Parenting in the Tech Age

Parenting in the Tech Age

Julia @ Kids Matter

          As a child who grew up in the 80’s, I am always fascinated by the behaviors of kids today. I guess I understand now, why my grandfather would shake his head in disgust at my torn jeans and Pink Floyd T-shirt. I’m starting to understand his way of thinking as the torches are passed to the children of the “Gen Xers” generation.

           Last time I wrote to you about “#LookUp”, so it is only natural that this blog would follow that course. My blog is in response to the tragedy in Wisconsin; two 12 year old girls attempted to murder their “friend” in order to be accepted into a fantasy website.

          I am not going to give you the gory details of this gruesome and morbid tale. What I will talk about though, is how we as people, in one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world, can work to not let something like this happen. To keep children from being engrossed and lost in a website that is FAR above their emotional and mental capabilities.

          I have to wonder if technology, social media, and accessibility are making us lazy. (We don’t have to work hard for anything.) Kids don’t ask what a word means anymore, they simply “Google it”. They use search engines instead of adults as a source of information.

          Do you ever think about what our grandparents went through compared to what we go through? Our grandparents starved during the Great Depression. They faced throat ripping dogs and fire hoses to keep them from a “whites only” drinking fountain. They fought in WWII and brought a tyrant to his knees. What can we take from our grandparents and their struggles? What would our grandparents say about how parenting has changed? Are there ways to plug in their teachings and parenting today? Absolutely!

          First, take control; our grandparents were always in control. You are paying for the internet and electricity, so you make the rules. Kids despise but require rules, so stick to your guns no matter how they protest. Don’t let your kids have a computer in their bedroom. Have a family computer in a neutral zone of your home. Work with computer experts on how to monitor your child’s online activities. Sit near your child while they do homework on the computer.  

          Ask them what they are working on and discuss it. When I was in school, my mother and I would talk every day about my history class. We talked about Watergate, The Gettysburg Address, Vietnam, ‘One if by land, two if by sea’, and where she was on November 22, 1963. By engaging with your children during homework and computer time, you are finding out more about their lives and what struggles they go through with school work, as well as the cruel politics that are school life.

          Stay involved, ask hard questions, expect shocking answers, require honesty at all costs, build trust, keep and respect space, and most importantly, remember they are curious. They are designed to be inquisitive about everything. It’s up to us to talk to them about their curiosities and the consequences. Ask them their opinion of what happened in Wisconsin. What do they think about what happened? What do they think should happen now? Listen. Discuss. Learn. That is life at its zenith and worst. Avoid the horrors those three poor families are facing today.   Do your best to prevent having to one day say, “If only I had known, asked, or listened.”

Math is a Four Letter Word

Angie @ Kids Matter

I will start this by being completely honest. Math is not my favorite subject! I have never truly enjoyed addition, subtraction or multiplication. Don’t even get me started on my dislike for algebra or trigonometry! Some people excel at math, others struggle. I have always struggled. As my son gets older, I see his dislike for math already beginning to rear its head. I do not want my disdain for a subject to cause him to feel the same way, so I have started trying to sneak some math activities into our daily lives. Once we have completed the activity, we talk about how math helps us out each day. Here are some great math activities I do with my child:

1)      Let them cook with you! I always let my son do the measuring of ingredients. He loves to “help” and it’s his responsibility to keep track of the ingredients.

2)      If he wants a toy, we make a chart that shows how much the toy costs. He then has to count his money and figure out if he has enough to buy it. If he does not have enough money, he continues to color in the chart each day for any additional money he receives, until he reaches his goal. (This is also how he learned about sales tax.)

3)      Before going to the grocery, we look through the coupons and add up the total we will save by using coupons.  If he keeps up with the coupons, I let him have the amount that was “saved” by using them.

4)      If we have a special day that we are waiting for, he marks the days on the calendar and tells me how many days are left until the special date. He also does this if he loses privileges for a set amount of time.

