Grocery Games

Grocery store trips are not always the funnest, especially when your child is screaming louder than the loudspeaker at the store. One way to have a better trip for you and them is to keep them entertained. These are some things that I thought of to keep kids busy while you are gathering the much needed grocery items.

Grocery Store Bingo- Make a bingo card with pictures of basic grocery store items for example milk, bread, cheese, apples, meat etc. Print out two copies of the bingo sheet, laminate both of sheets of paper, cut out one of the sheets into square, then attach Velcro to the square in the bingo sheet and also the ones you cut out, attach an envelope to the back of the bingo card with the extra Velcro pictures in it. Then the next time you are at the store you have a game you can play as you are shopping, Yowza!

Very Own Grocery List- After your grocery list has already been completed take a few items, preferably ones that will be in different aisles, and make another grocery list just for your child. As you come to that aisle while shopping the child is responsible for finding that item carefully putting it in the cart, and marking it off their checklist. If you would like to kick this up a notch and your child is older, they could also be responsible for paying for it at the checkout.

Tasty Treasure Hunt- Before going to the grocery store draw a simple map of the store you are going to. If you need help with this many stores have a store map when you get there. Then write out a clue for some of the items of your grocery list. Your child gets to be the captain and tell you where you are going next. When they figure out a clue give them another one. Obviously just do one per aisle or you are going to be their for a long time. The treasure at the end could be some kind of treat for the family. I have some suggestions of clues below to give you an idea.

Shiver me timbers this is sure cold but goes great with chocolate syrup= ice cream
Yummy, Yummy in Dad's tummy this is his favorite food= Whatever is his favorite food
This rhymes with red, bed, and said= bread
Can't have cookies with out this cold drink= milk
Squiggly wiggly something that looks like worms= pasta

Nursery Camping Container

For some reason the only theme my husband and I could agree on for my sons room was a camping/ woodland theme. I brainstormed different projects some happened and some didn't this is one that did. Introducing the Camping Container...

I found the container at a local thrift store, then I found some cute camping themed paper, I cut out the pieces I wanted, glued them to the side, added the ribbon and label, and POW you have a cute camping container.

Baby Basket

When my son was born my mom and mother-in-law took turns baby sitting while I was at work. One day after I came home I asked my mom how it went and she said it went great, but she really didn't know what babies this age (0-6mo) were supposed to play with. After this I did some research and found some age appropriate games for him to play. I typed up all the ideas and then put a bunch of toys he would like in a basket in our living room so we would have something close to grab when he was awake and wanted to play.

The basket included some books, childrens music, a puppet, a bright cloth (to practice tracking with their eyes), ribbons tied to a stick (tracking), rattle, and a towel (roll the towel up put it under their stomachs to practice rolling and tummy time). The pieces of paper have other games to play with the baby.

Making this got me thinking of what a great baby shower gift this would be, especially for a new first time mom. I know I would have loved it.

Picture Packing

Learning responsibility is so important for young children and so is giving mom a little bit of help. Some of the most chaotic moments occur when preparing to go somewhere especially when it is a long trip. So keep your kids busy while also getting some packing done. My solution to this problem is a picture packing list. Creating this is really simple all I did was went into my word processing program created a table with 2 columns the first column I put pictures of everything a child would need on a trip on the other column I left it blank so I could put a number of how many of that item needs to be packed.

Next I went and laminated the list. Now you have a packing list that will work even for those who don't know how to read yet. Maybe before the trip mom can get a breath in.

Teaching with Holidays/ 4th of July

This is the end of the teaching with the holidays 4th of July and since a main theme has been Americas birthday their definitely needs to be a party. This could be on the 4th of July or close to it. Here are a few ideas to celebrate and teach your children a little something while you are at it.

Party Hats:
Make Newspaper "Colonial" hats beforehand all you need is a sheet of newspaper and if you really wanted to get creative some crayons and markers. Also perhaps a feather to go along with Yankee Doddle.

Activities:

• Guess that American: Find pictures of famous Americans and put them on the backs of party participants. Then give clues to that person so they can figure out who is on their back, for really young children this could even be pictures of the family.

• American Gestures: Write a list as a family of people that serve America such as policemen, soldiers, president, mom, dad, etc. Cut each idea out and then act that person out.

Cake:
I have always wanted to make a flag cake you see in magazines and since it goes along with what was talked about earlier in the week I think this would be a great America Birthday cake to make as a family.

Teaching with Holidays/ 4th of July

This is number three of the 4th of July teaching with the Holidays today's focus is on Americas Symbols. There are lots of different symbols that arise on the 4th and I have an activity for two of them Flag and Eagle.

Flag- Math/Art
First talk about the flag and why we have one. Tell children about how the flag represents our country talk about some parts of the flag and what they represent. Then make a flag for your family you put something that represents each member of the family, you can also use colors that symbolized members of the family. For color meanings try going here.

Flag Colors/Science
Review the color meanings from above or if you didn't do that activity talk about each color in the flag and what it symbolizes. Get three small containers fill them about half way full of water use food coloring to dye one red and one blue, leave one of them clear. Then get a few other containers and have your children mix the water together to see what happens when the colors are mixed.

Eagle- Music/ Movement
Start out explaining what the eagle is and why we have it as one of Americas symbols next put some music on and fly like eagles around the room. If you wanted to take it up a notch you could also give them some streamers or ribbons to dance with.

Teaching with Holidays/ 4th of July

Today's 4th of July theme is about Birthday presents for America. What better way to give a birthday present to our country than by being a good citizen.

