A School Supply Cake For Teacher Appreciation Week!

May 6, 2013
Posted by critters and crayons

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6th through May 10th this year!

I’m happy that we’ll be on time for it.

Last year, for some odd reason, I thought it was the week following the actual celebration period.

Thankfully, the teachers were gracious and happy nontheless. :)

This year, I asked for some ideas on The Critters And Crayons Facebook Page and received some really great responses from moms and teachers!

Click Image To Go To someecards To See The Original Image!

Many of the comments on the Critters And Crayons Facebook Page from teachers who liked receiving supplies they could use throughout the year reminded me of the School Supply Cake made by The Outlaw Mom a couple of years ago.

Since, I saw that someecard about teachers not wanting crayon wreaths, I figured we’d try the School Supply Cake, instead. :)

Here’s how we did it together with the kids!

To make this School Supply Cake, we used the following:

1 Paper Plate Holder (4 for $1 at the Dollar Store)
1 Paper Plate
1 Container of Disinfecting Wipes
24 Mechanical Pencils
26 Pens
12 Highlighter Markers
2 Large Rubber Bands
1 Large Roll of Colored Duck Tape
1 Smaller Roll of Colored Duck Tape
1 Small Stackable Container of Thumbtacks, Clamps and Paper Clips
Ribbon
Small Chocolates

(*Note: There were a few leftover pens and markers which went into our office supply/craft drawer….)

The kids enjoyed separating out the supplies!

They sorted them by supply type (pencils, pens, markers) and then by color.

This made keeping a color pattern much quicker to do and it also gave opportunities for the kids to practice pattern-making themselves.

Just place one of the large rubber bands around the Disinfecting Wipes Container.

Insert the school supplies into the rubber band until you have them arranged in the way you want them!

The kids both enjoyed this part of the activity!

To make the Supply Cake larger, simply put another rubber band on top of a completed layer!

We only did two outward layers, but you could continue to build to make a thicker “cake”.

To build up, we simply added the two rolls of Duck Tape!

Our daughter wanted to add a surprise to her teacher’s gift!

And add the cake topper of stacked paper clips, thumbtacks and clamps!

The Supply Cake for Teacher Appreciation Week is finished!

Some people bring something small each day of Teacher Appreciation Week, but we are opting to give just one gift this year to our daughter’s primary teacher.

For the other teachers and staff who help our children, we plan to send in some share-able treats to go around on one of the days!

I’m glad there is a week set aside to recognize schools, teachers, staff and administrators for what they do for our children.

It is such important work.

We should be thankful every day for what they do, but it’s nice that for one week of the year, we all get to make crayon wreaths, beaded bracelets, school supply cakes and handmade cards with phonetically incorrect messages from our new readers to thank them, isn’t it?

And there’s always Happy Hour.

And Chocolate.

Or Both At The Same Time.

HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR KIDS CELEBRATING TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK?

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The Opportunity Learner’s Series: Our Montessori-Style Kitchen Corner

April 10, 2013
Posted by critters and crayons

This post is an introduction to a new series on Critters And Crayons that will explain how we made a couple of corners in our kitchen into Montessori-inspired learning stations.

The Critters And Crayons Opportunity Learner’s Series is about:

Easy, Affordable, DIY Montessori-Inspired Learning Materials

that you can incorporate into your most frequently used family spaces

(even if those spaces are relatively small).

It wasn’t on purpose! We have a pretty traditional play space, full of toys and books and learning materials…upstairs.

But, it seems like we spend the vast majority of our time downstairs IN THE KITCHEN.

Materials and activities seemed to migrate down to the table because I was cooking or cleaning, we were eating or snacking, the kids were doing art or building legos…

I realized one day that if I made some of the fun learning materials available to the kids, that they would play with them.

But, I needed the space to stay organized and to be visually-appealing.

The kitchen is not only where our family hangs out, it’s also where our friends come over…so I bought a 20 dollar shoe rack I liked at the local bulk warehouse and our Kitchen Montessori Corner was born.

