Gingerbread Alphabet

We just finished up a fun week of Gingerbread activities. This was our alphabet activity. I got this idea from here: http://www.pre-kpages.com/gingerbread/. She had a free download of the pages, but it only had letters A-F, so I quickly made some of my own. You can download them here.

To prep this activity, I created the pages, printed them, then laminated pages and letters so they will hold up from year to year.

For my older children (4 and 6), I simply gave the child all of the gingerbread men pages and all of the letters (upper and lowercase) at the same time and told them to match them up. They put the upper and lowercase letters on the same man. This is something that helps them work on letter recognition and keeps them occupied for a good chunk of time. They don't need any assistance from you.

For my 2.5 year old, we did things differently. We did one sheet at a time. I gave her the upper and lowercase letters for the letters on that sheet. She could do the uppercase all by herself, so if you want a younger child to do this activity independently, you might want to just do uppercase letters. She needed help with the lowercase letters.

The way I helped her understand grouping the letters together even if they looked different is I told her the man on the page is the "daddy letter," the uppercase letter was the "mommy letter," and the lowercase letter was a "baby letter." This worked for her because she is obsessed with babies. It helped her grasp that the letters can go together even if they don't look the exact same.

I had her hold a letter up and tell me what letter it was, then match it. She could get all uppercase, and knew some lowercase, but didn't know them all. It was a great exercise in getting her to think about lowercase letters.

For younger toddlers, I would recommend doing just uppercase. For a pre-toddler or baby, you might hold the letter up and say what it is and then put it on the page or have your child put it on the page if possible.

Math Activities

MATH
You know how your teachers always said you would use math a lot in life? Wasn't that so true! Math is all around us--whether we realize (or like) it or not ;). Math is much more than simply adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. It is about shapes, patterns, relationships, and more. The good news for those who don't love math is that means you can have a lot of fun with math. To teach your child math skills, you don't have to just sit down and count and do addition worksheets. Here are some fun ideas that teach math skills.

• Stacking Rings: For younger children, the Fisher-Price Rock-A-Stack is teaching them math by allowing them to become familiar with patterns and spacial relationships.

• Bead Stringing: I make jewelry and Brayden is always fascinated and desirous to help me out. They sell Bead Stringing kits for kids. You could also go to your local craft store and buy big beads and yarn. A benefit of any of the bead stringing kits from the company Melissa and Doug is that they replace lost pieces for free on their products (including with puzzles). So if and when your pieces get lost, you can get them replaced for free!

• 
  
  Pegboards: These also teach patterns: Pegboard Toys. We have this set, which we love, but it is unavailable right now. Pegs and Pegboard Set with Pattern Cards
• Pattern Blocks: Pattern Blocks teach, well, patterns. We have this set from Melissa and Doug and love it. Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards

• Calendars: Calendars help your child develop math awareness. It also helps your child come to understand days of the week and terms like "tomorrow" and "yesterday." You can buy one or make your own.

• Counting: Count everything. I like to count when clipping fingernails ("Let's see how many clips it takes to clip your fingernails this week"). Not only does it teach counting over and over, the child holds still and counts with you.
• Number of the Week: Have a number to focus on each week. Give your child that number of Cheerios to eat or something like that. Count to your number over and over.
• Math Worksheets: You can create or find and print off addition pages and beyond once your child is ready for it. Start simple with the number zero. (5+0=? etc.).
• Board Games: Many board games require counting. Some include Hi Ho Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders, and Cootie.

• Geomag: Geomag teach geometry. Brayden, Kaitlyn, and my husband all have hours of fun with our Geomags. They are magnetic.

• Magformers: Another fun magnetic toy that teaches geometry. that is hugely popular in my area right now are the MAGFORMERS.  We just got some last week, and so far the kids are liking them.

Brightly Beaming Resources

In a discussion in a Yahoo! group I run, blog reader Kristy shared that she uses ideas from Brightly Beaming Resources. I have heard of them, but haven't ever studied their website in depth, so I went and checked it out.

It has great, simple ideas! Something I thought would be of particular interest is their curriculum for babies and for pre-toddlers. Those are two ages that are hard to really do "learning activities" with. They have simple ideas to help enhance what you are doing every day.

They have a baby curriculum that starts at three months. There are two "lessons" per month, but each lesson has lots of ideas.

They also have what they call the toddler curriculum for age one. This is also simple and had two lessons per month.

They have ideas for what book to read, what scripture to study, nursery rhyme to focus on, how to teach concepts during every day activities, classical music, foreign language, sign language, exercise, and arts and crafts with the older toddler.

They do also have ideas for ages 2-11. See this page for links to these ideas.

And this is all free.

Hopefully you can find this resource helpful to you! Thank you, Kristy, for pointing it out!

