Lesson Plans Plus

Indoor Winter Activities

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:30:00 +0000

It's freezing cold here so my kids have not been able to play outside in the snow for several days now. I've been trying to bring some of the outdoor fun inside. I thought you might like to try some of these ideas with your kids too.

~ Ice Skating: Use waxed paper and rubber bands or masking tape. Tape or attach a piece of waxed paper around each foot (preferably with a sock on the foot). Put on some music and watch your children skate.

~Fill your sensory tub (I just use a big plastic bin) with snow. Put mittens on the kids, give them a few gadgets and toys to play with in the snow and they will be happy for awhile. You can also provide magnifying glasses for the children to observe the snowflakes.

~Make Snow Play dough: It's actually just regular homemade play dough with some silver glitter but we like to pretend that it's snow play dough because it sparkles like the snow. You can find a play dough recipe on the Lesson Plans Plus website.

~Simple winter science experiment: Bring a container of snow indoors. Once the snow melts, add food coloring to the water. Place the container back outside until the water freezes into a colored block of ice. Bring the container back inside. The children can observe the changes as the ice melts.

~Bird Feeders: Another fun activity for kids is making bird feeders. Roll a pine cone in peanut butter and then roll (or sprinkle) the peanut butter covered pine cone with bird seed. Tie a string around the pine cone and hang it outside for the birds and squirrels to enjoy. Be sure to hang the feeder in a location where your children can easily see it by looking out a window.

Christmas Arts and Crafts

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Life has been super busy around here and I haven't had time to update my blog in awhile. We have been doing lots of home improvement projects and we are also getting ready to put our house up for sale. Between all of this and my normal busy life as a mom of four year old twins, there hasn't been much time left-over.

I had good intentions of sharing some of our fun Thanksgiving projects but my life was so busy that I forgot to post. I wanted to give you a few easy and fun Christmas art projects as the Christmas holiday will be here before I know it.

Hand print Wreath: This is super easy. Lay out a large piece of white construction paper as well as a shallow pan of red paint and a shallow pan of green paint. Very lightly (in pencil) draw a circle in the center of the construction paper. Have your child dip his/her hand in the green paint and press it all around the circle. After the hand print circle is complete, instruct your child to dip his/her finger in the red paint and then press it around on the green hand prints. The hand prints are the greenery of the wreath and the red dots are berries. I also cut a red bow from construction paper for my kids to place on the wreath. You can cut the wreath out or leave it displayed on the large piece of paper.

Rudolph: You can trace your child's hands and feet on brown paper, cut out and let your child assemble and glue onto a piece of white (or whatever color you choose) paper for this project or you can use painted hand prints and a footprint. Rudolph's face is the foot shape and his antlers are the hands. Decorate with eyes and a red nose.

Shiny Candy Cane: Draw a large candy cane shape on construction paper and cut out (or let your child do the cutting). Mix red tempera paint with a small amount of corn syrup. Let your child paint the candy cane. When dry, it will have a shiny wet look like real hard candy.

If I get the time, I will try to post some pictures of these projects in a few days.

Halloween / Harvest Festival Fun

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Happy Halloween! Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch which was a lot of fun. We painted our pumpkins and once they were dry, my kids decided they wanted to carve them into jack-o-lanterns too. They did all of their own painting but mommy ended up doing most of the cleaning and carving of the jack-o-lanterns. My kids are still not fond of the pumpkin "goo".

I wanted to share a few fun Halloween activities for you to enjoy with your children:

~Make orange play dough and add some pumpkin or apple pie spice for a yummy scent. I have a play dough recipe on my website.

~Make orange goop. Again a recipe is on my Lesson Plans Plus website.

~Bobbing for apples. I like to stick craft sticks into the apples.

~Add shaving cream (or whipped topping) to pie tins and add orange food coloring. Pretend that it's pumpkin pie and let your kids stick their hands into it and play.

~Add some water, orange food coloring and dish soap into a plastic bin, give the kids some bubble wands and other water toys such as small cups, etc.

~Make hand print bats. Press both hands, palm side down onto black paint then press hands onto a piece of construction paper so that the wrists are touching. When dry, add a face.

