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Like many FAMILYFUN readers, Laura Westerbeck of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, wants to teach her sons, Brock, Drake and Colton, the art of communication. So she found an old can, decorated it with Con-Tact paper, and created the Together Time Can. During Sunday dinner, each family member reaches into the can and pulls out a handwritten question, such as, "How can you cheer up a sad person?" or "If you could be any cartoon character, who would it be?" Since her kids are still young, Laura keeps the questions simple. "The idea is just to get everyone to linger around the table a while and talk," she says.
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Bedtime at Sherri and Bruce Simons' Logan, Ohio, household had become a challenge. Their oldest daughter, Taylor, four, was a real night owl. "She'd be up until midnight if she had her way," Sherri says. One night, on a lark, Sherri tucked heart-shaped candles under the pillows of Taylor and her sister Brooke, two. After the girls found them, Sherri and Bruce explained what candles do, how they were once used to light houses and how they are made. The kids loved this quiet time spent with their parents, so "pillow talk" quickly became a nightly ritual. The items placed under the girls' pillows are always simple, such as Bruce's police officer's badge, a dime, a flower, a photograph.MEET THE MUSICIANS
Beth Lester is a pianist who thinks Bach and Raffi should get equal time. So, she and her kids, Erin, Katherine and Rebecca, trot off regularly to their Torrance, California, library, returning with classical tapes and books about composers. They listen to music together, learn a little about the composers' lives and read up on the instruments played in the pieces. Beth keeps things informal, letting the kids go at their own pace. Not only do they learn about history and music, but the kids also crowd the couch to listen and share ideas.BANG OUT A TUNE
To encourage her six-year-old, Shane, to start playing around on the piano, Judy Grigg Hansen, a music teacher in Boise, Idaho, devised two games to make the instrument seem less intimidating. In Animal Noises, she and Shane take turns making sounds on the keyboard and guess which animal the other is pretending to be. Judy might bang on the low keys like a roaring tiger, for example, or Shane will noodle around on the high keys and pretend to be a bird. Another game Shane likes is Same or Different. Judy plays one melody or rhythm, followed by another, then Shane guesses if the second one is the same or different.Thanks to their games, Shane thinks the piano is fun. Judy often finds him testing out his own little songs and rhythms. For families who don't have a piano, Judy suggests playing Same or Different on tin cans or oatmeal boxes. Just bang out a rhythm and your kids can try to copy it.
