Spring Activities

Here comes Peter Cottontail, skiing down the bunny trail…. that is what is feels like this year in Ohio. Snowy, wet, damp, cold – feels more like Thanksgiving or Christmas instead of Easter and Spring. But, regardless, it is March and this ickiness will pass.

But, what do you do with children (and perhaps grown ups) that are tired of the cold, damp weather and indoor activities? You bring the outdoors in. I will say right now, none of these activities are completely original with me, but they are fun, and educational in a playful way, so I thought it useful to post them here for my readers.

Grow Grass in Egg Shells:

Using a paring knife, make a couple of slits near the top of a raw egg. Remove the top, and pour out the contents (make scrambled eggs for lunch or bake some cookies). Rinse the shell out and let them dry for a couple hours. Place 3 or 4 small rocks in the bottom of the egg (if the weather isn’t too bad spend the time the eggs are drying going out side on a rock hunt).

Once the eggs are dry place a small amount of soil in each egg. Make a layer of grass seed (wheat grass is pretty), and cover with more soil. Water them and place in a sunny window (using an egg carton or egg cup to keep them upright). You will have sprouts in 2-3 days.

Indoor Egg Hunt:

This time of year color plastic eggs are plentiful and not expensive. Invest in a few dozen. This game is actually fun year round, and children love to both hide and seek eggs. It is not necessary to place anything inside. The game is in finding them. Here are some twists on the traditional egg hunt.

• Have the children hide them and the adults find them. 
• Assign each child a different color to find. Each must bring back only the color assigned.
• Place color circles (labeled with the color word) on the table or floor and have children sort them by color as they bring them back.
• Play “Beat the Clock” see how quickly all eggs can be found.
• Give each child a teaspoon, have each balance an egg on the spoon and go through an obstacle course (around a table, backwards, use masking tape on the floor to make a pathway).

If you want to fill the eggs – especially for Easter day, but want to avoid too much candy or sweet treats, here are some more ideas:

• stickers
• rubber bracelets
• erasers
• Squinkees
• paper slips with activities to be done – color eggs, go for a walk, go to the park, watch a family movie, work a puzzle, play a board game, read a book.

Draw a Spring Time Mural 

So as I look out my office window as I am writing this, the sky is grey and the ground is brown and grey and all is slightly dismal looking. It may be the same where you are. Here is the solution! Place a long, wide strip of paper on a wall (sticky tack or painter’s tape will protect your wall). Make sure the paper is wide enough they children cannot accidentally color off the top and get crayon on the wall (if they do Mister Clean Magic Eraser is a wonderful thing). Suggest making a spring time mural – sunshine, trees, green grass, colorful flowers, bunnies, squirrels, birds – make suggestions but allow the children’s imaginations to go wild. Get down on the floor and color with them! Print spring time images from the internet

and cut them out and paste them on – great scissor practice for preschoolers/early childhood, tear pieces of construction or tissue paper and glue on in various designs and patterns. Here is a picture of the St Patrick’s Day Mural we did in the studio earlier this month.

The children and adults had so much fun with it, we will be putting up blank paper soon for more coloring fun. We used the back side of wrapping paper I found on clearance at Crafts 2000, but packing paper that comes in shipping boxes, or freezer paper would work as well.

Enroll in a Kindermusik Class

Get out of the house once a week, meet up with friends, sing, dance, play instruments, read stories and get more great ideas for activities at home, but coming to a Kindermusik class. We have ongoing year round classes with fun, educational themes. Check out our website www.misschristamusic.com or email Miss Christa (christa.miss@gmail.com) for more details.

 

Establishing Christmas Traditions – Not so hard

Christmas Traditions — to me this sounds lofty, idealistic, thoughtful. There are traditions and memories from my childhood that I still strive to maintain. Having an advent calendar, putting the tree up to be enjoyed the entire month of December, my ornament that is a half walnut shell with a tiny nativity scene inside, Grandma Nadine’s ceramic tree. I also continue to make certain foods for my family (though I am much more circumspect about consuming large quantities myself any more). Homemade salami, white chocolate bark with pretzels and peanuts, homemade ham salad, and sugar cookies are a must. Watching certain programs – White Christmas, Christmas Story, Rudolph, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and at least two cheesy Lifetime movies. Drinking Millstone Peppermint Stick Coffee. These mean the holidays to me.

