The Mom I Want to Be

 ice cube tray
 small pitcher
 spoon
 construction paper
 crayons
 newspaper
 paper towels

Place an ice cube tray in the sink and fill the pitcher with water. Encourage your toddler to fill the tray by pouring the liquid from the pitcher.  Together, put the tray into the freezer. Keep checking to see what happens to the water as it chills. Talk about the thin layer of ice that begins to form. Tap the frozen liquid with a spoon to see if it’s solid. While you’re waiting for the water to freeze, invite your child to draw a picture on construction paper with the crayons.  Place some newspaper on a table. When the water has turned to ice, help your child twist the tray to pop some ice cubes onto the newspaper. What happens when you hold the cubes in your hands? Discuss how the warmth of your hands makes the ice melt and become water again! Have your toddler use an ice cube like a crayon to draw on a new piece of construction paper. The melting cube will leave watery marks behind. Encourage him to move the drippy ice cube all around the page to create great designs. If the ice cube is too cold to hold, cover it with a paper towel. How is the ice drawing different than the crayon drawing? When your child has finished drawing, put the project aside to dry. Check on it from time to time to see what happens. When it’s dry, your child may be surprised to see that his drawings have evaporated! Compare the crayon drawing and the ice drawing again.

Learning benefits:
• demonstrates the properties of water (freezing, melting, evaporating)
• builds fine-motor skills

This standard kid craft is so clever and ingenious, it has stood the test of time, wowing children since the birth of the plastic water bottle (if not before!). It’s allure is nigh unbeatable and I can see why! An I SPY bottle is so simple to make! Kids can even help.

 

 

The idea includes these simple materials: Empty (and dry) water bottle, rice, small trinkets that fit inside, tape or glue to seal the opening (So little ones don’t choke on trinkets).

 

And Presto-Chango! You have an instant activity that is cheap, fun and portable!

 

Here’s a few ways we rock the I SPY bottle:

 

~We always play supervised-even when it’s sealed…my daughter swallowed a dime recently, so I’m not taking any chances!

 

~We like the Voss Water Bottle brand (pictured above) for it’s wide mouth opening and sleek symmetrical design.

 

~We only fill our bottle 2/3 full-perfect for shaking it up!

 

~ We like color, texture, shapes, letters and numbers when it comes to putting trinkets inside.

 

~Some good objects to start with are assorted beads and Mylar confetti- they’re both small can carry that “wow” factor.

 

~We throw in a few familiar objects, so they can squeal “Hey, there’s my…” and take ownership of what’s inside.

1. The Human Body & Healthy Habits (Also promotes self-awareness!)

2. Colors/Rainbows

3. The 5 Senses (Sight, Smell, Touch, Taste, Hear)

4. Insects (Bugs, Butterflies, Spiders,etc.)

5. Animals (including categories: mammals, reptiles, fish, etc.)

6. Dinosaurs

7. Weather/Seasons

8. Astonomy – Stars, Sun, Moon, Planets

9. Magnets

10. Plants and Gardening

11. Habitats

12. Geology – gemstones, rocks, dirt, soil

13. Motion/Gravity/Weight

14. Cause and Effect (Chemical reactions like oil and water or vinegar and baking soda)

14. Water and the Water Cycle

 

A good round of playing “Kitchen” is always good for the soul. Why not change it up a little and play “Restaurant”. You and your child will have a blast and they will learn a little something along the way – dramatic play is important to a child’s development. Children express ideas, thoughts, and language in dramatic play that is quite unlike other times during their day. Really and truly, the only thing you need for dramatic play is your imagination. However, there is nothing wrong with a few props to liven things up! So, I took the liberty to slip a few things into my kidlet’s kitchen area that I thought might make our “Restaurant” playing a little more interesting.

 

-Menu: printed on paper, decorated with stickers, and detailed bargain pricing like hamburgers for one dollar!

 

– Apron: one of my half aprons from my craft supply drawer (a tea towel and some ribbon would do the trick too!)

 

– Mini clipboard and pencil: For taking orders of course (I got mine at the Dollar Tree)!

 

– Play Money: We don’t have play money, so I scrawled “$1” on a few strips of copier paper. It served the purpose. You could also fashion “charge cards” to make it more modern. 🙂

 

Take your kidlets on a veritable journey through having a meal “out on the town”:

 

Ask to be seated at your table.

Mention you “heard the food was good here”.

Ask “What’s the Special today?”

Ask for items “on the side”.

Compliment the chef on the food’s delicious taste.

Pay with cash or charge…

Don’t forget to leave a tip!

 

Most of all, have fun!

Multiply the fun when your baby paints with a friend.

