Okay, this is pretty obvious …. “I’m singin’ in the rain, just singin’ in the rain!” Try it — get out your child’s boots, raincoat and umbrella and join him as you jump in those puddles and skip down the street … AND SING! (Okay, your neighbors might think you’re mimicking that great scene by Gene Kelly swingin’ on a lamppost and tramping in the puddles, but, boy it IS really fun!)

It’s also pretty obvious where this idea came from if you live on the east coast! Last night, I really didn’t intend to sing in the rain with Ryan, but we had time to kill while waiting at a restaurant so she and I went outside and I thought we’d hide under an awning. That wasn’t exactly HER idea! Singin’ in the rain was much more fun than doing it under an awning! Then my son-in-law Joe said … “Make it your next KIDFUN column!” Then I remembered how Barry, my husband, would take Amy and Hope out in the rain, when they were little. They loved walkin’ down the street during a rainstorm on a warm day, splashing in those puddles — in bathing suits! Come to think of it, they left the umbrellas at home!! Hm, I wonder if singing was part of that fun-filled tradition, too!

It’s funny what you hear toddlers and young preschoolers say … and, even funnier, that I actually think, “WHERE could she have learned that?” Of course, we know the answer — from their parents and all the very influential people around them.

How polite are the young ones you talk to? Do you hear “thank you” …. “please” … “you’re welcome!” I think the real message today is never take for granted what you say. They ARE parrots, you know! And, of course, there’s a reason this is coming into my mind. When I left Ryan the other night, she and her mommy walked me to the car and Ryan said, “Be careful, Grammy!” ….. She’s telling ME! It was just so cute!

In hindsight, I could have kept a little vocabulary diary — just a note pad that I keep in my car for every time (and age) she says something new! That was a first for me!

Okay … you probably think I’m going to write about teaching kids to share their toys with a sibling, friend or classmate. Nope, that’s not it.

What I am thinking about is how much fun it is to share food! You know, the Chinese food way — ordering family style. Well, how about just sharing with a child, generally. Even if it’s having half a grilled cheese sandwich and half a slice of pizza. There’s something fun about … “half for you, half for me!” It adds a different element to dining!

So, the next time you make something for your child, introduce the concept of … “Wanta’ share?” And, actually, maybe that lesson on sharing will be remembered the next time he has to share his toys with someone else! You can go from “Wanta’ share?” (as a question) to “Let’s Share” (as an invitation!)

I remember — when I was a teenager — we had a family band. It was really fun and anyone could do it. The bottom of a pot was the drum, two pot lids were symbols, two long wooden spoons were drumsticks and we made “music!” We really had fun — my brother, mother, father and I. Of course, we were lucky because, if I remember right, my mother was at the piano so we started with the real thing!

The other day Ryan, Scott (her dad) and I had a band and we marched around the living room. Ryan was the bandleader and gave out the instruments. Hers were “real”, well, toy musical instruments that she got from her Aunt Hope and Uncle Joe for a present. Jingle bells, a flute, the drums and more. Scott played music on a CD, Ryan had us line up and we marched! She danced, we sang … we all had a ball making music together, just like I did with my family when I was much, much younger!

This is almost an oxymoron - colorful storage boxes. Who cares if your storage boxes are colorful!! Well, your kids might if they had a few of them and it would help them find one storage box of books, or another box of trucks or musical instruments, etc., etc.

Kids love to paint objects … just to cover a “thing” with globs of paint. I remember when Amy was a preschooler we took a carton and painted it purple. With lots of newspaper on the floor, a bottle of tempera paint (that you can buy at a toy store, or, possibly, a dollar store) and two paint brushes, we were set. She selected purple and we just covered it, every side. After it dried, I printed in black paint — Amy’s Book Box.

Actually, if I remember correctly, that box then became a music box for her toy tambourine, bells, drumsticks, etc. I think I still have that box saved! I should get it out for Ryan. It always gives me goosebumps thinking about Ryan using something of her mother’s. (I really saved very little. Hope you don’t make that mistake, too.)