I need to state that I am not a Montessori Guide or Teacher. I’m a mom who has enjoyed watching her children learn some pretty nifty things in their pre-school years using some of the non-traditional learning materials you’ll find in a Montessori environment.

Our kids do a lot of playing, building, pretending, arts & crafts, and nature exploration in their daily activities, but they also seem to enjoy the hands-on, sensorial method of learning inherent in Montessori Materials that reinforce learning of concepts through experience.

I use the term “Montessori-Style” because some of the materials in our “Kitchen Corner” are actual Montessori materials and others are INSPIRED ( in concept or similarity of function) BY authentic Montessori materials you can purchase through places like The Montessori Outlet. (A good example of this would be our twist on doing Math Sums using blue glass beads in a tray and strips of paper with written sums on them instead of the traditional numerical counting rods you’ll find in a Montessori classroom.)

In many cases, we use recylables (like empty spice jars), re-purposed items (like ice cube trays), or inexpensive options (like dollar store metal napkin holders to hold boards and paper tablets or muffin tins) in order to compose the learning materials to make them more affordable.

It’s never mandatory that the kids “play” or “use” any of the materials in the kitchen.

We don’t force them to sit to do work. The items are there for when they want to use them.

Days or weeks may go by and nothing is picked up.

And, then, for some reason, a tray with a map and little replicas of world monuments catches our pre-school son’s eye and he’s “playing” with the geography tray.

Critters And Crayons Montessori-Inspired Geography Tray

In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting about how we made

some of the materials you see below.

I hope you find the information helpful!

Our Kitchen Corner Shoe Rack With Montessori-Inspired Materials

Tong & Chopstick Transfer Activity

Pattern Rubbing Plates & Writing Pads

Chopstick Transfer & Creative Pattern-Making

Assorted Flash Card Basket

DIY Sensory Letters

The Prism

Sensory Sand-Writing

Tangrams

The 100 Board Number Tiles

Homemade Flash Cards Supporting School Curriculum

Hands-On Sums Activity With Glass Beads

Water Transfer Activity & Color Mixing

Popsicle Stick Shape-Making

Bead Counting & Snake Game

10 Wooden Squares of 100

DIY Snack Station

Art & Creativity Station

Sensory Whole Wheat Coconut Oil Cloud Dough In A Craft Box

Flower Arrangement Station

You can find Critters And Crayons posts about Montessori-Inspired Activities, Lessons and Materials (often with some humor) HERE.

Also, some of my favorite Montessori Blogs and Resources are listed below!

Living Montessori Now

Confessions Of A Montessori Mom

Montessori Tidbits

Carrots Are Orange

The Montessori Outlet

The Montessori Print Shop

HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE LEARNING AND DISCOVERY AT HOME?

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Kindergarten Homework Doesn’t Lie

February 15, 2013
Posted by critters and crayons

One of the most intense changes to a family routine comes when a child starts kindergarten and homework begins.

There is an adjustment period for most parents and children to figure out how to balance this new task with the other life demands.

I have actually started to look forward to doing homework with our daughter because it can be a truly funny episode.

I mean, really, really, really funny.

It’s funny if you know how to laugh at yourself and it’s funny because the child’s answers to his or her homework can give us parents another glimpse into a growing mind’s perspective.

One of the first times we experienced humor when reviewing our daughter’s homework answers happened when she was asked to draw a picture of the word “CAP”.

I wrote about that HERE.

Please note the crushed left end of this particular “cap”.

To our child’s knowledge, the thing that goes on a person’s head was only ever called a “hat”.

The thing Mommy always told Daddy to stop losing in the food disposal was called a “cap”.

Our daughter had another telling homework assignment when she was learning about how nouns are persons, places or things. She was asked to illustrate a few.

Can you tell where Mommy likes to go with the kids?

But, my favorite piece of homework just came home.

We have been laughing for days over this homework.

I pinned this baby to the refrigerator, even.

Take a look at this assignment which innocuously asks our 5-year old daughter to draw some more persons, places or things.

Can you spot the funny part?

Don’t worry.

I didn’t, either, at first.

