After brainstorming a few challenge ideas with M and M, I made Challenge Cards on the computer.  (Grab a copy by clicking on Challenge Cards.)  I let Big M cut our Challenge Cards.

The idea is simple, and so are the rules.

1.  Pick a Challenge Card.
2.  Complete the challenge.  YAHOO!
3.  Make it a competitive game and compete to have a winner.  Or make it a competition against yourself and work on completing the challenge.  Or make it a cooperative game and have all players working on the same piece.
4.  Play by yourself or with a group.

We folded up the cards and tossed them into a hat.  We took turns picking a challenge without looking.

Big M may have peaked… but I pretended I didn’t notice.

We pulled Occupation Scene.  No surprise that Big M went for a crane.  Most of his creations have wheels.  I love the alligator farm made by a neighbor friend who stopped by for a quick game.  I contributed a fireman putting out a fire.

The 3 Minute Timer challenge yielded unfinished creations, but it sure was fun to race against the clock!

So what’s the best part of the family Lego Challenge?  All the learning that goes on while the kids are having a blast.

Oh look at those fine motor muscles working!

When the challenge Use 50 Pieces was drawn we practiced sorting and counting by 10.

Of course reading the Challenge Cards as well!

For more Lego ideas, check out the blog, A Mom with a Lesson Plan.  It is filled with lots of games and ideas of how you can learn with your kids.  Written by Jillian, a stay at home mom who loves to learn…and teach. She started AMomWithALessonPlan.com to share some of the ideas that she enjoys with her kids. She wants Moms [and Dads] to know that adding a little learning to playtime is fun and easy.  Thanks Jillian for guest posting today!

1. Looking forward to bookmaking and puppet shows – The Imagination Tree
2. Building a life sized Noah’s Ark in the backyard. My son even drew up plans - ObSeussed.
3. Coming up with and playing Balloon games – MamaSmiles
4. I want to make an indoor inflatable ball pit (or balloon pit) from a tarp – Rachel, a Quirky Momma.
5. We want to try more paper mache – MamaSmiles.
6. We all want to build an elaborate water wall… like a domino run but for water – Se7en Hoods.
7. I once saw someone let her kids paint right on the floor! Then mopped it up…I’ve been scared to try – Two Bears Farm
8. Shaken art is on my list to try with my toddler – Hands on: As we Grow
9. I want to try all of @nurturestore’s play dough ideas! – My Creative Family.
10. How about a giant PVC pipe sprinkler course – Golden Gleam
11. We want to make ice ornaments as soon as it’s cold enough – inspired by Red Ted Art.
12. I want to try some stop motion animation projects with my kids - Frugal Family Fun
13. I want to try toilet tube sculpture with my daughter inspired by Chocolate Muffin Tree.
14. Our kids want to create and paint garden stones this year – Juiles Rose
15. We enjoy riding tricycles in the garage and use sidewalk chalk on the garage floor. Not really outside, but a change. - Just One Mommy.
16. Make more tall paintings - The Imagination Tree
17. I have tons of outdoor play ideas I want to try when we move to house in Feb: water wall, DIY teepee, chalkboard, music area. -  Mama Pea Pod
18. Put up blackboard paint on the walls, with a border around it so kids know not to draw anywhere else – Utterly Scrummy
19. Make booties out of wax paper & masking tape. Skate on carpet! – Frugal Family Fun
20. We love to turn their playroom into all different places like grocery store, vet office, pizza parlor. House of fun! – No Time for Flashcards
21. We try to convert some outdoor play to indoor ex: hopscotch, hide & seek, races – My Creative Family
22. Make a giant sensory tub out of summer old inflatable pool – The Imagination Tree
23. We also own a giant cardboard house that I set up when the weather turns bitter cold…indoor mail delivery fun begins! – Kitchen Counter Chronicles
24. Draw directly onto the tabletop – dry erase crayons work great for this. – Make Do and Friend
25. Scavenger hunts! Either with a “map” or I just say, “find something yellow, red, square….” you get the idea. – Just One Mommy.
26. Emergency activity to amuse the kids? Give them a cardboard box and some marker pens and let them go! – Green Mums.
27. For my toddler, sensory tubs are an easy way to keep her absorbed and independently playing for ages! – MamaPeaPod
28. My friend has an indoor bouncy castle in their spare bedroom! – Nurture Store
29. Blocks, all shapes and sizes, even tupperware cups/bins – Sense of Wonder
30. Building forts and indoor picnics are also quite popular around here. - Frugal Family Fun
31. Create with normal packing maize. It sticks to itself with water and can be cut/squashed by kids. No mess! – LittleHen

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Leave your twitter handle in the comments and I’ll send you an invite a few days before our next chat as a reminder to join the fun!

