Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

june, 2010, wednesday, tuesday, monday, reading, and, friday, blog, our, button, day, of, for, love, getting, ready, to, read, year, olds, pages, welcome, 30, 29, 28, 25, thursday, 24, 23, 22, 21, 16, 14, linkwithin, followers, subscribe, get, email, updates, labels, age, ranges, helpful, books, outside, links, archive, grab, awards, american, flag, pattern, acvitity, library, star, sponge, painting, it, all, about, perspective, summer, bridge, activities, four, types, developing, skills, kindergartners, sidewalk, chalk, notes, sorry, the, quietness, father, gift, book, promoting, writing, readiness, how, are, they, alike, sand, letters, drop, ladybug, strawberry, letter, review,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (317), and (209), you (131), child (110), for (108), your (105), that (81), this (75), with (70), have (58), read (56), share (54), can (54), are (53), books (50), #reading (49), book (46), them (41), they (40), day (37), out (37), words (35), about (30), some (30), she (30), year (29), like (28), letters (27), time (27), her (27), all (25), what (24), from (23), one (23), will (22), but (22), their (22), learning (21), word (21), library (20), june (20), love (19), children (19), email (19), comments (19), also (19), old (19), know (19), when (19), how (18), 2010 (18), write (18), pinterest (18), labels (18), posted (18), not (18), just (18), skills (17), get (17), facebook (17), blogthis (17), was (17), don (17), then (17), him (17), activities (16), kids (16), practice (16), make (16), activity (16), help (16), things (16), story (16), our (15), even (15), paper (15), writing (14), there (14), these (14), use (14), first (14), list (14), own (14), knows (14), simple (13), summer (13), literacy (12), home (12), many (12), valerie (12), little (12), right (12), his (12), aloud (12), give (12), few (11), sound (11), great (11), need (11), plowman (11), through (11), would (11), each (11), every (11), while (11), down (11), encourage (11), page (11), pipe (11), sand (10), links (10), way (10), ask (10), more (10), cut (10), see (10), daddy (10), blog (9), ready (9), olds (9), school (9), toddler (9), play (9), new (9), alphabet (9), older (9), say (9), only (9), could (9), had (9), try (9), different (9), pictures (9), over (9), let (9), tell (9), stories (9), keep (9), cleaner (9), may (8), letter (8), father (8), fun (8), talk (8), quiet (8), take (8), well (8), start (8), been (8), white (8), put (8), together (8), than (8), getting (7), outside (7), preschooler (7), months (7), week (7), still (7), too (7), idea (7), mind (7), house (7), same (7), very (7), sometimes (7), during (7), readers (7), stroller (7), inches (7), strawberry (6), chalk (6), sponge (6), busy (6), stars (6), rhymes (6), kindergarten (6), truck (6), raegan (6), level (6), name (6), parent (6), done (6), now (6), pieces (6), into (6), off (6), here (6), month (6), any (6), around (6), once (6), red (6), parents (6), voices (6), again (6), tools (6), post (6), where (6), three (6), part (6), sure (6), why (6), series (6), today (6), look (6), find (6), button (5), sidewalk (5), four (5), star (5), teach (5), pre (5), age (5), tips (5), teacher (5), patterns (5), food (5), fall (5), posts (5), easy (5), made (5), small (5), wednesday (5), work (5), learn (5), simply (5), brayden (5), cookie (5), monday (5), looking (5), lot (5), should (5), names (5), print (5), left (5), okay (5), include (5), minutes (5), answers (5), asked (5), other (5), most (5), ideas (5), before (5), uses (5), sounds (5), grade (5), who (5), suggestions (5), good (5), struggle (5), being (5), award (4), com (4), september (4), october (4), november (4), december (4), january (4), february (4), april (4), perspective (4), painting (4), american (4), flag (4), pattern (4), july (4), preschool (4), family (4), baby (4), shapes (4), sensory (4), life (4), lady (4), holidays (4), motor (4), got (4), days (4), makes (4), which (4), tuesday (4), girls (4), onto (4), head (4), top (4), half (4), supplies (4), buttons (4), stuck (4), enough (4), think (4), something (4), kaitlyn (4), using (4), thinking (4), two (4), really (4), come (4), fill (4), important (4), hard (4), needs (4), did (4), spoken (4), last (4), sentence (4), isn (4), tool (4), gets (4), enjoy (4), means (4), doing (4), because (4), wrote (4), husband (4), loved (4), has (4), allow (4), pretend (4), watch (4), point (4), loud (4), grocery (4), written (4), next (4), www (4), check (4), paint (4), hot (4), free (4), solution (4), blogger (3), march (3), review (3), ladybug (3), alike (3), readiness (3), gift (3), notes (3), types (3), august (3), art (3), toddlers (3), trying (3), years (3), tried (3), true (3), texture (3), snacks (3), mom (3), scissors (3), quick (3), bears (3), planning (3), insects (3), independence (3), heart (3), games (3), fire (3), fine (3), seuss (3), cutting (3), colors (3), coloring (3), cars (3), back (3), animals (3), atom (3), materials (3), needed (3), set (3), teaching (3), bag (3), skill (3), starts (3), beginning (3), end (3), begins (3), instructions (3), push (3), strawberries (3), gave (3), daughter (3), color (3), lid (3), since (3), doesn (3), store (3), thought (3), least (3), friday (3), lowercase (3), provide (3), does (3), those (3), inside (3), similar (3), jelly (3), etc (3), objects (3), hang (3), both (3), yes (3), much (3), comment (3), single (3), spend (3), often (3), between (3), show (3), track (3), note (3), such (3), develop (3), strong (3), man (3), people (3), separate (3), pretty (3), repetition (3), night (3), felt (3), favorite (3), happen (3), process (3), pages (3), affirmation (3), national (3), institute (3), hold (3), parts (3), signs (3), street (3), introduce (3), going (3), computer (3), goal (3), want (3), writes (3), order (3), students (3), independently (3), range (3), reads (3), blue (3), bible (3), copy (3), bear (3), fly (3), guided (3), meaning (3), cover (3), themselves (3), online (3), kid (3), stay (3), bins (3), probably (3), remember (3), table (3), shape (3), nap (3), leave (3), place (3), walk (3), hands (3), pull (3), sit (3), handle (3), trip (3), behavior (3), voice (3), else (3), forgetting (3), usually (3), stripes (3), theme (2), powered (2), second (2), lemonade (2), stand (2), awards (2), http (2), drop (2), promoting (2), sorry (2), quietness (2), developing (2), kindergartners (2), bridge (2), acvitity (2), science (2), montessori (2), middle (2), math (2), literature (2), gradeschool (2), trish (2), kuffner (2), siblings (2), helpful (2), ranges (2), winter (2), themed (2), teeth (2), teachers (2), sorting (2), songs (2), snow (2), sitting (2), sight (2), service (2), rhyming (2), recipes (2), rain (2), practical (2), organization (2), nursery (2), numbers (2), leaves (2), language (2), bugs (2), car (2), history (2), fabulous (2), elementary (2), eggs (2), easter (2), curriculum (2), crafts (2), counting (2), candy (2), calendar (2), butterfly (2), lists (2), past (2), beach (2), baking (2), cooking (2), subscribe (2), foam (2), bucket (2), took (2), turns (2), pulling (2), whether (2), capital (2), case (2), taking (2), resource (2), continue (2), licorice (2), chocolate (2), chips (2), press (2), toothpick (2), remove (2), blueberries (2), string (2), ingredients (2), bunch (2), size (2), frustrating (2), used (2), opening (2), large (2), hole (2), big (2), challenging (2), side (2), tape (2), helped (2), jar (2), works (2), clean (2), cream (2), container (2), hand (2), eye (2), perhaps (2), listening (2), came (2), spell (2), upper (2), beyond (2), involve (2), straight (2), lines (2), wanted (2), turned (2), almost (2), bags (2), items (2), stuffed (2), jellybeans (2), bad (2), given (2), aren (2), example (2), truly (2), anything (2), adding (2), said (2), uppercase (2), illustrate (2), act (2), drawing (2), won (2), without (2), necessary (2), crayons (2), saying (2), events (2), confusing (2), surface (2), full (2), completion (2), stop (2), phrase (2), green (2), recognition (2), were (2), though (2), retell (2), familiar (2), vocabulary (2), seems (2), soon (2), early (2), daily (2), piece (2), extra (2), several (2), version (2), interested (2), went (2), photos (2), picture (2), others (2), myself (2), figure (2), started (2), reader (2), shared (2), best (2), checklist (2), nice (2), listen (2), pretends (2), lay (2), pick (2), patient (2), looks (2), scribbles (2), questions (2), choose (2), interesting (2), boat (2), hear (2), kind (2), crashed (2), always (2), weather (2), neighbor (2), might (2), decorated (2), run (2), decided (2), difference (2), real (2), nonfiction (2), authors (2), text (2), already (2), understand (2), begin (2), break (2), welcome (2), keeping (2), especially (2), guide (2), yet (2), 3rd (2), above (2), please (2), classic (2), island (2), treasure (2), chronicles (2), narnia (2), tales (2), within (2), capabilities (2), sits (2), join (2), brown (2), hungry (2), ones (2), younger (2), difficult (2), cannot (2), remind (2), long (2), butter (2), whole (2), space (2), clues (2), yourself (2), geared (2), towards (2), board (2), item (2), guest (2), cards (2), must (2), choosing (2), content (2), fast (2), confidence (2), deal (2), likely (2), independent (2), entire (2), possibly (2), challenge (2), possible (2), glue (2), marker (2), tons (2), homemade (2), never (2), mention (2), haven (2), spent (2), sandwich (2), hat (2), messy (2), plate (2), prep (2), heat (2), after (2), city (2), stress (2), stressful (2), weekly (2), shopping (2), ahead (2), control (2), expect (2), blocks (2), snack (2), close (2), checking (2), decision (2), disobedience (2), possibility (2), area (2), low (2), cleaners (2), draw (2), construction (2), outstanding, encanta, versatile, sunshine, href, learningdevelopmentactivities, blogspot, style, border, none, img, alt, childrens, src, grab, 109, 2009, 208, 166, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, archive, high, lisa, hanson, heather, kempskie, preschoolers, gotta, marjorie, frank, disney, magazine, birth, zoo, yoga, workboxes, wood, watercolors, water, walks, vowels, valentines, umberella, tutorials, turkey, trees, traveling, trains, traditions, 127, capsule, unit, thanksgiving, television, teens, appreciation, talking, surviving, sun, setback, successful, patrick, spring, sports, spiders, social, snowman, sledding, sheep, shadows, self, image, seasons, santa, rubbings, round, religion, reindeer, rainy, rainbow, pumpkins, pta, pto, pretoddler, president, 133, positions, polar, playgroups, phonics, penguins, olympics, ocean, nature, native, americans, music, museum, multiple, mothers, morals, monster, money, memorial, matching, magnets, lamb, labor, imaginative, homeschool, hiking, health, halloween, groundhog, gross, gratitude, graph, gluing, glitter, gingerbread, gifts, garden, flowers, fish, safety, fighters, feelings, face, evergreen, emotions, elephant, earth, dress, diorama, dinosaur, dancing, culture, cornucopia, clouds, christmas, chores, chinese, chick, cause, effect, caterpiller, camping, building, bubbles, reviews, blast, birds, bicycle, beads, bath, balls, babestotsandkids, apple, enter, feedblitz, preview, updates, followers, linkwithin, newer, bathtub, reaching, closing, eyes, choices, depending, lower, evaluate, highly, recommend, useful, grows, sets, target, cute, neighborhood, ladybugs, included, treat, yummy, treats, six, legs, pointed, ends, spots, blueberry, leaving, inch, sticking, stem, wash, toothpicks, mini, trial, error, figured, orange, fit, slit, scissor, blade, wiggled, slight, covered, sharp, edge, flex, yogurt, sour, coordination, dexterity, concentration, shirts, tiny, seemingly, tinier, holes, mckenna, gain, its, fashion, variety, circles, harder, held, movement, sheet, dish, variations, flour, shaving, supposed, ever, stops, raining, planned, sunny, headed, behind, similarities, differences, creatively, beans, toys, silverware, socks, random, spoon, animal, surprised, sweet, basket, yellow, flavors, explain, giving, aaahhh, value, believe, comprehend, accomplish, son, attending, promote, naturally, bullet, overwhelmed, slowly, tracking, add, build, apparently, following, habit, sentences, dictates, scribe, thoughts, memories, lined, blank, unless, practices, pencils, markers, magazines, newspapers, reinforces, connection, follow, finger, illustrations, elements, characters, settings, sequence, helps, comprehension, critical, typically, noticed, comes, dog, whose, tow, arrives, dogs, dug, road, emptied, bone, unstuck, discuss, forward, key, handy, repeat, boyton, barnyard, dance, ham, rhyme, nights, twentieth, row, couldn, amazing, prone, verbatim, telling, powerful, fostering, growth, painful, giddy, knowing, beneficial, humor, engage, expressively, bedtime, routine, bed, printing, cardstock, laminate, bind, somehow, hopefully, kick, workdays, loves, appreciated, recognize, appreciate, obviously, complete, far, interview, scheduled, designated, mow, lawn, pushes, swing, answer, coming, girl, interviewing, sat, pen, finally, feels, sounded, ago, blogs, showing, valentine, 