5)      When we play board or card games, he always has to count out the cards and/or game pieces to the players.

6)      If we are running races on the sidewalk, he uses chalk to make tic marks under each person’s name to show how many races we each won.  (This is how he learned about skip counting by 5’s.)

7)      Since we love Lego in our house, we use them frequently for math. A favorite activity is to weigh with Lego blocks. Supplies needed: clothes hanger, two pieces of yarn, door with a door knob, and Lego. One of your Lego will need to be a piece that you can tie yarn to. Now, tie a piece of yarn to each end of the hanger and put the hanger around the door knob. Next, you will tie one of those pieces of yarn to the Lego. Look around and decide what you want to weigh. (We started with shoes and super hero masks.) Tie one item to the 2nd piece of yarn. The “hanger scale” will tilt towards the heavy item so you will need to keep attaching Lego pieces to balance the scale. We keep a written record of how many Lego each item weighs.  We then try to compare them, by holding them, to see if the one we thought was heaviest by hand really is.

All of these activities are easy and inexpensive to do, but can make a lasting impact on a child’s interpretation of math. You are your child’s first teacher and you are the one that guides his thoughts on learning and life. Be sure you are doing things that make learning fun!

Free-Choice Learning

Belinda @ Kids Matter

Can you imagine a world where the only things we ever learned were what we were taught in school? Never having been a history buff, the year 1492 is now just the memory of a rhyme about something Columbus did. Yes, that something was very important to America but nonetheless, it was 521 years ago and didn’t encourage my desire to learn about history in the least. What inspires you to learn? Do you have a compelling urge to learn, seek fulfillment, or explore? What drives you to quench that thirst for new information?

Personally, I can’t imagine living a life knowing only what I know at this very moment. Life is about living, learning, and aspiring to fulfill one’s self. Learning is exciting, adventurous, and yes, even scary at times. Albert Einstein said it best, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” It is wisdom that feeds are minds and fulfills us. In order to acquire wisdom a person must be receptive to learning. To learn we must recognize that we have formal learning in a school setting and informal learning in the world around us. Given that a mere portion of our lives, roughly 10-20%, is spent in a school setting it is only reasonable to conclude that the opportunities of the world are our greatest teachers in life.

Working off a theory based on the elements of choice, control, and personal identity promoting learning in an informal setting, Dr. Shawn Rowe and Mark Farley from Oregon State University developed a study named after a term they defined as, “Free-choice learning”. This term is defined as all the learning we do that takes place out in the world, not in a school setting. Through the aid of a grant from the National Science Foundation they built a lab to monitor and record how people choose to learn. This can be compared to a learning museum; a hands on facility where instead of just looking at a picture or statue you interact with the exhibits.

A most inspiring way to promote family time would be partake in free-choice learning as a family unit. Many of us have done this for years and weren’t even aware that this is what we were doing. How about that family vacation where you took the kids spelunking? (Spelunking is cave exploration.) You got out as a family and learned about the world around you. Instead of your child sitting in a classroom viewing pictures of stalactites in a science book, you introduced them to the real life thing and had a phenomenal time doing it. I’m not saying learning in a school setting is not important because it very much is and is the basis for which we begin our education. I’m just saying that if I had been on the ship with Columbus in 1492 it would have been a much more exciting, educational, and memorable event for me. Kick it up a notch… add some spice to your learning by injecting life experiences. Start with a book on caves then visit one. Bring learning to life and allow the report card to be the smile on your child’s face.

"Quirks" We All Have Them

We all have little “quirks”….you know, those things that you do that are totally “your” thing.  Oh come on now, don’t act like you don’t have any!!

Most of the time those “quirks” are kept to yourself; maybe you share them with your very best friend, husband or wife.  Quirks often begin at an early age and sometime provide a certain level of comfort and security.

