Head to the Park for Gross Motor Fun

Playgrounds go with kids like roads go with cars — they were made for them! Just as with free play, playing on playgrounds is a lot more than rambunctious fun, though. Kids gain social skills through figuring out how to interact with and share space with other kids. They develop resilience through mastering new skills. Add a playground to kids’ play, and the benefits of play get even more physical. 

Just take a look around the typical playground for a fun way to help kids grow and develop through play:

• Slide. Kids have to climb up to the slide, building coordination and developing strength in their arms and legs. Then they get increased vestibular involvement sliding down the slide.

• Swings. Swinging enhances the vestibular system and builds core strength holding onto the swing. The swings help relax an overstimulated child since they have a calming effect.

• Sand pit. Playing with sand helps with sensory integration and fine motor skills as kids dig and pile and grab the sand. It also improves balance when kids walk on the uneven terrain. Sand pits that have construction-style diggers help kids develop upper body strength and coordination while digging.

• Monkey bars. Hanging from bars strengthens hands and fingers, which helps with handwriting skills. Any grasping activity is useful — from the pretend steering wheels atop some play structures to raising and lowering something on a rope.

Gold Stretchy Putty

This has many names when you are looking around Pinterest and Google and various "mommy blogs". We call it stretchy putty at our house because it really isn't very slimy, and we have made slime that was slimy.  My 8 year old daughter made this mostly by herself. I helped pour the liquid starch because it was a large bottle.

To make this fun sensory play stuff you'll need:

• 1 5oz bottle of clear Elmer's glue
• 2 Tbs gold glitter or gold liquid water color or gold glitter glue (you can also use food coloring)
• 8 Tbs liquid starch

(you can use any color, really, we just happened to have gold at home)

pour all the glue into a bowl and add the glitter/glitter glue/liquid water color and mix. Add 2Tbs liquid startch and mix well. Add 4 Tbs liquid starch and mix well. Add the last 2Tbs liquid starch and knead. This will be a bit stringy at first which can be fun to play with. But the more you knead it the firmer it will become. I think we kneaded for about 5 minutes or so. You can form it into a ball and then set it on the table and watch it "melt" into a puddle. I made some for school as well and the kids thought it was the best stuff. Even my little guy who really hates getting things on his hands and won't touch most wet or slimy things, loved this. 

Why We Need to Get Outside More

Now that the weather is nice again and it's easier to get outside we need to take our kids out and help them (and ourselves) re-connect with nature. Parks and playgrounds are wonderful, hiking the trials at the county and state parks is lots of fun, even just playing your backyard. Here is a good article explaining why it is so important for us to get our kids and ourselves outside more. I've read books on this topic before and I happen to agree with the idea that all of us are becoming more and more disconnected with the natural world around us. Nature Deficit Disorder is now an official diagnosis in the DSMV-V. Wow, I guess this is not something just a hand-full of isolated people believe in anymore.

Nature Deficit Disorder: Our Disconnect from Nature is Simply Unnatural in the Toca Boca parents digital magazine 

Yes, I see the irony in the fact that while they and I are supporting the idea to unplug from our technology and get outside the magazine is completely digital. :)

Kids are People: A Radical Idea

I am a big fan of the Toca Boca apps for the iPad and Android devices. They let children explore parts of life that they don't normally get to, and they are so open ended that kids can be creative and not be told what to do. I like Legos for the same reason. Toca Boca has started writing articles for adults, parents and teachers and any other adult who cares to read them. I really liked this article and wanted to share it with you. I try very hard to adhere to the ideas in this article both as a mom and as a teacher. Granted there are times when things need to be done the way an adult says so but there's no reason we can't give our children as much control over their lives and how they do things as possible. It's something I tell all the families I work with, give your child choices, let them have control when ever possible and you will find that there are less and less negative behaviors. One of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes is "A person is a person, no matter how small".

Kids are People: A Radical Idea

Now, I will admit that the more I've read about this idea of "Childism" the more I think, that like most things, some people have taken it a bit to far (for my comfort and taste).  And so here is where I step up onto my soap box for a little bit....

