Tag Archives: Star Blogger

Bubble Themed Day

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Bubble Paint

The weather is warming up and I am ready to have a little fun. I find myself scheming and planning our summer schedule already and have decided I just can not wait! So, we are going to celebrate our nice weather with some bubble fun and turned it into a Bubble Themed Day with a few activities and some great books.

Bubble Activities

Basic Bubble Fun

I don’t think I have ever met a child who does not enjoy bubbles, so keep it simple. Go outside and blow bubbles. Let them pop them, count them, step on them or anything else you can think of. I can still send my kiddos outside and they will keep blowing and playing with the bubbles as long as they have bubble solution available.

Advanced Bubble Fun

Have a little science fun by adding different objects with holes to a shallow dish of bubbles and see what happens. For older children, have them search for items on their own and see what they come up with. You can use string, plastic lids with holes cut into it, use your finger and thumb in a circle (the O.K. sign) or anything else you can think of. My personal favorite is a slightly open fist and if I immerse my hand in bubbles, I can blow bubbles out the other end of my hand.

Bubble Art

Create bubble paint by adding water, tempera paint and a couple squirts of dish soap to a pie tin or cup.  Take a straw and blow into the mixture to create bubbles. Then take a sheet of paper and touch it to the top of the bubbles to create a fun design. (Bubble paint = About 1/2-1 cup water, 1-2 T of paint per couple squirts of dish soap…not an exact science.)

Bubble Bath 

An easy activity to do to end a Bubble Themed Day is to have a bubble bath, of course! My kiddos are always excited for a good bubble bath!

Bubble Books

And you can not have a Bubble Themed Day without some good bubble books. We went to our local library to see what kind of bubble books they have and found a couple fun ones. What will you find? Tip: When searching for books using their catalog, use “bubble” instead of “bubbles”. We did not find any children’s books with “bubbles”, but had plenty of options without the “s”.

 

6 Ways to Celebrate World Creativity and Innovation Week {April 15-21}

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April 15-2, 2013

Have you heard about World Creativity and Innovation Week? Me either…that is until recently. I am always up for learning and doing something new and so I just had to find out what this was all about. It is a new event started in 2002 and according to the site dedicated to this week:

“It’s about spreading the word about how you and others are using their creativity – new ideas, new decisions, new actions – to make the world a better place and to make your place in the world better too.”

What a fun concept! What are you going to do? Here are six ideas to help get you thinking of something fun and creative you can do with your children:

Use your imagination

Where do your kiddos want to go? What would it be like? Put on costumes and pretend to go there. For instance, my children decided to visit the moon once. We made space helmets out of tinfoil and they created a rocket out of chairs. They had quite the adventure!

Get Messy

Experiment with your hands and get messy. Make homemade play-dough. Paint with finger-paint or pudding. Play in the mud. Some of the most creative time my kiddos have spent outside usually has to do with water and dirt. They make rivers, cities, and dams. Boy, do they come inside a mess, but they love it!

Eat Something New or Different

Create your own meal or make something new. Eat dinner for breakfast or breakfast for dinner. Trying something new to challenge your taste buds is always a fun experience.

Build Something

Try building using something new or different like marshmallows and toothpicks, sugar cubes, whatever is in your recycling bin (that could be fun!), refrigerator boxes, or keep it simple with something you already have on hand, like building blocks. I am always amazed at what my children can come up with when I pull out a box of blocks. All it takes is someone to egg on a “let’s see who can make the tallest tower” type of competition and they are off. Soon they are building cities, farms, bridges and more.

Visit an Art Exhibit or Museum

Experience creativity and innovation by visiting a local art exhibit or museum. In our case, we we have a Children’s Museum near us that encourages creativity and experimenting with simple art and science. It is a great way to get my kiddos thinking about how things work or try different types of art.

Solve a Problem

Ask your children for help with a household problem and see if they can help solve it. Try to implement the idea. This one kind of sounds scary to me, but I have been surprised with some of the ideas my kiddos have come up with before and maybe it will be one of these times!

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have fun and no matter what you do be creative!

 

Family Mottos for the New Year

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Family Mottos

I have New Year’s on the brain and have been thinking a lot about family mottos. Do you have a word or phrase that works a kind of “magic” in your home? Where all you have to do is say it or remind your children of it and POOF you can see a quick change in moods and/or behavior? Every family has a phrase they use to motivate whether they realize it or not. Thinking over the last year, I have discovered that we do. We actually have a few we use often! My favorite phrase is simple. It is:

I can do hard things

I l.o.v.e. the power that this little sentence has on my children. Whenever my children start to get frustrated about something they are trying to accomplish, I will ask them, “What does Mommy tell you?” And they will repeat, sometimes with some sass, “I can do hard things.” After a quick talk it does not take long before they have figured out a solution and are off to take care of it. This is a phrase we can use for millions of situations but I find I use it the most right now with my children when it comes to reading/writing, homework and chores. And do not think it is just for the kiddos either. I find that I use it often for myself, too. We all need a little motivation to clean up after our mini tornadoes or tackle our massive to do lists sometimes!

