Parts of the Face

Age Range: 12-36 months

Materials:

-blank paper
-crayons

Activity:

• draw a circle for a face and tell your child that you are drawing a circle to make a head.
  
• draw 2 eyes, color them, and point them out and tell your child these are eyes.
• draw 2 ears, nose, mouth, and hair describing as you go.
• ask your child to point to each body part.
• take your child's finger and trace the circle with it.
• have your child point to his own eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and hair.
• let your child color the picture.
  

Credit:
Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June Oberlander

Teaching Service

Each week, we have a night we call "Family Home Evening." We take this time to sing a hymn and have a lesson prepared by a member of the family. We include prayer and scripture study. We talk about family business and also do an activity together.

One week, my husband taught about service. He gave us each hearts and told us to do secret service for our family members. When we completed the task, we were to put a heart down so the person would know a secret service agent had been there. An example would be if your child picked up Daddy's socks for him, he could put the heart down where the socks used to be. Maybe that would be service for mom? ;)

Soon after, Brayden came home from church with this heart pictured above. He had done this in primary. Great minds think alike I guess :)

This is a fun way to get your child excited about doing service for family members.

Licorice Letters and Shapes

This is a fun activity to do when you are learning or reviewing letters and shapes. The age appropriateness depends on your child. If they can chew gummy candy in small pieces without choking, you can try this. The Pull-N-Peel Twizzlers are softer than most licorice, too. They don't have to be able to manipulate the licorice strings themselves, though practice can help with fine motor skills. Even watching you make shapes or letters and then trying to recognize them will help!





Materials:

*I used Twizzlers Pull-N-Peel. They seem to be very flexible and easy to manipulate.
*Hard surface, like a table or cookie sheet.

Activity:
Pull of strips of the licorice and practice making shapes, letters, or numbers for your child to identify. You can use one long strip for some shapes like ovals and circles. For shapes with corners and sides it may be helpful to break the strips apart or cut them. You can point out sides, corners, and angles when making them. ("Triangles have 3 sides and 3 corners. See the 3 points? Let's count the sides together.") You can also make letters to identify. Eat when finished! :)

Fun With Nursery Rhymes

With a little imagination, you can come up with fun ways to incorporate nursery rhymes into your week with your children. Brayden's preschool teacher is always doing fun things with nursery rhymes. One week at preschool, Brayden learned about Little Boy Blue.

They colored a little boy blue, cut him out, and glued him to a popsicle stick. They then took a bunch of grass (you could use straw or strips of paper), glued it to a crumpled piece of paper, and glued it on a paper plate.

They then used little boy blue to learn about spacial relationships. They did things like put him over and under the hay stack. It also helped them to get a visual for the nursery rhyme.

Log Rolls, Stepping Stones, and the Foot Flex

Here are two more activities you can do with your child to work on gross motor skills!

Log Rolls
1. Have your child lay on their back.
2. Instruct them to keep their legs straight and raise their arms over their heads. They are laying flat with arms and legs completely straight (like a pencil is how I explain it).
3. Tell them to try to stay stiff like the pencil as you start to roll them over. Use as little force as possible to get them to roll while still staying straight. The less you push, the more they use their abdominal strength to roll over.

Stepping Stones
1. Taking a few towels or a long piece of butcher paper, make a path for them to walk on. I used our balance beam.
2. Lay out obstacles on the floor in a straight line, leaving room between items for them to step. You can you paper towel or toilet paper rolls, small books, cereal boxes, or anything you can find around the house for them to step over.
3. For younger children, hold their arms or one hand and have them walk, stepping over the items. It takes coordination for them to step over the item, stay in a straight line, and not fall.

*You can also put pieces of paper down and have them walk or hop from paper to paper, like stepping stones. I bought a blue plastic table cloth from our dollar store and we pretended it was water.

Foot Flex and Tippy-Toes
1. Standing up, have them alternate from flat feet to standing still on tippy toes. Have them try to stay on their tippy toes without falling or teetering. You can hold something above their heads that they can only reach by standing on tippy toes.
2. Sitting with legs straight in front, show them how to point and flex their feet. I took a favorite stuffed animal and put it in front of my feet far enough away where I couldn't touch it with relaxed feet but close enough where the tips of my toes could touch it when toes were pointed. We played a game where my toes pretended to sniff the bears feet (foot pointed) and then the toes ran away (foot flexed) saying, "Pee-yew!" She thought it was hilarious.