In theory I guess this is good but we do tell cars not to hit kids. We also tell kids to watch for cars. No one is perfect and everyone gets distracted. Seems to me it should be an equal responsibility. As an adult I still look for cars, because there is going to be that one time that I don't and neither did the driver look for pedestrians. This is not victim blaming in my mind. That would be more like saying that you must have done something to deserve getting hit by your parent, or that the girl who got raped was asking for it by wearing something skimpy. 

Here is another one that irks me. If we don't tell kids not to accept candy from strangers then we are irresponsible as parents. I trust my daughter to know right from wrong, to not accept rides and other things from people she doesn't know, and to tell me and my husband about things that are happening that are not right. I don't trust all the adults out there to leave my daughter alone. Let's face it, this needs to be done on BOTH sides or it won't matter at all.

Local Activities Right In Your In-Box

Follow the link to find Macaroni Kid. 

The weekly newsletter of Farmington-Lakeville-Apple Valley activities to entertain, stimulate and exhaust your kids.

This is a website that lists family friendly activities going on in and around our area. You can sign up for their email alerts so that you don't have to remember to go to the website once a week and see what is going on. They'll tell you if the activity or event is free or what it costs. They also highlight museums around the area every so often. 

How do you encourage communication with your child?

I know, I said I was going to get better and posting more often. I've had a lot of evals lately so they have to take priority. :)

Here is a great article with 17 different ideas for you to try when working on communication with your child. This article is from the Friendship Circle, a resource for families with children who have special needs. They have lots of good things on their site, you should check them out. 

17 Ways to Encourage Communication With Your Special Needs Child.

You might like this one too:
23 Ways to Communicate With a Non-Verbal Child

I was just talking to a parent about communication and non-verbal children. One thing I mentioned was that kids may not have words but I haven't met one yet who isn't trying to tell you something. They use eye gaze, pointing, grunting, pulling you by the hand, body language, pauses, jabbering, gestures, and so many more. 

We just have to teach ourselves to tune into what they are telling us. The more we respond to their non-verbal communication the more they begin to understand that they are getting their point across and start to associate that with words. Usually kids don't talk because they don't need to, physically can't, or just don't see the point.

Holidays - Full of Fun or Fear?

This?   or

                                    This?



As parents we take our kids to the malls and stand in long lines to see if maybe this year we can get that cute photo of our little one sitting on Santa's knee. So many kids are scared to death of Santa. Think about it, here is they very large man with a very furry face, you have no idea who he is but your mom hands you over to him. So not only has she blithely given you to some stranger, he gets right in your face and says "Ho ho ho". I think I'd be a bit scared too. 

Here's another scenario:  We get in the car with the rest of our family and are off to see our relatives. Of course as very little children, we don't really understand what that means. We get to a house we've never been to before (remember that we have short memories at this young age) and there are HUNDREDS of people that we don't know (ok, maybe not hundreds but remember that we are very small and they are very very tall). And our parents wonder why we want to hide in the closet or under the table or behind them in the chair. It can be so very overwhelming.

I recieved a link in my email to an article written by Linda Acredolo, Ph.D. Co-founder, the Baby Signs® Program and Professor Emeritus, UC Davis. It has some pretty good advice and ideas for us as parents to help our kids make it through the holiday season with everyone's sanity still intact.

Stranger Anxiety A Holiday Hazard

10 Halloween Safety Tips

These tips come from an article found on Parenting Special Needs . To view the entire article please follow this link: 10 Halloween Safety Tips

1. Select a costume that makes your child easily visible in the dark to improve Halloween safety.
2. Double check that your children can see ok with their mask or costume on.
3. Helping your children to become familiar with the trick or treat route will enhance Halloween safety.
4. Looking to make sure costumes don't trip your child will boost Halloween Safety for Kids.
5. Use the buddy system for children with special needs.
6. Make sure that costumes for children with special needs are comfortable.
7. Teach Halloween Safety and Manners for children with special needs.
8. Dress properly for the weather for ultimate safety and fun!
9. Select flame retardant costumes to maximize safety.
10. Prepare kids so they won't be afraid.