When my son was a baby, I always put him in a snuggly, warm, soft blanket sleeper at bedtime.  This would assure that no blankets were kicked off or accidentally wrapped around his head. As he got a little older he began wearing footed pajamas. You know the kind, they fit snug and the shirt snaps into the pants to stay tucked in. By the time he was about three he was wearing regular pajamas with the pants, long sleeve top that buttoned up the front and cute animal shaped slippers. 

After bath time we would put on his PJ’s and slippers, read a story, sing a song, listen to some music, get that important drink of water, take a trip the bathroom and he was ready to “hit the hay”.   Tucked in, a kiss goodnight and he was “out like a light”.

Every night, I would go back in to check on him, and he would have kicked off his covers and be sound asleep….with his slippers on.  I would tiptoe to his bed. Gently, very gently, remove the slippers, cover him back up and sneak out of his room. Within 5 minutes he would be awake, have the slippers back on and no covers. 

This routine went on three to four times a night for months.  I finally gave up. You know, sometimes you just have to pick your battles. His feet were warm, he was warm and as long as those slippers were on his feet, he did not wake up. Apparently he loved his slippers! And I needed my sleep.

His love of slippers continued. It got to the point that he wore them every time he did not have on his shoes.  His grandmother, my mother, would buy him slippers as a surprise, for Christmas, for birthdays, because they were on sale, or just because she found cute ones. She really did like to spoil him. He had slippers at our house and at her house. He wore them constantly. He did not care if they were for boys; if they were pink and had fur he would still wear them!  Now mind you, he was only 3 years old.  

I was beginning to think he was obsessed. So I began to reason with him…... “You know your feet really need some air.” and “You know your feet will be sweaty and smelly if they don’t get some air.”

He didn’t care, the slippers stayed on those little feet.  I resorted to white lies. “You know your feet may fall off (fingers crossed behind my back) if they don’t get some air.”  Nope! Even the loss of feet didn’t cause the slippers to come off.  Finally, one night in exasperation, I asked, “Why do you wear your slippers and shoes all the time?”.

Here was his serious answer, directly to the point…...  “Mom, if I take my shoes off my pants will fall down!”  All I could do was to pick him up and give him a big hug.   I tried to convince him that his shoes did not hold up his pants, but he was having none of it.  

Well, my son is 33 years old now and I am very sure the “quirk” continues. On the plus side, his feet haven’t fallen off yet and I am pretty sure he now knows that his shoes are not holding up his pants.

Kids. You Gotta Love 'Em!

BA @ Kids Matter

Investing in Kids - to help our future

While perusing the local newspaper's website, we stumbled upon this great opinion article. The author (Mira Ball) is encouraging the leaders of the great state of Kentucky, to invest in our future.

How is she encouraging this? She is bringing up great points in reference to the preschool debate and the Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS). The proof is there to encourage our continued support of these services.

Currently, the state of Kentucky has preschool services available in our public schools, but the preschool services are only available to families with incomes up to 150% of the federal poverty level. Ms. Ball encourages the state to increase that to families with income up to 200% of the federal poverty level, which would serve an additional 16,000 children. Ideally, Kids Matter would like to see preschool services available to all kids, much like the other grades of public schools. Investing in the education and care of all children, improves the future of everyone.

Please go read the article and then come back here and weigh in your opinion. What can the state do to help kids have a successful future? We want to know what you think!

Monday Meanderings - Pack a School Lunch

Some choices are not easy to make. You can send your child to school to eat what is probably heavily processed food, high in fat, calories and sodium or you can get up early every day and pack a lunch for him.

The first option is depressing, as kids need energy to learn and most school cafeterias serve food that has been processed far beyond it's natural state. The second option can be healthier, but it can also be time consuming.

Here are some great ideas for packing school lunches.

First we have This Lunch Rox with some healthy recipes and beautiful lunches. She does take an extra minute to make them decorative. In this case she sliced a piece of cheese to resemble Pac-Man and laid it on top of the sandwich. Check out her website for some great lunches, recipes and snacks.

Next we have Wendolonia. She does a weekly recap of lunches and snacks that she packs for her young children. Some of the pictures look delicious and I love that she does a week at a time in her posting.

