-GO OUTSIDE!!! it's way too gorgeous now to be spending all your time inside....if your friend likes playing board games then that's totally fine, but take it outside so you can get some fresh air. Take a walk, if your friend has a pet, its a perfect opportunity to run around outside with it. Bring a few fun outside activities to your friends house like chalk, bubbles (they're awesome no can deny it), jump rope, twister, or even lie down and have a chat.
-DO EXPERIMENTS. There are so many science experiments to do with your friend. They're so much fun, it keeps your friend focused on one straight activity, it gives them responsibility, and you both get to learn. Here's a couple good sites:
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html
http://www.billnye.com/
An idea of a really fun experiment that's perfect to do outside is the coke and mentos experiment- very easy, you take a bottle of coke and drop a couple mentos in it and it explodes. IT IS AWESOME.
-WHEN IN DOUBT. Always have a fallback in case your friend isn't getting into an activity. Usually an ordinary board game helps to get their juices flowing again. I suggest a game that requires some solving to stay focused like Guess Who or Clue
-DO AN ART PROJECT- Even if you're a terrible artist (like myself) drawing a picture together is a great activity....ask them to draw maybe a picture of their family, or a scene from outside, or anything that comes to mind. Don't count on your friend's house to have the materials, bring some of your own just in case, plus bringing a bag of activities will get your friend really excited.
-DO A PROJECT BASED ON A CHAG (HOLIDAY)- It's always a good idea to incorporate some Judaism into our everyday activities, some of these kids don't have that opportunity. Talk about an upcoming holiday and do a project. For example: for Passover make a picture book of the ten plagues together. For Sukkot make a pretty decoration for a sukkah. **Keep in mind that these activities are something to do TOGETHER, if you realize that you are doing all of the work just stop and start a new activity because it's supposed to be a group effort and they should feel good about something they helped make.
-THINGS TO WEAR. Make a friendship t-shirt. Just buy a couple white Ts and some fabric markers and start decorating. Or you can buy string and make friendship bracelets....there are so many different types of bracelets to make, an easy one is chinese staircase. However, depending on how fast your friend can grasp things, you may or may not think this is the right activity, it can be challenging.
So there are a few tips. You can always ask me if you need anymore ideas!
-Gavi Bohan