~Paint a large paper plate orange and then press paper face cut-outs onto the wet paint to make a jack-o-lantern. Add a brown or green paper stem.

Fun Books to read to your children:

The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs (Note, this is a Christian based book)

The Pumpkin Patch by Elizabeth King

It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White.

Low-Fat, Low Sugar Pumpkin Dessert

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:17:00 +0000

It's that harvest time of year again when I start thinking about using pumpkin more. I love canned pumpkin because it's inexpensive, convenient and 100% natural. I have an easy and delicious pumpkin dessert that I would like to share. I used to make this dessert each year around Thanksgiving with my preschool classes and I continue to make it with my own children at home. It's called Creamy Pumpkin Mousse and I obtained the recipe years ago from a chef "Mr Food" who made it during a segment on one of our local news channels. It's diabetic friendly and figure friendly. It's also easy for kids to help make this recipe.

Creamy Pumpkin Mousse

1 Can (16 ounces) solid pack pure pumpkin
1 package (6 oz) instant sugar-free vanilla pudding
1/4 cup low-fat milk (I use fat-free)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups frozen light whipped topping, thawed (I use a small tub of fat free, sugar free whipped topping)

1. In a bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the pumpkin, pudding mix, milk and cinnamon

2. Fold in whipped topping until thoroughly blended then spoon into serving bowl. I like to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top because it looks pretty. Cover loosely and chill until ready to serve.

I know that I haven't offered up a challenge in awhile so I would like to challenge everyone to give this recipe a try. It's a great way to get another vegetable into your kids because it's "disguised" as dessert. Let me know how you and your children like the creamy pumpkin mousse. Maybe it will become a seasonal regular at your home as it is at mine.

Enjoy!

Fall Fun

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:15:00 +0000

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful fall. The leaves are starting to change colors and there is a chill in the air here in Michigan. I love this time of the year. My children and I spent this evening creating pumpkin art. My kids painted and decorated large construction paper pumpkins and they also worked on smaller tissue paper pumpkins that we will as fall decorations in our home. I set out a variety of materials for my kids to decorate their pumpkins and they enjoyed using paint, glitter, shape cut-outs, colored pom pom balls, tissue paper, small beads and wiggly eyes. These are no average jack-o -lanterns. It's fun to provide a bunch of materials and let your children be creative.

I want to share a resource that I recently discovered. A Kid's Heart is a fun site offering many free online games and printable activities for children. They have a page of autumn activities that you might enjoy so check it out when you get a chance.

Fun with Apples

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:43:00 +0000

I'm finally back! My anniversary celebration, beginning of school and a vacation have kept me very busy this September and I haven't had a chance to get back to my blog before now. I hope that each of you had a wonderful summer. We returned home from a warm and sunny vacation in Nevada to early fall in Michigan. I'm now shifting gears and thinking about fall fun.

Yesterday my kids and I made caramel apples. I picked up one of the easy packs with the sheets of caramel that you wrap around the apple and then bake for about 5 minutes. They were super easy and very yummy. I usually end up melting caramel in a pot and dipping apples. The caramel wraps were the easier way to go with four year old helpers.

This week we are going to work on making Stained Glass Apples. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. I simply cut three identical apple shapes from two pieces of red construction paper and one sheet of wax paper. I cut the middle out of the construction paper apples leaving the frame of the apple. Leave the entire wax paper apple shape. I then will provide my children with torn pieces of tissue paper (they can help tear and cut small pieces), glitter and glue. They will glue the tissue paper and glitter onto the wax paper apple shape. When finished, we will glue the wax paper apple shape between the two apple frame shapes. When dried, the apple can be hung in the window for the sun to shine through.

One of my favorite apple themed books is called, The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. I would encourage you to check your local library for a copy of this book. It has a recipe for apple pie at the end of the book if you are feeling in the mood for baking.

Enjoy!

Back- to-School Traditions

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Whether you are a home school mom, a teacher or a mom whose children will be going to school this year, I was wondering if you have any special traditions that you do to "kick off" back-to-school time.