Hearing, Understanding, and Talking: Birth through 5 Years

When I went to my son's Kindergarten orientation, they gave us this paper with milestones to watch for at different ages so far as hearing, understanding, and talking go. I thought it was a simple list and thought I would share it. As you look at this list, you can think of activities to do to help build and exercise these skills. I will share some of my own ideas in further posts.

Remember that children reach milestones at different ages. A nice thing about this list is that after one year old, it covers one year at a time. So if your child is 12 months old and you are looking at the 1-2 years list, then don't stress if she doesn't meet everything--she likely won't. These are things she should develop over the course of this year.

If you are concerned about any of these, be sure to talk to your pediatrician.

BIRTH-3 MONTHS

 

Hearing/Understanding

• Startles to loud sounds
• Quiets or smiles when spoken to
• Seems to recognize your voice and quiets if crying
• Increases or decreases sucking behavior in response to sound

Talking

• Makes pleasure sounds like cooing and gooing
• Cries differently for different needs
• Smiles when she sees you

4-6 MONTHS

Hearing/Understanding

• Moves eyes in direction of sounds
• Responds to changes in tone of your voice
• Notices toys that make sounds
• Pays attention to music

Talking

• Babbling sounds get more speech-like with different sounds like p, b, and m
• Vocalizes excitement and displeasure
• Makes gurgling sounds when left alone and when playing with you

7 MONTHS-1 YEAR

Hearing/Understanding

• Enjoys games like peek-a-boo
• Turns and looks in direction of sounds
• Listens when spoken to
• Recognizes common words like "cup," "more," "drink" (whatever words you use often with her)
• Begins to respond to requests like "come here" and "are you done" and "do you want more"

Talking

• Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds such as "tata upup bibibibi"
• Uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention
• Imitates different speech sounds
• Speaks one or two words, though they might not be clear. Words include Dada, Mama, bye-bye...

1-2 YEARS (the one year old)

Hearing/Understanding

• Points to a few body parts when asked
• Follows simple commands and understands simple questions (Roll the ball, Kiss the baby, Where is your shoe)
• Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes
• Points to pictures in a book when named

Talking

• Says more words every month
• Uses some 1-2 word questions (Where's kitty?, What's that?)
• Puts two words together (more please, mommy book)
• Uses many different consonant sounds of the beginning of words

2-3 YEARS (the two year old)

Hearing/Understanding

• Understands differences in meaning (go/stop, in/on, big/little, up/down)
• Follows two requests at a time (get the book and put it on the table)

Talking

• Has a word for almost everything
• Uses 2-3 word sentences to talk about and ask for things
• Speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time
• Often asks for or directs attention to objects by naming them

3-4 YEARS (the three year old)

Hearing/Understanding

• Hears you when you call from another room
• Hears television or radio at the same loudness levels as other family members
• Understands simple "who, what, where, why" questions

Talking

• Talks about activities at school or friends' homes
• People outside family usually understand speech
• Uses a lot of sentences that have four or more words
• Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words

4-5 YEARS (the four year old)

Hearing/Understanding

• Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it
• Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school

Talking

• Voice sounds clear
• Uses sentences taht give details (I like to read my books)
• Tells stories that stick to topic
• Communicates easily with other children and adults
• Says most sounds correctly except a few like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th
• Uses the same grammar as the rest of the family

Plant a Seed

With the weather finally warming up around here we've been spending a lot of time outside. While I am working on a large vegetable garden I also wanted something small that Tobias could take part in. So we got some small planter boxes for flowers and put them on the porch.

Planting seeds is such a wonderful, simple activity for any age kid. The child gets their hands dirty (which coincidentally can help with building a strong immune system), gets some sun (gotta get that vitamin D), and learns about the world around them. You can take this activity as far as you'd like to take it, depending on your child's age and interest level. For a 4-5 year old you could even print some coloring pages about the life cycle of a plant and make a chart showing what plants need to grow. For a baby it's enough to get out in the sun and hear your voice as you explain what you're doing. A pre-toddler and toddler will mostly be interested in the physical activity of planting and will enjoy seeing the changes as the seeds sprout and come up through the soil.

Age Range: any age

Materials:

• seeds
• soil
• pot
• water

Activity:

1. Allow your child to choose a type of flower/plant he'd like to grow.
   
2. Pour soil into pot
3. Have your child poke 3 holes into the soil
4. Help your child drop a few seeds into the holes
5. Water with watering can
   

(Our supplies)

(Tobias chose the orange flowers, but it was a close call between those and the pink ones)

(after we'd planted the seeds Tobias decided we needed to plant more so he started planting the entire packets, lol!)

Counting With Eggs

This is a fun activity to do in conjunction with Easter to focus on math learning. One skill teachers look for when screening for kindergarten is the ability to touch and count objects, and this activity helps teach that.

AGE RANGE
You can do this anywhere from two and up. Some children sometime between 18 months and up could do this. You could also do a variation of this with children younger than 18 months to expose the child to counting.

