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Archive for October, 2009

Kids learning their way around the kitchen with kids cooking kits is about more than getting them to help you peel potatoes or stir the cake batter, although it is nice when they can help you out. Kids cooking kits is also about more than trying to keep them busy so they’re not whiney and bored, although it does make for a fun time. The other benefits I’m thinking of are what they learn in math, science, literature, and art when they cook. Ssshh… most kids don’t even realize they’re learning school stuff while they’re having a good time in the kitchen.

Math and Cooking

Anyone who can cook can do math. So much of what you do in the kitchen involves doing math and that’s why children can learn through following simple recipes.

Take, for example, the subject of adding fractions. When kids have to learn fractions by looking at a bunch of numbers on a page, it doesn’t always make sense. However, if you decide you’re going to make a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and all of those ingredients (most of which are written as fractions) need to be doubled, your son or daughter can find great motivation in learning how to add those fractions together. After all, they wouldn’t want to come up short on the chocolate chips.

Science and Cooking

If you’ve watched many cooking programs, you may have already become familiar with the magic of science that’s at work daily in your kitchen. Helping your children notice the science and giving them permission to experiment with it can be a great learning experience. It will also make for fun lessons they won’t soon forget.

For example, you could teach the children about the three stages of matter: gas, solids, and liquids. You could boil water and watch it evaporate, you could freeze water to make it into a solid, and you could use water in its liquid form as part of cooking. If you have several kids, ask them to predict how long it will take for an ice cube to become water vapor on the stove top.

You can design experiments that show what happens to cookies if you leave out the baking soda or the flour. My daughter got firsthand experience with this very thing last weekend when we ran out of flour. She found that pancake mix is not a good substitute.

Literature and Cooking

Another fun way to use cooking in your lessons is by incorporating it into your studies of literature. For many years, schools across the country have been serving green eggs and ham to celebrate the Dr. Seuss classic. Your child could prepare the same thing with a little bit of food coloring.

When your kids are reading stories about children in different lands, find recipes for the foods that kids eat in those countries. You can create a whole meal around a foreign country; and cooking up the native food is an educational winner.

Another idea is to set aside a certain part of the day for literature discussion. Your kids can prepare a snack while discussing the book they are reading. It’s a good way to get them used to discussing books.

Art and Cooking

One of the other nice things about the kitchen is that it’s a great place for kids to show off their creativity. Children can use traditional food items, such as uncooked macaroni, to create artwork. They can also make pancakes to look like butterflies or mice. Ask your kids to create a sugar cookie then decorate it so that it serves as a model of a human cell.

With kids cooking in the kitchen, the time can be both educational and fun. Help them explore new worlds through their kitchen at home!

Get more information about kids cooking kits here

Ages 3 – 5

A really fun simple preschool activity to do with your little on is making a rainmaker tube. All you need is a paper towel tube, or a wrapping paper tube, some aluminum foil, tape, uncooked rice or beans, paper, scissors and some crayons for decoration.

Start out by cutting two circles out of your paper. Take the paper and wrap it around the end of the tube to seal it off. Use the

tape to attach the paper to the tube. If you use colored paper it will make the ends of your rain maker look more fun!

Now take a piece of aluminum foil and crumble it up so that it is long and thin enough to drop down in your tube. If you are using a wrapping paper tube then you might want to put a couple pieces of foil in.

Take your rice and pour a generous amount down into your tube. Just by pouring it in your should hear the sound of the rainmaker tube.

Once you have poured your rice into the tube, take your other piece of paper and tape it over the open end. You are just about finished.

Now get the crayons and help your little one decorate the outside of the tube. Once you are done drawing colorful shapes on your tube you have finished creating a rainmaker tube.

This activity will only take a couple minutes and your child will have fun using their hands and imaginations!

From the moment your baby is born they are learning. Everyday and everything they do from the moment they wake up in the morning to bed time is a learning adventure. Here are some fun things to do with baby through the day to help your newbie develop and learn. All of your baby’s senses are working touch, smell, taste, site and hearing in overdrive. Everything and everyday is completely new to them and their senses will be working in overdrive as they grow and begin to become curious about the world around them. Many of the everyday things they will learn are through playing.

There are many activities that will help baby learn through play, it will be fun for both you and baby!

Good morning Baby!

Morning is a very special time of day baby has just woke up and are ready to get started playing and learning. Something fun and special to do with baby is to sing to them as you are getting them out of bed and making your way across the house. Sing to baby about everyone in the family even the family pets. Singing to baby will teach them that there are many ways to use the human voice and will teach them words through repetition.

Hello my baby,
Hello my darlings,
Hello my sister,
Hello my doggie

It does not matter that the song is not real or that it even makes sense to you. The important thing is the repetition and baby hearing your voice.

