Children’s Books: A Whimsical Yet Practical Baby Shower Theme

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Baby showers in the US have long been a special right of passage for expecting mothers and my family is no different. When I was pregnant with L., my twin sister Sarah threw me the most amazing shower.

She is the queen of hosting/organizing amazing parties and events, so when she was expecting, I figured I had to think of something special too. I was determined to make it a wonderful party for her, but I also wanted to keep it pretty simple, because I was pregnant too and had started having contractions way back at 19 weeks. (The sticky notes on the cabinets in the background tracked the count down for when “Mommy could start being more active,” for L. & me!)

One goal for Sarah’s shower was to have her leave with an item from each person that would show her little guy for years to come how many people loved him (just like L. has with her ceramic name and tile mirror from my baby shower).  In true teacher style, I decided to purchase a bunch of books and have each person write a little note to him in a book.

At first, I looked into mailing everyone a Barnes & Noble gift card so they could purchase a favorite book on their own, but time slipped away from me! I went to plan B—selecting the books myself (which were not only L.’s and my favorite board and touch & feel books, from when she was itty bitty, they were also wonderful picture books too). Another nice thing about this option was that I knew there would be no duplicates and they would make great decorations for the shower.

I simple wrote a sign requesting that each guest pick a book and write a note to BB in it with a permanent marker.  As they completed their notes, they simply dropped the book in one of the green baskets for Sarah to take home.

If I were to do this again, I would fill an old fashioned red wagon with the books. I saw this idea on Pinterest and was eager to do this for him now.  It looks adorable in the little guy’s room! 

L., “big cuz,” loved her jobs of checking with people to be sure they signed a book and helping Auntie open her gifts.  Sarah is like a second mother to L., so it was really nice that Sarah made her feel SO IMPORTANT, as she always does! :)

What books would you include in this children’s book-themed baby shower? Have you thrown a creative baby shower? Please share details, photos and links?!!

Let Babies Be Babies!

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Before we know it, my twin sister and I will both have one-year-olds! So, for now, we are really big into letting our babies simply be babies, for at least another  couple weeks!  Here are some of our attempts at this–some more successful than others! Between scheduled classes and craziness these activities are just plain and simple fun:

✴ Clear out a drawer or cabinet and fill it with items that would be safe for babies. Our little cuties stumbled upon L.’s drawer (which was designed so she could be more independent during meal and snack times) and they were over the moon! I am pretty sure they thought they were getting away with something.

✴ Thick shaggy rugs tend to be a common feature for families with learning-to-walk babies. While they’re nice padding for those purposes, they aren’t always ideal for some types of play. By giving kiddos metal cookie sheets and baking pans, children can have a stable flat surface for building towers. They love the crashing sounds that blocks hitting the tins make!

✴ I used to use shaving cream for sensory experiences with my preschoolers, but I’m not a big fan of it for little ones anymore, as it’s one of the most painful things to get in your eyes (and good luck telling a baby or toddler not to rub his/her eyes!)  I decided to try out nontoxic sensory materials for the babies to enjoy. Jello, cool whip and yogurt were perfect alternatives! B. enjoyed this…but then decided she wanted to climb out of the pool! I think I’ll will wait until summer and try this again outside.

✴ Aiming to expand the babies’ play space beyond the area rug boundaries, I purchased some yoga mats at Whole Foods, free of potentially harmful chemicals, to baby proof the outlying hardwood floors. They are colorful, squishy, and provide slip-free traction.

✴ If you’ve had the pleasure of viewing the dozens of Youtube videos of babies laughing hysterically at the mere ripping of paper, you’ll understand why this is one of my favorite “babies being babies” activities (and it’s my daughter’s too!) Simply grab scrap paper you were going to recycle and sit on the floor with your baby. Start the rip and then hand the paper to your baby and hold on to one side as he/she pulls away and makes the paper tear further. (Doesn’t hurt to capture the reaction on video either!)

✴ No matter the age, getting a bit messy is often equated with FUN for kids. So when I introduced flour to little B. as a way to entertainer her while L. was cooking, she was quite content playing with it alongside her big sister. I put about a half cup of flour into a small bowl and gave her another bowl of the same size to pour the flour into. And back and fourth it went! Not only does she love the feel of it on her fingers, but with each concentrated and controlled pour or pinch, she’s is tuning her fine motor skills!

