Author Archive: Melody Bruce

Make Your Wild West Cowboy Party

August 1, 2016

To make your Wild West adventure perfect don’t forget Cowboy Party Ideas!

 

Planning & Invitations

Add more surprises! Aside from your basic party supplies such as plates, cups, napkins, and decorations, think about purchasing or renting these items:

 

  1. Cowboy hats
  2. Sheriff badges
  3. Red bandanas
  4. Disposable Cameras
  5. Prizes for the party games
  6. Red bandanas
  7. Bales of hay

 

What about hiring someone to bring a horse to ride? Creative invitations give more excitement and invite more guests attending in your child’s Cowboy party.

 

If you want to make your own, we have some great ideas for you:

 

  • Create your Wanted Poster in paper plus a photo of a child in the center part. You can put party details inside and an invitation outside that says you are wanted at a party.
  • Have several craft rope that is about 1/4″ thick and glue it based on a lasso shape in the construction paper. You can write the party details inside the lasso ring.
  • Let us print customized cowboy invitations for you! The invitations include your child’s name and the complete party details plus the background design based on cowboy theme.

 

 

Decorating & Food Ideas

Cowboy Decorating Ideas

 

  • Use available toys in your house like horses and cowboy boots and make them into party decorations.
  • Use red and white checkered tablecloths for your tables. You can use toy train as your decoration in the table and place the cake right in the center of the track.
  • Don’t forget balloons! Children would miss them. Use a combination of our Western themed balloons with our single color latex balloons.
  • Create some signs that say like Welcome Buckaroos, Park Your Horse Here, No Bandits allowed, and No Varmints! Hang the signs in all corners and spaces of the party.
  • Make a wanted poster for every child and provide them with fun alias, like Dastardly David, or what about One-Eyed William. Below the words Wanted For, you can add silly “crimes” such as robbing a bank, stealing candy and others. Hang the posters in all corners of the party area.

 

Cowboy Food Ideas

Make sure your food doesn’t set apart with your party theme. Here are yummy ideas for Cowboy Party food:

 

  • Prepare and serve traditional cowboy delicacies, such as chili, Sloppy Joes, chicken drumsticks, grilled hamburgers, and hotdogs. For side dishes, have tortilla chips, baked beans, cole slaw, and roasted corn on the cob.
  • Think of some fun descriptions for your food such as Best Rootin’ Tootin’ Hot Dogs, Crunchiest Cole Slaw, Best Rib Stickin’ Chicken, Howlin’ Hot Salsa, Most Sweet Tooth Satisfyin’ Dessert, and Howlin’ Hot Salsa.
  • For your party drinks serve milk, juice, and root beer in bottles. For snacks serve cookies, chips, candy in a cowboy hat with a bandana in line.
  • Have empty glasses jars and fill it with different kind of candy like pixie sticks, candy necklaces,root beer barrels, and old fashioned taffy.

Party

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Pokemon Party Ideas

July 27, 2016

Pokemon and Pikachu are already many years ago. Now, everything is new again that the younger generations are totally in love with these critters. For kids, celebrating a party with a Pokemon theme would definitely be fun.

Here are some tips for a successful Pokemon-theme party:

Party table ideas

Let the tables filled with Pokemon favors and Pikachu’s smiling face. Then, complete the party venue with balloons, hanging swirls and more.

Dress up ideas

Whether the guests want to be a trainer or a Pokemon, there’s always something for them in this party such as fun wearables like hats, wristbands and award ribbons.

Games and activities

Making use of ‘badges’ would be a great way to connect those unrelated party games to the Pokemon theme. For example, you can have a pinata to earn a ‘Boulder Badge.’ You could make your own badges or let yourkids make them out of paper or clay.

Other recommended games include:

Pokemon Psychic Challenge

Try to 70 of the balls in a large glass vase. As each guest arrived, asked them to write down their name and the number of Pokeballs in the container. The guesses may range from 18 to 102. Whoever guesses the exact number of balls or came with the closest guess may earn a badge.

Gotta Catch ’em All Pokeball Hunt

Place around 140 ping-pong-turned-pokeballs in your front yard andhand out bags to children for them to run around the yard and ‘catch’ as many Pokeballs as they could. Count the balls they have found and see who won.

