Meet the Sisters Behind The Siblings’ Busy Book

By Meredith O’Brien

You’re walking through a bookstore and enthusiastically pick up a children’s activity book designed to help you and your kid make it through the day while keeping your offspring at least mildly entertained, or at least keeping him from eating from the cat’s bowl again.

But then you take the book home and notice that while it may have some great ideas for what to do with your toddler, there’s nothing applicable to your 10-month-old, or to your second grader. So what are you supposed to do, one activity per kid while the others just stand around and whine, “M-O-M! I’m bored!” or have you conduct three different activities simultaneously while dashing between all three?

That won’t happen if you flip through the new children’s activity book, The Siblings' Busy Book.

Identical twins Heather Kempskie and Lisa Hanson, 35, not only look exactly alike, but each have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old apiece and live in the same MetroWest community. When they were both pregnant with their second child, they had the realization that there were no books that took a variety of siblings’ ages into account when suggesting children’s activities. So they set out to fill the void.

Kempskie, the editor of Parents & Kids Magazine, and Hanson, who teaches yoga and gymnastics to children, agreed to field questions about the making of their new book:

Meredith O’Brien, Parents & Kids Magazine: Have you each done all of these activities with your kids? And if so, which activities were big hits in your households?

Heather Kempskie, The Siblings’ Busy Book: Our kids were definitely a big part of putting this book together. That being said, we tested each one of the 200 activities with other parents. We held events at local bookstores and we tweaked [the activities] until we felt they were perfect. But in the end our kids were kept quite busy during the years that we wrote this book.

Lisa Hanson, The Siblings’ Busy Book: There’s one particular activity our kids still love to do on a weekly basis called “Portable Seas.” In it, kids create their own aquarium with pretend fish. They love the exploration, the naming of the fish, seeing what objects sink or float.

Were either of you camp counselors? Work in the circus? I know I certainly wouldn’t have been able to come up with the bulk of the activities you have in here. How did you come up with some of these ideas? Did you get contributions from friends?

Hanson: I think I’ve had every single job out there available to work with kids. I’ve worked in daycares, elementary schools and got my masters in creative education. So a lot of the ideas came from my experiences of working with children.

Kempskie: Where Lisa is on the frontlines, I’m behind the scenes as the editor of P&K. I work with lots of childcare experts, pediatricians and parents and that’s how I get my sense of what is important to families and how they could benefit from SBB.

Hanson: Other parents would mention something to us in passing and we’d be like, “Wait a minute, we could use that!”

Kempskie: Inspiration arrived on a daily basis!

Tell me an amusing anecdote about testing out these activities with your kiddos. Did the kids realize you were trying out activities for the book?

Hanson: If [our kids] picked up on anything it was because we were like hawks looking for their reactions and for their ideas and jotting down notes on what should be included in the directions.

Kempskie: We shared what we working on with them. Obviously there were times we had to sneak off to write and talk and research and the kids knew we were going to “write the book.” In the end, hopefully, our kids will grow to appreciate this book and how much they played a part of it.

Hanson: What comes to mind is the “Homemade Butter.” We had to be very creative on how to do this activity. It takes 30 minutes of shaking the cream to make butter. It’s a lot of work, but the butter tastes great. We got the kids together and hoped they would give us some ideas on keeping the butter moving and they sure did. And we had lots of butter.
 

Did you do these activities growing up? Were your parents very actively involved in playing with you?

Hanson: I look back at our childhood and realize there was so much time for imaginative play. Anything in the “Let’s Pretend” chapter we did as kids. We ran restaurants, doctor’s offices. Our parents gave us time for creative play. They gave us the materials and the space and the time to do that.

Kempskie: Our parents were ever present and active in our lives. And I think that’s why Lisa and I can sit here today -- as close siblings -- and say we really enjoyed the process of writing and creating this book together.

Hanson: We were each other’s first playmates. Siblings teach you important life skills and many of that is through play.

Kempskie: Yes, the research we did for this book definitely explored the sibling relationship for the overall mission and purpose. This is the most significant relationship any person ever has because it’s the longest one.

Hanson: We knew that and wanted our children to have a strong connection and that was driving force behind this idea as well.

A number of these activities -- most of them actually – involve simple uses for everyday, household objects. They don’t require that parents shell out hundreds of dollars for twenty minutes of fun, which is a refreshing change. Was cost and accessibility a factor in which activities you included?

Hanson: Absolutely, that was our biggest component. Life is expensive and parents can take their kids to museums and other places that cost money but while you’re at home you should be able to create moments without a high cost. It’s not about the materials; it’s about the time you spend with kids.

Kempskie: If you think back to your own childhood, the most pleasurable memories you have are the simple ones – that involved your imagination and a few materials. We wanted to recreate that in the book.

Okay, I have to ask about the “Window Painting” activity in your “Learning & Exploring” section. You advise parents to put a sheet on the floor and tape newspaper to the wall below a large pane of glass, then suggest that the kids paint the window. I’m just pausing for a moment to envision that happening in my house. (*pause*) Now I’m envisioning my head exploding when my twin 9-year-olds and my 6-year-old wind up painting the walls and floors, despite my precautions and gentle admonitions. How did this activity work in your houses? What advice would you give to skeptics like myself?

Hanson: Kids are messy. We look at the developmental benefits for their growth and motor skills to paint horizontally. Instead of having to buy an easel and large paper, we concluded you could use something you already have – windows!

Kempskie: We know parents are creative people – they have to be with all the juggling they do to run their households. You may not consider yourself an arts and crafts person but you’ll crafty when it comes to organizing a family. That being said, you can take this activity and say, “No way am I doing this on a window” and change it up and go into the garage and tape a paper on the wall and still get the developmental benefits without a head explosion. These activities are meant to use in any way that works for you and your family.