Calm Down Jar

Let's face it... Every toddler (and adult) has a moment of distress, anger, sadness, disgust, etc... With a limited vocabulary, toddlers can find it hard to communicate effectively, which can cause tantrums, meltdowns, screaming, fights, etc.. It's not always easy for them to calm down in a heated situation, and I am not a fan of time outs as I feel that they push kids away instead of bringing them closer. Time outs can also become an angry battle, and kids often need acceptance and their feelings validated. Us adults do too!! Toddlers' minds are still developing, and sometimes all they need is something calming so that they can think clearly and regroup. Hey, we all need that sometimes, right? I made a calm down jar which simply helps diffuse a toddler's anger and soothe them. The idea is to shake it and watch the rice fall, or flip the jar up and down to watch the rice fall.

Here is an excellent link on positive parenting and brain development:
http://www.positive-parents.org/2011/06/positive-parenting-what-why-how_15.html?m=1



Here's what you need:
1 jar (plastic or glass)
1 cup of rice
4 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of dish soap
2 tablespoons of glitter
8 drops of food coloring

Once you put all of the ingredients in the jar, glue the lid on and shake to mix up everything. Now you have a calm down jar!!

So the next time your toddler is getting upset, give them the calm down jar and help diffuse their anger by showing them how to flip the jar to watch the rice fall.. Once they understand the concept, they can automatically go to the jar when they need to cool down.

My son is 16 months old, and I use this jar with him when he is having a rough time coping or calming down. It helps him regroup, collect his thoughts, and then he is able to continue his previous activity.

The calm down jar is also a good way to entertain kids (and adults) too! I love it!! :)

Happy Toast

Here's a fun way to make your child's toast exciting! Your toast will smile back at you!! All you need is a piece of bread, bananas, and two chocolate chips or raisins.

1. Toast the bread in the toaster on a low setting, between 1-3.

2. Then, add two slices of bananas for eyes, and put two chocolate chips (or raisins) in the center.

3. Cut a small half circle towards the bottom of the toast to represent the mouth.

4. Enjoy! :)

A chicken's life cycle

The life cycle of a chicken...


This is a simple and fun little lesson to do. It involves sequencing and putting things in the correct order. What came first?? This is an important concept for children to understand.

You can use this lesson for all ages, and it can become more elaborate as the kids get older. Young toddlers can do it too, but they will most likely need a lot of help. Young toddlers may not quite understand the concept yet, but it's never too early to practice sequencing, life cycles, etc...

My son is 16 months old, and he enjoyed this lesson.. He knows what eggs are, and he knows what chicks and chickens are, so I taught him the life cycle about them.

Let's face it... Every kid knows the song "Old McDonald had a Farm..." You can incorporate the song, the farm, and eggs and chickens all together for this lesson.

Here's what you need:
Cotton balls
Pom pom balls
Googly eyes
Glue
Red and orange paint
Grass
Feathers



Here's how you make it:

1. First, glue the grass down on the horizontal paper. Then add a cotton ball to represent the egg.
Note: Have your child do these things while you explain what each piece means.



2. Draw two arrows while your child is gluing two yellow pom poms in between the arrows to represent a baby chicken.


3. Paint your child's hand red, and stamp their handprint on the paper after the second arrow. This represents the adult chicken. Then with orange paint, have your child use their fingerprints for the legs and beak. Add googly eyes to the baby and adult chickens.

Note: Have your child do these things! It's great for sensory play and development.



4. Have your child glue a feather onto the handprint chicken. Give your paper a title, and help your child (if needed) print their name on the bottom.


This was an excellent mini lesson about how chickens grow up!

Baseball Week! Go Tigers!!

Wow!! We had a busy week learning about baseball! Since baseball season started, I thought we would have a baseball themed week. It was quite successful..

To start off baseball season, we made tiger handprints last week!


Here's a look at everything that we did this week:

Sunday:
We made baseball pancakes and baseball cookies both from scratch!! Both recipes are on my blog!

http://www.stephabethanie.blogspot.com/2014/03/baseball-pancakes_30.html

http://www.stephabethanie.blogspot.com/2014/03/baseball-cookies.html




Monday:
Because it was Opening Day, and the Detroit Tigers started playing today, we dressed in our Tiger gear and ate orange and blue pancakes for breakfast! They were delicious! I used the same recipe as the baseball pancakes too.





Tuesday:
We made baseballs using paper plates and red ribbon. I have a separate blog in this too. This was an excellent fine motor activity. We also colored the letter "B" for baseball. The original coloring page can be found on www.classbrain.com

Here is the how to on my blog:
http://www.stephabethanie.blogspot.com/2014/04/homemade-paper-plate-baseball.html




Wednesday:
We played catch on a baseball diamond! Harry loved it!! We also colored two baseball pictures. The original pictures can be found on www.321coloringpages.com and www.printableactivities.com





Thursday:
We made brown sugar paint, and we turned it into an edible baseball diamond! What fun!! The recipe is also on my blog too.
http://www.stephabethanie.blogspot.com/2014/04/brown-sugar-paint.html



Friday:
We made baseball using paper plates and red construction paper. I cut two long pieces on red construction paper and lots of little skinny short pieces to represent the stitching. Harry then glued them on to make his own baseball.


Books:
We also read a variety of books everyday which includes the following in the picture:


Fashion:
I painted my fingernails and toenails orange and blue for the Tigers!!


This was such a fun and exciting week!!!

Brown Sugar Paint

Mmmm... Here's another fun and simple recipe for edible paint.

Note: I don't let my son have edible paint all the time. He does eat healthy!!

Here's what you need:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup corn starch
Food coloring

Here's how you make it:
1. Mix the brown sugar, milk, and corn starch together.

2. Then add 8 drop of food coloring of your choice. We used green food coloring.


3. Enjoy!!! We added marshmallows and made an edible baseball diamond since we are having a baseball themed week! Harry loved it!!

Alphabet Eggs

Alphabet Eggs


It's fun to play matching games, and they are great for learning. I made alphabet eggs to help Harry learn his letters. It was easy to make and inexpensive! You need plastic Easter eggs and foam letters, which can be found at the Dollar Store.




Here's how you make it:
First, you write a letter on both halves of the eggs until you have 26 letter eggs.


Then, I hid the foam letters inside each egg to correspond to each egg.



How to play:
You can play the game in many ways!
1. You can take apart the eggs and have your child match the halves.
2. You can have your child match the foam letters to the eggs.
3. You can also just have your child discovered the foam letters that are inside each egg.
4. Or you can play any other way you think!

**Harry and I took apart a few eggs at a time and matched the letters to the correct egg. I did help him with it, but he loved it! It's a great way to learn!!**

Homemade Paper Plate Baseball

We made baseballs using paper plates. This is a excellent fine motor activity for kids, and it helps strengthened their hands.

Here's what you need:
Paper plates
Red ribbon
Knife

Here's how you make it:
1. First you cut the rim of the paper off of it.


2. Next poke four holes on two sides of the circle. You should have eight holes total.


3. Thread the red ribbon through on each side to represent the stitching of a baseball.



Here is Harry's completed baseball. Note: He is only 15.5 months old, so his baseball is not perfect. ;)