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Encourage Creativity

November 3rd 2011 00:55
9 Ways to Encourage Creativity


Creativity is not a frivolous trait. Children raised to be creative thinkers are also often excellent problem solvers and have an innate trust in their abilities. Your child may not write a Pulitzer Prize winning novel or star on Broadway, but then again, you very well may have a budding creative genius underfoot. Regardless, the benefits of creativity are wide-spread. Here are 9 ways to encourage creativity.

1. Ask lots of questions. Let your child ask questions. Indulge your child's curiosity by letting them pursue tangents and explore new subjects.


2. Tell stories. Encourage your child to come up with alternate endings to favorite stories or movies. Before finishing a storybook, see if your child wants to guess the ending. Imagine new characters or put the same characters in a different setting. Retell these stories at bedtime, while cooking dinner or driving.

3. Allow time and space to create. Exploring takes time. Resist the urge to give short cuts, or exclaim that an idea won't work, let your child try. Unless of course their idea is dangerous to herself or others. If you can designate a corner for art work that can be left out, great.

4. Be silly. Singing and dancing along to the radio or making up your own silly tune is the best way to encourage the same freedom for your child. Even if you are not a natural extrovert, you can let your silly side show every so often.




Read more here - 9 Ways to Encourage Creativity
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Kids Art Show

August 2nd 2011 13:28
Better than a lemonade stand, a kids art show can be a fun way to promote creativity, earn money and build a sense of community.

Host your own with the following tips for a One Dolla Holla, Fifty Cent Center or Quarter Show Tips

Invite participates. You probably have a basic group in mind. It could be simply your own children or expand it to their close friends, a street in your neighborhood or make it a club event. Scouts or sports teams can pull off an effective quarter show.

Suggest sale items. Compile a list of items that are acceptable for the show. This can be decided upon as a group, or set in place ahead of time. Baked goods such as cookies should be wrapped ahead of time and ready to go. Handfuls of trail mix in baggies were just as popular as brownies at our show. Sun catchers, dream catchers, home made note cards and bookmarks were some of the offerings. Simple crafts, home made jewelry and little bouquets of flowers kept the show pretty, while they were there. We had a table for gently used toys and a place to buy hot dogs, lemonade and chips, for a quarter of course.

Read on for more information...and why a single set price is best.

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A is for Always

April 2nd 2011 12:52
For 26 days in April (minus Sundays) I will be posting a blog for each letter of the alphabet.
"Sylvie's word of the day"
I am all for challenges, so when this was dangled in front of me in my writers group, I grabbed it.

Hundreds of people signed up, literally 1037 people. Go ahead, Sign up here, if you dare.

This mini adventure is fairly mundane, but with 1000 bloggers jumping in, stalking each other, chatting away everyday, something good is bound to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Always is my word of the day, in honor of ALWAYS learning. Life is too ....oh wait, I'll just quote Henry Miller, he said it best.....


"develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music, the world is simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." ~Henry Miller

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Winnie the Pooh Math Fun

July 26th 2010 04:03
Winnie the Pooh Bear is a well-loved children's classic storybook character.

Use this sweet, honey-obsessed bear to gain your preschooler's attention when introducing math facts. Relate cooking, time, counting and sorting to Winnie the Pooh and his antics from his stories.
Winnie the Pooh Bear
Winnie the Pooh

Originally developed by A.A. Milne in 1924, Winnie the Pooh has been featured in animated television shows, movies, games and nursery decorations, along with the book series.

Try Cooking with Winnie the Pooh Bear

Math is more than just numbers on a piece of paper. Cook a Winnie the Pooh Bear snack and incorporate math skills into a fun treat that preschoolers can make. Mix up a batch of sugar cookies using a recipe from any cookbook. Have the preschooler help measure the ingredients. Once the dough is done, roll it out and use Winnie the Pooh cookie cutters to make special cookies. You can find themed cookie cutters online or in craft stores.

A no-cook version is Pooh Bear Honey Butter spread on graham crackers. Have the preschooler measure equal amounts of honey and soft butter into a bowl. Let them mix the two items together and then spread it on graham crackers. Incorporate math concepts into this activity by showing how the graham cracker can be divided in half or into four equal sections. They can also count out how many snacks they will need to make for the family or group.

Tell Time with Winnie the Pooh Bear

Consider purchasing one of the products on the market that feature telling time with Winnie the Pooh. "Tell Time with Winnie the Pooh Bear" has a clock built right into the storybook. Preschoolers can learn to tell time by moving the clock hands to the right position for each time referenced in the storybook's text.

Winnie the Pooh's Telling Time Sticker book includes full-color reusable stickers for preschoolers to use when learning how to tell time and discover shapes and colors.

