Playing pretend – Games

1. Celebrate a new holiday. Announce that it’s Polka-Dot Day or Purple Day.

 2. Throw a doll’s birthday party. Wrap up a few “gifts,” decorate with balloons and streamers, and enjoy a mock — or real — cake.
3. Dress for the weather. Lay out items for different weather conditions, describe a certain day, and ask your child to pick an outfit for it.
4. Open a petting zoo. Place stuffed animals around the room, pet each one, and talk about what they like to eat.
5. Camp out in your living room. Climb into a tent and sleeping bags. Turn on a flashlight, and pretend to eat s’mores.
6. Form a family band. Have everyone grab an instrument and jam to a CD.
7. Imitate animals. Practice hopping like a frog, squirming like a worm, waddling like a duck, and stretching like a cat.
8. Play restaurant. In the real kitchen or a pretend one, alternate between being the customer and the server or chef.
9. Offer horsy rides. Let her bounce on your back while you “neigh” and chew hay.
10. Ride the laundry-bin “school bus.” She’s the passenger, and you’re the driver. Make stops to pick up other kids, and wave bye-bye to the mummies at each stop.

11 Play hide and seek with your stuffed animals. Let your friends find them

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Sick Day

I’m feeling sick and getting worse.
I think I’d better see the nurse.
I’m sure I should go home today.
It could be fatal if I stay.
I’m nauseated, nearly ill.
I have a fever and a chill.
I have a cold. I have the flu.
I’m turning green and pink and blue.
I have the sweats. I have the shakes,
a stuffy nose, and bellyaches.
My knees are weak. My vision’s blurred.
My throat is sore. My voice is slurred.
I’m strewn with head lice, ticks, and mites.
I’m covered in mosquito bites.
I have a cough, a creak, a croak,
a reddish rash from poison oak,
a feeble head, a weakened heart.
I may just faint or fall apart.
I sprained my ankle, stubbed my toes,
and soon I’ll start to decompose.
And one more thing I have today
that makes me have to go away.
It’s just as bad as all the rest:
I also have a science test.

by Kenn Nesbitt

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My Monsters

It all happens when I go to bed

Weird things enter my head

I visit some very strange places

I see animals with very weird faces

In one of my weirdest dreams

I saw a snake eating ice cream

Although I must admit

It’s better than having to babysit

My weird little sis

whilst my dad goes to the pub

And drags along my mum

When I babysit

I don not recognise my sister

She changes into something else

She wears wigs she collects on her shelf

She pretends to be a film star

Riding around in a fancy car

Although I must admit

I’d rather do that than babysit

She really drove me up the wall

When her friend decided to call

Dad had said let no-one through the door

Or he’d said “There will be war”

So when the doorbell rang

Then came a bang! Bang! Bang!

I rushed upstairs to bury my head

Under the pillow on my bed

Before I knew I’d fallen asleep

I’d entered a forest, so deep

Then before my very eyes

I saw to my surprise

Mum and dad going to war

With the largest dinosaur

Then I saw the very same snake

But this time he was eating a cream cake

Then I heard a bang! bang! Bang!

Someone hovered over me

It was my dad

By GILLIAN SIMS

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