But, this year has awakened a new revelation in me and one I hope I can pass on to parents of younger children. You are establishing Christmas traditions and memories without even trying. 

My children ages 18 and 12 have proven to me this year. I did not realize that by hosting a couple tree decorating parties for my husband’s work study students through the years, I established the tradition that we MUST have homemade cookies and mulled cider to decorate the house. It is also a MUST that I buy cranberry flavored ginger ale for the Sigman Christmas party that is always at our house. And, the girls’ stockings cannot hang on just any hook or any way. Each of them has  preferred side of the doorway. (We don’t have a chimney so they are hung on either side of the passage from the dining room to the living room. 

All of these things were done in all innocence and without thought to establishing memories and traditions. I was living in the moment and doing what was fun and important to me. But, what I have discovered is I have made an indelible mark on the girls and these are traditions they may continue or modify as the grow and move away from home. 

One other tradition that was started by my mom and dad for me, and Greg and I have continued with the girls is to buy a special ornament for each of them every year. Some years they end up getting way more than just one. When I got married, and moved out of my mom’s house, my ornaments came to me and now, year after year, get placed on the big tree in the living room. As I have gazed at the tree this year, I realized we may only have this many ornaments for a few more years. Sarah is already in college and will probably move out in the next few years. She will get her ornaments to take with her and continue to enjoy them in her own house with her own traditions. 

One tradition I miss is driving around looking at Christmas lights. For some reason, my children do NOT enjoy this the way we did when I was a kid. But, maybe someday I will have grandchildren who will want to go with Grandma to do that. 

Whatever you are doing in love with your children, is making an impression and creating memories to last a lifetime. Enjoy the process, don’t try to hard – you don’t have to – it is all important to a child. 

Don’t forget to listen to music, dance around the kitchen and read a book. 

 

Have a very merry Christmas and I’ll see you in the New Year!

Kindermusik@Home

As a licensed Kindermusik educator, there is nothing I love more than hearing about your favorite songs and how the magic of Kindermusik doesn’t stop when we sing that last good-bye or give a final hug.

Families tell me every day how they use our music and activities to connect throughout the week. We already know that parents embed Kindermusik into their daily routines and rituals from bath time to bedtime from doctor visits to grocery shopping—the same songs and activities from class can make every moment a learning one and create lasting memories. Anyone else sing the Kindermusik song every time you put your toys away or host an impromptu dance party to your favorite CD on a rainy day?

Parenting just got easier – in class and at home!

Through the newest research and technology, Kindermusik makes sure parents receive the educational tools they need to tap into the power of music to help make parenting easier and support their role as a child’s first and most important teacher. That’s why enrollment in every Kindermusik class includes music and age-appropriate activities for families to use together at home where a child learns best.

Now, with Kindermusik@Home you can easily access your favorite Kindermusik songs, activities, books and lyrics—as well as recipes, learning games for kids, crafts, and more in a green-friendly digital format any time from your smart phone, iPad, tablet, laptop, or computer.

See for yourself!

http://youtu.be/a1KryzJNCjo

Kindermusik@Home educational activities for children include:

• Music downloads: songs, rhymes, stories and sounds from class
• Literature book in e-book format
• Activity buttons lead to a variety of different activity types such as:
  • dance and movement activities
  • fingerplay demonstrations
  • together-in-the-kitchen activities
  • music time
  • focused listening games
  • video field trips
  • find-it/count-it style activities
  • ideas for pretend or imaginative play
  • and more!
• The Why It’s Good for Your Child area provides parents with the educational insight behind the activities.
• Download Center provides Printable Activity Pages and, Printable Lyrics Pages for all of the songs.

Recommended Books for Christmas Presents

Some of the parents in class have asked for some guidance on selecting books for Christmas presents. The books listed in this post are chosen because they are available through Scholastic books which we offer as a service in the studio. Before I give you that list, though, I will tell you that I believe, when buying children’s books, you cannot go wrong with the following authors. These are listed in no particular order because I love them all. In addition, there are many great children’s books on the market today and the most important thing in finding a book is finding one that appeals to the child. There are fiction and non-fiction books on every subject under the sun now and it is a great time to be a reader. 

