How puppets can help with social skills

Puppets are a common device for playtime, and it's easy to see how children love to play together with puppets.  Puppets are also a great example of learning through play.  But what you might not realize is how helpful puppets can be in helping to teach children social skills, such as conflict resolution.

The use of puppets can also help with modeling good classroom behaviors, like asking a teacher for help.  This great article explains how these concepts are achieved, and how teachers prepare an effective and fun puppet show for your child.  Who knew puppets could be so beneficial?


Source: "Circle Time Puppets - Teaching Social Skills" Play and Children's Learning in the Classroom, NAEYC.org. Julia Luckenbill. Web.

New Holiday Traditions

Host an Ornament Party!

Making homemade ornaments is a great way to spend some time with the kids and also create memories for years to come!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Santa Hat Ornament

Materials:

STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam:

Balls, 1-1/2", three

Cones, 6" x 3", two

Wool roving: red; green; natural

Serrated knife

Red embroidery floss

Candle stub or paraffin

Scissors

Felting needle

Fine-line black permanent marker

Ruler or measuring tape

Embroidery needle

Low-temp glue gun and glue sticks

Thick, white craft glue

Steps:

Wax serrated knife with candle stub or paraffin. Cut 2"-thick slice from bottom of each foam cone; set aside. Cut remaining portion of each cone in half lengthwise; flat side forms ornament back. Press foam balls against work surface to flatten bottoms slightly.

 

For pom poms, loosely cover each ball with one color of wool roving. Follow felting needle manufacturer's instructions to felt roving into place. Note: Keep fingers safely out of the way when felting; needles are extremely sharp. Continue needlefelting until roving is tight against foam surface.

 

Loosely cover one half-cone with natural roving and two more half-cones with green. Felt roving into place.

 

For polka dot hat, roll and needlefelt eight small red balls to green hat. Pull 1" x 8" natural strip and loosely needlefelt around bottom for trim.

 

For striped hat, pull seven 1/2" x 8" red strips and wrap evenly spaced around green hat; needlefelt to hat. Pull 1" x 8" green strip and loosely needlefelt around bottom for trim. Roll and needlefelt 10 small natural balls to trim and green pom pom.

 

For plaid hat, pull three 1/2" x 5" red strips. Needlefelt one strip down center of hat and other two evenly spaced on each side. Pull six 1/2" x 9" roving strips, three red and three green. Refer to photo to felt red strips horizontally around hat and green strips diagonally. Pull 1" x 8" red strip and loosely needlefelt around bottom for trim. Roll and needlefelt three small green balls to center red line as shown.

 

Glue pom poms to hats as shown. Cut three 8" floss lengths. Stitch one length through top of each pom pom; knot ends to create hanging loop.

Reindeer Ornament

Materials:

Paint

 Bright White

 Real Red

 Burnt Sienna

 Coal Black

Foam plate

1" wood split ball, industrial strength craft glue

Lo-temp glue gun and glue sticks

Craft foam in beige, brown

Small sharp scissors

1/2" flat brush

Liner brush

Regular-mouth metal canning jar lid

Pattern

 

Instructions:

Use flat brush and Burnt Sienna to paint top of lid.

 

Mix one part Bright White with one part Burnt Sienna. Use mixture to paint split ball.

 

Refer to photo for placement of muzzle and glue flat side of ball to jar lid.

 

Use end of brush handle dipped in Bright White to paint ovals for eyes.

 

Use end of brush handle dipped in Real Red to dot nose on muzzle.

 

Use liner brush and Coal Black to paint line for mouth and dots for pupils of eyes.

 

Trace and cut two ear patterns from brown foam; cut two antler patterns from beige foam.

 

Refer to photo for placement and use glue gun to attach ears to back edge of lid; glue antlers behind ears on back of lid.

 

Finish item as desired to create ornament, gift tag, pin, or magnet.

Pin: Attach self-adhesive pin back to upper center at back of completed lid;

Magnet: Attach 1" piece of self-adhesive magnetic strip to back center of completed lid;

Ornament or gift tag: Form loop from 10" length of 3/8" wide ribbon and glue between ribbon ends, aligning edges; glue ends to upper center back of lid.

Note: Let dry after each step.

Helpful Tip: We used a new lid with silver finish and minimal lettering. Using lids with printing or colors may require basecoat of Bright White.

The Thanksgiving Story

The Thanksgiving Story

After Thanksgiving dinner is finished, settle down with your family and take a breather...and a refresher course on the Thanksgiving celebration!

Here is the story of Thanksgiving, written for smaller ears:

Long ago, in the early 1600s, a group of people in England wanted to pursue their religion in their own way. The King controlled the Church in England and ordered everyone to attend his Church. Anyone who didn't was punished.

The group of people who wanted to free the Church of England from the King's rule were known as Puritan. To escape the King, around 100 of these men, women and children left their home and sailed away on a ship. the Mayflower, on a trip to the New World.

These brave people, the Pilgrims, landed in Plymouth after a long six week journey. It was December 11. 1620. The winter in the New World was bitter and cold. It was a strange land to them and the Pilgrims could find nothing familiar.

The winter was long and hard for the Pilgrims. Luckily, Native Americans helped by supplying them with seeds and food and taught them how to survive in their new land.

The first year was very difficult for the Pilgrims and many didn't survive. With the seeds and plants received from the Native Americans, the Pilgrims planted crops and their fall harvest was a good one. To celebrate their good fortune, the Pilgrims had a feast to celebrate. A feast of Thanksgiving.