I DID think it was cute that our daughter put “Laredo” as a place and then drew a picture of the Texas flag.

And, I also noticed she had drawn a stick figure of her brother playing with a truck on the floor which I thought was adorable.

So, I asked her about it….

“Oh! You drew your brother playing with his monster trucks!”

“YEAH!” she said. “He’s always playing with those!”

But, she went on to explain the rest of the images.

“AND YOU, MOM! YOU ARE ALWAYS COOKING! SO, I DREW YOU WITH AN APRON!!!”

I had totally missed that when I looked at the”Mom” picture she had drawn.

But, I could see it now.

And, finally, the “Dad” picture description came….

“AND, DAD??!! DAD LOVES TO REST!!! HE LOVES TO REST SO I DREW A GIGANTIC PILLOW UNDER HIS HEAD!!!! SEE????”

Shall we take a closer look at that kinder masterpiece?

If you missed the pictorial details, here is a little photo analysis for you:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!

My husband and I have been collectively guffawing over this picture since she explained it to us.

And, in defense of my hubby, he does work pretty hard in his day job.

When he gets home, it is not odd for him to want to kick back in the recliner and relax for a little bit, which is what I think inspired this hilarious photo.

He really doesn’t rest ALL of the time.

He is actually the primary homework-monitor/helper.

This makes this little homework gem deliciously ironic.

I mean, this picture is simply delicious.

So, that beauty sits on our fridge (and it will do so with bountiful hematite magnets to ensure it never drops between the Bermuda Triangle abyss that exists between the refrigerator and kitchen counter where it could disappear forever.)

When my hubby and I are alone in the kitchen, I point to it.

And, we laugh some more.

But, for some reason, I’ve noticed a new pattern of behavior.

He feels compelled to fix something.

Even if he already did the dishes, took out the trash, helped our daughter with her homework and gave the kids a bath.

Something’s gonna get some fixing.

And, I’m not complaining.

This would be the “UP” side to kindergarten homework, folks.

So, pay attention to what your kids write and draw.

Seriously, there could be some really good stuff in there.

WHAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING YOU’VE SEEN WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR KID’S HOMEWORK?

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C-A-P Spells Cap?

September 18, 2012
Posted by critters and crayons

Kindergarten has started.

In addition to the new routine of packing lunches and peanut-free snacks every day, we have been also adjusting to the introduction of homework.

The homework is not particularly grueling for a five-year old but we have found that the requirement to sit down and complete exercises and reviews can draw out somewhat with our daughter’s need for frequent breaks to get the wiggles out.

We have tried to make the sight word exercises fun, almost puzzle/game-like when we get to those. This homework time has also proven enlightening in a comical way which I’ll get to in a few paragraphs or so.

The Sensory Alphabet Discs and Sensory Word-Building Blocks we built out of simple, cheap wooden craft store materials have helped a lot in this area because our daughter can move the letters around to form new words and un-jumble letters to form the correct words. We plan to keep a few letter discs in baggies within her backpack for the word endings that the kids are working on each week. This way, when boredom strikes, she can always take out that tupperware lid and letter disc-baggy and word-build on a whim.

Using the letter discs has made sight word exercises a little more fun and exploratory for our little girl.

After some time working on the development of new words, our daughter came to a new exercise that seemed very simple.

It was an optional drawing exercise to close up the lesson. The assignment said, “Draw a picture of a cap”.

Our daughter drew what appeared to be either a nose-diving pregnant sea-horse or one of those dreadful head-kerchiefs that the unstylish masses sported years ago. (Unexplainably, I believe I still see those awful things in accessory stores from time to time.)

I asked her why she drew her “C-A-P Cap” like that. What were all those vertical lines, really?

And she said to me, “Those lines are those bumpy things on top of the cap. You know the ones on daddy’s BEER CAP???!!!”

No way.

There is no way that, in the 5.5 years of our daughter’s life, that we have failed to impart to her the OTHER meaning of “C-A-P”. I mean, I could see that a five year old might not fully appreciate the concept of a “melting polar ice cap”, or the more metaphorical verb form of “capping the night with a toast!”.