SUPPLIES

• Egg carton
• Plastic Eggs* Note: You can do this activity without eggs if you want to
• Marker
• Items to fill eggs

PREP

• Write a number on each egg. The photo above shows a pound sign (#) before the number. That isn't necessary, and I think just the number would be best. Write the numbers 1 through 12. *If you are doing this activity without the eggs, just write a number in each egg spot directly on the carton.
• Fill the eggs with something. You can use snacks such as raisins, candy, or small toys if you have some that will fit 12 in one egg. Put as many items in each egg as the number on the egg. So if you were doing raisins, you would put one raisin in egg one, seven in egg 7, etc.

ACTIVITY

For Preschooler
Have your preschooler identify what number is on the outside of the egg. Have your preschooler open each egg and count the items inside. Have him take each item out as he counts it so he will get practice touching and counting items. Many preschoolers can count from 1-12, so it might be more of a challenge to do the numbers out of order.

For Toddler
Work in number order 1-12. Before you open the egg, have your toddler identify the number on the egg. Most won't know; tell you child what the number is if she doesn't know. Then open the egg. The next step will range based on toddler's ability. Younger toddlers will most likly need you to pull the item, count it, and hand it to her. The benefit of this is she will hear counting, feel the counting, see the counting, and if it is a treat/snack, taste the counting :). The older toddler might be able to pull the items out herself and count, and some might pull out, but need some help counting. Complete the activity at your toddler's ability level with offering some challenge to help her grow.

For Baby
As soon as baby is old enough to eat finger foods, you can put your favorite finger food in the eggs. Work in number order 1-12. Show baby the egg. Point to the number and say what it is. Then open the egg. Count each item as you take it out. Give it to baby as you count and let her eat it. You aren't going to have your baby start counting one day as a baby, but this will expose her to counting. Don't underestimate the power of simple exposure. Children are eager to learn and learn from all they experience.

If you are eager to do something with a baby who is unable to eat finger foods yet, you can still do something. You can put items in the eggs, pull them out, and count them. Keep these items out of reach of baby because they will be too small to be safe for her.

Texture Bags

Super easy and fun! Great for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
Materials:
Double zipper sandwich bag
Hair gel, pudding, applesauce, yogurt, washable paint....basically anything gooey. :)
Glitter (optional)

Activity:
Put 1/4 - 1/2 cup of gel/pudding in a sandwich bag and zip tightly, removing most of the air. Flatten bag so that it's a drawing surface.
Let your child play!

Ideas:
Babies will enjoy just squishing. I have to keep an eye on my baby because she's a fan of chewing on these bags.
Toddlers: Play guess the shape/letter, let them try to draw with their fingers, decorate the bag, make dots and have them count them. Hand prints were a winner with my girls. She even figured out how to do a face print. :)
Preschoolers: Great for practice writing letters and drawing shapes. Bigger bags seemed to be more fun...larger drawing/writing surface. You can also make a letter sound and have them draw the appropriate letter, call out a word and they can try to write the beginning consonant, etc. Be creative!
You can also mix colors of paint for a swirl effect in the bag. It's also a good change to talk about what happens when you mix colors like blue and yellow!
If using pudding, yogurt, applesauce or some kind of food, I would really recommend hanging on to the bag for long. If you choose paint or gel, the bags are good for some time! I keep a few bags stored in my activity cabinet.

Magnets!

This was a fun way to teach names, recognition of family and friends to my daughter. We have quite a bit of family we don't see often, as well as people at church I wanted my daughters to start to recognize. It helped with my oldest daughter's shyness when seeing people at church and at family gatherings.
I took family/friend photos, as well as photos from our church directory, and laminated them with packing tape. I then stuck a large magnet (using magnetic tape) on the back. That way I didn't worry about a choking hazard as much. :)
We practiced sorting by children and adults, boys/girls men/women, church friends and family friends, members of the family and people that are not members of the family, hair color, daddy's family and mommy's family, etc. There's unlimited ways you can sort them. It also helped us when we got presents or cards in the mail. I could tell them, "This is from aunt ____" and then show them the picture or have them find that person's picture.

Clay Hearts

Kids love to make stuff. This is an activity where your child can make something, and you can have a cute memento to hang on to forever. I love memento . I got this idea from the Sibling's Busy Book.

AGE RANGE
You can make this work for all ages.

SUPPLIES

• rolling pin
• baking sheet
• marker
• butter knife
• oven
• zip-lock baggie if doing with baby
• homemade clay (recipe below)

METHOD

1. Make clay. If your child is old enough to help with this process, let him!
2. Grease baking sheet
3. Have your child flatten the clay out on the baking sheet until it is 1-2 inches thick
4. Draw a large heart on clay using marker
5. Cut heart out with knife (this is for you)
6. Have your children decorate the heart with other clay or making designs in the clay. This represents how each of them are in the gift receiver's heart. Awww. Cute
7. Make a hole in the top of the heart with a pencil so you can put a string through it later
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 300 degrees until exterior has formed a crust

For Baby
You can put clay in a baggie for baby and let her squeeze it. You can press her hand into the heart to make an impression.

