March 06, 2006
The Whole Child e-zine brings you free preschool activities each week to maximize your child's potential, build skills and parent-child relationships in just a few minutes per day. Useful tips, quotes, resources, opportunities and articles will added for extra value!
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13 March 2006, Issue #004
CONTENTS
1. Hello from Shirley
2. Updates at Shirley's Preschool Activities
3. Opportunities for you
4. Tips
5. Quotes
6. Readiness Activities
7. Special Request - Feedback
8. Article of the Month
1.Hello from Shirley
Hi
If you are not receiving this email in html format or you find white gaps where there should be images, then use this link for a much more colorful and easier-to-read version!
I am delighted to see a few men’s names on the mailing list for this ezine. I suppose that some moms have told some dad’s to subscribe or have subscribed on behalf of their spouses (like I did for my man!) I know that many outside-the home-working parents, dads especially, often feel guilty because of the limited time that they have with their families. I hope that the activities here in THE WHOLE CHILD will help you to make good use of the time you spend interacting with your children.
"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." (Carl W. Buechner)
Whatever your child’s level of performance, make her feel accepted, acceptable and able to please you. Let’s build healthy little lives!
(A note on gender - I am not a feminist or anti-male in any way, it is just easier to use only one pronoun instead of his/her ...and to me 'her' sounds more personal than the overused male pronoun!!)
2. Updates at Shirley's Preschool Activities
There is not much new at my site. This week I have just been editing. There is a lot of other 'stuff' I am learning about managing a website!
3. Opportunities for you
Last week I told you how I was initially very wary of what I thought might just be marketing hype about the website building package that I eventually bought, after two weeks of comparative shopping! I am happy to report that it has proved to be the real-deal. In fact they deliberately over-deliver on their promises in order to ensure your success, because ultimately their success depends on your success.
I feel like I have bought a comprehensive course, not just on how to build a website, but how to start an online business. I hope to add some products to my site and start earning some dollars soon!
But what excites me even more, is that I believe that anyone who knows anything about anything - like a hobby, sport or other special interest can publish information about it on the Net and earn money from your site, WITHOUT even selling a product!
Now, money isn't everything, but we all need it....which brings me to a striking quote from a book I am currently reading:
"It's not how much you make that matters. Its how much you keep." Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity
Preview this book on kalahari.net: Money, Possessions and Eternity
I am finding this book both enlightening and challenging.
More next time...
4. Tips
To remove wax crayon from walls
What to do when your little Picasso redecorates your walls:
I use Super 10 from Golden Products, but another easy way to remove the wax is to soften it with warm air from a hairdryer and wipe it off.
We have learned the hard way that it pays to use a good quality washable paint on your interior walls!
5. Quote
Last week's quote is worth repeating:
"The part of life that matters most is the moments and memories that happen each day...the ones that won't be forgotten."
...and here is another gem, also from Sally Clarkson:
"Contentedness is learned in the process of daily accepting life as God gives it to you, and adjusting your expectations to life's limitations."
Please read it again. It is worth pondering for a few minutes!
Sally Clarkson, Seasons of a Mother's Heart
6. Readiness Activities
Copy and paste these activities into a new document, print and paste where you will see them daily.
This week, instead of posting new activities I am going to repeat all the activities from the past 3 weeks. You need not repeat them all with your children. Here is my suggestion:
This week make sure that you repeat the 2 activities or skills that your child struggled with the most these past 3 weeks and also repeat the 2 activities that she excelled at.
The idea is to build her self-esteem by letting her repeat what she is good at, but also help her to improve the areas in which she is weak.
Don’t just drill children in the areas in which they are weak, or else they never experience positive achievements or develop their strong points. A child needs to know not just that ‘I am not so good at …(fill in the blank) but also that I AM good at …( fill in the blank), to help her develop a healthy, balanced self-esteem!
None of us should be expected to be good at everything, but if your child is pretty good all round, then just have fun repeating whichever activities you choose. Remember to adapt them for older or younger children. Most of these skills are best suited for the 4-5 age group.
Gross motor skills
1. Place the footprints you cut (in fine motor skills activity #1) from newspaper on the floor and let your child walk on them. When she steps with her right foot, she must swing her left arm forward and turn her head to the right and vice versa. Vary the distance between the footsteps to make it more fun!
2. Let your child pretend she is walking a tight rope. Either place a piece of rope along the floor, or alternatively let her walk along a line between tiles, or the around the edge of a mat, or the joins in the concrete on the sidewalk. As a variation, let her criss-cross her feet on either side of the line: start standing on the left of the line. Cross the left foot to the other side of the line and then cross the right foot back to the left side of the line and so on.