366, reasons, establishing, pamphlet, super, achievable, scribble, necessarily, flip, form, front, turn, wants, throughout, happening, contact, tells, paying, attention, bring, helping, preschooleer, definitely, involved, doable, nothing, connections, lives, lables, dumbing, notice, wtih, bit, including, pregnancy, slow, thanks, patience, seemed, sign, likes, driveway, kept, eat, dirt, according, seem, areas, lacking, homeschooling, opportunities, strikes, accomplished, listed, sections, previously, young, community, workers, mail, carrier, plays, speech, members, friends, correctly, fiction, poems, predicts, main, message, understands, illustrators, create, asks, follows, bottom, common, stands, recognizes, blend, listens, carefully, amanda, structured, advantage, beautiful, focus, realizing, presents, challenges, mostly, happily, maintaining, backslide, schools, allowing, convincing, however, reluctant, benefit, guidance, chooses, ren, lengthy, chapter, prairie, boxcar, black, beauty, dolphins, women, swiss, robinson, gulliver, travels, jungle, hobbit, peter, rabbit, dolittle, barely, lap, booklet, bolded, bright, refrains, repeated, readings, joins, chance, silly, wasn, afraid, wake, sandra, boynton, sing, songy, alexander, terrible, horrible, swallowed, mouse, spider, eric, carle, caterpillar, stole, prayers, requires, naptime, cuddle, observe, role, mentor, assistant, refrain, jumping, rescuing, becoming, impatient, awhile, ways, reach, pronounce, incorrectly, portion, easier, sense, context, model, dictionary, bookmark, later, bob, leveled, libraries, carry, copies, inexpensively, amazon, printable, booklets, hubbardscupboard, org, printable_booklets, html, starfall, babies, fairy, cook, recipe, helper, cart, party, grandparents, cousins, hunt, clue, hidden, finds, surprise, completely, preferably, careful, monitor, inappropriate, material, original, versions, whiz, frustrate, serve, purpose, increasing, fluency, speed, refusing, test, per, fewer, boosted, easily, magic, treehouse, saddle, club, comic, topics, popular, chicken, soup, soul, berenstein, thursday, able, blame, crash, warned, background, taught, certified, 6th, instilling, craft, overflow, cottonballs, pompoms, pipecleaners, utensil, known, ribbon, rope, literally, runeth, pop, guess, despises, yay, whoopee, mommy, dwarf, 800th, bliss, melt, weepy, puddle, chin, quivering, dispair, born, wonderful, crafting, hoping, hey, course, equivalent, plucking, nose, hairs, hasn, ill, touched, harm, tornado, wrecked, quality, peanut, hit, loaded, obscene, amount, exclaiming, hears, watches, world, watching, feeling, guilty, having, galore, kiddo, skipped, reason, aches, away, worry, change, war, peace, basics, quite, participate, assuming, mean, dip, dry, decorate, learned, pour, tablecloth, comfortable, freehand, cutter, tracing, knife, degrees, humidity, index, 100, 110, merely, kiddie, pool, relieve, beat, holed, instituted, daughters, utilize, county, chances, missing, grading, scale, maybe, jealousy, live, country, described, pros, outings, biggest, tip, hectic, tear, jerking, experience, base, minimize, eliminating, visits, entirely, instead, rarely, crazy, safe, working, crowded, mall, multi, tasking, worst, cases, practicing, importantly, waiting, patiently, respect, sharing, specific, verbal, commands, feel, tackle, everything, either, says, belts, toy, chosen, holding, antsy, due, plop, non, tray, double, allowed, provided, holds, until, otherwise, packed, rare, meal, limit, yup, less, abuses, privilege, walking, chair, aisles, floor, making, exactly, handcuff, shelves, game, plan, issues, reminders, mealtime, noisy, squeaky, across, restroom, knew, anywhere, sudden, pack, found, react, determines, tone, slide, fancy, nancy, selection, digging, duds, dud, someone, donate, retired, donated, caldecott, expensive, slip, memory, location, special, bin, printout, circled, cons, solutions, exposure, lots, genres, renewal, videos, dvds, separated, ours, programs, supervise, purchase, pay, fees, fee, membership, sooooo, baggie, occupied, facts, surrounding, corner, drew, herself, count, line, rectangle, crayon, internet, resources, click, label, topic, optimal, judge, appropriate, everyone, liked, subjects, themes,

Text of the page (random words):
al institute for literacy has a checklist for parents of 2 and 3 year olds for establishing literacy at home in the pamphlet literacy begins at home they say you are your child s first and most important teacher here is a checklist for you to help your 2 and 3 year olds get ready to read read with your child every day even if it is only for a few minutes encourage your child to bring his favorite books to you so you can read together point to pictures and name them out loud encourage your child to point to pictures while you read make eye contact with your child as you read aloud this tells you she is paying attention talk with your child throughout the day about things you are doing and things that are happening around you be patient when your child wants to read that same book over and over and over again encourage your child to lay with books let her pick them up flip them form front to back and turn the pages listen as