101 Ways to Praise a Child

So many ways to say "good job." Try a new one today!

101 Ways to Praise a Child

Arts & Crafts Gift Buckets

Here's a gift idea that encourages imagination and creativity. It would make a nice birthday gift or party favor! While I like Discount School Supply, a great time to pick up the "stuffings" would be during back to school sales.

Arts & Crafts Gift Buckets

P.S. Discount School Supply is one of my favorite online stores for materials!

All Purpose Bubble Solution

This is a good general use mixture.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 Cups Water (Distilled Water works best)

1/2 Cup hand dishwashing detergent (Dawn or Joy are best!)

Optional: 1/2 Cup Karo light corn syrup or Glycerin

1. Combine water and detergent. Stir well, but do not shake.

2. For stronger bubbles add corn syrup or glycerin, or more detergent.

*Extension: Make large bubble wands from straws threaded onto string.

Respectful Listening

Today is just a quote that got me thinking. I think the communication in our house would go more smoothly if we all invested a little more listening time.

We have 2 ears and 1 mouth to do twice as much listening as talking.

Holding a conversation has just as much to do with listening respectfully as it does your responses. Just something to think about.

Shake It Up, Baby

Materials: Ziploc baggies, sliced fruits such as bananas, apples, strawberries. Can use buttered toast squares too. Coatings: try cinnamon and raisins, hot chocolate mix, cinnamon and sugar, parmesan cheese, powdered sugar, ranch dressing mix, powdered drink mixes like strawberry flavor Nestle Nequik.

Pick a food and a coating. Here are some combos to get you started!

Sliced bananas + cinnamon-sugar + raisins
Sliced bananas + Nestle Nequik powder
Apple slices + cinnamon-sugar
Strawberries + powdered sugar
Toast squares + parmesan cheese
Sliced bananas + hot chocolate mix
Apple slices + parmesan cheese
Toast squares + ranch dressing mix

Kids can slice the fruit or toast and put it into the Ziploc bag. They can also measure and pour in the coating. Let 'em shake and eat their treat.

*Variation: Put heavy cream into a plastic jar that will seal tightly. Have children take turns shaking it (20 minutes or so) until it turns into butter. Serve with pancakes or toast or crackers.

Repeat the Beat

Snap, clap or pat a simple beat and ask your child to "repeat the beat." Start simple and increase difficulty. Mix snaps and claps and lap pats.

*Variations: Use a drum to pound out a beat that goes with the syllables in names of people you know. For example, Tyler would be clap-clap. Adrienne would be clap-clap-clap: three quick claps.

Air Moves Things

Materials: Straws, feathers, pom poms, plastic bottles, pebbles, crumpled paper balls, any objects that might move with air.

Place objects on a flat surface and blow through a straw, aiming air at the objects to see which ones move and how much air it takes to move them.

*Extension: Can you find 3 MORE things that air will move?

*Extension: Have air races. Who can move the feather to the end of the room the fastest?

*Extension: Go on a wind walk and observe all the things moving in the wind.

*Variation: Use turkey basters or paper fans to move objects.

*Variation: Create abstract paintings by dropping small amounts of paint on paper and blowing the paint around the paper with a straw.

Postal Clerk

I'm going to forgive myself the last week or so that I haven't posted. I've had an awesome time with my boys and my husband and enjoying summer has been our top priority!

Set up your very own pretend post office with a table and chairs and various writing utensils, paper, printing tools, and materials to encourage writing. Include materials for mailing- envelopes, stamps (stickers), address labels, greeting cards, postcards, stationery, lined and unlined paper, etc. Write, sort, and deliver!

*Extension: This is a great use for "junk mail," especially business reply mail envelopes. Pat yourself on the back for recycling!

Children's Development in Early Reading and Writing

What preschoolers can do:

*enjoy listening to and discussing storybooks
*understand that print has meaning
*attempt to read and write
*identify signs and labels from the environment
*produces rhymes
*identify some letters and make some letter-sound matches
*use known letters or approximations or letters to represent written language, especially one's own name and meaningful phrases like "I love you"

What parents and family members can do:

*talk to children, have conversations
*give names of things
*show interest in what the child says
*read and reread stories with predictable text (any story becomes predictable when read over and over!)
*ask children to recount experiences
*have children describe ideas and events important to them, recalling with detail and order
*visit the library
*provide writing and drawing materials and time to use them!