©2011 Laura Riffel-Behavior Doctor Seminars-Permission to Copy-
43. Go to your local appliance store and ask them to save a refrigerator box for you. The next time your
child earns a reward, give them the box and help them plan and decorate the box to turn it into
anything their imagination desires.
44. Make Papier-mâché Halloween masks by taking punch ball balloons and spreading the paper strips
over the balloon shape. Make noses, horns, tongues whatever they desire and then paint when dry.
You will have a unique and free Halloween costume and you will have given your child ton’s of
attention.
45. Find an old fashioned popcorn popper (not an air popper). Spread an old sheet out on the living room
floor, put a little oil in the popper and then have your children sit outside the perimeter of the sheet.
Put a few kernels of popcorn in the popper and watch them fly up in the air. The kids will love
watching this. For a special treat pour cinnamon sugar on the popcorn after it pops.
46. Find some light balsa wood and create a boat powered by a rubber band and paper clip paddle wheel.
Make a unique sail and take the boat to a creek or lake nearby and help your child launch their boat.
Be sure to take a butterfly net to retrieve the boat when it goes downstream. (Proactively, you could
put an eye hook on the front of the boat and attach some fishing line to it so it can be brought back to
shore.
47. Take your child fishing. It’s a great place to have some really in depth conversations.
48. Take your child for a ride looking for items that start with each letter of the alphabet. Take the
child’s picture in front of each item that starts with that letter and then put it together as an ABC
Book. For example: “This is Johnny in front of Applebees.” “This is Johnny in front of
BlockBuster.” And so on….
49. Check with your local humane society and see if they allow children under 18 to volunteer to feed
and water the animals. (Some shelters only allow adults over 18). Let your child earn the privilege
of going to the shelter to feed and water the animals. Perhaps they can walk a small dog or pet a cat.
50. Take your child to the local fire department. As long as they are not busy, they will be glad to show
the child around and give them some great attention. Most children have seen a fire truck, but few
have actually gone to the fire department to see what it looks like.
51. Play the “Gatekeeper Game” with your child. A description of this game is available on
www.behaviordoctor.org (under books- Stork Manual page 60.)
52. Tell your children you have a surprise performance for them. Get a stocking cap and lay on a sturdy
table with your head hanging chin up in the air. Cover all of your face with the stocking cap except
your chin and mouth. Draw two eyeballs on your chin and then lip sync to a silly song. It looks
really funny, like a little headed person with a big mouth singing. Then let your child put on a
performance for you.
53. Play hide and go seek in your house in the dark. Turn out all the lights and have everyone hide. One
person is “it” and they have to go around the house and find the people who are hiding. It’s really a
great way to help your children not be afraid of the dark. You can limit it to one or two rooms if your
children are young.
54. Ask your children if they’d rather have a dollar a day for thirty days or a penny a day that doubles
each day for 30 days. In other words on day one 1 cent, day two 2 more cents, day three 4 cents and
so on. Once they decide then help them figure out which one would have been the better deal.
$10,737,418.23 at the end of 30 days with the double the pennies per day.
55. Give your child a nice piece of manila paper and some wax crayons. Have them color a design on
every inch of the paper- could be stripes or wavy lines- whatever they desire. Then have them cover
the entire page with black crayon. They color over the entire page. Then give them a paper clip and
have them open one end and scratch a cool design into the black crayon. The colors underneath will
show through. Do an art gallery tour and have tea and cookies after looking at the different pictures.
56. Teach your child how to throw a football, shoot a basket, kick a field goal, hit a baseball, putt a golf
ball. Then for fun, switch hands and try to do all of those things with the opposite side of the body.
57. Find an old croquet set- probably on Ebay. Set up croquet in your yard and challenge your child to a
game of croquet. The winning child gets to choose what the family eats for dinner.