February 13, 2013

How can I teach my preschooler how to correctly write letters? How can I make it fun for my kid to learn how to write letters?

Preschoolers can learn how to write letters in many different ways, but my favorite way to teach letter formation is through sensory experiences. To do this, you will need several different materials. First, you will need a letter formation prompt sheet. You can use the one designed by me or you can find another one that you like. Handwriting without Tears has a helpful prompt sheet.

As your child makes each letter, he or she should say the prompt out loud. After saying the prompt and making the letter, he will then make a small dot or press a sticker as he says the letter name. There is a video example at the end of this post. I choose two different sensory experiences each day to help my preschoolers learn how to write letters. First, they trace or make the letter with their finger and then they actually write the letter with a different writing utensil. Here are the 10 sensory writing activities that I use to teach correct letter formation. Each of them will be further explained below.

Tracing or Making the Letter

• Salt Tray
• White Crayon on Black Construction Paper
• Shaving Cream
• Puffy Paint Letter or Sandpaper Letter
• Play dough

Writing the Letter

• Chalk on Chalkboard
• Glow Slate
• Whiteboard
• Bathtub crayons
• Stay inside the Highlighter Lines

Salt Tray

Just fill a pie tin with enough salt to cover the bottom completely.

White Crayon on Black Construction paper

Write a letter with a white crayon on black construction paper and have your child trace the letter with his finger.

Shaving Cream

Pump a small amount of shaving cream inside of a small cookie sheet. Have your child spread the shaving cream around with his hand so that it covers the bottom of the cookie sheet.

Puffy Paint Letter or Sandpaper Letter

Use this puffy paint letter cards tutorial or, if you have sandpaper letters, use those.

Play dough

Have your child roll some play dough into a long roll. He will then use to make the letter. I usually have Little Bear put the letter on a alphabet play dough mat (like these snow playdough mats) for a reference to make the letter.

Chalk on Chalkboard

Have your child use chalk to write the letter on a small chalkboard.

Glow Slate

I got one of these glow slates from the dollar store. Your child can use the included “pen” to write the letters.

Whiteboard

When I do this with Little Bear, I have him write the letter on our whiteboard that hangs on the wall. This gives him practice writing on a vertical surface which is really great for development. With my preschool class, I just give each student an individual whiteboard (or piece of white construction paper inside a sheet protector).

Bathtub Crayons

Either buy bathtub crayons, or use this bathtub crayon tutorial. You child can write the letters on the wall of your bathtub, or he or she can just write on the back of a pie tin.

Stay inside the Highlighter Lines

Write the letter with a highlighter and make sure the line is somewhat thick. Have your preschooler write with a pen or pencil over the highlighter, taking care to stay in the lines.

These sensory activities have really helped Little Bear learn how to write letters. It is important for your child to say the prompt as he writes because that will help him associate the direction the pencil should move with the way the letter should look. Little Bear’s favorite activity is the shaving cream. He laughs every time he touches it. He also likes using the bathtub crayons because we usually go into the bathroom when he uses them and anything different from “normal” is always fun. These great sensory experiences have not only helped Little Bear learn how to write letters correctly, but they have made the process fun!

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

February 8, 2013

What are some fun items from the dollar store for Valentine’s Day? How can I survive this winter?!?

I am so excited that Valentine’s Day is coming. You know why? Because that means winter is a little closer to being OVER!!! Hallelujah! Okay, so winter is not my favorite time of year. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those people that is always waiting for the next season, but never happy in the current season. I love spring, summer, and fall. I just don’t like winter and Valentine’s Day means there is just over a month until the first day of spring!!

To keep me from withering up and dying from the ridiculous cold and gloomy weather, I made a trip to the dollar store. Luckily, it didn’t disappoint (does it ever?) and I found some pretty awesome Valentine’s Day items for this dollar store finds post.

Heart Picks: I saw these heart picks in a bag and immediately grabbed them. I knew I could do something great with them. I used them with Smiley Man on his Valentine’s tot trays, but I wanted to think of a way to use them for Little Bear, too. Well, these heart picks are perfect for putting little pony beads on, so I figured they would be perfect to practice patterns.

I sat down with Little Bear and told him we were going to make patterns on the heart picks. I told him I was going to do a pattern of dark pink, light pink, dark pink, light pink. I let him do whatever pattern he wanted. He started off with (I can’t remember what, I’ll edit this after I see the pictures:). Then he kind of just put beads on however he wanted. We did get some good pattern practice in, but Little Bear just liked putting the beads on. I was fine with that because it was great fine motor practice.

Decorative Hearts: When I first picked up this package of decorative hearts, I planned to simply hang the hearts up on our window. When I took the hearts out of the package, though, I had an epiphany. My kids didn’t have a Valentine’s Day gift to give their wonderful and amazing daddy. I thought they could decorate these hearts like a card and I would even let them use sharpies! Usually they get grounded for a year if they even look at sharpies (well, they get a consequence at least ;) ).

So, I sat them down and gave them a sharpie and a heart to decorate. They LOVED getting to use the sharpies. Anything off limits is always fun. I also traced each of their hands and wrote I Love Daddy on the Valentine. The boys were very proud of their artwork when they were finished, and I know that Mr. Remarkable is going to love them. He’s amazing!

I’ll probably have to take another trip or two to the dollar store to survive this winter, so stay tuned for more dollar store finds.

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

January 18, 2013

How do I make homemade bathtub crayons for my kids to use in the bath?