your child pretends to read a book watch for him to hold the book go from page to page and say words not necessarily the right words just words allow your child to use paper and crayons to scribble make pictures and pretend to write to me this seems like a super simple list that is very achievable with the 2 3 year old children it is nice to see a simple list posted by valerie plowman at 1 00 am 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels literacy toddler monday june 14 2010 father s day gift book of love a week or so ago i wrote a post on one of my other blogs about showing love through words of affirmation one blog reader shared that her husband felt love best that way and that one year for valentine s day she gave him a calendar book with 366 reasons she loved him my husband also feels love through words of affirmation and i thought this sounded like a great idea for a father s day gift i started by interviewing my children i sat down with a piece of paper and a pen i asked them what do you like to do with daddy then i wrote down their answers i asked what do you like that daddy does for you i wrote down their answers finally i asked why do you love daddy for my little 14 month old i am coming up with her answers myself it isn t hard to figure out because she is such a daddy s girl the interview process took all of our scheduled learning time for the day i went through the lists and designated some for coloring pages and some for photos for some of their answers like i like to mow the lawn with daddy or i like when daddy pushes me on the swing i will put the answer down and put a picture of them doing that activity together for others we are coloring a picture of the activity this way he will have art work and pictures in his book of love this is obviously taking us several days to complete we are far from done but i wanted to share the idea with you now so you could do a version of your own if you are interested oh and i will be adding my own things in too i am printing four to a page on a piece of white cardstock i think when we are done i will laminate them all and then bind it somehow then he can have a small book of love he can take with him to work hopefully it can give him that extra kick to get him through his workdays he loves to know he is appreciated and this will help him see that we love him and that we recognize and appreciate all he does for us posted by valerie plowman at 1 00 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels father s day wednesday june 9 2010 promoting reading and writing readiness aaahhh reading i love reading i value reading so much i truly believe that if you can read and comprehend what you read you can accomplish anything if you can read about it you can learn about it the elementary school that my son will be attending this fall gave us parents a list of things to do to help promote reading and writing readiness in our children naturally i will comment on each bullet read aloud daily for at least 20 minutes this is so simple to make happen all you have to do is have reading stories part of your bedtime routine this means you have to make sure you start getting ready for bed early enough to include this read expressively use different voices use and enjoy humor in the stories to engage your child re read that favorite story this is a powerful tool for fostering vocabulary growth it also gets your child familiar with books and print children love repetition i know i know sometimes it almost seems painful to read that book again i have felt giddy on library day knowing we would soon have new books to read at night but the kids love it and it is beneficial for them have your child retell a familiar story there have been nights that i have had brayden read the story that we were reading for the twentieth night in a row even though as a three year old he couldn t read he got every single word right it was amazing if your child isn t prone to verbatim story telling that s okay have her tell the story in her own words encourage word play rhyme recognition sentence completion and word and phrase repetition as you read you can also do this as fun learning activities in the day word play can be confusing on the surface sometimes so i will do a separate post all on word play rhyming is pretty straight forward you can read books full of rhymes and you could also ask your child what rhymes with a key word in the story for sentence completion this is where reading that story over and over can come in handy you can start a sentence and then stop and let your child fill it in word