September 28, 2012

What activities can my toddler and preschool aged child do during General Conference? How can I keep my young children happy during General Conference?

Below are some activities that are meant to keep your toddler or preschool aged child busy and quiet during General Conference. If you would like to see more General Conference activities, go to the Toddler General Conference Activities page or the Preschool General Conference Activities page. Or, if you want, check out more information about LDS General Conference. Enjoy the activities!

Toddler General Conference Activities – Envelopes and Apostle Pictures

I saw an idea for a toddler busy bag that had envelopes with the child’s name on the front and a letter inside. I thought this was a really fun idea, but to make it more suitable for General Conference, I have altered it slightly. Instead, I turned it into a matching game. First, I printed off these pictures of the Prophet and Apostles. You will notice that there is a large and small picture of each apostle. There is a reason for that, just read on. ;) I cut out all of the pictures both large and small and separated the large and small pictures.

Now, I got 15 envelopes. On the front of each envelope I wrote the full name of the apostle including the title (Elder or President) where you would typically write the name and address if you were going to send a letter. Next to the name I put the picture of that apostle. I used contact paper to stick the picture on and to give the envelope a little more durability, but you can use tape or glue. Once I wrote all the names and put the correct pictures next to the names, I used contact paper to “laminate” the large pictures of the apostles and prophets. I have an overabundance of contact paper at my house and that is the only reason I used it. If you want you could just print the pictures on regular paper or print them on cardstock. You could leave them like that or cover them with contact paper or packing tape for durability. Or, if you want to make them last awhile, you can always laminate them.

The idea is that your toddler will take a large picture of an apostle and put it into the envelope that has the correct picture on the front. Your toddler is sure to have fun taking the pictures in and out of the envelopes. I considered putting a quote from each apostle on the back of their picture so that the envelope would actually have something written in it. There usually is writing in a letter after all. I may write the quotes as some point, but I haven’t decided yet. Smiley Man isn’t exactly old enough to read the quotes or care that there is or isn’t writing.

Preschool General Conference Activities – Cut and Paste Apostle Pictures

To complete this activity, you will need to print out the Cut and Paste Apostles page. The directions are on the page, but here they are again anyway. Simply have your child cut out each of the 15 pictures of the prophet and apostles. Next, have your child glue the correct picture on the correct name and number. If you have a second, you can explain that the apostles are ordered according to who has been in the Quorum of the 12 the longest. You can explain that President Monson is the prophet because he is the one that has been in the Quorum of the 12 the longest. Now, give your kid the scissors and enjoy listening to a General Conference talk.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

September 28, 2012

How can I keep my toddler busy so I can listen to General Conference? What activities can my preschooler do to stay quiet during General Conference?

Below are some activities that are meant to keep your toddler or preschool aged child busy and quiet during General Conference. If you would like to see more General Conference activities, go to the Toddler General Conference Activities page or the Preschool General Conference Activities page. Or, if you want, check out more information about LDS General Conference. Enjoy the activities!

Toddler General Conference Activities – Tearing Paper

Toddlers love to tear paper and it is a great fine motor activity. I am simply putting a few types of paper into a bag for Smiley Man and when General Conference comes I will let him tear up the paper to his heart’s content. I have tried to use lots of scrap paper so that I am minimizing waste, but I do have a few clean sheets of paper just so I could get a few different colors. I put regular printer paper in the bag along with construction paper and cardstock. I also put a glue stick in the bag. I will probably just show Smiley Man how to use the glue stick and then see if he uses it or not.

