In a more perfect world we’d just play this way without the need for the specialized molds – but I really think these are brilliant and smart marketing for Hasbro. A very good preschool birthday gift idea – includes parental involvement, reading, acting, emotion and improvisation. That is the makings of a quality toy.
I came across this worthwhile list today – it is, however, loaded onto 15 different pages in order to create ad revenue for the site. Here is the article.
One paragraph per slow-loading add-riddled page is inconvenient – so here, have a shortcut. Now you and I can print the list out and take it to the library this week.
1) Sally Jean, the Bicycle Queen, by Cari Best, illustrated by Christine Davenier
2) Brave Irene, by William Steig
3) Annie Bananie, by Leah Komaiko, illustrated by Laura Cornell
4) Tar Beach, by Faith Ringold
5) I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow
6) Sheila Rae, the Brave, by Kevin Henkes
7) Madeline Books, by Ludwig Bemelmans
8)) Eloise Books, by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight
9) 17 Things I’m Not Allowed To Do Anymore, by Jenny Offill, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
10) Strega Nona, Her Story, by Tomie dePaola
11) Amanda’s Perfect Hair, by Linda Milstein, illustrated by Susan Meddaugh
12) Imogene’s Last Stand, by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
13) Now Everybody Really Hates Me, by Jane Read Martin and Patricia Marx, illustrated by Roz Chast
Previously titled Things to Do with your 2 year old – too narrow, on second thought 🙂
Today I made this chart showing a month (or more) worth of weekday activities to do with a young preschooler. This may be handy for yourself or another caregiver you know (like when Grandma or a sitter has the kiddo for a while and could use some ideas).
If there is enough interest, I’ll make new editions available.
You can click on it, click the magnifying glass and drag it to your desktop to print.
Your feedback and comments are very welcome.
Having days free with our young children is more and more rare – those of us who can do it, more and more fortunate. They grow up fast. Savor the time.
We decided to skip the “nutritious” school lunches offered in our district (entrées include: Fried Pizza Sticks – a breaded stick of fried pizza ingredients) and opt for nutritious (sans quotation marks) packed lunches instead.
I’d like to go into this in more detail on another post, a dozen things come to mind (like the joy of Bento Boxes and helpful standards like frozen juice boxes as ice packs) – but right now I’ve got lunchbox notes on my mind.
Here is a site where you can get some generic notes (for free) to print and put into your child’s lunch. I’m considering making a bunch of my own. You can gear them towards what is going on in their lives right now. I’ve found dozens of sources for buying this kind of note system for packed lunches – and many seem clever and warm, but I’m left feeling it’s lazy to spend more than a couple bucks on something so simple.
1) Use a business card template in any typesetting or graphics program – or just make your own template (dragging guides or putting card border outlines on a layer).
2) Use a sharpie to rule out 10 rectangles on a sheet of 8.5 x 11″ paper. Take it to a copier and make 15 of them to last the whole school year.
Things to put on them:
– personal notes
– uplifting quotes that your child can relate to
– photos or pictures of your child’s favorite people and characters
– facts/trivia related to your child’s interests
– question prompts to be used at your child’s lunch table (If you could be a different animal, which would you be – and why?)
– comic strips
– “coupons” for something special at home (a treat, an outing, guaranteed one-on-one time, extra story time, etc.)
– small puzzles (word finds, crosswords, sudoku, etc.)
– jokes and riddles
– stickers
– a month’s worth of valentines in February (those little inexpensive mass-produced cards are a great size for this)
The key is probably to produce a big batch – maybe a month at a time. Depending on your skill-sets, hand-writing them or typing them will be most efficient. Sitting at the dinner table one evening with a joke book could cover a month or more with minimal effort (check out a joke book from the library that your child hasn’t read).
Collectible card sleeves (available where game or baseball cards are sold) would do a good job of making them water resistant. Page-A-Day calendar pages could be great, too (available cheaply after Jan. 1 – – you can likely still get 2011 sets for next-to-nothing)
I’m going through some separation anxiety now that my oldest is a full-day student – I see this as a way to help me stay connected through the day that both of us will appreciate and remember fondly.
Let me know how this works out for you – especially if you have other ideas and approaches that work well!
What comics taught me about parenting.
How can I not link this – and add Geek Mom to my blog roll?
This website offers up a century of games and rhymes and other fun stuff for kids to do.
With subcategories like Running Around Games, Skipping Games, Jokes and Rude Rhymes and many more – a family could be set for generations of fun. Remember when we needed books and wise old people with intact memories (rareish in my familial experience) to access such knowledge?
