Workboxes-3 Month Update

I blogged about the concept of workboxes back in May. The whole concept appealed to me for a few reasons

• structure
• independence
• variety of activities
• organization

We started strong and saw some definite benefits. Within 2 days my son had learned to ask for his "work" and he'd go to the cabinet, pick out one box and take the activity to the table and complete it. This was my ideal of independence, not wandering randomly around the house choosing what he wanted to do but instead making small choices within very specific boundaries of which activities, how to do them, and where to do them. He neatly cleaned up workboxes after playing with each one and knows he is only allowed to take out a new one after he has cleaned up the other one.

So here is when I would recommend this system:

1) your child gets out several toys at once without putting the previous ones away and needs practice with that.
2) your child likes goal-oriented play, or play with a purpose.
3) you have an immense amount of time and motivation.
4) you have a natural creative streak.

For me, while I LOVED seeing my son fall right into the orderly habits that make this system work, and while he still enjoys the activities, we lost interest really quickly. The prep time to come up with new, fun activities he could do independently was just too much even with me being a homemaker. The slightest bump in our household routine (vacation, family visiting, or sickness) meant the workboxes got neglected for a week or more, I'd get discouraged, and we had trouble getting back into the groove of things.

For us we also struggled because we do not have a lot of toys. That may sound awful but really it's never been a problem except that I could see if we had the money and willingness to buy several learning toys the prep time for workboxes would be drastically reduced. As it is we like our clutter-free living room and the fact that a wooden train set can keep Tobias' interest for an entire month :)

I'm still considering whether there are ways to make this system work for us, because I worry that if our next child is a more hands-on learner he might need something like this. Any ideas to reduce the prep time involved? Any ideas for the creatively challenged moms trying to do this? I'm seriously not creative, the preschool age range is out of my comfort zone so these activities do not come naturally to me.

For now though, I think we will mostly move on to a different format for learning time, something more free-flowing and literature/art based since that is definitely within my comfort zone :)

You Pick Farms

It's blueberry picking season here and the girls recently went for the first time. Finding a local farm to pick fresh produce is not only fun, but it can be remarkably cheaper than buying produce at the grocery store, and a great learning opportunity. The blueberry farm here has nets covering the bushes to keep birds out, plenty of insects to talk about, and a chance to show your child the difference between ripe and unripe fruit in all stages.

Another great thing about You Pick Farms is that they usually don't mind the kids munching while they pick. They probably should have weighed my children on the way in and the way out, though. They love fruit!! Some of the local farms also give out coloring books full of info and other goodies for the kids.

Don't know where there is a farm near you? Try this site: http://pickyourown.org
Also, make sure you check on the days and times they are open. Many of the farms around here are only open a few days a week.

Have fun!

Outstanding Blogger Award

A big thank you goes out to Sandy at Raising Ian for this award! Sandy has a blog about homeschooling her son with Montessori.

The rules to accept the award are:

1. Say thanks to the person who gave me this award.
2. Share seven things about myself
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who I think are fantastic!

So, 7 things about us:

1. There are three of us who post here
2. Amanda is pregnant
3. Amanda was a teacher before being a mom
4. Raegan was a teacher before being a mom
5. Raegan has two children
6. Valerie has three children
7. Valerie is not pregnant

There! 

Okay, on to our awards:

1. Serving Pink Lemonade
2. Ramblings of a Crazy Woman
3. Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers
4. Maybe Montessori
5. Miss Patty's Montessori Classroom
6. Momtessori
7. Our Montessori Story
8. Little Hands, Big Work
9. Mommy Moment
10. Chasing Cheerios
11. Beautiful Sun Montessori
12. Homemade Homeschool
13. The Montessori Goldmine
14. Counting Coconuts
15. The Adventures of Bear

Simple Summer Fun: Walks and Bike Rides

Depending on your area, summer walks might be too hot right now. We go out in the morning. We eat breakfast, get ready, and go for a walk. As you can see in the picture, Brayden rides his bicycle while the girls sit in the stroller. 

Children learn so much by observation, so if you can get out and walk around, you are giving your child the chance to observe the world around her. In fact, one of my favorite things about toddlers is how much they are in awe of all they see. Everything is interesting, so a walk by itself can be a learning activity.