Preschool General Conference Activities – Sandpaper and Yarn

Sandpaper is a great way to play with yarn. You can put yarn on the sandpaper in a design and it will stay in place because it sticks to the sand paper. You can also pick the yarn up again and make a new design because the yarn doesn’t stick to the sand paper permanently. For this activity, I provided two pieces of sandpaper and several colors and sizes of yarn. I am also putting in several Sandpaper Cards for Little Bear to look at while he creates. These are all simple line drawings of things related to the scriptures and to our church. I am putting the cards in the bag so Little Bear can try to copy them with the yarn. However, if he just wants to make his own designs during General Conference, I will be happy. I just want to be able to listen to a talk during Conference without having to tell him what he should make next. :) Hopefully the cards I made will help with that.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

September 28, 2012

What are some ways to keep my young children still during General Conference? How can I listen to General Conference if I have a toddler and a preschooler?

Below are some activities that are meant to keep your toddler or preschool aged child busy and quiet during General Conference. If you would like to see more General Conference activities, go to the Toddler General Conference Activities page or the Preschool General Conference Activities page. Or, if you want, check out more information about LDS General Conference. Enjoy the activities!

Toddler General Conference Activities – Pipe Cleaners in a tall container

I have seen so many variations of this activity from so many different sources I don’t know who to credit. Just go to Pinterest and search “pipe cleaners Pringles can” and consider all of those links as people I am crediting, okay? This activity is really simple. Just get a tall container with a lid that your toddler can remove. Pringles cans work well, but so do a lot of containers. I used a great value container of bread crumbs because that is what we had.

Now, use a hole punch to punch holes in the lid all the way around. I wanted my holes a little bigger because I tried this activity with Smiley Man once and he didn’t quite have the coordination that the little holes took. To make bigger holes, I just hole punched three times in almost the same spot so that the holes were a little bigger. Now, put the lid on the container and give it to your toddler along with the pipe cleaners. The idea is to push the pipe cleaners through the holes.

I think a Pringles can is tall enough that a pipe cleaner will fit upright in the container. My container was not quite tall enough, but I wanted my pipe cleaners a little sturdier anyway. To fix both of these problems, I folded the pipe cleaner in half and twisted it all up. Now the pipe cleaners are sturdier and they fit upright in my container. You can also add hole reinforcers to the hole punched holes and color them to match your pipe cleaners. This turns the activity into a color matching game as well. Smiley Man is not ready for this variation, but if your toddler is older he or she might be.

Preschool General Conference Activities – Word Hunt worksheets

Little Bear has been doing some great sight word search worksheets that I found from confessionsofahomeschooler.com. I figured I could make some of my own word hunt worksheets that were a little bit more related to General Conference. Don’t be discouraged by the big words. Little Bear is only 4 and as far as I know cannot actually read any of these words. He is getting really good at recognizing words though, even if he can’t read them, so I’m confident he will be able to do this activity without much help.

At the top of each of the General Conference word hunt worksheets, there is a word. Little Bear will look at that word at the top and then try to find all the rest of that word on the rest of the worksheet. There are two worksheets per page so be sure to cut the worksheets apart before giving them to your preschooler. You can have your toddler use a crayon, a marker, or a do-a-dot marker to mark the words. If you want, you could even have them mark the word with a Cheerio, M&M, or with a dried bean. Be creative! :)

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

September 27, 2012

What activities can my toddler do during General Conference? How can I keep my preschooler busy during General Conference?

Below are some activities that are meant to keep your toddler or preschool aged child busy and quiet during General Conference. If you would like to see more General Conference activities, go to the Toddler General Conference Activities page or the Preschool General Conference Activities page. Or, if you want, check out more information about LDS General Conference. Enjoy the activities!

Toddler General Conference Activities – Popsicle sticks in a milk jug

Popsicle sticks in a milk jug, the name pretty much says it all. Get some popsicle sticks and an empty milk jug and give them to your toddler. Your toddler will have fun putting the popsicle sticks into the milk jug and dumping them back out again. Smiley Man loves the sound that the popsicle sticks make when they hit the bottom of the milk jug (don’t worry, it’s not too loud so it shouldn’t be too bothersome during a General Conference talk). He also loves dumping those popsicle sticks out again. And he just does it over and over and over and over again. Toddlers love repetition.