Being a former teacher, I've always enjoyed this time of year and I love looking for back-to-school sales and bargains. I especially love buying new art and craft items and school supplies (as you may have guessed from my recent sweepstakes offer). Even though I'm a stay-at-home mom now, I still feel the urge during this time of year to buy myself at least one new outfit. There's just something special about buying new clothes during back-to-school time. I have great memories of my mom, my sister and I on our big clothing shopping spree every year in August. I always buy my kids new clothes this time of the year too.

My husbands aunt hosts a Back-to-School party every August. It's a great time for the children and adults in our family. She really goes all out planning fun games and activities for everyone to enjoy. At the end of the day, she gives all of the children some new school supplies. One year she handed out pencils with "Back-to-School party, 2006" printed on them. It's a fun way to end the summer, spend time with family and get ready for the new school year.

Some other ideas that I have read about or thought of doing as a way to celebrate the start of a new school year:

~Let the children pick out new backpacks or lunchboxes (this is fun even if you are a home school mom).

~Shop for school supplies together.

~Go out for ice-cream after the first day of school.

~Gift your child with a new book

~Make a special breakfast the morning school starts.

~Set some goals with your child for the new school year and help him/her to accomplish them.

~If you home school or are a classroom teacher, get your children involved by asking them for ideas. Such as "Tell me two things that you would like to learn about this year" "Tell me one thing that you would like to learn how to do". If they don't know, that's okay, they can think about it and let you know when they are ready.

What are some of your ideas and/or traditions? I would love to know!

Sweepstakes Winners!

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:26:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who participated in our giveaway. The 3 winners of the back-to-school prize packages are:

susan1215
agordon10
blueviolet

Winners need to contact me at kim@lessonplansplus.com with their shipping address by Wednesday August 27th in order to receive their prizes.

Back to School Sweepstakes

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:03:00 +0000

Very soon the lazy days of summer will be over and many children will be heading back to school or gearing up for homeschool. I thought it would be fun to hold a back to school sweepstakes. Entering the contest is simple. All I ask is that you help me spread the word about my blog. Some easy ways that you can help spread the word:

~Send an email to other moms, teachers, friends and family, etc. linking them to this blog.

~Share a link on your own blog.

~Write a review on Stumble Upon.

~Share my link on parenting, teacher or home school message boards that you frequent.

In order to be entered into the contest, please leave me a comment letting me know how you helped spread the word. Your comment will serve as your entry. Three "Back to School" prize packages will be awarded to three different winners. Each prize package contains all of the items shown in the picture above. I appreciate all of my blog readers but this particular contest is limited to to USA residents only. The contest ends at midnight EST on Friday August 22nd and the random drawing will take place on Saturday the 23rd. Winners will be posted on the blog shortly afterwards.

U-Pick Adventures

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:43:00 +0000

If you've never gone to a U-Pick farm or orchard, I definitely recommend giving it a try with your kids. Yesterday my family went blueberry picking. This was the third year in a row in which we have taken the kids. Blueberries are a favorite around our house so we like to have blueberries on hand all year long. My four year old twins had been anticipating blueberry picking day for about a month. They remembered it well from the previous year. They did a great job picking berries and were wonderful helpers. We managed to pick 22 lbs of blueberries in just over an hour. As we were picking berries, it was fun to remember how small the kids were that first year we went to the blueberry farm three years ago. It's a fun tradition and I hope that even when they are eighteen years old, they will still like hanging out with mom and dad enjoying these kinds of simple pleasures.

Today we prepared many of the berries for freezing (Place a single layer of blueberries on a cookie sheet and quick freeze for one hour. Separate into Ziploc sandwich bags and freeze). We also made blueberry muffins. It was fun for the kids to make something yummy using the fruit they picked with their own hands.

We are looking forward to apple picking next month.

Weekly Challenge: Since my challenge is coming at the end of the week instead of the beginning, think of it as a head start to next week. You have the whole weekend and next week to work on this. My challenge to you is to take your children to pick some fresh produce. If you can't squeeze in a U-Pick adventure in the coming week, at least give it some thought and try to make plans to go in the near future. It's a great family activity. It's also a great way to save money and get some wonderful high quality in season produce to can or freeze for later. After picking your seasonal produce, let your children help make something using the fruit and/or vegetables they picked.