About a year ago, I was introduced to bathtub crayons. I was very intrigued by the concept that kids could play with crayons for the bath. Little Bear went through a stage in his life where he hated baths. Luckily, some fun bath toys quickly remedied that problem, but I wish I had known about bathtub crayons back then. He would have loved coloring while bathing. Plus, homemade crayons for the bath are made with soap. That means, little hands get extra clean when they play with bathtub crayons.

There are two kinds of bathtub crayons that I know of. The first are the store bought kind like these Crayola bathtub crayons, these Munchkins Bath Crayons, and these Endangered Species Bath Crayons. I have not used any of the store bought bathtub crayons, but I have heard they are tricky to clean up. Mostly I am too cheap to buy something that I can make homemade. So, I decided to make homemade bathtub crayons.

Here are the supplies needed:

• Glycerin Soap (I used less than ½ lb.)
• Pot for melting soap
• Something to stir the soap
• Water bottle ice cube tray (any type of ice cube tray will work. I specifically used the kind for water bottles because I wanted my bathtub crayons to actually be crayon-shaped.)
• Food Coloring
• Cooking Spray (optional)

First, cut your soap into small chunks. The soap I bought was already cut into chunks, so I skipped this step. My chunks were about 2”x1 ½ “x1”.

Next, put one soap chunk into your pot and put on very low heat. It will take about 5 minutes for the soap to melt completely.

While you are waiting for the soap to melt, spray cooking spray into the slots where you will be pouring the soap. This step is optional, but it does make it easier to remove the bathtub crayons after they have cooled. I forgot to do this for the first few bathtub crayons that I made and I was still able to remove them. However, they were MUCH easier to remove when I sprayed the ice cube tray with cooking spray first.

Add food coloring. I experimented with different amounts of food coloring and 20 drops seemed to be the ideal. The color of the crayons got darker and darker the more food coloring I added, until about 20 drops. After that they pretty much looked the same. The color is still kind of light on the bathtub walls, but it is still dark enough to see and my boys absolutely love them!

Next, stir the food coloring in.

This next step should be done very quickly with as little cooling of the soap as possible. Remove the pot from the stove and quickly pour the soap into the ice cube tray. My chunks of soap made about 1 ½ crayons in the water bottle ice cube trays.

Let the soap sit for about an hour while the soap hardens. If desired, make some more bathtub crayons.

Finally, use the bathtub crayons on your bathtub wall. As I mentioned before, the color of these homemade bathtub crayons is not very dark. It does show up though and both Little Bear and Smiley Man BEG to play with these crayons for the bath. I would not suggest making a yellow crayon. It will not really show up, no matter how much food coloring you add, so you might as well skip it altogether.

I wondered what would happen if they crayons were left in the tub for a while. Eventually they will fall apart so you don’t want to leave them in there for too long. This is what it looked like after about an hour sitting in the water (just so you know, it was a short crayon, only about an inch long).

One last thing, it is very easy to clean up after using these crayons for the bath. Simply get a washcloth, loofah, or even your hand wet with warm to hot water. Now, wipe the crayon off of the bathtub wall. Voila! Easy. I have even let the crayon sit on the wall for several days (certain masterpieces must be cherished longer, after all) and it was still just as easy to clean up. I love that these bathtub crayons are made with soap because I’m not worried about the color getting on skin or staying on the wall.

Plus, we use bathtub crayons for a really fun preschool activity. I’ll be posting about it in about a week so check back to see it.

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

January 1, 2013

What kinds of New Year’s resolutions should my preschooler set?

My new year’s resolutions this year are to lose weight and save money. Just kidding. ;) Those are the classic new year’s resolutions that have turned resolutions in general into a joke. It seems like every year people say the same thing and every year, they do nothing about it. Truth be told, I’m happy about my weight and I’m already pretty good at saving money. I also have some new year’s resolutions, but they are not as general as losing weight and saving money.

My new year’s resolutions are much more attainable because they are specific and realistic. For example, here is one of my resolutions: Start tot school with Smiley Man and teach him all the shapes and colors by the end of the year. Here is another resolution of mine: Have a garden with at least 3 types of vegetables and harvest and least 2 of the vegetables. See the difference?

I think that New Year’s resolutions for kids, and goal setting in general, is very beneficial. I also think it is important to start teaching Little Bear how to set realistic, specific, and attainable goals. Put those three things together and what do you get? A New Year’s Resolution printable for kids, of course!

I made this printable so I could help Little Bear set some goals. I wanted to teach him to set specific goals so I targeted three areas of his life that he could set goals for. Life, Home, and Fun. I might even have him make a goal for church, too.

Even though I will help Little Bear make some new year’s resolutions, these resolutions will not be a joke. I want to teach Little Bear that goal setting doesn’t just include writing the goal down. I will talk with Little Bear about steps he can take to accomplish the goals that he has set. I might even write a few of the steps on the back of the paper so that he can remember them better. Last of all, I will have Little Bear choose a place to hang his New Year’s resolutions paper so that it is prominent. I want him to remember his goals throughout the year so that he remembers to keep working on them.

Making new year’s resolutions for kids or adults can be a joke or it can be very beneficial. If you are making new year’s resolutions with your child, don’t forget to print off this New Year’s Resolutions for Kids printable. Just remember to set realistic, specific, and attainable goals. :)

If you have any ideas for New Year’s resolutions for kids we would love to hear them! Feel free to leave a comment or email us.

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