You will need:

• paper

Bank On It

Here's a great game to play with
your children on a rainy day. It's
called Family Dollars, and it's
educational and fun, to boot.
First, decide exactly which
denominations you want to
work with; you can be realistic
($1s and $5s), or think big
with some of those wonderful
$1,000 bills. Remember,
though, you will have to find
photographs for and design
each denomination. You might
want to start out with four, per-
haps a $1, $10, $50 and $100.
Once you have decided how
many different kinds of bills
you want, find a family photo
to grace the front of each. Per-
haps a parent could replace
George Washington on a $1,
Grandma could take Abraham
Lincoln's place on a $5, and
your son or daughter could
find his face on a $100.
On a blank piece of paper,
trace a dollar bill. Cut out one
photograph and place in the
middle, then allow your child to
design the rest He can copy
some items found on real mon-
ey, but assure him it's more fun
to use his imagination. Contin-
. ue untiiyou have used all the
photos :and•created all your bills.
After you have finished your
new money, cut out and take
the family bucks to your fa-
vorite photocopy place. Ten
minutes in the store and you'll
have a mint!
Now, what to do with all
those newfound dollars? You

colored pens

family pictures
that can be cut
up

• scissors

• access to a
photocopy machine

can begin teaching your dau
ter what it's like to earn money
(clearing the table earns $2,
playing with baby brother for
an hour earns $5), which she
can then trade in for video
time, or the chance to stay up
late, or real money to buy
something at the toy store.
You can continue to expand
on the game by allowing your
child to make his own bank to
save his family dollars, or
create coins out of Play-Doh.
"I'm going to put my face on
the $1,000 bill, Mom!"

Leave it to a Jewish mother —
with a Michigan connection,
to boot — to come up with a
great way for working moms
to chart their baby's activities
during the day.
How Was Your Day, Baby?
(Tracer Publishing) is a journal
created especially for working
parents. Each page is a day on
which the care giver can list
baby's feedings and exactly
what he ate, nap times and any
other relevant information. (If
you can't be there yoursell to
see your child take her first
step, you'll at least have the ex-
act time and place it occurred.)
The journal also is filled
with fun and useful tips
for parents.
The author of the
book is Melanie
Goldish, married to
Joseph Yon, formerly
of Wakefield, Mich.,
and the mother of
Travis and Spencer. To-
day the family lives in
Hoffman Estates, Ill., where
Ms. Goldish serves as execu-
tive vice president of Beth Tik-
vah Congregation. She holds
an MOM (Master of Mother-
hood) degree, she says, earned
in part after she returned to
work soon after both her chil-
dren were born.
The book costs .$16.95 plus
shipping and handling, and dis-
counts are available for corpo-
rations or organizations. For
information, contact Tracer
Publishing, (800) 799-5297.

Aliens!

The first issue was appear-
ance. Would family members
have a duck bill? Duck feet?
Antennae? One eye or two?

It isn't every day you get to
design your own aliens.
Jewish Family Service, to-
gether with Jewish Experi-
ences For Families (JEFF), is
putting the finishing touches
on the first in a comic/activity
book series designed to help
children learn about conflict
resolution. The books follow
the lives of five aliens brought
to Earth when the family's
baby accidentally unties rib-
bons keeping their house
tied to the home

planet.
The parents took it all good-
naturedly. In any case, the
mother was a Tupperware
salesman who had exhausted
the alien market Why not give
Earth a try?
The comic book is the brain-
child of Oak Park resident Janis
Roszler, coordinator of the
comic book and a JFS board
member who also has been ac-
tive with JEFF.
"The purpose of the comic
book is to teach 7-10-year-olds
how to deal with everything
from siblings to problems at
school," she said. It was the
ideal project because it could
both "use the expertise of so-
cial workers at JFS to create

credible and honest story lines
and the creativity of a JEFF
program."
Mrs. Roszler came up with
the idea of a comic book, she
said, "because I asked myself,
`What do my own children
read?' And the perfect time to
teach living skills is to someone
young."
The series will include four
to five issues and feature a sto-
ry, puzzles, games and a par-
ents' section.
Working on the pro-
ject has been "an eye
opener for everyone in-
volved," Mrs. Roszler
said.
"The adults really
liked our first draft
of the aliens, but
then we showed it to
the kids. They looked
and stopped dead in
their tracks. They said,
`You call these
aliens?'
"We went
through four different families
of aliens (debates included
how Slimy the aliens should
be and how many eyes they
should have) before we finally
settled on these (see drawing).
The kids took one look and
said, 'They're awesome."
Also working with Mrs. Ros-
zler on the committee are Sue
Stettner of JEFF, Rabbi Aaron
Bergman of Beth Abraham Hil-
lel Moses, Sandy Hyman of
JFS, Bais Yaakov teacher Esther
Sherizen, and graphic artists
Sandra Greenberg and Julie
Sherizen.
The comic book will make
its debut at the Jewish Book
Fair in November. For more in-
formation, contact JFS, 559-
1500. Cl

S

contact the Jester Co., (800)
9JESTER (953-7837). The
book costs $20, half of which
goes to provide copies to chil-
dren with cancer.

