The Mom I Want to Be

1. Present a lower case and capital E to your child.  Explain that E is one of the letters that sometimes makes the same sound as its name.  Give examples of long E words, such as eagle, easy, easel and evening.  Ask if she knows another sound E makes.  Give examples of short e sounds like elephant and egg.

2. Read Edward the Emu

3.  Go on a scavenger hunt to find E items to create an E bag — envellope, egg, ear, earring, elephant, elastic, eraser, etc

4. Create an E collage for your child’s aphabet book.  Have her search through magazines for words that begin with the letter E

5. Provide a cutout E, taped to waxed paper for easy cleanup.  Show child than egg and explain that you will be making paint from the yolks.  Place yolk in a small cup and color with a few drops of food coloring.  Have your child paint her E with the yolk paint (It’s thick and dries to a beautiful sheen and smooth finish).  Have her cover the entire letter.  When it fries, attach to a sheet of paper to place into her alphabet book.

6. Provide a worksheet with R’s for tracing across the top and a blank space below, e pictures (photocopy from book or from magazines), small envellope, and a glue stick.  Your child should trace and print several E’s, and then glue the envellope below.  Fill the envellope with E pictures and place in alphabet book.

7. Other activities:  try eggs prepared in different ways — scrambled, hard boiled, devilled, etc.  Rate them in order.  Pretend to be elephants and swing your trunks.  Talk about animals that hatch from eggs.  Take a ride in an elevator, paint on an easel

Grow a snowflake in a jar!

 

string

wide mouth jar

white pipe cleaners

blue food coloring (optional)

boiling water (with adult help)

borax (available at grocery stores in the laundry soap section)

pencil

 

With a little kitchen science you can create long lasting snowflakes as sparkly as the real ones. Cut a white pipe cleaner into 3 equal sections. Twist the sections together in the center so that you have a “six-sided” star shape. Pipe cleaners and string form a snowflake base for the crystals to grow on.   If your points are not even, trim the pipe-cleaner sections to the same length. Now attach string along the outer edges to form a snowflake pattern.Attach a piece of string to the top of one of the pipe cleaners and tie the other end to a pencil (this is to hang it from). Fill a widemouth jar with boiling water. Mix borax into the water one tablespoon at a time. Use 3 tablespoons of borax per cup of water. Stir until dissolved, (don’t worry if there is powder settling on the bottom of the jar). If you want you can add a little blue food coloring now to give the snowflake a bluish hue. Insert your pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil is resting on the lip of the jar and the snowflake is freely suspended in the borax solution. Wait overnight and by morning the snowflake will be covered with shiny crystals. Hang in a window as a sun-catcher or use as a winter time decoration.

Black and white glossy acrylic paint

Plastic soda or water bottles (we used 12-ounce, 1-liter, and 2-liter bottles)

Styrofoam balls (2- to 3-inch diameter)

Black and yellow craft foam sheets

Tacky glue

Masking tape (optional)

Butter knife

Googly eyes (we used 3/4- to 1-inch diameter)

Funnel

Sand

Small doll accessories (optional)

Child’s socks (optional)

Permanent marker

Plastic lawn sign, 15 by 19 inches or larger (we got ours at an office supply store for $5)

 

For each penguin, pour two parts black paint and one part water inside a bottle (we used 1 to 4 tablespoons of paint depending on the size of the bottle). Screw on the cap and shake the bottle to coat the sides. Remove the cap and save it for later.  On the outside of the bottle, paint a white oval from the spout to the bottom. Dry overnight (the inside may be slightly wet in the morning).  Coat a Styrofoam ball with black paint and let it dry. Cut two wings from the black craft foam and a beak and feet from the yellow craft foam (you can download our template. Glue the wings and feet to the bottle as shown and let them dry. If needed, use masking tape to hold the wings in place as they dry.  With the knife, bore a hole in the Styrofoam ball big enough to fit the neck of the bottle. Glue on googly eyes. Make a small slit below the eyes, insert a few dabs of glue, then slide the beak into the opening. Funnel sand into the bottle to weigh it down (we used 1 to 2 cups depending on the bottle’s size). Replace the cap and press the Styrofoam head on top.  If you like, dress the penguin in doll accessories or use kids’ socks to make your own. For a hat, snip a 6- to 8-inch length from a sock and knot one end. For a scarf, cut a 1½-inch-wide loop from a sock, snip it open, and fringe the ends.   Write “Penguins wanted, apply within” on the lawn sign, then arrange it and the penguins in your yard as shown.

 

 

Instead of spending money on activity gyms for your living room, position two sturdy wooden chairs back to back about 4 feet away from each other.  Insert a broom through the rails of the chairs so that that broom handle rests on the seat of one chair and the brush side sits on the other.  Using chain links, attach a few toys to the broom handle.  Position a soft blanket underneath, use duct tape to secure the broom to the seats of the chair, and allow baby to reach for and play with the toys.

