How-to-Have-Fun on Minimum Days

Last week the boys had minimum days at school because of Parent Teacher Conferences in the afternoons. It was a great excuse to schedule some play dates with friends after-school. They are always so happy to have a friend over!  

On one of the afternoons though, we just rested at home. Jonah spent a long time in his room building with LEGOS. And when he came out, he was very excited to show us the awesome catapult he had built! So excited, in fact, that he asked if I would videotape him explaining how to make it. I thought it sounded like a fun idea (I need to remember that Jonah often comes up with better activities than I do) so I grabbed my iphone and started recording away.




Not bad for unrehearsed and spontaneous! I was especially glad that he didn't get frustrated when the LEGOS would break or when he needed to correct a mistake.

While Jonah had been building with LEGOs that afternoon, Nicolas had been sitting at the art table drawing - his usual go-to spot. So when we finished up Jonah's video, I asked Nicolas if he wanted to make a video and I was thrilled when he said yes. He told me that he could make a video explaining how to draw a rocket ship. Great! Again, we whipped out a little how-to video.



And of course, not to be outdone by his brothers, Riley also wanted to make a video.  When I asked him what he wanted to teach on his video, he knew exactly what it should be.  He wanted to explain how to make paper boats. So, off we went with Riley's video.



I was so proud of all 3 of them for doing these presentations for the camera with no rehearsing or prompting on my part! And I love how they each came up with something they felt they were good at and wanted to teach - each one so different.

When we finished up with Riley's video, the boys said they wanted me to do a video too.  It was interesting how quickly I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach.  They had immediately known what they could teach to others, but when it came to be my turn, I honestly didn't have a clue!  I'm not artistic.  I'm not crafty.  I'm not a chef or a baker.  But then I looked over at the stack of books and fliers that had been accumulating on my table over the last few weeks and I knew just would I could do.

(Disclaimers:  Lest any of you think I have this whole full-time, stay-at home mom thing figured out...fear not - I definitely don't.  I enter this summer with great fear and trepidation, quite sure that our summer will go nothing like I have planned - and quite sure that I'll be ready to pull my hair out every single day.  But since I'm not helping to plan a Day Camp for an entire community this summer, I had to put  my energy somewhere!).    

 Who knew? How-to videos! Fun, educational, and free!

What would be YOUR how-to video for this season of your life? Please share! I'd love to hear!