But, surely, at some point we used that word to highlight something we wear on our heads to enjoy or play sports or to cover our ears in the cold?

Could it be possible that whenever her kindergarten teacher introduced the word “Cap” to the young students that images of her dad enjoying a nice cool brew with dinner popped into her head with nary a thought of the human-head covering type?

I can just envision how this lesson might’ve panned out in a classroom environment if I hadn’t caught it in time to teach her the other meaning of “Cap”…

Teacher: Blogger-Daughter, can you use the new word “Cap” in a sentence?

Blogger-Daughter: Yes, teacher, I can! My mom always says, “Why is there a beer cap in the food disposal, again???!!!”

Oh, goodness.

I think I know what we will be doing tomorrow.

I am going to go through all the projected sight words for the rest of the year to see if there are any other spring-loaded tricky ones (like this one) in our future that I need to head off at the pass.

But, this was a great exercise in the end.

We are really getting to use those sensory letter discs.

There appears to be some early childhood literacy happening.

And, now our daughter officially understands that the word “C-A-P” can also refer to a very innocuous head garment.

It only took nearly 6 years to make that last one happen.

But, really, guys- let’s take another look at that picture she drew.

Those are some pretty impressive beer-cap ridges, don’t you think? That is some real attention to detail!

And, really- is she even WRONG?

Yes. Yes.

I completely agree with you.

HAVE YOUR KIDS SURPRISED YOU WITH THEIR WORD DEFINITIONS YET?

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A BabbaCo Babba Box Review: Emotions!

July 25, 2012
Posted by critters and crayons

We were excited to receive a kids’ craft activity kit box from BabbaCo: The Babba Box!

The BabbaBox program consists of a monthly subscription box for kids ages 3-6, delivered to your door filled with projects, activities, books, digital downloads and online content!

It’s a theme-based box with ALL the physical materials plus know-how content to really engage with your kids and starts at ^$29⁹⁹/month.

I have nothing but genuinely good things to say about our Babba Box experience. The Babba Box:

comes with everything you need to do each of the several activities, including suggestions and learning objectives,
is offered right now with some super discounts (check the bottom of the post for awesome coupon codes!)
are ideal for people with limited space to store craft materials or time to spend researching and building craft activities,
and are filled with quality materials for 4 open-ended, educational and fun activities.

The one we received to review was a kit with build-on activities about EMOTIONS.

There were four activities in the box:

A story book about development of empathy within children,
A feelings magnet activity,
An emotion recognition journaling activity,
And a puppet-making activity for kids to act out emotions and practice expressions.

First, we read the book “When I Care About Others”. It is a cute and relatable story that even our 3 year old could understand clearly. The pictures demonstrated emotive expressions in a way that a child could pinpoint how the animal character was feeling.

On each page, we discussed what was happening and the children explained why the characters should care about the other characters in the book: Why were they sad? What can the bear do to make him feel better? How can he be a good friend to his friends?

The next activity we did was the Emotion Magnet activity. First, the kids colored the face printables and drew in “feelings faces” on a couple of blank circles.

This was also a good fine motor skills exercise as our son surprised me with his cutting skills! (The scissors and colored pencils came with the kit, so I didn’t even have to break out my own craft kit. )

Then, we attached the double-stick magnets to each of the faces and the paper frame we colored and cut-out. The kids put all the new magnets up on the refrigerator.

The “face” in the picture below was drawn by our 3 year old.

I’m not sure what emotion he was trying to represent, so I call this one, “Confused” (as in, “I am totally confused by what you drew here, Son.”) :)

We named each of the emotions that were represented by the magnets after the kids took turns placing them into the frame. This one was “Scared” or “Nervous”. The kids didn’t know what “Nervous” meant, so we talked about that new word. I told them that it was another word for “a little bit scared”.

The next day, we did the third activity: An emotion journaling activity.

Using the journal provided in the Babba Box, our daughter peeled off the stickers for the emotions she felt and observed on other’s faces throughout the day. When she identified an emotion, she placed a sticker in the journal.

