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March 13th, 2009
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Hear the playactivities review of Each Peach Pear Plum 
on Just one more book.
Our top 5 unplugged creative toys by Middle one( 3) and Little one( 7mtns)
Little one: What he does: He likes to touch, taste, feel the weight, balance, explore texture and experience heat of wood. He found he likes the sound hitting a formula tin, tile floor- not so hot on hitting himself lol yep that’s an ouchie but passing dog or brothers are fair game, if they don’t watch out. Why it’s good to do: discovering the world around him, exploring natural objects and discovering properties, improving control of his hands and rotating and manipulating objects, creative play.
Middle one: What he does: levers, sound, wands, stirring, pretend play, lining up. Why it’s good to do: creative play by using one thing for another is a foundation play skill, being adaptive- using his environment to find solutions to his problems ( levers) ,developing storytelling skills but using props ( same props become something else- limitless playtime). Making choices, discarding and trying again ( learning perseverance and flexibility)
Little one: What he does: touches, mouthes it, feels the temp, balances it, drops it, bangs it. Why it’s good to do: experience of cold metal and how it warms up, learns about balance, objects that can rock and flick ( spoon) experiements if I let go will it drop or bang everytime?
Middle one: What he does:pretend play ( restaurant, people) Why it’s good to do: Learning to use his imagination. That we are not limited to what the object is currently but it can be anything we want it to be. ( thinking out of the box) creativity in all situations- how can I fix this? Practice with problem solving: how can I do this with this? there’s not one answer to problems try one and discard come back and try again in another way.
Little one: What he does:feel, touch, breeze, soft, mouthing, rolling, peekaboo, wrapping Why it’s good to do:Exploring through the senses is such a fun thing and exciting thing. Experiencing new sensations and building brain connections. gives comparisons between textures ( wood, metal, material) helps build a bank of knowledge on what’s warm, soft, hard etc. Concrete examples of soft, smooth due to language parent uses while playing. Not used now but associations are made. Chance for language development, hearing new words and descriptions. Challenges of getting wrapped up and unwrapped independently and doing it again.
Middle one: What he does:cape, tent, wall, magic carpet, picnic blanket, mat. Why it’s good to do: extend his pretend play skills by using larger areas, ability to act out new situations or retell stories, adapt a prop; the magic carpet to pillow to wind to tree. Scientist looking through the fabric on a sunny day and seeing reflections ( learning about transparency/translucent and opaque)
Little one: What he does:undoing, wrapping, pulling, rolling, pushing, chasing Why it’s good to do: Learning about texture and inertia. Pushing a ball and it doesn’t come back. Pulling a string and it does. Strength to pull around objects. If you chase the string it unravels and can get caught on things.
Middle one: What he does:pom poms, cutting, undoing, rerolling, chair mazes Why it’s good to do: improves his hand coordination through threading beads. Great to investigate without a purpose; what happens if? Working through a problem ( Threaded a ball of wool around a chair) how do I get the ball back? rolling up a long piece of string. Trial and error. Plenty of opportunity to develop this skill including frustration, determination and finally succeeding. Overcoming is a skill they certainly need plenty of practice.
Little one: What he does:sound, warmth, sound. Why it’s good to do: New texture to feel and explore with all the senses. Developing unsaid knowledge ( weight of stone- I need two hands to pick it up or there’s stuff left on my fingers. My fingers feel different.) Stones from the garden in the morning are cold and damp but left in the sun are warm. Wet stones are slippery.
Middle one:What he does: Build towers, make shapes, line up, pretend play, collect, throw.Why it’s good to do:Learning discrimination& classification skills of size, shape and colour. Discovering broad groups of things ( smooth stones, round stones, holiday stones) becoming a colllector.
There are so many more things you can do with these natural objects. These are just a snapshot of what my kiddos did with them this week. Let your little ones play with natural objects. Plastic tastes the same- yuk! Babies and toddlers thrive on sensory feedback and using natural objects allows them access to feelings, textures, heat, light, and smell differences you can never experience with an only plastic environment.
Plastic has let us just give our kids toys and we as parents go off and do things. Whilst kids do need to explore by themselves we do need to facilitate play experiences. We do need to be there to extend their ideas and open up alternative paths or ideas.
- When you choose natural play objects be near your child by keeping them safe.
- Use objects that are clean and free of chemicals- rinse throughly and clean appropriately.
- Choose different types of natural object to keep the play fresh and exploratory.
- Let them discover the toy.
