FamilyEducation Blogs

October 22, 2009

Paper dreams

One thing that's really struck me as different now that T. has a couple months of kindergarten under her belt, is what effect school has had on her assertiveness. She's a pleaser by nature and sometimes asserting herself takes a back seat to my big-hearted girl's desire to please. But we've noticed at home that she's holding her own with L. They are squabbling and fighting more because of this, but I imagine that once both of them adapt to this shift things will settle down--at least I hope so (please oh please). [more]

September 23, 2009

Diorama dreaming

I have a thing about shoebox dioramas. You know, those charming shoeboxes filled with miniature scenes? When I was in elementary school I remember making lots of dioramas. I loved the challenge of coming up with creative ways to make my shoebox scene come alive. Sadly, I think, dioramas have fallen by the wayside in elementary school curriculum--L. [more]

July 31, 2009

It's in the stars

T. is a girl who loves her bedtime. She's never been a night owl (unless you count those dreadful colic days, or the months post-op when she decided it was neat to be awake from 3-6 a.m.). Even if she has the chance to stay up to do something fun, she starts to wilt after 7:30 and asks for bed, and jammies, and sleep. As a result, she's had little interest in the world at night. I'm not sure she's ever really seen a starry night sky--at least not to gaze at in wide-eyed wonder. [more]

July 14, 2009

Busy hands

When L. was two we signed him up for a parent/child art class at the local community center. It was on Wednesday mornings and Scott usually took him. It was the one type of class that L. actually participated in. We'd taken him to parent/child music classes before and he would squirm his body away from the circle of kids and stretch out in the corner somewhere; or he'd wander off and examine the furniture. But he loved the art class. Because he could focus on something tactile he could block out the extra "noise"--the bodies, the sounds, the chaos of the other kids. [more]

July 8, 2009

Party Hardy

I've made it no secret that I love planning parties. I had a blast last year coming up with goody bag ideas for L.'s eighth pool/Playmobil/knight themed party, but this year was more of a challenge. He's a kid who loves the comforting predictability of sameness, and at first he spent weeks declaring that he wanted the exact same party he had last year. Exact. Right down to the goody bags. [more]

June 17, 2009

Who Needs A Beach?

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We live near the water but white sandy beaches aren't exactly numerous around here. When we go to the beach we throw rocks in the ocean instead of building sandcastles. So instead we made one, with paper, glue and a little sand. [more]

June 10, 2009

Little big engineers

In the never-ending quest to scour the internet and libraries for all science crafts and activities related to L.'s interests I found a great one last week. L. loves to build and design structures, and he has an uncanny ability to render his visions into small, almost-microscopic, blueprint-like form on paper. When he's inspired, he'll sit in his bed with his plastic protractors and compasses and his pencils and painstakingly draw his designs. T. doesn't quite possess this type of focus or interest, but she does love to work with her hands and manipulate objects.
June 8, 2009

King of The Jungle!

I love this craft because it uses cut outs of your child's hands,and that makes it just a little more special. I don't keep many crafts we make but always find room to store these away.
June 4, 2009

Dinosaurs Are Taking Over!

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I thought I would devote today to sharing some wonderful dinosaur projects around the blogosphere! Dinosaurs appeal to preschoolers' imaginations, but the theme is one you can take with you as they get older and dig in deeper to learn more. [more]

May 21, 2009

It's not all about the money

L. used to be my craft kid. He loved crafts when he was small and I loved coming up with new and stimulating things for us to do together. We have bins of craft supplies carefully hoarded from yard sales and thrift shops and craft stores. Because he was a first child, of course, I spent way more time with him doing crafts than I have with poor T., who also loves a good craft or two. [more]

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