Tummy Time and Your Baby's Sensory System

We all know that we are supposed to put our babies on their tummies during the day, but most people don't really know why.  For one thing, it helps develop the shoulder and arm muscles needed for crawling and later fine motor skills like writing. The less tummy time your baby gets, the later they will crawl and walk. Most babies really don't like being on their tummy very much so as parents we need to make it a more enjoyable time. Here is a link to an article that gives you many ways to can make tummy time a fun time as well as some reasons why it is so important to a baby's development.

How Tummy Time Can Help Develop Your Baby’s Sensory System

Great Websites for Kids

Whether you and your kids are looking for websites that have  homework help, safe sites to play games on, sites that have lots of volunteer opportunities in your area, sites that have safe social networking and email for kids, watch kids TV shows, look up health information, or you are looking for online music sites, this page has them for you!   

Click here to link to the site

On this page are 18 different sections that have websites by category. Here is a screen shot of the first 6:

Baby's First Year Milestones

Fun Baby Firsts: The Exciting Milestones of Baby's First Year  (title is a link)



webinar from the Minnesota Working Family Resource Center (another link)


Watching your new baby grow and develop is such a joyful part of parenthood.  Learn about the amazing leaps and bounds your baby will make in the first year, and how to promote development.  Parents will learn when to seek help for concerns, and how to access community resources dealing with development. 

Presenter: Sara Pearce, RN CNM IBCLC Amma Parenting Center 

Sara is the founder of Amma Parenting Center, as well as Director of Education. She holds a BA from Wellesley College and a Masters of Science in Nursing from Yale University. A Registered Nurse since 1995 and Certified Nurse-Midwife since 1997, Sara practiced OB nursing and midwifery in North Carolina and Minnesota until 2001, when she shifted focus to education. She founded Amma Parenting Center in 2007 to bring the New Mama Class to new mothers and became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/714361026   You can click on the title or this link to go to the registration page.

How Do You Talk About Traumatic Events With Your Little Ones?

Over the winter there was a horrible school shooting, before that a shooting at a movie theater. Now there were bombs at the Boston Marathon. And on our daily morning and evening news there are numerous stories about killings and shootings and hit and runs and...... 

We try to shield our children as best we can because we know that they really don't need to hear and see all of the violence in the format the news media projects it. But you know that there are other adults out there that don't see the little ears and little eyes and they talk about events and watch news stories where children can hear. 

At different ages children are able to handle different aspects of trauma. I received an article in my email that I wanted to share because it's perfect. It talks about the different developmental levels of children and what they understand and can handle regarding trauma in their lives.

Here is a link to the article I mentioned. It is an excellent article, well worth reading.

Talking to Your Child About Traumatic Events  

Olly, A Kid Friendly Browser

The default web browser built into the iPad by Apple is Safari. While this is a highly effective browser, many parents wish to be able to have more control over the features of Safari than Apple currently allows. The Olly browser is an alternative to Safari that provides parents with additional control over blocking websites and viewing Internet history. (read all the way to the end to find out how you can also protect your children when browsing the internet on your computers at home)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/olly-browser-protecting-kids/id556938946?mt=8

(from the iTunes store) Olly is the best browser in the world for protecting kids from harmful content. It blocks over 660 million pages of sexually explicit content. Thousands added every hour. Designed especially for families and schools.

"There is finally a way to let kids access the web on an iPad without having access to adult content" - Forbes

Features

★ Protects kids from over 32 billion URLs of sexually  

    explicit content
★ Safe Browsing is easy to turn ON/OFF
★ It doesn’t block innocent websites! Less than 0.3% error 

    rate
★ You can block widely used social networks and video 

    sharing sites with one-touch buttons
★ Add additional websites of your choice to Safe Browsing 

    block list
★ Thousands of new pages added every hour. Software 

    update not required.
★ Monitor your kids' search history while protecting your 

    own with a pincode

"Olly seems to be as fast (or, in some instances, faster) than both Chrome and Safari, which was a pleasant surprise. If I had children or simply wanted to have control over what someone using my iPad chooses to view on its formerly-innocent screen, Olly would likely be my first choice." -Pandodaily.com