 

• newspaper or plastic garbage bags
• large sheet of butcher paper or posterboard
• washable paints in containers large enough to dip hands and feet in

Cover the floor with newspaper or tape down a cut-open garbage bag (this also works well as an outside activity). Set out butcher paper and paints. Invite the children to make a mural with prints of their hands and feet. Demonstrate by putting your own hands in the paint and making a handprint on the paper.  Encourage little ones to take turns pressing their hands and feet on the paper. What kind of patterns can they make if they put their hands or feet together?  When they’re finished, ask them if they can identify their own hand- and footprints on the mural.

Learning benefits:
• Promotes cooperation
• Builds large-motor skills
• Encourages creativity

Fine motor development is essential to a young child being able to do so many things in his or her future. Some of those activities include using scissors, weilding a writing utensil, and even playing an instrument. There are many excercises to help develop finger muscles and finely tune that “pincer grasp”.

 You can also mix small items into your rice / beans and allow the kids to hunt for them.  You could have them use tongs to work on those muscles, or have them reach in and try to guess what they found, without looking, just by touch. 

Set aside a place to play. Sensory tables are fun, but they can also be quite messy, depending on the items that you put inside. So find a place in your home or backyard that you don’t mind having to sweep or mop up after a play session. The kitchen or the back porch are both good options for this type of thing.

 

Lay a large plastic tablecloth on the floor to create a place for your child to play. The larger the tablecloth, the easier it will be to clean up after you’re done using your sensory tub.

 

Fill the tub with various sensory items. There are many different items that you can include in a sensory tub, so use your imagination when choosing items. You can put in simple things like sand, rocks, dry rice, dried beans or even dry cereal. Ice cubes and water are other fun sensory items to play with. Try letting old coffee grounds dry out and using those.  You can add glitter or food coloring to teach your child about colors. 

 

Mix up a batch of “clean mud” – mix 1 roll white toilet paper (shredded), 1 bar grated Dove soap (use a cheese grater), and warm water (make the water warm enough to melt the soap), only mix enough water to make it the consistency of thick cool whip. This can be saved in airtight containers for later use.  Use a flubber, silly putty or dough recipe.

 

Each time you bring out the sensory tub, you can explore something new.

 

Once you’ve created a sensory tub, give your child a few measuring spoons or cups to play with. He will enjoy filling up and dumping out the measuring cups.  If doing water, include a turkey baster and funnel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purchase a bag of mixed size doggie treats that are shaped like bones and bury them well.  Have the kids retreive them, and then make dinosour skeletons by gluing them to cardstock.

 

1. water

2. jell-o

3. pudding

4. ice

5. packing peanuts or other Styrofoam

6. shredded paper

7. pumpkin guts

8. rice

9. coffee grounds

10. dirt

11. corn meal

12. sea shells

13. seeds

14. dry pasta

15. cooked pasta

16. leaves (try fresh and crinkly ones)

17. clean mud (mix 1 roll white toilet paper (shredded), 1 bar grated Dove soap (use a cheese grater), and warm water (make the water warm enough to melt the soap), only mix enough water to make it the consistency of thick cool whip. This can be saved in airtight containers for later use

18. rocks (all different sizes and shapes but make sure to clean them with rubbing alcohol first)

19. flour

20. pieces of paper to rip

21. corn (right off the ears or cooked)

22. Easter grass

23. snow

24. shaving cream

25. whipped cream

26. feathers

27. yogurt

28. nuts

29. cotton balls

30. straws

31. old bows from Christmas presents

32. salt

33. dry instant mashed potatoes (use them plain or add a little water for a different effect)

34. oatmeal

35. pop corn (popped or plain kernels

36. baby shampoo

37. bubbles

38. pom poms 3

9. the little holes that come out of a hole punch

40. pine cones

41. flax

42. sawdust

43. almost any kind of cereal

44. baking soda

45. supersand (equal parts of cornmeal and coffee grounds)

46. marbles

47. flower petals

48. hay

49. sugar

50. play dough

51. slippery slime

52. flubber (pour in elmers school glue, a liquid starch a little at a time until it becomes blubbery)

53. buttons

54. cedar shavings

55. sticks/twigs

56. grass clippings

57. jelly beans

58. milk

59. juice

60. honey

61. ice cream

62. whole bananas (let the kids squish them)

63. marshmallows

64. broccoli

65. crackers

66. cookies

67. tomatoes

68. salsa

69. bread crumbs

70. pieces of bread

71. small balls

72. beads

73. puzzle pieces (all different sizes)

74. confetti

75. scarves

76. all different kinds of fabric samples

77. seaweed

78. blocks

79. Lego’s

80. coins (be sure to clean them in rubbing alcohol first)

81. Popsicle sticks

82. cottage cheese

83. egg shells (be sure to clean them first with water and rubbing alcohol)

84. blueberries

85. hair gel

86. pipe cleaners

87. ribbon

88. yarn

89. sponges (all different shapes, sizes and colors)

90. instead of putting water or other items in the sensory table put it in Ziploc bags and put the bags in the table, this makes for a different change of pace not to mention MUCH less cleanup

91. plastic Easter eggs

92. candy corn

93. acorns

94. toilet paper and paper towel rolls

95. lids (any kind of lid just make sure it is safe with no sharp edges)

96. clothespins

97. bells (all different sizes)

98. photos

99. seaweed

100.the insides of cassette tapes

101. plastic or rubber animals!

