It’s a Friday night here in Vancouver. Now that the kids are tucked into bed, I am running around the house packing for a three day weekend at the cabin. While food and clothes are important, it is the weather that has got my attention.  Rain.  The weatherman is calling for rain both days.  With two children ages five and seven, our 784 square foot cabin can easily go from haven to hell in only a matter of hours.  As the saying goes, “It pays to be prepared.”

Below are some of the activities we are going to do this weekend.  They are suitable for kids ages four to eight.

Books

Our favourite chapter book this week is, The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo.  Winner of the John Newberry Medal, it’s all I can do to keep myself from reading it after the kids have gone to bed.

Colouring books can be hit and miss.  But the Dover Coloring Book series are factual and provide information about the contents of the colouring page.  These books are great if your child likes animals.  My kids like cutting the pictures out after they are coloured and using them to make posters. 

Games

• Buggo, made by Ravensburger, is a concentration card game that’s easy to pack and is fun for the whole family to play.  It’s a memory game as well as a counting game. 

• Fairytale Snap, by Usborne, is a great card game for two or more players and very popular with the princess crowd.  You can play it as Snap, Go Fish or Concentration.

• Stamping is a great craft to do with the kids.  I bring coloured paper and make cards for teachers, birthdays and thank-you notes.  I buy our stamps and ink pads at the dollar stores.

• The Crayola Storyteller is designed like a plastic book notebook with a mini recorder located along the side.  The plastic cover opens up like a book with 8.5” x 11” paper inside. My kids like to draw a picture, then hit the record button and tell the story.  Crayons are stored in the side pocket making this a great activity for the car. 

With all the great activities I have prepared for this weekend, what am I going to do if it’s sunny?  I hope you have a great cottage weekend whatever the weather.

Cheers,

Julie  

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 9:27 am and is filed under Entertaining. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.