✴ Let your babies explore nature first hand. B & BB love exploring items in nature, such as pine needles, grass, leaves, petals, rocks, puddles, snow, flowers, etc. The great thing about this activity it is alway available!  Even on days that are too hot or too cold to go outside, you can simply bring nature items inside. One of my favorites is filling containers with snow and putting them in a small blow up pool–kids of all ages enjoy this activity!

If you try any of these activities or have one to add to the list please let us know–we’d love see and share!

 

A Special Yet Surefire Way to Find Out What Your Little One Thinks of You!

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It may be cliché, but kids do indeed “say the darndest things.” Capturing their innocent, unfiltered thoughts by scribbling notes in a scrapbook or journal, video taping,… can be priceless. So what better gift for an occasion like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day?

We created a free “Mommy/Daddy! According to…” printout that you can fill in with your child, put in a nice frame and wrap for a keepsake gift. Your child’s answers will touch your heart and have your family laughing for a long time to come.

We made versions for all of the special grandparents out there too!

Like this post to download our “Mommy/Daddy! According to…” printouts.

Flip-less Pancakes: A Delicious Family Activity

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Whether you generally work in the home or go to work, the departure from your family’s typical routine during school vacations can be tricky. One activity that kept my daughter happy (for over two hours!) during April vacation was making pancakes. It started as a cooking project then evolved into a treasure hunt, science and math activity. L. loved it so much with my oversight that I was able to simultaneously entertain the two babies; so it was a win-win.  We even repeated it over the weekend with equal enthusiasm so Daddy could join in on the fun!

We made pancakes in muffin tins rather than using a cook-top pan, because I had too

many little ones around to worry about monitoring the stove top and flipping. This turned out to be a wonderful choice for several reasons.  Most importantly, it allowed us to be very creative, e.g., we challenged ourselves to find a dozen different foods to add to our pancakes resulting in some amazingly delicious and unique pancakes. Interested? Here’s our play-by-play:

1. I read the recipe while L. helped get each of the ingredients.

2. L. helped measure the ingredients and put them in separate bowls so she could do all the pouring on her own.  This was very important to her and probably will be to your child too!

3. L. poured all the ingredients into her large mixing bowl and mixed away.

4. L. put muffin cups into the muffin tins.  The babies loved playing with the muffin cups as well.

5. I put half of the batter into a glass measuring cup so she could pour a little batter into the muffin cups more easily.

6. We went on a treasure hunt around our kitchen finding 12 different items to put in our pancakes. Our goal was to make 12 different types and see which we liked best. We used raisins, shredded coconut, dried cranberries, maple syrup, frozen blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, and bananas. For baby B. we added grape yogurt, yogurt melts and mashed sweet potatoes. Other items could include: peaches, chocolate chips, nuts, tiny pieces of orange, marshmallows, colored sprinkles, pumpkin, cinnamon, cherries, blackberries, butterscotch or peanut butter bits, shredded cheese, lemon juice & sugar, honey ….

7. L. cut the bananas & strawberries into tiny pieces with a butter knife. She was very proud of herself!

8. We put each ingredient into its own muffin cup.

9. L. put a little of the filling in batter on spots by each muffin in the pan to identify them. This took a lot of concentration and spatial planning on L.’s part. It was great watching her figure it out like a puzzle.

10. We baked the “pancakes” at 325 degrees for approximately 8-10 minutes, depending upon how much batter you use.

11. We had a taste test. L. loved them all. I had to agree with her. It was so much fun trying each one that after we tried a couple we decided to close our eyes, taste and guess which it was, bringing lots of laughter! L.‘s favorites were the strawberry, sweet potato and grape yogurt. My favorites were the coconut, banana and sweet potato. I will definitely start putting shredded coconut in pancakes from now on!

12. L made a second batch by mixing all different ingredients together. She looked and sounded like a true scientist making all sorts of concoctions. She spent over a half an hour preparing them. I put a waterproof sheet on the floor and let her mix away so she could move all around the tins.

13. We baked them and enjoyed eating every last one!

14. Cleaned up time.

Let us know how yours turn out :)

Garden Stones

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Whether you’re a seasoned or novice gardener, labeling your vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs is not only practical and educational for children, but if done creatively, can also add character to your landscape. So instead of using typical wood markers on our organic garden this year I decided to create custom stones for each of our fruits and veggies.

First I used watercolors to illustrate fruits and veggies. L. helped me do some of the easier designs :) Then, I scanned them into the computer and printed them on regular printer paper.