Gingerbread Tips

Last year, I had a fabulous idea. We would make a gingerbread house as a family! I had in my head this picture perfect scene of my husband and me with our two beautiful children joyously creating this item so closely connected with the Christmas season.

Oh. My. It was far from that. I spent most of my time telling the children to be patient and that they couldn't eat the candy. Kaitlyn (then about 1.5) spent most of the time upset that she wasn't able to eat candy. Bradyen (then 3.5) spent most of the time anxious to decorate the house.

Once they did start decorating, my husband and I foolishly directed their moves. The whole time we were looking at each other with this laugh of, "What were we thinking?" We pretty much decided to never do that again until our kids were much older.

Fast forward one year. The effects of last year had worn off and I decided it wasn't that bad. I went for a train kit this year; a train would be better than a house! My husband kind of gave me this look like I was crazy, but was nice enough to go along with my plan.

I had thought things over and realized the problem with last year's experience was fully with the parents (um, that would be me and my husband). We wanted this perfect looking house. This year, we decided we didn't care how the train turned out--we would just let the kids have fun.

It worked! We had fun, the kids had fun, and the train turned out quite nice (pictured above)! So what are my tips for making a gingerbread creation with your children?

1. Assemble the house/train/whatever beforehand. That way, the kids won't be sitting by you constantly asking when you are going to be done so they can decorate. This will also give the item time to set up before little hands come along...these hands are not delicate :)
2. Give the kids candy. Give your children a little bowl of candy to eat at will. It is really quite unfair to give a child a pile of candy and then forbid him to eat any. Give him an amount you are okay with him eating.
3. Leave perfectionism in the other room. Let your kids decorate it and forget about how it looks. In the end, in my experience, you treasure the chaotic one they created themselves more than the symmetrical one you micromanaged. If you are like me and tend to hover, do something to prevent yourself from doing so. I held my baby the whole time so I was distracted and just happy to have the older two busy :)
4. Have fun!

More Reindeer Activities

I know that Raegan provided you with enough reindeer activity ideas to last a month, but I just had to share three more ideas!

ORNAMENT

This is a simple ornament for your preschooler or toddler to make. It requires yarn or string, three popsicle sticks, two eyes, glue, a pom-pom, paint, paint brush, and some pipe cleaner.

Have your child paint the popsicle sticks brown. Let dry. Then, have your child glue them into a triangle shape. Add a nose, eyes, and antlers. Glue a string on the back. Let dry and hang your ornament!





SANDWICHES

I wanted to make a rudolph sandwich one day and just threw it together. I only had peanut butter chocolate chips open and didn't want to open a new bag just for four pieces. I just took two pretzels, two chocolate chips, and one almond M&M for each sandwich. It isn't fancy at all, but the kids loved it! Brayden (4.5) appreciated it much more than Kaitlyn (2.5). They want a rudolph sandwich every day now. My point here is to remember that children are easily pleased. It doesn't have to be fancy or professional for them to be happy with something like this.

COLOR REVIEW
Brayden's preschool teacher used the rudolph idea to review the colors they had learned so far this year. They had a little booklet with a picture of rudolph on each page. They then put different colors of noses on each picture.

Time Capsule

Each year on our Christmas tree we hang an ornament that serves as our Time Capsule. After reading about a similar activity in The Siblings' Busy Book, I decided to trade in our ornament for a bigger version. We are doing this on Christmas, and I'll wrap it and pack it away with the Christmas decorations. Next year I'll place it under our tree to open as a family.

Ages: Any!
Materials: shoebox, wrapping paper, ribbon and scissors, scale, construction paper, markers, index cards or paper
Directions:
1. Using the index cards or paper, label each one with a member of the family's name. On each paper, record height, weight (optional for adults...haha!), special skills, characteristics, hobbies, funny stories, physical characteristics,etc.

