Free Stop and Go Game Printable

There are so many ways of playing this great kids game but of course the classic is to have the children start far away from you and "Stop and Go" according to which side you show them.  I have used it for dancing, taking turns on the slide, a game for cleaning their room, etc.  Here is the link.

It's As Easy As 1 2 3, Teaching Math to Our Tots

Does math make you nervous?  Do you feel completely inept to teach your children math in any form?  Well if you do you are not alone, most of us feel inadequate when it comes to math and esp. when it comes to teaching math but it doesn't need to be hard at all.  Did you know that all math boils down to counting, sorting and patterns?  Really!  Even Geometry, Calculus and Physics are nothing but formulas that are shortcuts to a whole bunch of those two things.  Adding and subtracting are counting more or less of something, multiplication and division are just adding and subtracting several times in a row, the rest just builds from there, and patterns and sorting help you memorize certain figures so you can calculate faster.


So, teaching math to our kids is as easy as picking up their toys, counting fingers and toes, stringing beads, and countless other everyday things you can do with your kids.

I have a tendency to turn everything into a game so we do a lot of these things on the fly like writing my kids names and counting the letters or letting my kids help put away the groceries and asking how they think we should sort them.  My kids love to think of patterns so we clap, color, stack, and string whenever the moods hits.

These same skills are basic for science as well, mammals, reptiles, birds, are sorting, you can chart how many times they brush their teeth or who likes ice cream and who prefers cake, science and math are very interconnected so it's easy to kill two birds with one stone.

So what do you like to do with your kids?

An Apple a Day or Teaching Nutrition to Tots

Today's post was inspired by Simply Modern Mom's post about the "Choose My Plate" gov. site.

Teaching good eating habits to my kids is easier said then done, my 5 year old son is particularly difficult, he won't eat any fresh fruit and only takes a taste or two of smoothies but he could live off of milk, mac & cheese, and sweets or junk food of any kind.  He's not too bad with his veggies, esp. broccoli but he struggles with trying new things and I'm frustrated with how little fiber he gets.  This is the same boy who used to eat broccoli like it was candy and ate curry anything with gusto when he was two.

My daughter is easy as long as I keep the food coming in small quantities, she'll eat half a doughnut and hand me back the rest but I have to remind her not to eat the seeds in her apple if I didn't cut out the core, it's pretty great.

So out of frustration came inspiration, I would make a "food rocket" that my kids could put together piece by piece with every meal until it is finished at the end of the day when they add the flame on the end so it looks like it's flying.  If they have too many sweets, junk food or don't finish the rocket then they can't add the flame.

Here's my "prototype" for it, I'm working on getting a much cuter version of it.

Here's also a "Food Robot" I threw together at my sons request.

(Speaking of feeding tots, my 6 month old gags on sweet potatoes but adores broccoli. Go figure.)

Hickory Dickory Dock... Or Why Nursery Rhymes are So Good for Your Toddler

I always loved nursery rhymes growing up, I still do actually, the rhyme and meter and short silly stories were something I was always clamoring for my mom to sing with me and were a source of plays my siblings and I would put on for my parents.  Today my kids favorite nursery rhyme is The Itsy Bitsy Spider because I do the finger play on them with my spider fingers crawling up their water spout bodies and my hands raining down or drying them up, they love it and I love that I can turn it into a tickle game for extra giggles.  Who'd have thought that these simple rhymes would be so good for their development as well?  I certainly didn't but they help our little ones in many wonderful ways.

When they hear nursery rhymes they hear the sounds the vowels and consonants make in a way that's easy for them to process, they hear different words like fiddle, contrary, fetch, pail, etc. that they don't usually hear, and since they are so short, rhythmic and repetitive they are also easy to memorize so they are often a child's first sentence.

Nursery Rhymes use patterns and many even use counting, size and weight which helps with math skills and they tell a story with a beginning, middle and end which teaches sequence and how to follow along.

Children benefit both physically, and emotionally as well since they develop coordination, self confidence and learn to express themselves as they act them out.

With all the great benefits that nursery rhymes have for our kids I enjoy them even more when I share them with my three.  If you want to apply this to the learning triangle you can watch Barney, or a video that uses rhyming, talk about and recite your favorite rhymes, and then act them out or make a book of the rhyme together.