Natural and Better For You

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:31:00 +0000

A couple of years before we had kids my husband and I decided to get a new life insurance policy. After getting blood work done for the new policy, we discovered that my husband had high cholesterol. My tests came back fine but with my family history of high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer and diabetes, I knew that making healthier eating choices would be of great benefit to me. I started taking steps to become more informed, cleaned out the pantry and started shopping and cooking differently.

I thought that I was doing very good with our food choices until my twins were 2 years old. We were at friends baby shower and I let my kids have some dessert. One of my daughters broke out in a terrible case of hives after eating a strawberry cake with some artificial ingredients. We spent several weeks trying to figure out what caused the reaction and we narrowed it down to red dye. I suddenly had to be even more aware of what was in the food we eat. Red dye (specifically red #40) is in so many things...even things that are not red! After giving it some thought I started wondering why we needed artificial colors at all and artificial flavors for that matter too. In my quest for no artificial coloring, I became even more aware of ingredients. I was honestly surprised at so many ingredients, some names that I did not even recognize. I decided that I was going to do my best to buy natural foods with ingredients that I understood.

Replacing refined flours with whole grains, using all natural peanut butter (only ingredient is peanuts), lean meats without preservatives when possible and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, was pretty easy. Avoiding artificial colors and flavors took awhile to get used too and grocery shopping took a lot longer at first but it was worth it for the health benefits.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the subject but I want to share a few of the "better for you" and not too expensive store bought convenience foods that I have in the house right now for the kids. In the summer we are busy and I do a lot of spontaneous picnics and outings with my kids and their friends so quick and easy is good.

~Mott's All Natural Fruit Snacks

~Target Market Pantry Unsweetened Applesauce (I make my own canned applesauce every year but always seem to run out so these are a good alternative). I believe that Mott's also has the natural and unsweetened applesauce but the Target brand is less expensive.

~Pepperidge Farm Goldfish made with Whole Grain (my kids begged for goldfish crackers for a long time so I was glad to find these for a special treat)

~Dannon All Natural Yogurt, No Artificial Anything (these do still have quite a bit of sugar but that doesn't worry me too much since my kids don't get a lot of sugar and after all..sugar is natural)

~Hormel Natural Choice (100% natural, no preservatives) deli meats

~Quick Oats 100% natural (great for a quick and healthy breakfast, I buy a big container at Aldi very inexpensively)

~Pure Honey (we put it on our oatmeal to add sweetness). My kids also like to use honey as a dip for many things.

~Ocean Spray 100% Juice, no sugar added. No artificial colors or flavors and made in the USA. (we like the Cranberry & Blueberry and the Cranberry & Concord Grape). I buy this at Target for $2.59 (64 fl oz) which seems like a good price to me. Juice is so expensive these days.

Non-Food products that we switched over to recently:
We have a lot of fun in the sun and this summer we started using "Burt's Bees Chemical Free Sunscreen" with hemp seed oil. It's pricey at $12.99 for a 3.46 fl oz tube but it seems to work well, doesn't smell bad and I feel good about using it.

Another product that I've discovered this summer is "Jason Hand and Body Lotion" (Pure, Natural, Organic). It makes our skin silky soft. I found this at Target on sale for less than $5.00 a bottle.

These are just a few of my finds. I would love to hear about some of the natural snack and lunch foods and products that you enjoy. Please leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know.

Upcoming Sweepstakes

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:17:00 +0000

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be doing a couple of giveaways this month. Please check this blog often so that you get a chance to enter and possibly win some fun prizes to use with your kids.

ABC Fun

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:59:00 +0000

I would like to recommend the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set. It's a great tool for young children learning the alphabet. My kids loved playing with these magnets when they were 2 and 3 years old. When they were 3 1/2, they received the Leap Frog Word Whammer and it has been an equally enjoyable learning toy that they still use at 4 years old. My children love to spell words and the Word Whammer has been great at assisting them. I also purchased the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD for my kids when they were 2 1/2 years old. It's a perfect compliment to the refrigerator magnets and helps children learn letter sounds quickly. If you are working on the alphabet or thinking about introducing the alphabet to your children, any of these products would be a great choice.