Natural toys are the best toys because of their flexible play opportunities. Push aside the push button toys , today, for a while at least, and give your child this fun experience. You will be giving your child an amazing gift money can’t buy.
Learn more about natural play
Play Using Natural Materials (Ready, Steady, Play S.)
Play, Projects, and Preschool Standards: Nurturing Children’s Sense of Wonder and Joy in Learning
Nature and Young Children: Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in Natural Environments
*****What natural objects do your kids play with? I’d love to hear your thoughts****
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March 10th, 2009
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Welcome to the 22nd edition of Carnival of Parenting Podcasts
It’s a place to share and find some new parenting podcasts from the podcaster and recommendations from those who listen to podcasts.
..Not sure about Podcasts? Try this ecourse.
Top 9
Send in your favourite podcasts of the month.
- Howcast how to deal with a screaming kid whilst shopping.
- Cooking with moms: Moms 045: No Whine with Dinner - www.MealMakeoverMoms.com On today’s show, we share tips and tricks for putting the kibosh on your kids’ moans and groans at the dinner table. For us, there’s nothing worse than spending precious time on making dinner only to have the kids complain and whine when it’s served. That’s why today’s show is called, No Whine with Dinner. Our goal is to show you how to make mealtime pleasant and peaceful and to ultimately bring better nutrition to your family table.
- Momadvice: MomAdvice.com is a community for families with tips on money-saving, recipe ideas, home management tips, and creative parenting advice. MomAdvice Simplified is a podcast where we discuss quick and easy tips for simplifying our lives and our home management routines. Simplifying Grocery Day: Recent studies by the NPD Group, Food Marketing Institute and others show us that families will eat at home more in the year ahead due to the uncertain economy. But cooking at home can become expensive if you cannot manage your grocery bills
- Mom-to-mom radio show: Procrastination Attack!The biggest enemy to productivity is procrastination. Join Cindy as she shares her secrets to attacking procrastination and stopping it in its tracks. Grab your journal and pen. Cindy will give you an action plan that will help you make this year your most productive year ever!
- Monster Cookies: MC-38 – Four Months of Winter Jon and Amber McInnis, two young parents in Calgary, Alberta, Canada raising three sons – and expecting a fourth child in the summer of 2008. We talk about our lives and our kids, review books, podcasts, and TV shows and Amber always has a pregnancy update. We spend about half an hour talking about Halloween, Christmas, broken bones, growing babies and the future of the podcast
- Keeping it Centsible :Two Mothers-to-be, one new, one veteran, talk about saving money on baby expenses, grocery shopping, couponing, deals and freebies . Join us every week to learn how YOU can save money on your household expenses! With special guests and awesome giveaways! Women and Debt Join Alyssa as she tells her story about getting out of debt, Dave Ramsey style. With special guest co-host Kacie of www.sensetosave.com, a new mom and frugal blogger with a mission to save! Hear tips and advice about avoiding the debt trap
Send in your recommendations to be included in the top 10 favourite podcasts of the Month.
Technorati tags: carnival of parenting podcasts, blog carnival.
Technorati Tags: Carnival of Parenting Podcasts, podcasts
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March 6th, 2009
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A playroom ready for kids
Toddler responsibility.
Clean up clean up
Everybody do your share
Clean up clean up
Everybody everywhere
Making clean up fun started with us by singing this familiar song. I got down with my oldest and showed him how I wanted to clean up by doing it. He soon imitated me. I’d read recently Alfie Kohn‘s, Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” and instead of the overused and abused Good job. I tried acknowledging what he’d done by simply stating what he’d done. ” You put the puzzle piece back in the box…and another piece. Here. Here’s my piece and we’ll soon have picked them all up..together.” He was beaming. That time everything was picked up.
Whenever it was time to clean up. I focused on:-
- helping
- making it fun
- praising what he was doing without lots of lavish “Good job”
- Mention team work and how good it is for everyone to help.
Now, not every clean up time went well. That was Ok because he started to learn that with play ( rights) come responsibilities and one of his was to clean up. If I needed to clean up his play by myself because he refused to help. Help could be small or total but help nevertheless no help, then there would be consequences.
Teaching responsibility and mastering self control are easy activities to find the time to do with toddlers at home. There’s a huge over focus with toddlers on fine motor skills and learning their ABCs.
“Jake and I are going to stick pasta shapes to make this train.” Do we every focus on the personal and social aspect of this activity.
