Family Holiday Activity

The holidays are special times when children love activities the whole family can enjoy. Creating your own family tree is a perfect winter afternoon activity that can include telling family stories.

 

Materials You Will Need:

 a large sheet of  paper, smaller pieces of colored paper,  scissors, glue, markers , crayons, and several pictures of family members and pets.

What to do 

  Gather the family together so every member will have a part in the project. Draw a tree with a trunk and branches, using the markers and crayons.  Get ideas from everyone.  Young children will have fun coloring the tree bark. Together trace and cut out everyone’s hands.  Some of the younger children may need help, but it doesn’t matter if the cutting is imperfect. What matters is that everyone is working together and having fun.

   After the hands are cut out, write the owner’s name on each hand before it is glued in no specials order to the tree. Have older children write the names of toddlers and babies.  They’ll like to help with that.  The hands will be the leafy part of the tree. You can put individual pictures on each hand or place them under the tree. Be creative and accept ideas from everyone.  You can even make paw prints for pets and put pictures them on the tree, too.  Think of special things about each family member and write or draw them on the hands.  This will be a work of art with each child and adult adding something unique.  You could even frame the project and hang it on the wall in your home. This also is a great gift for Grandparents.

How will this help my child?

Working together helps young children learn to share and help each other. It’s important for them to see that a project is better because everyone has a part in it. Drawing, cutting and gluing are important fine motor skills. Telling family stories prepares children for reading because reading is “talking written down.” Telling family stories is the beginning of learning history.

 What Else Can I Do?

Anything done as a family creates a bond between family members whether it’s a quiet afternoon at home or a day at the ski hill.  Children love doing projects with other family members.  At this time of year great family activities would be baking with Mom and Grandma or helping Dad and Grandpa with the decorations.

Illustration by Mark Nowicki

Indian Scare Crow Photo - keeney, carolyn. indianscrow.jpg. 10/20/2001. Pics4Learning. 21 Nov 2012

For more fall activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com.
Listen to this activity online at the WNMU Podcasts

Children Become Writers at Thanksgiving

Families want children to be well educated, creative, and resilient. According to years of studies, age 2 through 8 is a critical time to prepare children to read and write for a lifetime of success. Thanksgiving is a perfect time for families to spend more discussion time together that builds knowledge, vocabulary and binds the family together. Creating this book together is a gift in itself!

Materials: Several sheets of paper or large paper plates, pencils, crayons, and stapler. Optional are paper punch and yarn.

What To Do:

   Start by having a conversation with your children about things that both of you are thankful for. Keep it simple! After a few suggestions, sit together and begin to print an “I Am Thankful For… book. Depending on the age of the children, the book can either be dictated or printed by the children. Children just beginning to print can tell you the words. You can carefully print them on paper, and they can copy the proper spelling and letter formation.

  Keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, help your child trace their handprint to make a turkey outline on a few sheets of paper or plates. The thumb curves away from the fingers to make a head. This is a good time to talk about the makeup of turkeys with very young children. Turkeys have two wings and legs. They have a flap of skin on their necks called a wattle. Since they have feathers they are birds.

  Young children can print one word on each turkey that represents something to be thankful for. Some children will attempt sounds they know, others can write the whole word or short sentence while younger ones need to dictate the words to you. Make the printing big.   Staple pages together and add duct tape over them to bind. Then children can illustrate their book.

  After completing several pages, add a cover and assemble the book. Parents and grandparents might want to make a cover for the booklet with a simple title and child’s name on the front. Now you are ready to cuddle and share this book your children can read and add it to your storybook collection.

How Does This Help Your Child?

   Writing involves creative thinking. Forming letters correctly, tracing and coloring all help develop fine motor skills. This also models the idea that writing has a purpose.

What Else Can I Do? A good book for a read aloud is “I’m Thankful Each Day” by P.K. Hallinan. Use this idea to write books throughout the year. A rainy day book might be a part of a discussion how plants grow.

Original article by Jean Hettrick and Iris Katers. Photos by Pics 4 Learning

For more activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com. 

