‘Tis the season for that super sweet kernel of candy corn that everyone can agree reminds them of Halloween past, present, and, most likely, future! Besides eating all of that candy corn that may be lying around your home this week, you can also play some fun and simple games with these bright candy kernels.

Send the kids on a Candy Corn Hunt. You can do this a couple of different ways. Create a path of Candy Corn that they must use to hunt around and cannot sway from the path. Alternatively, hide small bags of candy corn around your yard and send the kids on a traditional hunt.

• Fill a large pumpkin pail with candy corn and see who guesses the number of candy corn. Whoever guesses closest, wins! Share the Candy Corn with everyone.
• Create Candy Corn Artwork with heavy card stock, candy corn, and a glue stick. This may get messy, but will be fun!
• Make Candy Corn Strings, just like popcorn. Decorate the room and front doorway with the Candy Corn Strings.
• Make a homemade batch of Candy Cor. A great idea for older children.
• Make Candy Corn Krispie Treats by adding in candy corn to this favorite recipe.
• Play Candy Corn Fooz Ball. Using a large table surface set up two kids at different ends of the table. The children throw candy corn to the other child, who must block it from going through and making a goal. The child can block it using a solid cookie cutter. (Make sure it is one that will not scratch up your table.)
• Make Candy Corn Sculptures using frosting to hold the sculpture together. (Make sure to place paper down on your table to keep the mess minimal.)
• Finally, send them home with bags of the sweet stuff!

For school-aged children, there may be nothing like a Mad Scientist Party, especially as school gets underway and kids are back in science class. It will be a fun party theme that holds their attention, and could even be educational. If your child is interested in the wacky side of science, seriously consider this theme!

Invitations:
Using large size test tubes with a rubber stopper, print all of the party details on a small piece of paper that can be rolled up and placed into the test tube. On the outside of the tube, write in permanent marker, “Inside contains the Mad Scientist Secret Formula for Party Fun!” These will have to be hand-delivered or mailed in cushioned envelopes.

Decorations:
• At the entrance to the party, make a sign welcoming them to Dr. X’s Mad Lab!
• In the party room, make it look like a high tech lab using the colors of silver and black.
• Using black construction paper, cut out question marks, mathematical formulas, etc. and place around the party room.
• Have green slime on the tables and around the room.
• Fill different sizes of jars with colored water. Inside, place plastic eyeballs, hands, noses, plastic animals, etc.
• At the tables where the Mad Scientist experiments will happen, place face masks, magnifying glasses, test tubes, etc. to make the area look authentic.
• When the kids arrive, provide them with white coats, and have them create a nametag. Don’t just have them use their own names, but make up a mad scientist name, i.e. “Dr. Insanity.”

Activities: You can either have the kids do the activities together, or rotate throughout the party room to different lab stations to complete the different mad science activities.

Make Green Ooze! 3/4 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup water. Mix together. Add green food coloring to look like Slime.

Static Electricity: (balloons, aluminum soda can) Blow up balloons and rub them in the kids’ hair to make it rise. Set soda can on a hard surface so it can roll. Use one of the rubbed balloons and move it closer to the can. Does it move the can? Will the rubbed balloon stick to a wall?

A Shocker: Need one per child: 1 penny, 1 lemon, 1 paper clip. Cut a slit 1/4 inch in to the lemon to fit the penny, then another for the paperclip, close to but not touching the penny. Let the kids touch their tongues to each of the metals.

Falling Coin: 1 glass, 1 index card, 1 coin. Place card over glass evenly. Place coin in center. Flick the card end with your finger to send it flying. What happens to the coin?

Suck an Egg into a Jar: 1 hard boiled egg, peeled and at room temperature,
1 narrow top jar (baby food jars work well), hot water. The egg will not fit into the jar on it’s own. Fill the jar with the hot water for 2-3 minutes. Pour this out and set the egg on the opening. The egg will end up inside the jar.

Osmotic Celery: Cut celery stalks and set them in glasses of tinted water. The stalks will absorb the color and then the kids can eat them!

OUTDOORS ACTIVITY:

Volcano Eruption: Make a volcano from a soda can, set on a tin pan, and form papier-mâché around it. Leave the hole in the top open. Dry and paint browns and greens. To make the volcano erupt, place baking soda in the can then pour in vinegar, tinted with food coloring.

