Make Sock Puppets with a Tech Twist

Who doesn’t like puppets? Puppetry offers hours of creative fun. You can use materials around the house, but here’s the new Tech twist: grab your cell phone or electronic tablet and create puppet shows online. Then save your electronic puppet show as a video to post and share on Facebook or YouTube with others in your family.

Materials Needed:

Gather old, clean socks and markers. You also need glue, yarn, scissors, buttons, felt or cloth to create the face and other clothing on your puppet.  Check out garage sales or visit your local craft store for sale items.

 Go to the Internet iTunes links below to download the free Sock Puppet and Puppet Pals Apps to your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch.  Puppet Pals also has a full version with multiple characters and backgrounds for $2.99.  For Android phone & tablet users, use the Amazon link and search Puppet Show Apps.

Sock Puppet for iOS App http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sock-puppets/id394504903?mt=8 ; Puppet Pals  for iOS http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puppet-pals-hd/id342076546?mt=8

or search Amazon (www.Amazon.com) for the Puppet Show Android Apps by Bran Herman which costs $ .99

What to do:

Put a sock on your hand, pulling the tip of the sock into your palm to create the talking mouth.  Use the marker to mark the locations for two eyes above your knuckles. Glue the pieces of yarn to create hair, and buttons for eyes. Cut and glue on cloth for a scarf, hat or shirt.

Bring your puppet to life using different voices and puppet face movements to express feelings: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, etc. Your puppet can recite a poem, abc’s, counting, or sing a song. Make up stories with two puppets talking to each other.  This is a fun way for kids to use language and express emotions creating dialog and speaking through their puppets.

Save your stories and recitations as videos and share on Facebook or YouTube. Here you will be able to view your creation over and over.  Kids love repetition and seeing their creations online. For more advanced puppet shows, use the Puppet Pal app. Here are some tips and tricks for using these apps: http://blog.simplek12.com/education/socks-or-puppets/

What else can we do?
Read fairy tales and poems together and discuss how these stories develop. Do a Google search for puppetry videos online using key words “youtube kids puppets” (make sure to include the word “kids” in the search).

How does this help my children?

Puppetry helps develop language and writing skills where kids learn sequencing of events, and visual representation.  Development of emotional learning and communication skills occurs through creation of situations, laying the groundwork for future writing activities. 

Photo from Wikipedia Creative Commons Images at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sockbutterfly.jpg
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Download "Learning Through the Seasons"

 Learning Through the Seasons is now available in a downloadable version in many formats. Check it out at Smashwords

Scroll down to see all the available formats and directions to load them to your computer or device.

Taking a Science Walk in the Fall

  Have you heard the expression, “Young children are like sponges?” Research concludes this is really true for children between two and eight years old. Taking walks, collecting, and sorting give your young children a chance to appreciate the outdoors while improving fitness, building language, and absorbing science facts.

Materials:

  A bag, several paper plates, and glue

What to do:

  Take a walk outside.  Collect a variety of colorful leaves and put them in a bag.  As children collect leaves, talk about the different colors and shapes.  Some are rounded.  Some have points.  Conversations with adults are the keys to learning.

  At home sort out  similar colored leaves into piles.  Show how you glue a red leaf on one plate and a brown leaf on another.  Older children can work with three to five colors, so you may add orange, dark brown, and yellow, depending on the types of trees you see.

  Then pick a leaf out of the bag and decide together which plate has a matching leaf—red or brown.  Gently help as necessary to place and glue all matching leaves on the correct plate. All other leaves can go into a “no match” bag.

  Talk about the colors of all these leaves on each plate.  If children are working mostly alone to sort the leaves, check over the plates before gluing.   Stop when children lose interest or become tired.

How will this help my child?

  Matching and sorting are important pre-math skills.  Color recognition and naming the colors are expected in kindergarten. Gluing, like all other art related activities, builds small muscle skills in the fingers, as well as, eye-hand coordination.

What else can I do?

  Play a matching game with clothes.  For example, “Which color plate has leaves the same colors as an object in the room?”  Count the color plates you have completed while touching each one.  At the library, ask for books about leaves, fall or colors. There are many early science books that explain why leaves change color and fall. 
Illustration by Mark Nowicki.

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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

Our first podcast has been posted...

Click our podcast link to listen to a fun activity to do in the fall. It will engage and help your child/grandchild learn many valuable skills while enjoying all the sights and sounds of the fall season... Grandparents (and Parents) Teach, Too Podcast page
This podcast is an audio recording narrated by Iris Katers,  recorded and produced at the Public Radio 90 recording studios.

Many more to follow in the weeks ahead.

Pre-school Play: Flowers for Mother's Day

This is a great Spring activity to do with your preschool child or grandchild. It is from a wonderful blog called Pre-school Play that is filled with many, many activities for preschoolers. Click the link below and explore and enjoy.

Pre-school Play: Flowers for Mother's Day

Mom's Smoothie Fun

Published guidelines for nutrition caution that our children are eating too many salty and fatty “fast foods” and not enough healthy fruits and vegetables. The new food pyramid for nutrition emphasizes the importance of eating fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables to increase fiber and to decrease the dependence on sugary or salty meals. By involving children in nutritious food preparation like smoothies, adults are setting a good example and helping children learn about healthy eating. Check out Nutrition Information on the web , our Grandparents Teach, Too web site, and the authors’ book “Learning through the Seasons.”

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Blender, plastic knives, fruits, milk, low fat vanilla yogurt, (orange juice and honey or syrup optional)

WHAT TO DO:

Smoothies are almost like milk shakes, but they provide lots of fiber and vitamins. Make shopping for the ingredients part of the fun. Pick out some favorite fresh fruits like bananas, pineapple, or all kinds of berries with your children. Some people add a little Kale, but the color will change slightly. Frozen fruits can also be used. Talk about size, colors, shapes, and smells of the fruits, as you look them over.

At home, wash hands, fruits and then set out the ingredients you have chosen. Even the youngest helpers can count out a pile of berries, slice fruits, and add juice, milk, or yogurt. (Safety note: Watch children closely whenever blenders or processers are within reach.)

When everything is in the blender and the lid is in place, your child will love to press the button and watch the action. Here are two published recipes. Each makes about two cups.

Recipe one: ¾ C sliced strawberries, 1 sliced banana, ½ cup vanilla yogurt,1/4 C orange juice, a little honey or other sweetener if desired. Blend until very smooth, pour into glasses.

Recipe two: 1 C milk, ½ C fresh or frozen berries, 1 T honey, ½ C vanilla yogurt. As with most recipes you can cut the sweetener in half.

WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?

Many combinations of milk, juice and fruits can be used. You may add just a little bit of vegetable, not enough to really be tasted. Some people like to add crushed ice on a hot day. Children can help read, follow a recipe, and learn about measuring spoons and cups as you add the ingredients to the blender. They can figure out how to double the recipe.

HOW WILL THIS HELP MY CHILD?

While providing a nutritious snack, adults are building vocabulary, planning and following a recipe. Children learn about shopping and making healthy choices at a store. Pouring, measuring, cutting, and slicing help to develop fine muscle control in hands. Cooperating and having fun while cooking builds life-long interests and skills. Recipes are from “Better Food For Kids” by Joanne Saab.