New Years
My kids and I had a blast playing memory with this homemade memory game that we made with pictures of some of our favorite memories of 2012. As you will see both my kids played ( although they aren’t ready to play against each other yet – their gap in abilities is still too vast) and both loved not only beating mom ( I am terrible at this game) but also retelling stories about each picture and the memory that went with it. Oh and it’s so easy to make.
- Gather your materials. You will need some card stock, double stick tape, digital photos , scissors and marker.
- Choose 6 or more photos of favorite memories of 2012. You can print them out in a collage using a service like picmonkey.com or individually. Make sure you have 2 copies of each picture.
- Cut your pictures out. Mine are all black and white because I ran out of color ink not for any grand reason.
- Tape to the card stock.
- Cut out.
- I added the year on the back for fun. Also I plan on making this year after year.
- Time to play. First up was my wee one. I laid out 8 matches for her although I probably could have done 6.
- She loved seeing the photos of herself – her first day of school with her teacher was her favorite. The excitement was genuine when she made a match. She made six before she asked if she could play with her tea set
Next time I will keep the number of cards lower.
- Then we set it up for my 6 year old.
He got the whole deck and was eager to show off. 
He didn’t know what photos I chose for the game and was happy to recount the stories that went with many of the photos. 
His favorite was a photo of him playing with our contributing writer Kim’s son .
He made matches so quickly and counted them up after each one. It was a perfect opportunity to skip count by two as well.
Happy New Year!
I wish I’d thought of this earlier but they had a blast and it was great to reminisce as a family as we look forward to 2012. Every family member contributed to the activity and making the memories that made 2011 such a fantastic year.
- Gather your materials. I originally thought of making a wreath but when I saw my tinsel tree I grabbed it. Either works. You will also need some ribbon – ours was sheer and HARD to write on, plain cotton strips would be the easiest to write on but sheer is so pretty. You will also need some small containers ( eggs work great) to hide the memories in , some paper to survey your family for their favorite events/memories and some pipe cleaners for the tree topper.
- Start by asking your family for the top 12 events of the year – we tried to do one per month but it was closer 3 per season. We went around the table at dinner letting everyone add whatever they wanted. Hearing every one’s proudest and most special moments was in itself a great activity.
- Using pipe cleaners make a 2011 tree topper. I admit I did 2012 first and had to fix my mistake. Pop it on the top.
- Cut 12 pieces of ribbon. Write the memories onto the ribbon. Hold the ribbon tight and writing is easier. Use a permanent fine tip marker.
- Pop them in your containers. I was going to use eggs but I have NO clue where they are. Luckily I had a package of 12 paper favor boxes. Putting these together took longer than the rest of the activity. I need to find th0se plastic eggs.
- Hide them – how many can you see?
- Find them!
Read the memories as they are found. 
- Tie them onto the tree and keep going until you find them all.
Happy New Year !
I hope you and your family are blessed with fantastic memories of 2011 and countless opportunities to make great ones in 2012.
My kids have been busy playing with their new toys, my son has been building Legos and my daughter has been pushing babies around the house with her new buggy. I wanted to do something special to celebrate the amazing year we had so while they were playing I ran upstairs, found the bin of art and made an art gallery of their 2011 creations. It was a fun way to spend snack time and look back at our favorite pieces from 2011.
- Gather your materials. You will need your children’s art , painters tape ( so you don’t muck up the walls) , some snacks ( all gallery openings have snacks! ) , as well as something to use as a sign, and to write a blurb about the artists.
- I sorted through my kids’ art that made it to the keep bin in my son’s closet. I have a canvas bin in the corner of this closet that we run art into that passes the keep test. I also put in almost everything my daughter makes. She’ll get her own bin soon.
- I put the art up at their and slightly above their eye level. I was careful to have things my daughter made at a level she could touch… and as you will see that was a huge hit with her to be able to touch the pieces she made, and is clearly proud of.
- Make a sign for the door.
- Don’t forget a blurb about the artists.
- I put out art related books in the reading nook too.
- Add some snacks.
- Invite your guests of honor.
I wish I’d done this when my parents were still in town because my kids loved seeing their art and showing it off to their dad, they would have loved showing it off to their grandparents too.
- I loved that she gravitated towards her own art.
- My son showed off the pieces he loved making – marshmallow art is his favorite. No clue why.
- After her brother had his treats , and gave a quick gallery talk about when he made this or that he went back to legos, but my daughter stayed looking forever. I see many more museum trips in our future, although she has already been to one of my favorite museums with me.
- Then we read a few books and quietly had another cookie. Here are some great fine art books to check out .
Happy New Year !
