Thank you to everyone who entered!! If you entered and would like a FREE link to my “Turkey Art Templates” then e-mail me jessica (at) themommyteacher (dot) com, and I will also send you a link to my next Thanksgiving activity that I will be posting on Sunday (to those who entered and would like these printables). 😉
So, in a small way, everyone is a winner, but only ONE person could win the Art Table, and Rafflecopter randomly chose “Lisa Wilson!” Congratulations Lisa W.!
Spread the word about The Mommy Teacher because when we reach 200 “Members” we will be doing another big item giveaway!
Casey and I have been SOOOO eager to launch the new design of The Mommy Teacher that we just had to celebrate with an awesome giveaway!
We are giving away one of our favorite things… a wonderfully kid-friendly art table!
We went back and forth about which one to give away and after a close Facebook poll, we decided to let the winner pick!
Yes, if you win you get to PICK whichever one of these art tables you would like:
Oh, and before you enter… read about two quick updates we want to share:
I was itching to do some q-tip painting with the kids but I didn’t feel like googling to find a good turkey art template.
So,
I made three turkey art templates –
1) I made a plain template that you can color, decorate with feathers, glue and glitter, etc. Or, just use any other material you have in your house that you don’t have to shop for.
2) The next template is a turkey that is easy to fill with larger circular materials like pom poms (cotton balls), dot paint, big circle stickers, etc.
3. And, my inspiration for making these… the turkey with feathers perfect for painting with q-tips. Small incentive stickers also fit in these circles if you want to use it more that once!
[Click HERE to become a member to get unlimited access to ALL The Mommy Teacher Printables including this one!
OR CLICK HERE to purchase these Turkey Templates individually from my TeachersPayTeachers Store.]
And here is what some of our time looked/sounded like:
First, I asked Sean Patrick which turkey he wanted to paint first. He told me that he wanted to paint with dot paint first.
So, we put the template with the large circles in front of us first. He picked “blue” paint and I encouraged him to fill in the circles on each tail feather, one at a time. I demonstrated how he could do this on my template in front of me quickly.
(Notice we have already discussed colors, shapes, parts of a turkey, and one-to-one correspondence; your children are learning even when you don’t realize it).
Then, I asked him questions like “How many more do you have left to fill your whole turkey?” “Can you find any feathers that have three circles?” “Which feather has the most circles?” And “What do you think this turkey would say about his new blue tail feathers?” (That last question was just for fun but it gets him thinking outside the box.”
Before moving on to the next template, I encouraged him to color in the other parts of the turkey so he learned/reinforced (beak, wattle, feet, feathers, wings, and I had to google “snood” – the part on top of the head – because I had no clue what it was called).
For the q-tip painting we worked on patterns. I always treat patterns as if I have never taught him about what they are by saying something like, “Oooooooh let’s make a pattern. A pattern is something that repeats itself over and over and over and over and over again.”
“If mommy makes a red and orange pattern I would sing my song red-orange-red-orange-red-orange the whole way through so that I don’t forget my pattern or what comes next.”
If he doesn’t want to do a pattern I don’t stress about it…. this is his time to express himself. I’m just close enough to build on what he is learning.
Finally we did some finger painting to experience the sensory exploration of smearing paint all over, and the science exploration of seeing colors mix together.
Most importantly, we had fun! Isn’t that what it is really about after all?
My mother-in-law gave me great advice the other day… she encouraged me to look for ways to include my kids in my hobbies.
This made me ask myself the first important question … What are my hobbies?
Hmmm…(I just had to ask my sister)… lol thats sad.
I like to exercise (is that a hobby?), I like to make personalized gifts (crafting a little), I like to cook (but not bake), and the obvious… I like to work/play on the computer.
So here is a small example of how I involve my kids in “working” on the computer…
It makes sense to include your kids in your hobbies right? It is just hard to purpose it sometimes. But, I love to go on walks with my kids, cook with my kids, and craft with my kids so I should include all of those things in our daily routine since I enjoy them so much, AND take them on adventures so they can discover their hobbies.
Can you easily think of your hobbies or do you have to remind yourself what you used to enjoy?
My mother and father-in-law did a phenominal job training my husband as a child. He is so disciplined – he helps around the house, he is always on top of the yard work, he fixes our household glitches, but he also has hobbies that he enjoys.
I want to train my children like that…to “work” hard and to play hard!
What are your hobbies and how do you (or can you) include your children in them?
I would love some more ideas. 🙂
P.S. Someone tell my husband I want a learning tower for Christmas! I can’t believe I don’t have one yet, but if I get one I can include the kids even more in the cooking – a stool isn’t cutting it!
