Archive for August 2011
Painting with water balloons is way more fun than what we are doing today!
In the mean time have you seen some of the awesome post linked in Link & Learn yesterday? Every single one is worth a look!
This is the best kids craft and early education blog link up around, if I do say so myself. Every week I am inspired by the creativity in all your lessons, and awed by the variety of resources that parents and caregivers have to choose from.
If you have never linked up the gist of it is that you link up your best post from the previous week and see what other bloggers in your community are up to.
Have a fantastic week !
I knew we could do it . No Time For Flash Cards readers have read over 20 thousand books with their kids this summer, and the summer isn’t even over!
20 THOUSAND!
This comment from a reader I got yesterday sums up why we are hosting our Summer Reading Challenge :
I wanted to thank you for hosting the Summer Reading Challenge. My almost 5 yr old has always loved books, and reading together is one of our favorite things to do. While I consider us heavy readers, keeping track of the number of books we read has shown me that our hectic summer schedule has taken a toll on our reading time. I’m not sure I would have noticed as much if I hadn’t been keeping track for the challenge. I definitely do not want to slack off on reading to my son or diminish this special time together, so I’ve started getting more creative about how to fit books in.
This is what it’s all about!
Though the $50 Amazon.com gift card is pretty rad too and you will be entered to win it if you join.
If you haven’t joined our Summer Reading Challenge yet you are not too late. All the details are here but the gist of it is that you read with your kids, tally up how many books you have read, submit a tally sheet once per submission period ( see below) and then you are automatically entered to win a $50 Amazon.com gift card at the end of the summer. Pretty cool!
Submission Periods :
June 3-9th , 10th -16th , 17th- 23rd , 24th-30th
July 1st-7th , 8th-14th, 15th- 21st , 22nd-28th
July 29th – August 4th
August 5th-11th , 12th-18th , 19th -25th.
The winner will be drawn on the 26th of August.
Submit Your Tally Here
Creating with shapes to make a bigger creation has been an activity I have done for years at home and in the classroom. If your child decides that they want to create something other than the end product you intended encourage it! They are still playing with, manipulating and getting a hands on experience with shapes which is the goal, the end product isn’t. Some kids like my son want an end goal to work towards to get started , so here are some fun projects to inspire your shape creations.
- Shape House. Fantastic for basic shapes and little hands.
- Shape Dinosaur. Make shapes exciting for your little paleontologist.
- Shape Sail Boat. Set sail while learning about geometry.
- Shape Pizza . Add shape toppings to your circle crust.
- Shape Trash Truck . Perfect for those kids who go batty on garbage day.
- Shape Bulldozer. What can I say my son likes big trucks, there is a firetruck too .
- Shape Scarecrow . Put this on your fall crafts to do list!
- Shape Banjo. Great way to mix math with art and music.
- Shape Castle. Make it big and detailed or simple just don’t forget the glitter!
Doing projects with your kids is supposed to be fun for everyone, but when your kids are far apart in age it can be challenging. This project is perfect for different ages! Since having my daughter last year one of the most common questions I get is ” How do you craft with both kids?” Some days I do just a baby project, some days just a big kid one but there are times that we can all work together despite the almost 4 year age gap. This color mixing activity was perfect . They each had their parts and we had a blast being color scientists although if you ask my son his sister was his lab assistant not a full scientist, that is only for big kids.
- Gather your materials. You will need some good quality zip lock bags, shaving cream, some paper, crayons or markers, and food coloring.
- Start by making a simple chart showing the colors to mix , leaving the result blank. Make sure you have the correct color of marker or crayon available for the result. We made 4 colors, adjust the number of colors based on the attention span of your “scientists”.
- Add shaving cream to the zip lock. My son helped me with this step- he was so excited. I love when simple things make his day!
- Add the food coloring. We added 2 of each color but then increased it to 5. Look now they are counting too , I love when projects span many subject areas.
- Zip it up , making sure to squeeze out some air so when your “lab assistant” squishes it that the bag doesn’t pop.
- Squish! Until the colors are all mixed.
- She loved squishing, just watch they do not put it in their mouth. Whenever you are working with toddlers or infants you must always be within arms reach. Label the colors, use descriptive words while they explore.
- Come back and record the results by finding the correct color and completing the chart.
- Talk about the results. Ask if any colors were surprising , which color do they like the best and why?
Crafting, teaching or just generally parenting is different with multiple abilities but with a little effort you can find activities that can be done at the same time for every child in your care. We had a blast and another real benefit of a cooperative project like this is that your kids are working together something that isn’t always so easy to achieve.