Rocket launch: Fill a small plastic film canister with one teaspoon of water. Quickly add one Alka-Seltzer tablet, put the lid on, and place the canister on the floor with the lid side down. Wait about 10 seconds and then your rocket should fly into the air.

Games:

Atom Burst: Tie two balloons to each of the kids’ ankles. Have them run around trying to burst the atoms. The last kid with a “live atom” wins!

Mini-Molecules: Take very close-up pictures of everyday items around your home. During the party, have the kids use their magnifying glasses to figure out what they are.

Scientist Scramble: Muddle up the names of famous scientists, and have them work them out properly.

Menu:

Serve snacks in clear bowls and name them madly, i.e. electric chips, magnetic munchers, etc.
• Serve electric dogs, i.e. hot dogs.
• Serve green Kool-Aid. Place plastic critters and body parts into the punch for extra madness!

Goody Bags:
Send the kids home with a facemask, test tubes, green slime, goggles, magnifying glasses, magnets, etc. Alternatively, send them home with test tubes filled with candy like M&Ms.
Have a fab mad party!

Discovering a family's history should be an important part of everyone's lives. Not only does it enlighten you on what your family has been through, but it can be fun to learn about your ancestors as well. Believe it or not, this can be turned into a family activity. Whether you have young children in the house or even older children, this can be a fun experience. This week, let's bring the family closer by learning more about the family's history.

Obviously this activity will be different based on the age of your children. If you have young children, this can be a simple project that helps little ones get to know their family a little better. This is a great activity because it helps children learn about their relatives. This not only keeps them safe, but it can be fun for kids to learn little things about their relatives. You can simply use a large piece of poster board and photos of the immediate family to create a simple family tree. Under the photos, you can put the name and birth date of the relative along with something fun about them. For example, Grandma Sophia may love to bake cookies. This helps children remember their relatives. Once the family tree is complete, it can be hung in the child's room so that they can study their family tree and get to know their family even more.

Older kids will love learning more interesting facts about the family. This will take some time spent researching the internet. There are websites that can help you, but beware that many of these sites do charge a fee. The good thing is that these sites can give you a chance to connect with distant relatives who may have more information. While just learning about the family can be a fun family night activity, you can also create a more sophisticated family tree using one of the many software titles available.

Young or old, this is a great family night activity for your children. It can also be fun for parents as well. After all, who wouldn't want to learn more about their family history?

Most kids love the idea that they can do something adults do. They also seem to love it when those efforts are useful to others. Bucket gardening is just such an activity. It's easy, fun, and can be used over and over by the family or someone in need. It's important to teach kids life skills, as well as help instill in them a helpful and giving attitude toward others. Bucket gardening can do just that.

All kids will need is a 5 gallon bucket, various vegetables to plant, an egg, and some soil enriched with plant food. They may also want to wear a sun hat and some gardening gloves. Planting a tomato in the center is said to be a tradition of the bucket garden. Other vegetables can be planted around it. The egg should be cracked and put underneath the tomato plant for extra fertilizer. It's a good idea to use a variety of vegetables and herbs to get the most use out of the bucket garden when it grows. You may want to buy enough supplies so that you also can plant one as a way to instruct the kids on how to make a bucket garden.

From planting the bucket garden, the kids gain skills and knowledge on growing their own food. Other benefits of gardening include exercise and stress relief. The bucket garden can be placed on a patio, near a sunny apartment window, on a balcony, or on the porch.. This versatile garden is portable and easy to maintain in a variety of living conditions. Because of this, bucket gardens are often given as a gift to the hungry.

This is where the lesson on being helpful and giving comes in. Kids can make a bucket garden to give to the hungry. It can even be turned into a friends and family event where your child's friends and family can all gather to make these bucket gardens for those in need of a food supply. Bucket gardens are very ideal for the hungry because the gardens will produce vegetables again and again, rather than be a one-time use, as with canned vegetables.

Source:
http://www.examiner.com/x-8250-Denver-Gardening-Examiner~y2009m6d8-Bucket-gardens-for-the-Denver-hungry