"Olly is very easy to download, install and use. Parents assign themselves a four digit numeric passcode that enables them to not only turn Olly’s safe browsing mode on or off, but to add additional sites to the filter list including Badoo, BlogSpot, Digg, FaceBook and Twitter. By default these sites are not blocked, which is smart, since there are plenty of good reasons why kids should have access to social networking sites." -Forbes

"Because Apple makes it possible to disable Safari, it's possible to make Olly the only available browser. Parents can always turn Safari back on when they're using the iPad, but after using Olly for a while, I think it makes more sense for parents to simply use Olly with safe browsing turned off." -Mercury News

Regular features included

★ Olly is a fully loaded browser. It only blocks adult content

    when Safe Browsing is enabled
★ Unlimited tabbing just like Chrome
★ Bookmarks
★ Twitter sharing integration
★ Facebook sharing integration
★ Integrated search and URL bar for simplicity
★ URL history (protected by your passcode)
★ Copy and paste
★ Print

TO DISABLE SAFARI – Go to iPad Settings > General > Restrictions > Disable Safari

We add thousands of new pages to our cloud-based classification system every hour but you don’t need to install any updates. You don’t even need to restart the browser for it to block new sites when Safe Browsing is enabled. 

Olly is brought to you by MetaCert, the company that helped to instigate the creation of POWDER, the new industry standard for labeling content for online family safety, formally replacing PICS as a W3C Recommendation.

MetaCert also has software or extensions for your desktop browsers at home, if you use Firefox or Chrome they offer a free download that allows you to have more control over what your children are looking at on the Internet. (click on the links to go straight to the option for your browser)

iPad App to Prepare for Flying

There are many apps out there to help parents ease the fears of the first trip to the Dentist or Doctor. This app helps you prepare your child for a trip on an airplane. Airplanes can be very exciting but also very scary. This app goes from packing your suitcase, going through security, boarding the plane, and getting off at your destination. Its very good for little kids and lots of interaction opportunities are available. This app has 4 and 5 star ratings on various sites that I frequent. At this point it is only available for iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch. I have not seen an Android version yet.
 
Description from the iTunes Store:  $2.99  (There is a lite/free version as well)

 (app icon)

Familiarize your child with the experience of taking a flight and make them an active participant in the travel adventure. Build anticipation, reduce your child's anxiety, or let them share your trip even if they stay home.

Your child will learn:
* The steps involved in taking a flight, e.g. packing a suitcase, going through security, boarding the plane etc.
* Names of key destinations around the world and a taste of the view and culture
* The location of key destinations on the world map
* Preparing for different weather conditions in their travel destination

Activities include:
* Packing a suitcase
* Driving to the airport
* Going through security
* Boarding the plane - storing luggage and finding a seat
* Fastening seat belt and the takeoff process
* Claiming checked luggage
* Drawing and sending a postcard representing each destination
* Collecting mementos from each destination

An iPad Mini Contest

 
Smart Apps For Kids is hosting an iPad Mini giveaway!

click on the links to take you to the specific pages

This is a great site to help you find fun and educational apps for your kids. They review lots and lots and lots.....of apps. Most reviewers are parents and educators so you know that if the app has 4+ stars its probably going to be really good. They review apps for all age levels so as your kids grow you can keep up or if you have older kids you can find some that might help them with school skills. If you sign up for their newsletter they send you updates on new apps and contests (and they have alot of contests). You can also find them on facebook. They also have a facebook page dedicated to Android apps

Check Your Child's Development

picture credit: http://agesandstages.com

Many times when schools are called by parents who are concerned about their child's development an Ages and Stages Questionnaire is sent to the family to fill out. This is a fairly quick set of questions that look at all the areas of a child's development based on their age. Our public health system also uses this in their Follow Along program. You can now do this yourself anytime you want to online.

Easter Seals now has this available on their website. You input your child's birthday and the correct questionnaire opens up. You fill it out (trying the things with your child that you are not sure about) and then you submit it. You receive the scores by email a week or two after submitting the questionnaire.