Many foods were cooked for the feast- wild turkey, duck and venison along with fish, pumpkins, squash, corn, sweet potatoes and cranberries. 

Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited all of the Native Americans who had helped the Pilgrims survive and taught them so much their first year. The feast lasted for three days! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Raw Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Raw Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Looking for something new to make this Thanksgiving? This pie is easy to make and super healthy- filled with all the goodness and nutrition of pumpkin and nuts!

For the crust:

1 c cashews

1 c almonds

1/4 c raisins

1 c dates

1/8 t salt

For the filling:

1 sugar pumpkin, peeled, gutted and cut into cubes

1 c dates

4 T melted coconut oil

1/3 c maple syrup

1-4 T pumpkin pie spice

To make the crust:

Process nuts in food processor until they are a rough flour. Add dates, raisins and salt. Pulse until sticky. Press into the bottom of a pie dish and refrigerate.

For the filling, process the cubed pumpkin until the cubes can't get any smaller in the food processor. Add other ingredients and process until smooth. Transfer the mixture to the blender and ble!nd until smooth. Add spices to taste. Spread the filling in pie crust and let sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Enjoy!

Thanks to One Green Planet for this wonderful recipe.

Halloween Costumes for Families

Infant Angry Birds Costume

Spirit of Halloween Alvin Costume 

Halloween is truly a family event and what better way to celebrate than with themed costumes for the family! When your children are small, they will enjoy dressing up to match mom and dad. That won't be the case for long, parents, so enjoy it while you can!

Here are some ideas for themed Halloween costumes:

• Angry Birds
• Raggedy Ann and Andy
• Madagascar 
• Toy Story
• Crayolas
• Peanuts
• Sesame Street
• the 60s
• Scooby Doo
• Star Wars
• Alice in Wonderland
• Grease
• A-Team
• Alvin and the Chipmunks (and Chippettes!)
• Barbie, Ken, Skipper, etc
• Tetris Blocks
• Beekeepers and bees
• Pac Man and Ghosts
• Fly Swatter and Flies
• Care Bears
• any of your family's favorite movies, games or books!

Tetris Family Costume

Enjoying the Second Half of Summer Break

 

Well, I can't believe that summer is already half over! It is amazing how time flies, and it is also amazing when you look back and note all of the hard work put into making “fun” happen. With all the prepping and planning to create memorable experiences, it is easy to forget to enjoy it yourself! As parents, you can be busy planning vacations, weekend get-a-ways, pool parties, slumber parties, or just a good ol' get together in the backyard, but how often do you really get to enjoy yourself during these events?  Well it is time to stop and breathe and enjoy these last few weeks. 

                In my line of work, I am always inundated with materials pertaining to children.  I get emails, fliers, faxes, and magazines on a weekly basis, and all of it is filled with articles pertaining to raising children.  “Should your 10 year old watch Pg-13 movies?” or “How to potty train in 10 days!”  However, recently I have been exposed to ideas to bring families closer; fun activities for everyone to enjoy.  I would like to take this time to share those with you.

 In this month’s issue of Parenting magazine, Janene Mascarella suggests that you create a “yes jar.” Every time you are busy and have to tell your child no, you have them (or you help them) write the activity on a piece of a paper and place it in the jar.  Then, when you have spare time you pull the ideas from the jar and enjoy these activities.  You don’t even have to be an expert for this next one; read every night to your child.  Reading a book or two is the best way to close out not only your child’s day but yours as well. 

                Dr. AlanGreene, who is a pediatrician and wrote the best-selling book Raising Baby Green, suggests that you dedicate 7 meals a week to eat with your family.  Dr. Greene continues to clarify in the August 2012 edition of Parenting that “First, I said meals, not dinners. Dinners may work for your family, but for mine the easiest to coordinate hands downs is breakfast.”  Dr. Greene continues by saying that it is important to eat at the dinner table and not around the t.v., and that this is a good way to bond and teach healthy eating habits.

                In addition to family vacations, weekend outings, and other summer activities that will build life long memories, try doing some small projects together.  Find what really interests your children; it could be baking, treasure hunts, exploring nature, researching new ideas, or crafting.  I stumbled across this great website that mails you a “craft box” monthly; www.kiwicrate.com.  The boxes from Kiwi Crate come complete with everything you will need to dive into a craft; they offer a variety of crafts from gardening to dinosaurs.  You can order month by month at your discretion or sign-up for a yearly membership (paying in full and receiving one month free). 

                Lastly, record your summer fun!  Create a family journal writing the adventures you had, or start a scrapbook!  At the beginning of this year my husband and I started a memory jar and we write our 2012 memories on a small piece of paper and place them in a mason jar.  We plan on reading back these memories to each other on New Year’s Eve!  Just some ideas, but the most important thing is to just have fun!

Summer Fun for Families

Summer means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To elementary children it means camp, or days spent at the pool. To tweens it means hanging at the house catching up on all your favorite t.v shows, video games, etc. To teenagers it is time to spend with their friends on the lake, at the pool, or the mall. To parents it means how I am going to entertain my children for the next three months. Austin, Texas is a beautiful place to raise a family and it offers a lot of amenities to families that are either free or very inexpensive. There is a wonderful website established by mothers here in the Austin area; it is called Free Fun in Austin. This website sends daily emails to inform you of events that are happening around Austin and outlying areas. I recommend everyone to sign up on their email list.



For all of us, summer is a time to spend with family and catch up with our children. Check out Austin ’50 Free Anytime Fun Adventures in Austin’, courtesy of Free Fun in Austin.