3. Play ball games with your child using a small ball like a tennis ball. Show her how to toss the ball back and forth between her two hands quickly like a juggler would do. Let her bounce the ball up and down to the ground using the palm of her hand. Do the exercise with both hands. Play any other ball games you choose, rolling, throwing, catching or kicking the ball, but stop when your child loses interest or concentration.
Fine motor skills
1. Let your child trace the outlines of a pair of shoes onto newspaper to make about 10 footprint shapes. Help him to cut these out to use in this week’s gross motor skills activity. Make sure you have both left and right feet and talk left and right (laterality).
2. Create a colour-coded scrap book with your child. Make a page for each colour, by writing the name of the colour with a crayon or marker of that colour on the top of the page. Begin with the 3 primary colours, red, yellow and blue, then create a page for the secondary colours, green, orange and purple.
Let your child cut out items in shades of each colour and glue them into her colour scrap-book. Keep this book for future activities. This activity need not be completed in one day.
3. Let your child hold a small ball with the fingertips of both hands. Show her how to spin the ball forwards with her fingertips. Repeat spinning the ball backwards.
Visual perception
1. If you don’t have a loose mat in your home, use a piece of wool to create a large rectangle shape on the floor. Your child must first walk along the edges of the shape and then crawl around the shape. Encourage her to make sharp turns at the corners of the rectangle. Ask her to jump from side to side over the rectangle. Talk about the two long sides and the two short sides. Both of you (or two children) lie down on the floor together and use your bodies to create a rectangle shape.
2. See fine motor skills no 2.
3. Using plastic shapes from a toy shape set or cut from paper, place five different shapes in front of your child. Discuss and name the shapes with her. Ask her to look away while you remove one and replace it with a different shape. You child must try to determine which shape has bee replaced. Replace more than one shape at a time as she improves at the game.
Auditory perception
1. Choose five objects from around the house that will each make a different sound when dropped onto a hard surface like a counter or table top e.g. a teaspoon, a wooden block, a plastic cup, a book, a pair of scissors. Show them to your child and then let her turn her back towards you and listen carefully as you drop each item in turn. She must try and tell you which item was dropped after each time.
2. Make an effort to expose your child to good quality music with complex musical patterns. Listen to musical stories which you can buy or borrow from the library such as Peter and the Wolf by Prolofiev. She will also enjoy musical films such as The Sound of Music, (although she may need to watch this long film in stages), Barbie Nutcracker, Barbie Swanlake and other suitable animated classics.
Search DVD's at kalahari.net
3. Let your child stand with her back to you. Clap your hands and ask her how many times you clapped. Repeat clapping once, twice, three, four and five times at random.
Mathematical skills
1. Teach your child to count to ten or higher if she can. Let your child count real objects. On average, a four year old will be able to count to ten, although she may only comprehend the numbers under five. Remember, not every child develops at the same rate.
2. Play easy games that require using dice, like ludo or snakes and ladders.
Language and thinking
1. Look around your home and ask your child to name as many things as he can see that are:
Made of wood
Made of fabric
Made to wear
Made to use
Give light
Give heat
Made to store things
Can be eaten etc.
2. Teach your child some short nursery rhymes. Recite them together until your child knows them by heart.
Although you will find plenty of nursery rhymes at this link on Shirley's Preschool Activities, I still recommend that you rather buy a nicely illustrated book of nursery rhymes that you can enjoy together.
The ones that I own and would like to recommend seem to be out of print now, but here are some others that you could consider:
At Kalahari.net:
A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes
At Amazon.com:
A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes
Faith building
By now your habit of reading a Bible story each day should be established. If you don’t already, then ask your child to pray to the Lord as you lead her in a short prayer. Remember she may easily be distracted, which is why it is a good idea to close eyes and put hands together or hold each others’ hands to keep them from fidgeting!
7. Special Request
Feedback
Publishing an ezine is new to me, so I would appreciate any feedback that you have to give, even negative feedback, if it is constructive.
Please tell me what you enjoy about THE WHOLE CHILD or how you think I could improve it.
Has THE WHOLE CHILD met your expectations?
Do you have suggestions of anything I could add that would add value to your life and that of other subscribers?
Just hit reply, I'd love to hear from you. Use the Contact Shirley form, if you are reading this on my website.
Article of the Month
Your Family Code of Conduct
Establish a code of conduct or a written set of house rules and in so-doing make family responsibilities, behaviour and expectations clear for everyone.
When my stepdaughter came to live with us 9 years ago, I started researching education on the Net and I found a website where a family’s home rules had been published. I adapted it for our family.
I am sharing this little document with you, not because I think it is a masterpiece, but because I think the CONCEPT is worth sharing.
Read the rest of this article here: Our House Rules