Choose Something New (Challenge)

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Do you bring your children grocery shopping with you? My children almost always go grocery shopping with me and one of the things they look forward to is choosing a food item. Sometimes I let them look around in the produce section and I encourage them to pick out a new fruit or vegetable because trying new things can be a lot of fun. Letting your children pick out a new food item is a great way to encourage trying new things and healthy eating.

Weekly Challenge: Before you go shopping, have a discussion about new foods that might be fun to try. Look through the grocery store ads and ask your children to name the fruits and vegetables. Take your children grocery shopping with you the next time you go. Let them look around and choose a new fruit or vegetable to try. When you are ready to try the fruit or vegetable at home, let you child help prepare it in some way if at all possible (washing, peeling, cutting, etc).

I would love you to leave a comment and let me know what your kids ended up trying and whether or not they enjoyed the experience. You may want to give it a try every time they go grocery shopping with you.

Pumpkin and a Cake Mix

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:31:00 +0000

Not long ago I heard about a lower fat chocolate muffin recipe that is super easy to make. I love chocolate so I went looking for the recipe. I discovered the Hungry Girl website and found the recipe. All you need is a boxed cake mix and a 15oz can of solid pack pumpkin. I used a Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix and one 15 oz can of all natural solid pack pure pumpkin. Don't add any other ingredients. Mix the pumpkin and cake mix together and then separate it into muffin tins. I used an ice cream scoop as the mixture is very thick. It says to bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes but I found that 20 minutes was a bit to long in my oven so I would advise checking them after 15 minutes.

If you want to make this recipe with your children, they can help pour the cake mix and spoon out the pumpkin but stirring will be difficult for little kids as the mixture is very thick. You could let your kids help scoop the mixture into the muffin tins when finished. My kids thought the best part of this recipe was getting to lick the spoon and ice cream scoop at the end. I don't usually let my kids lick the spoon for muffins and cakes because of the raw eggs but since this recipe didn't need any eggs or oil, they were able to lick the spoons clean. These muffins received a thumbs up from my kids.

I don't know if you have already heard of or tried these muffins but since they are so easy and turned out well, I wanted to share. I also read that you can use any flavor of cake mix with the can of pumpkin to change the muffin flavor.

Enjoy!

Go Clean your Room

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:11:00 +0000

I expect my children to tidy their own bedroom and playroom. They've been helping clean up since they were old enough to walk. By the time they were 2 years old, they were doing a pretty good job and by 3 years old, I was feeling really good about the wonderful little cleaners they had become. My children are 4 years old now and although they have the ability to do a good job, I've noticed that they haven't been very motivated to pick up and organize their belongings lately. I will tell them to clean up and when I check in on them 10 minutes later, not only has the cleaning process not started but their room is often more of a mess. Sometimes the room will appear clean but when I look under the bed or in the closet, I discover the short-cuts. I guess I've gotten a little spoiled because they used to clean up so well and they actually enjoyed it. I knew that might change someday but I didn't expect it to be now. When I was teaching preschool outside the home, I was more creative with motivating my students to clean up and also gave more specific directions. Lately, I've simply been telling my own kids to "go clean your room" and then feel frustrated when they don't. I think in addition to getting distracted, they often get overwhelmed by their messes. Although we have a good organization system and everything has a place, it can be daunting to put everything in it's place when it's all been dumped on the floor.

I realized that I needed to come up with some new ways to motivate my kids instead of just feeling frustrated with their cleaning set-backs. I've tried a variety of things. I give them advance warning before clean-up time. I've tried to make it more fun by playing music to see if they can clean up before the song ends. I've tried setting a timer to see if they can race to beat the time. I've sent one to the bedroom and one to the playroom and challenged them to a race. Sometimes we sing a special clean-up song together. I make sure to give them positive reinforcement. I've also had to play the role of the "mean mommy"and bagged up all of the toys that were left on the floor. All of these methods work some of the time but it seems that the only sure bet at our house these days is to be very specific about what they need to do to help them stay on task. Today I sat on the floor in their bedroom and gave specific step by step instructions such as telling one child to pick up all of the dress up clothes and put them in the treasure chest while the other child picked up all of the ponies and put them in the pony basket. Next, books on the bookshelf and then stuffed animals in the animal basket. As soon as each task was complete, I would give another job. They didn't complain or whine and actually stayed on task (I'm sure it helped that I was sitting there watching). I didn't do any of the tidying and before they knew it, the whole room was clean.