For example, on my toddler's paper I might write: Her hair is long and very curly. She cringes when she sees the brush! She has two small freckles on her right cheek. She is almost ____ pounds and ____ inches tall. She can count to ___ , knows all of her alphabet, but mixes up the letters P and R sometimes. Her favorite song is ______ and her favorite movie is Richard Scary's Counting Video and any Sing-a-long. She loves Frosty the Snowman, but calls him "Tashy." She loves rhyming games, especially rhyming her sister's name.

For a baby: She weighs ____ and is ____ inches long. Barely any hair yet! She has ____ teeth and just started crawling. She keeps trying to pull up to standing, but bonks her head a lot trying this. She loves it when her sister walks into the room. Her favorite person right now is her daddy. She loves saltine crackers and grabbing the dog's ears. She also buries her head in your shoulder, giggling, and pretending to be shy when someone she loves talks to her. She's ___ months old but she wears size ___ clothes.

You can include number of teeth, unique characteristics, favorite toys or foods, things they sleep with, etc.
Trace hands and feet on construction paper. You can also use ribbon to record height, head circumference,etc.
I am going to take a picture of us in front of the Christmas tree and include it in the time capsule.
I also include a paper describing our Christmas that year, like where we went, special events, funny things that happened, what they got for Christmas, etc. One of my favorite things has been hanging on to these papers and reading them year after year. This is what we used put inside an ornament year to year. I have one from when I was 9 years old that I wrote. It's one of my favorite traditions!

Candy Train

Brayden made this really cute candy train at preschool this past week and I just had to share it!

SUPPLIES:

• 
  
  Milky Way Candy bar (it needs to be something soft in the middle)
  
  
  
• 
  
  White frosting
  
  
  
• 
  
  Cardboard covered in foil
  
  
  
• 
  
  String licorice
  
  
  
• 
  
  Stick pretzels
  
  
  
• 
  
  Bell shaped chocolate
  
  
  
• 
  
  M&Ms or other round candy for wheels
  
  
  
• 
  
  Candy for decorating the train
  
  
  
• 
  
  Candy canes for connecting train cars
  
  
  
• 
  
  Rectangle piece of chocolate
  
  
  

METHOD:

1. 
   
   Spread frosting on foil
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Lay licorice and foil down for the train tracks
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Break the candy bar up into three pieces
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Connect the candy bar pieces with broken candy cane pieces
   
   
   
5. 
   
   Add wheels and other candy to the train, sticking it to the train using frosting
   
   
   
6. 
   
   Put rectangle piece on top of the front piece of the train (the engine)
   
   
   
7. 
   
   Put the bell-shaped chocolate upside down on top of the rectangle piece
   
   
   
8. 
   
   Take a picture
   
   
   
9. 
   
   Eat!
   
   
   

Snowmen Ornaments

We made these ornaments when I was teaching and they turned out so cute! You'll need white acrylic paint, assorted permanent markers (or paint markers), and blue ornaments. Shatterproof ornaments work really well. I like the matte blue ornaments rather than the shiny, but use what you like best. We tried a bunch of different colors, and the white hand prints against the blue ornaments seemed to work the best. If you have the choice, get a big pack of the ornaments. The first few didn't turn out well, but I got better the more I did.

Directions:

Paint their hand with the white acrylic paint. *More paint seems to mean more smearing, so try a light coat.

I physically took my daughters hand, told her not to move any of her fingers and had her grab the ornament, and lightly pressed on each finger to get the print.

Let them dry.

Use a permanent marker to draw faces, hats, scarves, and buttons.

Print name and year on the back. I used a paint marker for that.

If giving as a gift, you can attach the following poem:

These aren't just five snowmen
As anyone can see.
I made them with my hand
Which is a part of me.
Now each year when you trim the tree
You'll look back and recall
Christmas of 2009
When my hand was just this small!

Texture Cards

Materials:
-4 small "cards" made of construction paper or foam paper
-glue
-something rough (sand, rice, or salt)
-something soft (cloth or cotton balls)
-something bumpy (beans or just something to make the foam paper bumpy)
-sharpie

Preparation: (kids above 2 years old can help with this)

1. write 4 types of texture on the cards (rough, bumpy, soft, smooth)
2. spread glue on the rough card and sprinkle sand, rice, or salt over it, then tap the card over the trash can to get the excess off. Set aside to dry.
3. spread glue on the soft card and spread something soft over it. Set aside to dry.
4. for the bumpy card either glue beans onto it or simply poke indentations in the foam paper to make it feel bumpy.
5. the smooth card stays the way it is.