Next, I cut the images out and wrote labels with permanent marker.

I selected medium sized, rounded, flat stones and cleaned them up (you can buy these or of course select them from your yard). I purchased mine at a local nursery for less than $10.  L. had a great time giving all the stones a “bubble bath”. Then I covered the stone with nontoxic Mod Podge.  Immediately after covering a stone with Mod Podge, I put the label and the picture on the stone and pressed lightly. I covered the stone with a thick layer of Hodge Podge. After it dried, I turned it over and did the back side. I am not sure how many coats you really need to make it waterproof…but I did three coats just to be safe!

My daughter helped me throughout the process, although it is primarily an adult craft.  I create them with L. & B. in mind.  I wanted to make sure they knew as the seeds grow into plants, which veggies and fruits they would become.

I love how they came out and can’t wait to put them in the garden!  After all this hard work making the illustrations I figured it would be nice if others could enjoy them as well, so…

Like this post for your free download of our vegetable illustrations and labels, and make stone markers for your garden. Enjoy!

 

How Do I Teach My Child to Read?

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When teaching emergent literacy skills be sure to:

#1 take the child’s lead!

#2 make it fun!

Knowing your ABCs, being able to identify uppercase and lowercase letters and the sounds they make are important early literacy skills. However, one of the best predictors of whether a young child is going to be a successful reader is his/her phonemic awareness skill level.  Phonemic awareness is part of phonological awareness.  This post explains what phonological awareness is and focuses on fun ways to help your preschooler or kindergartener develop phonological awareness. A future blog will focus on phonemic awareness, a higher-level skill.

Phonological awareness follows a developmental progression. It refers to skills such as the ability to identify final sound chunks as you would to rhyme, recognize distinct words in a spoken sentence, hear syllables in words and eventually identify distinct sounds in words.

Here are some enjoyable ways to help your child develop phonological awareness:

✴ Guess the Rhyme

When reading or singing, stop before you get to the second word of a rhyming pair to see if your child can guess it. At first, you can say most of the rhyming word.  As your child is ready, simply say the first sound. Eventually your child will probably be able to figure out the word without any clues. You can make it “silly” and accept nonsense words that rhyme.

✴ How Many Words?

Count the words in spoken sentences. You say a sentence; the child builds a design with manipulatives (e.g., blocks, colored macaroni…) representing each word in the sentence.  For example, if you have the sentence, “The girl went to bed.” The child would get to take 5 blocks or pieces of pasta to make a design.  As your child gets more advanced at this task, you can have him/her take a different color for each sentence so he/she can build more elaborate structures or pictures. My daughter also likes to make trail mix with different ingredients and necklaces with different colored beads using the “How Many Words Game”. Click Here to Download possible sentences.

✴ Syllable Counting

- Syllables can be heard as a beat.  You can march, jump, clap, drum….to the syllables.
- Counting syllables in names is fun.
- After your child is able to hear the different syllables, you can move on to more difficult games such as using compound words (e.g., sunshine) and asking the child to say, “Sunshine then say it again without the sun or without the shine.”  It is more difficult to delete the final syllable. Click Here to Download possible words.

Phonemic awareness is the most demanding phonological awareness skill, which develops later. It has been most directly linked to subsequent reading ability and can be taught. Phonemic awareness focuses on the sounds a child hears without identifying the corresponding letter. Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes).   Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness are often used interchangeably, but it is helpful to know the precise meaning of each.

 

 

A Perfect Spring Activity — Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Sidewalk Paint!

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What’s a sure sign of a truly engaging children’s project? Silence! We recently tried out an activity I saw on Pinterest. The little ones were so into it that they were just…quiet. This, of course, was followed by laughter and excitement!

A perfect spring or summer outdoor activity, this sidewalk paint (some people refer to it as sidewalk chalk) recipe simply calls for a 1:1 ratio of cornstarch and water, with food coloring of your choice. We used muffin tins as containers and experimented by mixing all different ratios—each offered fun and interesting properties (a little science lesson never hurts!).  The kiddos loved adding extra cornstarch, which made Oobleck (made famous by the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck).  When you squeeze Oobleck it is turns into a solid and when you let go, it quickly turns back into a liquid.

 

They also enjoyed making up stories to go along with each picture they painted.  They already have plans to make a hopscotch board next time!

As long as you do not add too much food coloring, you don’t have to worry about staining hands, tools or surfaces, as the paint washes off easily with water.  It’s an inexpensive and creative way to paint outdoors with stunningly vibrant colors.

