Category Archives: Uncategorized

Composting With Kids

Posted on by

COMPOSTING!

Composting as a family can be a fun and easy green project that’s environmentally responsible.  Not to mention economical- you’ll save on chemical fertilizers, garbage bags (you’ll be throwing away less waste) and soil! And those who compost swear by the nutrient rich soil that can be used in gardens or for planting flowers. Many say it’s the best soil they’ve ever used-producing the tastiest vegetables and fruits that they’ve ever had.

These things intrigued me, so I decided to give composting a try in our house.

However, before the organic materials could break down, I needed to break down what to do…

Learn what you can compost. Composting consists simply of organic materials that naturally decompose. There are green and brown materials. Some examples of green materials are: grass clippings and kitchen scraps like fruit, veggies and coffee grounds. Examples of brown materials include: brown, dried leaves and dried grass. The best composition is four parts brown to one part green.To increase the composting process, it’s best that the materials be small in size because they will break down faster.

Decide how you’d like to compost– indoor or outdoor, or both?There are many articles and books written on the topic of composting. Don’t become overwhelmed. Keep it convenient to what you’ll be composting most. If it’s mostly kitchen scraps -then start with a small to medium kitchen composter with a lid to reduce odors. Note: You will need some outdoor space for your outdoor composter and access to water. And in addition to your composter- you’ll need a pitch fork, shovel and cart.

Give everyone a job. Someone will need to dump the indoor composter into the larger outdoor composter. Everyone will need to take turns mixing your outdoor heap with a pitch fork. Mixing will help to keep the browns and greens in balance,distribute moisture, and add essential air (oxygen) to the mixture. Water will need to be added from time to time. While composting can be simple, it’s important to know what will need to be done to effectively compost, and what role each family member can play.

Read more: 

http://www.gardeningwithkids.org/composting.html

http://thegardenofoz.org/composting101.asp

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/kindergarden/kidscompost/cover.html

 

5 Ways To De-stress With Children – Stress Awareness Month

Posted on by
Stress Awareness Month

 

With life’s busy schedule it can be easy to forget the stress we put on ourselves and our children. In my own family, I know it can get pretty stressful to just get out of the house sometimes! With April being Stress Awareness Month I thought it would be fun to list some fun ways to de-stress for yourself and your children.

Yoga

My kiddos love to do yoga. I will admit, the first few times we only get to do 2-5 minutes of it or they may complain the whole time, but their endurance is increasing. I now have one child who asks for it all the time. She loves it and thus her brother tries to jump in and do it, too.

There are a bunch of resources available to help you teach the different poses, but I recently found a couple short, free videos via Hulu with a focus on children: AM Yoga for Kids and PM Yoga for Kids. You can also check out your local library for some books that may help demonstrate the different poses. The best experiences we have had are with books and videos that incorporate an animal or a story into the yoga pose/workout. For example, I found this book at our local library:

“You are a LION!: and other fun yoga poses”, by Taeeun Yoo

Coloring

Coloring is not just for fun but can be very relaxing, too (even for parents). It forces you to sit down and slow down. My children are tickled pink when I can color with them!

Singing

Oh, the magic of music! It can cause many emotions and can also relieve stress. Singing is definitely something that helps me de-stress. We have been experiencing some grumpy and stressed out kids in our carpool on the way home, so, I have incorporated the “Singing Rule” for these moments. If we want to say something, we have to sing it! It is amazing to see how quickly a change in mood can occur and soon we are all giggling.

Naps

Who doesn’t love a good nap? Probably a kiddo who really needs it! In our neck of the woods we call them “rests”. I try to teach my children that it is okay to take a nap when we are having a rough day. I’ll admit that most of the time a rest is the perfect answer for a stressed out child.

Play Dough and/or Rice Play

Get out your favorite play dough recipe and make some homemade play dough. Let your children beat, squish, and shape the dough all while getting out their stress in a healthy manner. Rice Play is similar to Play Dough. We usually used a 10 lb bag of rice and poured it into a large square container to allow the children plenty of space to dump, pour and bury. Rice Play is also a very calming activity.