Activity:
-let your child examine each card and tell them what each card is.
-have your child close his/her eyes and tell you which texture card they're feeling without looking at it.

Extensions:
-This could be a part of a bigger unit on the 5 senses or parts of the body. This would be a great way to discuss the sense of touch, skin, or hands.
-ask your child to find other things that feel bumpy, rough, smooth, or soft. They could go on a scavenger hunt throughout the house to collect real objects or simply draw pictures of them.
**this activity would be good for a child with sensory processing disorder to gain controlled, small amounts of experience with different textures on their skin.

Christmas Symbols Poem

This is a poem I wrote last week for the symbols of Christmas. Last night, we did family night with a lesson on the symbols and what they remind us about that first Christmas night. I bought treats to represent each thing in the poem. Afterward, Kaitlyn was talking about one of the treats, and Brayden corrected her that it was a wreath, not a cookie :) They enjoyed going through the poem and learning about the symbols. I think it helped them to have something concrete to hold as we talked about each thing.

Here is the poem with what we did for treats. You are welcome to use the poem, just please keep the credit (me) with it.

Remember Christmas
by Valerie L. Plowman


Red reminds of the blood He spilt
to wash away and cleanse all of our guilt
White is for His actions, most pure.
Through sinless perfection, He did endure.
Green is for the life eternal
we can obtain through our Lord supernal.
The star shines like the one so bright
that twinkled above that first Christmas night.
The fir tree is for many things:
the tree of Jesse--the father of kings,
and for the needles pointing to the Lord--
that little babe we all adored.
The wreath shows one eternal round;
the begin' of the Lord cannot be found.
The lights remind us that this babe
is the light of the world, and born to save.
The candy cane is for the crook;
not one sheep or lamb the shepherd forsook.
The Christmas bells we love to ring
proclaim joy! The birth of a newborn king.
These symbols remind us that we,
more like the three wise men all now should be.
Earnestly seeking to find the new babe
who humbly in a manger laid.

• Red: We used Christmas M&Ms
• Green: We used Christmas M&Ms
• White: We used white taffy
• Star: We used starburst candy. You could also buy a star ornament for each person--or even cut a star out of paper.
• Fir Tree: I found some cute tree suckers at Dollar Tree. It had a star and lights (or ornaments) on it, so it could work for many things for you.
• Wreath: I went with chocolate cookies that are round. They also sell jelly filled chocolates at Christmas time. You could do a doughnut and even put green dyed coconut on it.
• Lights: I just put lights around the poem, but you could get a strand of lights out or use little flashlights.
• Candy Cane: I used a candy cane :)
• Bells: I put a little bell in each bag.

Fun with buttons

Using a pack of primary colored buttons (less than $2) I got from a craft store, we've been working on a few math skills.
All of these activities are great to introduce to as young as pretoddlers, provided they will at least watch you.
Activity #1: Counting
Our number of the week was 9, so we counted out buttons in piles of 9. Count out loud and move the buttons as you count. When counting it is important for young children to move objects to avoid confusion and, what I call, counting in circles (counting the same items over and over).
*If you do this activity and #2 on the same day, do this one first. Otherwise young children may have a hard time transitioning and may want to continue sorting by color if you do #2 first and then try activity #1.
Activity #2: Sorting by color
Start the piles for young children. Depending on the age or skill level, you may need to go button by button with them. You may also need to only give them a few colors at a time, as more may be overwhelming. My 2.5 year old was able to handle 5 color sorting with no problem.
If your buttons have different shapes, you can also sort by shapes or other attributes.

Activity #3: Patterns
Patterns can be pretty difficult! Keep in mind that in Virginia this is a Kindergarten standard of learning, which means 4,5, or 6 year olds. It's a great introduction, but don't get frustrated if they don't see the patterns right away. Be patient!
Start with AB patterns if just introducing them or if working with young children. I started with 2 different objects: buttons and clothespins. I started the pattern (ABABABABA___) and asked my toddler if she could tell what would come next. Verbalize the pattern by saying "Clothespin, button, clothespin, button, clothespin...what do you think is next?"