Developmental Milestones Screening

The first five years are critical in a child's life. And this is the most important time to get your child support for a developmental delay or special need.

Children develop skills, or "milestones," at their own pace. How is your child doing? You only need 10-20 minutes to check with the Ages & Stages Questionnaires®, Third Edition. Your ASQ-3™ results will help you see if your child's developmental progress is on time and alert you to concerns that you can talk over with your health care provider.

Please note: ASQ-3™ is designed for screening, not diagnosis. It is a quick check for children from birth through age five. If your child is age six or older, please discuss his or her development with your child's health care provider, your local school district, or your child's teacher. Results from the questionnaire will be emailed to you within two weeks.

Press Here

If you only buy one book next year make it this one! I am totally in love with Press Here by Herve Tullet (he is known as the Prince of Preschool in France). What's so special about this book you ask? The dots are magical. Yep, its an interactive book. It's not a digital book, it has a sturdy cover and thick glossy pages and it's amazing. This book is available at the Dakota County Libraries
 
Follow the directions in the book
 
Press
Shake
Blow
Clap
Rub
Tilt
 
See what happens to the dots!
 
(they change colors, move around on the page, grow....)
 



There are so many learning activities you can do with your child to extend this book.

• Get a package of dot stickers and let your child make a dot collage.
• Make a small booklet with some white sheets of paper folded together and let your chidl put dots on each page. Now have your child dictate to you what the directions should be on each page.
• Do you have dot markers/painters at home? Your child could make dot pictures with those.

This mother has some great ideas to extend learning with this book: Crayon Freckles

I've also pinned a number of activities on a Pinterest board because it's just that fun. http://pinterest.com/etriebenbach/press-here/ 
 
 
 

Making Chores Fun!

Wait, what?! Chores can be fun? Yep they sure can. If you look at the previous post you'll see a young boy vacuuming in his superhero costume. Here are some other ways:

Make a game out of the chores. Washing the floor can be huge fun if the children dress in their swimsuits and socks. Have a large bucket of warm soapy water on hand and have them swim on their bellies across the floor. Fun and a clean floor in one go. (reminds me a bit of Pippi Longstocking)

Use chore sticks. Write the names of various chores on wooden craft sticks but don’t forget to write some fun ones too… watch a movie, make popcorn, trade a chore, read a book etc. Have the children pick out three sticks and then complete those chores… they can pull sticks as many times as they like to try for the bonus sticks as long as all the chores get done.

 Or make them chore balls, these are pingpong balls in a jar.

This mom has a great way to make chores fun and a family activity http://raisingahealthyfamily.com/making-chores-fun/ 

If you want to use a chore chart here are a few different ones. Most are downloadable (and FREE) and one goes to a site where a very creative mom (with lots of time apparently) made some fun chore charts for her kids. Ooooh if I had the time..... http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/03/5-free-printable-chore-charts-for-kids.html 

Kids and Chores part 2

So now that you know why chores are such a good thing to have your child start helping with, here are some ways you can go about it.

The next time you are doing laundry let your 2 year old match the socks together. It's great practice in matching and helps prepare them for school. While you're doing laundry they can practice taking clothes into the right rooms too. The clothes may not stay quite as nicely folded as they were to begin with, but at least they are practicing helping around the house. This is also a great time to teach them to put their clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, a skill you definitely want them to practice now while their little, the older they get, the harder it seems to be to get them to walk across the room to do it.

Your preschooler can easily help you set the dinner table, just be careful not to use your best china, it may end up in pieces before the night is through. They can also help you water the flowers in the summer. You could also have them wipe down the cupboards with a rag or clean the windows with a spray bottle full of water.

As they get a little older you can teach them how to fold their clothes and make their bed. They can even sweep and mop the floor for you. Things likely won't be as clean as if Mommy did them, but they are learning the value of hard work, which is more important than having a perfectly clean house anyway.

But my child is delayed and has a disability... My answer to that is "So?" there's no reason your child with special needs can't help out with chores some how. You just have to be a little more creative. Here is an article giving 9 Chore Suggestions for your child with special needs.

