Monthly Archives: November 2011

Reinforcing Letter Learning and Reading while Cooking with Your Kids

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Children Cooking

I never need an excuse to bake or be creative in the kitchen, and I love it when my kids join in the fun. Not only does cooking together offer the opportunity to bond with children, but it helps them to expand their palettes, and it’s an excellent learning opportunity.

How to reinforce reading while cooking

Have a few child-friendly cookbooks on hand and easily accessible to your children. Encourage your kids to help you create your meal menus by paging through and reading their cookbooks. A few of our favorite books include

  • The Cookbook for Kids (Williams-Sonoma): Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook
  • Fix-It and Forget-It Kids’ Cookbook: 50 Favorite Recipes to Make in a Slow Cooker

Ask your child to read you the next steps of the recipe, even if she is only recognizing a few of the words in the recipe. Often, there are picture cues that will help a child to identify the words and terms. Additionally, by reading a recipe, she’ll see the words that work. If she can’t yet read, always read the recipe out loud, showing her the words you’re reading.

Bake in letters using cookie cutters to form letters in cookies, personal pizzas, and pancakes. We have this Wilton 2304-1050 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set, which we also use for Play-Doh, tracing, and just general playtime.

Make pretzels and form letters and shapes.

Label everything in your kitchen and ask your child for the foods you need. The more your child interacts with words the more he or she will see them.

Play with your food. After you cook, don’t clean up! Play with the leftover dusts of flour, cinnomon, and mixes on your counter tops and create letters and words in them with your child.

How do you share cooking and reading in your kitchen?

Photo courtesy of slightly everything / Flickr.

Pinkalicious Crafts and Activities

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Recently here on Rusty and Rosy, the 50 Greatest Children’s Books list was published. One of the books that made the cut was Pinkalicious by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann. My daughter absolutely loves this book. We decided to spend a day, recently, celebrating the book and doing some fun activities and craft projects pertaining to it.

We began our day by reading the book together and talking about all of the funny things that happen, then we sat down and planned the rest of our day. Of course, the first thing my daughter wanted to do was bake pink cupcakes, just like in the book, so we went to the store and picked up our ingredients and went home to bake. I love getting my kids into the kitchen. She cracked the eggs and poured the ingredients into the bowl for me, then she set to work mixing. Once our cupcakes were baked and cooled, I topped each with some bright pink frosting.

While the cupcakes were baking, though, we set to work making a crown and wand, just like Pinkalicious wears when she dresses up.

For the crown, we took a plain gold foam crown purchased at the craft store and added some hot pink glitter glue onto the top like jewels.

While the crown was drying, we started on the wand.

To make this we used some gold foam that had a sticker backing, a wood dowel rod (that my daughter painted hot pink), and some pink ribbons.

You will need to cut out a star template (I printed one on the computer) and place it over the gold foam. Cut out two gold stars.

Using hot glue attach the ribbons to the top of the wood dowel rod.

Next, peel the backing from one gold star. Place the wand carefully onto the sticker backing so that about 1 inch of the wand is stuck to the star. Peel the backing from the second gold star and place it over the top. Press down firmly.

And the result:

She loved her Pinkalicious accessories.

So while she happily enjoyed a picnic outside with her cupcake and her book, I printed out some activity sheets for her.

The first worksheet was a page for her to draw her favorite part of the Pinkalicious book and the second one was a word search, which would help her become more familiar with the key words of the story.

Have you done any fun crafts and activities relating to your child’s favorite book?  I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

Cooking with Kids

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One of the activities that my kids really enjoy doing is cooking. They especially like helping me make breakfast. During the school week, I normally whip up something quick: oatmeal, frozen waffles, and maybe scrambled eggs. So on the weekends, I treat the whole family to a big breakfast—usually pancakes made from scratch, a ham and cheese quiche, or french toast.

When I start taking out the pots and pans I usually find one of my kids standing right behind me waiting to help. They love to help Mommy cook, and now that they are getting older I love letting them help me. When they were younger, it was a tricky process and sometimes a time-consuming process.  A healthy dose of patience while the little hands scooped out a cup of this or a spoon of that went a long way.

Now that everyone is old enough to read, my little chefs are actually good helpers.  Everyone knows how to crack eggs or how to measure a cup of milk. We have a good system in place where we work together to gather the ingredients.  We start first with scanning the recipe to determine what needs to be done and then divide up the work in advance. Dividing up the tasks helps us make sure that we don’t add twice or triple the ingredients needed and gives everyone a chance to help.

