CRAFTY THINGS
Arts & Crafts - Remember the play dough recipe the preschool teacher gave you? When
you've got to have it, but can no longer find it, just log in to Arts and Crafts. Here you'll find simple recipes for play
dough, silly putty, salt clay and finger paint.
Aunt Annie's Craft Page - Aunt Annie is the benchmark against which all other craft
pages are measured. She has over fifty projects with an emphasis on learning, creativity, and problem-solving. All of her
crafts have illustrated easy-to-follow instructions and many include patterns to download and print.
Crafts For Little Hands - Although its projects lack illustration, Crafts For Little Hands
fills a niche for younger artists. Highlights include clever projects like spin art using paper plates on record players and
painting the sidewalk and exterior walls with water. Whether you're a parent or a teacher, I'm sure you'll find a new idea
for your preschooler here.
Fun Crafts For Kids - Recipes sidewalk chalk and 3 recipes classified as Gooey Stuff.
Crafts and games too.
Michele's Kids Club- Sponsored by the craft store of the same name, Michaels Kids
Club has an extensive and varied list of crafts. Each project includes a detailed supplies list (often using specialized items
not usually found around the house on rainy days) and illustrated directions. Patterns are available for printing from your
Internet browser, or can be picked up in the retail stores. Visit the bimonthly Kids Club newsletter for a story with related
crafts. This month's edition features flying machines with a short history of human flight, a recipe for Flying Taco Cheese
Boys and instructions for party favors with a flying theme.
Models - Free on line models for airplanes,
animals, buildings, castle, culture, education, origami, ships and vehicles. Some free, some cost.
DAILY WORDS
Keep that mind working!
A.Word.A.Day - "The music and magic of words that's what A.Word.A.Day is all
about." Words are usually selected around a weekly theme, and emailed free (with definitions) to over 93,000 subscribers.
You can view today's and yesterday's word at the Web site
 This page features a daily expression from the Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms. Today's entry was "to the marrow." "If you say
that you are chilled to the marrow or frozen to the marrow, you are emphasizing that you are very cold." It can also be used
to emphasize the intensity of someone's beliefs, such as "communist to the marrow." The entries can be difficult to read because
of errors in spacing between words, but exploring idioms is a fun way to deepen one's understanding of our language.
Quote of The Day - provides four daily quotations from an eclectic collection
both contemporary (Steven Wright: "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.") and
historic (Tolstoy: "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.") This daily dose is but
one part of a large quotations site with a search engine. You can also access random quotes from a variety of collections
Word Game of The Day - Got two minutes? These daily puzzles for high-schoolers and adults come in five formats, playing
with definitions, synonyms, antonyms, word ladder transformations, slang, even some history and geography. The games require
a Java-enabled browser and are based on reference material from Merriam-Webster. Some are a little slow to load, but the game
play is very quick and very addictive. Visit the two-month archive at the bottom of the page to play previous games.
GAMES
Checkers-Play checkers against the Sunkist
computer! You are oranges, the computer
is lemons. You go first.
Coloring Pages - Click on the picture of your choice. Print the page and color it!
Kids Chess -Interactive chess lessons, quizzes, games and puzzles for kids. Play chess against the computer. FREE online
chess books for kids - download and print. Everything YOUR school needs to run a chess club. A unique chess site for kids,
teachers and parents. Kids enroll in the
virtual academy by simply entering their name (real
or otherwise) and then viewing the slide show chess instructions, and playing
the online games, which include two versions of chess as well as other strategy games such Battleship and Tetris. Teachers will
find resources to help
them start a school chess club, and parents will find
recommendations on chess software and books. A site with something for everyone!
PLay Site- Play against human opponents at this
Java game site with chat. Playsite includes rooms for checkers, chess, backgammon,
and more. You can play as a guest, but registered users (registration is free) get a rating that increases or decreases with
play. After logging on, go to the Checkers room to find a match. Remember, the games includes chat, so appropriate
parent supervision is recommended.
For Ages Six To Adult
Thinks.com - Play checkers against the computer at this visually-appealing Java checkers game by Cafesoft. You can set the
level of difficulty by deciding how many moves (from one to ten) the computer
can think ahead. You can also choose who plays first. Other Java games at this site include Connect4 and Blocks (a version
of Tetris).
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Money/Finance Games
BizworldDesigned by Tim Draper, a venture capitalist, this course helps students learn to design, manufacture,
and market simple products.
FleetKids - FleetKids is a suite of games, quizzes and interactive lessons designed to teach kids about money.