CLAY RECIPE

• 1 1/2 cup salt
• 4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cup water
• food coloring

Mix the salt and flour in a bowl with a spoon. Add water gradually. When dough forms, knead it well, adding water if it is too crumbly or flour if it is too sticky It should be firm. If you want more than one color of clay, divide into separate bowls for adding food coloring.

Valentine's Day Cards

I don't know about you, but I LOVE getting real mail, you know the kind that requires actual paper, an envelope, and a stamp. It's such a joy to see in between those piles of bills and junk mail a letter from a real person that I know and love (or even like).

So, for Valentine's Day my goal is to send cards out to all our family and friends. I have the perfect excuse to be corny and cute after all--I have a kid :)

Here's what we're doing:

Materials to gather:
-paint
-butcher paper (we have a whole roll from IKEA that was quite cheap)
-digital camera
-a child (after all, this wouldn't be as cute with big adult feet)

Procedure:
1) pour paint into a shallow plate or bowl
2) dip your child's feet and hands into the paint and make footprints and handprints on the butcher paper
3) allow your child to add stickers, scribble with crayons, or paint as they please to finish up the picture.
4) take a picture of it
5) give the actual piece of artwork to your spouse
6) print out cards on the computer using the picture of the artwork as the front cover
7) under the picture write (or have your child write) I love you from the tips of my fingers to the tips of my toes.
8) mail out to friends and family in time for Valentine's Day. Kids usually love putting things in the mail so let them walk it out to the mailbox and put it in.

Extensions:
You might want to extend this lesson for preschool age children to talk about how the mail works and how to address and stamp a letter.

Teaching Baby Letters

This idea evolved over a few days. We have these Sassy Counting and Spell Bath Appliques. McKenna (9 months old) likes to play with them during her bath. After bath time, I let her hold on to one as I take her to her room and get her dressed. She has eczema, so I spend at least 15 minutes just on lotioning her after a bath, so I really have to provide her with things to keep her happy and still while I do so. And thus, this activity was born. It can be done anytime, but I think just at each diaper change will give you plenty of practice time.

AGE RANGE
I would start this as soon as baby is old enough to hold on to these letters. Activities are hard with babies because you don't see results as quickly as you do with toddlers, but I promise the day does come when you see the fruit of your labors. This would be appropriate for as long as your child is in diapers, and perhaps at times even beyond that.

SUPPLIES

• Sassy Counting and Spell Bath Appliques (or any letter that is safe for your baby to hold and suck on--you know she will suck)
• Baby
• Parent

ACTIVITY
I am going to assume you are doing this at the changing table, but you can do it anywhere.

1. Choose a letter to store at the changing table/station. Choose a letter your baby can possibly say. For example, most baby start babbling consonants such as "d", "m", and "n"--not "q", "v", or "t". Choose a letter appropriate for your child.
2. Place baby on changing table.
3. Hold up the letter. Let's say you are doing B. Hold the letter so baby can see it and say, "This is a B. The B says "Buh." One of my favorite letter movies--okay, my absolute favorite--LeapFrog: Letter Factory has a catchy tune for what each letter says, "The B says, "buh" the B says, "buh." Every letter makes a sound. The B says, "buh." I sing this song.
4. Then give the letter to your child.
5. As you are changing the diaper, say "Buh-buh-buh" over and over as your child shows interest.
6. Change the letter as desired, but don't think you need to do it often. You can stay on the same letter for as long as your baby shows interest in it.

After two days of doing this, McKenna started to purposefully say the letter sound I was saying. We only did it at diaper changes.

EXTENSION
As your baby grows into a pre-toddler, you can add things like what the letter stands for. "This is a B. The be says 'buh.' Be is for Bear, and Ball, and Brayden."

As your pre-toddler starts to talk more, you can ask her to repeat a word B is for.

As your pre-toddler moves to toddler age, you can give her a few words and ask her which on starts with B. You can also ask her to think of a word that starts with B.

CONCLUSION
This is a simple activity that can both make diaper changes a little easier for you and teach your child about the letters of the alphabet!

Learning While Traveling-Best Toys

I've been extremely busy lately because we've been traveling A LOT! We drove from Minnesota to Georgia, then back, then flew to West Virginia and back. All of this with our 18 month old Tobias! Now my husband got the job he interviewed for in West Virginia so we're moving there in 3 weeks. Add another 15 hour drive onto our schedule, no big deal, right? :)

Along this theme I decided to do a 4-5 part series on learning while traveling. Just like you want to do more than just make it through the day at home, you want to do more than just make it through the trip with your young kids.

