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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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Make a Fort - Fort making kits

October 28th 2011 04:16
Forts are FUN.

Forts can also be an inexpensive gift that encourages imaginative play. You do not even have to wait for a special occasion to present this amazing indoor gift, but it does make a wonderful present to bring along to one of the seemingly hundreds of birthday parties your children are invited to over the years.

Pack one for your own children to take along on overnight trips to grandparents, both your child and parents will thank you. If you have the room and temperament, a more permanent solution is described below.

FORT MAKING KITS
What is it?
What do you need?

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BIG outdoor art!

August 12th 2011 21:22
Really Long Link

Before your kids head back to school, let them end summer BIG. Big backyard art projects are a great way to release some of the anxiety surrounding school preparation. The following projects are more fun when done with a friend or two, besides, containing the mess in one backyard is good for everyone.

Freeze Paint
Another project you probably won't want to tackle once school starts up in the fall, are freeze pop paintings. For this project you will need Popsicle molds, or small paper cups. Fill mostly full with water. Add a tablespoon of dry tempera paint powder and stir well with a craft stick. Popsicle molds have a built-in holder, paper cups will need to be covered with aluminum foil so a craft stick will stay in place as it freezes.

Once frozen, take the paint pops outside to paint on a piece of poster board or butcher paper. The coolness of the paint makes outside art bearable on a hot day.

Read more ideas here.....

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J is for Job Jar

April 12th 2011 14:51
J is for Job Jar. This A to Z challenge post does not seem 'fun' at first glance. It is not an art or craft project, not a game or learning toy....but my sixteen year old daughter recently mentioned how much she loved our old job jar.

odd.

I put it together to keep sanity and keep the kids busy when they were young. My four little one would choose a slip of paper from the job jar and then complete the task. Simple, straight forward, I could have told them to sweep the back steps, or put the dishes away, set the table or gather laundry, but that wasn't as effective as that magical slip of paper.

When she mentioned it, I tried to remember why we stopped using it. Wondered what happened, but that isn't too hard. Life happened, it got pushed aside and eventually forgotten about.


Job Jar for daily routines....

This idea is great for young elementary children.
You will need large craft sticks, a marker and a jar.

Write a specific job on each, such as Make Your Bed, Get Dressed, Brush Your Teeth, Straighten Toys...Mom's Surprise Job. Put a sticker on the opposite end of the words. Place the sticks words up in the jar, once a job is done, they can put the stick back in with the word down...when you see all the sticks with stickers, the tasks for the day are complete...or at least they should be

Job Jar for extra work.....

This is what we had. The list of "things to do" in a houseful of kids was never ending, so I would just write on slips of paper individual tasks that needed to be done that day or that week. Place them in a jar and let them choose a job for the day, or whenever they are bored.

More J- Jumping Jacks- Actual Jacks- Jump rope

Easy Jump rope game....place jump rope on floor and start moving it like a snake - back and forth....and have the kids (or kid) jump over the rope as it moves.

Finally....expose your kids to Jazz music, a little ragtime music, swing or Louis Armstrong provides great "cleaning music."

PBS Kids Jazz Greats
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D is for Dinosaur Eggs

April 5th 2011 11:55
Do you know kids who are crazy about Dinosaurs? Dabble in discovery by making a set of dinosaur eggs. A to Z blogging challenge letter of the day is D...and the word of the day is Dinosaur.

To make Dinosaur Eggs you will need;
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups of dirt
1 cup sand
1 1/2 cups of salt
water
small plastic toy dinosaurs
hammer

Instructions;

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, dirt, salt and sand).

2. Gradually stir in enough water so that the mix holds together .

3. Shape handfuls of dough around the small plastic dinosaurs in the form of egg shapes.

4. Let eggs dry about 4 days in a cool dry spot. Turn the eggs daily as they dry to ensure that they dry evenly.

5. Hide the eggs in the yard for kids to discover.

6. Kids can open the hard dinosaur eggs to find what is inside by cracking it with a rock, or a small hammer.



Check out Planet Dinosaur for more dinosaur information...or gather a stack of books from your local library.

If dinosaurs aren't their thing...fill small handfuls of this dough with play coins and hide these in a sand box. Kids can search for buried treasure.
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C is for Cooties

April 4th 2011 14:30
......er, Cootie Catchers. Remember those?

The A to Z blogging challenge letter of the day is C


[ Click here to read more ]
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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


[ Click here to read more ]
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kite


Okay, what is going on? It is snowing here, real heavy flakes


[ Click here to read more ]
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Math for Preschoolers

January 30th 2011 20:44
Naturally introduce math to your child at a young age. Regular practice will take a lot of the fear and frustration out of the subject.

By now everyone has heard of the benefits of developing a regular habit of reading to your preschooler. Okay, we get the picture and have piles of picture books to prove it. But like in most everything, there needs to be a balance. Use a preschooler's natural curiosity to introduce math and logic throughout the day


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Fun with Five Little Monkeys

December 20th 2010 04:23
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Whether you have a little or a lot...all depends on who you are comparing yourself to. Compared to my in-laws, we have little....compared to my family...we have a lot.

* It's interesting to see how differently we are treated depending on the company. Having more often doesn't mean we are treated better


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help serve your neighbors in need
Whether you have a little or a lot...all depends on who you are comparing yourself to. Compared to my in-laws, we have little....compared to my family...we have a lot.

* It's interesting to see how differently we are treated depending on the company. Having more often doesn't mean we are treated better


[ Click here to read more ]
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Halloween Craft: Shrunken Apple Heads

October 11th 2010 11:49
As my kids get older, I have found that making Shrunken Apple Heads with a few of their finds is as exciting as carving a Jack O'Lantern.

The frighteningly fantastic little heads are a marvel and look great amongst the Halloween decorations. My daughter wants to attempt turning one of hers into a doll this year. She'll use strong wire to make a body and design a dress out of fabric scraps


[ Click here to read more ]
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