Squirtle Water Balloon Blast

Paint 3 Pokeballs using watercolors on thick paint paper and make30 water balloons for instance. Each child will throw the balloons and hit the Pokeballs in order, from closest to farthest. It is definitely a fun for children. Then, whoever wins can earn a Water Badge.

Food and drinks

Depending on the number of your guests, you cankeep the menu simple. The most common ideas are gumballs and other round candies used in Pokemon-themed foods. For snacks, you can have Pokeball snack plate with white cheddar cheese and strawberries, sea salt popcorn with chocolate Smarties sparingly mixed in, and Pikachu and Pokeball cupcakes.

For drinks, lemonade and water are a good option. Try to have party paper supplies, including Pokemon-themed accessories, paper straws, chevron treat cups and square blue trays.

Party

How Outdoor Learning Enhances Children’s Quality of Life

July 14, 2016

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According to recent reports, outdoor learning should be formally introduce as part of the global school curricula because it is found to be a significant factor in improving the quality of children’s life.

Two universities, Plymouth University and Western Sydney University produced the report entitled Student Outcomes and Natural Schooling. The study emphasized the various benefits of learning in the natural environment to children’s education, social skills, behavior, health and well-being, and sense of place. Furthermore, the study shows the lesser chances of exploring the environment and freedom to play because of full curriculum, busier family lifestyles and fear in the society.

 A new report pointed out framework on how the governments could build on previous and on going research and make outdoor learning as an essential element of national education policies and programs. According to the one of the authors of the report, Sue Waite, although there is important study supporting outdoor learning for academic, social and personal results, the policymakers should recognized the endeavor to fully achieve the comprehensive positive cultural innovation.

For the past 10 years, there have been five important and relevant reviews focusing on children learning in natural environments in the United Kingdom and other countries.

This report was published after the Lessons from Near and Far conference led by Plymouth University in July 2015, featuring 21 international presentations that has the main purpose of encouraging practitioners researchers, and policy makers to collaborate and share ideas that can be crafted for national policies. It also includes a review of current research and policy impacts in the UK, Australia, Singapore and Denmark to present methods to unite and develop evidence, findings and policy or agenda effectively.

The proposed framework has pathways to research-oriented practice designed to produce five key results for children:

  • a healthy and happy body and mind
  • a sociable confident person
  • a self-directed and creative learner
  • an effective and productive contributor
  • an active global citizens

Uncategorized

Guide to Planning a Birthday Party

March 21, 2016

HAPPY

Preparation Period

To be able to pull an exciting birthday party together at a relaxed pace, you need to plan about 4-6 weeks ahead. This time frame will also help you buy the party supplies as part of your shopping trips and not cram at the last minute to buy them.

Theme

The theme will give the framework for your child’s party. It will also serve as your guide as you plan the flow of the party. The theme should be appropriate to your child’s age and interest.

Date

It is best to hold the party on a weekend, preferably a Saturday so you’ll have the Sunday to rest. Although a Sunday party will give you more time to prepare, though. You just have to start it in the afternoon so it won’t conflict with church activities. A weekend party will surely be well attended than a party held on a weekday.

However, you have to have to check the date on your child’s guests to make sure that most of them are available. There’s nothing more disappointing for a child than to have a party with only a few friends in attendance.

Venue

You can choose to have the party at home or at an outside facility. You just have to consider potential safety issues. You need to balance convenience and safety. A home party is convenient because supplies are close at hand and the guests are familiar with the place. They will easily engage when the activities begin. The only concern is the cleaning up afterward. A party held on an outside facility like a park or a picnic ground may be more fun but may take more of your crowd control skills to make sure that the party goes as planned without anyone getting hurt or damaging something.

Duration

Some parties may be ideal for an hour or two especially if the guests are younger kids. But for a birthday party with older guests, three hours is usually the ideal length of the celebration. It won’t feel rushed or dragging. It will give you enough time to do all the prepared activities but not too long that guests become bored and unruly.