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After school activities include:
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Make a puppet and put on a show.  Love this tutorial on how to make a puppet from Jellyfish Jelly.  Turn a table (or chair) on it’s side and you have the perfect stage for your show.

Play with a bag of googly eyes.  Jaime of Hands on: As we grow made these bags out of hair gel and added googly eyes for her kids to smoosh and play with.

Create a huge floor maze with masking tape.  Tape is fun for kids of all ages – thanks Adventures at Home for the inspiration

Make modern art with matchbox cars.  Shannon of Tot School dribbled contrasting lines of paint on opposite sides of her  canvases and her girls had fun “driving” their cars through the paint.

Have a playdough Tea-Party – Anna of The Imagination Tree has dozens and dozens of playdough ideas.  Her playdough recipes are some of my favorites!

Make a water wall, or pour rice, even cornstarch if you don’t mind a mess.  Thanks Let the Children Play

Do your kids love creating art?  How about make collages with supplies on hand – love the suggested materials from Kate at  Picklebums.

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What are your kids favorite things to do when they are “on break”?

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Be sure to save all your fun kids activities!!!  Our meme, It’s Playtime, will be back in full-force next week!

They were super easy and so much fun!

All you need is prepared pancake mix, chocolate chips, bacon, and whipped topping.

Step 1:

Pour your pancake mix in a small circle and a larger circle.  Make sure to place them close enough together so that they will touch as the batter spreads out.

Step 2:

Flip the pancakes once and cook until done.

Step 3:

Have fun decorating your snowman!  Bacon for a scarf, chocolate chips for face and buttons, and whipped topping for snow.  You could really use lots of different yummy treats to decorate him so have some fun with it!

Be sure to let your kids have some fun decorating their own snowman pancakes.

My 3 year old loved placing the chocolate chips just right on her pancake…and then eating them right off as soon as she was done.

My son made a one-eyed “Snowclops” on his plate.

This was a fun treat for our family and one that I definitely plan to make again.

A play tent is super easy to make!  We made this one out of PVC pipes and old sheets.  It is great for pretend play.

Have a favorite game?  These boys did, and they re-enacted Angry Birds.  Pick your kids favorite book of wii game and try to replicate it through play.

Dress-up clothes help put our kiddos “in character” with the personality they are acting out.  Bloesem Kids had fun creating a variety of paper glasses for her kids to play pretend with.

Every princess enjoys having tea parties… and every cowboy loves decorating his own cupcakes.  Love these photos from Pretties and Posies.

“Don’t touch the laser beams!”  Those were instructions given at a Super Spy Party.  The kids had a blast avoiding the beams.

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To help my kindergartener with her sight words we love throwing a beach ball around.  She has to tell me the words on the color she catches.

Vanessa of Pre-K Pages made math fun with a flyswatter.  The students had to “swat” the right answer.

Trying to teach your kids how to create sentences?  Or chunking words?  I love these DIY word blocks.

Looking for learning apps?  If your 5 year old is like mine, the ipad or phone can entertain them for hours.  Here is a collection of best learning apps for kids.

Science experiments in a box.  Here is a collection of simple science experiments.  Sure to enthrall a kiddo.

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My kids love to create.  We made wall letters out of foam board with lots of textures.

This mom re-purposed old toys into works of art.  They primed them and painted them.  How fun!

My five year olds love to interact with each other.  Lissy Bug had a great idea – play pass the drawings.  Have each child contribute to the work, then when the timer dings, switch to the next person.

Make a community work of art with a collection of frames.  A Bird and a Bean used painters tape to create a silhouette for her kids work.

Who said that art has to last?  Tinkerlab gives us instructions on how to make an easy DIY light table.  Her kids had fun creating and re-creating in salt.
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Like this post but are looking for activities for other age groups of kids?
Check out our other age sets:

Activities for One Year Olds

Activities for Two Year Olds

Activities for Three Year Olds

Activities for Four Year Olds

Activities for Five Year Olds

Owl Mask.  This would be a great addition to a Halloween Costume!  Just add a big paperbag “bird body”.

Fridge Jack-O-Lanterns.  I love how they used magnets to create the faces!  What a great way to help your youngsters learn about emotion and facial expressions too!