Kat's Bento Love shows how to re-use leftovers for an appetizing lunch. The meals are for adults but they are healthy and tempting.

One thing that can get expensive and wasteful for packing a lunch is plastic bags to store sandwiches or snacks. We try to use bowls or reusable bags. There is a great tutorial for making your own sandwich bags at We Wilsons Blog. You can make them in a variety of sizes and just pick out your favorite material at the store and you are ready to go.

If you start packing lunches there are some small things you can do that will make it more pleasant for your kids. First, get some cookie cutters! A shaped sandwich can be lots more fun than plain. You can use the cutters for just about anything you put in the lunch box. Second, buy some small stickers or write a short note to your child. They will be so excited to see it in the lunch box that they may even eat all of the vegetables you packed.

Photo Credit: Neato Bambino

Another neat trick: Banana writing! Take a toothpick and write on the skin of your banana without going through the skin to the fruit. It takes a little bit, but by lunch time your message will show clearly on the banana peel.

Storytelling - A gift for the whole family

Everyone has favorite stories that they love to tell. People tell fairy tales, folk tales, childhood memories, old family legends, stories from friends or family or even just what happened to them today. Many of these stories will become tales that are told over and over but many of them will be forgotten.

Tell lots of stories in your family to stimulate your children. There are several things that stories can help children with.

1) Background: Many people wander through life wondering where they are going but it can be easier if you know where you came from. If your family has special traditions explain to your child why you do these things. That is something your child will carry with them always. Do you eat certain foods at certain times? Do you have a special vacation spot that you go to time and again? Explain these things to your child. Also dig deeper, tell them about your heritage. Where does your family hail from? You may learn several new things yourself.

2) Imagination: When you tell a story instead of reading a book a child must visualize the pictures on their own. This will assist with their reading comprehension and when they begin to write, an imagination will make it easier to come up with ideas. It can be difficult as an adult to use our imagination but try hard to stimulate your child's imagination.

3) Language: Telling stories and reading books are a great way to stimulate a child's language skills. They will hear words that they have never heard before, they will hear the proper sequence of words and they will detect the punctuation of phrases. The more words a child hears, the larger their vocabulary as they age. Be ready to explain a word to a child if you think it is a new word to them or if they ask for an explanation.

4) Convenience: You do not need any supplies to tell a story. You can do it in the car, the bed, a doctor's office or anyplace else that you may be.

5) Reading skills: Telling stories teaches a child the nuances of plot, sequence and characters. They will begin to understand the concept of a story long before they can actually read.

6) Lessons: Many stories that we tell or read often teach a lesson. Whether the lesson is about sharing, not hitting or just being nice many stories teach many lessons. After you tell your child a story, take a few minutes to talk to them about it. Ask what they learned in the story.

Story Projects:
Ask family members near and far to record themselves telling stories. They can read books, tell stories from their childhood, make up stories or recite fairy tales. These will be great for your child to listen too. It not only helps with their development but it also keeps family that they may not see every day familiar to them. If they do not want to record their voice they can also write the stories and your family can read them.

Story Dice: Have you seen these yet? They are wooden blocks purchased from a craft store that you draw pictures on or decoupage pictures onto them. Then you roll a dice and start telling the story based on the picture that comes up. Some samples that you can purchase are below.

Muffin Baby Shop on Etsy - I love that these are in color.

Mama Mayl's Shop on Etsy - love the symbol key and book.

Fancy Fannie's Shop on Etsy - I love the variety on these.

Oh Sew Crafty Canada's Shop on Etsy - These also come with a book to write your stories.





Childhood Emotions and How to Cope

Children frequently have a hard to putting their emotions into words or into acceptable actions. If they become angry they will frequently turn to hitting or kicking instead of words. This is not because they are violent; it is because they do not have the social skills yet to voice their anger or frustration.