This KIDFUN tip is so easy, it’ll probably take one paragraph to write. Whenever you want to get a child quiet say, “Sh, did you hear that?” Then listen … to the noises in the house like the dripping of a faucet, the rattles in the pipes, the raindrops on a window, the wind howling outdoors. Say it in the car, too, or while taking a walk. It might be a good way to stop a crying jag. Can’t hurt to try!

Sometimes a KIDFUN moment happens and I have no idea it’s coming! Yesterday morning, I was talking to Ryan about the Phillie Phanatic because I was thinking I’d take her (a three year old) to the game last night. If you know anything about major league baseball, you know the Phillies are really hot right now!

Well, Ryan sat with me at the computer and I googled Phanatic, the green, very lovable mascot of the team. So many images came up that we decided to print out some. We had five pages of multiple images of the Phanatic and Ryan was thrilled. Then I realized — it’s enough for a book. We called it “Ryan’s Phanatic Book” and I wrote comments on the pages that she told me — any comment because at three you never know what they might say. Then we made a cover and, placed all the pictures in a folder with another cover. Well, she just loves her homemade Phanatic Book! Last night at the game, she was even more psyched about finding the Phanatic!

You can make it a book this simply with any of their favorite characters or even subjects … from Sesame Street characters to princesses to Yo Gabba Gabba … and Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear. Well, you know what I mean. Try it with trains or dogs or flowers, too. Make your own library of personal books and your young child will feel very proud of herself and think being an author is cool!

So, there we were …. enjoying a holiday dinner and, to our surprise, four models walked in! They were dressed in capes, gowns, accessories and a variety of the “latest” handbags — straight out of my drawers! No one older than four, Hannah, Chloe, Madi and Ryan walked down the “runway” adorned in scarves from my drawer and handbags from my closet, a fashion show coordinated by my daughter, Amy (Ryan’s mom), who had a ball with the little girls picking out their “clothes!” They walked in like ladies, they posed, they danced and they giggled! So did we — all the ladies in the audience! Great idea, Aim! I bet YOU did that when you were a little girl!

Okay, indulge me! I think it’s so cool that my three year old granddaughter turns to me and says, “Okay, Grammy … Let’s Race! 1, 2, 3 … GO!” I mean, I didn’t have a grandmother I could say that to, did you?

No matter where we are … if there’s a little looming space ahead, we do it. We run. We play freeze. She shouts suddenly, “Stop!” (She loves that power.) And, then, “Go!” Last night, it was with her parents, Amy and Scott, and first Ryan and I ran out of a restaurant, California Pizza Kitchen, straight into the mall. Then we all ran IN the mall in a secluded aisle! I know we have to be safe but it’s so carefree, such fun and, well, I’m a little proud that I’m actually a grandmother having a chase with my granddaughter. Ryan is my first … I wonder how I’ll do when Hope and Joe have their first baby in January. Then, what about the next … and the next and … !!

Try it with your kids. “Ready?? “1, 2, 3 … GO!” (And, by the way, we’ve been doing this since Ryan was just getting those sea legs going, just a couple months after she started walking!)

You know, mirrors have all kinds of uses and one of them, if you were Picasso, may have been to draw a self-portrait! Well, wait a minute — maybe your child will be the NEXT Picasso!!

You can provide a large paper, like a sketch pad, and some crayons and place your child in front a mirror. Ask him to draw what he sees. Ask him to stand up and take a good look at himself from head to toe … then draw what he sees. You can use a hand mirror,too, and have him peer at his face or his shoulders and up, then draw that image of himself.

What’s fun about this is considering your child’s age you may see very different images. And, that’s when you know you have a keeper … because no matter how that drawing appears to an adult, it’s all-telling about a young child, whether he’s four or five, six or seven. Do one a year! Save them! Won’t that be fun to watch how he’s grown up through his very own perception of himself! Give him some hugs and tickles before this artistic adventure and maybe that your little child’s will have a huge smile drawn across his face!