.The

Story

Do Something
Classic.

Introduce your child to a film
from the past. Check out your
own favorite (do The Parent
Trap, Willie Wonka And The
Chocolate Factory, Rubber;
Fantasia or Mary Poppins ring a
bell?), or consider great movies
from an earlier generation, like
State Fair; Oklahoma, The Mir-
acle Worker; The Music Man,
The King And I, or anything
starring Shirley Temple. Next,
bring out the popcorn, some
soda pop and your favorite
chocolate candy and have your
very own film festival at home.
It's a good idea to use the op-
portunity as a teaching experi-
ence. In The Miracle Worker,
we see how Helen Keller
learned to communicate. Why
not follow the film with a trip to
your local library, where you
can check out a book on sign
language? Using an illustrated
guide, you and your child can
teach yourselves the basics.

I Scream,
You Scream.

THE A PPLETREE

Remember when you were a
child and ate snow ice cream?
Now, of course, the atmos-
phere is so filled with chemi-
cals you would be safer
drinking a glass of nuclear-
waste juice. But don't despair.
You can recreate the taste with
this easy recipe:

12

Round-The-Year
Snow Ice Cream
12 ice cubes
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
5 tsp. sugar
Combine all ingredi-
ents and place in
blender for about two
minutes.

This Is
For The Birds.

You can have a lot of fun learn-
ing about the birds of winter,
and help out some hungry crea-
tures, with little more than a jar
of peanut butter and some corn-
meal.
To make a simple bird feeder,
fill empty jar lids, or milk car-
tons cut down to about 1", with
a mixture of equal parts corn-
meal and chunky peanut butter
DO NOT use smooth peanut
butter as this can cause a bird's
mouth to stick together You can
place the bird food-holder be-
tween branches on trees, or di-
rectly on the ground (if the
snow has stopped). Keep a close
watch and you're likely to see

sparrows, blue jays and chick-
adees. To make this even more
fun, buy your child some inex-
pensive binoculars so he can get
a closer look at the creatures, or
check out a book about differ-
ent birds from your library. You
could even take photographs
and put a small album together,
or have your child make draw-
ing of the birds he has seen.

here) around to all the sites: a
stop for an ice-cream cone at
the "parlor" in your kitchen,
then on to a zoo of stuffed ani-
mals, a park made of pillows
thrown on the floor (where
your son can jump to his heart's
content) and finally to the toy
store, where you have conve-
niently laid out a fun treat for
him to "buy."
Another idea is to actually
bring in a bucketful of
snow and place it in
the bathtub, where
a ow
your child can dig
into, spill and mix the
snow with plastic shov-
els and buckets.

doors, no matter how much
you would like to leave the
house. Here's a fun way to bring
winter inside where it's warm.
First, establish exactly where
you want your children to play,
as this can be a rough-and-tum-
ble kind of game. Next, make a
list of some of your child's fa-
vorite places to go and things to
do. Here are some ideas that,

Paint The Outdoors.

You can make beautiful designs
in the snow with a simple
food-coloring "paint" To
make the paints, mix sever-
al drops of food coloring
with about 1 cup of water.
Place each color in a spray
bottle. Use to make beauti-
ful designs in the snow,
which, in cold weather, will
last for quite a few days. (Note:
Food coloring will stain, so be
sure to carefully monitor
your child if he helps you
prepare the paints.)

~0

-

Bring The
Outside In.

Some days it's simply too
cold to hit the great out-

•

with a little imagination, you'll
be able to recreate in your
home: an ice-cream parlor, a toy
store, a park, a restaurant, the
zoo. Plan how much room
you'll need for each (you may
want to set up the different
stops in different rooms). Let
your son or daughter ride his
"car" (a tricycle would do well

Make
Snowpeople.

Have a snowman-making con-
test indoors. Challenge your
children to come up with a cre-
ative substance for building
their snowmen. Some ideas:
marshmallows, mashed pota-
toes, whipped cream (messy,
but fun), cotton balls, Play-Doh
and this fun, gloppy substance:
2 cups baking soda