The first thing you need for any good car trip or long flight is toys!

Don't ever say a child is "just" playing. That's like saying a surgeon is "just" operating or a pilot is "just" flying an airplane. Play is the essence of being a child.

Think of what kind of activities lend themselves to time in the car or plane and to a varied experience for your child. These include but are not limited to fine motor skills, stacking, sorting, reading, pretend play, and drawing. Your goal should be to fill your child's time with meaningful and interesting work. Parents are not clowns, our job is not to simply amuse our children with flashing lights and moving images. We are teachers, our job is to demonstrate new skills to our children and give them plenty of space and time to explore and practice independently. Keep this in mind when you choose your toys to bring for travel. A toy meant to amuse will hold a toddler's interest for 5 minutes. A toy meant to be explored, completed, manipulated, will hold their interest far longer, often 15-30 minutes.

Here are some of my favorite toys for each of these types of activities:

Wooden Stringing Sets: This has become hands down Tobias' favorite toy. We keep it strictly for church and traveling so it retains his interest. The long "threading needle" wooden piece helps little hands get the beads on and the beads are colorful and large. I would recommend this for 18 months-3 years old. Older children can handle more difficult lacing bead sets, such as the Melissa and Doug one. Those could be used to practice patterns or counting. For children under 3, the simple act of lacing the beads is plenty of stimulation.

Stack and Roll Cups: I like these when we go to visit family because they stack up tiny to fit in the baggage. They can be stacked while sitting in a rear-facing carseat and turned into balls when you get to Grandma's :)

Board Books: Okay, this should be self-explanatory :) I will make a few unique suggestions you may not have thought of though.

• 10 Button Book by William Accorsi--this book has slots for the buttons to fit into on each page so children can count the buttons on each page. This is a bit difficult for Tobias so I'd recommend it for the 2 and up crowd.
• Quiet Books--these are usually cloth books that have zippers, buttons, and snaps for kids to manipulate and work with as they read through the book. Great for keeping minds and hands busy and preps them for buttoning their own shirts and zipping their own coats.
• Cloth Books--there are tons of these around. Tobias has had 3 of these since infancy and they still hold his interest. We keep them in the car because they are soft and in case of an accident wouldn't hurt if they flew across the car and because they are so versatile. Newborns chew them, grasp them, and look at the pictures. Pre-toddlers start turning pages and feeling the different textures and enjoy listening to the story being read. Toddlers will move velcro pieces around, turn pages, and name the things in the pictures. Have I mentioned these are versatile and that I love them?

Finger Puppets: These can be used by a parent in the backseat of a car, by reaching over the back of the front seat to put on a show for the kids in the back, or to entertain a baby on a long plane ride. Get creative and if you're not creative, get a set that goes along with a particular story or nursery rhyme and simply read the appropriate parts. Like the stacking balls, these are very small and portable for when space is limited.

Magnadoodle: Nothing beats a toy that inspires creativity, encourages writing, and is mess free!

Rhythmic Baby

I really like music, and I love to try to get my children to love music, too :) I think most people like music, so it shouldn't be hard.

With my babies, I have a simple activity I do to help them get used to recognizing beats. I have no idea how effective this is at teaching it, but they enjoy the activity. It is really hard to measure results in a baby. With toddlers and preschoolers, you see them responding quickly to things they learn. With babies, you see the fruit long after you sowed seeds.

AGE RANGE:
Your baby needs to be old enough she can sit unsupported. For most babies, this happens around 6 months.

SUPPLIES:

• Parent
• Baby
• Music

ACTIVITY:
Start the music playing. Sit baby in your lap, facing you. Move your legs up and down--gently--to the beat of the music. I also like to sing along. My babies look at my face and smile away. Toddlers will enjoy this, also, as well as your preschooler when the mood is right and if you are in the mood for a workout.

This is something you can do almost anywhere, so long as you are willing to sing. You can be the sole source of music for this activity if you want to. I even do this at church as we sing the hymns. When Brayden was a baby, this was the best activity to get him past that fussy hour close to bedtime.

Counting With Baby

When it comes to "teaching" your baby things like numbers and letters, there are several, simple things you can do. Here are some of my favorites.

AGE RANGE
You can start these at birth, but please don't expect to see any results for a very long time. One day, you will be reading with your 12 month old and she will tell you the letters in her alphabet book (this happened with us with Kaitlyn). It will just pop out one day and you will see your simple activities have paid off! You can continue doing these things throughout your child's life, making it harder as they get older.

SUPPLIES
Vary based on activity, but in most cases you just need you, your child, and your mouth.

BOOKS
I am always talking about how much I love books. I majored in English, so it is no surprise. When Brayden was a baby, we didn't have much money and thus didn't own a lot of books for babies, but we did have some numbers books by Baby Einstein that we enjoyed. We had the See And Spy Counting Board Book. There are lots of books out there.