Breakfast is another good time to start the learning and development through playing. Use simple things like cereal to show your baby how to start using their little fingers and learn dexterity. Take a small cup and put a couple pieces of cereal in then dump it back out. Encourage baby to copy you and put the cereal in the cup.

After lunch Baby!

The power of music is very important. Hold baby and move to the beat of music. Walk around moving and swaying to the rhythm. You will probably notice very early that baby is aware of music and they will even respond to it at a very young age. Encourage the experience and teach them music by letting them use a large spoon to bang on a plastic bowl. There are also some very good toys out that can help develop a music consciousness.

There are many items around your house that have different textures, sounds and even visual stimulations. Find safe colorful items and let baby touch them, shake them and there is a good chance they are even going to taste them so make sure it is clean. You can even get real creative and glue beads, feathers and even Velcro to a plastic bottle. The different textures will spark curiosity and help develop senses. (make sure the beads are glued on very good, or just put the beads in the bottle to make a rattle.)

Creative movement is not only playing but good exercise too. Help baby move around, stretch and roll over. Create a new environment for baby by making simple obstacle courses on the floor. Put down towels, pillows and blankets to make new terrain for baby to navigate through, over and around. Have fun with baby and get down on the floor and go through the obstacle course yourself. Baby will find it fun and want to copy you, or they might lead you. When leading they will probably look behind to make sure you are keeping up. Make it fun!

Night time Baby!

Night time is a great time for bath time. Bath time is a time for you to bond with your baby through touch and sound. While you are giving your baby a bath sing to them again. Sing about the day and the adventures you had together. If you were at work all day and not with baby sing to them about your experiences. Keep it simple and repetitive.

Bath time, bath time
Clean the baby’s belly
Clean the baby’s arms
Wash away the dirt from the day

Just make up verses that are fun and soothing.

Remember that everyday is a new adventure for your baby and you too!

About the Author: Jeff Burchell
Jeff Burchell is Oliver’s Dad and created www.OliverStop.com as a way to share to wonderful experience of being a parent. There are many questions new parents face as they raise their babies to toddlers and beyond at www.oliverstop.com we have ideas and activites for children of all ages.

Published at: www.oliverstop.com

The night Kristi told me she was pregnant everything in my life changed and immediately the question what does it mean to be a dad and what am I expected to do came to mind. It started off with the initial thought but over the nine months of pregnancy slowly the process of living changed for me. Suddenly it was not about me, Kristi or anyone else everything was about this new little life growing in my wife waiting to join the world. Everything I thought I believed changed from my political views to the way I thought about working and why I was here on earth living mysef.

It is funny to look back on the time of the pregnancy the thoughts and feelings I had. It is hard for the father to really grasp the fact of a new life. It is not like Mommy who can feel baby moving and her body changing. The first real time I felt the emotions move me was when we went for the ultrasound and found out our baby was going to be a boy. I saw Oliver for the first time moving and a good profile of his little face. The feeling was almost overwhelming to say the word miracle really does not even come close. Once again I had a shift in the way I viewed life. I really had no idea what was about to come.

The day Oliver was born was literally the greatest days of my life. Seeing his little face and eyes looking back at me truly changed me forever. In that very moment I was no longer living for me, I was living for him. I had expectations, but holding him for the first time my heart melted and I never imagined I could love anyone so much. In those first moments I realized that everything I would do from that moment on would in one way or another affect his life. I knew that no matter what I had to make choices that are going to show him how to grow up and be a good man.

I think that my main goal in life is to be Oliver’s hero. I want him to look up to me and believe that I can do anything. I want to lead him by example and teach him through experience. I want him to fail so that he can get back up and try again. I want him to succeed so that he can feel the joys of accomplishment. I want him to earn everything he gets in life and take nothing for free. I will do what ever it takes to make sure he grows to have honor and pride.

Really I think that is my job, sure I go to work everyday to provide for my family. My job however is to raise Oliver to be a part of the world he has joined. My job is to teach him to be a boy, then a teenager and then a man. So in conclusion what does it mean to be a dad? It means the willingness to sacrifice what I want for what he needs and it means to not be afraid for a moment to show him that he is loved. Most of all it means to be there no matter what, to be a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold and someone to pick him up. I am the person who will hold the back of the bicycle seat and when the time is right I will be the person that lets him go.

About the Author: Jeff Burchell
Jeff Burchell is Oliver’s Dad and created www.OliverStop.com as a way to share to wonderful experience of being a parent. There are many questions new parents face as they raise their babies to toddlers and beyond at www.oliverstop.com we have ideas and activites for children of all ages.