 

Stress is always going to be a part of our lives, but that does not mean we have to keep it around. Take notice of it and do something fun to de-stress with your family!

*Image courtesy of Phaitoon (coloring photo) and Stuart Miles (play dough photo) / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Encourage Reading and Writing with a Family Mailbox for Valentines

Posted on by
ID-10097439

Who doesn’t love to get mail? I know my kiddos love it! Since both my older children are getting excited about learning how to write and read, I thought it would be fun to incorporate their current desire of writing into a fun family Valentine’s Day craft by making a family Valentines mailbox. With our mailbox, we are not only encouraging writing but reading too! When we are all done, we are going to tape our homemade Valentine cards on the walls for us to read all month long.

What You Need:

  • A mailbox – a decorated box of some sort (i.e. cereal box, mailing box, brown paper bag, etc.)
  • Paper cut into hearts or other shapes to write on
  • Pens, pencils, crayons
Step 1: Create a mailbox out of supplies you already have on hand. We made ours out of a leftover box from Christmas and decorated it with the white side of some Christmas wrapping paper. It is simple, but the kids are loving it! We are still in the process of decorating it, and I am pretty sure it will be something my children will be adding stickers and hearts to all month.
There really is no wrong way to make your family mailbox, but here are some other ideas to get your children thinking:

Valentine Mailbox Craft made from a cereal box:

 

Lego Style Mailbox from The Pretty Poppy.

 

A mailbox made from a cereal box like this Cheerios Valentines Day Mailbox that was shared on the Cheerios Facebook page.

 

Step 2: Decide what you are going to use your mailbox for. Some ideas are:

  • Write notes/hearts with nice things about each family member and designate a “Mailman” to deliver them every couple of days
  • Do acts of secret love service for other individuals in your family and write down what you did in the mailbox.
  • Designate one person each day to read aloud what is put in the box and then display  your Valentine’s around the house.
  • Can’t forget the obvious: Make Valentine’s cards for each other
Step 3: Start writing! Once we decided how we were going to use our family mailbox for, my kiddos went crazy with wanting to write on their hearts and other shapes they made to go in the box for other family members.
I am so excited that they are excited to write more. Both are going to need help, one more than the other, but I am more than happy to help! For my older child, he is able to practice sounding out words and figuring out how they are spelled. For my younger child, I am writing out what she wants to say and then she is able to practice her letter writing. Best of all, every few days we are going to tape up our Valentine’s on the back of the front door so we can constantly see and read what other’s have written.

 

ENJOY!!!

 

Top image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Children Can Volunteer in the Community

Posted on by
Helping in the garden

We all want to teach our children to give back to others and the importance of being a helpful part of our community, but finding service projects that young children can participate in is often a stumbling block.

Volunteer activities for kids

Visit a Senior Center

Senior centers invite children and children’s groups to visit for happy smiles, playful visits and entertainment. Parent groups can sign up their children to sing or visit and play simple board games, cards and, for older children, read stories.

Help a neighbor

Children with older neighbors simply need to ask how they can help. Perhaps the neighbor needs help taking the trash out each week, or could use a hand weeding or gardening in the spring and summer. It may be as simple as collecting the mail for a neighbor who struggles to get outside.

Create a garden at school, your community center or your place of worship

Gardens bring smiles, warmth and life to a variety of areas, but, sadly, they’re easily overlooked and frequently cut from budgets. Families can contact building directors to learn how they can establish, plan, create and keep-up community gardens—this is a great group activity.

Help stock soup kitchens

While some soup kitchens may have rules about the minimum ages of volunteers who may interact within the actual kitchens, they often accept help behind the scenes. Bring your child in to help sort and organize foods, or work with your child to run a collection through a your neighborhood or school.

National Day of Service

Traditionally held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Day (Monday), in 2013 President Obama is celebrating the Day of Service on Saturday, January 19 (likely because the parade and Inauguration on Monday will distract from doing good for others.)

Families can: 

Visit Volunteer Match or the official day of service website to be matched with local activities that are of interest and in need of volunteers.