On my Babywise blog, I recently asked for people to share their favorite books with me. One that was mentioned several times was Counting Kisses by Karen Kratz. That is one of the books we got for McKenna for Christmas, and we love it! She loves it and I love it. It goes from 10 to 1, with each page having kisses on a different body part (belly button, nose, eyes, hands, toes, etc.). I read it to her and kiss her cheek the number of times for each page. I say each number out loud, so I say, "one" then kiss "two" then kiss, etc.

As your baby turns into a toddler who can count, you can have her count the items on the page or each kiss instead of you.

CLIPPING FINGERNAILS
I had forgotten about this trick, but one day I decided to Google my name and found an article in Parent's magazine with this tip from me. When Brayden was a baby, he hated to hold still. In order to keep him still while clipping his fingernails, I would count each clip. For whatever reason, it worked. I do it with McKenna, and it works.

As Brayden moved into toddler years, I would have him guess how many clips a finger would take or we would challenge ourselves to clip in fewer clips per hand than last time. As he could do simple counting, I had him count each finger. As he got better, I had him count how many clips per hand.

GETTING DRESSED
Carrying the principle over, I often count as I dress and lotion baby. I will say, "put a sock on one foot, two feet." This is a double bonus because you are also naming body parts.

FEEDING
You can count bites over and over up to whatever number you think is good for your child (for babies, I wouldn't go over ten).

EVERY DAY LIFE
I think you can see the picture here and incorporate this into your every day life. My favorite way of counting with my children is to just incorporate it into every day life. Count how many stairs you go up. Count how many toys they are playing with. Count the pieces of laundry you are folding. Take the idea from Kratz and count kisses as you dress baby. Exposure teaches them day by day, little by little.

Positional Words: A Thanksgiving Game

Here's a fun Thanksgiving activity to help work on positional words (above, below, under, behind, on, next to, etc) with your baby, toddler, preschooler, or school-aged child. We had a blast doing this and my toddler begged to play it over and over again. I love it when that happens. It's also a great way to work on following simple directions and listening skills, too.


Ages: Baby and up (if there is an older sibling or child, the baby can participate). This is a great activity for families with a baby and older sibling. I'll explain as we walk through the activity.


Materials:

• Thanksgiving pictures (2 of each picture you choose)
• Index cards
• Tape

Prep:

• I went to Google Images and typed in Thanksgiving words to find appropriate pictures. Some pictures I used: wild turkey, cooked turkey, family eating thanksgiving dinner, pumpkin pie, funny guy with a turkey hat, peas, mashed potatoes, hugging family, dinner rolls.
• Once I chose my pictures, I printed them off on my printer (2 of each picture), cut them out, and taped them to index cards.
• I hid one of each of the pictures around the house, writing down where I hid them on a separate piece of paper.

Activity:Show the pictures and explain why you chose certain images. It was a good time to prep my daughter for the upcoming festivities since this is the first year she'll really "get it."
Baby: The baby can participate with older siblings. Give the clue cards to the older sibling/child, and have the older child find the images. If the baby crawls, let them crawl after the older sibling to help. You can have the older sibling crawl with the baby, too. Or, carry the baby around, running after siblings as they do the hunt. After the pictures are found, show the pictures to the baby. You can have the sibling show them, too.
Young Toddler: Use really easy directions for the game I listed below. You can also use the pictures to teach names of things. For example, show a picture of the turkey. Explain that it's a real turkey. Hang the picture of a real turkey somewhere (and something else if you think they are able). Give simple directions, working on one positional word at a time, like "Find the turkey on the door. Find the turkey on the TV cabinet. Find the turkey on the couch."
Toddler: Here's how I did this with my toddler. I showed her the picture and told her she could ONLY look for this picture. I then told her where it could be found. This is different than a traditional scavenger hunt, since you are essentially telling them where the card can be found. However, it is important to use phrases with positional words like "Look under the pillow. Check behind the door." When she came back with the correct card, I had her find its match and set it on the couch.
Preschooler and Up: Try 2 step clues: a clue for the item and/or a clue for its location. For example, "The turkey is on the item I would use to cook the turkey (oven)." "The corn is in the thing I use to protect my hands when I am cooking (oven mitt)." or try "I'm looking for the picture of what we do when we see our family (hug). It is under something in this room." You can also do things like "Find all the foods we eat for thanksgiving." "Find everything that starts with a T/H/etc."
With the cards I also played memory, a picture matching game, and a color matching game. You can also ask questions, like "Which of these is round (peas)? Which is the color white? Point to the animal."
This is an adaptation from an activity in The Siblings Busy Book by Lisa Hanson and Heather Kempskie.

