Fun &TY

Thirty ne derful
Days Of Fun

January may De the coldest month
one for each day.
but you can make it sunny with these ideas

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

1. Mapping It Out: Have every

child in the family dose her eyes
and point to a spot on the map.
Find the largest nearby city. Using a
familiar tune, each person writes a
song about the city. For example
(sung to that great number, "Old
MacDonald"): "Kansas City, I love
you, yes oh yes I do. You've got a
lot of nice fountains, yes oh yes you
do. With a squirt, squirt, here and
a —" ) If your song writing talents
prove equally brilliant, consider quit-
ting your day job and moving to
Hollywood.

you think modeling is easy? Not
just anyone can walk down the
aisle just the right way, you know.")
models lips from another face, or
placing cut-out chairs in a new
room, or having a can of dog food
atop Barry Manilow's head.

5. Gone Fishing: Visit your local

pet store. If you're brave, buy a
goldfish (but no matter what your
child says, don't actually believe he
will take care of it); otherwise, just
have fun visiting the animals.

6. See You In Casablanca:

Rent a movie classic, fix popcorn
and mix with M&Ms, and serve
Coke in frosted mugs.

2. Menus For Mules: Suppose

7. Go Get 'Em, Tiger: Make a

you had a very chic donkey com-
ing for dinner. What would you
serve? How about a delightful dish
for an elegant eel? Concoct your
own menus for real or imaginary
creatures.

miniature golf course using butcher
paper, pencils and marbles. First,
let children draw about 10 holes of
golf on butcher paper. Use paper
cups, affixed with masking tape to
the paper, as the holes into which
your budding Tiger Woods should
aim his marble/ball shot with his
pencil/club.

3. The Eyes Have It:

Remember charades? It's as much
fun now as when you were young.
Children aged 4 and older will
have a great time with this.

4. Recycled Art: Instead of sim-

ply pasting cut-out magazine pic-
tures on blank paper, have children
put them back in another maga-
zine. They'll have a great time giv-
ing one of those eloquent ("Hey,

8. The Write Stuff: Sit down
with your daughter and write a
book about her life. You provide the
facts (where and when she was
born, places she has lived) and
she'll provide the fun details, such
as what school is like, her favorite
color, her favorite food.

9 .With A Song In Your
Heart: Find anything in your

kitchen that could be used as a
musical instrument. Create your own
home symphony and play away!
(Caution: this may not be such a
wonderful idea for those living in
an apartment; on the other hand, if
your neighbors have kept you up
night after night as they listened to
Barry Manilow, play as loud as you
possibly can).

10. Lost And Found: Have

each person search the house and
find one thing no one has seen for
years.

11. Designing Family: Ask
each member of the family to draw
architectural plans for his or her
ideal house.

12. Dahling, You Look
Mahvelous: Using only brown

paper bags, have everyone create
a lovely ensemble. (For older partic-
ipants, of course, the paper bag
will have to be a shirt — unless
you're into that really, really, really
mini look.) Cut out a place for arms
and neck, then decorate with what-
ever you find around the house.

13. Guess Who?: Ask family

members to cut out five pictures of
semi-famous persons (Bill Clinton is
too easy; a senator from Montana
[if in fact anyone actually lives in

Montana] may be too difficult) from
magazines and newspapers, then
affix to poster board. Make certain
names are not showing. As the
game begins, everyone tries to
identify the faces.

14.Big Thrills For $5: Here's

another great project (for older chil-
dren only) for one of those days
when you absolutely must get out of
the house. Go to the mall and give
every child $5. Ask each to find
the most unusual item they can get
for $5 or less. Award a prize for
the best find.

15. Pennies From Heaven:

You can't still find many of those
drugstores selling penny candy, but
you can make your own. Buy a
myriad of tiny candy samples (visit
any 7-1 1 and you can get tiny
candy bars and caramels) and let
your child go shopping. Then let
him plan out what he'll eat on
which day during the next week.

16. Do-Wop, Do-Wop: Visit a

record store for a collection of '50s
tunes. Have all the females in the
family fix their hair in ponytails with
scarves, and have the guys get that
man-l-am-so-cool-l-can-hardly -stand -
myself-look with greased hair.
Pretend to sing along with the
hits. (Note: it's a good idea to
lower the shade before you begin.
This project is a lot of fun, but you

