Every single morning my kids want to eat goldfish for breakfast.
I didn’t say that it happens, I just said that that is what my kids want…every.single.morning.
I do like to let my kids make choices about what they would like to eat for breakfast and for lunch (not-so-much dinner), but I typically like to give them a variety of options to pick from.
Telling my kids, “Goldfish is a snack, pick something that you want to eat for breakfast: cereal, oatmeal, eggs, etc.” just wasn’t cutting it, so I decided to make a visual.
My printable functions kind-of like a menu for the kids. It shows them what they can pick from when we are in a hurry (which is a lot), and of course I will make the take-your-time printable when I have, well, time.
I got this idea when Casey wrote a post in August and she set up some breakfast options in a basket…
I am including the Breakfast Choices PDF Template with both “on-the-go” and “take-your-time” templates that you can glue the box-top images that you would like to use in the spaces, draw/color your food choices, or take pictures and add them to the templates. (When I update this and complete it, I will be adding it to the member’s page).
I would love to see what you come up with!
Share pictures with us on Facebook if you have any morning solutions of your own.
Eeeek! Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! Leave it to me to wait to the last minute to even think about what to do. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to be intentional about the holiday – teaching my boys to be thoughtful and caring through acts of kindness – so we would always make our own cards and gifts for our classmates. Well, that was a few years ago, and this is now… and phew! 2014 is flying by and February 14th has crept up on me.
My Pinterest-loving self is really annoyed with my lack-of-planning self for just allowing the boys to choose store-bought Iron Man hologram cards that they simply wrote “To: Friend, Love, James/Leyson” on 20-something of them. But, boy! My kids were soooooo excited about those holograms. So, they win this year.
I did decide (at about 4pm today) that we were at least going to be intentional about what we exchange between our family members. The kids made “mailboxes” out of manila envelopes for each of us.
I pulled out all of my scrapbook paper, glue, crayons, markers and scissors and let the kids go to town! Leyson enjoyed playing with the scissors so much he pretty much made confetti the entire time, and my husband and I made bookmarks for all of the kids to go with their books that we bought them.
The kids kept running back and forth from the craft table to the mailboxes, delivering their own personal “letters” to Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Mimi and their visiting cousin and aunt. I can’t wait to open these all tomorrow morning!
So, yes, I realize this post is kinda really last minute (I apologize)… but this is still a great activity that you can do tomorrow or sometime this weekend! Happy Valentine’s Day… even if it is a little rushed! 🙂
I have always admired artists and dabbled in some pitiful attempts to paint, draw, and the like.
My husband actually found a painting that I did and thought his sister gave it to us and said “This is by far the ugliest painting that Kelsey has ever done.” Yeah, I’ll probably never let that one go.
But, that same sweet husband helped me paint words on the walls of our new business, and he isn’t an artist either.
After my years in the classroom, I was gifted an overhead projector from my superstar mother-in-law. This came in handy. I printed the words (in the font that I wanted) onto transparencies (at Office Depot), and then simply projected the image onto the wall.
We then just painted over the shadow of the letters and it nearly looked like someone with art skills had something to do with it. Murals can also be done this way. My friend painted the sportsman fleur de lis onto my son’s wall using our projector too.
It never fails… sticky notes never last long in my house. I JUST bought new ones too! But since my 1 year old already took them all apart, I figured I would put them to immediate use with my 4 year old.
We played a little game today that you can play with your little one once he/she has mastered letters of the alphabet and the sounds that each letter makes; also, he/she must have a basic understanding of blending/segmenting sounds (/b/ /a/ /t/ = bat) and rhyming/word families (bat, cat, sat, mat).
Materials needed: sticky notes, marker/pen
Version #1: Write letters on each sticky note. Your child must find things around the room that start with the letters on the sticky note and post it on that object!
(I learned that it is super cruel to hand my son the letter “q” when there is no quilt in sight.)
I also learned not to give my child the letter F. He immediately said “FAT! I’m gonna stick this on your belly!”
My, my. Kids are just too darn cute for their own good ::sigh::.
Version 2: Play “I Spy”… “I spy something that starts with /n/.” Let your child come up with some too!