Making Diaper Changes Educational

I don't know a single parent who hasn't struggled at one time or another with a baby or toddler who insists on crying, screaming, or turning over during every diaper change. It's a short phase for some, and a longer phase for others. Either way, we change our kids' diapers so many times a day that we might as well take advantage of those times rather than dread them.

Songs/Rhymes:

• English Alphabet

• Alphabet in another language--we sing the Hebrew alphabet because we plan to teach our son Hebrew. You can find the entire version here but we sing a simpler one that only identifies the letters and not every sound each letter makes. This is critical if you want to teach your child a second language because some languages have sounds that English doesn't have so they need to practice those. For example, Spanish has the rolled rr in many words.

• Wheels on the Bus (here are the lyrics in case you forget the order)
  

• Itsy Bitsy Spider

*Nursery rhymes and knowing the alphabet are critical to early literacy and kindergarten readiness, even silly songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider really are teaching rhyming!

Activities:

• Name your child's body parts for him/her.

• As they get older, ask child where his/her different body parts are.

• peek-a-boo with clothes, this is how Tobias first learned to play peek-a-boo :)
• say "uh oh, where'd your foot go?" when putting your baby's pants back on. Make a big deal about having "lost" the foot and then get really excited when it pops through the pant leg. Sounds silly, but it works for all kids I've ever done it with!

Or you could always just add a kitty to the mix and let them entertain the baby for you :)

Baby Yoga-Rock and Roll Tummy

Back when I was pregnant and had all these idealistic visions of working hard to get rid of my baby weight after giving birth I bought a mommy and baby yoga video. Of course, that was before the realities of birth and the recovery set in! So anyway, I just now watched my video for the first time and attempted to do some of it with Tobias :)

Here is a fun yoga exercise to do with infants-toddlers:

Activity:
-lay your child on his back, take his hands in yours and hold them up by his chest. Rock him back and forth gently still holding his hands saying "rock, rock, rock". After the third "rock" you bring his hands to his chest again and move them in a circle around his abdomen saying "roll!"
-tuck his legs up over his tummy and hold his feet while he's in that position. Rock him back and forth gently while holding his legs this time saying "rock, rock, rock" again. After the third "rock" you move his legs in a circle while still tucked into his abdomen saying "roll!"
-bring your child's feet up over his chest (babies and toddlers are quite flexible!) and grab his hands as well. Hold his feet and hands together over his abdomen and rock back and forth again, then bring them in a circle and say "roll!".

Extension:
After all that scrunching you may want to stretch your baby back out again. You can do this by gently stretching his or her right arm up and left leg down saying "long baby!". Repeat with the left arm and right leg as well.

Tobias giggled a lot about this one, he thought it was great fun to scrunch up and roll around. For babies this can be a great way to build their tummy muscles and get one-on-one physical interaction with Mom or Dad.

Video to come as soon as I convince my ever-patient husband to videotape us doing this :)

Baby Ghost

Preparation
-take a scrap of white fabric and ball it up
-take a second scrap of white fabric and wrap it around the balled fabric, securing it at the bottom of the ball with a piece of yarn or a hair tie.
-draw eyes and an open mouth on the ghost (feel free to make it as scary or friendly looking as fits your child's age and maturity level)

Activity
Sing this song while waving the ghost puppet around to touch each body part.
*This is a great way to distract a squirmy baby or toddler during diaper changes!

BABY GHOST Baby ghost, baby ghost Flying through the air. Baby ghost, baby ghost Touching your hair. (Move puppet back and forth in front of toddler.) (Have ghost touch toddlers hair.) Baby ghost, baby ghost Flying down low. Baby ghost, baby ghost Touches your toe. (Bring hand with puppet down low.) (Bend down and touch ghost to toddlers toe.) Baby ghost, baby ghost Flying up high. Baby ghost, baby ghost Touches your eye. (Raise ghost puppet up high.) (Toddler shuts eye, while ghost touches eye lid.)

Skills
-body parts
-rhyming



Credit
I found this activity at a neat site I just discovered: http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
(This activity is in the toddlers section)

Peek-A-Boo

Peek-A-Boo is not just a game that is stereotypically fun for baby. It is a great way to teach baby about object permanence. This game helps baby to grasp the idea that objects exist even if she can't see them. This can really help reduce the distress of separation anxiety.

I did this activity a lot with my oldest, Brayden. He loved it. At seven months old, he started doing it himself. He would cover himself with his blanket and then say "ahh. ahh" Then he would pull down his blanket with great pleasure.

AGE RANGE

You can start to play this as early as you want to, but don't expect baby to really enjoy the game until somewhere around 5-6 months old. I wouldn't really recommend it prior to three months old because it can really overstimulate the newborn.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

• Understanding of object permanence.

SUPPLIES

• Peek-a-boo-er (mom)
• Peek-a-boo-ee (baby)

ACTIVITY
Okay, we all know how to play peek-a-boo. In case not:

• Lay baby on the floor or another surface you feel comfortable with.
• Cover your face with your hands (or something else).
• Remove your hands and say "peek-a-boo"!