and phrase repetition can be done by you but there are also a lot of books out there that repeat things in the story boyton books come to mind barnyard dance as well as seuss books green eggs and ham discuss the story with your child as you read note illustrations and story elements such as characters settings and sequence of events this helps develop strong comprehension and critical thinking skills there are typically pictures in a story that are not spoken in the words ask your child if he noticed one that comes to my mind is my truck is stuck the words of the story are about a man well a dog but a man whose truck is stuck different people try to help him and in the end a tow truck arrives the pictures show that a bunch of little dogs dug a hole in the road that got him stuck then then emptied every last bone from his truck while he tried to get unstuck use your finger to track the words you are reading this reinforces the connection between the words you are saying and the print on the page it will also show your child that we read left to right and how to follow lines down a page continue reading to your child once your child starts to read on his own he still needs to be read to each day use magazines and newspapers to cut out letters and pictures brayden did this often in preschool provide writing tools like large pencils crayons and markers your child won t learn to write unless he practices and he can t practice without the necessary tools provide lined paper and blank paper again your child needs tools to practice writing encourage drawing encourage your child to illustrate his thoughts and memories act as a scribe write sentences that your child dictates to you encourage your child to write and illustrate books encourage your child to write his first name now this is very important apparently have your child write his first letter capital with the following letters lowercase the teachers said they spend at least half the school year teaching the children to write their names this way it is so hard for them to get the children out of the habit of writing in all uppercase letters these are all simple right now don t get overwhelmed i know there is a lot here you don t have to do every single one of these things every single day some things like reading should be done every day many of these things can be done while you are reading the story start slowly start tracking the words as you read once you have that down start adding some voices work through the list and add things to your days to help your child build his reading and writing skills posted by valerie plowman at 1 00 am 1 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels literacy reading writing tuesday june 8 2010 how are they alike the idea behind this activity is to get your kids looking at similarities differences and thinking creatively use new words teaching your child words like similar different alike same materials paper bags items from around the house ex jelly beans toys silverware socks stuffed animals etc fill your bags with 2 items start simple like two jellybeans explain the words similar and different go first giving an example see these things what are they how are the the same or similar you re right they are both jellybeans candy sweet bad for your teeth given in your easter basket etc how are they different yes this one is red and this one is yellow they are also two different flavors and a different size aren t they try it with different objects once they get the hang of it try it with two random objects like a spoon and a stuffed animal once they really get the hang of it try it with 3 objects you may be surprised what they come up with posted by raegan at 12 00 am 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels patterns sorting monday june 7 2010 sand letters there are so many variations to this idea you can do this in flour shaving cream and sand just to name a few since it is summer time or supposed to be if it ever stops raining i thought a sand activity would be fun i have some beach sand in the house i planned on using but it turned out to be the first sunny day in almost a month so we headed outside supplies sand child container for sand if inside like a cookie sheet or baking dish activity have your child write letters in the sand for kaitlyn my 3 year old i had her write simple letters like h i l t e f letters that involve only straight lines she also does well with circles so i had her do o and q she wanted to try some harder letters and for those i held her hand and helped her make the movement for brayden my 