Listening is an important life skill and one of the most difficult to teach. Many adults are not good listeners but we must make the effort to listen to our kids. When your child speaks to you, show her that her opinion and her life are important. Hang up the phone, stop what you are doing and give her your undivided attention. Ask questions about her day and her stories.

Teach your child empathy for other’s point of view. Ask your child how he would feel if Tommy took the truck away from him. It is important for kids to realize that other people get their feelings hurt also.

If you see your child being kind or considerate to someone else, let them know you saw it. Being nice should be praised as much as a new skill. You do not have to stop the action to praise them but later, let them know you saw the way they were being nice to their friend.

Taking turns is usually very hard for kids. Role play with them; let them play with a toy and then you ask to play with it. This will not only teach them to share but will also show them an appropriate way to ask to play with something.

Explain to your child that all of his emotions are okay but all of his actions are not. It is never appropriate to hit, kick or bite someone and it is dangerous to run away from you when they are upset.

Sometimes children become frustrated that things are hard for them to do. This is when you explain that something else that they can do easily now, used to be hard for them to do. They just have to practice to make it easier.

Children need to develop reasoning skills. Use everyday activities to encourage that. When you wake up in the morning, tell him that it is raining outside, what should you wear today? If your child asks you why all of the time, turn the question back on him by saying, “I am not sure, why do you think it is that way?” Then discuss his thoughts with him.

These can all help us through the tough times of dealing with emotional children. Just take a deep breath and try to explain to them. This is not the time for you to act irrationally. If you become upset or frustrated, how can you expect your kids to know how to act appropriately? Take a deep breath and then smile and help your child. These are reactions that you want your child to learn and children always learn at home first.

Playtime Can Be Stressful

Children are not born with the ability to get along already ingrained in their DNA. They must be taught how to get along and interact with people. Many kids are shy and playing in a group can be very stressful for them and their parents. Here are some hints on helping your child to get along with other kids.

Find a friend that is near your child’s age and find activities for them to do together. It is sometimes easier to approach another group of kids if they have a friend by their side already.

When your child has friends coming over to play, remember that some toys are easier to share than others. If your child has a toy that is near and dear to her heart, put it away during playtime. Some toys that are easier to share: Cars, balls, puzzles, dress up clothes, kitchen toys and musical instruments. When you get these out, be sure there are enough for each child to have a few.

Do not always jump right in to help when your child and another child have a disagreement. You should let them try to work it out unless they are getting aggressive or violent.

A great way to get kids to play together is a craft project. Hang a twin size sheet on the side of a fence and give each child a spray bottle with paint that has been slightly watered down. They can each spray their paint colors and swap colors with one another. Once the sheet is dry they can see the large project that they created together.

Before you go to a party with a shy child, talk to the child and let them know what to expect. Tell them that they do not have to participate if they do not want to. It is okay to watch everyone else. A shy child should never be pressured to participate in an activity, some kids like to play alongside other kids, some kids like to watch other kids play for awhile before they participate and yet others will jump right in with both feet.

There is no wrong or right way for a child to approach a group of kids and ask to be included but sometimes it can help a lot if you allow the kid to role play a little with you or a bigger sibling. It can help to build up a child’s courage.

Coloring Rice

I have seen lots of blogs that talk about coloring rice for your kids and I really wanted to give it a try with my son. I pulled out a bag of rice, the Ziploc bags, the food coloring and then I realized I did not have enough alcohol in the house to do this activity.

I did already have my heart set on it though and since the rice is inexpensive, I decided to go ahead and wing it. I did not have alcohol in the house however I had lots of hand sanitizer in the house and it is mostly alcohol so I decided to use it in place of the alcohol.

I divided my rice evenly among 5 Ziploc bags for red, blue, green, yellow and purple rice. In each bag I used about 7-8 squirts of food coloring and about 2 squirts of hand sanitizer. I then squished the bags around until all of the rice was colored. Next I set the rice on the counter, in the bags to dry some. I came back about 1 hour later and things were colorful and dry. I poured it into our container with each color in a pretty row and it looked so beautiful! I was immediately glad that I did this project.