Using the “Emotion Finder” glasses in the kit, she walked around the house intent on observing others’ emotions.

The glasses didn’t necessarily do anything special. But, what they DID do, was reinforce that she was wearing them in order to look at people’s faces to see if she could tell what they were feeling.

She started with her brother.

I promise that photo was not staged. He was very upset that he couldn’t have more dessert.

She immediately selected the sticker that matched her brother’s face. Haha!

The last activity we did was the sock puppet-making activity.

The kit came with everything we needed to construct two sock puppets.

Once they dried, the kids enjoyed using them to put on tabletop puppet shows where we talked even more about the different emotions we had felt that day.

I think the funniest and best aspect of this particular kit box is that my kids still use the feelings magnets every day.

Each morning, before breakfast, they change out the magnets, usually from the Happy Face to the Silly Face. They then make silly faces and sounds and dance around before they have to take their seats at the table.

But, the magnets have also become a part of their communication process with each other.

Just the other night, our 3 year old son hopped up from his chair at the dinner table. He said, “I’m going to change my magnet!!!”

He changed it from Happy to Mad. When he came back to the table, he said to his sister, “YOU MADE ME MAD WHEN YOU DRANK MY WATER!”

It kind of shocked all of us. The kids worked out their drinking cup mix-up “problems”. Afterward, my extended family talked about how surprising it was that the kids were using the feelings magnets so seriously.

We all agreed that the activities and the children’s internalization of the lessons were impressive, fantastic, and effective.

Yes, if you wanted to just skim through this entire review, all you really need to know is that our Babbaco Babba Box experience made ME feel…..

Great News, Guys!!!!

Here are a couple of coupon codes you can enter to receive discounts on BabbaCo Babba Boxes!

Here is a unique code for Critters And Crayons’ Readers to receive 20% off the first box! CC20OFF
BabbaCo is offering the first 3 months of the membership for 33% off (Only $20 per box!). The coupon code at checkout for this is CC33BTS.
AND…..You can use both codes!!!!

***********

This is a sponsored post. In exchange for my honest review, I received compensation in product from BabbaCo in the form of one activity kit box. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. #BabbaCo

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Playing With Cubic Units…

July 19, 2012
Posted by critters and crayons

One day I picked up a couple of random packs of 1/2 inch wooden cubes from Hobby Lobby for a few bucks each thinking we might craft with them, or paint them.

I never got a chance to do any of that.

These little cubes have turned out to be the best play item in our traveling toy box inventory!

We’ve found that the cubes don’t just add to play time, they’ve been very helpful in the development of fine motor skills and learning about math concepts of volume, cubic units and balance!

The kids have used the cubes to learn about balance in building….

We built some cubes of varying sizes…..

And they pointed out smallest to largest. When they built their own, they could see that they needed to “even out” their cubes the bigger they made them with more cubes.

They think they are playing but I won’t tell them that they are learning about volume and cubic units in the process….

But, of course- The cubes also make for excellent Monster Truck demolition material!

Some other ways my kids have found to use these cubes-

When feeding her dolls, and lacking play food on our trip, she uses them as baby food- spooning the cubes up to her baby doll’s mouth.
Our son uses them to transfer from dump truck to toy trailer to floor.
They build and build and knock down.
They use them to build pyramids with imaginary Pigs in them so that they can knock down the structure with their stuffed Angry Birds.

But, probably the funniest use of these cubes came one day when our kids took out their “learning chopsticks” (chopsticks that have special loops for kids’ fingers to make it easier to pick food up).

The kids transferred the cubes from bin to bin working on some pretty awesome fine motor skills!

After practicing with the cubes, the kids were ready to move on to bigger and better things….like COOKIES!

Who would have thought that a bunch of plain, tiny wooden cubes could bring so much fun and learning!

They have been a real help on this trip where space is limited.

WHAT SURPRISING ITEMS ARE IN YOUR “PLAY” INVENTORY THAT LEAD TO LEARNING?