Other phrases that have been popular in our house over the last year are:

Just Try It

This phrase is also used to motivate with new activities or experiences. i.e. trying a new food, reading a new word, writing (not always loved here!), etc.

You Get What You Get and You Don’t Throw a Fit

Don’t you just love this one, too? Earlier this year, my son shared this phrase with his younger sister while playing with toys. A magical sentence his Kindergarten teacher started using in class. I loved that he understood it and it has melted many temper tantrums around here!

With the New Year coming, I would love to set a goal to have an official Family Motto. Since my family is young, I am sure it will change over time, but it would be nice to have a phrase that we can focus on together and will motivate us throughout the year.

What is your favorite family phrase or motto?

 

*Top Image courtesy of photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

More Than Just Breakfast – Learning With Letter Pancakes

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Learning Letters with Pancakes

I am always on the lookout to squeeze some learning games into our day. Lately, my two children have been craving pancakes. They love to help make them, too. So, when I got the idea to make letter pancakes, I knew it was right up their alley. They loved playing with their food this particular morning!

What You Need:

  • Pancake mix (from scratch or box…it doesn’t matter)
  • 1 or 2 squeeze bottles
  • Funnel
  • Greased frying pan or griddle
  • Plates
  • Eager helpers/learners

Directions:

Step 1: Purchase your squeeze bottles or wash and clean other empty bottles from your fridge. (i.e. ketchup or mustard bottles) I found these two bottles below in the kitchen section of my local store for under $1 each.

 

Step 2: Prepare pancake mix and fill the above squeeze bottles with the finished mix. This can be a fun adventure to watch, too.

 

Step 3: Now let the fun begin! Slowly squeeze the bottle of pancake mix onto a preheated greased griddle or frying pan. Keep the heat low as the pancakes will cook fast.

My children wanted to be involved in every aspect, so I let them have a try at making and frying their own letters and/or words. They, of course, loved it!

But most of the time our griddle looked like this below. I went through most of the alphabet, as much as possible, and created two of each letter (one for each child).

 

Step 4: Once cooked, let them cool and separate one of each letter on each child’s plate.

 

Step 5: Now the time for “the game”. This is just one suggestion on what you can do…I said a word out loud and had my first grader figure out how to spell it and my preschooler had to find the sound the word started with. Then I would ask my first grader what other words he could make by switching one letter/sound. The preschooler understands rhyming, so she added her two cents, too, and would switch her letter pancake to change the beginning sound when needed.

Eventually, it led to my 1st grader teaching/helping his little sister figure out how to spell each word by him sounding out each letter of the word for her until she found  the right letter.

 

Step 6: Eat and enjoy. This had to be their second favorite part to actually cooking these letter pancakes, as you can see below. They devoured them!

 

Playing with our food has never been more educational! My favorite part was when my older child stopped and patiently helped his little sister learn. I think she is gaining a love for letters and words because of him. Again, gotta love that!

Smiles, Slime and Learning Can Go Hand in Hand

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World Smile Day activity

 

October 5th is World SMILE Day. I must have Halloween on the brain because when I saw this I automatically thought of how SLIME brings a smile to my childrens’ faces. In actuality, the day is more about encouraging everyone to “devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout that world.” So, I am taking this opportunity to bring some smiles to my family’s faces and make some learning fun at the same time. We we will perform some acts of kindness that day, too.

Monster Goo

I believe that this first activity goes by many names and was told it is typically called “Oobleck”, but we have always known it as “Monster Goo”.  It is super simple to make and loads of fun.

What You Need:

  • 1 part water
  • 2 parts cornstarch
  • Bowl
  • Mixing spoon or fork
  • A large cookie sheet or a clean flat surface to play on.
  • Food coloring (optional)

Directions:

Step 1: Add water and cornstarch together into the bowl. If you want color, add it before  you add the cornstarch – just a couple drops.

Step 2: Stir together slowly. The faster you stir the harder it will get to mix it up. Be patient and just dig in it nice and slow. It should mix up quickly and will look like liquid in the bowl when it is mixed completely.

Texture Tip: It is ready when it is firm when picked up and liquid like when it is not moving. That sounds confusing, but you will know what I am talking about when you have it right.