When my son came home, I showed him how pretty it was and then I dropped a few of the decorative erasers that you see everywhere in there and asked him to get them out with the measuring spoon or the ice tongs. He did pretty well but in about 35 seconds, it was no longer the pretty box I had made, it was his new creation and fortunately I thought it was pretty too!

Monday Meanderings - Fall Crafts

Well, Fall will be here soon so I thought we could look at a Fall Craft Meandering today.

First up is the Frugal Family Fun blog. They made the cutest leaf necklaces. They used green leaves but as the leaves change colors, the leaves would be beatiful colors to make more necklaces with. I love this and will be doing it soon.

This link is from Wee Folk Art where they are working on a Fall Homeschool Curriculum that you can also download for free at thier site. This week they made some great salt dough vegetables. I love teh look of them and the curriculum guide is great.

This last link is from Crafts 'n Activities for Kids and I have to say, I wish I had a straw hat on me right now. He is so cute that I need one right now instead of having to wait to go buy a hat tomorrow.

Make Your Own Fossils

The other day I was talking to my neighbor that is 6 years old. She was telling me all about how she went on a hike and the great things that she saw. As she continued to talk she told me that she found a really neat fossil while hiking. She was very impressed with the fossil so that got me thinking. My son is not ready to go hiking yet but there is no reason why we can’t make our own fossils.


Supplies:

Air Dry clay

An item to be your fossil print

We molded our clay into a disk shape and then we used a small plastic dinosaur as our fossil. We just laid the dinosaur on his side on the clay and pressed him in. We then pulled him right back out and set the clay over to dry. The clay will usually need at least 24 hours to dry. Since this was not a big challenge, I guess my son felt shortchanged because he then wanted to fossilize everything that was not nailed down. We also kept the frog fossil we made but the others he wanted to continue playing with them while they were soft so no pictures of those.

Setting the Table for Kids

As your kids are getting older it will be a good idea to teach them how to set the table for a meal. Not only will this assist you at a busy time of your day but the kids will get a sense of responsibility too. It is always a good idea to work on proper table manners.

Supplies:

Construction paper (darker color)
Fork
Knife
Spoon
Cup

Set the paper in a sunny spot outside. Put the fork on the left hand side, leave an open spot for the plate, and then place the knife and the spoon. The cup belongs up above the spoon and knife. Leave the setting in the sun for about 3-4 hours. The sun will fade the paper in the areas that are not covered leaving a perfect outline for a place setting. We only left ours outside for one hour, but it is good enough to be a sample now.

Once you bring the "placemat" inside, it will give your kids a model to work with while setting the table for a meal. Everyone likes to feel as if they are contributing in some way and setting the table is the perfect way to let the kids contribute.

Tuesday Teachings - The Letter K

Another week, another letter. We are moving on to the letter K this week. Please feel free to download your copy of the letter K below.

Letter K

Words that start with the letter K: King, Kangaroo, Kite, Keep, Kids, Kiss, Kelp, Kind and Kick

As our first craft, I really wanted to make a kangaroo but could not figure out how to make one from the letter K so we did the next best thing. We made a Kangaroo pouch! It is very cute. Stack two pieces of brown construction paper together and cut them out in a pouch pattern. Trim the front of the pouch a little across the top so that the back of the pouch is taller. This will make it easier to get in the pouch. Once they are cut out, punch holes all the way around the perimeters. You will then take yarn (we only had blue) and wrap tape around one end and use it as the "needle" to stitch the two pouch sides together. You will want to leave a 6"-8" tail on each end to tie around the waist. Once it is stitched together, write a big K on the front and tie it around a waist.

Next up, we used our Dot Markers to decorate a letter K. While he used the markers, I cut out two crowns from yellow construction paper. Once he finished coloring I let him glue on the two crowns and turn his K into a King.

This next project was a bit aggravating but he used the Dot Markers again on three Kleenex. We then tore the Kleenex into pieces and glued them on to the K.