If you’re in Washington, DC, visit the National Mall where President Obama is “hosting a service fair with nearly 100 non-profit organizations.” Read the President’s National Day of Service letter at Yahoo.

image credit

Teaching Young Children About Dr. King

Posted on by

January 21, 2013 marks Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  As the holiday approaches, now is a good time for all parents to consider ways to share the legacy of Dr. King with their children and the impact that he had in shaping not just African-American history but American history.

We do something each year to celebrate and learn about Dr. King.  One of the most effective lessons has been by reading a children’s book about Dr. King and then following up with doing some additional research on-line.  There is a wealth of educational information available on YouTube. Below I share one of our favorite lessons.

Teaching Children About Dr. Martin Luther King With Children 

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is an excellent book to teach young children about Dr. King. The book does an excellent job in portraying the philosophy and teachings of Dr. King in a way suitable for young children. Before you go into the book, consider the following:

  • First, get an idea about what your children already know about Dr. King. Since my children range from 5th to 1st grade, this was important. Also, I knew they learned about him in school, so this was a good way for me to emphasize or expand upon what they may have already learned.
  • Next, ask some specific questions.  I asked everyone to share what they thought Dr. King did for Americans and what he taught us. My six-year-old shared that, “Dr. King, taught us to love people!” My seven-year-old remarked that “he taught us to do unto others as you want done unto you.” And my oldest responded with a text book answer, “ Dr. King died for rights of African-Americans.”
  • Read Martin’s Big Words, or any children’s book about Dr. King, with the kids. As you read the book and review the pictures, discuss what your children think life was like for African-American’s during the 60s.
  • Discuss what happened when schools and churches were segregated and the role that Rosa Parks had in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. King. Explain things that are easy and simple enough for your kids to understand and give examples of what segregation is, such as not letting boys play with girls.
  • Following the book, show a short video about Dr. King’s life.  There is a seven minute video from The Corporation for the National Day of Service about Dr. King. The video discusses the life of Dr. King and how MLK day is a day of service to recognize how Dr. King served our country.
  • Listen to Dr. King’s speech in his own words.  You can easily find audio clips of Dr. King on the internet.  The entire speech may not be easily understood by young kids but the idea is to put a voice to the historical speech that many children read and learn about.  During the speech, you may notice that the light bulbs start to really turn on for the children as they begin to really understand what Dr. King did for our country.
  • You can wrap with everyone saying why they are thankful for Dr. King.  Why is life in America better for everyone?  Share your idea first and allow the children to follow.

How do you celebrate Dr. King with your children?

Image credit: DoreenRappaport.com

7 Easy Learning Activities for Bedtime Routines

Posted on by
Learn before Bed

Bedtime routines are a great time to squeeze in a little learning. Here are 7 easy learning activities you can use with your own child:

Reading

There is nothing like reading a good book before bedtime. Making reading part of your bedtime routine can be a great way to settle the house down for the evening and have some special time together.

Counting

Most kindergarten children now are required to count to 100 before the end of the school year. Counting before bed is a great excuse to get a little practice in. You can use fingers and toes, toys, squares on a blanket, etc. Counting fingers and toes always seemed to motivate my son when he was practicing, especially if I let him use other family members, too. It was a great way to get us all involved and it got his younger sister interested in counting, too.

Sight Words

Create flash cards and practice sight words for a few minutes as your child is laying in bed. Sight word practice is sometimes a little rough for my child during the day, but I tend to get a willing subject for a few minutes just before I turn the lights out. You can use this

reading skills list
to get some ideas of sight words/”power words” to use for your cards.

Journal Writing

Writing in a journal is a great bedtime routine to not only capture memories from the day and/or week, but encourage your child to practice writing. Thanks to my own smart mom I have some now very cherished journal entries from when I was young. When I was four years old, she would ask me what I wanted to say about my day and would write a few sentences for me. With your own child, as they get more confident in writing, you can assist them in their own journal writing and even let them draw a picture. You can also use this journal writing idea jar to help give you some writing ideas.

