Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

April 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Waking up to a rainy day can really put a damper on your plans, and the thought of the hours ahead stuck in the house with your preschooler might make you want to head back to bed! But with a little creativity, you can turn a rainy day into a fun day and keep your preschooler so busy he won’t even notice he’s stuck inside.

Start the Day Off Right

Since you’re stuck inside, there’s no point in rushing through breakfast. Pull out all the stops for a delicious meal and let your preschooler in on the fun. Make pancakes and create fun faces for him using toppings like fruit, whipped cream and chocolate chips. After breakfast get everyone involved in the clean up.

Classic Rainy Day Games

When breakfast is over, there are still a lot of hours in the day to fill. A few classic games will pass the day away with fun and imagination!

An indoor scavenger hunt will keep any kid occupied and entertained. Make a list of items for him to locate throughout the house and send him off on the hunt. Since preschoolers won’t be able to read the list, you can either send him in search of one thing at a time, or try this trick; make a color coded list. Draw circles of various colors on a sheet of paper and instruct him to find an item that matches each of the colors. You’ll be amazed at the creative items he will find to complete the list!

Rainy days were made for building indoor forts. Raid the linen closet, and help to create a fortress by draping sheets over furniture. Hide inside your living room palace with some good books and a snack. Inspire imagination by dreaming up all the different places your little fort could be; a boat on the ocean, an igloo in the frozen north, or perhaps a tree house in the jungle. Make up stories about who you are and why you are in such a remote location.

Crafty Kid Pleasers

If a surprise rainy day catches you without any craft supplies in the house, never fear. These simple crafts use only common items you likely have in the house anyway.

Gather up all your broken crayons, and heat up the oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and press various metal cookie cutters into the foil. Remove all the paper from the crayons, and fill the cookie cutters with bits and pieces of crayon in different colors, then pop them in the oven until melted. Let them cool and then pop them out of the cookie cutters. Your little one won’t be able to wait to try out her new crayons in fun shapes! You can also melt the broken pieces into muffin tins lined with foil cups for chunky new crayons that work great for little hands.

Grab that box of photos you have been meaning to go through, and some construction paper and glue. Let your little one pull out pictures of her favorite people, glue them to a piece of construction paper, and decorate the new frame however she likes (perhaps with her cool new crayons!). You can also add the person’s name and perhaps some words that describe that person – let you preschooler help decide what words she thinks are perfect.

Get creative, and before you know it, your rainy day will be at an end, with an exhausted kid who is ready to crawl into bed for a good night’s sleep!

How Green Things Grow: Helping Your Preschooler to Learn

How Green Things Grow: Helping Your Preschooler to Learn

April 18th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Teach your preschooler to love and respect the natural world while introducing him to basics of science by spending some time learning how trees and plants grow. A great springtime activity and learning opportunity that you can pursue both indoors and out!

The Parts of a Plant

Start by sitting down with some paper and crayons and drawing pictures of plants. Ask your little one what types of plants there are, and point out some he may have missed. Explain how plants and trees are similar, no matter what their size, by pointing out the characteristics they have in common. Draw a diagram of a plant, showing all of the parts; the roots, the stem or trunk, branches, leaves and flowers.

Next break down the parts of the plant for your child, and explain what each does to help the whole to thrive.

  • Roots: draw water and nutrients up from the ground to help the plant to grow. Help children to understand this concept by comparing roots to straws through which the plant can suck up water and food.
  • Stem or trunk and branches: carry the water and food from the roots to the rest of the plant.
  • Leaves: Absorb sunlight and make food for the plant
  • Flowers: Make seeds or fruits so that new plants can grow

How Plants Grow from Seeds

When you reach the point of explaining how new seeds are created, it’s a great time to check out some seeds with your little one and plant a few together. A sunflower is a great choice because the seeds are large, they grow easily, and they will eventually produce new seeds that your little one can easily recognize, completing the cycle.

Explain how the seed needs the soil and water you pour over it to sprout those roots you discussed in your diagram, and that it will grow all of the plant parts if just given enough food, water and sunshine. Let him help you choose a sunny place to set your new plants, and give them time to grow. Every day, let him water the plant and watch for new growth.

When your little plant starts to get bigger, you can transplant it carefully to an outside garden or larger pot. This process will allow your child to see the roots and connect the plant before him with the pictures you drew. Ask him to point out all the parts of the plant from the diagram before you set your little sprout up in a new and bigger home.

How Plants Become Food

A visit to a farm or orchard is a great learning opportunity to help your preschooler understand how plants create food that we can consume. Examine various plants and see what sorts of fruits and vegetables grow from them. Pick some samples and cut them open to locate the seeds. This will help your child to connect the produce she eats with the same life cycle as the sunflower she grew.

Plant a small garden at home and let your child help to grow food for your table. Not only will she be learning about how things grow, but you’ll also find it easier to get her to eat vegetables she helped bring to life!

With simplified explanations and some hands-on learning, you can teach your preschooler all about how plants and trees grow, and have some fun along the way!

