OUTSIDE TOGETHER
• Sledding — Reasons to Sled: Feel like a kid again, Burn about 476 calories an hour, Improve cardio fitness, Spend time with your kids, Enjoy the fresh air, Go on an exhilarating ride free of charge (Based on a 150 lb. person)
• Biking
• Walking
• Jogging
• Making snow angels
• Building a snowman
• Washing the car
• Building a fort

TOWN TOURIST
• Map out an itinerary and visit the places a tourist would go to on their vacation.
• Take the Data Bus from place to place.
• When you get back, make a brochure encouraging others to visit your town.
• Draw pictures of the neat things you saw and did.

NATURE WALK
Go for a walk in the woods, or perhaps just around your block.
• Pick up ‘treasures’ along the way. What catches your eye? Maybe a seed that looks like a helicopter, or a sparkly stone, or beautiful flower. A stick, leaf, or feather that may tell a story. Tinsel from someone’s Christmas tree. Where did that come from?
• When you get home, put your ‘treasures’ in categories: living/nonliving, shiny/dull, etc.
• Make a collage of your finds and put them in a frame.

CLOUD PICTURES
• Stare at the clouds and try to find pictures of objects, animals, or people in them.
• Draw them from memory and make a cloud book to share.

MAKE A KITE
To make your own kite you will need paper, markers or crayons, drinking straws, scissors, ruler, tape, hole punch, string,
and toothpicks.

• Cut a piece of paper in half lengthwise. Fold one of the rectangles in half so that the two short ends meet. Crease the
fold.
• Decorate the fold side with markers or crayons.
• Attach a straw to the underside of the paper by taping the straw 11/4” from the edges of the paper.
• Hole punch a small hole through the crease, 1” from the leading edge of the kite.
• Thread 4” of a 6’ length of string around a toothpick; then pull the string back through the hole until the toothpick rests firmly in the crease on the undecorated side of the kite. Tape the toothpick to the paper.
• For a tail, decorate 5 strips of paper about 1” wide x 11” long and tape them together, end- to-end. Fasten the tail to the kite at the end of the crease opposite from the string.

Now, have fun and go fly a kite!!!

OUTDOOR SCAVENGER HUNT
Write down a list of things to find outside, give everyone a copy and a time limit and let the game begin. The person with the most found items gets out of doing yard work!

MAKE A BUBBLE BREW
• Mix 1 gallon of water with 1 1/2 Cups of Joy or Dawn dish detergent.
• Add 1/4 Cup corn syrup or glycerin.
• Have fun blowing bubbles, but make sure you save some for nighttime. Shine flashlights on the bubbles.
• If the temperature is below zero, bundle up and enjoy blowing bubbles like you’ve never seen before! You’ll be surprised how the bubbles appear motionless at times. Sometimes they bounce when they hit the snow. Watch the bubbles sparkle as they freeze.

HAVE A BACKYARD CAMP-OUT
Kids love camping in the great outdoors, and although a trip to Yosemite would be great-you can enjoy a super camping experience in your own backyard!

• Pick a night when the whole family can take a break from the usual routine.
• Turn the answering machine on and declare the house off-limits (except for the bathroom).
• Then, pitch a tent in your yard or drape a tarp over a clothesline for shelter, and pile sleeping bags or blankets inside.
• You can even build a safe campfire in a portable grill for roasting marshmallows!
• When everyone’s had their fill, strike up a round of campfire songs or story telling.
• And don’t forget to help your kids search the sky for the Big Dipper, Little Bear and other favorite constellations. Although stargazing is best on dark, moonless nights, you might consider camping out under a full moon-when nature’s own night-light can take some of the spookiness out of the enterprise.

PRESSED FLOWER PICTURE
Make your own pressed flower picture. Great for gifts, cards, book covers, and more.
• To get started you will need flower blooms, newspaper, tissue paper, wax paper, construction paper, cardboard, heavy books and/or large rock/brick, and clear contact paper.
• Press your flowers as described below:

– Gather the flowers you want to press.
– First set out a piece of cardboard that is almost the same size as your book, lay a piece of newspaper (about the same size as your cardboard piece) on top of that, followed by a piece of tissue paper (also about the same size as your cardboard piece).
– Place the flowers on the tissue paper. Make sure none of them touch each other or hang over the side of the tissue paper.
– Cover the flowers with another piece of tissue paper, then newspaper, and then cardboard.
– You can continue this process, one on top of the other, until all your flowers are prepared.
– Once your stack is done, top it off with your heavy book and the brick or stone. This method usually takes 2 – 4 weeks.

• Once your flowers are ready, cut a piece of wax paper to the size you want your picture.
• Carefully arrange your flowers on the wax paper into the design you want (they will be fragile!).
• Add a small dab of glue onto the back of your flowers to hold them in place. Set them aside to let the glue dry a bit.
• Cover the flowers and wax paper with a piece of clear contact paper. Gently press to make sure the contact paper adheres to all the flowers.
• You can now frame your picture with a piece of construction paper or a real frame if you like.

MILK JUG BIRD FEEDER
Make a bird feeder for your friendly neighborhood birds.
• You will need a milk jug (washed and dried), string, crayons, markers or paints, scissors, a wood dowel for a perch, hammer, large nail or awl, and bird food such as – seeds, nuts, dried bread, or dried fruit.
• Cut the circles out of both sides of the milk jug. Decorate with crayons, markers or paints.
• Poke a hole, big enough for your dowel, on each side of the milk jug under the cut out windows.
• Punch two small holes below the cap. Screw the cap back onto the jug. Insert the string through the two holes until it is centered so that the feeder doesn’t hang lopsided.
• You may want to put a few very small holes in the bottom of the jug for drainage in case of rain.
• Push the dowel through the milk jug, close to where the “windows” are so birds may perch and eat, and fill with bird food.