Pine-Cone & Peanut Butter Bird Feeder.  We make these every fall!  My youngsters are already asking me when we can go collect pine-cones.  Thanks for the reminder.

 Tissue Paper Trees.  My tykes love gluing.  This is sure to be a loved fall art activity.

Paper Bag Scare Crow.  So easy and simple to make!  Beats a rotting pumpkin on your doorstep too!

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Thanks to all the blogs who linked up some great inspiration.  Check out my co-hosts blogs.  Our kid’s meme is featured not just on Quirky Momma, but also on these great play-blogs:

Let the Children Play – Play Loving BLogs
The Imagination Tree – 40 Ways of Autumn Play
Hands On: As We Grow – 26 Tin Can Activities
Messy Kids – Ideas with Apples

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Happy browsing the great posts collected below.  Link back to let others know about our fun!

If you have pencils (or pens) toilet paper tubes and a hole punch, you can create your very own tinker toys!  Almost Unschoolers created a set with her kids.

We had a table like this growing up – and I should create one for my kids!  Old electronics, once the batteries are removed, are great toys to practice taking and putting things back together again.  Thanks Irresistable Ideas for the inspiration.

Have a Kiddo who loves to live outside?  Make mud or sand bricks for him to build with using an ice cube tray.

My kids personal favorite “building” activity is creating structures with marshmallows and toothpicks.  Looking for something more healthy?  Try Grapes.

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Use a set of lids.  On each lid paint a different element of the scene.  Stack the lids to create a 3D image.

Use Glue to create the “lines”.  After the glue has dried, paint over it and your “leaves” will have a great pop factor! Thanks Having Fun at Home.

We’ve enjoyed Ball Painting before, Casa Maria has a version where you squirt paint in the box lid, then smash it with a papertowel roll.  The results are stunning.

Here is a Whirly-Gig Toy that you can make yourself with just a bit of wire, add a “person” and your child can watch them swing.

Henry at Hands On: As We Grow enjoyed exploring in his yard with some scrap wood.  He made balance beam bridges.

Bowling.  WHo said it needs to be played indoors.  Here is an outdoor DIY bowling game.

Have kids and want to keep them outside?  All you need is some string and two sticks.  Frugal Family Fun shows us how to make gigantic bubbles.

Practice jumping and catching with a homemade Kick board.  Sometimes the simple activities are the most engaging.

We made these Marshmallow Guns for our nephews last year for Christmas time.  They were a huge hit!  Outdoors is best.  I am still finding a stray marshmallow underneath a dresser or two.

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Like this post but are looking for activities for other age groups of kids? Check out our other age sets:

Activities for One Year Olds

Activities for Two Year Olds

Activities for Three Year Olds

Activities for Four Year Olds

Activities for Five Year Olds

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Let the Children Play – Play Loving BLogs
The Imagination Tree – 40 Ways of Autumn Play
Hands On: As We Grow – 26 Tin Can Activities
Messy Kids – Ideas with Apples

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Wax mixes differently than watercolors.  The kids at Child Central Station had fun blow-drying crayons.

Practice mixing by “Squishing Colors” colors with Picklebum.

Preschool Projects has a great idea to send secret messages to your kids through their painting projects.

Science Sparks changes the colors of flowers in a recent science experiment.

Make your own Kaleidoscope with the JellyFish Jelly blog.

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Do you have a kids activity that you’d like to share with the world?  We’d love to hear about it!

Link up (and if you love us, link back).   Note:  All posts must be family-friendly, kid-related and we just might feature you   By linking up, know you are giving us permission to do so.
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So simple that all it requires is two willing participants.

My 5 y/o, Rhett, is ALWAYS willing to play our little gymnastic games.

His favorite is flying.  I lay on my back {preferably on a soft grass surface, but often in our living room} and put my feet on his chest.

1, 2, 3 LIFT OFF!

Up he goes in the air.  Holding my hands at first to gain balance and then letting go ever so slowly.

It is fun because I have a close up of his facial expressions.  Every hesitation, bobble and courageous moment is written plainly on his face.

We experiment with foot placement and how that affects balance.  Where is the best position to do a full airplane? 

Arms outstretched and legs held high

Chin to the sun

Laughing at the birds

Giggles cause imbalance

Leading to a full collapse

On top of mom

Begging for one more time

No need for me to head to the gym on these days…the quad workout is pretty intense.