Making Math Fun with Barrel of Monkeys

This game covers basic addition with integers 1-20, but could also be modified for subtraction or multiplication.

 At the weekend day camp I help with, we are always looking for new ways to make Math exciting. One week our theme was "Jungle Fever," and what's a jungle without a barrel full of monkeys?

Supplies/Prep:

The hardest part of this lesson was finding the game in Walmart. After a long search, we bought two games (a red one and a blue one) that were a little more than $5 each-- a little pricier than we hoped, but it was worth it for the fun the kids had. (This also became a nice time filler game later on.)

There are 14 monkeys in each barrel, and we labelled them 1-14 with masking tape & Sharpie marker. If I could do it again, I would have labeled them 0-9 to make the game easier for the younger ones.

Monkey Math:

Players: This can be done individually or as a team. I had the children split into teams of four: one to hold the barrel, one to link the monkeys together, one writer, and one adder. Everyone supported the others when they weren't doing their job. One adult was also assigned to each team be a team leader and another adult was the judge.

Object: Be the team with the highest sum.

Step 1: The "holder" holds the barrel and the "linker" makes a chain as long as he or she can while only touching the first monkey. Make sure to keep an eye out to make sure all chains are "legal." Our students tried their very hardest to cheat!

Step 2: When the chain is as long as the team can make it, the next job is for the team to add together the numbers taped to each monkey. The "writer" has a dry erase marker to write on the board with and the "adder" holds the monkeys. Ideally, all four team members work together to add the numbers together.

We had students anywhere from 5-10 years old playing this game at the same time, so for the kindergarteners, adults helped by drawing counters on the board for them.

Step 3: When both of the teams are done, an adult makes sure they both have the correct sum before declaring a winner. This game is not about speed, but the accuracy, and the longer chain does not necessarily have the highest numbers.

This game can be easily modified for individual practice, more difficult lessons, etc... Feel free to share any other ideas, as we'll likely be using this game for years.

Nailed It!: My Pin-spired Furniture Project

I am your typical broke college student! Every piece of furniture I own is some sort of hand-me-down and none of it matches. My headboard is white, my desk is darn brown, and the worst was this old-fashioned wood finish dresser that looked like it was on board the Delorean with Marty McFly. (And not in a good way.)

While pinning my heart out at work one day, I came across a couple of great inspirations. My step-by-step instructions for paint were found at thefrugalgirl.com and I found the idea for the front design at modpodgerocksblog.com.

The paint I used was just one quart of a primer + paint combination and it worked wonders. I know virtually nothing about paint, but the guys at Menard's were such a help! I took my time and applied three or four very thin coats and let it dry overnight.

I had originally planned to buy new handles, but my genius father suggested that I just sand the original handles enough to scratch the surface and spray paint them black.

The stickers are intended to be wall art from Target, but I turned it into furniture art. The bird stickers were easy to apply, but the tree was tricky. I started from the bottom and slowly worked my way up, making sure there were no creases. Once applied, I used a razor blade to cut the sticker where the shelves were. I messed up a little bit, but colored over the awkward cuts with a black Sharpie. Finally, I applied Mod Podge over all the stickers to help them stay attached.

Overall, the cost was roughly $35 and a weekend of labor for this custom dresser that reminds me of one of my favorite classic movies.

Edgar the Butler: Crazy Cat Theif or Misunderstood Manservant?

The Aristocats is one of my favorite Disney movies. I think it mainly appeals to my not-so-secret inner cat lady. But now that I am older and so mature (ha), I am beginning to see some flaws in this classic.


In the beginning of the film, Edgar the Butler seems like a hard-working man with a small salary working for this outrageously rich and aristocratic single woman who likes to live large with her cats.

Edgar does everything; he is the driver, cook, butler, and caretaker of animals. He probably does not make a whole lot of money, so when he learns that his boss, who has no living family, is planning to leave the entirety of her estate to her pets, he gets a little upset. This guy does everything-- hell, he lives in her house in order to serve her to the best of his ability! What do the cats do besides paint on the piano (which Edgar undoubtedly cleans up after)?

 This man who has slaved away for years finally reaches his breaking point. So he drugs the cats, steals their basket in the middle of the night, and loses them when they fall out of the side car of his motorcycle. He has no intention of being cruel to them. He could have murdered them, held them for ransom, or tortured them, but he just decides to 'let them out,' putting it lightly. Then they get to have a fun adventure with the Alley Cats and Duchess found a father for her kittens along the way. In a way, he does them a favor.

Of course what Edgar does is wrong, and I want to make it clear that I do not condone the act of kidnapping in any way. Maybe Madame knows that Edgar is a greedy man with a habit of listening to her conversations with her lawyer through the pipes. Probably not though-- she seems a tad clueless.


