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 be added for extra value!

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March 2009, Issue #059

1. Hello from Shirley

If anyone is checking up on me, you will notice that this ezine is a bit overdue. We have moved house and my personal computer was not connected to the internet until yesterday!

Despite a bit of inconvenience, I have quite enjoyed the freedom of life without the Net. Try unplugging and see what you fill your days with instead!

2. Check my website

I have been so encouraged lately by emails I have received from people who have found useful info on my website. I wish I had the time I long for to add to it more frequently than I do…but one day…in another season…there’ll be more time for that.

Have you considered the benefits of Art Appreciation with young children? This page gives you some easy-to-do ideas as well as suggestions of children’s stories about art and artists.

Here are Music Appreciation tips too..

With Easter/Passover coming up, you may want to browse the Easter Preschool Activities pages and Easter Colouring pages.

3. Quote

If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won't either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out.

Marian Wright Edelman

4. Tips

Moving house and packing up all our ‘stuff’ made me realize yet again how much we have and how little we actually need.

We gave away bags and bags of old clothes that we have accumulated. The following is a handy guide for what children may need in terms of clothing:

7 outfits and 2 smart outfits for special events:

All of this should take up no more than one or two shelves or drawers. The less there is the less there is to keep tidy.

Clothes you are keeping for younger siblings should be stored separately in boxes or baskets that are labeled by age and gender.

5. Sitesell Spring Special

It seems almost every other day that I hear of yet another business closing its doors and staff being retrenched…and its not just strangers, but people I know personally. My husband and I are both so grateful for the sources of passive income that we have developed in the last few years – my income generating website, being one of them.

Although my husband had always found ways to make his money work for him (instead of working for money), when we read Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a few years ago, we suddenly got the ‘bigger picture’ and started our self-study financial education – something we never got at school!

Most of us were taught to get a good education so that we could get a good job and this would give us security, we were told. But in this day and age, jobs no longer last a lifetime as many are finding out in these dark times.

If you need to find an alternative source of income, I would again urge you to consider using your life experience, hobbies, passions or other knowledge to build yourself an online business.

Sitesell are once again running a special where you can buy two sites for $399. If you share this with a friend, you will pay only $200 per site instead of the usual $299.

I took an offer like this just over 3 years ago and it has changed our lives! If you need answers, ask your Questions here.

Click here to ORDER

6. Book Reviews

Take a look at some of our favourite books that I recommend for preschoolers and/or their parents on the Amazon Store page of my site.

The Jesus Bible Storybook – Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Loyd-Jones
As the author says at the start of this story, the Bible is not just a set of rules to live by, nor a set of stories of heroes to learn from, but ultimately it is a love story – the story of our Father’s eternal, unconditional love for us and his plan of salvation through Jesus.

As the subtitle says, every story points to Jesus and brings across this love story. Like most children’s Bibles, this one is not an exact interpretation of Scripture for kids - the author has taken some liberties with the text, but to give kids an overall understanding of God’s purpose, it is most inspiring! I bought this book for my 4 year old’s birthday, but all my kids are enjoying it!

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
“A stuffed toy rabbit comes to life in Margery Williams' timeless tale of the transformative power of love. Given as a Christmas gift to a young boy, the Velveteen Rabbit lives in the nursery with all of the other toys, waiting for the day when the Boy will choose him as a playmate. In time, the shy Rabbit befriends the tattered Skin Horse, the wisest resident of the nursery, who reveals the goal of all nursery toys: to be made "real" through the love of a human. This classic tale has been charming children since its first publication in 1922.”

If you are South African, you can buy books and CD's online at www.kalahari.net and www.loot.co.za

7. Readiness Activities

You will need to have Adobe Reader installed. It’s a free download. Repeat these activities often - with your own variations too!

March

1. Gross motor skills

Laterality: Place a long plank or even a broomstick on the floor. Ask your child to walk along the length of it with her legs astride the plank. This will force her to shift her weight from one side to the other.

2. Fine motor skills

Manual dexterity: Give your child a piece of bubble-wrap and let him pop the bubbles between his fingers.

3. Visual skills

Colour perception: Place a red, blue and yellow shape or construction block on a table in front of your child. Give her another block and ask her to add it to the block that is the same colour on the table. She must match the colours.

4. Auditory skills

Active Language Development: Teach your child a couple of songs or nursery rhymes. Repeat the same ones often until he masters them and then add some new ones to his repertoire.

5. Mathematical skills

Quantity: Give your child a plastic jug and some cups. Ask her to pour a little water into one cup and lots of water into another. Have fun repeating the activity and then let her tell you which one contains a little and which one contains a lot of water.

6. Language and thinking skills

Active Language Development: Make a point of teaching your child the vocabulary needed to express his emotions, so that he will soon learn to verbalize his feelings instead of acting them out in inappropriate ways (like sulking, whining or tantrums!). Teach him to recognize when he or someone else is angry, happy, sad, tired or irritated etc. Usually children understand more than they express, so don’t be discouraged if at first he doesn’t use this vocabulary.

7. Faith-building

Continue to teach your child self-control. When she is out of control, hold her firmly look her in the eye and tell her to stop the bad behaviour – screaming or crying, etc. If necessary, place her in a remote place like a bathroom for a few minutes time out until she calms down and then lovingly bring her out again and continue the teaching and training as required. She needs to start to understand that you are in authority and that there are consequences for certain behaviour.

Greetings until next month
Shirley
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