Winnie the Pooh Preschool Game

Winnie the Pooh Preschool is a computer game designed for young children. In going through all the steps involved in throwing a birthday party for Christopher Robin, they will learn sequencing, number recognition and counting skills. All the activities are incorporated into the story line. Preschoolers can learn math concepts on their own with this game.

Get all the links for the above products here
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Animal Classification Cards

January 5th 2010 03:27
My daughter and I had an enjoyable afternoon reading some animal classification cards - some which I discovered on the internet (see previous post) and others which I created along the same vein. She enjoyed animal spotting in her books and then locating the cards with a random fact that was placed on the bottom.

Fun yes - educational - double yes. Win win for sure!

We also continued on with the Australian theme and looked at Australia on the map, sang Waltzing Matilda and read one of my favourite books from my childhood, The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek.
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Katy No Pocket

December 26th 2009 19:37
We are going to have some fun with Katy No Pocket over the next week or so. Katy is a kangaroo, born without a pocket and is struggling to carry her baby like all the other animals in the countryside. Katy, desperate for a pocket, goes to the city in search of one and meets up with a kindly construction worker who helps her out.


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Arthur on Speakaboos

November 1st 2009 02:42
For those looking to find some fun tales for children to listen to should stop by and visit Speakaboos. They have added a good selection of Arthur tales read by an interesting mix of celebrities including Tom Arnold, Kevin Bacon, Kelly Ripa and Clay Aiken. The stories include Arthur's New Baby, Arthur's New Puppy, Arthur's Chicken Pox and Arthur's Computer Disaster,

You can choose to watch them for free online, buy an individual track for 0.99 or purchase an entire album for 8.99


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The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

October 19th 2009 00:30
Once upon a time there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything until one windy autumn night, while walking in the woods, she hears CLOMP CLOMP.

This is such a fun tale and suitable for scary retellings around Halloween


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Cranberry Thanksgiving

October 2nd 2009 18:39
Cranberry Thanksgiving written by Wende and Harry Devlin in 1971 is one of those time honoured books that lends itself to family traditions - in the case of Cranberry Thanksgiving it is Cranberry Bread.

Cranberry Thanksgiving is the story of a young girl named Maggie who lives with her Grandmother near a cranberry bog in New England. The book includes some interesting characters and colourful illustrations and the story takes some interesting twists and turns, demonstrating that looks can be deceiving. It even includes Grandmother’s Famous Cranberry Bread recipe for you to bake at home


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Don't Discount Second Hand Stores

September 18th 2009 17:35
Investigating a new area to live, I started checking out all the stores - second hand stores included and noticed what bargains they had to offer particularly in the way of kids educational computer games and books. We managed to make some great savings and many of the books and cds were priced at $2 or less!

The Little Bear Preschool Thinking Adventure normally sells for between $10 and $15 and we picked it up for $1. A definite bargain


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Little Bunny Foo Foo

June 19th 2009 10:19
Little Bunny Foo Foo has become a favourite in our house this week and for those who love the song, look out for the book of the same name which is narrated by the Good Fairy. The book offers a twist on the original version as Foo Foo tosses mud pies instead of head bops (or kisses as in the song linked above) but he is just as mischievous.

Michael Rosen (of We're Going On A Bear Hunt fame) also has a version called Little Rabbit Foo Foo


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Speakaboos

June 2nd 2009 02:38
The Speakaboo website served a great purpose this week as it gave us an online version of The Ugly Duckling to read and view as well as a follow on activity, but the site itself holds an interesting premise.

Coming soon, as the site announces, is a record your own story section which will allow kids and parents to record their own voices reading (or singing!) their favorite story, song, or nursery rhyme. Anything that aids in the improvement and creation of kids wanting to read or listen to stories is a great idea.
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Ugly Duckling Week

May 31st 2009 07:02
This may sound like some poor joke but it is the book to which my daughter has chosen to base all of her crafts and activities this week. Again being a popular story like The Three Liltte Pigs, there is no shortage for either crafts or activities we can do together.

We have various Ugly Duckling and Swan pictures to cut out and glue together, although my favourite is this 3D duck. We are unable to source the plastic eggs although are going to amend it slightly by using small paper cups which should do the trick just nicely


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Send In The Clowns

May 24th 2009 02:59
Admittedly I am not a fan of clowns, preferring to see them at children's parties rather than adorned all over my wall. So the inclusion of Clown Week into our schedule took me a little by surprise to say the least.

Loonette and Molly from the Canadian Series, The Big Comfy Couch, are a particular favourite in our house so at least I had a starting point on which to base our activities. And in particular I love the concept of a 10-second tidy which we are going to incorporate with a clown based cleaning chart
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