My favorite children’s authors: 

• Mo Willems
• Dr. Suess
• Chris Van Allsberg
• Graeme Base
• Jan Brett
• Eric Carle

These are authors that I will buy books over and over again. I don’t even have to read them first, I will buy them based on the name on the cover. Most of them do fabulous art work in addition to high quality writing. 

Okay now on to the book recommendations as requested. These are in no way at all comprehensive lists – I tried to keep it short which is hard because I LOVE books. 

From Honeybee December (infants – four year olds):

• # 70 – 10 Trim the Tree-ers (holiday story for counting and great illustrations)
• #57  - Potty Animals (a great potty training story)
• #39 – Huggapotamus (fun cuddle story)
• #65 – Snowmen at Christmas (season favorite at our house)
• #66 – The Snowy Day (children’s classic by Ezra Keats)
• # 37 – Seasonal Favorites Pack (several great holiday stories to enjoy throughout the season)
• #75 – Under My Hood I Have a Hat ( I love this one for pre-readers)
• #61 – Rhyme and Repetition Pack (another set of books to really build your library)
• #12 –  Classics Pack
• #74 – Twelve Days of Christmas (this is a hardback book that has overwhelmingly beautiful pictures to go with the traditional holiday song). 

FireFly December (PreK-K)

• #32 – Home for Christmas (Jan Brett books are just awesome – all of them)
• #15 – Christmas Trolls Pack (Jan Brett again – has read along CD)
• #46  - Llama Llama Holiday Drama (all of the Llama Llama books are fantastic I bought this one for all of my cousins’ children last year)
• #63 – Polar Bear
• #70 – Skippyjon Jones Shape Up (Love Skippyjon Jones)
• #66 – I Spy Merry Christmas (hidden pictures fun)
• #37 – Knuffle Bunny Pack (if you don’t already have the Knuffle Bunny stories get them)
• #36 – Incredible Me Pack (Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon was suggested to me by a Kindermusik parent a few years ago – so happy I found it).

SeeSaw December (K-1)-

• #77 – Strega Nona’s Gift (Tomie De Pola is a great author illustrator)
• #54 – Pete The Cat Pack (fun rhythm and rhyme)
• #15 – Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Pack (my girls wore these books out)
• #23 – Elephant and Piggie Pack (Mo Willems need I say more?)
• #12  - Read and Seek (hidden picture fun)
• #28 – Gingerbread Baby and CD (another Jan Brett)
• #82 – Where Did They Hide My Presents (this books is alternative holiday lyrics to familiar songs – they can be fun to read as poetry or to try to figure out how to sing)

Club Shop (online – we do not have this flyer in the studio):

• If You Give A Dog a Donut
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• My Truck is Stuck (if you have taken Away We Go or Fiddle Dee Dee with me you have seen this one – I love it)
• Red Sled -what happens when the sled gets left in the forest
• When I Grow Up – hilarious read aloud book by Weird Al Yankovic
• Llama Llama Time To Share – the newest of the Llama Llama books. 

These are my suggestions. If you have questions about other books on the list, please ask. Though I don’t have them all, I do know most of them. My personal rule of thumb when buying for my girls was to avoid character books such as Barbie, Dora, Legos etc.because I found they would reject those books as soon as the fad of the character had faded for them. However, if you have a reluctant reader/listener, those type of books can sometimes be a hook to bring them in. 

 

Busy Fall

Well, Miss Liesbeth and I have been very busy this fall. We have done demonstrations at Hocking College, and around Athens. We participated in the Ohio University Homecoming parade and we are applying for the Start It Up Athens economic development grant. The first part of that process was to create a video about who we are and what we do.

Here is our video – please watch and share it.
All of this in addition to teaching our regularly scheduled Kindermusik and Simply Music lessons.

The next big event on our schedule is the 2nd Annual Studio Halloween Party. October 27 from 2-4 we will have an open house. Feel free to come for the whole time, or just part of the time. Wear costumes, enjoy songs, games, crafts and snacks. Visit with friends and just enjoy celebrating fall and Halloween with us. Please plan on joining us and inviting your friends.

