Homeschool Spring Lego Competition Prizes

Yesterday I shared photos of Little Nut Nut with his winning entry for our homescchool Lego Competition that we had yesterday. I never did get photos of the 2 other entries from Wing Nut and E Nut, who also won by the way.

The competition came about because of a trendy fad that has grabbed my boys’ attention and put me on the spot. While I am slightly annoyed that I had to go out and spend money, this new interest they have has given me the perfect opportunity to teach the kids about sharing, giving without the thought of getting in return and learning that it is not about how much you have, but how happy you can make others with just a simple gesture.

What are these amazing things that I just had to go out and get for my kids?

Silly Bands.

Yep.

Rubber bandy, bracelety, silly shaped, silly bands.

I don’t remember the first time the kids came home with one. I thought they were cute little things and that maybe my kids shouldn’t be bringing home toys that belong to someone else. But they each had one and it seemed harmless enough. A short time later, they came home with more of them. Another group of kids were sharing them. I thought wow, I wish my kids would stop bringing home other kids’ toys and told them so.

Still, I didn’t get it.

Until more time went by and they came home with more. Then I realized that all of the silly bands were different. There was Harry Potter ones, Star Wars ones, and some other ones that I know nothing about.

Then I got it.

My kids were hooked. They were trading. Except they only had like 4-5 of them and were keeping them stashed and safe. They were important and to my kids they were like gold. Precious and special little things.

My kids were coming home with these little silly bands, but they weren’t trading any back. I told them they had to stop bring silly bands home until I could get some to trade back.

But buying toys is only on my mind for birthdays and Christmas. Even only buying a few times a year, we have way too many toys. With 5 kids it is easy to get overwhelmed with toys, especially when there are so many levels of development. So another month went by before I actually remembered to get these silly little bands for my kids.

The kids still kept coming home with them though. Everywhere they went there were kids giving these things to my kids. How did my kids get caught up in this craziness?

Suddenly I became the mom who didn’t buy her kids “the” latest trading fad so that they could in turn give them away to their kids. My kids became the takers. And I became the mom who didn’t jump on the silly bandwagon and send my kids out the door with silly bands up to their elbow.

Ack!

How did I get caught up in this craziness?

I decided that I was going to give in and get them for the kids, because there was no getting around it. The invasion had begun and I was not even aware of it. I needed to find a way to give to my kids without just going to the store and getting them something because they wanted it.

My kids were give that task to participate in the first ever official Nut House Homeschool Lego Competition. And that way I could give out some prizes and at least they had to work for it. The theme of the competition was Spring. I got a little carried away when I went to Target to get the prizes. The silly bands were give to all participants, which were the 3 oldest. Since it was a spring theme, I picked outdoor prizes. The big 2 got new kites, and Little Nut Nut got a glider. I found these fun little outdoor safari tools on a carabiner for digging and exploring. And of course there were tons and tons of silly bands!

After the competition and before the awards ceremony, they had to do a quick little skit for homeschool. Just a fun little song that included some jumping and stretching. Since the little 2 got in on the skit and did some awesome jumping around as well, Wee Nut got a glider and She Nut got a little singing bug.

So there was a little bit of extra spending that I wasn’t planning on, but they are all excited for the warm weather to come back so they can get out and toss the gliders around and go fly a kite.

I spent a good amount of time today bending down to pick up silly bands. These things are now everywhere. I keep telling my kids that it is OK to give them away, even if they don’t get one back. Please!