DadJack.com Blog » Dad-Tivities

Picture Perfect… Book ‘Em, Daddo!

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:49:05 +0000

This one requires a little solo Dad work, but the results are great! Taking photos is a must if you have kids ( I may go a little overboard, but digital photography has made it cheap and easy to capture almost every moment!) The downside to this digital photo revolution is that many of us don’t print the pictures, they sit on a card or hard drive, un-viewed and unappreciated, or on your Facebook page, where friends can see them, but the kids don’t really have access.

So What I do, is every 4 to 6 months, I make a photo book of our “Adventures” (We’re on volume 4 right now.) You may be asking yourself, what the heck is a photo book? Think old school, yellowing pages, plastic sheet pulled over your pics, photo album… Only way, way cooler. You get to place the photos, design the pages and the best part, write the captions. (I’ll explain why this is the best part soon). Sites like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Photoworks are great places to start… And if you get on their mailing list they’ll sent you promotions (which often include huge discounts on photo books.) A side benefit is that when you upload your photos to these sites they store them for you… Just another way to back-up your precious memories.

If your kids are older you can have them help with the whole creation process… But if they’re small like mine, it’s more fun to surprise them! The end result looks just like a real book you would buy at the book store, so the kids are amazed their pictures are in there. This is where the captioning comes in, I try to write the captions at the reading level of the kids, it’s a great way to promote reading, nothing is more fun than reading about themselves and the places they have been… And I throw in a wacky few that Bing will latch onto. When we go through the books, Bing will remember certain captions and yell them out. We read ours as a bedtime story or when we’re sitting on the couch in the evening.

And knowing that you are not all single losers like me… They make a great gift for the spouse too! I had a dear friend surprise me with one filled with photos that they had taken while our kids were hanging together and I love it.

So get that camera out and start shooting!

Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Market

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:41:32 +0000

I’ve told you before, heck we’ve even made videos, about how cooking is a great way to spend time with the kids… Well, the preparation can be just as great! Talk to your Tot about what they want to make, search the internet for a recipe (Or pick something easy like homemade pizza or cookies). Make a shopping list, now depending on how old your kids are this process can differ, but with my kids I read off the ingredients and they draw pictures of them on our list along with the quantity we need. We start in the pantry and see if we have any of the items, if we do we cross them off… For everything else we’re off to the market. And don’t incorporate this into your normal market trip, make it special for this project. Go down the aisles, let them find the items, explain pricing and size options… It is not just quality time, but a great learning experience for them to learn how to compare items, learn lessons about money and better understand sizes and measurements. Also, about completing tasks and following a list.

Once the list is complete, the only thing left to do is cook! Go home and have a blast!

If you have any fun “Dad-Tivities” sent them to me at jack@dadjack.com

Mass Transit = Mass Appeal

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:54:47 +0000

I love to share “adventures” with my kids, but that doesn’t mean we have to hike a mountain or raft a river. One of our favorite modes of adventure is taking mass transit. Sure we all have cars, some not only with radios, but DVD players and a GPS doing more talking than you and your kids are. Hoping on a bus, subway or rail line can not only get you to some interesting places, but gives you time to take in your city with the kids without worrying about actually do the driving. Even if it’s just a short distance, my kids and I will often take the subway just one or two stops, the process can be just as interesting as the destination for little ones.

The best way to start your adventure is to look up your cities mass transit website to see what your options are (Here in L.A. – http://www.metro.net ) and then throw some snacks, extra diapers, baby wipes (no matter how old your kids are, these always come in handy) and your sense of adventure into a backpack and hit the streets!