You can add in bits of information from mom. Talk about the plants and animals you see. Talk about the weather. Talk about what is safe and what isn't. Point out the colors and shapes you see. You could even make a card with pictures on it and have your child check off or put stickers over the things she finds on it. 

We will also often go for family bike rides where my husband and I each use a bike trailer and pull our children along. We use this in place of our vehicle for going places that are close. We will go visit fun little places around town.

Simple Summer Fun: Museums

Brayden and Kaitlyn at a local museum type of place doing laundry

Sometimes museums get a bad wrap, and sometimes we underestimate what our children will find interesting. Chances are you have some sort of museum close to you. Within a reasonable driving distance from us, I can think of Dinosaur museums, museums about the history of our area, church museums, Children's museum, Air Force museum, and other cultural museums. Most of these are free.

A couple of weeks ago, Brayden and I went to the library. In the same building as our library, we have a museum that has information about the history of our county. It is free, so I thought we would check it out. He loved it! A museum curator walked us through and told us all about the things we saw and answered all of Brayden's questions. 

There are a lot of museums that are of interest to children and that are geared toward children. The photo above is from a museum-ish place. They have buildings and activities that are all geared toward the American West history. We got to do many hands-on activities, like laundry, churning butter, gathering eggs, planing wood, riding ponies, panning for gold, and riding a train. This offered a lot of fun and a lot of learning. What a great way to learn history! This was so much more interesting than looking at pictures and telling stories.

So look into the museums in your area. Take your children and see what they think about it.

Here are some tips:

• I would plan on a short visit of 2-3 hours. You can stay longer if your children want to, but if you plan on that, you won't be disappointed if and when your children are done by then.
• Bring water and snacks if allowed.
• Plan your trip at your child's best time of day. Don't plan on being there over a meal or a nap (unless your child would sleep).
• For younger children, bring a stroller. I didn't bring one for Kaitlyn (3), and by the time we had been walking for two hours, I found myself carrying her. If you have a stroller in your vehicle, you can get it if needed.

Car Games: Stickers!

On a recent vacation I had to find some fun for my munchkins for the car ride. So we pulled out some stickers, and I started calling out body parts. Their job was to stick the sticker to the correct body part. My toddler loved practicing and my preschooler loved passing out stickers and peeling them from the sheets. This game lasted a good 30 minutes and they were (delightfully) covered from head to toe...literally. It was also a fun and easy way for me to see which body parts I needed to work on. It also gave us a learning opportunity, like learning clavicle, shins, knuckles, and other parts.

This could also work in a grocery store, waiting for food in a restaurant, a doctor's office, or just about anywhere you need to divert some attention for a little while.

Fireworks Painting

Age Range: I'd recommend this one for the 3 and up crowd though some 2 year olds could handle it. Just be sure your child isn't likely to suck the paint up the straw instead of blowing out of course.

Materials:

• paper
• finger paints
• straws
• plates/cups to hold paint

Activity: First water down the paint significantly until it is very runny. Dip the straw into the paint and place the straw so it is touching the paper. Blow into the straw so the paint splatters across the page. You can also make a small puddle of paint and blow it so it splatters that way instead.

*We did this for 4th of July to make 'fireworks' of sorts but it's really a great painting activity all the time. I love showing little kids how to use all sorts of different materials to make art.

Simple Summer Fun: Water Play

This has got to be one of the easiest activities to work in naturally in the summer. When it is hot, we seek water, right? Of course we all need to be very careful around water--whether you are at the public pool or letting baby play with a tub of water in the backyard. It only takes a minute, and it only takes an inch. Water play is not the time to busy yourself across the yard from the kids. Safety first! Have fun right along with your children. There are lots of different ideas of what to do with water fun in the summer. Here are a few:

THE BEACH
If you take a bucket and a shovel along with you to the beach, your children are sure to spend hours filling and dumping and filling and dumping water. Bring along various toys for your child to experiment in the water with. You also have the unique fun of waves, and the beach merges two of the best activities for a child: water and sand.

THE SWIMMING POOL
Going to an actual swimming pool can be lots of fun, too. This is an important time to talk about water safety. I think an important thing for you to do is teach your children to swim, whether it be through swimming lessons you pay for or from you if you feel qualified. While I despise swimming lessons because it takes over my life for two weeks, I think it is important for children to learn to swim.