Connect to Your Heritage with a Family Tree

Connect to Your Heritage with a Family Tree

April 17th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Teaching your children about their family history helps them to understand who they are, where they came from and where they belong. A family tree is a great tool to bring family connections to life and encourage understanding of history, heritage and relations between family members.

What Is a Family Tree?

A family tree is another word for a family history chart, and it is a graphic representation of a person’s lineage. There are many types of family trees, but the most common is known as a pedigree. This type of family chart starts with one person, and traces back their lineage from parents to grandparents and on back as far as you are able to or wish to go. A pedigree traces only direct lineage – this means that it does not include aunts, uncles, siblings or anyone else who is not in the direct line of descent. This is the simplest type of family tree, and the easiest to create with a child.

If you want to go beyond direct lineage, a second type of chart you might want to consider is a family lineage chart, which includes siblings of those on the pedigree chart. This means your chart will include aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles and so on. This makes for a larger and more detailed family tree.

Gathering Information

Before you begin your family tree, you will need to gather all of the information on the family members you would like to include. Start with the names you already know, and then ask relatives to help with the rest. To help your children connect the names with the actual people, search family photo albums for pictures of the relatives you’re adding to the tree.

As you gather up the names of the people to be included in your tree, take the opportunity to talk with your children about the history of the family. You can discuss where ancestors came from, and learn a little bit about the countries of origin. Bringing family history to life with anecdotes about the relatives as well as a little bit about who they were and what they did for a living. All of this information goes beyond a name and makes the people in your family history more real to a child’s mind.

Putting the Family Tree Together

You can create your family tree in a number of ways, but the simplest method is to use a large piece of white paper. Start by drawing boxes for all of the names you will be adding. For a basic pedigree chart start with one box, then branch off to two boxes for the parents. From each of these boxes, branch off another two, and continue with this method until you have a box for each name on your list. You can connect the boxes with plain straight lines, or get creative. Draw fancier lines or even actual branches to make the chart look like a true family “tree”.

Next fill in the boxes with the names, and add basic information about the person including date of birth, date of death in applicable, and any other relevant information you would like to add. You can add photos as well, next to the names and also around the borders of the page to add life and color to your family tree.

Hanging a family tree on the wall will keep the names and faces of your ancestors in your minds as well as your hearts. Your children will learn more about their family history and the people who might otherwise have been forgotten. Display it in a prominent position to enjoy your work, and your heritage.

Super Games for Summertime Fun!

Super Games for Summertime Fun!

March 8th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

There is no season quite like summer for family fun. School is out, the sun is shining, and everyone is ready to get out and enjoy the warm weather. Keep your kids entertained all summer long with great games that keep them active and occupied. And don’t forget to get out there and play with them! You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy the summer, so grab the sunscreen and get out there.

Keep Your Cool

Not everyone has a pool in the backyard, but that shouldn’t keep you from cooling down and playing in the water. Turn your hose and small kid’s pool into your very own water park with a few simple adjustments.

Set up a small pool filled with water at the base of your play structure’s slide. Place the spout of the hose at the top of the slide and turn it on to create your very own waterslide. Add extra pizzazz by using a sprinkler next to the slide instead of the just the hose, giving kids a spray of water to slide through into the pool below.

Take a cue from a birthday party classic and make a summer pinata – only instead of candy, this piñata will shower down cooling water. You can make your own with a trash bag full of water suspended from a rope. Make your piñata prettier by using leftover orange trash bags from fall leaf collecting. Let the kids take turns being blindfolded and using a broom handle or stick to assault the bag until it bursts. Or, they can all go at it at once, and share in the downpour! Skip the blindfolds if you go this route, to make sure they don’t hit each other. For extra fun, add assorted waterproof prizes, such as small plastic toys.

Summer Sports

Summer afternoons were made for sports, and you don’t need to be an athlete to have fun. Nothing says summer more than a game of baseball. Get the family out to the park and take turns pitching and hitting. Or, simply play catch and get everyone in the game by playing in a circle, rather than back and forth between only two people.

No visit to the beach would be complete without a Frisbee. This classic beach toy is a must for family fun. Kids will have a blast chasing it through the sand and into the water too. In fact, there is nothing quite as cooling and fun as tossing a Frisbee around in the water. A diving catch is also a chance to take a dip and cool off! The family dog can join in this game as well, to your children’s delight.

Carnival at Home

Summer often brings a trip to the state or county fair, but you can have the same fun right at home. Turn your backyard into a carnival by setting up booths with fun games such as a ring toss, fishing game, and balloon-popping dart throw (save this one for older kids). Visit the dollar store for small prizes to award to the winners.

Put the finishing touches on your summer carnival with classic foods such as popcorn, hot dogs, corn dogs and cotton candy. And don’t forget the ice cream!

Summer days should be filled with memories your children will look back on fondly when they are grown. Make the most of your summer and head outside with the family for some of these classic summer games.