Posts filed under ‘Summer Activities’
Chipper Tips: Develop Healthy Learning Habits with Play!
“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.” -Leo F. Buscaglia
Through play, children try out new skills, explore their imagination and creativity, and develop relationships with other people in their lives. Play can be an especially powerful bonding time for you, as a parent or caregiver. Playtime with your child also brings out the best in you. The beauty of this learning and growing time is that the motivation for a young child to play is already there – it is enjoyable!
Chipper is an ambassador in the national movement to prevent Summer Learning Loss, build 21st Century Life Skills and save hands-on learning in schools. Now, more than ever, kids need resources to develop healthy habits in a playful way. According to a recent article from Scientific American Magazine, “Free, imaginative play is crucial for normal social, emotional and cognitive development. It makes us better adjusted, smarter and less stressed.”
- Encourage play. Playing alone and with others not only builds brain development, it also helps children develop social skills and a sense of ethics. The most effective play is free of evaluation and correction (after all, throwing a ball shouldn’t be “right” or “wrong”), while promoting autonomy.
- Play together. In addition to their ABCs and 123s, preschool children are learning and developing life skills that will shape who they grow into as adults. One of these building blocks is learning to play well with others and accepting one another’s differences. Camp is a great place for kids to interact with each other.
- Get adequate sleep and proper nutrition. Your child will do their best if they get to sleep early and eat a healthy breakfast each day before school. A daily diet of junk food is not compatible with learning. It can cause listlessness and hyperactivity, which can impair a child’s ability to learn. Skipping breakfast, especially, is a detriment to a child’s education.
- Continue year-long education. Routine provides structure, which is often lacking during the summer months when children all too quickly become detached from the lessons they learned throughout the school year. Maintaining a schedule throughout the summer supports an environment that is less of a contrast to the classroom and provides a healthy balance between building skills, play and rest. An easy way for parents to keep their kids learning throughout the summer is by signing them up for camp.
- Monitor screen-time. While there are quite a few educational and engaging mobile apps and games to play on TV today, balance the tech time with “climb a tree” time. Curious exploration, social interaction and play should be on the daily to-do list.
Chipper Recycle Craft + Snack: Garden Lady Bug
Spring is in full throttle and summer is right around the corner! Now is the perfect time to get outdoors and explore your gardens! Finding little creepy crawlies with your little ones is not only a fun exercise, it instill an inherent curiosity in your child. That curiosity will push them to explore and learn about not only the great outdoors, but all aspects of the world. Education should inspire them to find out more, not stifle their natural wonder.
Take your little one(s) on a nature walk, strolling slowly in your back yard or community garden. Take 5 minutes in each area, observing things carefully, to see what you can find! Keep a look out for lovely little ladybugs. Here are 10 fun facts about ladybugs to teach your kiddos:
- Ladybugs are also called Lady beetles or Ladybirds.
- The male ladybug is usually smaller than the female.
- A ladybug beats its wings 85 times a second when it flies.
- The spots on a ladybug fade, as the ladybug gets older.
- In many countries, ladybugs are considered to be good luck.
- Aphids are a ladybug’s favorite food, making them good for your garden.
- There are over 5000 different kinds of ladybugs worldwide.
- A female ladybug will lay more than 1000 eggs in her lifetime.
- Ladybugs chew from side to side and not up and down like people do.
- Ladybugs are all around us! Ladybugs can be found in trees, shrubs, fields, beaches, and even houses!
LADYBUG CRAFT
What you Need:
- Egg carton or round cardboard piece
- black and red markers, paint or crayons
- scissors or whole puncher
- Pipe cleaners
- Optional: googly eyes
Instructions:
- Separate one cup from an egg carton or use any round cardboard pieces you have on hand.
- Using markers or paint to color the egg carton cup red. Then, using black paint/markers, color in the head, and make spots on the body.
- Using the point of a scissors or a hole puncher, an adult should make 6 small holes (3 on each side) at the base of the cup (these will be for the legs. Make 2 small holes (for antennae) where the top of the head will be.