THE WADING POOL
Our kids love to put water in our Little Tykes little pool and play around. They take toys in there, and we actually always keep it either right by or in the sandbox so they can play with sand and water. We do empty it out when we are done. Try taking out various household objects to experiment in the water with.

THE SPRINKLERS
Isn't this just one of those portrait of childhood experiences? It is for me.

THE WATERING CAN
My children love to fill up a watering can and water flowers. I found some watering cans at Dollar Tree. They are small, but large enough to have fun in the pool and to water plants around the yard. While doing this, you can throw comments in there about how plants need water to grow.

SQUIRT BOTTLE/WATER GUNS
The other night, we were at a water activity with a bunch of families. One mom had brought a squirt bottle along for her three year old son to play with and squirt people (and the little dear only squirted his mom :) ). They had an extra and Brayden had lots of fun with the squirt bottle. The next day, we got out our squirt bottles and Brayden and Kaitlyn ran around the yard squirting things an each other. The squirt bottle is great because you can change the type of spray, so you can talk about why the water goes further or spreads out more.

LITTLE TUB
For the younger children, you might want to fill something up like a little tote/tub of water to play with outside. I don't like McKenna to lean over the wading pool to splash in water, so this is a better object to use if that is all she wants to do or if she isn't in a swimming suit.

THE BATHTUB
One time, a blog reader from one of my other blogs commented that the bathtub is playtime for us. This is very true. Every day includes water play in the bathtub at least. I am a sucker for toys, and we have lots of bath toys. Children have so much fun. They fill and dump, splash, color, play with bubbles...all while practicing motor skills while they pour water over and over.

YOUR IDEAS
If you have any additional fun things you do with your children that involves water, please share!

Do you dare?

Kids in mom's makeup drawer doesn't usually sound like a learning activity...more like a "where is my toddler....Oh NO!" kind of activity.

For the older toddler or preschooler, makeup can be a fun learning experience in the right environment.

Our rules: No touching makeup without mom around, clean up messes when we are finished, ask permission before trying something new (like lipstick on the eyes...yikes).

Here's how we do it:

I keep a drawer/bag of makeup she is allowed to use. Not everything is for munchkins. For example...mascara....I'm not ready to go there yet.

She pulls out an item, like eyeliner. I explain to her what it's for or what I want her to do with it. In the picture above, I said "You can use this to draw a circle around your eyes." The tip is a soft tip and I knew this is something she could handle. Then she pulls out another piece, like lipstick. I'll say something like, "Color in your lips." or "Make dots on your cheeks."

She can have fun playing and also practicing shapes and following directions. The beauty part of it is that she is willing to happily follow every direction just for a chance to play makeup.

Simple Summer Fun: Cloud Watching

In order to do this activity, your child will need to be at a point of showing some imagination. You can by all means try this with a child who isn't showing imagination; practice helps right? But it will be most successful with those who are imaginative. I would say this is best for preschoolers and up, with some 2.5 and older doing well. Of my children, Brayden (5) finds the most enjoyment out of this. Kaitlyn (3) likes to do it, but it doesn't hold her interest as long as it does Brayden's. McKenna (15 months) likes to point to the sky and babble like she knows what she is talking about :).

Cloud watching can be so relaxing. You simply lay on the grass or sit and look up at the clouds. You then take turns talking about what you see. Do you see a dinosaur? A heart? A Lion? Share what you see. Before you go out, if you want this to be a bit more educational, you can brush up on your cloud types and on cloud formation and drop little science facts into the conversation. You could also share facts about what your child sees. "Do you know what a baby lion is called? A baby lion is called a cub."

This is a simple, relaxing summer day activity for you to do with your children.

Outdoor Fun: Mud Paint

My toddler, with her "I'm ridiculously happy" face.

In The Everything Toddler Activities Book by Joni Levine, one of the fun outdoor activities suggested is Mud Paint. One thing I know for sure....my toddler + dirt + water = some seriously messy fun.
Here are the steps:
1. Find some mud, or better yet, show your child how to make mud. Use a spoon to help make the mud a creamy consistency.
2. With the spoon, place a blob of mud on a piece of poster board for your child to finger paint with. For older kids, let them make their own consistency (thin, thick, etc) and use different things to paint with...leaves, rocks, paint brushes, fingers, toes...the possibilities are endless.