Cooking with kids is not only a fun activity to do with your kids but it also helps with reading and math skills. If we are doubling a recipe, my fourth greater can practice adding his fractions while my kindergartner practices basic addition. Reading the recipe very carefully helps ensure that the food you make tastes yummy; yes, we learned that the hard way. (Doubling the baking soda really makes for yucky tasting pancakes!) In addition to working on these skills, kids are likely to try new things and eat their vegitables if they helped prepare the meal.

If you haven’t tried cooking with your kids yet, go ahead and give it a try. Your kids will really enjoy it!

Here are a few of my tips to get you started

  1. Start with easier recipes that are “forgiving” if you add a little extra or too little of this and that.
  2. Always keep safety in mind and remind your kids of the safety rules before you start your dish. My rules are simple: wash hands before cooking or after touching meat or eggs, and never go near the hot stove.
  3. Kids take pride in the work and can become very talented chefs. If you give them a task that’s too hard, you may discourage them from enjoying the activity and cooking again in the future. Assign age-appropriate tasks in the kitchen. Kids between 3-5 are great at putting in the ingredients that you have pre-measured. They also love to mix. Older kids are good at measuring and gathering the ingredients.
  4. Every chef needs the right tools in the kitchen. My kids have their own aprons and a stool to help them reach the counter. There are some really great cookbooks made with junior chefs in mind, but you don’t need to limit yourself to just those cookbooks.
  5. Give yourself enough time to prep and make the food. You won’t be able to rush through the process, and if you try to, you’ll stress yourself and the kids out.
  6. Have fun with it! It’s a great activity for the kids, and they will cherish the moment (and the food!).

Do you cook with your kids? What are some of your favorite things to make with them?

Learning How to Write Her Name

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her name

My four year old daughter is learning so much every single day! It astounds me and thrills me at the same time.  It is so exciting to discover what she knows. She just turned 4.5 and loves numbers and counting a lot more than letters and reading.

There is something about writing her name though that gives her pride and joy. It is almost as if when she writes she is putting a piece of herself on paper. And the fact that she can do that all by herself is the biggest deal in the world!

Her name is spelled with fairly easy letters: L-I-Z-Z-I-E. Mostly just straight lines. The letter that gave her the biggest trouble was the Z.

She kept getting it backwards. I held her tiny hand in mine and we traced a Z together. That did not seem to help. We continued to practice. I wrote her Z’s for her and let her trace it and practice on her own.

She began to catch on! Her face lit up with satisfaction!

This year has been one of the best ones yet. When she started preschool she only knew her alphabet from the song. Now her teacher sends home papers with her name handwritten on the top and Lizzie excitedly tells me all the words that start with the letters she is learning. I hope hea love for learning continues to grow as she gets older!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

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handprint-turkey-300x300

We are one of the few school districts that I know of that closes for the entire week of Thanksgiving. The kids love it, of course, but I’ll admit it throws a wrench in my regular schedule. The kids just want to kick back and veg on the sofa, play video games, watch mindless tv, and not do much all day. I’m not opposed to some slacking but wasting space and time every day, all day, starts to grate my nerves.

I’ve put together some activities and outings for the week to keep us all occupied and also get some homemade gifts done for the holidays.

Handprint/Footprint Turkey

Trace and cut out at least two handprints in festive construction paper or cardstock. Trace and cut out child’s footprint (not between the toes). On each finger have your child(ren) write something they are thankful for. Attach handprints to upside-down footprint, glue on some googly eyes, and share what they have written with the rest of the family on Thanksgiving.

For multiple children you can make many feathers or a turkey for each child. No matter the age of the child this craft can be modified by simply pre-cutting shapes or writing for your children if they are too young. Older children can get fancy with paint, glitter glue or the addition of real feathers. Make changes and additions to suit your children’s ages and abilities.

This is the perfect time to talk to your children about the things they are grateful for. Expect some frivolous and materialistic answers like video games or toys but also encourage them to really think about how they would feel without meals on the table or family that love them.

Holiday Table Place Cards

This is another project that can easily be modified to suit the age and abilities of your children. I pre-cut 6” x 6” and 4” x 4” squares of paper and collected leaves of all shapes and colors. We glued a smaller square on the larger square then glued the leaf and added a family member’s name. These will be used for Thanksgiving dinner as our place cards. They could be used any night of the week to fancy up dinner a smidge. The size of your paper can be changed to make a placemat with the addition of contact paper. Again, adding glitter, stickers, and decorations is totally up to you and your children.

Family dinners are key to promoting communication between kids and parents. Keep the gadgets off the table and kids from daydreaming, and hopefully you’ll find yourself getting lost in conversations about the day’s events and activities.