I sincerely hope Edgar found a better life after he was shipped to Timbuktu. I like to think that maybe he found someone to serve that had a full staff and didn't make him do everything. Maybe he found a nice woman and lived happily ever after in a pet-free environment.

This post makes me sound like an extreme cat hater, but that could really not be farther from the truth. I only want people to consider the other side. Although I don't own a cat because I think I am too busy to take care of one, I have a habit of buying Meow Mix for the family of strays that frequently visit my house and I am in the process of trying (and failing gloriously) to tame them. Here's Mama kitty!

Organization 101: The Planner

With my busy life (see right), I have to admit that I do know a thing or two about organization. I know, you're thinking, "What makes this girl think she knows anything about organization?" I have a 3.75 GPA as a junior and have never pulled an all-nighter. Not once! You don't ever have to do it either! Here's how:

Step 1: Pick out a planner that fits your needs. I recommend a weekly planner; I write big, so it allows me enough space to fit many things in one day. The size of the planner is important, too.  Mine is big enough to grab out of my enormous backpack in a moment's notice, but small enough to go inside my purse.

I literally carry my planner everywhere: school, work, meetings, volunteer adventures, and the bar (okay, that might be an exaggeration).  I got mine about a year ago at Target for less than $10, and it is very similar to this one. The one I had before this was found at Dollar Tree for a dollar.

Step 2: Congratulations! You purchased your very own planner, you have it in class, and your professor has given you your first assignments of the semester. But where to write it all down?

I write everything down for day it's due, including reading assignments.  This way, I am never flipping back to the day that I wrote it down and it gives me more of a visual of what I have coming the week ahead of me.  When I first started college, I was not used to only having class 2 or 3 times a week, so I thought I had to do everything the night it was assigned-- BIG mistake.  I found myself doing much more work than I needed and I was stressed out over things I didn't even have to do yet.

Step 3: So you have your assignments and they're written down.  Another fun trick is the highlighter! Some people like to color code their highlighters, but that gets too complicated for me. Then it becomes a pain in the butt when I can't find the right color. I like to keep things simple so I don't care about color, but it all means the same thing: THIS IS IMPORTANT.  I highlight papers, exams, due dates of large projects, and pretty much everything that will take me more than one evening to do.

During a study session, when I'm done with my homework that is due the next day, I can look ahead in my planner to work on highlighted items.  This really improves the quality of my work, keeps me on track, and is the #1 reason I am still a virgin to the infamous all-nighter.

Step 4 (last one, I promise): The to-do list! This is my favorite. This is for everything I need to do, but don't really need to do by any specific time; things like "set up appointment for advising," "look into Study Abroad," and "buy shampoo," all of which are very important. My planner came with fancy perforated to-do lists in the back, but I have used sticky notes and scraps of paper as well.  Just clip your to-do list on the page of your current week with a paper clip and-- ta-da!-- you have a bookmark in your planner.

That's it! Now you are prepared. Any other tips? Think this method totally stinks? Comments and emails are always welcome.

The Many Hits and Misses of ABC Family

 I have loved ABC Family since the time it was Fox Family. When I was in elementary school, every night at 6:00 my best friend would call me and we would watch Boy Meets World together and learn life lessons from Mr. Feeny.  When I'm having the occasional Friday night in to prepare for Operation Chip or tackle a pile of homework, I can almost always count on spending the evening with my best friends Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the frequent Harry Potter Weekend.  25 Days of Christmas (and the countdown to said marathon) is a good excuse to spend time with family and feel like a kid again.  I discovered Gilmore Girls through reruns on ABC Family, and for that alone, I feel as if I owe the station my first born.

 Unfortunately, this television station has many, many negatives.

The problem lies with 95% of anything that has been unfortunately dubbed "ABC Family Original" work.  Baby Daddy, Pretty Little Liars, Huge, Greek, Mean Girls 2 (oof), Bring It On sequels, and any Christmas movie with Jenny McCarthy are just a few examples. None of these particularly offend me, but given the choice between these and a live orchestral concert on PBS, I'll choose the latter.

The prime example of bad television is Secret Life of the American Teenager. It's crap. Crap, crap, crap. There is nothing remotely accurate to anything any teenager ever would realistically go through. I mean, if you have gone through childbirth, two fake marriages, and having a mother experimenting with homosexuality before the age of 18, A) I deeply pity you and B) the show still sucks. I'm sorry.

Find more tv workouts here: http://tvworkout.blogspot.com/

Since I don't like focusing on negatives, I would like to wrap up with one ABC Family Original series that I cannot get enough of: Bunheads. I love the quick wit, strong women, funny teenagers. Plus, it was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino, writer of the one and only Gilmore Girls, which I mention my love for above, so what could be bad about it?

My favorite quote from last night's episode:
 
Michelle: What book are you talking about?
Sam: Fifty Shades of Grey.
Michelle: Great. Sorry to end the end of literature as we know it, but has anyone seen Fanny?