- Insert a black pipe cleaner into each a side hole and out the other side for the legs. Use half a pipe cleaner for the antennae.
- Glue on googly eyes or paint on white eyes.
- Take your ladybug into the garden and try to spot some real ones!
LADYBUG SNACK
This Simple Recipe is Tasty and Cute!
Ingredients:
1-small red apple
2tsp.- strawberry cream cheese (low-fat)
1/8 cup- raisins or dried cranberries
1 or 2-red or black seedless grapes
Optional: lettuce leaves for garnish if desired.
Alternatives: peanut or almond butter instead of cream cheese. Round cereal instead of raisins, a small pinch of cinnamon. Use your imagination and what you have on hand in the kitchen.
Directions:
Wash the apples and lettuce. Arrange a few lettuce leaves on each plate. Cut apples in half from stem to bottom. Remove seeds. Lay each half of apple cut side down on
cutting board and cut in half from stem to bottom. With skin side up place both halves of apple on top of lettuce. Put a small amount of cream cheese in-between the apple
halves to adhere the apple back together (enough to have a small amount squish out the top). Stick raisins to cream cheese down the middle of apple, then use a small dab of cream cheese to adhere the raisins (see picture below) on each wing. Cut a grape in half and use cream cheese to stick it to one end of your ladybug apple for the head.
This is a perfect recipe for adults and kids to make together. It’s fun, easy, cute, and so tasty. And did Chipper mention it’s healthy too? “Healthy before sweet, can’t be beat!”
Chipper Exercise: 8 Fun (FREE!) Family Fitness Activities
Looking for some fun family “workouts” that feel more like play? Check out these simple outdoor activities that will get everyone in your family off the couch and help you bond while burning some calories. Getting active outdoors isn’t only good for your body but also you and your child’s social and emotional wellness. As Chipper likes to say, “Healthy Habits Grow Happy Hearts!” Try a few with mom (or with your kids) to celebrate Mother’s Day this week and have some fun while keeping fit!
1. Hula Hooping
Hula hoops became a hot toy in the late 1950s and are still a lot of fun for families. Hula hooping can burn more than 500 calories an hour — not bad for a $10 piece of plastic! Hoops come in a variety of sizes for children and adults, and weighted hoops for more advanced “hoopers” will give you even more of a workout. Try a little more variation than just the normal standing hula hooping with these 3 Great Hula Hoop Exercises for Kids.
2. Jump Roping
Jumping rope burns an estimated 600 calories an hour. Jump ropes are also cheap, starting under $10. Also, because jump ropes are so portable, parents can pack one in their suitcase for workouts while they travel. Who knows — maybe Dad is a future double dutch champion!
3. Skating and Scooting
Have some old Rollerblades or Razor Scooters hanging out in the garage? You probably forgot how fun some quality time on wheels can be! Dust them off and cruise around the neighborhood or a nearby park with your kids. Kicking along on a scooter is sure to get your heart rate up. And in-line skating burns at least 300 calories an hour for adults. Consider doing a scavenger hunt to keep you moving.
4. Boogying Down
Your family loves singing along with the radio in the car. Why not dance along to the music when you’re at home? Having a family dance party lets parents and kids get silly while also getting some good cardio exercise. Hip hop dancing can burn about 400 calories an hour, so turn up the beats indoors or outside!
5. Playing Frisbee
Frisbee has a cult following, with hundreds of colleges now offering “ultimate Frisbee” (a Frisbee game similar to soccer) as a school sport. Your family could be full of Frisbee champs! With plastic discs starting at $5, it’s worth a try. Frisbee golf is another fun disc game.
6. Walking — or Hiking — with the Dog
What has fur, four legs, and is dying to be your exercise pal? That’s right: the family dog. Studies have shown that owning a dog can make you healthier, in part because you’re likely to take more walks. But if your daily walks have become more like a chore, infuse some fun as well as fitness. Go as a family, pick different routes each night, and throw in some jogging.
