Growing A Jeweled Rose: Black Light Themed Sensory Play Date- The Set Up Yesterday we had our group sensory play date and this time it was all aglow! In this post I am going to share how I set up each activity and prepared the play space for the play date. Then tomorrow I will tell you all about the messy fun the little ones had! Black Light Play Date Party The first thing I had to do to prepare for the play date was replace the light bulbs in the basement play area with black light bulbs. I set the room up similar to the way I had for our first group sensory play date. The right side of the room The left side of the room I was so excited for this first station, consisting of various Glowing Discovery Bottles. While researching black lighting online, I discovered that the quinine in tonic water makes it glow bright blue under the black light. One discovery bottle was designed to explore objects that sink vs objects that float. Another discovery bottle was filled with snakes and bugs, all of which glowed under the black light Stay Connected to the fun
Growing A Jeweled Rose: Black Light Themed Group Sensory Play Yesterday I told you all about how I set up for our black light themed group sensory play date. If you missed that post, you can read all about it here. Today's post is all about the fun and messy memories that were created during the play date, and the best way to share the fun is with pictures of course! Black Light Play Date Party As soon as we entered the messy play space, Rosie ran right for the Glowing Ball Pit All the little ones had a blast playing in the glowing pit throughout the play date! Especially the babies! The Glowing Face Painting Station was definitely everyone's favorite! The children loved being able to see themselves paint their own faces! They also had fun painting each others faces! Rosie REALLY liked looking at herself The toddlers definitely dug into the Glowing Jello Dig more than they had the previous jello dig. "Look Mommy, Dora!" The Glowing Discovery Bottles were a fun and safe activity for the babies in the group! And the toddlers liked them too! Trying to pick it up
Learning Play learning 4 kids Loads of fun ideas for learning through play at home You are here: Home / Archives for Learning Play Exploring Colours with a Mirror Posted by Janice on April 5, 2014 3 Comments Filed Under: Learning Play | Tagged: Tagged With: Activities for 3 Year Olds, Activities for 4 Year Olds, Activities for 5 Year Olds, Colour activities, Light Table Activities DIY Number Puzzles Posted by Janice on April 3, 2014 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Learning Play | Tagged: Tagged With: Activities for 2 Year Olds, Activities for 3 Year Olds, Activities for 4 Year Olds, Activities for 5 Year Olds, Number Activities, Printable Activities, Puzzles Shape Toss – A Game for Learning Shapes Posted by Janice on March 30, 2014 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Active Play, Learning Play | Tagged: Tagged With: Active Play, Shapes, Shapes Activities Numbers & Counting Activity Posted by Janice on March 23, 2014 2 Comments Filed Under: Learning Play | Tagged: Tagged With: Learning about colours, Number Activities
how to prepare your child for kindergarten This time last summer, we were gearing up to send off my sweet boy to Kindergarten, and this year, it’s my baby’s turn. Cora will walk into those elementary school doors this time, and then it will just be me. I’ll walk home by myself, to an empty house, with a happy dog, until the kids’ day ends at 3 o’clock. I can’t even begin to think about it, or I swear I’ll bawl my eyes out. But what’s been keeping me focused this summer, along with our crazy swim and dive schedules, trip to the beach, and visits with family, has been the idea that my job as a parent is to do all I can to prepare my littlest for her big Kindergarten year. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I turned to my archives a bit to see what we did last summer to get the O-man ready for his big Kindergarten year. Here’s the skinny. . . How to Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten: We’ve been doing a lot of these things with Cora for quite some time now, but like I’ve said before, she’s my trickiest. WORDO! Call any time. Check out:
DIY Nap Mat/Bed Roll My little baby Clare is off to pre-school this Fall and now she will be all ready with a brand new mommy-made nap mat. But will I be ready? I’m already making up excuses for why she should maybe stay home. I’m out of my mind, right? Anyway, nap mat, so cozy, want one for me, for napping, while daughter is at school. Ok, I’m back on board. Click here to get the full Nap Mat DIY. And don’t forget, any awesome comment you leave this week might win you that sweet wool-blend felt up there in the corner. Gather your materials! 1. 2. 3. 4. Set blanket aside. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Tip: When you get a few rows in, the amount of fabric that needs to fit under the arm of your sewing machine is cumbersome. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Set pillow insert aside. 16. Now we are going to add a shoulder strap. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. You want to add a little tuck like this at the beginning. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. It will look like this, except your stitches wont be all wonky. 28. Like this. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.
Tips for Feeding Vegetarian Kids It’s dinnertime. Got veggies? Check. Fruit? Check. Don’t stress about protein. Rethink the mix. Add in some B12. Serve some vitamin C with every meal. Monitor the milk. Make each bite count. See more toddler eating and nutrition tips. Eco Friendly and Organic Products For Moms, Kids, and Baby | ecomom® Home - Integrated Behavioral Technologies, Inc. - Autism Training and Resources :: Tonganoxie, KS Never Ending Chores (and a chore chart I'm loving) | Keeping Life Creative One of my main challenges in this motherhood job is keeping the house clean. It’s not that I don’t try–it’s just that it seems like my efforts are always undone about 3.5 minutes later. Welcome to life with little kids. In our discussions about housework, Jared is always supportive and helps out where he can, but most often our conversations lead to teaching the kids to clean up after themselves and helping with household chores. I do believe these are skills my kids need to learn–that part of my job as a mom is to teach them the things that will help them become responsible adults, and that starting with clean habits now will help in the long run. As with most things in this parenting job, I’m pretty sure the key to successfully teaching chores is consistancy, consitancy, consistancy. But sheesh, it’s hard sometimes, isn’t it? So one of the most popular design requests I receive is for a chore chart. We also tried drawing slips of paper for chores everyday. Hi!
Chloe Says Bye To Shoppers On Escalator At Boston's Copley Place Mall Let's face it. Sometimes those trips to the mall aren't all fun and games for the little ones. They get impatient, run around the store and hide under clothes racks, but every once in a while, if you're lucky, kids learn to entertain themselves with some pretty awesome activities. Take Chloe, for example. Decked in her plaid dress and matching black boots, Chloe makes it her mission to wave to all shoppers on the mall's escalator with an enthusiastic "Bye!" Although the video is about three years old, the footage of Chloe's random act of kindness is just now making its way around the web. Via Buzzfeed
Anti-Bullying: schooled by a 6 year old Apparently, Korax, the class bully, had finally gotten around to Zuna. It's a Montessori classroom and quite often the children work sitting on mats on the floor. Zuna was sitting on the floor when Korax came over and stomped on her leg. In response, Zuna looked him in the eye and demanded to know, "Why did you do that?!" In the room, Zuna told the teacher what had happened and said that she wanted to know why Korax had stomped on her. Zuna replied, "So, why didn't you just tell me you didn't like it?" Korax pouted with arms crossed and furrowed brows for a bit. Zuna reached out, gently rested her hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eye and said, "I promise that if you have something to say, I'll listen, if you promise not to hurt me." Silence. Zuna replied, "Ok." Then she said, "Korax, I don't think you want to be so mean. Though Korax continued to struggle with his bullying tendencies, he and Zuna were great friends after that. The teacher said he had never seen anything like it. 1.