Guests

Guests should be determined by your child to make sure that it will really be a memorable event for him/her. Although you can add some kids on the list, if ever some of your child’s friends won’t be able to make it. It is also good to invite the siblings and parents of your child’s friends to make the party livelier. Also, do not forget to RSVP so that you can prepare appropriately the food and space.

Activities

A child’s party is mainly composed of Games, Activities and Food. When it comes to food, children don’t eat much so do not allocate a lot of time in the program for refreshment time.

Budget

You can allot about $5-20 per child. The cost depends on the type of party you’ll have. The cost is higher if you do it on a paid outside facility, hire entertainers, serve full meals and give elaborate prizes and favor bags. But if you choose a freelocation and facilitate the activities yourself and limit refreshments to ice-cream, cake and drinks, the cost per child will be lower.

 

Party

A Magic-themed birthday party

March 14, 2016

Kids Party Entertainment

 

Find a magician in Dallas.

Here are some tips on how to throw a magic-themed birthday party for your child.

Invitation

Make or purchase invitations shaped like any of a magician’s famous tools like a black top hat, wands, playing cards, rabbits or capes. You can also be creative with a DIY black top hat with a rabbit insert where the party details are printed.

Magic wands

If the guests are old enough they can make their own edible magic wand. You just have to provide pretzel rods, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Instruct them to dip the pretzel rods in dark chocolate. After the chocolate hardens, let them dip both ends of the rod in white chocolate. A healthy alternative to this is threading fruits like strawberries, grapes, watermelon and grapes along a kabob stick. To finish the magic wand top it off with a star-shaped cookie.

If the guests are too young to make their own magic wand, you can make them ahead of time yourself.magic-184447_960_720

Birthday cake

Wow your child with a three-dimensional top hat shaped birthday cake. Just bake enough layers of chocolate cake to form a top hat. Hollow out the inside and put a rabbit inside made from a vanilla cake.

Magic Potion

For your party drinks, you can make a magic concoction by scooping some strawberry sherbet into a fruit punch then sprinkle it with edible glitters. This swirly magic potion will surely amaze the guests once you serve it with a lot of ice.

Entertainment

An actual magician who’ll do a magic show for your kids party entertainment will truly make the party a blast. If you’re on a tight budget you can ask someone to dress up as a magician and learn some tricks to impress the guests.

Magic Capes

This can be a good take home gift for the guests. You can provide swaths of fabric which the guests can decorate with glitter glue, foam letters or fabric markers. They’ll have fun creating them and wearing them all throughout the party.

Decorations

A red curtain hung on the doorway will give each guest a spectacular entrance. Use garlands or tablecloths in red and gold and create unique centerpieces like top hats and wands. You can also dim the light for a mysterious feel. Don’t forget to dress-up your child in a magician’s costume to put emphasis on the theme.

Party bags

A top hat filled with goodies is a nice party favor for the guests. Include some bubbles, glitter glue, candies and some magic accessories in the bag.

 

 

Magicians

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Fun Ideas for Your Next Birthday Party

December 9, 2015

Young children at party sitting at table with mother carrying ca

Have you recently made the decision to host a birthday party in your home? Even if you have started planning your birthday party, there is a good chance that you have yet to get to the entertainment. Well, if it is time for you to start thinking about your birthday party entertainment, you will find that you, literally, have an unlimited number of options.

When it comes to deciding on party entertainment, for your birthday party, it is important to keep the type of party that you are hosting in mind. Are you having a formal birthday party or a causal birthday party? What does your guest list look like? Are you having a birthday party for kids, one for adults, or a party where everyone is invited? The type party that you will be having is extremely important, when it comes to choosing entertainment for the event.

For a causal birthday party, music that your guests can get up and dancing to may be the perfect form of entertainment. It is your choice if you would like to have music at your birthday party, as well as what type of music, it may be a good idea to tailor your selection to your birthday party.

Party games are another popular form of entertainment that may be ideal for your birthday party. As you may likely already know, party games, particularly those that are causal in nature, may not fit in with a formal birthday party. That does not mean that you can not incorporate party games into a formal birthday party, it just means that you want to find games that will fit in with your party theme.