If you don't have poster board, I think it's fun to get an old white sheet and paint it. When you are finished, let it dry, shake it out and wash!

After a few times, my girls got creative and started painting each other. It was hilarious! My youngest likes to dig in the mud so much we made her a mud bucket, especially for her digging pleasure. :)

Sand Box Tips

I had some questions on the sandbox, so I thought I would extend it a bit with some tips.

STAYING CLEAN
First of all, we all know how OCD clean I am. The sandbox can be quite annoyingly dirty--and sand gets everywhere!

For babies, put baby powder on baby's bottom before going out. The sand that gets in her diaper (and it will) will come off more easily. If you don't have/like baby powder, try cornstarch. I am not positive it will work, but they are similar so it is worth a shot.

After your kids are done playing in the sand, use baby powder to clean the sand off. When you apply baby powder to sand-covered skin and rub gently, the sand literally comes right off. This is great for the beach, too.

BUGS
Bugs are annoying. Don't they just bug you? HA! Okay, how do you keep bugs out, and once they are in, how to do you remove them?

To keep bugs out, it is going to depend on the type of bug. Ants seem to like sand a lot. Black pepper can deter ants. Try sprinkling a perimeter of black pepper around the sandbox. You can also try red pepper or dried mint.

Bugs tend to like moisture, so to keep bugs out, be sure to keep your sand dry. In our dry climate, this is not a problem. But if you live somewhere that is humid and/or moist, you will likely need to dig up and turn your sand regularly. If you have a small rototiller, you can use that. We use that every so often on our sand just to keep it workable.

If you have ants in your sandbox, try dumping three gallons of boiling water down the ant hill. I suggest you do this during nap time when the kids aren't around. If you pour this on plants, they will likely die. Do this when the ants are active and close to the surface.

Another way to kill bugs is to cover the sandbox in black plastic for a couple of days. The heat should kill the bugs.

For fleas, one idea is saturating the sand with salt water.

If this doesn't work, I would recommend you go in to a local garden store (one with employees who know what they are talking about...in other words, avoid the big box stores) and see what they recommend. Be sure they know this is for a children's sandbox. It needs to be safe for children.

SANDBOX CARE
Exactly how you care for your sandbox will depend on the type of sandbox you have. There are the purchased, pre-made sand boxes (like a turtle or crab) or homemade/constructed sandboxes.

A common tip is to keep it covered. The biggest problem with sandboxes is cats pooping in your sandbox. We don't have problems with this because we have two dogs who love to chase cats, but you definitely don't want pooping cats in the sandbox.

Covering the sandbox also keeps rain off the sand. This is good for preventing bug colonies and also for preventing rock hard sand. There are definitely better types of sand than others for sandboxes. I suggest you do your research and test the sand both wet and dry to see what you like. We buy our sand from the companies that use dump trucks to deliver such things (but you can use a truck or trailer to get it yourself). Stores like Home Depot and Lowe's also sell sandbox sand.

Turn the sand every so often. If it is small enough, you can use a shovel and a rake. If it is large, go for the small rototiller.

You don't want the sand to stay moist, so if it is moist, dry it out in the sun before covering again.

You can also strain sand with a colander or toy sand strainer. This is something your child will love to do.

If a premade sandbox gets wet, turn it and leave it in the sun. One built at your home will have natural drainage and the water should move down, but again, if you are in a humid climate, keep your eye on it to see if it needs to be dug up to help it dry out.

We make our sandboxes. We made one in our last house. We have a nice large one at our new house, but it is old. The sand is old, the box itself is old and is breaking down, so we will be building a new one this summer. It is our next major project. It is great fun because the box is large enough for all three children and several neighbor children at the same time.

MIX IT UP
While children love the sandbox, they are human and get bored looking at the same thing over and over. We dug a huge hole in ours and it was a whole new sand box. The kids loved playing it this new hole. Add some water and it will create a new experience. A new toy or toy will bring new fun. Try a hill. Change things up to bring variety and spark new fun in your child's imagination.

Hopefully this answered some sand questions. Let me know if you have more. Happy playing!