For budding entrepreneurs, highlights of the site are The Windfall (manage a factory), Play Ball (manage a baseball team)
and Frontyard Fortunes (learn how to start your own business.) Other games will quiz you on calculating change (Ch-Ching)
and challenge your stock market skills (Buy Lo/Sell Hi.) For teachers, there is a printable activity book in Adobe Acrobat
format.
Game.Com - games to play include Monopoly, Scrabble, Backgammon, Checkers and Chess.
Gazillionaire Shareware Game - is a terrific find! It is a Windows-based science-fiction
fantasy game to download and play. Each player runs a trading company in outer space, racing from planet to planet, buying
and selling a variety of commodities (such as jelly beans and lava lamps.) Along the way you'll learn about overhead costs,
profit margins, capitalization and other business concepts. This free version is yours to enjoy, but if you get hooked, you
can buy the Deluxe CD-ROM version with even more features. Be sure to start with the excellent tutorial. The difficulty level
can be adjusted for students from elementary age to college.
Rags to Riches - Iz, Auggie and the Groovy Gravy rock band need
your help raising $5000 to fix a hole in the ozone layer. For the sake of the real goal of the game (which is to teach you
basic business strategies), I'm willing to overlook the absurdity of repairing the ozone layer for $5000; aren't you? If so,
you are the manager of Groovy Gravy's five-city tour. You get to choose concert venues, set ticket prices, decide on advertising
expenditures, and select when to record new songs. Very fun!
Vineyard Challenge-An online, interactive game that incorporates
concepts found in farming, business and marketing. The user is given a set amount of money with which to purchase a vineyard
and grow crops. The outcome is based on several choices made by the user.
Puzzles
Cub Scout Fun Pages - Puzzles developed for Cub Scouts at den meetings introducing and/or
reinforcing information that is presented. Print only. Word searches also available. Whole slew of puzzles!
Easy Crossword - A child's crossword that can be printed
or solved onscreen.
Educational Crossword Puzzles - Freefrorm crossword puzzles that teach children new words. This installment is focused on
bats (the furry kind). For grades 2-5
Kids Crosswords & Other Puzzles - Each of these educational puzzles for the
elementary-school crowd covers a different subject. January's assortment of nine puzzles includes Martin Luther King, Airplanes,
Multiplication, and Punctuation. Most of these puzzles are crosswords, but some are connect-the-dots and word searches. All
are designed to be printed out and completed on paper. Don't miss their extensive archive of past puzzles. Also in Espanol.
Jigzone - the grand daddy of online jigsaw puzzle sites. They have a huge inventory
of Java puzzles at all levels of difficulty, feature a new picture daily, and allow you to email puzzles to friends. But what
I liked best was being able to control both the number of pieces and their shape. For example, start with their puzzle of
the day. Is the sixty-seven piece classic a tad too difficult or perhaps too easy? Click on Shapes and choose your own level
of difficulty from among thirty-three choices, ranging from a six-piece classic (preschool easy) to 240 square pieces (for
serious puzzle enthusiasts only!) One of my favorites/Jean
MaMaMedia Jigsaw Puzzles- This collection of colorful children's Java jigsaws is arranged into twelve
topics (such as Aliens, Pet Parade and Big Sports.) Many of the puzzle illustrations were created by other MaMaMedia kids.
You can submit your own computer-created drawing via email too, as long as you register first. All of the puzzles are a twelve-piece
design, and you can choose among four different shapes by clicking Change Shapes. If you need a bit of help, click Hint to
get the puzzles pieces outlined on the puzzle board.
Marilee's Word Puzzles- Puzzles for 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders that are based on children's picturebooks
and reinforce spelling/phonics skills. Print.
Puzzles by Puzzability - These original interactive puzzles were created to showcase the talents
of a team of three puzzle experts (including the crossword editor of The Wall Street Journal.) "We like to point out
three ingredients you'll find in our puzzles: 1) A puzzle that is left unsolved is basically a failure. Puzzles are made to
be solved. 2) Puzzles are not tests. They're entertainment. 3) A good puzzle is a bit like a joke. The unsolved components
are a set-up, and the solution is the punch line."
Scrambler For Kids- Scrambler is a Java tiled-jigsaw that is fun
for the whole family because you are timed as you play at one of three levels of difficulty. Easy divides the picture into
nine tiles, medium into twelve, and hard into sixteen tiles. Little ones will need help choosing a picture, then pressing
"Load" and "Scramble". But as soon as they see the scrambled tiles, they will understand what to do next. Can you beat your
preschooler? Those little mouse clickers can be fast!
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