7. Playground Playtime
Just as kids love rec time during the school day, they’ll enjoy romping around the playground when school is out of session. When is the last time Dad tried his hand at crossing the monkey bars or doing some pull-ups? And when was Mom last on the swings, pumping her legs to get sky-high? Playgrounds offer fun physical activity for everyone — even if you’re just chasing the kids around.
8. Tag, You’re It, and Other Outdoor Games
Tag, kickball, wiffle ball, kickball… you name it! Neighborhood games may be waning in the digital age, but they’re as fun as ever and hopefully due for a comeback. Challenge your family members to some friendly competition, and enjoy the great outdoors like it’s the good ol’ days. Here are some great ideas from Chipper!
Chipper Events: I’m Chipper for Hyatt Place® Phoenix/Mesa!
Let’s Go Chipper!™ is an award-winning eco-educational series playfully teaching children good character & a love for the environment. This year we’ve partnered with Hyatt Place® Phoenix/Mesa to bring Chipper into the local Arizona community and into the classroom in order to inspire conscientiousness in kids. Come visit on your next business trip or come stay for a family weekend getaway filled with Chipper fun. Learn more about our upcoming events at our Chipper for Hyatt Place®Phoenix/Mesa website.
The Let’s Go Chipper series featuring books, apps, movies school- and community-based programs that playfully teach children respect, good character, and a love for the environment. Contact Chipper for your classroom kit or to book a story time with one of our Chipper Ambassadors, or let us create a program for you school, church, or community organization!
A little bit about Arizona
Ready to learn about Arizona? Check out these fun facts about the state’s history, people and official state symbols.
History
- Statehood: February 14, 1912. Arizona was the 48th state to join the United States.
- State Flag: Adopted in 1917, the lower half of the flag is a blue field. The upper half is divided into thirteen equal segments, six light yellow and seven red. In the center of the flag is a copper-colored five-point star. The red and the blue are the same shades as the flag of the United States of America, and it measures four feet high and six feet wide.
- State Seal: Arizona’s main enterprises and attractions are represented in the seal, which was adopted in 1911. In the background of the seal is a range of mountains with the sun rising behind the peaks. At the right side of the mountains are a water storage reservoir and a dam, with irrigated fields and orchards. There are cattle grazing on the right, and a quartz mill and a miner with a pick and shovel on the left.
Population and Geography
- Population: 6.5 million (2008 estimate)
- State Capitol: Phoenix
- Largest Cities: Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Glendale and Scottsdale
- Border States: California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah
- State Size: 113,909 square miles, the 6th largest state in the USA
State Symbols
- State Motto: Ditat Deus (“God Enriches”)
- State Nickname: Grand Canyon State
- State Songs: “Arizona March Song” and “Arizona”
- State Flower: Saguaro Cactus Blossom
- State Gem: Turquoise
- State Tree: Palo Verde
- State Bird: Cactus Wren
- State Fossil: Petrified Wood
- State Mammal: Ringtail
- State Reptile: Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake
- State Fish: Apache Trout
- State Amphibian: Arizona Tree Frog
- Official Neckwear: Bola Tie
Nature-inspired, play-based learning, enjoy hands-on crafts that will engage children while teaching valuable lessons in science, art, and social skills. Have you made a Helping Hands tree?
Chipper Ambassadors are available for story time activities in the classroom, community, or visit us during a Chipper family getaway providing fun for kids while parents reconnect.
Fun Things to do with the Kids in Arizona
Desert Botanical Garden | Located within Papago Park, this beautiful botanical garden has stunning plants and flowers as well as special exhibits. Children’s program activities, like weekend face-painting, are included in the admission price and are supervised by the head of the garden’s nature preschool program, which runs for three weekly 90-minute sessions in spring and fall. One exhibit you won’t want to miss is the butterfly habitat.
Hall of Flame Firefighting Museum | This is the ultimate playground for every kid who fantasizes about sliding down a firehouse pole. Visitors climb aboard the historical fire engines and try on real firefighters’ hats and gear. In addition to exhibits that bring Arizona’s firefighting history to life, don’t miss the presentations about fire safety. The staff and volunteers who give these talks are so animated that the kids become mesmerized and don’t even realize they’re learning valuable life lessons.
Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum | Young visitors meet the Old West at this re-created pioneer village, where your family can explore life as it was in Arizona a century ago. Stroll past historic buildings that range from a schoolhouse to the blacksmith’s shop to an opera house. Since this was rancher country, there’s plenty of livestock on hand to capture your kids’ attention. Arrive in time for the re-enactment performed daily at 11:30 a.m. and you’ll even have an encounter with the sheriff, his deputies, and the bank robbers they’re pursuing. The show culminates with a shoot-out, after which the actors sign autographs.
Chipper Crafts: Recycled Nature Castle
Keep your little ones busy and their end of the summer boredom away with some fun, easy-to-do recycle crafts! Collect pieces of scraps from around the house and create a fun filled castle paired with as many characters as your children can create. Finding materials from outside is a great activity too! Pine cones are a great addition to any craft : )
These Chipper kids used the plush characters from Chipper’s stories (COMING SOON!) and a home-crafted lady bug and a elephant to play in their Nature Castle! All they used were cut out cardboard pieces from recycled apple-packaging (just ask your local grocery store for their extras!), some craft or hot glue, pipe cleaners, scissors, markers, and a plastic container lid!
Anything from toilet paper rolls to bottle caps will allow your children to expand their imaginations and use these recycled crafts supplies to create a castle or any other kind a structure they can imagine. Once the castle is finished, send them outside to play with their castle and all the other things they made. Its like you bought them a new toy without a trip to the toy store and used recycled goods that otherwise would be headed to a landfill!
You can even ask them to create a play with the castles and its dwellers or just let them play and explore with their new toys. Save money and the planet with recycle crafts! Get Chipper and Crafty outdoors today!
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Chipper Recycle Crafts: Custom Mini Magnets
Recycled crafts not only make great gift for friends and family. Making and buying recycle crafts benefit our environment and reduce waste! Recycle crafts also help promote traditional crafts that are fading as people opt for cheap mass produced items. By buying or making handcrafted gifts, you can help keep those skills alive! All crafts, not just those that are made from recycled material, also encourages originality and creativity. Whether you are starting with the materials and find a suitable product to create from them, or you start with the product and have to figure out what recycled items can be used to create it, it requires ingenuity. This can only benefit art and crafts in general!
Instead of tossing out bottle caps, which are not recycled and go strait to a land fill or the ocean, create cute magnets with your kids! All you need are some caps, some magazines and a pair or scissors, magnet tape (very easy to find and inexpensive), and glue!
Cut out cute images or letters to spell your little one’s name or initials to fit inside the bottle caps then glue in. Then attach a small piece of magnetic tape to the back and stick to the fridge or other metal surfaces. These custom mini magnets are great for hanging your young artists’ drawings and paintings. They can be used for spelling out messages (or spelling practice!) and also make a great gift! There’s no better gift than one made with your own to hands for someone you love. Get Chipper today and get crafty!
Chipper Recycle Crafts: What can you do with a Cereal Box?
If your kids love cereal (who doesn’t?), you must recycle cereal boxes left and right! Next time
you finish the next box of Cheerios, save the box instead. There are tons of fun crafts and games you can do with just some cardboard boxes! One person’s trash is another person’s pleasure : )
Here are a few great craft ideas you can do with you cereal boxes from Chipper! Please share some of your ideas with us! Here’s one great craft/gift idea designed by real artists: Make your own Cereal Box Picture Frame!
Making Cereal Box Masks
Masks are a lot of fun to make, but they are especially fun to make for Halloween, masquerades, parties, or just playing dress up. Cut a piece of wrapping paper to fit around the box and glue it securely in place. Make the features by coloring them on with wax crayons, or pasting on bits of colored paper. Here are some suggestions for decorating your masks. Try different colors on masks to obtain unusual effects.
1. Cut and fold colored paper to make hats, ears, beaks and horns.
2. Wind strips of colored paper firmly around a pencil until they curl, to make hair, eyelashes, whiskers and beards.
3. Glue on other trimmings such as, wood shavings, ping-pong balls, fringed paper, cotton, broom straws, feathers, carrot greens, beads, earrings, fancy braids and any other trimming available.