For our final project we wanted to make a Kite. I let him paint two of the letter K printouts. Once dried, we cut them out and put them end to end to form the diamond of a kite. We used crepe paper for the tail of the kite.

Foods that start with K: Kabobs, Key Lime Pie, Kit Kat, Kool-Aid, Kiwi, Kohlrabi, Ketchup and Kielbasa

We went with an old classic, rice Krispie treats! I won't post a recipe as almost everyone has made them before and the recipe is right on the box. We did spice it up a little and add sprinkles!

Have a great week and have your kids point out the letter K to you this week!

We are linking up to:

Chalk Paint

It has been so hot around here that we can not usually stay outside for long but if it cools down a little we try and slip out to have a little fun.

This time we made chalk paint. If you have not made chalk paint before, I highly recommend it. The colors are so bright when they dry!

Ingredients:
Cornstarch
Water
Food Coloring

I mix equal parts cornstarch and water in a measuring cup. I usually start with 1/2 cup of each. Once they are well mixed, without lumps divide the mix evenly between the number of colors you want. I use plastic cups to paint from so I pour the chalk mix into the cups and then add enough food coloring to get a good color. It usually takes 8-10 drops for a vibrant color.

We then go out on the sidewalk and paint away, using the cheap foam paint brushes that I get in a package of 10 at the dollar store. You do NOT want to use nice brushes on the sidewalk, just buy the cheap ones.

I will forewarn you, if your child is anything like mine, he will probably look like a Smurf when you finish. I have never had a problem with the chalk paint not coming off once we get in the tub. It rarely comes off though when we are just cleaning up after painting, he has to be physically submerged in the water. Have fun and let your inner Picasso run wild!!

Tuesday Teachings - The Letter J

Another week, another letter. This week we are moving on to the letter J. Please feel free to download our letter J to use.

Letter J
Words that start with the letter J:
Jungle, Jump, Jolly, Jewish, Jab, Job, Joke, Jug, Jar, Junk, Jackal and Jamboree.

For our first craft, we decided to make Jellyfish. This was a great project and my son even talked my husband into getting in on the action, hence there are three Jellyfish. We used markers to color on coffee filters and once we finished we sprayed the filters lightly with water to allow the colors to bleed a little. We waited for that to dry and then we took a pony bead and thread it on a piece of yarn, this ends of the yard were then put through a disposable cup bottom that had a hole poked in it. The bead kept the yarn in place. Next we cut a hole in the center of each of the jellyfish and put them on the yarn and tied the yarn in a knot at the top to hang it up. We then used ribbons and crepe paper to make the tentacles, we just taped the tentacles to the bottom of the coffee filters.

The next project was Jewels. We glued jewels to a letter J. My son really enjoyed getting to use the glue. We usually use a glue stick but with all of the back to schools sales, we stocked up on some white glue too and this was his first chance to squeeze glue.

For our final craft, he colored a letter J with markers (his new preferred medium). I then cut it out and we glued it to another piece of paper with a little extension of construction paper to represent the cockpit.

Some foods that start with the letter J:
Java, Jelly, Jellybeans, Jalapeno, Java, Jawbreakers and Jambalaya

As a snack, I had big ideas about making some homemade Jam. I found an easy recipe that called for just thawed berries, honey and lemon juice. Sounded easy enough but my son "misplaced" the honey since he loves the bear jar and when I blended up the berries, they just turned into juice. I had been working all day, my son was cranky and the whole process was making me Jittery (another J word)!

I quickly changed gears and pulled out the frozen package of Jamba Juice Smoothies Mix, added some apple Juice and blended it all up for a refreshing snack. I hope you can forgive me considering all of the J words I included in the excuse.

Have fun working on the letter J with your kids.

Tuesday Teachings - The Letter I

Getting back on track with the alphabet and this week is the letter I.