Then we moved to colors.


I then let her have free play with them, where she ended up stacking them and making pictures out of them. I didn't even think of that! :)

Christmas Tree Art

Pictured: Kaitlyn's tree (2.5) and Brayden's tree (4.5)

This week, we are learning about Trees, Evergreens, the color Green, and Triangles. For our "green/triangle" day, we made these tree pictures. My kids are old enough to recognize that a tree is in a triangle shape. If your child is just learning shapes, you might want to make it an actual triangle.

AGE RANGE
I would say two and up for sure. 18-24 months is possible. You might be able to modify for younger.

SKILLS TAUGHT

• Fine motor skills
• Colors
• Shapes
• Option for focus on numbers or letters

SUPPLIES

• Green paper (or you could color a white paper green)
• Hole punch
• Yarn/string/ribbon/etc.
• Tape
• Scissors (if your child will do the cutting, child-safe)
• Glue
• Q-tip
• Sequins

PREP

1. Draw tree on paper
2. If your child is too young to cut, cut it out
3. If your child will not be cutting out the tree, punch holes in it
4. Cut piece of string/yarn/ribbon/etc to go through holes on tree
5. Put a piece of tape on the end of the yarn so it can easily fit through the hole
6. I put a small amount of glue in the lid of a plastic baby food container

ACTIVITY

1. Give your child the tree. For Kaitlyn, I cut it out. I let Brayden cut his out himself.
2. Once tree is cut out, punch holes.
3. While Brayden cut out his tree, I helped Kaitlyn put the yarn through the holes on her tree. Tape one end to the back of the tree at your starting point. When you are done, tape the other end at your finishing point on the back of the tree.
4. I had the idea after we did this that you could put a number or letter of the alphabet by each hole to create a "dot-to-dot" type of activity for your child and get some extra learning in :)
5. Have your child use the Q-tip to put a dab of glue where she wants a sequin.
6. Have her place her sequin on the glue
7. Decorate the tree as desired
8. Dry and hang!

Homemade Ornaments

Here's 2 recipes for ornaments to make with your kids this holiday. The first recipe is the classic applesauce and cinnamon ornaments. Super easy and smells great! I have my applesauce and cinnamon ornaments that I made 25 years ago and they still smell like cinnamon! I hung them on a tiny tree last year and the entire room smelled like cinnamon for weeks. I store them wrapped in tissue paper in a cookie tin.
The second recipe I haven't tried yet, but will be this weekend. I'm going to try to do the girls hand prints as ornaments, too.

Cinnamon Applesauce ornaments
Ingredients:
Applesauce (regular)
Cinnamon
Wax paper
(I've used glue before, but they hold up fine without it)
Directions: Mix equal parts cinnamon and applesauce. You may need to add more of one to get it into a dough consistency. If you only want a few ornaments, use 1/2 to 1 cup of each. I squish it with my hands to mix it...fun for kids! Then roll it out. The thicker the dough, the longer it takes to dry. Using cookie cutters, make ornament shapes. I use a straw to poke a hole in the top to tie a string through once it's dry. Lay out on wax paper. The next day flip them. Don't store until completely dry.

Salt Dough Ornaments
(courtesy of Beth Ann Atkins)
Ingredients:
1/2 c. salt
1 c. flour
1/2 c. water
Rolling pin
cookie sheet
toothpick
cookie cutters
food coloring (optional)
paint (optional)
glitter paint/glue (optional)
ribbon (if you're making ornaments)
You can also add cinnamon to the dough before baking so that it smells yummy!
Preheat oven to 250. Mix together salt, flour, and water until dough is formed. You can add food coloring if you want colored dough. Knead the dough on floured surface until mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. Do not add too much flour as this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before baking. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to make shapes. Use a toothpick to make a hole at the top if you intend to make ornaments. Place shapes onto UNGREASED cookie sheet. Bake for 2 hours. Remove & allow to cool completely. Once completely cooled, decorate as you wish! Thread ribbon/yarn through hole if you're making an ornament (& don't forget to write and name & date on the back so you'll always remember when it was made :-).
If you aren't making ornaments, you can also put a magnet on the back or make them into lapel pins.