Hi friends. Have you been enjoying the songs on my Drag Track? I have invented a couple of games that you might enjoy because you can play them by yourself, whenever there is no one else to play with.

Game #1
Make a list of all your favourite toys or activities. Try to use one or two words to name them. Then, sort them by alphabetical order. Then play each one in the order they come alphabetically. For instance: I like reading JOKES; playing with my miniature cars; comic books, to face-time a friend, inventing stunts.
ABC order: cars, comics, facetime, jokes, stunts. Now when I am trying to think of something to do, I look at my ABC list and choose the next thing from my list. I don’t feel bored anymore because I always have a fun thing to do.

Game #2
(This may not seem like a game, but when I did it, I had a lot more fun than I ever had doing chores before.)
Make a list of all the jobs or chores around the house that I do, or that other people in my family have to do. Write each one of these on a separate slip of paper and put them all in a paper bag. Shake up the bag and draw out one slip. Whatever chore that it is do it or help the adult do it, if it is a chore for an adult in your family. Pull out a slip each morning and one each evening for three days and see if anyone notices what you are doing. You will enjoy the chore, especially if you are doing it for someone or with someone else. Even if it is one of your chores, if you do it because you pulled it from the bag, you can challenge yourself to do it with a smile and as quickly or thoroughly as possible…because it is part of your game. I’ll bet you will find this as much fun as I did, and my mum was so surprised when I took out the trash without being reminded! I really felt good helping-out and surprising my family. Check out this game!

I have been thinking about how patient everyone has been with the health situation. I think some of us are getting tired of the social distancing and wearing masks. Are you? I was wondering if you could help others who are getting impatient to think about why we are doing these things to stay healthy at home.

I am going to brainstorm a list of reasons why this situation is so important for me and for everyone in the world. Then I am going to make some signs that I can display to help others think about their choices and whether they are remaining patient and respectful of their friends and neighbours. You might share these with your family or others. I hope we will think about the future for all of us, not just what I want to do because I am tired of staying home.

My signs will say:

• What does patience sound like? What will we hear?
• What does respect for world health look like? What will we see?
• What is responsible behaviour? What will you do?
• Want to give it a try? What will your signs or posters say?

Hi ya, hi ya. Sam here again. Last month I shared a guessing game with you. This month I am going to give you some funny situations that you can share with your family or friends and decide how to help the characters negotiate their decision so everyone is happy. This is a real challenge that I hope you are up for. Are you ready?

Situation #1 Daisy and Doug both wanted to lead the gang in the holiday parade. They each decorated their cars and volunteered with Larry Limo to be the leader. They all knew that in this parade, cars would be in single file because they needed to leave most of the road clear for other traffic. Help them negotiate who and how the leader will be.

Situation #2 Sam and the Double Devil Dragsters were headed for the Drag Track. They had their loud exhaust tail pipes all revved up and were making a terrible racket. Constable Oldsmobile was called to look into this noise. The cars that lived on the road and near the drag strip were bothered by all the loud rumbling. Help Constable Oldsmobile and the DDDragsters all respect each other and have a good time at the Drag Track. How can they negotiate so that the situation is good for everyone?

Situation #3 Mini and Daisy wanted the Dragsters to always think about safety. Doug and Sid were all about speed and risky, dare-devil stunts. Today they wanted to try driving up a ramp and jumping their cars over other cars under the ramp. Mini said it was too dangerous for Doug and Daisy, they thought it was too dangerous for the cars that parked under the ramp. Think about this stunt. Have you ever seen cars do this? Help the dragsters negotiate a safe way to challenge their driving skills and still have fun.

There you go. Let me know how the challenge worked out. Did you have fun and explore ways to negotiate?

Hi gang, Sid here. I still have my pictures of all the things I like that make me happy. Do you have yours? One of the things I noticed is that I left off pictures of me at school. I am missing my school mates and all the exciting and interesting things we were learning. I am going to add pictures today about all the things I want to learn about this year.

Doug told me about tuning up his engine, and I realized I don’t know very much about that. So, I want to learn about keeping my engine healthy and in high performance shape. What do you want to learn?

Think about it and make a list; what do you want to learn, what will you look for, listen for, think about, or do to learn it? Share your list with your family and decide how you can explore and learn more about something on your list. I bet you will feel happier and your family will be glad to have you share and teach them what you learned. Learning is fun!!! Let me know what you discovered. I am looking forward to hearing all about your new adventures in learning

I made my appreciation chain yesterday and today I decided to add to it all the things I appreciate about nature. I was outside this morning listening to the sounds of nature and I thought about how I appreciate my good health and the wonderful world outside.

You might like to spend a little time outside and listen for all the sounds you can identify. Birds, bees, dogs, cats, the wind in the trees, raindrops or waves. What are the sounds you can hear when you are silent and listen carefully? How many different bird species can you hear and identify? Isn’t it nice to hear so many pleasant sounds around us?

Maybe you can learn more about one of the birds or animals that you hear, and share this with your family. Listening carefully and with an appreciation of nature helps me to feel happy.

How about you? If you like, you could make a chain with pictures or words of all you saw and heard today.