 4 year old was going to have surgery this summer, but they pushed it to next summer.

Hi there-
What about painting pottery (we have a store to go do it at, but have also bought pieces for home), buying a make your own book (Michaels has them), you could also bake cookies and take them to nursing homes, food pantry, or dog treats to animal shelters (if you can leave the house). Story times at places like Pottery Barn Kids or Barnes and Noble...we also have a place called Make a Messterpiece or something like that that is learning projects- tons of fun! Have a "beauty shop" day where you take turns doing nails, hair, etc (I am awful w this, as i'm not really girly, which makes it even more fun for my older one), or buy some canvas at Michaels, and cover w fabric for cool art, or have her color/paint on them. We have special markers for windows,etc...depending on what kind of surgery, you can do dress up (you dress up too, have her dress you :) )
I hope that helps spark some ideas. Good Luck!!!!!

First - what is in between reting? I would suggest a vist to fun local libraries - since you are in Geneva, the library in Elgin isn't too far away and has won some local awards. There is also a nice park across the road behind the Hemmens auditorium with a bridge to an island in the Fox river - nice walk / adventure. Most local libraries have an interlibrary loan policy - so you can check out books, too.
Our library has a great play area with puzzles, a house, puppet area and just a great place for kids to hand out and interact - our library is Elk Grove village.
What about a special movie date at the theatre?

Just an idea but something that she might look forward too, is getting a fabric bag or maybe even a gift bag and every monday she gets to open it and find a little gift.

Like a new coloring book, a new card game. a new story book, a blank notebook and a new pen, playdough

I would find some fun educational computer sites starfall.com, scholastic.com. etc and let her do that more than normal.

What about asking all her out of town friends and family to Mail her get well cards at different intervals. if they inculded stickers or something that would make it even better.

Find friends that can SKYPE with her video calls over the internet.

family fun.com has lots and lots of great recycled craft activites.

if you are just looking for Outings to take her on, inadditon to the others HomeDepot and lowes ect have programs for free every other Sat am or something where you can go build a simple project like a birdhouse or something check their websites

Oh and my last big Tip for entertaining the kiddos, Borrow books on CD from the library, pop it in a cd player and you are free to clean your house while they color and listen for 20 mins to an hour depending.
My kids love the Junie B Jones on CD--she is definately an example of what not to do bad manners etc so my kids get to be bad vicariously through her, even thought they can't act like that in real life. But there are lots of Disnsey books on Cd, WE love the picture books by John Lithgow that have music CD's to go with them. I'm sure your libariand could help.

good luck i hope every thign goes well

opps one more, even though she mightnot be able to get a cast wet or something, you could make her a little water table from a plastic basin, My kids at that age loved filling muffin tins with water usign those medicine droppers you get or a big turkey baster if you have one.

I like the video game suggestion, except that once they become hooked, its hard to break the habit.

Sunny D has good ideas. Its what we did when our son had surgery. We would gather around his bed and play board games and card games. At 5, they can do "Fish", "Old Maid" and even advanced games like "Phase 10". We also did reading of fun books and good books. Sometimes I would read to him and sometimes he would read to us. At 5, you will probably have to do the reading, but she can learn the alphabet song and other kids songs.

Get coloring books, activity books and things for her to do on her own.

Good luck to you and yours.

I think arts and crafts would be fun - Joann Fabric or Hobby Lobby have tons of stuff like that to do for her age group, library, computer games, maybe some movies in the theater (Brave is coming out soon).

Is there a forest preserve or something like that where you can take a walk and have an adventure without her feeling compelled to run?

Hope her recovery goes well.