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A Laughing Work In Progress: Pre-Schoolers And Manners

June 26, 2012
Posted by critters and crayons

We have two pre-schoolers and they are both at the point where we can talk to them and they can talk back to us.

This is a good thing. It makes teaching and learning about good manners a lot easier.

We like Eeboo Good Manners Cards.

Eeboo Good Manners Flash Cards

There are other types of cards that help parents work on life lessons- We also have the Good Citizenship and Spanish versions from Eeboo that we bought at Dawn Price Baby in Reston, Virginia.

The cards have become a great launching point for discussion about behaviors that are right and wrong, nice and mean, rude and proper……

They have also helped my family and friends LAUGH a lot.

For instance….when we first asked our kids the question on this card:

It turned into an episode of Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s on First” gig.

It went like this:

Mom: When you are taking turns, who should go first?

The card says that you should always offer the other person to go first. So, who goes first?

Son: Me!

Mom: No. You should always offer to let someone else go first.

Son: No. Me! I go first. You go second.

Daughter: No, Brother! You go first. I go second.

Son: Yeah. I go first. You go second.

Mom: No. You should always let someone else go first.

Son: Right! I go first!

Daughter: No! You go first. I go second!

Son: Right! I go first. You go second!

Mom: Okay. When you are taking turns, always let the other person go first. So, who goes first, son?

Son: ME!!!!

So, we moved onto another card.

I stopped telling them what the card says is the correct answer.

I want to hear their answers first.

They are much better. Maybe a little more rude. But, definitely much funnier...

Mom: When you win a game, what do you say to the person you are playing?

Daughter: Say, “Thanks! I enjoyed that!”

Mom: When you lose a game, what do you say to the person you are playing?

Daughter: Say, “Thanks, But No Thanks. I didn’t enjoy that. I’m not very good at this game.”

(*The real answer? Shake hands and say “Good Game!”, regardless of who won.)

And so we moved to the next card……

Mom: After a meal, is there something you can offer to do?

Daughter: Say, “May I please have some dessert, PLEASE?”

(*The real answer? Offer to help clean up)

Moving on to more cards and more levity……My mother-in-law nearly spit out her coffee when she heard our daughter’s answer to this one.

Mom: If you have a treat and there are others around, what should you do?

Daughter: I’m sorry I’m eating a treat in front of you.

(*The real answer? Offer to share.)

We had a chance to test our manners knowledge when our daughter sat in our son’s spot on the couch and he responded to that predicament with a hoof to her head.

I asked him what the manners card said about hurting someone’s body or feelings.

Mom: Remember the card? When you hurt someone’s feelings, what do you say?

Son: Sister, I’m sorry you made me hit you. You were in my spot! Don’t do that anymore!

(*The real answer: Say “I’m very sorry”.)

After several weeks of living with family on vacation, we’ve had more of a chance to emphasize good table manners so this card has come in handy.

Mom: At the table, if you need to reach something that is out of reach or that requires you to reach in front of someone, what should you say?

Daughter: Um? Would you PLEASE move outta my way?

(*The real answer? Ask “Can you please pass the butter?”)

This next card has really been important since we are living amongst things do not belong to us.

Mom: When you need permission to do something, or if you are not sure if you need permission to do something, what do you say?

Son: Like? Can I please have a cookie?

Mom: Good! Yes! You ask with “please” just like that!

Son: Yay! Mom’s gonna give us a cookie!!!!

Mom: No. No. That was an example.

Son: But, I said “Please” and you said “Yes”!!!!!

(The real answer? Ask for permission.)

The other manners-related questions I’ve been dumb enough to ask my kids lately aren’t found in the flash cards we bought.

But, with an almost 4 year old and a 5 year old, I should know better than to ask a question unless I want the truth.

During our visit to Dawn Price Baby, the beautiful baby boutique in Reston Town Center, our son said something rude to a little girl he thought was eye-balling his spider man transformer.

I told him he should make that “right”, so he went up to her, kissed and hugged her and said, “I’m sowee.“

Then, I asked him if he meant that or if he was just saying it.

“Um? I’m just sayin’ it.”