Do your children have a hard time tidying their room or do they enjoy it? Do you have to get creative or help motivate them to get them to pick up their toys? Do you use a job chart?

Leave a comment or send me an email to share what works at your house or school. I would love to read some of your ideas.

Weekly Challenge: Kids make lunch

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:20:00 +0000

I've been so busy this week. We've been remodeling our kitchen and I decided to tackle the kitchen cabinets on my own to save money. After 3 days and nights of sanding, priming and painting, I'm almost finished. My cabinet doors still need installed and I'm waiting for my husband to get some time to work on that with me. Since I don't have to paint tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the park for a picnic. The weather is hot and there is a park nearby with a splash pad that we've been wanting to try out. To add to the fun, I thought that I would ask my kids to pack their own picnic lunch tomorrow. I've done this several times before and my kids loved having the responsibility. I give them a few lunch food options to choose from and then I let them prepare their own lunch while I watch. My kids usually choose to make their own PB & J sandwiches because that one of their favorites.

My Weekly Challenge for you is to choose a day this week and let your kids make their own lunch. You could let him/her pack it up for a picnic or eat at home. I usually offer a variety of sandwich makings (turkey and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, etc) to choose from and some fruit that is easily prepared (grapes are a favorite here, wash and pluck). Bon Appetit!

Weekly Challenge : Be Present in Play

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:37:00 +0000

I don't know about you but I love doing projects with my children, going on outings and keeping busy. I have always enjoyed planning all sorts of fun activities. My children love keeping busy and get very excited about projects, activities, experiments and outings but sometimes they have no interest in doing anything other than just playing at home. Yesterday, as my kids were content playing, I realized that it has actually been awhile since I got down on the floor in the playroom, ignored everything else around me and just concentrated on playing with my kids. I'm a stay-at-home mom and my life basically revolves around my kids. We read books, do arts and crafts, experiments, projects, play outside, play games, go on outings, etc. I play with my kids everyday but when I started thinking about simple child directed free play, I realized that all too often, I start to play but then after several minutes I get distracted by something or someone. I usually take the opportunity to get a few things done when my children are busy with their own free play which is completely okay and healthy for everyone. I decided that while I do have a lot to do, I would like to make more of an effort to join in with their free play more often.

I walked into the playroom and asked my children if I could play with them. They eagerly said "yes mom" and immediately brought me into their creative play world where I stayed for about an hour before we cleaned up and went outside for a picnic lunch. We all had a really good time just playing whatever they wanted to play. I didn't direct or plan anything, I didn't give any suggestions, I just followed their lead and played without letting myself get distracted. We had a lot of fun together. There is definitely a lot of value in just sitting on the floor with no agenda and just playing whatever your child chooses. I know that my kids can detect whether or not I am living in the moment with no distractions or interruptions and they love it when I am focused on just playing and listening.

Weekly Challenge: Make time in your schedule to just play with your child. Don't plan anything in particular, just take his/her lead and don't give in to other distractions. Be present, in the moment and just play.

Natural Sunscreen and Bug Repellent

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:24:00 +0000

I've been trying to make the switch to all natural products. I haven't switched over to natural sunscreen or bug spray yet. Over the holiday weekend I tried some all natural bug spray on me and the kids and the smell was extremely offensive. I was literally feeling ill after just a few minutes and had to go inside, shower and change my clothes. I didn't want to make my children go inside, take a bath and miss out on Fourth of July fun but I did encourage them to run through the sprinkler hoping the water would rinse off some of the foul bug spray odor. The bug spray was a citronella base and the stuff didn't even keep the mosquitoes away. It didn't repel bugs but it did repel people. We all ended up using some Deep Woods Cutter to repel the bugs. I would still like to find something natural but I'm unsure of what really works and obviously, I need to stay clear of the citronella stuff.