Not sure if you noticed but this boy has Down Syndrome

Some of the ways I've adapted chores for people with disabilities when working in group homes: 

1. When teaching how and where to vacuum I would empty the hole punch all over the floor, when the dots were gone the vacuuming was done. You could use anything, its just that usually in group homes you 3-hole punch a LOT of pages.
2. When teaching how to sweep the kitchen floor I put a small masking tape square on the floor and they had to get all the dirt and debris into the square. That's a trick I learned from Maria Montessori, she was a great one for teaching children how to to tasks and then letting them go and do them. She taught children with special needs for many many years.
3. When setting the table we had place mats we made out of construction paper that we traced all the items and where they go, then we laminated them and everyone had their own. So whoever was setting the table knew where to put the fork and spoon and plate and so on. I use this with my daughter all the time (my husband too if I'm being completely honest).

These are some sites that show you how you can teach practical life skills in a fun way. These not only help teach how to do chores but increase fine motor skills and planning skills which are precursors to writing. (Ahhh, see, that's the teacher in me. I will usually point out how the mundane thing you are doing can relate to your child's learning).

http://pinterest.com/spelloutloud/practical-life-skills/ 

http://parentingsquad.com/45-chores-young-children-can-do/ (for this one scroll down past all the gobledy gook. It took me a while to figure it out, not sure what happened to their site but the article is there at the bottom. I love how they sort them out into age groups)

Kids and Chores part 1

Do your children have chores at home? At what age did you start giving them chores. If you haven't started yet you should seriously consider it. The toddler through early elementary years are when kids LOVE to help out with household tasks. Ok, yes, whey they are still fairly young they don't do the best job but that really isn't the point. When your young child is doing chores you praise them for their effort. When my daughter was 2 1/2 her absolute favorite thing to do was the dusting. I had some very clean spots and some that were routinely missed, but that's ok, she was so proud of herself for helping me. Did I go back later and "fix" it? Nope, because then all you are teaching them is that they can't do it right so why bother doing it at all, Mom will just do it over. Now that she's almost 6 her dusting skills have greatly improved. She is very good at noticing where things are dusty and cleaning them off. About once a week I see her running past the kitchen to the hall closet yelling, where's the duster? Hopefully she will continue to enjoy dusting as she grows up. I also let her mop the kitchen and do some of the dishes in the sink. The dishes that she washes are probably the cleanest in the house.  Give them a couple of tasks and as they get older help them see how they can improve while doing that job. Here are some reasons why your child should have some chores at home.

They will feel a sense of accomplishment
When kids finish tasks successfully such as ones that help their parents out, they feel a sense of accomplishment. They feel as if they were productive and they did something that grown ups usually do. If your kids are great with their chores and they do them constantly, dont' forget to praise them for their help. A compliment, an allowance, or even just a small gift once in a while will make them happy and it'll make it all worth it for them.

They will learn about house upkeep which will help them later in life
Just think about all of those people who get married and still know nothing about how to keep a house running smoothly; now just imagine your kids being the opposite of that because you gave them chores as young kids and they know how to get things done. This is one of the reason why it's imperative that they start to help out around the house at a young age; it will give them the ability to know things about house keeping when they are moving away from home or getting married.

Purpose
Having responsibilities like chores provides one with a sense of both purpose and accomplishment

Make your life easier
Your kids can actually be of help to you! At first, teaching these chores may require more of your time and energy, but in many cases your child will be able to eventually do his or her chores completely independently, ultimately relieving you of certain responsibilities.

Chores may make your child more accountable
If your child realizes the consequences of making a mess, he or she may think twice, knowing that being more tidy in the present will help make chores easier

Develop fine and gross motor skills and planning abilities
Tasks like opening a clothes pin, filling and manipulating a watering can and many more actions are like a workout for the body and brain and provide practical ways to flex those muscles!

Teach empathy
Helping others out and making their lives easier is a great way to teach empathy. After your daughter completes a chore, you can praise and thank her, stating, “Wow… great job! Because you helped out, now Mommy has one less job to do. I really appreciate that!”

Did you know that chores did all that?