Creating a Learning Triangle

I took a wonderful class that taught a lot about how you can create a full and rich learning environment for your children by using what she called "A Triangle for Learning".  Here is the basic idea:

An example: You see an episode of "Curious George" (Season 1 Eps. 11 "Animal Magnetism") about magnets and talk to your child a little bit about what they thought of the show.  Later you read a book about magnets like "The Wiener Dog Magnet by Hayes Roberts" which is a very funny story about a wiener dog magnet that attracts actual wiener dogs and discuss it a little bit.  You can make a trip to the library for this or already have a book on hand, it's a lot of fun either way but making a special trip to the library every so often for a book about something your child has seen can really make your child feel extra special too.  Now that you've done the first two you can do a fun activity about magnets, it can be as simple as letting your child play with refrigerator magnets and see what they will stick to or you can get other ideas from books like "Mudpies to Magnets" or from websites, You can also get a Magnetic Discovery Board or make one yourself.

You don't have to follow in that exact order, or even all in the same day, as long as you do all three, there are benefits for each so do what works for you.

How We Teach Our Children Without Ever "Teaching" Them

The real push for starting our children's "education" younger and younger, even in the womb, has become so common that our children are now expected to know the alphabet, numbers and counting to 10, colors, shapes and how to write their name BEFORE they start kindergarten, and it's become a competition among moms to see whose child is the most academically advanced at the youngest age.

With all this pushing I think we've forgotten all the wonderful things that we teach our children in the early years that truly prepare them for the rest of their lives.  I want to focus the next series of posts on "Non-teaching", teaching our children the foundational things they will need to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally for the rest of their lives.

Sorry

I've been much more than just a little remiss in posting anything here.  I have to admit that I got more than a little burned out with creating all of the lesson plans and most of the materials for the preschool so I dropped it for a while and I'm not exactly sure when I'll get back to doing the preschool again but I am ready to start posting more great things you can do for your preschool with your little ones.

I have a bit of research to do before I can post what I'm working on now but it should be up in the next day or two.

A Picture

I wish I could credit myself with having taken this picture but when I'm teaching taking pictures is the last thing on my mind. This is a few of the kids decorating their school bags that I got for really cheap at Discount School Supply, my ds LOVES his bag.
I'll get someone else to take pics next time or I'll take some during one of the other moms weeks.

Sample Lesson Plan

Week 2:
“I Have a Wonderful Family, I Can Show My Family I Love Them By...”

Welcome Time:
What’s the weather today? fill in weather chart. Letter of the week: A Shape of the week: Square

Story Time:
Read a book about Family

Imagination Time:
Dress up and play house (opt. switch this time with “game time”)

Snack Time:


Rest Activity:
Finger painting with pudding.

Science/ Game Time:
Role play things we can do to show our family that we love them; i.e. hugs, putting our toys away, saying please and thank you, helping clean, like dusting, etc.

Music Time:
Start off with songs about family like "I Love You, You Love Me", "Happy Family" and then just have fun.

Creative Time:
Family Tree Art (take pictures of their family and glue them to a picture of a tree)

Outside Time:
Idea: Make an obstacle course with hula hoops, a 2x4, "Traffic Cone" type cones, etc.

A Lesson Schedule About Family and Community

Week 1
Field Trip

Week 2
I Have a Wonderful Family, I Can Show My Family I Love Them By...

Week 3
I Can Help Take Care of My Home

Week 4
The people in my neighborhood: Postal Worker

Week 5
The people in my neighborhood: Librarian

Week 6
The people in my neighborhood: Store Clerk

Week 7
The people in my neighborhood: Doctors and Nurses

Week 8
The people in my neighborhood: Police Officer (911)

Week 9
The people in my neighborhood: Firefighter (911)

Week 10
I can help take care of the earth by: Not Littering and keeping things clean

Week 11
I can help take care of the earth by: Not Wasting Water and Electricity and other things (Reducing)

Week 12
I can help take care of the earth by: Recycling and Reusing

Week 13
I can help take care of the earth by: Planting a garden (and composting)