Brrr! Winter is the coldest season of the year. Water freezes to become ice, snow, sleet, or icicles, creating a sparkling wonderland. Many plants and animals become dormant or hibernate. People bundle up in hats, mittens, and boots. It’s a time for enjoying outdoor activities like ice skating, sledding, and building snowmen or indoor activities like drinking hot chocolate, curling up with a book by a toasty fire, or going to see a good movie like “Happy Feet,” an uplifting story about a tap-dancing penguin named Mumble. Give winter boredom the boot and learn about penguins.Penguins range in size from the fairy penguin which only gets about 9 inches tall to the emperor penguin which can reach lengths of up to 3-4 feet. Although penguins are birds, they do not fly, at least not in the air. Penguins spend most of their time underwater looking for dinner (fish, squid, krill, and crustaceans). All penguins live below the equator, from the Galapagos Islands to Antarctica. That’s why you’ll never see a penguin and a polar bear together-except on the Coca Cola® commercials.To learn more about penguins visit your local library to find penguin movies and books and try these penguin-inspired crafts and activities:Potato-Stamp Penguin
Cut a large and a small potato in half lengthwise. Paint the large potato half black and then stamp it on blue craft paper. Paint wings on black body and let dry. When dry, paint small potato half white and then stamp it on the black penguin body. Cut a beak and feet out of orange craft paper and glue on penguin. Add wiggly eyes. Make an ice landscape with torn craft paper, tissue paper, or cotton balls.Fingerprint PenguinStamp thumb into white paint and make one large “thumbprint” tummy on a piece of blue paper or cardstock. Next, stamp index finger into black paint and make fingerprint wings on either side of the tummy. Then, stamp tip of pinkie finger into the black paint and make a fingertip head on top of the penguin. Use a toothpick to make two white eye dots. Allow to dry. Finally, use the toothpick to add a beak and feet with orange paint.Penguin Egg WalkExplain that emperor penguins have to carry their eggs and babies on their feet. This is not an easy task. Have children take off their shoes and try to walk around with an egg on their feet. (Make an egg out of a white sock filled with rice or cut a big egg out of white paper.)Here are some other great art activities to do with your children outdoors:Make Penguin Snow Sculptures
Have children create snow penguin sculptures and paint with snow paints. (Mix food coloring and water and fill small containers with the mixture.) Children will enjoy exploring the effects that the paint makes on the snow.
Don’t forget to fill those little tummies with a treat fitting for a penguin:Penguin Snack Krill (a Ritz cracker covered with cream cheese and topped with a tiny shrimp or tuna)The days may be short and the world covered in white, but you don’t have to suffer from the winter blues! Visit KidsSoup.com for a blizzard of other fun winter and penguin crafts and activities.
Cure Your Child’s Winter Blues with Penguin Activities and Celebrate the Season!
Business Loans For Bad Credit – For Start-up Or Expansion
Business Loans for Bad Credit are available from the right resources. Getting the money you need for your business doesn’t have to be a lost cause. There are a multitude of Private Lenders that are willing to help you start or expand an existing business. They know that business keeps the Wheels of the World turning and they WANT to be a part of your success story!If you don’t have any business credit established at this time, then lenders will most likely view your personal credit. Typically this is a deciding factor for them to determine the terms and amount of your loan. With traditional lenders, it will be much harder to land a loan with bad credit. But private lenders specializing in business loans for bad credit will be far more forgiving. Either way, it would be wise for you to work to clear-up any negative items on your credit report before pursuing loans – even bad credit business loans. This can only help your chances.Do you have a good history with a bank or credit union? If so, this can be a starting point to seeking the business funds that you need. While there is no guarantee that this avenue will work for you, chances are that if you’re maintained a good record with these financial institutions over the years – they’d be willing to give your business proposition strong consideration. And if for some reason they can’t, they could be a helpful referral source to lenders who do specialize in poor credit commercial loans.A great loophole is that when banks say No and you don’t know where else to go, your alternative can be to look to Private Lenders. These largely consists of small firms or individuals looking for profitable business opportunities to invest their money in. You can try locating them by asking around in business networks or by searching the web with keywords like: business loans for bad credit, bad credit business loans, high risk business loans, etc.It is very important to insure that you put on your most professional image when approaching lenders. Be organized and have a well-written business plan in hand. Lenders will not want to touch a person who claims that want a business loan, but yet they are totally unprofessional. Would you?… didn’t think so. Sharpen your image and business presentation to the point where you yourself can honestly look in the mirror and say “If I were a lender I would definitely Lend Me the Money!”