This post was written by Star Blogger Melinda from LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

Having Fun With Your Senses and Holiday Decorations

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Girl with Orange Scent

I love this time of year and all the holiday smells around. Mid-November in our house we start making what we like to call Scentamentals, scented holiday decor. This is a great project to allow children to play with all their senses, even the young ones. My daughter was able to do this pretty much on her own last year when she was barely three. They are that easy to make and enjoy!

What You Need

  • Unblemished Apple or Orange
  • Whole Cloves
  • Ribbon (optional)

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the supplies by choosing which fruit you would like to use and pouring a handful of whole cloves on the table or in a small bowl. We used apples last year and oranges this year. They both smell great, but I’m a bigger fan of the oranges!

Step 2: This is a perfect time to talk about your senses and ask your little helpers what they see (shapes/color) and smell, how the orange and the cloves feel, etc. My kiddos also love to talk about taste, even if I don’t ask them to. If you ask my daughter, she will tell you cloves taste hot.

Step 3: Demonstrate how to poke the cloves into the fruit.  First poke it in slightly so it breaks the skin and then take the fat tip of your finger and push it in as far as you would like. Dried cloves can be pokey and when we did it this way there was less frustration from being poked. You can have the cloves in all the way or sticking out. It’s up to your kids.

Tip: If you have a child who is really sensitive to the poking, you can try a Band-Aid on the finger or thumb they are pressing the cloves in with, and/or pre-poking the holes for them with a knitting needle or something similar.

Step 4: Add as many cloves as wanted. I try to encourage my kids to put as many as they can or would like because it smells so good! My son likes to create a design, often poking the cloves in and taking them out multiple times, while my daughter likes to spread them out all over.

We started doing one orange, which was a great way to practice turn taking, and switched to two oranges so each kiddo could create their own.

Step 5: When finished, place to the side and out in the open to let them dry out. Aim for a week to 10 days. The apples seemed to need this more than the oranges did when we made them. If you are going to hang this somewhere when it is done drying out, tie a ribbon around it now (before drying) with a loop on the top so you can hang it later.

Step 6: After drying, you can hang this scented ball in a closet, pantry, near the front door, or wherever else you would like a burst of this lovely smell. Last year we tied up our apples and hung them out in the open in the kitchen. Not necessarily pretty, but my kiddos loved to talk about them. This year, we don’t have many places to hang things, so our oranges are going to be out on the kitchen counter. It’s only been a few days since we made our oranges and I can smell them six or so feet away. Love it!

Bonus Info: I did some research and discovered there are variations of our little Holiday Tradition called Clove Apples (with oranges or apples, too) and they used to be quite popular back before store-bought alternatives were easily available. You can create them using the same process as above, but you want to cover the entire fruit in cloves.

Decorative ABC Magnets

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Fridge ABC Magnets

Every fridge with dirty fingerprints at the bottom of the door has them. You know, those primary colored letters. ABC magnets are a great way to expose your little one to the alphabet. And as your child begins to learn to read, the magnets are perfect for spelling practice, with no waste of paper.

But why do your ABC magnets have to be plain red, yellow, and blue? Why not have magnets that fit the décor of your kitchen? And you don’t have to go hunting for designer ABC magnets. You can make your own.

What you’ll need

Wood letters (buy from craft store; I chose light-weight ones that I had to pop out of a wood board)
Scrapbook paper
Pencil
Scissors
Mod Podge
Sponge brush
Roll of magnet with sticky back (buy from craft store)

What to Do

  1. On the scrapbook paper, trace each wood letter. You’ll want to place the face of the letter (the side you will glue the paper to) so it faces the back of the paper as you trace it.
  2. Cut out each traced letter.
  3. Use Mod Podge to glue the cut-out paper letters to the wood letters.
    Tip for using Mod Podge: With your sponge brush, put a layer of glue on the wood letter; be sure to cover every corner. Place the paper over the glue and smooth with your fingers, getting rid of any bubbles or creases. Then put a layer of glue over the paper you just glued to the wood letter. The glue will dry and leave a glossy or matte finish, depending on the type of glue you bought.
    Note: Your paper may bubble, but it should flatten out as it dries.
  4. After the glue dries, cut the magnet roll into pieces to stick on each letter, similar to what I have done here:

Note: You may need to place a book or heavy object on the magnet letters when you are finished in order to press the magnets to the paper, especially for pieces you cut closer to the center of the roll.

And, you’re done! Place the magnets on your fridge and have fun.

Do you have any fun education and crafty ideas? We’d love to hear about them.