Y’all, “nap mat” was a tricky one! Props to the kiddo! He’ll get his Ns right one day 😉
Version #3: For the child who has not mastered letter sounds: You write the letters on the sticky notes and post them on the objects while your child hides his/her eyes. Put the letter T on the TV, the letter B on a box, etc. When he/she opens his/her eyes, call out a sound and he/she has to find the letter that is on an object. (You can play hot/cold if he/she can’t find it right away). When he/she finds it, you say, “Great job! You found the /t/ for TV! Say it with me /t/ /t/ TV!”
Version #4: Instead of searching for the BEGINNING sound, search for the END sound of a word! “What object ends in /l/? That’s right, you found the doll!”
Version #5: Rhyming: Hold up a letter (ex. “B”) and say, “I’m looking for something that rhymes with “fox” but starts with /b/.”
Version #6: Early reader, basic understanding of blending sounds in CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant words such as “cat”). Write down simple words such as “mat,” “cup,” “box,” “doll,” “TV” (my kids love when I throw that easy one in there ;-)) and your child has to sound out the word and stick it on the object.
Version #7: Onset/Rime: The “onset” is the first letter in the word and the “rime” is the part of the word that links it to other words in the same family (the part that makes it rhyme with other words with the same rime… get it?). Write the “rime” of the word and your child has to write in the onset, and then go stick it on the object. “What object ends in “-ook”? Your child looks around the room, sees a “book,” writes in the first letter, and sticks it on the book.
Version #8: Vowels: search for the vowel in the middle of the word. “Which object has the /o/ sound in the middle of the word?” bOx, robOt, pOt, clOck, sOck
Version #9: Vowels extended: Go on a hunt to find 5 things that contain each of the 5 vowels. Find 5 things with an /a/ sound as in cat, 5 with an /e/ sound as in bend, 5 with an /i/ sound as in pig, 5 with an /o/ sound as in lot, 5 with an /u/ sound as in under.
Version #10: Syllables: Choose an object and count the number of syllables in is name. Put that number of sticky notes on that object. Ex: window: win/dow = 2 sticky notes. You can do this with the number of sounds in a word too! Ex: doll: /d/ /o/ /l/ = 3 sticky notes.
Now, we’re experiencing an extremely rare “snow day” here in South Louisiana, so these are perfect games to play with your little ones while stuck inside, because, who doesn’t have sticky notes lying around? Oh wait, ME! Because we used them all up today!
I’m sure we will be pulling out all of the randomness that is in the “junk drawer” tomorrow to keep the kids happily entertained… or if the power stays on, it’ll probably be a junk food, pajama, and movie day in our house! You just gotta have those sometimes!
My 6 year old came out of “quiet time” (mommy’s few moments of uninterrupted sanity) carrying this book Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
“Mom! I discovered that I have a diary!”
Haha I laughed to myself because he just unknowingly called himself a wimpy kid.
Anyway, he sat down and started reading from page one. My husband and I looked at each other asking if the other had read it and if we should be allowing him to read it – we had no idea what the book is about.
So, I go to the 2nd most knowledgeable place I know, Facebook (the first being Google). And I posted a status update asking all of my oh-so-smart friends if this was ok for my 6 year old to read. See, the reason I asked my friends first is because I know their credibility… and can ask them specific questions too.
I got a lot of great feedback for both “yes, it’s fine” and “no, it’s more for middle schoolers,” but the best thing was when one of my friends sent me this link tohttp://www.ThrivingFamily.com Book Reviews for Parents!
What an amazing resource! This website provided a plot summary like most reviews do, but also offered brief descriptions on Christian beliefs referenced in the book, authority roles (descriptions and examples of the different roles the parents, teachers and all other adults play in the book), other belief systems referenced…
Greg thanks his “lucky stars” that he is on the other side of the gym from the girls because his wrestling outfit doesn’t completely cover him during wrestling matches in gym class.
…(how specific is that?), profanity/graphic violence, kissing/sex/homosexuality and awards that the book has received.
There is also a “discussion” section with over 50 questions to get your child talking about the book.
In addition, beneath the book review is a link to a website that has reviewed the movie too, since most often the movie version differs significantly from the book version. The website, Plugged In, is another great resource that reviews movies, TV shows, music, and games for parents. Both of these websites are publications of Focus on the Family.
It is so important for us as parents to have knowledge about what our kids are watching, listening to, and reading. I love these two websites for making that aspect of parenting a little easier for us!
Oh, and if you’re wondering, we decided Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a little too mature for our 6-year old. The Magic Treehouse series has been recommended by several moms, in addition to the Who Was… series, biographies of different historical figures, so we’ll be heading to the library soon!
