Homemade Playdough

      Are you at this point that your child is going through so many craft supplies that you provide for them and get tired of buying new every time something gets dried out or gross? Well the key word is making it homemade. You can make so many of your child’s items homemade and it will last twice as long. It’s not only cheaper than buying it at the store, but you will make a larger quantity of it.

      One great things  you can make is play dough. The recipe is very easy and doesn’t take very long to make it. Here is a very good and simple recipe that you could use: Just go to the following website for a great recipe. http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37040.html. A fun thing that you can do is put sparkles in and make it really cool, like we did at work. We had turned it into pirate play dough. It looked very cool and the kids loved it. Our kids even got to help with it. Making homemade play dough will keep for months. After its drying, you just need to put it in a sealed zip lock bag and it won’t dry out.

     There are so many other things that you can make at home instead of going to the store and buying it every time. You’ll save a lot of money throughout the year.

Activities for 5 year olds

     You should never be bored with your five year old child. They are at such a fun age that you and he/she can do the same thing and they are able to do it by themselves, rather than wanting you to do the whole thing for them. Their imagination has increased a lot and can think of some clever things to do. They can keep you busy all day doing fun things with them.  But don’t feel bad if sometimes they just want to do things by themselves. That’s totally fine because they need to learn to have some alone time and learn to do things by themselves and not always having someone there with them. Some of the amazing and fun activities that you can do with them at this age are crafts, going on bike rides, cooking, games, etc.       

     Some of the fun crafts that you and your child can do are make a little stepping stone or rock and have them paint it whatever and however they want, you could also take little stones that they can place on it and make it fancier. Girls especially will try to think of everything that they can use to make it the prettiest thing that they could ever make.  The really nice part of doing something like this is that you will always have it and it can be used as a decoration for the house or for your landscape. Then you’ll always have something to remember that your child did when they were little. My mom had kept a lot of things that I did when I was little even a lot of things that I had accomplished in school. Another thing you can do if you have a girl, is to make bracelets, necklaces, jewelry, rings etc. You just need is to have string and beads and then they can make their own jewelry.  I loved to use some of the big beads o with the lettering on it and then just some of the prettier ones with the sparkly and different shapes. Also, there are kits that you can buy at the store that you can make jewelry with play dough. My cousin has one and I love using it. You can use any color and they will even mix together and make amazing looking jewelry that you can put on string and wear. You can do a lot of different fun crafts with your child at this age.

      You can do so many things with your child at this age besides some of the activities that I’ve listed for you. Just have a great time with them and enjoy this special time.They also love to cook with their parents. It doesn’t even matter if it’s cooking for super that night, cookies, fun art cooking. Just ask your child to help you cook and they will love to help. Especially like cookies that they can put M&M’s, chocolate chips etc. and decorate it all up and have fun. One thing that they love to do while making cookies is to roll the dough out or try to eat the dough. This isn’t a very good idea because it has raw eggs which may cause them to get a tummy ache. You can even go out of your way and do some fancy cooking, such as making cookies into an animal and use frosting to decorate it. Or even take cupcakes and let them decorate them however they want to. Just use your imagination and you can come up with some very clever ideas. Especially at this age they always thinking of something and they aren’t afraid to voice their opinion about it. Just remember that this is a special time in their life and they will remember the quality of time they spent with you and it’s important to enjoy every second of it.

Ready for Kindergarten

     Are you getting sad and wondering where the time has gone, now that your child is going into Kindergarten this year. It probably seems like just yesterday that your were sitting in that arm chair rocking it and singing to him/her. And tomorrow you’ll be sending them off to school for the first time. It’s a very sad thing to do almost every mom cries when they leave. It’s an okay thing to do but it’s going to be the same way when you send him/her off to college for their freshmen year and you know you won’t see them for a while. Most kids are so excited to go to school and met some new friends and always have a blast. They are usually really bored at daycare and ready for a challenge because their development skills have increased so much.

      They are able to so much at this age, it’s hard to believe. These days’ kids are so much more advanced and smarter because they have to be able to do all of these requirements before they can start school. Some expectations of your child before they start kindergartener are; have to know how to write their first and last name, know their address and phone number. Know how to do some reading, simple math, writing etc. able to wash their hands, have no potty accidents, put coat and necessities on by them self.  They are pushed so much and need to learn all of this at such a young age. Because now these days’ you need to know how to do all of this stuff because society is becoming so advanced. Most children this age knows more about cellular devices and technology and knows how to use it more than the older generation.