The other topic on my mind is natural sunscreen. I've heard of California Baby, Jason's Natural and Burt's Bees. Has anyone tried these or others? Today I found a recipe for "Make Your Own Natural Sunscreen". I haven't had the chance to price the ingredients but the store bought natural sunscreen is between $12.00 to $15.00 per tube at the stores near me.

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried natural sunscreens and/or insect repellents that work, whether homemade or store bought. Please leave me a comment or email me at kim@lessonplansplus.com to let me know what works for you and your family.

Celebrate America: Fourth of July Children's Books

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Our theme this week is "Celebrate America". In addition to making patriotic artwork, crafts, foods and of course, gearing up for fireworks and cookouts, I also brought out several of my America themed books to read to my kids. I thought you might want to look for a few of the following books in your local library this week. If you're looking ahead to next year and want to purchase the books inexpensively (some for as low as .01 plus shipping) you can click on the links to go directly to Amazon.com. Happy Reading!

Red, White, and Blue:The Story of the American Flag. (By John Herman)

Across America, I Love You. (By Christine Loomis)

America The Beautiful. A collection of photographs published by Scholastic Inc. This books combines photography with the words of the song.

Celebrate the 50 States! (By Loreen Leedy)

The Flag We Love. (By Pam Munoz Ryan)

I Am America. (By Charles R Smith) This is one of my personal favorites. It really shows off America's diversity.

Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney. (By Leslie Kimmelman)

Hurray for the Fourth of July. (Wendy Watson)

Yankee Doodle. (By Patti Goodnow) This book contains pictures going along with the silly song.

Fourth of July Mice! (Bethany Roberts)

Patriotic Weekly Challenge

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:50:00 +0000

As we are gearing up for the Fourth of July here in the USA, this challenge is for those who want to pass along some patriotism to your child. In celebration of Independence Day, I want to encourage you to recite The Pledge of Allegiance with your child everyday this week.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

I also wanted to share this Historic Documents site for your own educational enjoyment.

Free Fourth of July Coloring Pages

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Do your kids love coloring? My kids love to color. They especially love it when I put out a variety of coloring tools for them to choose from including chubby and skinny crayons, markers, colored pencils and pens. They also enjoy being able to chose from lined paper, blank paper and coloring pages. Having lots of options keeps them busier longer. Today I was looking for some Fourth of July coloring pages to print and I found a couple of sites with free coloring pages so I thought that I would share them with you. Check out Free Coloring Pages and also check out DLTK for more free coloring pages to print at home.

Fourth of July (Independance Day) Crafts and Activities

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:32:00 +0000

I've always loved the Fourth of July. Getting my kids involved in Patriotic decorating and activities is so much fun. I thought that I would share some of our red, white and blue crafts and activities with you.

American Flag: This is so easy. If you have little kids who are not good with scissors yet you will need to do some preparation while older kids can do their own cutting. Provide a piece of white construction paper to work on. Next provide strips (older kids can cut their own) of red construction paper (these are the red stripes on the flag). Let your children glue the red strips onto the white paper (leaving enough space between the red strips so that the white appears to be stripes too). After gluing the strips onto the paper glue a blue rectangle in the corner. Use white chalk to draw stars on the blue paper. Instead of chalk, you could also use foil star stickers if you happen to have any on hand.

Fireworks Art: Provide black construction paper, red, white and blue tempera paint, glitter and sponges. I like to use the round puffy dish washing type sponges but they can be hard to find so you could simply cut a rectangular sponge into a circle and them cut a few jagged edges to make it look more like a firework burst. Let the children dip the sponges into red, white and blue paint and then sprinkle glitter onto their firework.

Patriotic Shakers: Attach a few pieces of red, white and/or blue crepe paper to a paper plate (these will be streamers). Fold the paper plate in half and staple all but a small opening. Fill with dry beans and then finish stapling. I like to put clear tape across the staples so they don't poke little fingers. Let your children decorate the shakers with red and blue crayons or paint. You could also provide star cut-outs or stickers if you wish.