Lasagna “Muffins”

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Always eager to try out healthy, delicious, family meals that take minimal time to prepare, I was intrigued by this recent Babble.com recipe.  I like the option of only making a few muffins instead of a whole lasagna.  With that said, we always make 1 or 2 full muffin tins because my family loves eating these as leftovers. L. is always happy when I send her with this for lunch!

Here’s my take on this super-quick (about 25 minutes from start to finish including prep time!) recipe:

Ingredients:

-Egg Roll Wrappers
-Tomato Sauce
-Mozzarella, Ricotta and Cottage Cheese

Steps:

#1 Preheat your oven to 375.
#2 Coat a muffin tin with olive oil.
#3 Line each muffin cup with an egg roll wrapper (I used a small cup to help push them in.)
#4 Add a spoonful of tomato sauce into each cup.
#5 Add ricotta and cottage cheese (as well as any cooked veggies).
#6 Add mozzarella cheese to each cup.
#7 Fold extra egg roll wrapper back over the cup to seal.
#8 Add a small spoonful of tomato sauce on top and sprinkle mozzarella cheese.
#9 Bake for about 15 minutes (or until wrappers and topping look done).

To keep it super healthy, you can simply add veggies such as zucchini, spinach or mushrooms, and go light on the cheese.  

How’d mine turn out? I have literally made them three weeks in a row because it is so easy, and everyone in my family LOVES them. So when I know the day’s going to be one gigantic juggling act—this one’s definitely a go-to!

Frozen Letters: An Educational Cool-Down

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In true New England weather fashion, temperatures were in the 80’s yesterday. This fast-forward into summer-like warmth had us thinking of creative ways to cool-down and keep the kids engaged. So putting a new spin on old toys, we froze the girls’ magnetic letters!

I simply dropped magnet letters into plastic cups of water and left them in the freezer overnight. Then I filled our kiddie pool with an inch or two of luke warm water and let them play with the frozen letters. My 4 year old daughter was initially taken aback at the sight of her playthings stuck inside an ice block—“But, I love those letters!” she exclaimed. But within seconds she realized the ice would melt eventually and she’d have her letters back. 

 

From that point on she and her little sister had a blast. If you’re going to try this with your baby just be sure to watch carefully, as I had to with my one-year-old, so she didn’t get little pieces of ice as they melted.  

I built simple three-letter “mystery” words with the ice blocks and as they melted L loved trying to figure them out. It was a great way to stay cool on this crazy hot day!  Next time, I am going to try freezing colored-water as well.

Celebrate Earth Day (April 22)

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From encouraging our kids to (literally!) get their hands dirty in the garden to recycling and reusing materials in creative ways, we try to teach respect for our planet regularly. But Earth Day offers a tremendous and important opportunity to reinforce those ideas. Here are a few ways we recommend celebrating Earth Day with your children:

#1 Read

This is such a great way for children to see and hear about the many important aspects that make our Earth special and worth treating with care. There are many wonderfully written and illustrated children’s books that have earth-related themes. The Earth Book by Todd Parr is a favorite we’ve been reading with our daughter since she was teeny-tiny. Some other good books include Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green and Mike Gordon, Earth Day—Hooray! by Stuart J. Murphy, and The Earth and I by Frank Asch. The ones you choose to read with your childen don’t necessarily have to talk about “the earth” or Earth Day specifically.  They are equally valuable if they touch upon subjects such as respecting and/or teaching about wildlife and plants, conserving energy, recycling, cleaning up our environment and/or planting.

#2 Create

Creating crafts is another way to get our children thinking and asking questions about the many aspects of earth. This past week we created Earth out of biodegradable materials. We simply covered a round plate with cornstarch, then used an eye dropper to drop green and blue colored water (food color and water) on the cornstarch. We talked about what each color stood for and made labels. The colored water actually appeared to make rivers when it hit the cornstarch, which was a nice surprise!  I was amazed at how long L. worked on her earth project.  I hope your little ones enjoy it ask much as she did.

#3 Discuss

The best way to truly ingrain important concepts is to engage in a dialogue with your children (and after reading Earth Day books and creating projects, we sure had a lot to talk about)! My daughter and I discussed different ways we can help the planet, such as cleaning up litter, planting trees, recycling, turning lights off, and conserving water. Never underestimate your child’s ability to engage in deep conversation!