Good Citizen:
Our present to America First introduce this topic by talking about how we should give a present to America, and the best thing we could do is be good a person or citizen. Next come up with something special you could do for America such as pick up some trash in the park, bring some cookies to a neighbor, or even a game plan to be nice to members of the family.

Presents for the Family:
To add on to the previous idea. Put the names of all the family members in a jar have everyone draw out a name and during the week that person needs to do something special for them. This could be really simple such as making their bed during the week, drawing a picture for them, or cleaning up their toys. When fourth of July comes around talk about what you did for each other and how that is a part of being a good citizen.

Teaching with Holidays/ 4th of July

This is going to be the first of a series of posts that is about teaching children while using the 4th of July as the basis. Children get so excited when holidays roll around, and this enthusiasm can be channeled into learning something while celebrating.

I think one of the most important things to know about the 4th is why we celebrate this holiday. This seems easy but for a young child it is a large concept to grasp so I have some simple ideas under this theme.

Americas Birthday

Math- Explain that on the 4th of July we will be celebrating Americas birthday it is now 213? years old then get a jar and place 213 things in it. What you put in the jar can be up to you it can be pennies, candy, small toys, marshmellows, etc.

Art- Make a birthday card to give to America on it's birthday. The birthday card can be made with paint, crayons, markers, etc.

Playful Playdough

I love playdough I have always found it fun to sculpt different masterpieces and food creation out of soft squeezable texture. Not only do I love it but children love it hence the popularity to add a little fun to this classic small motor delight try a few of these ideas throughout the year:

January: white playdough and add sparkles to make it look like snow.

February: Make pink playdough add cinnamon to it add also some of those pink candy hearts have them squeeze it out Ziploc bags into cupcake liners so they can make valentine cupcakes

March: Green playdough with green sparkles also get some plastic gold coins so your children can see what impressions they can leave in the playdough

April: Put some plastic Easter eggs on the table to play with the playdough they make great cutters or they can be used to roll out small pieces of dough.

May: Make playdough your favorite color and add a couple of spritzes of your favorite perfume

June: Add some imitation coconut or banana extract to some yellow playdough to give a tropical feel.

July: Put some ocean animals in with blue playdough

August: Put a little bit of sand in with some tan playdough to give a beach effect

September: Draw some big letters or shapes on some paper, use these as template to trace over with the playdough.

October: Use orange playdough to make some pumpkins then get some foam shapes to make some silly faces.

November: Add pumpkin spice to brown or orange playdough

December: Throw in a dash of peppermint extract and also split the dough in half die half red and leave the rest white so children can make candy canes.

Put a Spin on Cleaning

What better way to get your children excited for chores than making them become exciting and not a chore anymore. These are a few ideas to put a spin on your cleaning routine and make your children want to help you clean.

Ice Skate Mopping: I used to do this when I was growing up. Clear the space get some big sponges tie them to your children's feet pour water on the floor and get ready for some killer indoor ice skating. Make sure that there isn't a lot of water on the floor or you will end up with some sore bums and this is obviously something that requires a supervison especially with younger children. But 15 minutes of this and you will have a sparkling clean floor.

Squirt bottle dishes: If you have a double sink, fill both sides with water and soap, add a step stool if needs be, add a squirt bottle and squezze bottles (save old dish soap bottles, shampoo bottles, etc. for this) and add all the nonbreakable items to one side and breakable ones to the other side. Your child can have at all the nonbreakable items and you can handle the breakables and you can both have fun cleaning the dishes along side each other. .

Follow the chores- This would be great for Saturday clean up. Get some string and loop it throughout rooms in the house where a small child size chore needs to be done write the chore on a piece of paper and place it on the string. Then have your children follow the string to each chore, and maybe have the end of the string lead to a treat of some kind.

Basketball laundy toss- This is an old stand by but if it works why not? Get those clothes off the floor with ease as you shoot hoops with dirty shirts and socks into the laundry basket. Maybe you could have different pieces of clothing be worth differnt amount of points for example: shirts=5pts socks=1pt etc.

Laundry surprise- Before you add the clean clothes into the laundry basket put a new coloring book in the bottom or maybe a game you already have. Tell your children that when all the clothes have been folded their is a fun surprise at the bottom. What else could bring more motivation to folding clothes.

Going on a Picnic

The weather has been so nice lately, and what better way to enjoy the weather than going on a picnic. Although, someone has to prepare everything so what are the kids going to do? My suggestion make the kids part of the process and keep them busy while you get everything together.

Make a Grocery List Supplies: Grocery Ads, paper, glue, pencil

Talk together about what you would like to bring on a picnic and then see if they can find pictures of them in some grocery ads. Glue the pictures to a piece of paper if they are old enough they can copy the words and write it under the picture. Then when you go to the store bring the list along and have the kids look for the items with you.

Sack Lunch Bag Supplies: small paper bags, crayons, markers

While you are putting together sandwiches and everything else. Have the kids make a paper bag to put their lunch in. Either have them write their name on it or you write their name, then have them use crayons and markers to draw pictures or design a pattern on the bag. Then when you are having your picnic everyone will easily know who's sandwiches are who's.

Picnic Organization The first picnic of the season write down a list of everything that you brought and put it in your picnic basket so you can quickly gather supplies. This will lessen the hassle of trying to remember everything for the next picnic. You can also add the kids grocery list so they will have their lists for the next picnic also.