Flag Cake: Simply bake your favorite cake (I just use a cake mix for this cake) in a rectangle pan. After the cake has cooled, cover it with whipped topping instead of frosting. Use fresh strawberries for the stripes and fresh blueberries in the corner for the star area.

Shaving Cream Fun: Provide 3 large cookie sheets. Spray shaving cream on each cookie sheet. Leave one white but add red food coloring to one and blue to the other. Let your child play in the shaving cream. This is very messy but good clean fun. I like to put the kids in their bathing suits and do this outside so that I can just spray everything (and everyone) down with the hose when finished. If you have children who like to put everything in their mouths, you could use the spray whipped topping instead.

Red, White and Blue Bubbles: Fill 3 separate containers with bubble mixture. Leave one plain but add red food coloring to one pan and blue to another. Check out my website to make your own bubbles.

USA Map Floor Puzzle: Cover a USA map in clear contact paper. Cut the map into several pieces according to your child's ability to make a big floor puzzle.

Homemade Popsicles and other Cool Treats

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:07:00 +0000

I have been enjoying making Popsicles with my kids this summer. Homemade Popsicles are fun to make and even better to eat.

One of our favorites is what we call Smoothie Pops. We place two bananas (the kids slice them first), a small hand full of fresh strawberries and about 1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt into the blender. After everything is well blended I pour the mixture into Popsicle molds and then freeze them until we are ready for our cool and tasty treats.

I bought my Popsicle molds at Target. Mine make 4 Popsicles and the cost for the molds was $3.99. I like them because they keep the Popsicles from dripping. If you don't have Popsicle molds you could also use small paper cups and Popsicle sticks.

We also enjoy making Banana Pops. We slice a small banana in half or a large banana into thirds. We insert a Popsicle stick into the banana length wise and then cover the banana in chocolate pudding (you can make chocolate pudding or to make it even easier, give each of your children a store bought chocolate pudding cup). I lined a rectangular plastic container with wax paper and we lined the wax paper with the banana pops. We also put colored sugar and sprinkles on the chocolate covered bananas. You could leave them as is or add chopped nuts if you like. I put the cover on the container and placed it in the freezer for several hours.

I remember making all sorts of Popsicles when I was a kid. My sister and I filled ice cube trays with our favorite concoctions. We used toothpicks for the sticks. We also filled the little paper Dixie cups and used Popsicle sticks. One of my favorite Popsicles was simply pouring lemonade into my mold and freezing it. I also used to enjoy making chocolate pudding Popsicles. Many of our Popsicles were simply frozen juice. As simple as it is, we also enjoyed eating plain ice cubes on a stick. You might be surprised how much your children enjoy plain ice. You can even add some food coloring to make it more fun.

Another of my favorite childhood treats was something that my mom made for us. She broke a graham cracker in half and then put whipping cream (Like Cool Whip) on top of the graham cracker. Next she put sprinkles or chocolate chips on the whipping cream, topped it with the other graham cracker halve and then froze them.

Weekly Challenge: Make a Homemade Popsicle or another summertime treat with your children this week. Let me know what you enjoyed.

I'm always looking for new recipes to try with my children. If you have a favorite homemade treat that is great for a hot summer day, please share it with me. You can leave a comment or email me at kim@lessonplansplus.com.

Invisible Mom

kim@lessonplansplus.com (Kimberly) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:22:00 +0000

I am normally not a big fan of forwarded emails but I received this email from my mother in law and I really enjoyed it. As a mom of two small children and a teacher, I could certainly appreciate the overall message. Whether you are a teacher or a mom or both, I think we all go through points in our lives where we sometimes feel "invisible". We are investing our time, energy and lives into building up the little people in our lives. We may not always get verbal appreciation or affirmation but our jobs as moms and teachers are of the utmost importance as we are shaping and molding the lives of the future generation. I'm copying the email here in hope that it will bring some encouragement your way today. I haven't read the book but I've just learned that this email is actually a portion of a book called, The Invisible Woman by Nicole Johnson.

Invisible Mom

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel? I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please. I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, and she's gone! One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip,and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package,and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees. In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it. And the workman replied,'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become. At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies. Then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.' As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women. Great Job, MOM!