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Flip This Room
Make your children's play area a place where kids can be kids. Try a few of these fresh ideas for low-cost family decorating.

Paint colorful stripes or large dots on one wall.

Hang children's art in matching frames for an inexpensive art gallery.

Display sports uniforms, dance costumes or favorite outfits. Be original and consider options such as pajamas, cowboy boots or swimsuits.

Let your children paint their own wall mural in a designated area. Frame with paint.

Hang a large mirror for a dress-up or dance area. Attach linoleum tiles to a piece of plywood for a portable dance floor, or dangle a dazzling disco ball from the ceiling.

Make a wall-mounted ballet bar in the playroom by using a dowel and some sturdy hooks and screws.

Add magnetic, felt, chalk, and/or dry-erase boards at kid level.

Include kid-friendly furniture—floor pillows, or even swings and climbing walls, if space allows.

Use a step-aerobics platform (without the risers) to make a small, safe stage. Add a pretend microphone and let the show begin.

Suspend a flat sheet or sparkly fabric on plant hooks to conceal one corner of the room as a secret hideout.

Framing with chair rail looks great and is inexpensive at a home improvement store.

Think outside the box and let the room reflect the current passions of your little decorators. They'll feel so proud to have this personal space of their own.

September
2 Full Moon Read Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. Also share Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd. Then go outside and bid the moon goodnight.

9 National Grandparents' Day Help your children make these sweet sunflowers for their grands.

You'll need:
1 small white paper plate
1 wooden paint stir stick (free from your local paint store)
Green and yellow tempera paint
Elmer's white school glue (liquid, not stick)
Q-tip cotton swab
Stapler
Unsalted sunflower seeds
Permanent black marker
Potting soil
Small terra cotta pot

Help your children:
1. Paint the stick green and let dry.
2. Staple the stick to the middle of the plate on the backside to represent the stem.
3. Paint the outer rim of the plate bright yellow.
4. Once dry, coat the inner circle of the plate with glue. Spread evenly with a Q-tip.
5. Scatter unsalted sunflower seeds to cover the inner circle of glue.
6. Use a black permanent marker to write on the stem, "If grandparents were flowers, I'd pick you." Add this to a potted plant or a terra cotta pot with some potting soil and pea gravel for a nice looking finish and surprise loved ones with this year-round bloom.

September 16 – 22: National Clean Hands Week
Teach your children the importance of proper hygiene. Trace their hands on construction paper, then laminate the paper hands at a local office supply store. Each time they remember to wash, place a round blue sticker (soap bubble) on the laminated hands. When their hands are covered in soap-bubble stickers, let them choose a game, craft or family outing as a reward.

September 23-29: National Keep Kids Creative Week
Restock your children's craft area with colorful round pom-poms, shiny glitter glue, bright shades of paper, child-size scissors, happy stickers and plenty of drawing and painting supplies. Forget about coloring in the lines and encourage creativity on a daily basis.

October
5 World Smile Day Start the day off with a smile by making a happy face bagel. Slice the bagel in half and coat with a layer of cream cheese. Add eyes and a big smile using raisins or nuts. Then spend the day conducting random acts of kindness just to make other people smile.

16 World Food Day Teach your children the importance of giving to those in need. Donate a collection of food to your local pantry, and consider volunteering as a family one or two days a month to help sort, sack and distribute groceries. If that's too difficult with toddlers in tow, deliver meals to the homebound through Meals-on-Wheels. These recipients often appreciate a child's visit even more than they do the balanced nutrition.

31 Looking for an alternative to Halloween? Host an old-fashioned autumn fest. Hang doughnuts from a string, bob for apples, pull children in hay-filled wagons, lead a costume parade and set up carnival games such as ring toss, penny pitch and balloon pop. Decorate pumpkins, build a scarecrow, play in fallen leaves and organize a sack race. Serve homemade applesauce or pumpkin pie, and send each guest home with a small jar of apple butter or caramel corn.

Daily Benefits
MOPS International Membership is our way of encouraging you every day of the year to be the best mom possible. Check out our new 2007/08 benefit: a 16-month Mom Calendar at www.MOPS.org/membership

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