Now the Fun Begins…

Here are some ideas of things that you can do with it:

  • For children who are learning letters, numbers or learning how to spell, have them write letters with the goo. My 6 year old son has never been so excited to spell words and my 4 year old was fascinated by watching him.
  • Roll the goo into a ball in your hand and then see what happens when you stop.
  • Create a monster. Roll it up again and then lay it on the table (or pan) and add 2 marbles for eye balls to create a monster. Watch him turn into “Monster Goo”.
  • Talk about the texture of what they feel. Is it hard? Soft? Sticky? Slimy? Are your hands soft or rough?, etc…you get the idea!
  • Give each child a couple of bowls/cups and/or spoons and let them transfer the goo from one to another.

Fun Tip: If the goo gets too dry and is not turning into liquid as fast as before, just add a little water and the fun will continue.

For a cool Halloween look, add some glow-in-the-dark paint for coloring and turn off the lights. We didn’t have to add much and because we used pink it did not seem to leave any after color. The kiddos loved it!

Flubber

Another fun and definitely more SLIME looking recipe that we attempted was for Flubber.

What You Need:

  • 2 tsp Metamucil
  • 2 cups water
  • Small pot
  • Stirring spoon

Directions:

Step 1: Add Metamucil and water together in pot.

Step 2: Stir together and begin to heat on med-high. You will want it to start to boil, but not be on a high boil. Keep on heating while stirring occasionally until a lot of the moisture is gone. We heated for 5-10 minutes 3-4 times, letting it cool in between heatings to see if it was the texture desired. The original instructions we used (found here) encouraged the use of the microwave, but when we followed them, we literally dehydrated the mixture to nothing. So we decided to go with the stovetop where we could observe it better and it was much cooler to watch transform.

I will admit that it turned out very cool to make and look at, but it was not as handy for spelling letters as I had hoped. And for us, once it got pulled apart a bunch, it never really looked like it’s starting form…”Slimey”. It was still a fun project, though!

Monster Theme Day

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Monster Theme Day - RustyandRosy

Halloween will soon be knocking on our door, and as it has to be one of my kiddos favorite holidays we thought we would share our Monster Theme Day with you. Monsters can be scary, but they do not have to be. We picked a fun monster themed book and a couple of easy crafts to go along with it.

This idea all started when my mom reminded me of a favorite childhood book…”Sesame Street: the monster at the end of this book.” I suddenly wanted to share it with my kiddos, too. I did a quick search and discovered that this book was in our county library and requested it to our local library. The kids were so excited to have a monster book. I will admit, they were a little nervous the first time they read it, but by the end they were super excited and asked me to read it over and over again and even tried to read it to each other. That has not happened in a while. Oh boy, how they love monsters!

Preschool Halloween Activities

If you do a quick google search, I discovered there is a copy of this book right now available for viewing online through the illustrator, Mike Smollin.

To extend the monster fun, try one of these fun and easy crafts:

Hand Ghosts

What You Need:

  • Paint – we went with white, black and red
  • Paper – we chose black
  • Paintbrush

Directions:

Preschool Hand Ghost Craft

Step 1: Paint palm and fingers of hand with paint.

Step 2: Quickly place hand paint side down on paper. Gently press and slowly remove hand.

Step 3: Turn the paper around so fingers are pointing towards the bottom of the paper. Paint eyes and mouth on.

Super simple and took less than 5 minutes to make. My son decided to get creative by painting red angry eyes and to make extra ghosts with his finger tips.

 

Shape Monster

Preschool Monster Craft

What You Need:

  • Paper – a variety of colors and scraps are great!
  • Scissors
  • Glue

Directions:

Create a variety of shapes in different sizes and let your child’s imagination go crazy. My kiddos started with a body shape, the older one traced his using a bottle he found in the pantry. They used the scraps we had available on the table and requested certain shapes as they went along. It was a fun way to practice shapes and use shapes to make other things (like their monster shoes). As they were creating their monsters they started to talk about what their monster was like and what it did. I absolutely loved hearing their discussion! We spent a good 20-30 minutes making our monsters. This was a huge hit!

Have fun with your Monster Day! I would love to hear how it goes, if you give it a try.

Creating a Daily Schedule for Preschoolers

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At home preschool schedule

With one child in school and the other wishing she was old enough for Kindergarten (one more year), I am finding a need to have a consistent schedule to for both us to keep sane this year. Having a visual schedule helps my daughter know what she will be doing each day and helps me (or she helps me) stay on task.