102. Aquarium Gravel with toy sea animals, glass stones, and shells

1. Exposure. If the number one rule in real estate is location, then the number one rule in promoting literacy and language is exposure. Expose your child to the printed and written word often and in great quantity. Talk to them often. Start as early as you can. Read to them every day. Have books around. Take them to the library. Talk to them, even when they are babies. When I was pregnant with my first child, I remember hearing my good friend talk to her newborn about what he was going to wear, when it was time to take a bath. Now, did the baby understand what she was saying? No. She was establishing good habits and modeling language and exposing him to words and speech at a very early age. And if you already do all that, then great! But, if you are like me, then there’s always room for improvement.

 

2. Surround them with a “print rich” environment. This goes hand in hand with exposure, but is a little more specific in it’s intent. Find ways to bring words into everyday life. Make it fun! Try and have a good amount of books in the house and read them. And if you can’t afford many books, your local library is an excellent resource-use it! Some public libraries offer toddler story times for ages as young as one year and many libraries have toy/play areas to create an enticing environment for young children. Talk about the words you see out and about at the drive-thru, at the gas station, at the grocery store. Don’t leave out words on things just because you think they can’t read them. How will they know what words are (and their meaning) unless you teach them?

 

3. Write With Your Child. Model how to write correctly. Write notes to your child and read them together. Make up stories together where they dictate and you write it down. Have them draw a picture to go along with each story. Even if they just scribble nonsense on a piece of paper, you are still exposing them to the concept which encourages readiness to write.

 

4. Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk to them as often as you can about a variety of subjects. Use descriptive words. (For instance, it’s not just a truck, but a sanitation truck). Talk to them about the things you do at home, school, and familiar places. Talk out idioms or familiar sayings with them. Talk to them over dinner. The family dinner is the best place for talking in my opinion. They are relaxed and in a familiar and comfortable environment and ready to share about their world!

 

5. Listen to Your Child. Listening is as important as speaking when it comes to literacy and language. Teaching our children to listen by modeling it through example helps them later on. Through listening they will learn patience and be ready for phonics and comprehension.

 

6. Teach Your Child How to Handle Books. Show your child that books are special. When reading, explain that we read left to right and top to bottom. Show him the spine of the book and describe it’s function (It holds up the pages and tells us the title and author). If he understand how books work ( that they are for reading, not for throwing or ripping), he is more likely to be engaged when you are reading to him. If you introduce this early, say when they are infants and toddlers, be sure to revisit this later on when their comprehension level is higher.:)

 

7. Have Writing Materials Available and Accessible. Having writing materials “at the ready” encourages children to reach for them every day. A simple way to have materials always available is to create a “writing center” or “writing box”. Fill it with pens, pencils, crayons, paper, envelopes, and even stamps with words on them! If you are worried about the possibility of little hands creating masterpieces on your walls, use Color Wonder markers and art supplies.

 

8. Sing To/With Your Child. Songs help children in a myriad of ways. Not the least of which, at an early age, is the introduction of language in a fun and entertaining way. And believe me, your children don’t care if you are off tune, they just love that you sing to them! And if you don’t want to sing to them, buy music with words and play it for them often. And when singing to your wee one, do it in a variety of places like the park, the bath, when playing or on a walk, etc. Singing is also a great way to help pass the time in line at the grocery store or at an amusement park.

 

9. Be Yourself. Do what works for you. Teaching literacy and language to children doesn’t have to resemble school. It can be done virtually anywhere and at anytime (except when they’re sleeping of course). If you love to cook with your kids, bring out the recipe card, read it and show your child how a recipe card works, explaining measurements, etc. If your child is in to art, incorporate the written word and the letters of the alphabet into some of your projects. If they like to play with cars and trucks, create road and traffic signs to go along with their beloved vehicles.

 

 

10. Play Games and Do Activities. I will be sharing with you some literacy and language activities in upcoming posts, but wanted to suggest a few things to get you started. For instance, read poems, mother goose stories, rhymes, and finger plays. Rhyming plays with words and phonetic sounds and encourages kids to listen to sounds and introduces them to the idea that sounds put together in a particular way make words. Science experiments are a great way to incorporate literacy and language into an activity. I use the three D’s. Describe, Discuss, Document. Ask them to describe what they think will happen, and what is happening. Discuss the end result and document the finding in a journal or observation report.