Listen to thisactivity online at the WNMU Podcasts

Easy Cooking with Children

It’s a fun time in the kitchen whenever children and adults cook together. Cooking is a great way to teach math and spend time conversing about ordinary things.  Cooking together is a great way to help children learn to focus, bring families together, and reduce the stress of childcare. 

What to Do:

  (Check that young children involved are not allergic to peanuts before using these recipes. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests waiting until age three to introduce nut products. Consult with your doctor.)

  Edible clay with peanut or almond butter is fun and easy to make.  The mixture works well to design edible Halloween pumpkin decorations. This is also a good activity for birthday parties. Try it out before a party to get the right consistency with your favorite nut butter. 

  Check that everyone washes hands well before cooking.  Measure equal amounts of smooth peanut butter and dry powdered milk.  Stir in a little at a time and mix together.

  Slowly add honey until the mixture is the thickness of clay. If it’s too wet add more dry milk.  If it is too dry add a little honey. Mold the mixture into animals, monsters, or pumpkins.  Children may decorate with raisins, sunflower seeds, small candies, sprinkles, frosting, or brush on cocoa powder based on how nutritious you want to keep the project. When finished you can eat immediately or refrigerate for a short time. Everyone helps clean up.

What Else Can We Do?

   Here are two other nutritious recipes made with any nut butter. A delicious toast topper is three tablespoons of raisins, five tablespoons of nut butter, and two tablespoons of orange juice. Make another spread from a mashed banana, tablespoon of nut butter, and a little maple syrup, if desired. Help children measure and stir into a small bowl. Then children can spread the mixture on hot toast. Although sometimes messy, stirring and spreading are good for eye hand coordination and building small muscles in fingers and hands. 

How Does This Help Children?

 Cooking teaches math skills like measuring, fractions, halving and doubling. Everyone loves this kind of math assignment!  Although stirring a peanut butter mixture may be too difficult for little hands, children can knead the mixture and use it to create like any other clay. Kneading helps children build strong fingers for printing letters. Cooking with adults helps children learn to carry on conversations and follow directions. Turn off media distractions to help them focus.

   Your library has loads of children’s cooking books, especially for choosy eaters.

Illustration by Mark Nowicki

For more activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com. 

Listen to this activity online at the WNMU Podcasts

 

Help Children Observe Like Scientists

 Did you know that 35% of grandparents provide childcare three or more times a week or are raising their grandchildren? To help parents and young children get some vitamin D and exercise, experts are suggesting science walks. Children also expand their observation skills, vocabulary and walks relieve stress. It’s a great time to teach observation through the concepts of “living” and “non-living.”

Materials:

  A small drawing and writing notebook, paper, crayons, magazines, scissors and glue

What to do:

  After walking for a while, find a spot where you’ll see both plants and animals. Explain that living things move, grow, and reproduce themselves.  Together list and draw things children see that they think are alive.  Explain that plants and animals are both alive, but they move and grow and reproduce in different ways. .

  Pick up a rock and ask your children if it is living or not living.  Make sure they understand that a rock cannot be alive because it cannot move, grow by itself, or reproduce itself. Ask them to tell you something else that is not living like a swing set.

What else can you do?

  When you return home staple together several pieces of paper to make a book.   Find five or six pictures of living or non-living things in magazines and cut them out in large circle shapes.   Write a simple sentence on each page. “A robin is living. A rock is not living.”

After gluing each picture on the appropriate page, read the book together.  Young children love “reading” along, knowing what each page says because of the picture.

How will this help my child?

  Your children will begin to think like scientists as they question, observe, collect, and discuss with adults. Science discussion expands their vocabulary and helps them with reading. Cutting and gluing are good small motor activities to strengthen fingers. The best thing of all is the book you both have created.  Your little ones will be able to read it and explain concepts they have learned.
photo: http://www.pics4learning.com/details.php?img=toad03.jpg  

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For more fall activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com.
Listen to this activity online at the WNMU Podcasts