I painted the popsicle sticks lots of different colors mostly because I felt that just giving my toddler popsicle sticks and a milk jug was too easy. As if there is such a thing. ;) He does like having the colored popsicle sticks, but I’m sure he would love it just as much if the popsicle sticks were plain. You could also use a water bottle or juice bottle in place of the milk jug, but as I mentioned in another post, we go through a lot of milk around here so that’s what I used. (In these photos, the girls colored the popsicle sticks with markers before the activity.)

Preschool General Conference Activities – Magnet Page

I made some Apostle Magnet Pages for Little Bear to do during General Conference. There is a different page for each of the 15 prophets and apostles. However, I will only be using half of them for this activity. The other half I will be using as do-a-dot pages which I will explain in a future post.

So, how can your preschooler use these magnet pages? You will need several small magnets that are circular and colorful. I made mine using craft pom poms and stick on magnet strips. I simply cut the magnet strips into small squares that would fit on the pom poms and then I hot glued one magnet square to one pom pom. I made about 60, but you will only need about 30 per page. Since Little Bear will only be doing one page at a time, 30 magnets total should be plenty.

To complete the activity page, put the activity page on a cookie sheet and have your preschooler use the magnets to complete the first letter of the apostle’s name. Once they have done that, let them use the rest of the magnets to decorate the apostle’s tie. When they have finished with one apostle, have them move all of the magnets to the side of the cookie sheet and start over with another apostle. You could also use colored circle stickers for this activity or even markers and crayons to color in the circles. Little Bear doesn’t really like coloring, but he loves using magnets so that is what he’ll be using. Again, we are only using 7 of the magnet pages for this activity. We will be doing something different with the other 8 pages so look ahead for the do-a-dot activity.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

September 27, 2012

What are some activities my toddler can do during General Conference? How can I keep my preschool aged child attentive during General Conference?

Below are some activities that are meant to keep your toddler or preschool aged child busy and quiet during General Conference. If you would like to see more General Conference activities, go to the Toddler General Conference Activities page or the Preschool General Conference Activities page. Or, if you want, check out more information about LDS General Conference. Enjoy the activities!

Toddler General Conference Activities – Blocks and a Basket

This activity bag will only include two things: wooden alphabet blocks and a basket that they fit inside. Smiley Man loves playing with our wooden blocks, but since they make such a mess, I hardly ever get them out. That will make them extra special for General Conference. I am adding a basket to use with the blocks, just so Smiley Man can put the blocks in the basket and mostly so he can dump them out again. Every toddler I know loves to dump stuff out. :)

Preschool General Conference Activities – Shower Curtain Car Town

I don’t know about you, but my kids have a huge assortment of toy cars. They just can’t get enough of them. I should also mention that Smiley Man started making sound effects with a car long before he ever tried saying a word. Yes, that is true. Little Bear taught his younger brother well. :) Since my boys love their cars so much, I was looking for new ways that they could play with them.  I found this AMAZING idea for a shower curtain play mat from allmylittlegems.com. I decided to make a car town play mat just for General Conference and then my kids could continue to enjoy it after Conference.

I used a can of cooking spray and taped a sharpie marker on either side of it to draw the roads. That made it so all the roads were the same size. Also, I drew all the places on the play mat rather than printing the logos of stores that we go to. I mostly did that to save some ink. ;) I used black sharpie markers for all of the roads and outlines of buildings. I used crayons to color inside the buildings and the  crayons colored nicely on the shower curtain. I drew a church, a temple, (it is for General Conference after all), a school, a park, a grocery store, an arcade, a zoo, a police station, a library, and several houses. I also added in some stop signs, trees, etc. to liven it up a bit. If you have girls you could do something similar with a doll or pony town, too.

In our trial run, the shower curtain moved around every time the boys did. I plan to use packing tape or masking tape to keep the edges down while Little Bear is playing on it during General Conference. If that doesn’t work, I can always bust out the duct tape. You know what they say, duct tape never faileth. ;)

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me