Hike in Leaves and Breathe Fresh Air

 Now is the time to get outside into the fresh air.  Although leaves are falling rapidly as days shorten, families have just enough time to teach young children the science and art of leaves with simple activities, everyday materials, and conversation.

  You’ll need a bagful of leaves, a paint brush or sponge, paper, five paper plates, a heavy book, white glue, and clear packing tape.

Collecting Leaves

   Take a walk and gather a variety of tree leaves, colors, and shapes like oak, maple, and willow. Then discuss how maple trees are shaped like an open hand whereas many oaks are tough, long, and thin with a few fingers sticking out. 

   Sort before the leaves curl and help children tape a sample leaf on five separate plates. For example: a yellow maple, brown maple, red maple, an oak, and one for damaged leaves. These leaves will label your plates. Now take out a few leaves at a time and help children place leaves on the plate that are similar to the label leaf.

Leaf’s Job

   Carry on a science conversation about attributes like color and shape. Explain why leaves turn from green to red, yellow, and brown. The leaf’s main job is to make sugar food for plants to live and grow. They manufacture with part of the air called carbon dioxide, sunlight, and the green chemical pigment chlorophyll in the leaves. There are many library books and free online videos to show this photosynthesis process to children.  The food is carried by the trunk to the roots and is stored for the winter. 

   As sunlight hours become shorter in October the work of the leaves slows down and a layer of cork cells forms across the base of the leaf and closes it off from the tree.  The water supply is cut off and it slowly dries and dies. As it dies the other colors that were there under the green like red, yellow, and orange show up.  A dry fall produces dull colors. A wet fall has vibrant colors. 

Leaf Art

  After sorting, place some leaves a thick book to press. Use paper towel sheets to keep leaves from touching book pages. You may first spray leaves with hair spray to help retain color. 

  After  a few days leaves will be flat enough for art.  Children may make bookmarks by gluing small leaves or leaflets on paper strips and covering both sides with clear packing tape for great gifts.   

  Children can also make rubbings by placing leaves under a paper and gently rubbing a flat peeled crayon over the leaf.  Veins will show up.  Dabbing paint around leaves placed on top of the paper will create a beautiful collage when the leaves are removed.

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Learning from Home and School Now

 Whether children are learning from home, school, or a combination about now is a good time to evaluate.  How is it going? How is the home study space working?  People who study this  have some suggestions to setup a learning space no matter what the environment. The key words are routine, organization, breaks, and flexibility.

Routine

 Whether it is a parent or other family member taking this on, experts suggest setting up every weekday like a school day whether the children are going to school full time, part time, or going to a spot in the home. Everyday plan for math, language arts, reading for relaxation, social studies, science, art music, and exercise. Get up, make the bed, clean up, dress up and eat breakfast. Start with the least favorite subject, break for snack, run around outside, and get back to work. Come back in and do the second favorite subject. Eat lunch, go outside. Read for twenty minutes in some way. Then do favorite subjects interrupted by a snack and break.

Finish when the usual school day is over and assess the day. What are three things that went well.  What is one thing that can be improved? Remember to give lots of praise even for tiny baby steps of growth.

Organization

  Reassess often. Is your plan working? Are you and the children getting our work finished in relative peace? Is there good lighting? Are they doing work at a table not sprawled on the couch? Can young children’s feet touch the floor?  Put a box under their feet if they cannot touch the floor. Children need about a 2x3 foot table space to call their own.

  Some children can learn certain subjects with others around. Sometimes they need absolute silence to think. Everyone agrees that the bedroom should be avoided because children will easily get off task and they are very adept at changing sites on the computer. Get in the habit of recharging the electronics every night.

  Bins and folders are handy for papers and materials Keep every paper in case you need to go back to something. All study materials should be handy including a water bottle to avoid distractions.

 Every child is different.  Some will need more breaks than others. A good run around the outside of the house a few times is a quick exercise break before getting back to business.