Since my daughter is over 4 1/2 years old, she has this itch to learn and wants to catch up to her brother. It is great. Really. I love it, but she is wanting more than our “fun and easy” schedule we did last year. She wants a real schedule and to feel like she is in school. Sure, I could sign her up for preschool, but I am not ready to give her up, yet. Besides, she is the only one home right now and this is my last year with her before she is off at school. I may change my mind in December after her baby sister arrives, but until then we will enjoy the time. So, we will be adding some “school time” to our daily schedule.

Here is what we will be using for our schedule below:

Morning Routine: She wakes up with her brother and so she follows his morning routine of eat breakfast, get dressed, make bed, brush teeth and hair.

Preschool Time: We spend 45 minutes – 1 hour a day

Rusty & Rosy Computer Time: 15 minutes every morning. She really enjoys her time on the Rusty & Rosy computer software. She loves to sing along with the songs and always has some paper and a pencil handy so she can practice writing letters. She often asks me to “go away” while she is “playing”.

Reading Time: 15 minutes reading books from the library every morning.

Activity Time: 15-30 minutes of an activity. Every week we are focusing on a letter of the alphabet. The first day we color or decorate the letter with items that start with the same letter. Other days we may do a craft, bake, play a game, learn a song or do a science project based off something starting with the chosen letter of the week. (i.e. “A” Week = homemade apple sauce, apple stamps, etc.)

Fun: Our daily non-preschool activity. It could be an outing like a library trip, a play group, painting with water colors, dance class, Mom & Sister sewing project, etc.

Jobs: She has 2 jobs a day that she needs to do outside of her own Morning Routine. One job is set in stone, feeding the dog. The other job is “Mom’s Choice”. Typically, it is something that needs to be done that day (i.e. vacuuming a room, help cleaning a bathroom, empting the dishwasher, etc.). This is a great opportunity for her to learn some more responsibility. As she improves we may add another job, but until then two is perfect.

To create the schedule, I kept it simple and used card stock and marker. I cut 2 sheets of card stock into thinner strips and on each slip wrote an activity we will be doing. Once finished I taped the schedule at my daughter’s eye level on the wall. If we stay on task, we can have everything done before lunch leaving our afternoons open for more Mom & Sister projects or a nap.

We are still working on completeting the whole schedule each day, but I love being able to tell her “Go look at your schedule and let’s see what is next.” She begs for her “school time” and so it a great motivator to get us going in the morning!

Top image courtesy of: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

12 Ways to Nurture a Love for Reading in your Preschooler

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Princess Fiona Pancake

I grew up in love with reading books. To this day, I have at least 1-3 books I am reading at any given time. I hope that my children grow up loving to read too! I created a little list of things we do at home to help my kids love to read. Please add your ideas in the comments – I know this list is by far not exhaustive.

1. Read books that are currently movies

We know our kids are marketed to every day. We see the movie characters on t-shirts, shoes and toys. Take advantage of this marketing and get more excited about the books than the movie and products. Engage your preschooler in conversation about why s/he loves this movie and read the book over and over.

2. Let them pick out books

Even if you are tired of reading that really long (and admit it – annoying!) book, be happy they want to be read to. Let your child take ownership in choosing the book. If you are at the library, discuss the book s/he wants and find it together. And be flexible. Kids do change their mind – let them! Let the book choosing be 100% their idea and they will love it more.

3. Let them have their own library card

This goes right along with the ownership. Preschoolers are generally more excited to check out books when they are using something that is theirs to get them. It will make them feel special and like a “big kid.” Play this up! There is nothing quite as rewarding as making the library a place they love to go to!

4. Create your own stories at home

Get out the crayons and notebook paper. Let your child draw and create a story from his/her imagination.  The more your child enjoys using their imagination, the more they will love using it when they read books too. Plus, you will be shocked at how much fun it is to get into your child’s head. There are some funny stories your preschooler can tell!

5. Read with funny voices

I can still hear the giggles from my 3 year old son as I tried to sound like the Lorax. Using funny voices bonds your child to the book, helps it come alive in their world, and really makes for some precious memories! Don’t just get through the book, make it spring to LIFE!

6. Leave books around the house

In other words, make reading always accessible. Show your child how much you love books by always having them within hand’s reach.  There are a ton of creative storage solutions for books. I browse Pinterest for hours seeing all of them!

7. Create their own special reading place

I wish I had a bay window I could set up with pillows and blankets. That is my dream. But for now we have a recliner in the living room and my daughter’s books are on the stand next to it. She can curl up there whenever she wants to flip through her favorite books.  This is all about creating a positive association with books – making them relaxing and calming for times when they need the quiet time.