Math Problems

Practice a few math problems before bedtime. Addition, subtraction and word problems are great options. I have discovered my son loves math, and he has surprised me with what he can answer. His little sister will even ask for her turn and use her fingers to help figure out the answers.

I spy

Make learning a game and play a little I Spy for a few minutes before bedtime. You can practice shapes, colors, words starting with certain letters or sounds, etc.

Building

I have discovered a little quiet playing before bedtime helps my children wind down for the evening and then they willingly go to bed. Using alphabet blocks, building blocks or LEGOs you can practice colors, create shapes, make letters and practice reading words.

Top Photo courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Education is found in imperfection

Posted on by

Let’s get real here. I have a 5 year old, 3 year old and 2 year old. Educational activities are not going to be perfect with them.

And that is ok.

The focus and goal is always their achievements and learning as they participate, not how brag-worthy the end result is or how closely they followed the directions.

Take those cookies above.

Making Christmas cookies is something we always try to do together. We sure do dirty up the kitchen! I let the oldest do the measuring (as I coach and instruct her). Three-year old brother shares pouring responsibilities with his little sister. When she was a baby last year, they shared pouring responsibilities, as well as fit-throwing contests and “hey I want to do that” screams.

Fun times.

But we learn. Every time we make cookies together, we learn teamwork, how to follow instructions, problem-solving, and self-confidence. In the cookies above, my children learned that they needed more green food coloring to even out the shade.

It was so fun to watch their minds work!

“Mommy, why isn’t it green enough?”

Me: “Hmm….I don’t know. We put a little bit of coloring in, didn’t we? What do you think we can do to make it look darker?”

Thinking….“Oh! Maybe we can stir more color in the cookie dough! Mommy, get the green!”

I love that. So full of hope, solving the problem, and then feeling confident when their solution works!

Plan for mistakes, allow them to happen, and let the mistakes be the best educational tools you ever used!

Share: How have you used mistakes to be the teacher? 

 

10 Candy-Free Halloween Treats for Kids

Posted on by
10 candy-free Halloween treats for kids

We all love a good treat, especially over Halloween, but do we really need so much candy? Between trick-or-treating, class gifts, parties, and special treats it can become very easy to over-indulge.

Here are 10 non-candy treats that kids will love just as much and get far more use out.  These alternatives could be the perfect thing to hand out to school friends and at parties this Halloween.

Coloring pages and crayons

There are free coloring pages available for download all over the internet. Print out a few Halloween themed pages, roll them up with some twine and attach a small box of crayons.  Better yet, melt down old, broken crayons in the oven, pour into Halloween candy molds and pop them into the freezer to set, making fun new crayons to go with those coloring pages.

Play-Doh and Cookie Cutters

Multi-packs of Play-Doh are everywhere right now. Pop one into a bag with a Halloween-themed cookie cutter, or cookie stamp. Kids will love making their own Play-Doh creations.

Temporary Tattoos

Kids love tattoos. Set up at ‘tattoo station’ at your front door for trick-or-treaters, and also at parties. Have a sponge and water ready to apply temporary sticker tattoos.

Glow Sticks

Glow sticks, bracelets, and necklaces are a big hit, especially if kids can put wear them as they trick-or-treat!

Halloween goodies

Items such as squishy eyeballs, stretchy mice, spiders, fake fingers, glow-in-the dark bats, and vampire teeth are sure to have kids squealing in delight.  You can find all kinds of multi-packs of these fun Halloween toys.

Slime

What kid doesn’t love slime?  Make your own, or buy multi-packs of mini slime tubs.

Popcorn

Mini popcorn bags are the perfect snack for kids to enjoy once they get home and are settled in front of a Halloween movie.

Drinks

Wrap colored paper around mini juice boxes to turn them into ghosts, pumpkins, Frankenstein, and other fun Halloween characters.  Draw on fun faces with a Sharpie.  Put fun Halloween stickers over the labels of water bottles saying things such as ‘witches brew’, or ‘poison’.  Kids will enjoy having a drink while trick-or-treating, or while enjoying some of their other Halloween treats.