The Kids’ Zone seems to get you to kiddified versions of the idea list. Sweet.
We never have another decent excuse for not having things for the kids to do outside (or inside – or within doorways with part of their person outside and part inside – or at birthday parties).
This is the cardboard playhouse I made with the girls this winter. It has since gotten a white coating of prime, and we plan to paint it (the marker doodles the girls covered it with bleed up through in a way we like). I’ll post an update when that happens.
ingredients: a few boxes, duct tape
tools: box cutter, yardstick
(I’m a little late in posting these)
Bee was Amelia Earhart. I made the plane: +5 Daddy-cred.
Pea was an octopus. Mom made the costume: +5 Mommy-cred.
Trick-or-Treating
I credit comics for some of Bee’s early reading skills (and some of my own interest in reading as a kid). Below is a list of recommended all-ages comics. Attached to the title links you’ll find a diversity of reviews, previews, publication sites, creator sites, and articles.
Bookmark and share this page. Use it when you want a gift idea, report card reward, non-cash chore payday, birthday party gifts for classmates and friends, gift ideas for grandparents and godparents, and local library wish listing.
Luke on the Loose
Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever
One Stormy Night
Zig and Wikki
Little Mouse
Jack and the Box
Stinky
Adventures in Cartooning
Amelia Rules!
CryptoZooey #1
Dinosaurs Across America
Dreamland Chronicles
Ed’s Terrestrials
Lions, Tigers and Bears
Magic Trixie
Owly
Poetry Comics: A Literary Postcard Book
Robot Dreams
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade
Tiny Titans
Little Lit publications edited by Art Speigleman
Support independent booksellers when possible.
For more information:
Update: I just came across this great resource, too! Click on the image below to go to the site.
I’ve gotten some very friendly feedback and reminders that this blog is something people enjoy reading. I’ve also been feeling like we’re starting to get a handle on having two children. It has taken over a year and a half to feel that way, and it’s been one of the hardest (if not the hardest) times of our lives.
You hear a lot of slogans, platitudes and clichés when you are having a baby – when you are having a second baby one of these is “Having a second child more than doubles the work.”. What we didn’t understand, while giving our requisite chuckles and smiles in response, was how profoundly true it is – and how it would change every area of our lives.
I read most of the book Twice Blessed by Joan Leonard before Pea was born. It read, to me, as an immature diatribe against having more than one child – something most families in our culture seem to accomplish without my ever having heard of the drama this author described. My reaction was: How spoiled and out-of-touch has the culture become when having a second child can be described with such melodrama? I got rid of the book.
I just reordered it, because I want to see how it looks from the other side of the looking-glass.
So – I’m adding a new category to the sidebar (Siblings), and if you visit here with any kind of regularity you’ll note that the blog was never the same since somewhere around mid-2009.
It’s obvious to me now that people inhibit their discussion of the transition from one child to two because they don’t want their second child to receive the impression that they did something wrong or that they’re bad, or bad for the family. That seems noble and loving and wonderful, for their second (and beyond) child. It can also be disaster in the making for the people around them who are weighing their decision over whether or not to grow their family. We had word, a day or two ago, that friends of ours will likely be dissolving their marriage due to the strains directly stemming from the birth of their second child (the first of which was born after years of difficult infertility treatment) – and that couple is far from alone.
Part of our issue is that we set such a high priority on making Bee’s beginnings as wholesome, loving, educational, playful and enriched as possible. We were good at it. She’s a brilliant, incredibly well-adjusted, happy and amazing little person.
Bee was as prepared as we could help her to be for the arrival of her sister (thankfully, because their relationship is the least of our difficulties). But, relatively speaking, she has had to adapt to life on the back burner – something we pledged that we wouldn’t allow to happen. We, in fact, agreed that that not happening was one of the main considerations in our choice to have a second child. It has been improving, due to Pea’s ability to do more and more every day – but being clobbered with a year and a half of turmoil has left an impression that will forever be a part of who Bee is, and a part of Pea’s beginnings. I’m not saying this is necessarily an altogether bad thing – what I am saying is that it has been very hard.
I don’t have the time right now to get further into it – but I’ll post a couple of links to books on the subject.
Beyond One: Growing a Family and Getting a Life by Jennifer Bingham Hull (criticism of the book includes the fact that this family can afford a nanny in addition to a parent at home)
Twice Blessed by Joan Leonard
From One Child to Two by Judy Dunn
And don’t miss the dooce® blog – no single source has been a greater comfort and philosophical companion to us on this issue (especially Mom).
In closing: I love my little girls with all my heart.
And: Biology is a harsh mistress.
Someday all this will be yours. 