February, 2013 - The Mommy Teacher

Plate ART

I threw out the uppercase A-R-T in the title of this post because even though my friend and I had a blast decorating plates with our kids, the following images do NOT show plates that you can eat from or really even wash. They will be on a plate stand in the kitchen most likely 😉

My friend Allie and I are both 24 weeks pregnant, we both have a two year and a half year old, and we both have a one year old (this was not planned by the way). So, we have had a sleepover this weekend to let our crazy worlds come together for a few days. It has been so sweet, and funny, and crazy of course. We decided it would be fun to let the little ones do an art activity together.

We found some pefect small, white melamine plates at Target and purchased some colorful sharpies, we headed back home to let our little ones decorate away. (PS – we learned the hard way that the bamboo melamine plates we found at Big Lots were a NO GO! Just trust me on this one.)

My friend Allie can write really cutesie and I can NOT write cutesie at all so she personalized all of the plates for us. Thanks Allie ! 🙂

We threw aprons on the little ones and let them color on their plates….

Then, we threw aprons on the one year olds and let them color on their plates (without their names on them), and we found out that this actually worked better to write the name AFTER coloring.

This next low-quality shot is just showing that I traced my little ones’ hands on the back and wrote the date.

I had originally intended to make dinner plates, but it didn’t quite workout that way. And after researching melamine and the process of making dinner plates, I was even more happy with the final product as a keepsake. We wanted a fast and funky activity to do so this was perfect for the weekend. But I found this if this is your kind of thing….. http://www.ehow.com/how_6913770_paint-melamine-dinner-plates.html – I’m sure I’ll make this happen in the future too 😉

Once again…here are my two kiddos plates…..up close and personal:

I am happy with the way they turned out!

February 24, 2013 by Jessica | 5 Comments

Quick and Easy Play-Dough Activity

Sometimes just having one quick insightful idea can go a long way. Even one intentional activity a day is so beneficial for your little ones.

Sean Patrick and I were exploring with play-dough the other day and I wanted to share. We were focusing on making a person and the letters in his name.

Below are some pictures and a video that captures this mini-lesson that are NOT glamorous….I always assume that most moms are like me, though they like to look at pretty pictures they would rather the real-time shots that they can picture happening in their own houses. So, here is something achievable for ya…..

February 16, 2013 by Jessica | 3 Comments

Share Your Valentine Ideas With Other Mommy Teachers …

Okay, I need to know….. how many of you are the kind of moms who have your valentine’s bought weeks ahead of the Valentine Day Parties and how many of you are moms who are going to be up late on the 13th?

Well, here in Louisiana, we are out of school several days for Mardi Gras on Valentine week this year. So, our parties were early, and the next picture might give you an idea of the kind of mom I am….. coffee cup, everything spread out on the table, morning light….. yep, Sean Patrick and I put the finishing touches on our little happies the MORNING OF!

I found this cute valentine printable for free online that reminded me of one of Sean Patrick’s favorite YouTube videos. I just printed it onto white cardstock and they came out so cute.

Each Valentine is for “You” because it was the easiest honestly, but I think personalized Valentines are great, but some teachers specify not to write the names because of time limitations and I felt like “you” was appropriate :

All they needed was to be cut, punched, and stuck with a Valentine’s Day pencil to give them that extra umph.

And conveniently, there was room when you flipped it over, to slide a pack of skittles right between the pencil and the valentine. (This is obviously the best part.)

And of course…. we couldn’t forget about his teacher! We cut out a valentine, personalized it to his teacher (because “you” wasn’t as appropriate in this case), cut it out, and slipped it in her tumbler.

And there you have it folks, with 5 minutes to spare….

Please please share your valentine ideas with me via email jessica @ the mommy teacher (dot) com so that I can share them here for other moms who might need last minute ideas!

Or quick upload pictures to share on my facebook page !

February 8, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

A Mommy Teacher Shares a QUICK AND EASY ABC lesson

I LOVE LOVE LOVE when a mommy teacher shares something with me that they are doing with their little one at home. If every follower shared one picture, writing sample, or video we would have the largest idea bank EVER for moms to browse…. or we could add them to the large idea bank that exists aka pinterest haha.

My co-worker was showing me this video of her child in passing and I asked her to send it to me for lots of reasons:

1) I love quick and easy mini-lessons that can be done at home.

2) I love teaching tools like this wand and others:

3) I love that she is only introducing a few letters at a time.

4) I love that this is so hands-on.

5) I love that it is active-child friendly 😉

Share your quick and easy ideas too please here, via email, or facebook!!!!

February 3, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Adding Can Be Sneaky

Hmmm…. I have a child napping and one at a birthday party that my husband brought him to. Adding those little nuggets together equaled getting my fingers to the keyboard and writing a long overdue post. You know me, I am SIMPLE. An idea can go a long way.

One idea you can take today and run with it (in your own way) is introducing the concept of addition if you havent already. You can start with language as simple as “You plus mommy equals happy together” OR “One cookie and one more is two for YOU!”

Addition sounds scary, but it is so important when kids start realizing that two groups of numbers can be put together to make one new number. And there are so many fun ways to practice…. drawings, crafts, and it gets really fun when you incorporate food 🙂

I usually start out by introducing the language for a while, like I mentioned earlier (examples are: and, is, more, plus, equals, together).

I cant help of think of that cheesy song “You (plus sign) Me (equal sign) us” that I’m pretty sure was one big joke and I actually cant believe I am bringing it up in this post…. don’t judge hah 😉

Then I simply incorporate all of this into every day learning opportunities like….

“Daddy has a fishing pole AND Sean Patrick has a fishing pole. How many fishing poles do we have all together?”

If he doesn’t know then I would say “Let’s count!” and then, “So, one and one is TWO.”

After there is familiarity with the language, I bring it to a more concrete level by adding our snack time foods together or adding two groups of blocks to one tower.

Finally, we might draw pictures to represent adding, and then introduce word sentence in writing (one and one is two) and then the symbols (+,= ).

Your turn mommy teachers…. how do you use addition in your every day home environments…. send pictures for me to share and post ideas for other moms to see! jessica (at) themommyteacher (dot) com.

February 2, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Month: February 2013