Normally I woudl have a link here for you to go to Scribd.com to print out a copy of the letter I to use with your kids but it has come to our attention that Scribd is planning to charge people to download from their site. This does not follow the goal of our blog or our Kids Matter campaign so we are looking for a new service. Until we locate that new service we have them on our secondary server for your download. It is not as convenient because there is no picture to go along with it on the blog but you can still download from us for FREE!

The Letter I

Words that start with the letter I: Island, Icebox, Iceberg, Iceland, Icon, Identify, In, Ignite, Iguana, Ill, Ink, Illinois, Indiana, Illustrate and Imagination

We started our crafts with Ice Cream. We decorated the letter I with markers and then cut out our letter and glued it to a piece of construction paper. While he decorated the letter I, I was busy cutting out some "Ice Cream" scoops from different colors of construction paper. We then glued the ice cream scoops on top of the I, using the I as our sundae cup.

For our next craft we decided to make an Insect. I let my son color the page with markers and then we cut out the I and glued it to a piece of construction paper and drew on six legs and two eyes. As an extension of this project we went outside on an insect hunt but it was too hot for even the insect to be out.

Our last I craft was an Indian headdress. This time my son glued feathers to the letter I. While he was gluing I cut two strips from brown construction paper and wrapped them around his head to get the size right. I taped the pieces of paper together to make the head band. Once he was finished with the feathers, we glued the page to a page of construction paper for strength as I had printed the letter I on regular printer paper. I then cut out the I and glued it to the front of the head band.

As for a snack, there are not many foods that begin with the letter I, so that makes it a bit of a challenge but these are the ones I came up with: Ice Cream, Iceberg Lettuce, Icicles,

For our snack, we made Icees! They were pretty tasty.

Supplies:
Frozen juice concentrate (we used orange but think limeade would also be good)
Frozen Sherbert (again we used orange but get the flavor to go with your drinks)
Soda (orange or lemon-lime)

Put half of the container in the blender with 3-4 scoops of sherbert. Pour in enough soda to come about 2" above the sherbert. Blend well. If you do not have a blender, you can also make this in a bowl with the back of the spoon. I know this since we have a new blender and I did not read the directions and ended up with the first icee all over the counter!

I hope you have a great time working on your letter I crafts!

Learning our Colors - A felt board game (2)

Here is another felt board game that I made for my son. Once again, I just purchase the cheap craft felt that is 5 sheets for $1. I trace all of my patterns and then I cut them all out.

We put them up one fish at a time and do a different recital of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. My son puts up the first fish and I say "Purple fish, purple fish, what do you see? I see a WHITE fish looking at me." Then my son takes the white fish and puts it on the board. We continue through all of our fish colors and when we have the last fish up (in this case he will be yellow) I say "Yellow fish, yellow fish what do you see?" and my son is supposed to recite all of the colors back to me. He is not quite there yet so I assist him when needed, but he does try hard! As you can see, I have 11 fish cut out currently but we never use more than 4 right now. I do not want him to get frustrated. As he gets better at the game, we will pull out more fish to play with.

He loves this even more than he loves the original Brown Bear book, which is no small feat since I have read that book enough to recite it word for word.

I have also included a pattern for cutting out the fish shapes. Hope you enjoy this game as much as we do.

Fish Pattern

Learning Our Colors - A Felt Board Game

 

A year or so ago I purchased a felt board to use at home with my son. We have gotten sporadic use out of it but I am hoping to use it more frequently. In anticipation of this I have cut out some felt pieces from cheap craft felt (I got 5 sheets for $1).

Our first new activity is the ice cream shop. We line up all of the cones that were cut out of tan felt along the middle of the board and then I sing "I scream, you scream, we all scream for _____ ice cream." The blank is filled in with a color that I have a corresponding "ice cream" cutout for.

The few times that we have played this my son has had fun searching for the color ice cream that I want. Sometimes he will make the ice cream one scoop but sometimes I am extra hungry and want a double scoop!

I have included the shapes that I used for your personal use. Please feel free to download and print them out.

Ice Cream Pattern