Breaks and Flexibility   Carrots work much better than sticks, an old teacher saying goes. Breaks and special activities at night and weekends are  good rewards. Have a family conference to decide what rewards you all need.  Most of the time children will choose special time playing games or doing outside recreation with adults

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Sketches: Mark Nowicki

Quiet Time Talks and Reassurance

What are some quiet easily managed activities you can set up especially during this difficult time?  You can talk together while doing some reading or art for starters. Sit together, do an activity, and model calmness. Listen to what they have to say. Use the 10 second rule before jumping in and help children focus on what they can control like wearing, masks, washing hands, and keeping a distance from others for a while. You can practice how to handle uncomfortable social situations, reassure, and practice routines.  

Reading

 Reading every day helps to quiet children and create normalcy.    Arrange to purchase or check out books and find library programs during this unprecedented time.

Painting with Water

  Use quiet activities to teach expectations and answer questions. Science walking can collect rocks of various colors, sizes, and shapes. At home, set young children up with a waterproof area and provide a small paintbrush and a bowl of water or Mod Podge.  Painting builds strong hand muscles to print letters.  Notice how the color shows up like magic.   A few can be kept in a pocket for holding the first day of school. 

 Pet Rocks  

   Help children use permanent markers to draw a face on the surface of favorite large rocks. Help them glue on a little yarn to make hair with small dots of glue to save glue. Teachers will love you. Can you think of a good name for each rock? Place the friends on your table, bookcase, garden or backpack.

Crayon Resist

  Use a crayon on paper to carefully print your young children’s names in big letters.   Use a capital for the first letter and lower case for the following letters.  Then use water with a little paint color to make a wash over the whole sheet.  The name will stand out and be a perfect door decoration or book cover for a whole series of pictures. You can see dots or dashes to outline names. Show children how to start at the top of each letter to correctly follow the dots to print their names. Praise what they can do. They’ll try their best.

 Favorite Pictures   

  Glue family photograph printouts to a paper decorated with favorite flowers, fruits, animals, vegetables, and toys.  Print a title on each, for example:” My Favorite People and Toys.” Talk with children about choices and use a marker to print the name of each item. This is a good activity to practice letters and beginning sounds of each word.  Staple the pages together to make a little comfort book. 

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Grandparents Stepping up to Fill Needs

 

“You don’t really know something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” -Einstein

 

Having grandkids is a blessing.  Helping to shape their lives is an honor. – Unknown

 

  Grandparents and other relatives are valuable assets to parents coping with and succeeding during this particular time in our history.  The United States has a history of everyone pulling together to keep the family safe and flourishing, especially the children. 

 Here are some suggestions from people in mental health and education.  First of all, keep in contact and stay alert.  Check in by phone, FaceTime, or Zoom weekly. Grandparents can ask parents how they can help.

Together

 Here are other suggestions. Reading and talking with children are soothing. If you are close by stop in, if appropriate, and read to young children with masks on or outside. You can  use FaceTime or Skype. Teens can show you how to set it up if you don’t already use it.  Arrange a time several times a week and read or tell stories.  Read a page and then turn around the book and show the pictures. 

  Once children can read, they can read to you. Grandparents need this soothing attention, too.   Every community library has its own rules for check out or you can purchase a few book gifts at a local store or online. Joke books are especially fun.   Rob Elliot has an excellent series.

  Search for positive hopeful stories from your religious books.  There are many children’s versions with illustrations. Then talk about the story.  What is the message?

Comfort

   Look for happy, loving stories for any age like “The Lion and the Mouse” by Jerry Pinkney, “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown and “Mama Miti” by Donna Jo Napoli. Give librarians a call to find science, history, fiction, mystery, sports, or biography chapter books about famous people. They may suggest a few. They may even have a service for you where they pick out books that you can pick up like a take- out restaurant or grocery. Each community library has different rules. However, universally librarians are very helpful people and are good friends to have. Give them a call. Children may also have their own suggestions.

Family 

  Grandparents can send some love packages.  Holidays may need to come in spurts and early this year. These packages may include new crayons, markers, coloring books, colored paper, a new version of Monopoly like the one on the National Parks (ages 8+), a game or puzzle and an envelope to send pictures back for your refrigerator.   Mental health people urge us to find a way to stay close with walks, talks, and bike rides in the fresh air and sunshine while still being cautious.  

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Photos: Fran Darling - fdarling fotos