Simple Summer Fun: Sand

I love the sandbox. My three children will literally sit and play in it together for at least a solid hour at a time. The scoop, dump, build castles, and the 15 month old sometimes decides to taste the sand (gross). While they do that, I garden, read, and watch them have fun together.

The sandbox provides many learning opportunities for your little one. It provides sensory experiences as they play in it. They get to work on their fine motor skills as they dig. They can play little scientists as they explore the sand--just to name a few. And if you are feeling the need to get some extra learning in there, you can do sand letters or twist that a bit and do sand shapes. You could bury special treasures for your children to find. But don't feel like you need to do anything beyond what they come up with themselves.

If you don't have a sandbox but have the ability to get one, I highly recommend it! If you can't get one, see if you can play in a friend's sandbox or visit a park with a sandbox. Or you can always fill up a small, flat tote with sand to play in. So during these summer months, sit back and relax while your children learn away as they play in the sand!

Blog Loading Time

I've noticed lately that I am having tremendous difficulty getting the blog page to load. This could be my rural internet access, but I'm wondering if others are having this same issue.

So, how is the loading time for our blog? Is it fast, okay, or slow? Is it so slow as to be frustrating and make the blog less desirable to visit?

Simple Summer Fun: Bubbles

Bubbles are another fun summer activity that is providing learning opportunities for your child. Your child observes how the bubbles blow and how the wind affects where they go. Your child observes what makes bubbles pop. Your child also gets some great gross motor work in when chasing bubbles, and can get fine motor work in while blowing bubbles.

I once saw a great addition on the show Curious George. George wanted to blow bubbles using different shapes--for example, a slotted spatula. When he blew them, they of course didn't blow into rectangles, triangles, or squares, but circles. So if you want to work some science shape learning in, you can try that.

 

Oh, and if you start to get light headed from all of the bubble blowing, I seriously love this thing. My sister gave it to Kaitlyn as a birthday gift over a year ago. It is nice to have my breath back :) Plus, the kids love to blow bubbles with it and I get to take pictures! There are lots of Bubble Blowers out there.

 

A New Way to Make S'Mores!!!

I found the cutest activity in Disney's Family Fun Magazine (April 2008)! It's so hot here today...and it's supposed to get worse as the week goes on. I've been waiting for a way-too-hot spell to try it, and this is the week!

S'mores are probably my favorite summer treat, with or without the campfire. I make them in the oven, you can grill 'em, but this new way is completely safe for the munchkins. Introducing....

SOLAR S'MORES!
Here's what you'll need:

• Pizza Box
• Pencil and ruler
• Craft Knife
• Aluminum Foil
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Black Construction Paper
• Clear plastic packing tape
• Clear plastic (like sheet protectors, laminating paper, etc)
• Graham Crackers, chocolate bars, marshmallows
• Stick or dowel

Next:

1. Adults: On the top of the pizza box, draw a square that is an inch smaller than the lid all the way around. Use the craft knife to cut through the cardboard along three sides, as shown, and then fold the cardboard up along the uncut line to form a flap.

1. Kids can help: Glue aluminum foil, shiny side out, to the bottom of the flap, keeping it as wrinkle free as you can.
2. Glue another piece of foil to the inside bottom of the box and then tape black paper on the top of the foil.
3. Tape clear plastic to the underside of the lid to seal the opening created by the flap. For the best results, the seal should be as airtight as possible.
4. Place your "oven" outdoors in direct sunlight with the flap opened toward the sum, For each s'more, center two graham crackers on the construction paper. Top one with chocolate and the other with a marshmallow. Close the box and then use a stick or dowel to prop the flap open at the angle that reflects the most sunlight into the box (check periodically to adjust the angle). Within an hour (or sooner if it's a really hot day), the chocolate squares and marshmallows should melt enough to assemble into s'mores.

If you try it, let me know how it goes. It's also a good excuse to order out pizza for dinner. :)

Simple Summer Fun: Coloring

After Raegan's post last week and the response it got, I thought it would beneficial to point out simple activities to do with your children that also help them learn. As was pointed out in comments to that post, children are constantly learning. We don't always need to do a fancy craft to learn.

A very simple activity is coloring. You can color in coloring books, on plain paper, and you can also print out coloring pages off the Internet. It is great for your child to color both pictures and just plain paper. Coloring helps with fine motor control, and it is fun! You can also reinforce things you have learned through coloring.