If you are planning a casual birthday party, it may be ideal to have a wide array of snacks on hand, particularly if children will be present at your party. For a formal birthday party, a full fledge birthday dinner may be the perfect choice.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different forms of entertainment that you can offer at your next birthday party. Regardless of which type of party you plan on hosting, you can easily take steps to ensure that your party guests have a fun, exciting, and memorable time.

Variety Entertainment

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Book

How Summer Reading Program Can Inspire Your Kids

May 19, 2015

We keep on telling our children that reading is good for them but what do they really get out of it and does it matter at all?

Reading is an important skill that should be introduced to kids. Aside from being an essential survival tool, reading at an early age can help develop the child’s literacy and language skills. Reading will serve as a portal for your child’s present and future academic excellence.

Reading has a very big impact upon a person’s life. It can either strengthen him or weaken him. Depending upon how we use it, reading can be a tool and a weapon; a shield and a vagabond. Reading is an integral part of communication that we should not take for granted because without reading, the relating of knowledge will be useless because writers cannot write without reading and when nobody exerts the effort to read and to write, this world will be field with ignorance that is beyond our control and civilization will be the only impossible phenomena on earth.

But there’s this trend that has been fought for by teachers and library staff along with the government for quite some time now. It’s the Summer Reading Program. Although it has been taken for granted by most people for years now, taking it as something boring and a waste of time, it actually has a lot of benefits.

Summer is also the time for various programs and one of those are the reading programs where sadly, only few have taken notice of and have been interested in. Although more kids go for the summer reading program than for ball games, it is still imminent that the purpose of these reading programs are anything but vivid. Questions revolve around whether the kids really learn or are they just wasting their time reading things that aren’t real. Are they really improving their reading skills? Are they learning anything? Do reading programs lead to higher learning skills?

These Summer Reading Programs help children and teens retain and enhance their Meta cognitive capacity or their ability to learn all by themselves, they provide a safe haven for readers, and they stand as valuable and highly reliable outreach tools for the libraries.

And through the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum or the one who embeds literacy in all parts of the curriculum, reading is a very essential skill for our children and teens.

It has been proven by studies that students who go for the summer reading programs and actually take them seriously are likely to have improved their reading skills. This program is the cure for learning loss. It provides a very unique kind of exercise to the brain and to the whole being of a person because through reading, one is not only learning about things but through reading and imagination, they are also able to exercise their emotions and are able to learn lots of things about life.

Summer reading programs are implemented by various schools and mostly on public libraries.

This summer, encourage your kids to read books even though school days are temporarily over. Amazing Attractions will bring learning and fun together at libraries. Amazing Attractions’ Summer Reading Program 2015 will teach young ones the important of reading. Seussology 101, a popular show by Sister Cat, is part of their summer reading program. It promotes reading and rhymes to the audiences. This show has magic, comedy and fun! This is best for families and children up to 3rd grade.

With Sister Cat’s company, your kids will surely enjoy Dr. Seuss’ stories and books. What’s more interesting? Sister Cat will speak in rhymes!

Want more from Amazing Attractions? They also offer fun and entertainment for any kinds of event. Amazing Attractions entertainment services include clowns, magicians, jugglers, face painter and more.

Featured, Summer

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Books

Key Benefits of Summer Reading Programs

May 19, 2015

Summer has dawned upon us once again and a lot of us are doing our best trying to organize our schedules for this summer while most of us are just lounging on the couch, waiting for the phone to ring, hoping that their friends would invite us to go somewhere, shopping, perhaps.

But there’s this trend that has been fought for by teachers and library staff along with the government for quite some time now. It’s the Summer Reading Program. Although it has been taken for granted by most people for years now, taking it as something boring and a waste of time, it actually has a lot of benefits.

These Summer Reading Programs help children and teens retain and enhance their Meta cognitive capacity or their ability to learn all by themselves, they provide a safe haven for readers, and they stand as valuable and highly reliable outreach tools for the libraries.

And through the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum or the one who embeds literacy in all parts of the curriculum, reading is a very essential skill for our children and teens.

The Summer Reading Program’s goals are:

  • Providing a program that will support local library efforts to promote literacy and lifetime learning
  • Providing high-quality, low-cost products through volume purchase;
  • Providing resources and projects suitable for all size libraries, rural, urban, and suburban.