Getting Involved in Your Child’s Education

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Father and Son

On Tuesday, I had well over 100 e-mails to catch up on. I had five backlogged posts to write, in addition to several planned for the next few weeks, a conference call to prepare for, four proposals to write, doctor appointments that I never schedule, and a career in Social Media that is busy 24/7.

But I looked the other way, because I had offered to read a book to my daughter’s preschool classroom.

Reading a book became making cookies, which became entertaining, which became hand washing and hosting a community coffee for the PTO to help our community of families to become more of a community.

The hours of work? They could wait. My child’s classroom and school community came first, just as they always have.

Volunteering in my children’s classrooms and schools has always been important to me.

My oldest was two-years-and-20-hours-old when his brother was born.  Six days later he started preschool and I signed up to be a room parent. I recall a friend laughing that she wasn’t about to sign up to be a preschool room parent. She had better things to do.

“Oh,” I said, “but you have to find ways to let your kids see you’re involved in their education. They need to see you around the school, interacting with the teacher. They need to know you care.”

She promised she’d find other ways to be involved.

I haven’t been a room parent every year since. Instead, I’ve found other ways to be involved, from directing committees to being the Parent Teacher Organization director. At my older son’s elementary school I do a lot less volunteering. But I still make sure he knows just how interested I am in his education and in being active and involved in his schooling.

As an elementary school teacher (I taught grades 2, 4 and 6), I saw the difference in students’ behavior and education when their parents were actively involved. Now, as a parenting blogger at Just Precious and at Rusty and Rosy I share ideas with other parents, showing them how simple it is to be involved in your child’s education.

Kids believe what they see. They believe you’re invested when they see that you’re invested. Here, at Rusty and Rosy, I’ll be sharing ideas that you can do both in your home and in your schools that help you to have an active role in thier child’s education.

It doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t have to be time consuming (though, I can promise that an hour in a classroom full of four-year-olds is a lot of fun). But it does have to be done. And it has to be done with a smile.

There is nothing better than a hug from your child and a big smile of Mommy-pride plastered on her face.

Photo courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Crafts and Activities Inspired by Books

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Girl Reading

I am a big believer in learning by doing. Although seatwork is important in school, I like to show my children that they can learn and have fun at the same time, whether it is measuring in the kitchen, counting outside, or hands-on field trips.

On my blog Create-Celebrate-Explore I try to show parents that learning can be incorporated into almost any activity. When hiking we play games along the way, the kids count the different types of animals or varieties of flowers, they do bark rubbings and learn about the seasons and how things change. In the kitchen they practice measuring and we teach them what each of the different utensils is used for.

The twins began kinder this fall and Flynn is already reading short sentences. He has always been fascinated with books. He is the one who is more academically inclined; he takes after his dad. He loves having books read to him and has always wanted to learn how to read. He also loves math, building, and sorting patterns. Marisol is more creative; she gets that from me. Although she loves to be read too, and loves books, her passion is art and crafts. At home she is frequently drawing and writing notes and loves to help out in the kitchen.

So, here on Rusty and Rosy I will be bringing my children’s loves together and sharing crafts and activities that have been inspired by books we are reading at home.

Does your child have any favorite books? If you are after ideas for related activities to do with them, just let me know and I’ll be sure to come up with some ideas for you.

Love for Reading

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Hi everyone! Justice Jonesie here of JusticeJonesie.com.  I am a wife, law professor, and happy mom to three wonderful children. I was so happy when I learned that I was chosen to become one of Rusty and Rosy Star Bloggers.  I’ve been blogging now since 2006 and it is always wonderful to work with brands that have products and missions that  are in line with my beliefs and values, especially when it comes to my family. I earned a degree in elementary education, later attended law school, and after practicing law for a few years, decided to become a law professor. I am passionate about education at all levels, but I especially believe in early learning programs for children as they really do help create a foundation for success in education later on.

I think my passion for education started with my love for reading. I have been an avid reader ever since I was a little girl. My favorite thing to do on the weekends was the weekly trip to the local library to check out new books. I would get so into the stories that at night I would turn my light back on after my mom put me to bed just so I could finish reading that chapter or the book. As an adult, I still love to read and to find myself absorbed in a story with characters I feel like I know and cities I imagine visiting one day.

As a parent, I have worked on fostering a love for reading for all of my children. I remember cradling my ten-year-old son in my lap when he was just six-months-old and reading stories to him before bed.  He had a collection of picture books, short stories, and nursery rhymes and he would really “listen” to the stories we read him. I did this with all of my children and know that this has helped foster their own love for reading now.  When I pass by my seven-year-old daughter’s room and see her reading a book on her bed, it just warms my heart. I know that reading to my children early has helped create a lifetime of reading enjoyment for them.