I love printing pages off the Internet. I simple Google what I am looking for. For example, we went to the zoo last week. Kaitlyn's favorite was the Giraffes. So I can Google "Giraffe coloring page" and get pages of results. You could also create a page of "green" things if you wanted to learn about green. Peas, grass, a truck...paste the items in a document in Word, print it, then give your child a green crayon to color. You can print out a block letter to color. You can Google "E coloring pages" and get pages of the letter E along with things that start with E.

It is really easy to work coloring in. Have your child sit and color while you get a meal ready. You can also do it in the car. Amazon has several travel trays available. We have this Star Kids Snack & Play Travel Tray and have liked it. It has been great for long road trips. The children are very content to sit and color while we drive.

So color! Have fun with it, and don't feel bad if that is the "only" thing you do that day.

July 4th: Books, craft, and snack

We started learning about the flag by reading two books: The Starry, Stripy Blanket and The Star-Spangled Banner. We talked about how many stars and stripes are found on the flag, what the flag used to look like, and a little about the history of the flag.

Next, I gave my daughter a rectangular pieces of white paper, 7 red stripes, a glue bottle, and a smaller blue rectangle. I taught her how to use the glue bottle to put small dots of glue rather than squeezing hard to make large blobs. She did a great job! My 1 year old used a glue stick instead. After gluing down the stripes, she glued on the blue rectangle and a few silver stars. You could use white paint and a cotton swab, star stickers, or for my 1 year old, I just left it blank.

To finish it off, we made a somewhat healthy snack. I cut strawberries up into matchsticks, covered a graham cracker with cream cheese. As you can see, the blue is made of blueberries. If you don't have that, use what's around, like white icing, Twizzlers, jelly beans, sprinkles, Skittles.

Yum! Happy Fourth of July!! Have a great weekend!

Summer Bridge Activities: How to Squeeze the Four Types of Reading Into Your Day

Some of you type-A parents may have started having a mild anxiety attack when you read my post about needing to do FOUR types of reading with your child over the summer. How on Earth could you fit FOUR reading sessions in between meals, family outings, doctor’s visits, errands, soccer, swim practice, summer camp and vacations!?

I promise it’s a lot more natural and easy than you’d think  When you think about your typical weekdays during the summer you can break them up into 3 parts. You have Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. Basically Morning would be from breakfast until lunch. Afternoon is from lunch until any little kids are up from their naps (or 5pm if you don’t have little ones) and Evening is from roughly the time you start prepping dinner and the time the kids are all in bed.

Here’s a sample idea of a family’s summer routine

Morning:
Breakfast
Get Ready for Day
Clean Rooms
Shared Reading (this can be done at the kitchen table or living room)
Errands/Activities/Sports/Outside Play
Lunch

Afternoon:
Lunch Clean-up/Chores
Reading Aloud
Naps for young children, possible rest time or quiet play for older kids
Guided Reading (during naps/rest time, lay down with whichever child you are working with on their bed and work with them on reading a short book for 15-20 minutes.)
Snack
Outside Time/Inside Activities when the weather is bad or the kids are tired

Evening:
Dinner Prep (great time for a little TV )
Dinner
Family Time
Baths
Independent Reading*
Bedtime
*Note, independent reading can be inserted at any logical time in the day, about 30 minutes is great for most kids so it is a good way for older kids to relax in the afternoon, or to spend a rainy morning reading snug in the living room. Take this chance to sit down and read a book yourself, how many moms complain that there’s no time for pleasure reading anymore? Well, here’s your chance!

I will also say that if you’re a family that practically lives in the car or are planning a long road trip this summer, buy some books on CD. Kids usually love these things in cars and get all excited. I have C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia on CD and used them when driving my nannying kids to and from school. The sound effects and dramatic music had even the 3 and 5 year old boys on the edge of their seats, asking all sorts of questions! I was hard pressed to get them back out of the car so they wouldn’t be late to school some days.

And if you don’t get to every kind of reading 5 times a week don’t stress about it! If you even do it 3 days a week then you’ll see the difference when your children go back to school in the fall. Or if you want to, simply use this routine for days/weeks when you have nothing big planned as a way to structure days between big vacations, summer camp, and other unique summer opportunities.