4. Draw on eyeglasses, monocles, and any other decoration with colored wax crayons.
Make a Cereal Box Napkin Holder House
This napkin holder turns out really cute and you can make it from a recycled cereal bo. The first thing you do is get a greeting card envelope and open it up so that it looks like a house shape, as illustrated in (picture #1). Then get a cereal box and hold the envelope at the left corner and trace around the envelope to use as your guide when cutting (picture #2). Then turn around your box and hold the envelope at the bottom right side of the box (picture #3) and trace the open envelope again. Now get scissors and cut around the lines that you drew….keeping the bottom of the box intact. Now paint the remaining house-shaped box to look like a house. It helps to put a little bit of glue in the paint to make it stick to the waxed cereal box surface. Now let the paint dry and then give as a gift or start using to brighten up your breakfast table!
A Few Fun Ideas for Play with Cereal Boxes
Empty cereal cartons can be used for many play ideas. Here are a few.
(1) Build towers and castles. Place cartons on top of each other. Make them so that you have passages and tunnels. Place toy men and animals on them.
(2) You can play store with your cartons. Place them on the table or on a box. Pretend that a customer comes in to buy the boxes.
(3) Open the tops of three cartons. Set them sideways on the floor. See how many marbles you can roll into them.
(4) With a parent’s help you can trace animals, masks, and flat boats from the boxes. When they are cut out, you can color them.
Get Chipper and start recycling some Cereal boxes! What can YOU do with a cereal box?
Chipper for Parks: Yosemite National Park
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine into trees.”
-John Muir
Yosemite Valley
We are definitely Chipper for Parks! Parks are places for us to clear our minds and enjoy our surrounding. They are places for our kids to free their imaginations and explore nature! Stretching over 1,200 square miles (761,268 acres) of central California, Yosemite National Park is one the largest and oldest parks in America. With almost 4 million visitors each year, it is also one of the most frequented parks in the country. It’s no wonder why so many people travel from far and wide to visit if you have ever been lucky enough to visit before. The park’s forests of Redwoods and Sequoias and it’s huge valley’s filled with waterfalls and gigantic rock formations are awe-inspiring indeed.
When famous conservationist, John Muir, arrived to Yosemite in 1868 from his beautiful home land of Scotland, he was changed for life and inspired others to visit this magical place, leading the area’s way towards being a National Park. He also spurred scientific interest and was one of the first to theorize that the major landforms in Yosemite Valley were created by large alpine glaciers. After President Theodore Roosevelt visited Yosemite in 1903 to visit John Muir, he said, “”It was like lying in a great solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by the hand of man.”
Mirror Lake
Yosemite is full of opportunities for fun activities in the great outdoors! Explore Yosemite by hiking or biking. Spend some time with a park ranger learning about Yosemite or get a broad overview by taking a bus tour. You can teach your children to give back to the planet and help Yosemite by volunteering for a few hours (Memorial Day to Labor Day).
Your kids will love becoming apart of the historical Junior Ranger or Little Cub! The Junior Rangers reach back to the Yosemite Junior Nature School, organized in June 1930 and lasting until 1954. In 2010, more than 24,000 children became Yosemite Junior Rangers (up from 6,000 in 2007). Learn more about Junior Rangers with these links. 
Consider visiting the Nature Center at Happy Isles (summer only) or the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center for interactive exhibits.
Don’t forget to earn your FREE Chipper for Parks Badge on your next park visit by posting a picture of you and your tot in nature on Chipper’s Facebook Page, or give back to a park of your choice– in your name– when you purchase a badge here!
The Yosemite Guide has information about all scheduled activities and hours of operation for services.
Visit here for more information on this national treasure.