5 year old i had him do any letter that came to mind and also had him spell words he can write all upper and lowercase letters on paper so this activity in its simple fashion is too easy for him but writing out simple words was just right it was an activity to provide variety and texture beyond simply writing on paper all the time for mckenna my 14 month old i had her just play in the sand and perhaps gain something simply by listening in on her siblings posted by valerie plowman at 1 00 am 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels alphabet child letters outside activities preschooler toddler friday june 4 2010 button drop here s an easy to store idea to practice hand eye coordination dexterity and concentration i thought of this as a way to help my 2 year old learn to button shirts or at least practice getting the tiny buttons in seemingly tinier holes materials a baby food jar works well since the lid doesn t flex you can still use a clean yogurt sour cream container as well buttons scissors tape i used the scissors to cut a slit in the top of the lid then i stuck the scissor blade in and wiggled it so it made a slight opening large enough only for the button to get in make the hole as big as you think will be challenging but not frustrating to your child i covered the side of the opening with tape just in case that helped take the sharp edge off the lid i gave my daughter a bunch of buttons and through trial and error she figured out that only the orange buttons would fit use only one color size if it could be frustrating for them then work up from there this is a great quiet time activity too posted by raegan at 12 00 am 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels fine motor skills wednesday june 2 2010 ladybug strawberry these cute girls in my neighborhood made some little books for my kids one of them was a book about ladybugs and included in it was some instructions on how t o make this strawberry ladybug treat supplies ingredients strawberries blueberries mini chocolate chips toothpicks string licorice instructions wash strawberries and blueberries remove stem and leaves from strawberries push a toothpick into the top of the strawberry leaving about half an inch sticking out press a blueberry onto the toothpick this is the head push the pointed ends of the chocolate chips into the strawberry for spots push six small pieces of licorice into the strawberry for legs now you have some yummy treats to talk about insects posted by valerie plowman at 1 00 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels insects lady bugs snacks tuesday june 1 2010 letter review a quick and easy way to review letters of the alphabet materials needed foam letters i got my bathtub set from target and i also have a few sets from my teaching days bucket or bag we took turns reaching in the bag closing our eyes and pulling out a letter you have choices on what to say depending on the skill level of your child you can ask for the letter name whether it s capital or lower case the sound it makes a word that starts with that letter or if it s at the beginning middle end of the alphabet this was great practice for taking turns and to have a quick way to evaluate which letters you need to practice more with your child foam letters are a great resource for a parent to have there are so many activities that can be done with them if you don t have a set i highly recommend them they ll continue to be useful even as your child grows and begins to read and write posted by raegan at 12 00 am 1 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels alphabet newer posts older posts home subscribe to posts atom linkwithin followers subscribe posts atom posts all comments atom all comments get email updates enter your email preview powered by feedblitz labels about us 7 alphabet 25 animals 8 apple 16 art 60 awards 4 babestotsandkids 1 baby 24 back to school 4 baking cooking 28 balls 1 bath 1 beach 2 beads 1 bears 1 bicycle 1 birds 1 blast from past 4 blog 7 book lists 22 book reviews 4 books 6 bubbles 2 building 1 butterfly 2 calendar 1 camping 1 candy 1 cars 3 caterpiller 3 cause and effect 2 chalk 1 chick 1 child 44 chinese new year 1 chores 4 christmas 33 clouds 1 coloring 3 colors 34 cornucopia 1 counting 10 crafts 13 culture 1 curriculum 1 cutting 2 dancing 1 dinosaur 4 diorama 1 dr seuss 1 dress up 1 earth day 2 easter 9 eggs 5 elementary 1 elephant 1 emotions 1 evergreen 1 fabulous fall 3 face painting 1 fall 42 family 1 father s day 5 feelings 1 fine motor skills 70 fire fighters 2 fire safety 3 fire truck 1 fish ...