Teens: Tips & Activities

Hocus Focus

Posted on May 17, 2020June 25, 2020 by ourvirtualholiday

Kids love being part of a secret club and there is no hobby that stresses this more then becoming part of the magic community.

Magic hits a lot of other valuable notes.

Learning and following directions

Creative storytelling

Hand eye coordination and dexterity
Interaction with others

Additionally it helps kids overcome shyness, develope focus and gives them positive attention and reinforcement.

There are and abundance of magic videos online to learn from but nothing is more fun then having a brand new box of magic effects to sort through and practice with.

There are also lots of larger magic illusions that can be constructed out of cardboard and even more elaborate ones that are great as family projects. Stronger bonds between siblings can often be forged when the magician inevitably needs an assistant. Speaking of which, we here at OVH would like to go on record completely discouraging the use of homemade guillotines.

Juggle Fever

Posted on May 17, 2020October 5, 2020 by ourvirtualholiday

Gravity is fun! Defying gravity is even more fun! The question is: is it more fun to juggle with bean bags or balls? According to the jugglers we polled, it’s a toss-up.

Juggling is a skill that relies on a very simple pattern. You just toss a ball from one hand to the other in an arch or rainbow pattern. This gets practiced until you can do it exactly the same way, over and over again or even with your eyes closed. You then add another ball into the mix. As you move your hand to catch one ball you toss the second ball up and out of that same hand. That pattern gets repeated until both hands can duplicate it reliably. The third ball is added so that the pattern is now non-stop, catch-toss, catch-toss, catch-toss.

There are a myriad of special juggling products that can be added to your repertoire once you’ve mastered the basic skill. You can try juggling special clubs, rings and scarves.

Parental advisory: Hide the fresh fruit, eggs and guinea pigs.

Teens: Tips & Activities

Quaran-Teens

Posted on May 17, 2020June 21, 2020 by ourvirtualholiday

It’s a guitar. No big surprises here. They play it. You’re proud. Everyone’s a winner. It also looks good on a college application and a dorm room wall.

There are a lot of other great things that guitars can do besides look good.

Interest in learning guitar is remarkably evenly split between males and females.

Playing a guitar not only builds hand-eye coordination but it stimulates a tremendous amount of brain activity.

Instead of kids sitting in front of a screen being entertained or watching other people do things, they will now have an emersive activity that requires them to be fully engaged.

Kids who are not having a chance to see their friends or are not able to go out in public as often, will enjoy having a hobby that is, by its very nature, solitary in its beginning stages. Although practicing alone for hours at a time is part of the learning process, guitars lend themselves naturally to lead the player to perform for and with others. For this reason guitars are capable of changing introverts to extroverts and can help your teenager become collaborative as they discover other friends who can play instruments.

People who have difficulty communicating or expressing their feelings can you use guitar playing, writing music and even song writing to express a wide variety of emotions including anxiety and depression.

Stress levels are known to go way down.

Teens: Tips & Activities

Gotta Fly

Posted on May 17, 2020May 17, 2020 by ourvirtualholiday

If your kid is into fishing then fly tying is an amazing and time consuming hobby. If they are not avid fisher-folks this hobby might just peak their interest. Fly tying and Fly fishing is a very peaceful and focused activity. A perfect hobby to offset the abundance of screen time that has inevitably made them edgy, anxious or inattentive.

Teens: Tips & Activities, Graduations, Prom, Sweet 16

Bae Watch

Posted on May 17, 2020June 1, 2020 by ourvirtualholiday

You have a captive audience so why not take advantage? It could be a good time to talk to your son about respect for the girls he will date, how to be a gentleman and how a woman wants to be treated. That, of course, is assuming you know those things. If not just teach him your best pick up lines and hope for the best.

If on the other hand you have a daughter who might be ready to start dating……well, um, I want say, “hide.”

Hold Doors
Bring Flowers
Listen & Be Interested
Pop Mints
Wear Deodorant
No means NO!

Teens: Tips & Activities

Building Character

Posted on May 17, 2020October 8, 2020 by ourvirtualholiday

Everyone knows something worth sharing and teaching. If you can pass that something to your kid you will always feel connected. My dad taught me EVERYTHING! How to sew, sail, sing, joke and work with wood but the most important thing he taught me was that I could learn to do anything if I put my mind to it; and, the confidence to try. One goal I have as a parent is to give my kids the same confidence and fearlessness to be curious and motivated to try anything as my dad gave me.

Project List Searches at the End

My son has live chickens and turkeys, I still don’t know why and for some reason I’ve never really questioned it. We hatched a plan to build a double-decker coop. Turkeys on the bottom and chickens on top, just the way nature intended them to be. The bottom level looks like the leaning tower of Poultry but the second level is eggsactly straight and elegant. Now every time we look at it we can see the progress he made as he learned how to build properly. That structure was a real feather in his cap and he’ll remember us building it together for the nest of his life.

Whatever your thing is that you can teach your teen, make sure to present it as a project that ends with something your teen wants. Let’s take woodworking for example, a “DO NOT ENTER” sign for their room would be something that will pique their interest. You can also easily construct unique shelving that looks super complicated or a custom desk.

Pro Tip: Make sure your teen has their own tools for whatever the project is. Having their own tape measure, gardening hoe or even scissors will give them a stronger sense of ownership over the project and those tools will be significant to them as their “first” and as the ones you gave them.

Design it together, figuring out the decorative elements and custom features. Compile the supply list and make sure you have all the necessary tools.

It all sounds magical, right? Here’s the hard part, guide them but let them feel like it’s their project. Making mistakes is part of the learning process (remember the chicken coop!).

Home improvement is always going to be something that your teen can benefit from learning. Giving them free reign to design their room the way they want opens many doors and allows you to teach them skills and share know-how they’ll need as they enter adulthood and have their own home to care for. Whether it is how to tape off a room before you paint, maximizing space with clever furniture design or how to find a stud in the wall, they’ll never forget how you helped them become independent.