As always, we offer a free preview class to all new families. We are still looking to get a preschool class going on Thursdays at 6:30 pm or Tuesdays at 4:30pm. Please be sure to contact us if you are interested.

A place to come together

One of my life goals was always to be a full-time mom without needing to hold another outside of the home job as well. Unfortunately, our circumstances, like many others did not provide that as an opportunity for me. We have been blessed that I was able, to a large extent, to build my work hours around our children’s needs after the first few years of Sarah’s life. This blessing is not one that I take lightly, and I so appreciate being able to do what I love and still spend time with my own family.

Because of this, I know how important and precious time with my children is when I am not working. There are many activities in which they get involved where I am merely a spectator. My girls have danced, played basketball and soccer, and done marching band. All of these were great activities and I was very involved in taking them to their practices/rehearsals, have served as a band mom, brought snack to the basketball and soccer teams and attended dance recitals. I also spent countless hours sitting in a lawn chair or on bleachers, reading a magazine, possibly chatting with other parents, working from a laptop or on my phone. But in all of these activities I  mostly function as a passive observer rather than being hands on with them.

The activities I treasure the most are the ones that we have participated in together. Kindermusik, Girl Scouts and 4H have been those for us. This is where we really spend time together talking, sharing, working and playing and being active really within each other’s presence.

Since my girls are older, I now get to provide the Kindermusik experience to other families. There is no substitute for the smiles, giggles, hugs, cuddles, and joy that I see as moms, dads, grandmas and aunts (we would love to have grandpas and uncles too) come together with their child for forty-five minutes of uninterrupted time to make music, listen to stories, dance and share together.

In the Kindermusik setting you have no responsibility, as the adult, other than to focus and devote yourself to your child. No phones, no laundry, no emails, no stress. For one short session a week, you get to spend time with your child and help them learn and grow as well as have fun. Kindermusik is the first opportunity available to you that allows you to have your child experience the social benefits of a group activity and gain the physical, cognitive, language, and emotional benefits of being there with your active participation as well. And, then as a bonus, you receive activities, music and stories to continue the sharing at home on your own time as well.

The advantage of Kindermusik is that your licensed, professional teachers do all the planning, preparation, and coordination (Girl Scouts and 4H require much more from the parent). You literally just have to show up and enjoy!

Now how easy is that? Don’t you want to have some uninterrupted time to play with your children? Don’t you want to have fun, giggle and really focus on their development and growth? If you have never tried Kindermusik, contact me and we will find a preview class for you to try!

The blog post I never thought I would write – potty issues

Okay – since the beginning of my Kindermusik Educator career, I have repeatedly, REPEATEDLY said there are two issues on which I will not advise – sleep issues and potty issues. All I can do is commiserate with the parents who are still going through this.

Last week, in endeavoring to find new topics on which to blog, the suggestion came from a parent that I discuss getting her son to poop in the potty. He does the pee thing fine, but the poop is elusive. SIGH . I said I would write about what was suggested. There were no other suggestions. So here is my (pardon the pun) dirty story and what little help I can provide.

Here is my story about Hannah (our younger daughter who is now 12). She was still pooping in her pants at age 9. Yes, that is correct, I had a child who still pooped her pants in the fourth grade. Now do you see why I do not feel qualified to give advice? However, I feel the situation we went through with her, may actually have been given to me so someday I could share this blog post.

When Hannah was around age 2 – 2.5 years old we started to potty train her. The pee thing went fairly well as far as I remember, though perhaps I have psychologically blocked the trauma I felt by potty training both of her girls. However, she was still inconsistent about pooping. For many years, I believed she did it as a control issue with me. Some children throw tantrums when they want to convey a point, Hannah would poop because she knew it frustrated me. I tried everything – bribery in the form of candy, stickers, treats, movies, undies – you name it. I punished her by taking away her t.v. time, sitting her on her bed, putting her back in Pull Ups (Very bad idea). Nothing worked. I suffered the personal mortification of motherhood embarrassment of having poop fall out of her pants at church, Girl Scouts, the grocery store. I suffered having the teachers from school call and tell me they needed another change of pants or that I needed to take her home. I often felt that her poop was an indictment on my qualifications to be a successful mom. ALL of this time, I did not believe it was physical but more an emotional, mental response she had.