Fruit Leather Mummies

Wrap packets of fruit leather up in bandages, and draw on eyes to make fruit leather mummies.

Orange Jack-O-Lanterns

My kids are absolutely loving oranges right now.  Draw a fun Jack-O-Lantern face on them and place them in a big fruit basket or cauldron to hand out.

Do have any other ideas for candy-free Halloween treats?  Leave them in the comments to build upon this list.

Homemade Halloween Pizza

Posted on by
Halloween pizza

October is National Pizza Month, so what better way to celebrate than getting the kids into the kitchen to make homemade Halloween themed pizzas?

These are surprisingly easy to make, and it gives you another reason to bring out those Halloween themed cookie cutters.  Plus, kids love having the opportunity to help out in the kitchen, especially when they have a chance to make food fun.

What you need:

  • Pizza bases (pre-made, or roll your own)
  • Mozzarella cheese (slices, shredded, and or cheese sticks)
  • Pizza sauce
  • Pepperoni
  • Black olives
  • Capers
  • Pesto
  • Other toppings you may want to try: sweet potato, and bell peppers (see below for suggestions on how to use these).

Here are some things kids will love to help with:

  • Rolling out dough
  • Filling a cookie cutter with grated cheese, or cutting out a fun shape from a cheese slice using the cookie cutter
  • Spreading the pizza sauce or pesto on the bases
  • Assembling the features on their ghosts, Frankenstein, monsters, and mummies.

You will need to help them by cutting the pepperoni and olives into fun shapes, and slicing either cheese sticks or slices into bandages for the mummy, and features for Frankenstein.

Here are some other fun pizzas they may want to try:

  • One-eyed monster– use a large round cheese slice with a pepperoni and olive on top, and make fun teeth out of cheese, or pepperoni.  Use peppers in fun colors (red, yellow, orange, or green) to make spiky hair, or big curly ears.  You could also use small pieces of the colored peppers for the center of the olive eye.
  • A variety of Halloween cookie cutters: cats, moon, pumpkin, and witches hat.
  • Assemble a spider out of olives, place on a web made of string cheese.
  • A Jack ‘O Lantern.  Cover a pizza with roasted sweet potato, add facial features using cheese.

Have you made Halloween pizzas?  If so, let us know in the comments what you made to give our readers even more fun ideas.

Learning with Great-Grandma

Posted on by

My grandmother has lived such a full and story-filled life.  My three children are beyond blessed to have her in their lives.  She was in Alaska in 1963 during the huge earth quake. She lived in Indonesia during the USA’s bicentennial. She was married twice – both to officers in the USA Army.

Learning is not completely academic. It is holistic, and when my children visit her house they are hearing her stories, looking at her collectibles from around the world, and gaining a broader view of their world.

Grandma’s stories

On Grandparent’s Day this past Sunday, my 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son spent the afternoon with her. I sat back and listened as my grandma’s eyes lit up, reminiscing her past.

David’s favorite story was the Alaska earthquake.  Great-grandma pulled out an original magazine, published soon after the quake and filled with photos.

“I was in church when it happend and I thought it was the end of the world,” she shared. “The scary thing was that it happened on Good Friday. The priest was holding the Bible and just finished telling the story of how Jesus died when the ground started to move! We heard a huge roar as the beams to the church bent and swayed!”

My children were born and raised in Kansas. They have never heard of an earthquake yet. Until now. They turned the pages of the magazine, asking questions.

“What happened to that house?”
and
“Was someone in that car when the building fell down?”

Great-grandma laughed when she told us about how she immediately flew home to Kansas to be with her parents after the quake.

“But as my dad was driving me home from the airport he kept looking at the sky,” she said. “Turns out we were in a tornado watch!” Her eyes rolled and she slapped her legs as she remembered the irony of her homecoming.

My children are blessed to be able to learn social science and cultural studies from their great-grandma. I hope one day I can help her write down her stories so they can be passed down to my children’s children too!

What do your children learn from their grandparents?