The holidays can be boring to most children, especially when they are not doing anything unusual. The usual diversions such as the television, the video games, and the board games are getting tiresome. Moreover, studies have found out that too much tv watching can lead to early obesity for children.

But because you’re saving on gas, you do not want to take your kids to the mall and do nothing but walk around. They’ll just get hungry and badger you to buy some snacks and junk food for them. So you’ll tow your kids to the kitchen and let them help you bake cookies and cupcakes that you are planning to give as holiday gifts. Let them decorate with different color of icing, candy bits, candied flowers, chocolate nips, and marshmallows.

When given a free hand on decorating, children are quite artistic. Those little hands and imaginative young minds can turn simple cookies and cupcakes into mini-gardens, flower arrangements, funny faces, geometric arts, and abstract paintings.

So, why not let them be in-charged with the gift packing, too? See what they can do with your glass jars, paper plates, and ribbons, too. The idea is to decorate the gift containers. You’ll have to supervise your little artists because some of the projects require using a pair of scissors. Children have a short attention span so they need to be reminded on tasks to be done from time to time.

Materials needed:

• glass jars – clean and dry
• paper plates – any size
• stapler
• glue
• adhesive tape
• scissors
• pentel pen – assorted color
• all kinds of paper – assorted color
• cellophane – assorted color
• ribbons – assorted color

Steps for the Jar Project:

1. Let the children draw their pattern on a draft paper. You do the cutting of the colored paper using these patterns. Give each one a glass jar for them to glue on their different shapes.

2. Cut the ribbons in different lengths. Show them how to tie a ribbon around the jar’s neck.

Steps for the Mini-Box Project:

1. Create mini-boxes using the paper plate to protect the designs on the cupcakes.

2. Secure the corners with the stapler. Give the mini-boxes to the children so that they can stick the scraps of colored paper on the outside.

3. Cut the cellophane into squares or sizes appropriate to cover the top of the mini-box.

4. Seal with strips of adhesive tape on all sides after you place a cupcake inside.

Let the children fill their jars with cookies. Ask them to write the recipient’s name on a scrap of paper and glue it on the jar cover. Let them do the same with the mini-boxes.

Snorkeling is a cross between diving and swimming because you are skimming over the surface of water but with your face (or whole head) submerged so you need some equipment that will help you breathe.

Snorkeling is a popular sea sport because snorkelers get the opportunity to experience ‘living’ like a fish or any other sea creatures through ‘swimming’ in their own underwater world. The natural setting often includes the coral reefs with their magnificent shapes and structures, the assortment of sea cactus, and of course, the sandy floor where sea weeds sprout everywhere.

The underwater organisms that frequented, or rather, lived inside and around the corals are small fish, cephalopods, starfish, mollusks, and sea urchins. You may catch rare sightings of flatfish and the rays in sandy areas. You will be swimming alongside jellyfish, sea turtles, shrimps, and other sea organisms that often swim near the surface. You may be lucky to witness a group of frolicking dolphins.

Unlike scuba diving, snorkeling does not require special training. You should be a good swimmer, of course. And you should learn how to breathe through your mouth because the snorkel or mouthpiece is placed between your teeth. The length of the tube depends on the water depth.

Snorkeling can be done in any part of the sea where the water is often calm or almost without waves, warm temperature, and an abundance of sea organisms near the surface.

Popular locations for snorkeling are found in the warmer parts of the world and are often rich in sea corals, such as:

• Coral Sea
• Caribbean Sea
• Red Sea

Two important things to remember by a snorkeler:

1. It is recommended for snorkelers to go snorkeling in pairs or with a group, for safety reasons.

2. Snorkelers are required to observe the conservation regulations. The coral reefs are extremely fragile and they are easily damaged so there are strict local rules that protect these spectacular underwater creatures.

Other sports activities that are related to snorkeling, because the snorkeling equipment is used, are the following:

• Bog snorkeling – is a sport popular in Britain, where snorkeling is spelled as ‘snorkelling.’
• Drift snorkeling – is snorkeling along the direction of the ocean’s current.
• Underwater Hockey – is played at the bottom of a swimming pool so players are wearing snorkeling equipment.
• Spear fishing – is fishing with the use of spear and the snorkeling equipment.