Chipper Tips: Learning, Educating, and Entertaining with Apps
Some parents and educators lament that technology is taking away from their kid’s natural and organic childhoods. Yes, hours upon hours of watching TV or playing video games is not a good thing for young, developing minds but various studies have shown that interactive games or apps and sing along DVDs and music are excellent educational tools. One study, organized by the Education Development Center, Center for Children and Technology in 2001 for the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee (United States Senate), found that using educational technology improved test scores and early literary skills.
Chipper entertains while playfully educating children about nature and the great outdoors. Click here to download award winning movies, books, music, games, and more easily for everyday fun on-the-go!
Not only are apps a great way to excite kids to learn and immerse themselves in various subjects, apps can be specially designed to different kinds of children with different learning needs. Whether they are dyslexic, autistic, or need more help with their math, there are apps that were specifically innovated to benefits various individuals! More and more, educators and parents are turning to iPads and apps to help inform and prepare our future generations. What better way to prepare your kids or students for the newest technology in the workplace, than by giving it to them as a part of their education? Apps are inexpensive, easy to use, and your kids/students will love you!
On the go fun that is educational and entertaining. Camping, hiking, or outdoor fun Chipper playfully teaches good character and a love for the environment. Click here to download now!
Chipper’s iPhone app was created to excite kids of all ages and needs to get outdoors and teach them about our diverse environment. Help your child develop their analytical skills and have some fun on your next road trip or flight! Apps are great for on-the-go entertainment and are also a wonderful tool to avoid the summer learning slump. Check out this article about Chipper’s app to learn more and see a user review!
Please enter COUPON CODE “40ipads” and 50% of your purchase will go to purchasing iPads for Children with Special Needs through the non-profit Growing Up For Good, and in support of A4CWSN, Apps for Children with Special Needs. Shop now through August 15, 2012. Each purchase includes a special Chipper For Parks badge. Download Chipper’s iPhone app for on-the-go fun! Like Chipper’s Facebook Page for special deals and free downloads!
No mess, no fuss with Chipper’s coloring pages that are playful and easy-to-follow. Select, swipe on the color, and save or start all over again. Click here to download now!
Chipper Snacks: 3 Ways to Eat Watermelon this Summer
Plain and unadorned, watermelon is a reliable source of cool refreshment. At 92% water, it’s a wonderful snack for those hot summer days and a great source of vitamin C for your little ones. With it’s sweet and juicy taste, they’ll never guess that they are eating a healthy snack! Watermelon is always good but check out these ideas for creative ways to use this favorite summertime fruit!
1. Halloween in the Summer: Carve a Melon Manner!
Looking for a sweet real estate deal? Turn the rind of this favorite summertime fruit into a palatial home for toy figures or visiting fairies.
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- Start by slicing off one end of the melon and setting it aside. Cut the insides into pieces, remove them, then scoop out any remaining chunks with a long-handled spoon (save the insides to make a scrumptious salad seen below).
- Carve windows and a door with a small knife, or if you really want to get fancy, break out your pumpkin-carving tools.
Use toothpicks as needed to join bits and pieces into shrubs and to secure the roof (made from the sliced-off end). To illuminate your stately mansion by night, place a battery-operated tea light inside or use an old fashion candle!
2. Forget Baking: Try these Cool Cookies!
All you need beside a watermelon is Vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt and Sprinkles (optional).
- Slice melon into 1-inch-thick slabs, then use cookie cutters to make shapes.
- Frost your treats with vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt (spoon the yogurt into a squeeze bottle to make decorating really fun and easy) and top them with sprinkles if you like.
3. Use up chunks of Watermelon: Test out this Surprisingly Delicious Salad!
The sweet-and-salty flavor combo of watermelon and feta may sound a little strange, but trust Chipper: your kids will go bananas for it. You will need:
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- 8 cups cubed watermelon
- 2 to 4 ounces cubed or crumbled feta
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh basil or mint
- 8 cups cubed watermelon
- Instructions:
- 1. Mix the watermelon and feta.
- 2. Toss with a dressing made from the lime juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with slivered fresh basil or mint. Serves 8.
- Like Chipper always says, “Healthy before sweet can’t be beat!” Enjoy your sweet AND healthy watermelon this Summer!
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