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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February 2007, Issue #036

CONTENTS

1. Hello from Shirley
2. What's New at Shirleys Preschool Activities?
3. Preschool Activities Egroup
4. Quote
5. Book Reviews
6. Readiness Activities

1. Hello from Shirley

Surprise – I didn’t skip the February issue of my ezine as I thought I would!

We have not yet found a new house, but neither do we have to move this month, so the hunt for a suitable home continues.

There is a saying that God is never early, but He is never late!

And in the meantime, the countdown till the birth of our new baby continues. Nine weeks to go if s/he doesn’t come early. The other children are starting to get very excited, as am I.

2. What’s New at Shirleys Preschool Activities?

1. To view updated or new pages added to my site, go to Shirley’s Blog or subscribe to the RSS Feed.

2. 18 February is the beginning of the Chinese New Year festival. Use the China Preschool Lesson Plan to teach your kids more about the Chinese. I have added a printable silkworms notebooking page. Let your child draw and dictate what she has learnt on this worksheet.

3. After adding the Free Printable Number Worksheets, I also added another set of Alphabet Writing Worksheets which are for children who already know the letters of the alphabet and need practice writing them correctly.

4. And if you’d like to see my lovely kids, I finally added a picture of the 5 of us to the About Shirley page. It will soon be outdated when #5 comes along!

3. Preschool Activities at Home Egroup

If you haven’t yet joined and would like to, send a blank email to preschool-activities-at-home-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Join us as we chat about the ups and downs of life with little ones and share our ideas and experiences.

4. Quote

“Joy is not in things! It is in us! ” Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

5. Book Reviews

You will find my favourite parenting or teaching books that I recommend at Shirley's Store on my site.

1. The Best Meal Ever by Sindiwe Magona
In this children’s picture book, a young girl is left in charge of her younger siblings as her father is at sea and her mother is tending their ill grandfather. There is no food in the house and the little ones are ravenously hungry. Siziwe lights the gas cooker and puts a pot of water on to boil, even though there is no food to cook. She prays for food and begins to cook the ‘meal of hope’ while the other children fall asleep.

This is a moving story, and living here in Africa, I know it to be true in many homes in our shack townships. If anyone wants to see kind work being done to help people like these, visit the Heart 2 Heart blogspot and find out how just a few rands or dollars can make a big difference to those who live below the breadline.

2. The Beginner's Bible – Timeless Children’s Stories by Kelly Pulley

In this book, the stories of the Bible are simplified and brightly illustrated so as to be easily understood by little ones, even toddlers. The Scripture from which the story is taken is provided at the start of each chapter for those who want to refer to an adult Bible. The beauty of this Bible is after you have read it to your preschoolers, they will one day be able to read it to you, like my 6 year old now does!

7. Readiness Activities

I continue to receive enquiries from moms of toddlers under 3 asking for ideas to stimulate their little ones.

The following activities are aimed at ages 2-3. For older children, adapt the activity to their ability or alternatively repeat the activities previously suggested for ages 3-5 in the Backissues of The Whole Child publication.

To download the activities in a printable pdf, click here.

You will need to have Adobe Reader installed. Its a free download.

Repeat these activities often - with your own variations too!

February

 1. Gross motor skills

Ball skills: Kick a large ball backwards and forwards between each other.

 2. Fine motor skills

Sandplay: Allow your child to play creatively in sand. Alternatively, give her a tray of maize-meal to play.

 3. Visual skills

Shape perception: Encourage your two year old to build easy puzzles of up to five pieces. A three year old could manage a nine-piece puzzle. Help your child at first and keep sessions short if she struggles. Try in a few weeks again.

 4. Auditory skills

Auditory discrimination: Let your child play on a xylophone or even bang with a spoon on an upturned plastic bowl. Ask her to play louder and softer, then much softer and much louder.

 5. Mathematical skills

Spatial relations: Let your child play with stacking toys or cups that fit into each other. Let her build a tower starting with the biggest piece at the bottom.

 6. Language skills

Reasoning: Talk to your child about challenges she experiences – like eating without messing, how to tidy up toys, why she should share toys etc.

Ask questions like:

 7. Faith-building

Bible Reading: Add a short Bible reading to your bed-time routine. Some families read from an adult Bible, but my little ones have enjoyed our reading of The Beginner's Bible

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