Well, alrighty then.

And, just yesterday, after catching our son hopping on my sister’s sofa for the umpteenth time, I yelled, “Son! Stop that!“

He continued to jump.

So, I YELLED, “SON!!!! I SAID STOP THAT!!!!!“

He stopped.

I then asked stupid question #2.

“Did you NOT hear me or are you IGNORING me?“

He said.

“Um. I’m just ignoring you.“

We employed some creative consquences for that response- mostly because I believed him.

But, some of the creative ways we’ve had to come up with in order to discipline our kids without spanking them is another post entirely.

Anyway….

The Good Manners Cards have become a good discussion point for us when the kids do something that is less than respectful or well-mannered.

We’ll ask them, “Did you use good or bad manners?” or “Was that the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do?”

If they are confused, we’ll refer to the flash card…..”What did the piggy do in the card?”

Then, we talk about how they can do better next time, but we also discuss how they can remedy the error now.

I think the good manners lessons are a lifelong practice for all of us.

Now, I just need to find flash cards featuring stupid questions parents should NOT ask their kids.

HOW DO YOU INSTILL GOOD MANNERS IN YOUR CHILDREN?

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Talking To Our Kids About Race…

May 28, 2012
Posted by critters and crayons

It was a pretty normal day.

We went to the mall in Tysons Corner, Virginia- We decided to end the trip at the Haagen Daaz Ice Creamery.

As one might expect, there were too few tables. Our party of 6 needed two tables. That left 2 extra chairs.

Some members of our friendly gaggle were more than surprised when a foreign couple plopped their bags on one of our tables and sat down with us.

My husband and I didn’t think much of it, actually- Our time in Germany socialized us into respecting the practicality of sharing limited restaurant resources with strangers.

We Americans tend to like our individual property all to ourselves- even if it’s only for the duration it takes to suck down a chocolate malt. It’s OURS. That’s not always the case elsewhere in the world. The sharing of public spaces is a pretty practical way to make sure every paying customer gets a chance to sit while sucking down their chocolate malts, too.

So, it wasn’t a big deal that we didn’t know our new table mates.

We could tell the couple spoke a language we didn’t recognize. Didn’t matter. It would have been hard to follow anyone’s conversation over the slurping sounds emanating from our traps.

So, we were all minding our own business while our fat cells expanded upon Deep Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundae gastrointestinal impact- when we heard a very dreaded and mortifying question from a child that I would, under other circumstances, normally lay claim to.

Can you imagine what we might have heard?

Our 5-year old daughter had apparently been studying our table neighbors for some time and we had been ignorant of it in our consuming and blinding gluttony.

She asked, quite loudly:

“WHY IS YOUR SKIN BLACK???????”

Let me tell you something.

The sounds of the snorting porcine feeding frenzy…..STOPPED.

Please imagine 4 adults, with mouths agape, full of dripping ice cream, spoons in mid-air- looking in horror at our exotic table mate strangers.

How were they going to respond?

The man and woman looked at us.

Breathe.

Think.

Fix this.

First, I apologized to the couple.

I explained that our daughter had lived her entire life in a city with a comparatively small African-American population… We didn’t live in a Metropolitan Area….Some of the most diverse schools in our area still settle on about a 99% Hispanic-American to 1% Everyone Else ratio…I apologized again….We really read about diversity….Really, we do….Really, we respect all cultures….and aren’t these beautiful people, daughter?……I apologized, again.

I looked over at my sister, brother-in-law and husband for support but they were still shaking their heads in disbelief and embarrassment.

Although, my husband was shaking his head while shoveling Belgian Double-Dark chocolate with fudge and caramel and whipped cream into his face. Hey, being hungry doesn’t make one any less dismayed, people…

I told our daughter that some people might wonder why your skin is so white and pale and why we can see your veins….And she held her arm up. I babbled on even more, trying to recover like a nervous idiot.

But, the coolest thing happened ever.

The woman smiled.

The man laughed.

The woman across the table held her own arm up to our daughter’s. She pressed it next to our daughters arm so they were side by side. They sat there for about a minute or so and our daughter had a chance to look and study the differences, but also the similarities.

