Sustainable & Creative Living
Thanksgiving is all about turkey, pumpkin pie, and family. It’s also the time of year when I like to take the opportunity to teach my little one exactly what being thankful is all about. We spend the whole month of November concentrating on what it means to be thankful and what we are thankful for. I love incorporating everything from the Mayflower voyage in 1620 to the [Read more…]
We’ve been doing a lot of easy science experiments at home, trying to keep the creative mind of an inquisitive 4-year-old active and curious. This Floating Letters Experiment is simple enough for young children and still fun for older kids. What’s great for parents is that it shouldn’t require an extra trip to the store due to the magic of Amazon, and it keeps kids busy for a while doing their best to guess the results. [Read more…]
With Earth Day coming on April 22 this year, it’s a fun month to teach young kids about the beauty of the world around us, including all the living things in it. The value of recycling is also a very important concept that, if taught at a young age, can hopefully instill a strong foundation and appreciation for reducing waste. Many of these Earth Day Preschool Activities are simple and fun ideas that can be [Read more…]
If you’re like me and most of the women I know, you’ve got a lot going on all the time! With so much going on, it isn’t always easy to focus on the task at hand, even with the best of intentions. Because of this, I’m always looking for tips and tricks to help me be more focused and, in turn, more productive. These 5 ways to increase the power of focus are simple practices that have helped me sharpen this skill.
Learning to recognize sequences and patterns is an important part of beginning math skills. Even the simplest form of patterning can help a child learn and develop the skills they will need to master math concepts like times tables and addition. There are many ways to help your preschooler develop these skills without spending a lot of money. One of mine and my son’s favorite ways to practice learning sequences and patterns is with [Read more…]
A recent conversation with one of my closest girlfriends (my son’s Godmother) prompted me to finally write a review on a behavior and discipline book that I read almost 2 years ago. 1-2-3 Magic by Thomas W. Phelan, PhD is an easy to read book about effective discipline for children 2-12 years old. I tell every mom I know about how its healthy and effective methods of discipline have helped transform the way I deal with tantrums, bad habits, and defiance without all the [Read more…]
The Fizzing Rainbow Baking Soda Experiment is a fun and simple experiment for kids of all ages. It’s a great beginner science activity for preschool or Kindergarteners to learn about chemical reactions and colors.
What you will need for your Fizzing Rainbow Baking Soda Experiment is [Read more…]
My 3 and a half-year-old son LOVES cars! He loves all things that go including monster trucks, planes, buses, emergency vehicles and motorcycles. He likes to get his head down real close to the ground and watch the wheels move back and forth. He’s always asking what each feature in my car does. And he points out every car manufacturer while we’re driving. It’s amazing how much he knows about cars. So I decided to give him something fun to do while we’re in the car- this [Read more…]
Now that I’ve finished teaching my 3 year old son the alphabet (it took the whole latter part of last year), I’ve started the new year off with a lesson plan that covers a spectrum similar to a preschool classroom. Being that I still bring J to work with me everyday, I do my very best to stick to a lesson plan that I outline each Sunday night. It covers writing/spelling/reading, math, science, logic/thinking, and my two flex subjects- fine motor skills and [Read more…]
Sensory bins are a great way to help children explore, develop, and stimulate the 5 main senses. When a child plays with a sensory bin, they are able to touch, feel, and even talk about the different materials they are discovering. Sensory bins can help develop and improve focus and concentration skills in a way that is far superior to average plastic toy play. While playing with sensory bins your child can also learn to [Read more…]