Published at: www.oliverstop.com

Author: Stefanie Fauquet

Potty Training seems to be one of the most anticipated and also dreaded tasks among mothers of toddlers. On the one hand it is an exciting time because the thought of not having to buy diapers anymore is a great feeling, especially on your pocketbook. However, when it comes down to the actual training and getting your toddler to actually use the potty, this is another story.

There are a few tips to help make the potty training process a bit smoother.

1. Make sure your toddler is ready! The worst thing you can do is push your toddler into potty training when they are not ready. You will be wasting your time with something that may not be meant to be…yet. Wait until your toddler starts to pull or take off their diaper when dirty. Another sign is that they will be curious about the toilet and what it is used for.

2. Buy an inexpensive and basic potty chair with out all the bells and whistles that can cause distraction. Place the potty chain in an area where your toddler frequents the most so it can be visible through out the day. The living room is a good choice. This is just until your toddler gets acquainted with the potty chair.

3. Show your toddler how the potty works. You can get a doll that simulates how to go potty, or bring your toddler into the bathroom with you and show them. They need to see it happening before they can do it themselves.

4. Once your toddler has a concept of what the potty is used for and how to sit down and go, try taking off your toddlers diapers and letting them wear real underwear and encourage them to go.

5. Offer a reward system. After your toddler has gone at least once on their own in the potty chair you will want to keep this momentum going by offering rewards every time they use the potty. Cheering loudly and giving high-fives is also very encouraging. Go to the dollar store and pick up stickers, crayons and other age appropriate treats to give them once they go on their own.

6. Repeat the process and be patient. You will want to continue encouraging and rewarding your toddler until they are completely potty trained. This can take six months or more depending on your little one.

Have patience and before you know it you’ll have a fully potty trained toddler and not have to buy diapers for them again!

About the Author: Stefanie Fauquet
Stefanie Fauquet owns the blog ‘Tips for Toddlers’ where you’ll find tips, activities, recipes and more fun for moms with toddlers. Visit http://www.tipsfortoddlers.com today!

Published At: http://www.isnare.com

So you went with you wife to all the doctor appointments, ultrasounds and breathing classes but you still don’t feel the true feelings of being a Daddy. Your wife starts really feeling the emotions of being a Mommy long before you. Her body has gone through changes and she can feel the little one kicking and moving inside. Sure you got to put your hand on the belly and feel a kick, you saw the ultrasound pictures but something is still missing right? Don’t worry all first time Dads go through this.

There is really no way for us to feel or even imagine what our wife has gone through for nine months, but the moment you see that little face and those little eyes look at you everything in your life is about to change. So the question still remains, what do I do now? How do I start my connection with this new little person and let them learn that I am Daddy?

Now let me be clear I am not a Doctor, a psychologist or a parenting expert I am just a Daddy who has been there. I was excited through the term of the pregnancy, but I was not prepared for the wave of emotions that I felt the first time I saw Oliver. I know it is not the manliest of things, but I did cry when I saw him for the first time and they were tears of joy. In one instant I realized that I was a Daddy, and it was my duty to provide for him and be there to teach him to live.

Something I did to connect with Oliver was simply holding him as much as possible. Look at him and talk to him. I know that he had no idea what I was saying, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was hearing my voice and seeing my face.

I work a full time job and leave for work very early in the morning. So something else I did was on the weekends I would get up with him in the morning and let Kristi sleep in. This would give me one on one time with Oliver that I could start creating the bond. There were mornings that I would just lay on the floor with him staring at him, talking to him and playing with him. This was very important to me and helped me feel the emotions my wife had gone through for months. Just little things like laying him on my chest, holding his little hands and taking naps with him in my arms enforced the feelings of being a Daddy.

There was a period when I was going to work at four in the morning and Kristi was great about letting me sleep though the night. I did try to when Oliver would wake up in the night to eat go get him and bring him to Mommy to eat. It was hard for me, but I can remember some pretty wonderful emotions of going to get Oliver when he was crying and by simply picking him up he would settle down. This was very powerful to me and showed me exactly the true feelings of being a father. When they are that little and that new to this world we are everything to them and they depend on us for everything even the feeling of security and comfort.

My biggest tip for a new Daddy is don’t be scared, you are not going to hurt them by picking them up and holding them. Hold them as much as you can, look into their eyes and tell them about your day. They will listen and they will love you for it!

About the Author: Jeff Burchell
Jeff Burchell is Oliver’s Dad and created www.OliverStop.com as a way to share to wonderful experience of being a parent. There are many questions new parents face as they raise their babies to toddlers and beyond at www.OliverStop.com we have ideas and activites for children of all ages.

Published at: www.oliverstop.com