Kiddos Archives | Page 4 of 12

02/04/2018

In My Heart Book Craft – Happy Gram

We are loving this In My Heart Book Craft! It’s so fun to take someone a happy gram and teach my preschooler about feelings. Make one too!

My son has a hard time reading emotions on other people’s faces. So, I try to find books about emotions that will keep his attention and teach him about them.

I came across the book In My Heart – A Book of Feelings By Jo Witek.

I love the simplicity of the book and the color choices. It’s bright and uses white space, so it’s not overwhelming for my son. It describes each feeling in simple words my son is able to connect with and understand. My hope is that if he understands the feelings he feels, he will be able to recognize them in others.

Of course, reading a book is great! Especially, when it’s so cute. But, at our house, we love going beyond the book and extend learning and fun.

If you haven’t noticed yet (tehe), my friend Beth (from Days with Grey) and I have been teaming up each month to provide a book and a craft/activity that you can do with your kiddos to help prepare them for story retelling.

They absolutely don’t have to master the skill now. But, introducing them to the idea is a great way for them to have a great kindergarten year.

You can see a couple of our past Book Box Story Retells here: Room on The Broom, Dragons Love Tacos, The Watermelon Seed.

But, back to In My Heart. We made a Happy Gram to spread happiness to someone else. Check it out!

01/23/2018

Valentine’s Day Games for Toddlers

We have been playing Valentine’s Day Games for Toddlers all day. Including Tic Tac Toe and 5 other games! It’s so simple to make!

We have been seeing a lot of hearts lately. We have seen them at Target, the grocery store, up on store windows; they’re everywhere.

So, I put up a few Valentine’s Day decorations on our mantel to get a little festive. My kiddos love the decorations! They were so sad about Christmas being over and all the decorations getting put away. So, this was a nice way to get over those blues.

I’ve been trying to figure out a few games to play to get my kiddos excited about Valentine’s Day. So, I made some quick little hearts that can be used for a few games!

Whoo hoo! I love when I can use a 10-minute project multiple times!

I hope you have as much fun as we did!

01/16/2018

DIY Geoboard for Kids – Using Cardboard and Pushpins

I made a simple DIY geoboard using cardboard and pushpins for my son. He loves it! It kept him occupied for a long while. Whoo hoo! Make one too!

It has been foggy and cold here the last few days. So, most of our activities have been indoors. Plus, we have been sick. So, that means cranky kiddos and parents. No fun at all.

We’ve thrown cotton balls at each other for an indoor snowball fight. We’ve played pirates. We even made up games.

But, when you’re sick, your creative fuel runs out. I have been at a loss.

Today, at Target, my son grabbed a giant ball of colorful rubber bands. He asked, “Mom, can we get these?” At first I just stared at him thinking, “What the heck are we going to do with those?” I put them in the cart anyway, thinking I’d figure something out.

Sure enough an idea popped in my head while roaming the aisles of Target.

01/07/2018

A Loud Winter’s Nap Craft and Activities

We are reading A Loud Winter’s Nap and doing a tortoise craft and activities to go along with the book. It’s so fun! Join in on the fun too!

We have been learning the letter W this week for preschool at home.

One of our favorite things to do when learning a new letter is to gather books that have the letter. Then, we find the letter on the cover and in the pages while we read.

It’s like a game for my son. Plus, he is introduced to new literature. Yay!

They absolutely don’t have to master the skill now. But, introducing them to the idea is a great way for them to have a great kindergarten year.

You can see a couple of our past Book Box Story Retells here: Room on The Broom, Dragons Love Tacos, The Watermelon Seed.

So, I was really happy when this month’s book box, A Loud Winter’s Nap (aff), had the letter W in it. It goes perfectly for our W week (W is for Winter)! Yippee!

I thought an egg carton tortoise and craft stick sled would be the perfect craft for this book. So, that is what we made!

12/03/2017

Little Blue Truck’s Christmas Craft

We made a Little Blue Truck’s Christmas Craft to go along with the book. My kiddos have been having so much fun delivering trees. Make it too!

December is my favorite month of the year. I love the decorations and the activities. I love the hot cocoa and lights. It’s so cheery.

We started our advent activities yesterday. I made some cards, printed them out, laminated them and cut them to size. We are drawing one card a day and doing that activity. If you’d like a set, you can get them as a thank you for signing up for my newsletter: FREE Christmas Advent Activity Cards.

One of the activities is to read Christmas books. So, today we’re reading Little Blue Truck’s Christmas (aff).

I love that the book has counting in it. I can teach my son to count and how to do some subtraction. It’s an easy read. So, my son can retell the story to me too! By kindergarten, children will be asked to retell the main points of a story.

They absolutely don’t have to master the skill now. But, introducing them to the idea is a great way for them to have a great kindergarten year.

You can see a couple of our past Book Box Story Retells here: Room on The Broom, Dragons Love Tacos, The Watermelon Seed.

But, back to Little Blue Truck’s Christmas. If your kiddos love trucks, farm animals and lights, they’re going to love this book. The very last tree lights up. My kiddos just love it (so much so they kept turning to that page)!

I thought counting trees and a cardboard truck craft would go along with the book. We set out our toy farm animals and delivered a tree to each animal while I read the book to them. I hope you enjoy doing the craft too!