When it comes to teaching reading, activating prior knowledge is one of my favorite strategies. By using past experiences, or tapping into knowledge they already have, you can help kids to comprehend the stories and texts that you are reading. You can easily model this strategy for your kids while you are reading aloud to them, while also encouraging conversation. This can be done with children as young as toddlers!
Category Archives: Family Fun
Teaching Kids to Cook with The Tiny Chef!
At 20 months, my daughter already loves to cook. She has her own apron, and she insists on helping with most of the food preparation around the house. While I prepare a meal, she pulls out her step stool and asks to help. She loves to stir, dump ingredients, or count out ingredients as she adds them to a pan. When it comes to teaching kids to cook, I realize that she may not always be as helpful. (Eating handfuls of cheese does not constitute “helping Mommy to make pizza”). However, I love that she is excited about it!
Celebrating Mardi Gras with the Bourbon Street Band!
Since my daughter was born, my parents have started a new tradition where they bring her a book from the places that they visit on their trips. They include a note about their visit and the things they saw there. I love that she will have this collection of special books from all over, and this special connection with her grandparents.
While they were traveling through New Orleans, they picked up Ed Shankman’s book The Bourbon Street Band is Back, about the power of music and the strength of New Orleans. While today’s book isn’t a book about Mardi Gras, it is a book about the city of New Orleans and the beauty of the music and the fun atmosphere found there. Once a year, Mardi Gras brings everyone’s attention to New Orleans. The colors, the food, the music and the beads provide a fun and colorful experience which can be fun to introduce to kids in a family friendly way. There are so many great Mardi Gras activities for kids and families to enjoy together.
Go on an Adventure with River Rose!
On a recent visit to the library, my daughter and I discovered the book River Rose and the Magical Lullaby written by Kelly Clarkson (the singer), and she has since fallen in love with it! My daughter loves this story and the adorable illustrations (I just want to hug little Joplin!). I like the lullaby and the message River Rose learns about needing to sleep and home being the best place. I also appreciate that the lullaby helps lull her to sleep!
Fantastic Children’s Books About Love
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. It’s a great opportunity to remind the people in your life that you love them. (Yes, we should tell them everyday, but it never hurts to have a reminder!) One of my daughter’s favorite books to read is I Love You Because You’re You by Liza Baker. While reading it again, I was inspired to find other great children’s books about love to tell her how much I love her.
Ladybug Girl and Bingo: A Girl and Her Dog
The relationship between a kid and a dog is a special one, illustrated throughout pop culture in books, TV shows, movies, songs and commercials. I know from watching my daughter with our own lovable dog that she adores him and considers him her best friend and closest confidant. When the Monthly Crafting Book Club, hosted by Raising Fairies and Knights, picked the Ladybug Girl series for this month’s craft, I knew we had to choose Ladybug Girl and Bingo!
Band-Aids & Books: Talking to Kids about First Aid & Doctors
Going to the doctor can be a scary thing for kids. New sights, smells and people can be overwhelming, plus doctor’s offices can mean sickness, injury or shots. If your child is afraid of going to the doctor, there are many ways to ease their fears and show them that doctors don’t have to be scary. There are lots of ways you can talk to your kids about first aid, doctors and emergency situations while teaching them other skills and having some fun! Many popular book series have taken readers into doctor’s offices while showing kids that doctors and nurses are to be trusted and not feared.
Christmas Bucket List
The holiday season is full of opportunities for family, friends, food and fun. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, there are many fun activities that you can partake in at this time of year to build memories and have fun as a family. There are a wide variety of wonderful Christmas books to read together, and many of the activities in this list can be paired with family favorites. Add your own events and traditions to create a memorable holiday with your family!
Halloween Fun & Games
Halloween is just around the corner! There are so many awesome Halloween books to get your family excited for the holiday. In addition to these awesome stories, check out some of the best Halloween fun and games to keep your kids learning during the spooky season! These can be adapted to your child’s skill level, so kids of all ages can join in the fun!
Feed the Ghost – This is adapted from the blog Toddler Approved. The author cut a large white ghost out of paper and cut a hole for the mouth. She then cut several circles out of different colored papers. For her kids, she wrote the letters of the alphabet on the circles and spread them around the floor. When she called out a letter, the kids had to find them and “feed” them to the ghost. You could also use this game with sight words or math problems (write down the solution and call out the problem, or vice versa). To make this more entertaining and challenging for older kids, you could have them ball up the circles and try to throw them through the ghost’s mouth.
Halloween Bucket List
Seasons are changing and Halloween is just around the corner! It’s the perfect time of year to snuggle up with some yummy treats and cozy blankets and indulge in some great Halloween books with your kids. In addition to checking out some of the awesome books out there, make up some plans with your kids and build some other memories to tie in with your reading! Kick off the spooky season right with a bunch of fun activities and traditions to start with your family.