Around the time Hannah was seven we began to realize that she had some attention issues. If something engaged her creatively or academically and challenged her mind, she could stay focused for long periods of time. But, mundane things such as chores, math facts, spelling words, brushing teeth, going to the bathroom seemed not to even trigger a response to her. I began to make waves at school but because her grades were always very good, and she tested brilliantly – no one wanted to listen.

When she was 9 and headed into the fourth grade, and still pooping her pants, I finally took her to our family doctor. As I described what we transpiring, he put her on a laxative, and had us created a schedule (read on for more details about this) for bathroom time. He also advocated taking her to Children’s Hospital in Columbus to be tested for ADHD. When we had her tested, we discovered that she has a very very high IQ and that, I was on the right track with my mom gut, that going to the bathroom was too ordinary to interest her. It was suggested that she didn’t even realize she had to go and didn’t notice the discomfort in her pants or the odor – though everyone around her did. I, to this day, do not understand how this is even possible, but Hannah says as much herself (before the testing) so I have to believe it. We ended up putting her in counseling and creating a bathroom schedule.

I was adamant that we had to take care of this problem once and for all before she reached middle school. I was terrified that other children were going to start teasing her, ostracizing her, and being horrendous. It may have already started, but Hannah seemed unaffected.

I am happy and proud to say that Hannah is no longer in  counseling, we were able to avoid going the medication route for the ADHD through behavioral modifications, and that her bathroom issues have been resolved.

I am not saying that every case of refusing to poo in the potty is as extreme as ours. But, I can tell you I learned a few things through this situation with Hannah.

1. Giving your child a little Bene-Fiber every day will not harm them. Check with a doctor or the pharmacist for dosage for your child. But, we found with Hannah she couldn’t taste it and didn’t even know it was there.

2 Make a set time to sit on the potty and train the body to go. This can take a LONG time both while sitting on the toilet and over the course of weeks to adjust. First track and see if there is an approximate time that your child has a bowel movement every day. Start by trying to make that the potty time. For us, we did it with Hannah before she left for school in the morning and upon returning home. Provide entertainment while they are sitting there. Hannah was able to read to herself or color, but a younger child may need someone to read to them or play a game or something. At first, she would some times sit as long as 15 minutes – we had to plan it in to our mornings.

3. If the problem doesn’t seem to be getting better, see a doctor. It is possible the stool is too hard or too large for your child’s bowels. Also there is a condition called, Encopresis which can cause bowel movements to happen – or not happen – without the child being able to control it.

4. DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP AS A MOTHER – every child has an issue. Any mother who doesn’t admit this is lying to herself and others. Food, sleep, tantrums, biting, hair pulling, soiling, crying, etc – all children have something that is a challenge for themselves and their parents. Be gentle with yourself and know that – no matter what others might say or how you might feel judged – you are doing the best you can.

5. Children do not all potty train at the same time, in the same way or on the same schedule. It is a developmental issue and all we can do is provide the instruction and the guidance to get them through it.

6. Though harder to clean up sometimes, real underwear is the only way to go (in my opinion) for potty training. Pull ups, training diapers etc give a child a mixed message about what we expect. If the child is a big boy (or girl), then put him in big boy underwear consistently with the expectation that big boys go in the potty.

7. Gretchen Rubin’s in her book  The Happiness Project has 10 rules of adulthood. One of them is “make water any time you have an opportunity” (That may not be phrased exactly word for word the way she says it – someone has my book). I have adopted this as a rule for our household. If there is an opportunity to visit the bathroom – we have to go.

I still don’t have the answers. Every child is different and what we went through with Sarah was different than with Hannah – even within the same family. I do feel your pain if you are in this awkward developmental area, but I can assure, now that one daughter is in college and the other in seventh grade, they learn to go to the bathroom and this stage will pass (again sorry about the pun). Find a friend or call me – if you need to talk – someone to whom you can bare your soul and dirty little frustrations.

A couple good books I have enjoyed:

Everyone Poops Taro Gomi

All By Myself (Emile Jadoul)

The Potty Train (David Hochman)