     Also, they are able to figure out solutions to their problems without any help. This also helps you as a parent because then you don’t have to try to solve every problem. The children this age are developing better brain cells that will help them know what to say when they don’t like something or if something is wrong that another friend has done. But I understand it’s natural for parents to want to try to help and do everything for their child. But this isn’t always a good idea. Because the teachers at school aren’t going to babysit them and don’t have time to do everything for every child. His is part of growing up. And you as a parent cannot be there for their every move.

      Five year olds are able to do so many things by this point in their life.  A lot of these skills are an option, but they are a HAVE TOO go Kindergarten. So it important to start working with your child on these requirements when they turn about four or four and a half.  Also, there is a cut off to able to get into Kindergarten and that is if your child turns five and has a birthday that is before September 20th. Some parents get frustrated because their child didn’t make the deadline and are not able to go into kindergarten even though they are ready. These parents should consider Preschool, there are some really great programs out  there, you just need to check them out and find one that is suitable for your child.

Halloween for kids

     With Halloween just right around the corner and thinking that you want to decorate your home? It’s always cute to do it from your own child’s creativity. You can use your child’s art work to decorate or use a craft magazine to get ideas if you feel you’re not creative or can’t think of ideas. One idea for decorating is to draw a tree on paper and use painted prints of the kids feet to make ghost hanging from the branches

      This past Friday, we had a fall festival at work and each room was decorated with a different Halloween theme. The staff and children dressed up in costumes and the kids enjoyed trick-o-treating from room to room. It was all done with the kids help. Each room was decorated so cute and all of the kids did an awesome job decorating and making it very artistic. We decorated the doors, one as a jack-o-lantern, a spider in a web; just to name a couple. Each room provided games such as:  pumpkin toss, pumpkin bowling, wishing well and treasure chest for prizes, and a cupcake walk. We had a great time and you could put on a simple party in your home like this. The best thing was that the kids contributed into making this party a wonderful time for everyone, including the families.

Skills for four year olds

     Are you just wondering where the time is flying to?? Your little baby will be starting Kindergarten in a year. Are you looking back and seeing all of the growth your child has made and everything he/she can do. It’s just amazing how fast they grow up, not to mention all the skills they have acquired. It amazes me how fast they catch on to things. Most parents will send their child to preschool when they are four years old because they get so bored at home or daycare. They are usually ready to move on to something more challenging. Preschool helps get them ready for Kindergarten and gives them the chance to begin interacting with kids their own age. By this age, your child should be able to interact with kids and start the process of solving their own problems, and be able to play with each other for a longer amount of time. They are able to speak more clearly and bring more complex words into a clear sentence. They will actually be able to have a more grown up conversation with family members or their friends. 

      Your four year old is just getting to the point that they are able to learn things and remember how to do it. They should know all of their colors, shapes, etc.  They should be able to draw each shape if you ask them to.  It’s the time when they are beginning the process of reading small, beginner books out loud. Don’t worry some kids will catch on to the reading part faster than others. It all takes time and it’s a good idea to practice with them every day so they learn how to bring the sounds of words together. If they are simple books they might be able to say what happens in the book.
     At this age, they are able to write their name without any help and able to read it. Also, even writing simple sentences by themselves, because they are sounding the words out and putting it together. Counting is another thing that they are able to do, they may be able to count without any mistakes to roughly 100.  

      At this stage, they can understand a long strand of directions that are given to them. Such as: get ready for bed, brush your teeth, then go get in bed. They are able to comprehend what you are saying and follow directions. You’ll notice at home that they think they are such a big kid now that they can pick their own outfits out for the day and even get themselves dressed by themselves. They are able to get themselves undressed at night and ready for bed.  They also can brush their teeth by themselves.

     As a parent, you’ll see a world of different changes from the age three to four that your child has developed. It’s just so surprising how much they can do and how independent they have become. Let them show their independence, as this is their way of growing up and developing into a wonderful little person.