Flash Cards

Flash cards are great to build vocabulary in toddlers as well as learning colors and shapes. This is the first time I've worked with Chloe on these cards. I tried 2 things:

First, I layed out 3 cards and asked her what they were, I could either ask : Chloe where's the picture of the fish, or I could point to one and ask whats this? (don't have a pic of us doing this activity)

Next, I got 2 cards that labeled just colors, then found 2 other cards that had that color. We then began a "talk and question" conversation about those colors. I talked about the colors, then I asked her to match the colors together. She didn't get it right at first, but after a few times, she'll pick it up. Pictured:

We of course, sang the clean-up song when we were done, and oh yes, I made sure she helped!

I got my cards at the Lakeshore Learning Center (which is pretty pricey sometimes). I got them with the intent to teach colors and shapes. They have lots of different kinds to teach whatever you choose. Target had some great ones this year around September that I got for $1 a box. So, next fall pick some up! My kids love them, and I enjoy watching them learn!

Colored Bubbles

She did this in preschool. They mixed a little food coloring with bubbles, then let them blow them onto the paper! When they dried, it looked like this. I thought this was fun, because I always have bubbles and I always have food coloring! I thought it would be fun to make a few different colors and make a colorful Thanksgiving Turkey, or a green Christmas tree, or a colorful easter egg, or a...you get the point.

Summer's Over!

Well, we've been so busy this summer and (where we live) its still warm outside so, we're able to still head outside! Yesterday,it was dark and loomy and I suddenly found myself with some bored kids. I pulled out some arts and crafts and that was OK for a while. But, this morning I woke up and realized that I needed to get my tush in gear and get some activities going for my girls, so that I don't have another day like that.

I think I'm going to make a weekly plan. Hopefully.

I wanted to post this though, its something I found in Parents magazine. I thought it was a great idea for chores around the house, you could also add simple dailly activities to it too. Like : Preschool, library, store. dr. appt, playdate, park, etc. Its just a binder, with premade cards, then you hotglue some ribbon across the bottom two sides of the binder to make the binder stand up like that!

Because seriously, my daughter asks me EVERY MORNING " Where are we going today" or "What are we doing today" when I answer, she says, then where are we going after that?? t would be nice to say... go refer to the chart!

PB & J Rollups

My friend made these for her daughters b-day party, and I always remembered them. Today I thought I'd be fun for my girls.

Directions:

Cut the crust off a piece of bread

Press the bread flat with a rolling pin

Spread the peanut butter & jelly on (you'll probably have a little jelly ooze out - yum for you!)

Roll the whole thing up

Cut like you're making a sushi roll or cinnamon rolls

(you could probably use any filling for these, tuna, meat & cheese, etc)

Now you have bite size little sandwich roll ups!

Enjoy!

Chore Chart

I've been meaning to do one forever!! I read somewhere that if you have really spirited children, charts work really well for them! I will probably change these as she grows, but this was my first attempt.

Ours is on our fridge. When she completes a row, she gets to ride the merry-go-round at the mall (75 cents) Its working good so far, we remind her about getting a sticker on her chart and she gets really excited, and does the things we would like her to.

What do you do with your kids??

oobleck

Do you remember this stuff from your 5th grade science class? Some kind of property makes it a liquid and a solid at the same time. As long as you apply pressure to it, its a solid, but the moment you let go it slithers through your fingers like a liquid.

All you do is mix cornstarch and water, (i just eye-balled it) and food coloring. Mix until thick and a little runny at the same time - sounds weird huh?? R played with this for almost an hour. I had to add a little more water to it during her play, because it dries out as its exposed to air. I put her outside, so that I could just hose the little table down (2$ at a garage sale by the way) when she was done.

Computer

I started R on computers when she was about 2 yrs old. Teaching her how to use the mouse took quite some time (especially because our mouse gets stuck all the time). I had do help her hand over hand for a long time, until she got the hang of it.

Her favorite website is pbskids.org

She loves Clifford games especially the scavenger hunt, and cliffords big parade

Depending on the age, you can try any of the games that are on here. R will try the Super Why games sometimes, but isn't too successful, but if you happen to have a "super smarty" or a child in preschool, give it a try. If you have a young one, sit her on your lap and go into Sesame Street or Barney and play them with her.

**Some of the games require use of the space bar. I put a little sticker on it, so that she can see it clearly. Imagine all those keys in the eyes of a 2 year old!

I think it is so important these days to teach computer skills to your child, especially because they will begin typing in very early grades and even get graded on their knowledge of computers! (I had to when I taught 1st grade) So get going now!