I do peek-a-boo a little differently. We always play peek-a-boo on Monday's. Why? Monday is laundry day. I hate folding laundry. But I have found it to be a lot more enjoyable if I play peek-a-boo with my baby while I fold my laundry.

• Put my laundry on my bed.
• Put my baby on my bed (I don't leave my baby on the bed unattended).
• Hold up whatever I am folding in front of my face. As I hold it up, I fold it without exposing my face.
• Say, "Where is Mommy? Where's Mommy?"
• Pause.
• Put the item down and say, "There she is! Peek-a-boo!" This brings out the giggles in my baby.
• Move on to next item to fold and repeat.

This is great because I am able to enjoy folding laundry and I also do peek-a-boo over and over again. Babies (kids) love repetition.

VARIATION
For the older baby, cover a favorite toy with a blanket and say, "Where did [toy] go?" Hold your hands up like you are unsure. Then pull the blanket off and say, "there it is!" As your baby gets older, you can let her pull the blanket off.

SIBLINGS

This is a fun activity a sibling can do with baby.

PHOTOS
Here is seven month old Brayden playing peek-a-boo with his towel:

And six month old McKenna smiling at me after I peek-a-boo'ed her:

Talk With Your Child

Alright, alright, I know this seems like a silly suggestion to some of you. Of course we talk to our children. But, as a kindergarten and first grade teacher one of my biggest issues was that my students did not know how to communicate. They had very limited vocabulary, babyish speech habits, and could not answer a question or relate an event. This spilled over into their behavior, their social skills with other students, and of course their academic work, particularly in phonics and reading.

The intelligence of children is intimately connected with the quality and extent of their exposure to language. -Montessori from the Start

If you are a quiet person like me, start talking! I nannied for a toddler back during my quiet, shy early college days and honestly we didn't talk a whole lot since she had nothing to say besides baby jabber and I felt silly talking to myself. Her parents were also not the talkative type, they did tons for their daughter and showed her lots of affection, they just weren't very verbal people once they got home from their jobs each evening. That girl ended up in speech therapy to get her talking clearly when she was about 4 years old. Nobody is around, get over any silliness you feel talking "to yourself" when you're at home with the baby and just start getting into the habit of talking and listening to your child.

Therefore, it is imperative to talk to your baby often throughout his day, naming objects, discussing actions, relating events, and describing people and their apparent feelings. -Montessori from the Start

Talk, talk, talk--adult talk, not baby talk. Talk to her while you're walking in the park, while you're riding in the car, while you're fixing dinner. Tell her what you're doing while you're doing it...This sort of constant chatter lays a verbal foundation in your child's mind. She's learning that words are used to plan, to think, to explain; she's figuring out how the English language organizes words into phrases, clauses, and complete sentences.-- The Well Trained Mind p.27

So how do we do that specifically?

• Tell your child what you're doing or about to do--"Mommy is putting on her coat, then I will put on your coat so we can go to the store."
• Name things-- "here's the kitty" (point) "would you like the ball?" (hold the ball up)
• Read Aloud--even if you read college textbooks aloud as you nurse your baby or as your toddler plays in the bathtub, it is language! More traditional books like The Snowy Day board book are great too :)
• Sing--children often memorize songs naturally so songs are a fantastic tool for language introduction and show the beauty of words put to a tune. Tobias "sings" in the car along with me all the time. I can't understand a word he's saying but it's awfully cute and he's having fun!
• Listen--when your baby or child babbles at you in nonsense toddler language simple smile, nod, and exclaim "oh really?" "isn't that interesting" "hmmm" in response. This encourages the use of verbal words to get Mom's attention and to communicate things.
• Name and Describe Feelings--when your child is tired and cranky, say "you are tired because it's your nap time. Let's go in your room and read a book to settle down for sleep."
  

In The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, Tracy Hogg suggests that rather than ignore your child's cries or placate them quickly with false words of reassurance ("the shot won't hurt at all", "the dark isn't scary") we should instead identify the emotion they are trying to convey. If your baby is crying from hunger, you would say something like "oh, you must be hungry, it's hard to wait for food sometimes". If your toddler is at the store with you and grumpy, say "I know you're grumpy and it's hard to behave when you're grumpy. We'll be home soon and then we can play a game or watch a video". Avoid an accusatory tone or trying to play down the emotion. Whether it is valid or not your child is feeling it. If you ignore it you miss a valuable opportunity to give your child the coping skills they need to manage the uncomfortable emotions that are bound to occur sometimes. Language is power. If they can name their feeling and why they feel that way they have the power to manage that feeling so it doesn't overwhelm them.

Resources
Montessori from the Start by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen
The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise
The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracy Hogg