Archive for the ‘Family Activities’ Category

I often get asked how and when to start doing letter crafts.  My best advice is to start when your child starts paying attention to letters, pointing them out and enjoying alphabet books and toys.  The other question that normally follows that is which letter to start with? I suggest starting with a letter they are confident recognizing, and a theme they enjoy. This is why this family letter craft is so fun and perfect for beginners. Kids are narcissistic and  crafts with their own smiling faces are often sure fire hits! This uses your child’s initial as the letter of the week, my son decided we should also make M for mommy and D for daddy. We used lowercase because that is what we are working on but either upper or lower would be fine!

1. Gather your materials. You will need pictures of your child and whoever else you are making into letters, a sheet of construction paper for each letter, and one for the backing, scissors, glue , a marker and crayons.
2. Start by writing the letter on the construction paper.
3. Color the letter with crayons. We did this as a family so Daddy came and made his too !
4. While they color cut out the pictures.
5. While you cuts the letters out your child and husband can  play puppets with their picture cut outs  !
6. Add glue  to your cut out letter and glue it to the backing.
7. Add glue to the front of the letter- we did a little counting here , first counting the picture cut outs and then adding that number of glue globs to the letter.
8. Add the picture cut outs.
9. Let dry.

Alphabet Books

I have many alphabet book reviews here but these three are my 3 favorites for beginners.

Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming is a wonderful example of what an alphabet book should be. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers learning their first letters, the text is short , the letters are front and center and the illustrations are fun and interesting. My son loves this book, I grabbed it at the library after remembering how much my Pre K class loved it too! Many alphabet books are too long to read entirety at circle time or in one shot with a toddler but this my 19 month old will sit through Z every time!

Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault is a fantastic board book and shorter version of the longer book. My son loves this book and it’s the perfect amount of text for a toddler, the illustrations by Lois Ehlert are so bright and bold that even very young babies will respond to it! A must have for all bookshelves.

Baby’s Alphabetby Jean Marzollo will appeal to your baby and toddler, we were given it as a gift and my son has loved it since about 9 months on. The photographs of other babies will keep your little one interested and you will be surprised how soon they will anticipate the next page, I know I was. Sadly our copy is now flying the friendly skies , we took it on a flight with us last week and forgot it. Hopefully someone with a baby finds it !

My husband commutes into the city everyday and we are left with little family time during the week. So to fit some family fun in we decided to turn dinner time into play time ! My son and I planned the meal, the menu and even met my husband at the door “in character”.  It was a blast! Pretend play is a major part of preschooler’s play and there are ample opportunities to learn or simply connect with your kids within pretend play.

1. Gather your materials.  Grab some paper and a marker to make a menu and get your food cooking! A you can see our menu was kind of spendy! Let your child set the prices.
2. Make some table settings that are appropriate for the restaurant you are pretending to be, for us it was a local fish and chips shop so we gathered up some ketchup, tartar sauce and set the table with the obligatory water.  We rolled our silverware in paper towels and taped it with some paper. 
3. We prepared the bread and butter.
4. Met our customer at the door… that sign is sitting on our Recycled Music Stand we made a while back.
5. Took his order
6. Then I took his order- hey there are no rules to pretend play the waiter eats with the customers at our restaurant.
7. Enjoyed some appetizers and ate our food.
8. Then presented him with our bill.  If you have older siblings this would be a fun part to practice addition, explain taxes etc…

Remember to have fun even if the only time you have to do it is dinner time on a busy weekday!

Family Photo Quilt

This thanksgiving craft is a favorite of mine. We made it last year and I plan to make one when my camera is full of pictures of family and friends we only see once a year. So take a bunch of pictures today, and sit down after hitting the sales Friday and make something priceless!  Have a wonderful holiday filled with family , friends and food! Click on the picture above for the full instructions for the craft.