Pre Reading; Your child will learn the picture of the ABC letter and therefore be familiar by the time in school.

I wouldn’t say your toddler is going to read at three and understand what is read. However, a fun headstart at home can be a fun way to spend the afternoon.

For any daycare teachers reading my blog, you can help by building a scaffolded memory which will help lengthen focus time and fine motor skills in a fun and predictable way for you to plan. Help preschoolers and kindergartners remember the shape and sound of the ABCs with adorable letter of the week crafts.

To young children, a letter is just a symbol and has no meaning. The fun and adorable letter of the week crafts are a motivating way to solidify the association between sound and symbol.

Find a whole year’s worth of letter of the week crafts and please repeat them. Children love to know what their learning is used in the future lessons. You can use one simple and fun craft for each letter of the alphabet.

Find more on pinterest or make up your own using the local library in picture section and search the letter representing an animal or item you like, house (Halloween is a good time for H), that is fun for your child. Amplifying the lesson with a matching book makes this an activity and quality time spent with your child one to remember.

You’ll find some common word associations, like “A is for apple,” but you’ll also find some crafts that are further outside the box, like “L is for lamp.” Enjoy your quality time and local library.

Feeding Nutritional snacks to picky eaters will make some mothers want to pull out their hair.

When does a mother have time to grind baby food or arrange food into works of art? I will discuss easy to make foods, good for any baby or toddler. When your baby begins to eat regular food it becomes a scramble to find good foods that won’t end up on the floor or wall. My daughter was weaned from breast milk the day I had enough of her foot in my belly. Then, the excitement of making soft, but not too soft foods came into my repertoire. I blended cooked peas and carrots from scratch until I filled my empty containers and that was the end of my baby food grinding.

As a new mom, you are going to want to cater for the baby. Like most moms though, you will reach a breaking point.

One thing to keep in mind is to introduce one food at a time. The body needs to adjust and taste buds are developing slowly. Tooth development will determine how small to make the pieces. This is when you might find your mother in law super handy with advise. Cheerios and bananas are a staple food for most of my toddlers I have watched over the years.

As you figure out how your particular toddler eats, you are going to want to learn to experiment with some celery, peanut butter, and raisins to make insects, caterpillars, and ants on a log. The novelty and creativity is what the children will start to enjoy as their worlds slowly begin to expand. At this age, toddlers will tune into the story behind the peanut butter more than the taste.

So don’t hesitate to be creative with cherry tomato wings and a little white frosting with mini chocolate chips eyes on your vegetables. The flavor mixing is not what counts, its the story. Soon their imagination will rule your day.

Music Inspires Adults and Children Alike

Melissa Potts is mother, wife, and Daycare Director. Early Childhood professional with 20 years experience working with children.

Music is an active play experience that helps children grow in a multitude of avenues. They are connecting themselves to the world while connecting to others and using both sides of their brain. One side analyzing the math of music while the other side is listening to the words and sounds.

As I have worked with small children and parents, moms can have a huge impact by positively interacting with their children. One primetime usage of music could be simply singing along to the car radio. We all know how much time is wasted in vehicles driving to and from grocery stores, work, and school.

Children can learn about their body during music. One of my favorite musicians for kids songs CD is Dr. Jean. Kids love to get up and move. Also, repetition is highly beneficial since children are highly ritual responsive.

My Pinterest has homemade musical instruments ideas. Visit me at: https://pin.it/hxhammm5wxargb

Here is a few other suggested music tools:

35 Circle Time Songs and Chants that build Literacy Skills

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Crafts

The egg carton is a common household waste which is made up of Styrofoam or recycled paper but the later one is more environmentally friendly as Styrofoam is difficult to recycle. An egg carton can look really interesting once recycled and used in a different way.

Egg cartons can be used in many different ways instead of throwing it into the bin thinking it to be a scrap material. You may enquire your local primary or pre-school if they need any egg carton for craft projects. Even you can make some interesting handicrafts for your kid with the egg carton and teach them how to re-use a scrap material. Nowadays not only adults but also kids get involved in electronic gadgets and are severely addicted to them in such a way that they miss out these small pleasures of life. Let the creative side of your child speak. Egg cartons can be used for making many fun toys which your child would really love. Buying toys from any store and making your own toy really makes a great difference. Making toys using egg carton won’t take a long time. It’s really easy and interesting.

You can simply cut out the upper portions of the egg cartons, paint it with different colors and attach paper made wings or legs to it in order to give it the shape of any insect such as a bee or a bug. Not only this you can also make a pretty caterpillar using this carton. Simply upside- down the carton and paint it with bright colors then draw eyes on it and add color paper wrapped strings on its head to give it a perfect look.

It will look really amazing and your kid will definitely love it. Not only just these toys, you can also try out other toys as well like turtle, frog, crab and much more. Teaching your kids about recycling or using any scrap materials to make new products is a good habit. Nowadays many schools teach their students to reuse scrap materials in a new way and thus make them aware of nature’s limited resources.

Other uses of egg cartons

The plastic egg cartons can also be used as a seedling starter or trays for storing ice. It’s handy enough for keeping it small items like nuts, bolts, screws. It can be also used as package material when shipping goods. You can also use it for decorative purpose after painting it with bright colors. There are many modern DIY enthusiasts who wish to decorate their homes with hand-made products. You can paint the egg carton and make beautiful flowers for decorative purpose. Even you can make lamp shades, beautiful toys or you can use it for keeping small stuff while traveling.

Recycling is always an easy and healthy way to protect our environment and ensure the well-being of the generations to come. However, it depends on the seriousness of the community or the society in this regard. Natures resource are limited whereas human wants are unlimited hence the knowledge about recycling scrap materials or re-using it in an interesting way should be known to all.

Discovery through Science

I find that once children take an interest on wheels of vehicles they can easily transition to physics. It’s our job to present the right questions to engage the investigations about various preschool experiments like fast and slow, sink and float, and balls bouncing higher then slow down.

Children’s natural curiosity needs to be tended to as if it were a garden. Their thoughts are the flowers. They, like so many other lessons, should be introduced at the appropriate developmental time periods.

I find a successful succession of physics to be one that involves a start with rolling balls, then building blocks, next putting puzzles together, and then wheels on vehicles.

After the foundation has been built, the questioning can begin as children have some background knowledge to scaffold new information. Science can begin by developing their sense of discovery. Investigations, observations, and group experiments can prepare children to think. Mothers can teach their children Science.

Social Emotional Learning

Parents will soon develop a temperament of tolerance by the time their toddler is age two.

Group activity like this ball rolling event in parachute material is a goal for many mothers. They can only hope their child to make it a half hour without screaming or running around the room.

One starting point for group play is indendependent play. This is only one goal for toddlers. Play like this one can be an exciting and fun learning experience. The skills developed through independent play help to develop intentional curiosity.

A teacher can put a truck in front of a child or a child in front of a bunch of trucks, but if the child can not be curious about them,we can begin to see social problems emerge. A teacher can be a guide to play by posing questions about the trucks with repeated interaction. A role model teacher can establish and instill the investigative strategies about how to play by themselves and ultimately play well with other children.

Visit my Pinterest page for more hands on ideas!

https://pin.it/42c55bq2sbkwat