- Letting Jake pour or scoop the pasta out ( instead of us ready preparing the container)
- When he spills the pasta- what’s our reaction? anger/scolding or lighthearted encouragement . “Oppsie. You spilled the pasta. Let’s clean it up. Do you want to use your fingers or shall we get the broom? I’ll do these ones here. Where are you going to pick up? Here or the ones on the chair. Where shall we put them? etc”
- Part way through Jake’s had enough. It’s pretty challenging for him and now he wants to do something easier else. Do you complain about how long it’s taken to get everything ready? insist on him staying to finish?…. This is one that will differ according to your immediate goal. Are you teaching right now to stick to a task or do you see that nap time or something else is bothering him and it’s better to abandon the activity. Look at it this situation from all angles. Not every teaching moment works out how you expect. Evaluate and be flexible.
- Time to clean up. Does Jake run and play and you pick up or do you enlist his help encouraging along?
Jake got to play and work on his fine motor skills and creativity But did he have an opportunity to start learning responsibility.
Not every activity will you want to go this way. Another time it will be all about the fine motor skills but another it will be all about the development and the pasta will be secondary.
The home is a rich environment to start the responsibility habit. You can’t just start it once they enter daycare, preschool or group settings with lots of kids. It must be something you nurture, encourage and reinforce. Your family maybe different to other families; that’s ok just be consistent in your approach.
Use everyday routines and habits with your young child to foster growth in responsibility. Here are some ideas but adapt them for your age child.
- Eating, setting the table, pouring a drink
- Dressing themselves, washing their face, squeezing toothpaste
- Bath time, soaping themselves or their sibling’s back
- Potty training, taking off wet clothes and putting in the hamper, taking off own sheets
- Laundry, putting clothes in the hamper, loading/unloading the washer or drier. Passing a named item to be hung” Pass me a sock please. “
- Cooking, finding ingredients ( 2 eggs), washing the veg, stiring the mixture/pot, adding the raisins, Choosing the dinner veg ( carrots or broccoli tonight?)
- Cleaning up: bedroom, play areas, floor
“Toddlers work slowly and inefficiently, and if you are rushing to complete a job, you are likely to feel frustrated. If , on the other hand, you have the time and are not terrible finicky about doing a perfect job, one-year -old help may be welcomed….. think through the pros and cons ahead of time. The inconvenience involved in working with a one-year- old may be considerable, but the rewards can be even greater. You and your toddler will experience a special kind of intimacy while working together.”
Source: Your Child at Play – One to Two Years: Exploring, Daily Living, Learning and Making Friends (Your Child at Play Series)
pg 134
Now I have 3 munchkins. My middle one learnt really quickly that his older brother would clean up for him. A little hand over hand assistance for a long while soon changed that action. Both boys will help each other clean up whether it’s their mess or not. Not always and that’s ok. They also know that I can help and we work together and also that if they don’t pick up there will be a consequence. The middle one’s clean up is very different to his older brother’s and that’s ok too.
Photo credit
I challenge you to focus on responsibilities first in an activity you do this week and the activity itself second. Come back and share what you did. What happened? or share what you’ve done to encourage and develop responsibility at home.
Technorati Tags: Clean up, Alfie Kohn, Good job, play, responsibilities, consequences, Teaching responsibility, toddlers
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March 3rd, 2009
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Since you are reading this you perhaps like reading yourself? Want to keep encouraging the reader in your child? It can be hard to find interesting books step into any bookshop or library and it’s pretty overwhelming. Lots of good books and new ones available everyday.
Here’s a place you can visit to get great book recommendations for schools, families and parents.
Readingzone.com is a reading site for all the family. It’s aimed at children, their parents, young adults and schools. It’s bursting with news, book reviews, by children and adults, latest titles and author interviews.
ReadingZone.com is dedicated to helping young people, parents & adults and teachers to find out about children’s books. Each area on the site provides information about new and classic titles with expert advice to help you find the best children’s books available.
I would recommend the Family zone. It has been created with the support from independent publishers Usborne Books, Amazing Baby (Templar) and Barefoot Books. Under books we love, I see one book that would fit us right now
The No-no Bird
Andrew Fusek Peters
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 1845078101
Published: /51/2008
Price: £11.99
Synopsis:
No-No Bird’s favourite word is NO! In fact, he likes saying it to everyone. NO he won’t play with Little Mouse; NO he won’t climb trees with Squirrel. Then he meets Snake and learns that Snake’s favourite food is No-No Bird. Can No-No Bird escape from a sticky end by changing his favourite word to YES?
Audio books have had a lot of play with the boys both feeling unwell.
Always gets them going with a sing-a long.
For more audio stories try Storynory or audible.
Limited Time Offer – Get Your first 3 Months at Audible for $7.49/month
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