Recently, in my “Parenting is Heart Work” group, we talked about how some children have a VERY hard time taking “no” for an answer.
Anyone? Anyone else experience this with their child?
I’m wondering if there are parents who don’t relate to this?!?
Well, children don’t recognize that when they don’t say “Yes ma’am” or “Yes Sir” to our rules and expectations that they appear to “disrespect” our authority. They simply can’t comprehend why we would deprive them of joy…. ever. Kids are like “Wait you are my parent… you are supposed to meet all my wants and needs in my timing at all times” haha they are adorably mistaken.
But, we have a little of that in us as adults as well; so, instant gratification is not a foreign concept for us either.
Either way, we have a big responsibility to ensure that our children become civilized little beings who can communicate in healthy ways… and unfortunately sometimes we don’t exactly model healthy responses. As parents we can often be more reactive than anything else.
When Sean Patrick crosses his arms, throws himself on the floor, or loses his control, he doesn’t know that not only are his words destructive but his voice level and his body language also need to be replaced with appropriate responses.
So, I created a visual to show him how he communicates with me.
I talked to him about all the different ways we can communicate about something and I made up stories about the children in a few of the pictures. I strategically “make up” stories that are past examples of Sean Patrick’s impulsive responses.
For the picture of the demanding child crossing his arms I might say “This is Johnny. Johnny’s mommy said that he couldn’t have a gummy snack until after dinner, and Johnny said ‘NO! I want it NOW!’ Can you see what Johnny’s face and arms are doing? Do you think he is ready to listen and say “Okay mommy!” Or do you think he is going to make his problem worse? (Sean Patrick said he is not listening to his mom and he needs to get in control) . The way Johnny is speaking to his mom with a mean face and crossed arms shows his mommy that he is demanding she listen to him instead of using his words to talk about the problem. Can you tell Johnny that he can have a happy heart and wait until after dinner to get his fruit snack?”
We talk about the pictures and we also practice coping and fixing our problems AFTER we have a problem and he cools down I might say, “Sean Patrick what went wrong when we had that problem earlier? Did you try hard to calm down and talk about the problem or were you out of control?” (He usually is very honest about his emotions. After we talk about that then we practice our coping strategies: breathing, counting, walking out of the room for a minute, etc.
Y’all, I love Pinterest; I do, but I have to say – I do NOT like activities that I can not do with my kids almost immediately after I browse.
If I browse during nap time, I want to do the activities that I find that same afternoon. I like to get my inspiration from pinterest but then I want to actually DO the activities. Why use a pinboard if I don’t turn the ideas into experiences?
I think I have finally figured out what to do with my not-so-parent-friendly pins… Lately, if I see an activity that I can’t do right away, I find out a way to make a printable for it. That way, other moms can simply pin it, print it, and make it happen that day if they want to.
I also like sharing my experiences so that you feel that much more prepared to make the most of the activity… which is why I added an “ideas” page to my printable:
Yesterday:
1) I made the November Corn Printable during nap time, but I only printed one page. I printed a page of corn that had the numbers on the husks.
2) I put a small handful of candy corn in a cup.
**The order of teaching something is always I DO (I will talk about it and show my child an example), WE DO (we will do it together), YOU DO (encourage my child to try it on his own).
So, I DO first:
3) I talked to my three year old “Today we are going to use candy corn to fill the ears of corn, but we will stop counting the candy corn when we get to the number that is on the corn. Watch mommy…. See this is the number ONE, so mommy is going to count out candy corn until I get to ONE. (I place one candy corn on the corn with the number one and say “One!”) “Okay I am going to stop right there because I counted to the number on the corn.”
WE DO:
“What do you think this number is (pointing to two)?” (Two).
“Yes and two comes after one. Can we put the candy corn on that ear of corn while we count to two?” (one, two).
“Wow you are so good at this! Do you know what number this is if this is one, that is two, then this might be….” (Three!)
YOU DO:
“Yes, your turn, can you put three candy corns on top of the corn?”
4) We did this page again and then we ate the candy corn, but if your little one doesn’t like the taste of candy corn, it’s okay… I included little candy corn cut-outs so you can glue them on your candy corn. 🙂
**** If you want to download this activity, sign up to be a member for just $5 and get Access to ALL of my printables! – November Corn Printable
So, PIN this printable if you like it, and follow me if you’d like to see all the things I plan to do with my kids each month!
My original Pin-spiration was Candy Corn Counting – (I literally just ran out of construction paper and I love to make and save printables). Thanks No Time For FlashCards. 🙂
Isn’t Corny Math is A-Maize-ing ? {Okay, I think I’m done}