We asked where the couple was from.

The gentleman responded that they were from West Africa- Senegal!

Our daughter repeated it- Senegal?

He said, “Yes. It’s a very new country.” And we all laughed at the joke.

Our daughter, said, “NOT ANOTHER ONE!”

To her, all countries she’s never heard of are new.

When it was time to leave, we thanked the couple for their understanding.

And we all breathed a little easier because a truly uncomfortable situation turned into something really great- a real-life, meaningful lesson about race and humanity and kindness.

By the time we got to the hotel, my husband and I realized this was a time to capitalize on what our daughter had learned today.

We pulled out the Montessori-inspired Landmark Tray we created for our Montessori Corner of the play room.

It is one of several trays we packed for our hotel vacation stay.

It consists of:

a tray
a small simple map of the world
some small landmark figurines you can find here.
a little globe full of cultural wooden figures (We got ours from Oriental Trading Company but it’s not available anymore, but these cultural world cut-outs would be a good substitute!)

We pulled out the map and she pointed to Africa.

We looked up “Senegal” on the computer to see where it was on the Western coast of Africa. Our daughter pointed to it on the screen.

Then, she found the cultural figurine in African traditional dress and put it on the map on Senegal.

Then, we cleaned up!

The whole bedtime follow-up lesson took about 5 minutes- but I think we all learned some things today that will last our lifetimes.

In the end, we also learned that we were actually glad that the Senegalese couple sat at our table without asking.

But, we also laughed because they probably learned that they might want to reconsider ever doing THAT, again.

Haha!

HAVE YOU HAD ANY INTERESTING CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT RACE, CULTURE, GLOBALISM OR TOLERANCE?

HOW’D IT GO?

PLEASE DO SHARE!

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Sensory Color-Coded Word Building Blocks!

May 9, 2012
Posted by critters and crayons

This past week, our almost 5-year old daughter wrote her first unassisted poem.

So, we knew she was ready to start building more simple words!

We made the wooden sensory alphabet discs a few months ago but wanted to expand on that concept a little further.

I saw this version of word building blocks on Playdough to Plato “Word Rocket” which used stickers and markers. We still had a bunch of fabric paint left over from the wooden sensory alphabet disc project. I wanted to use the rest of the puffy fabric paint which would also allow the kids to trace the raised letters for an additional sensory learning experience.

We made one set of blocks in upper-case letters and one set in lower-case letters.

The letter endings were color-coded to enable early readers to match the colors to form initial word-endings.

For instance, all first letters are RED and all word endings correspond: ”in” endings are white, “en” word endings are green, etc…

(See the end of this post for the tutorial and some printables so you can make your own!)

Our daughter started off with “pat”….

And cube turns made “pit”…

Even our three year old son, who is not reading yet, loves to touch the letters and play with the blocks….

We created two printables that show color-coded three-letter word variations that your children can use as a guide or as an error-identification tool.

Once your kids have mastered simple word-building, they can use these blocks for more advanced reading activities!

For more challenging word-building:

Mix upper and lower-case letters to form words in Title Case (Dog, Cat, Pig, etc…)
Make word endings without color-coded matches.
Form shorter or longer words

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TO MAKE YOUR OWN SENSORY COLOR-CODED WORD BLOCKS!

You can use this chart as a guide to forming your own sensory color-coded word-building blocks!

To make an upper and lower-case set, you will need:

14 Wooden Blocks (Hobby Lobby sells packs of 6 x 1.5 inch cubes for $2.99. Buy 3.)
7 Fabric Paint colors (Blue, Green, White, Orange, Black, Red, Yellow)
1 multi-compartmented jewelry case ( Hobby Lobby sells one for $2.99

1) Using the chart below, place cubes into the jewelry case and follow the chart to form letters for each side of the cube.

Important Note: Allow fabric paint to dry completely. This can take anywhere from 6 hours or more PER SIDE. (You can always use markers if you are short on time and the touch-sensory aspect of this material is less critical to you).