 

Make sure you have a CD player in the living room.  Children of all ages love to rock and sway to music, so keep a varied collection on hand.  In addition to moving to classical music, dance with your baby to reggae, jazz and favorite rock and roll tunes.  See how he reacts and moves to a wide array of beats and melodies.  Listen to upbeat jazz rhythms to lift the spirits of a fussy baby, or gently lull baby into dreamland using new age music infused with sounds of nature like caressing ocean waves or the soothing night songs of crickets.  If you have a cable TV available, check to see if they offer music channels.  You might find dozens of styles available without having to spend another penny!

 

Keep a short, toy filled laundry basket in the living room for little ones to pull out and play with at their leisure.  Most babies love sitting in the basket and will spend more time climbing in and out than actually playing with the toys themselves.  Take this opportunity to teach baby about full and empty and in and out as she fills up and empties the basket.

 

Remove breakables from the bottom shelves of a bookshelf or cabinet and fill them with babies books, blocks and toys to give him his own personal storage space in the living room.  Babies always seem to receive more toys than they can possibly play with at one sitting, so why not present them with a new toy collection in their storage area every few days or so?  For instance, take 21 toys and divide them into three piles and sort them into 3 boxes.  Switch out the boxes every few days.  Reshuffle the toys and start again once you have used all three boxes.

 

Create exploration tunnels in your living room.  Remove flaps from large cardboard boxes and lay them on their side for crawlers to venture into.  Roll a ball into the tunnel for your baby to chase or place stuffed animals inside for her to find.  Consider using duct tape to attach two boxes together for a longer tunnel.  Cut out fun shapes along the sides of the boxes using cookie cutters as a template and a utility knife to let in light and provide peek-a-boo windows, then use a primer for learning about shapes.

 

Paper plates can serve as terrigic learning tools for toddlers.  Keep a stack of decorated plates in the living room.  Use markers to add alphabet letters to a set of plates, numbers to another, and splashes of color to a third.  Create an obstacle course in the living room, asking your toddler to step on the plate marked “1” for example, then move on to “2” until he gets to 10.  He may enjoy counting down from 10 to 1, walking backwards to step on the plates.  Place your alphabet letters in a circle and allow your toddler to jump onto the letters as you sing the ABC’s.  Use your colored plates to reinforce names of colors, body parts and concept of left and right – “Can you touch the green plate with your right foot?”

 

Throw down pillows and cushions on the living room floor so that toddlers can play leapfrog.  The object is to hop from one pillow to the next without getting “wt” (touching the floor).  This game refines dexterity and balance.  If cushions seem a bit cumbersome and difficult for your toddler to manage, substitute coloring place mats or bath towels.  For a challenge, use old washcloths or table coasters for tip toeing on the lily pads.

 

Excite adventurous crawlers by placing a large cushion on the floor in front of a sofa or love seat.  Sit on the couch with a favorite book or toy and encourage baby to climb up on the couch and sit next to you.  She’ll enjoy the thrill of completing the task all on her own and will love viewing the living room from a new perspective.  Be sure to remove cushions from floor when you leave the room.

 

Drape a large comforter over two or more sturdy wooden chairs to create an instant make believe house for dolls and stuffed animals.  The chair seats can serve as upstairs bedrooms, while the floor beneath and under the chairs is the kitchen, dining and living rooms.  To help them decorate their homes, supply show boxes for beds, wash cloths for quilts, sponges for pillows and a host of small plastic containers for make believe tables, chairs, couches and bath tubs.

Visual stimulation—the perspective that changes with movement; the colors of the scarves and things viewed through them

 

Place a scarf over your head and invite baby to pull it off.

 

Place several in an empty container and invite the child to pull them out and stuff them back in.

 

Play music and wave scarves to encourage a toddler to dance.

On a piece of wax paper squeeze a dot of glue about the size of a quarter. I give each child 8 or 9 Q-Tips, and they lay one end of the Q-tip into the glue. Continue placing Q-Tips around the circle of glue.  Completely dry (day or two) and peel off wax paper.  (Some added glitter, crystal or silver, to the center.  The older ones also placed a dot of glue on the end of the Q-Tip and sprinkled glitter at the ends.)  Hang with fishing line.

It looks like ice, but it feels like gelatin. Either way, this recipe provides a tactile experience your youngsters are sure to enjoy. Mix 32 envelopes of unflavored gelatin (four envelopes are in a box) with 22 cups of hot water. Stir until dissolved; then pour the mixture into small plastic containers and chill. Once the mixture has jelled, pop the gelatin forms out

of the containers and give one to each child. Youngsters can use pipe cleaners, bowls, and spoons to freely explore. What fun!

 

Piece of glass

Aerosol hairspray

 

Freeze the piece of glass and the hairspray can overnight.  Spray your chilled glass with the chilled hairspray.  Go outside and let some snowflakes settle on the glass. When you have enough flakes bring the glass indoors and allow it to thaw at room temperature for about 15 minutes.  Now you have a permanent record of your snowflakes!