Now, for the importance and the value of reading. This has been reiterated by our teachers and our parents to us a hundred times. Being able to read well means being able to understand and comprehend well. Which then leads to the enhancement of your communication skills?

Reading also helps us cope up with the demands of life and the society. Reading is the major component of being able to survive in this society especially now when the technology is in an advanced state. Not being able to read and comprehend properly will cause damage to your reputation and your relationship with other people in a way that there will be communication breaches or miscommunication between both sides because of the language and the knowledge barrier.

Not reading is being ignorant. Books and the web contain large chunks of knowledge and we are very fortunate and blessed that we live in the internet generation wherein we are bombarded by a diverse set of knowledge that can help us go through life with ease. If you don’t read, then there will be things that would seem vague for you since you become clueless of things that are going on.

Reading has a very big impact upon a person’s life. It can either strengthen him or weaken him. Depending upon how we use it, reading can be a tool and a weapon; a shield and a vagabond. Reading is an integral part of communication that we should not take for granted because without reading, the relating of knowledge will be useless because writers cannot write without reading and when nobody exerts the effort to read and to write, this world will be field with ignorance that is beyond our control and civilization will be the only impossible phenomena on earth.

One company in Dallas, Amazing Attractions is taking part of reading program this summer. They believe that reading is fundamental to a child’s learning process. Summer Reading Program 2015 is implemented to teach children the importance of reading not just during school days but on other time as well.

Aside from reading, fun is also part of a child’s developmental process. Amazing Attractions entertainment will ensure that kids, even adults, will enjoy any kind of events from library shows to birthdays.

Featured, Summer

Reading

How to Get Rid of “Summer Loss”

May 19, 2015

As the 2015 school year comes to an end, students do their best to think of fun ways to spend their summer vacation. When you say summer, it somehow leaves a very positive yet wrong connotation among students. They always regard summer as the only time for swimming, and having fun with their friends.  However, for those students who are more inclined into learning more, although for some it’s boring, for most people, reading is a very fun endeavor because it involves meta cognition and the enhancement of the ability of a person to make use of his imagination.

Summer is also the time for various programs and one of those are the summer reading programs where sadly, only few have taken notice of and have been interested in. Although more kids go for the summer reading program than for ball games, it is still imminent that the purpose of these reading programs are anything but vivid. Questions revolve around whether the kids really learn or are they just wasting their time reading things that aren’t real. Are they really improving their reading skills? Are they learning anything? Do reading programs lead to higher learning skills?

Summer Reading Program 2015

Ever heard of the “summer loss” where the reading skills as well as the learning skills of an individual, particularly students deteriorates? This phenomenon is in fact real. Once the school year comes to an end, there seems to be this bad habit that arises among students wherein they allow themselves to go idle and this is exactly why the Summer Reading Program 2015 was introduced. This phenomenon impacts children who live near poverty the most.

Summer Reading Program 2015 is implemented for the maintenance of student’s Meta cognitive skills and literacy.

Individual and state libraries have collaborated and used themes set by the CSLP or the consortium of different states who work together to provide high quality summer reading program materials for children at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries.

For the Association of Libraries in America, the benefits of summer reading programs include:

  • Encouraging reading being a lifetime habit.
  • Pulling in reluctant readers
  • Helping children maintain and improve their skills
  • Encouraging interest in the library and books.

It has been proven by studies that students who go for the summer reading programs and actually take them seriously are likely to have improved their reading skills. This program is the cure for learning loss. It provides a very unique kind of exercise to the brain and to the whole being of a person because through reading, one is not only learning about things but through reading and imagination, they are also able to exercise their emotions and are able to learn lots of things about life.

Because the number of people who engage in reading are already deteriorating, teachers and library staff has been getting into a sort of partnership wherein they identify those students who are at the bottom of their classes and have problems when it comes to reading and learning and they entice those students to come into the library and read.

Amazing Attractions is taking part of this program. They are implementing Summer Reading Program 2015 to entertain kids and their families at libraries. Aside from library shows, kids and family members can also enjoy Amazing Attractions Entertainment for any kinds of event.

Featured, Summer