8. Cook meals based on the books they love

Few things make books come alive like food! Maybe you are reading Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom and you want to drink some coconut milk.  Or perhaps you can read a Curious George book and then have bananas for snacks. While you eat your book-inspired snack, talk about the book you just read together. This helps with comprehension.

9. Act out their favorite books

Another way to increase reading comprehension is to help them recall the plot of the book by acting it out with you.  Plus, this is also super fun.  Dress up like the characters and allow your preschooler to improvise and change the plot to how s/he wanted it to be.

10. Praise their early reading success

As you read together, ask them to read with you out loud. When they recognize sight words and sound out other words, get excited! Make them laugh and enjoy their success.

11. Talk about the book as you read it

Sometimes I just want to get through the book. I read fast and flip from page to page. But it helps the child to enjoy the book if you take your time. Discuss what just happened. Ask “what is going to happen next? Do you think……?” Let your child ask questions and make statements about the story. More time consuming – for sure! – but also way more fun for the child and it helps their creative thinking and problem solving skills.

12. Read with each child one-on-one

This is really hard to do when you have more than one child. But when you make book reading a special time with just you and one child – even if this happens once a week – your child will grow up associating books with that special time with you. S/he will always love this and (hopefully) love to read too!

Taking Opportunities To Write More

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Journal Writing for Kids

Journal writing is a great opportunity to not only learn and practice writing with your child, but for you as a parent to learn more about them, too. My Kindergartner has been receiving a few notes home about how he needs a little more practice writing sentences. Until recently, he has just not been interested in writing after school and claims it is “boring.” Gotta love his new vocabulary. :-)

I have been trying to think of something that could ignite his interest again and remembered a journal my mom started for me when I was in Kindergarten. We only wrote a few sentences in it once or twice a week about nothing extremely important. Once I was able to write on my own, you can tell when I took over. I love to look at this book and it brings back some fun memories about what my life was like when I was five years old. My son also likes to talk about his favorite part of his day. Thus, I decided to try incorporating the two ideas into a journal writing activity about his favorite thing that happened during the day. So far, he has been enjoying it and I am getting him to practice sounding out words and writing sentences. Win-win for everyone!

This is from our first attempt:

 ”I played games after school.”

Once he is comfortable with what we are doing, I have a real journal/notebook that he can use. Until then, I am using these free printable handwriting sheets (the site lets you choose the line size and offers a variety of other options). I print a few sheets out and fold them in half to give him more opportunities to use the entire sheet.  I also print out these sheets with the “open top” option, so he has a place to draw something if he wants to. He is so excited to have his own book and I love hearing what his favorite parts are during the day.

How do you encourage writing with your young children? I would love to hear other ideas!

 

Reading Tips and Tricks For Your Little One

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DSCF4350

My five-year old struggles with reading more than my older two had when they were his age. I started to worry about his reading level and even began comparing his progress with that of his siblings. Knowing that this was not the best approach, I reached out to his teacher for some help. She gave me some great ideas and resources to help him improve on his reading.

One of the things I really love about her tips is that some of them involve me working with my son one-on-one, while the other tips give my son a chance to work on his reading independently. They can also be used for my daughter who really enjoys reading and sometimes finds herself picking books a little too advanced for her age.

We implemented what my son’s teacher has taught us and since then I’ve seen much improvement. Before, when we would start our reading, we would both go into it somewhat dreading the slow and painful process. Today, it’s a much more enjoyable process and my son is doing so much better. Both of our stress levels have improved, and now we can focus on the story in the book rather than just getting each word right.

Without further ado, strategies for improving reading comprehension and word recognition:

  1. Choose one book a week for focus with your child. On the first day, start by reading the story to your child and allow your child to point to the words as you read them. This gives your child some idea of what the story is about and allows your child to begin recognizing the words before being asked to read them.
  2. The next day, have your child take turns reading pages or paragraphs with you. This will increase reading comprehension and reinforce word recognition before your child is asked to read the whole book.
  3. Next, record yourself reading the story on your phone or other recording device. Ask your child to read along to your voice. This gives your child a sense of independence from you and helps with reading fluency.
  4. Follow that day by having your child read the whole story to you. Help only as needed. At the end of the story, go through the book and point to the words your child struggled with to reinforce them. You can also have your child draw a picture showing what happened at the start, middle, and end of the story. Ask your child to explain what parts of the story he drew.
  5. On the last day, your child should be able to read the story with ease and comfort. Your child will gain confidence in reading as he easily reads through the story. You can ask your child to share what could/would happen next if he wrote another part to the story. You could even have your child write or draw a short “book report” about the story showing his favorite part.

Do you have a child that struggles with reading? If so, what tips do you have that have worked?