I loved discovering Mindi’s site, B.A. Bookworm, we are bookworm wanna-bes over here and I love some of the ideas she has for ways to encourage reading in our kids!  She is an advocate for getting kids up and moving, rather than sitting in front of a TV (or computer – we love starfall and online educational game over here!)  All you need for these activities is a brown paper bag and some creativity!

Here are some simple ways we can show love to our families:
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Pick a 24hr period and try not to complain about anything during that time. Someone who is positive is more pleasant to be around!
Go on a date together as a whole family! Is there a family event or place that your kids enjoy where you can be together?  We love going to play centers and the park if the weather is nice.
Be quick to apologize if you have done something hurtful or inconsiderate. As a parent …

Here are more than ten activities you can do with your preschoolers to learn about our sense of sight and how we use it to see colors and interact with the world.

Paint the fingers on a white glove different colors.
Finger paint with pudding, mix colors and see what happens.
Go on a scavenger hunt in your house to find all the red items (or blue, etc.)
Create spinning tops with a variety of primary colors. What happens when the two colors mix? What happens if there are lots of colors …

These were originally going to be bugs, but then my daughter began naming them after her pretend friends.  At least her pretend friends now have “faces”.  Maybe you can have fun creating pet rocks, pretend rock friends, or paperweight bugs.
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Needed:
Rocks
Old Toothbrush (to clean the rocks)
Paint (acrylic is best)
Embellishments (pom-poms, eyes, etc.)
To do:  Scrub the dirt off of your rock, paint them and embellish.  Have fun creating a world of rock creatures.
Have fun!

My kids love tactile learning!  I saw an example of this (much classier) somewhere – I can’t remember where the inspiration came from, it’s not entirely original, but it stuck in my head.  The craft store had a sale on felt this past weekend, it was time to make our own!  Hopefully, your kids will enjoy interacting with shapes.
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Supplies needed:

Felt, lots of colors!
Shapes to trace (I used some blocks and lids to make patterns of the various shapes we included)
Scissors
Extras (beads, scarps of yarn, pipe cleaners, etc.)
Your imagination

Instructions:  Cut …

Paint is our favorite medium.  It is the good ole’ standby at our house.  As we are learning about birds this week, we decided to paint with feathers.
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Materials Needed:

Paint, we used our shaving cream paint recipe
Feathers
Glue
Paper

Originally we were going to use the feathers as one would use a paintbrush.  Silly me thought my two-year old was up for the fine motor skill challenge.  Once my little fella discovered th joy of getting his fingers wet in the paint their was no stopping them and my older child joined in.  …

Help young children begin to grasp the water cycle through play in this simple activity… no confusing jargon needed!

We love our town and it’s yearly street fair.  The kids and I are looking forward to next weekend using the festival as a way to engage and interact with my preschoolers.  Here are ten ideas that we are planning to use to interact with our youngsters at Celebrate Roanoke, or any other local fall fair:

Play where’s Waldo, only pick a clown or someone in costume.  Have your children tell you whenever they spot him or her walking around.
Count the number of people you see dressed in historical garb.  How …

We are studying water this week and I was thrilled to have found some very old, shriveled up sponges.  Sponges, water and two little bodies meant lots of wet fun!  Here are five ways that we played and learned about water.
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We began by measuring our equal parts of water in a few small cups.  Then our experiments began:
1) we poured the water quickly on a completely dry sponge.  What happened?  The water splashed everywhere.
2) we poured the water slowly on a dampened sponge.  What happened?  The water filled the sponge.
We …

We created this morning’s snack into a matching game and a brief activity about patterns.  We had a variety of snacks and my kids loved getting to eat their “school” activity!
What you need:

egg carton
mini-muffin liners
a variety of snacks (at least 5-6)

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We filled the various sections with grapes, cheese, cheerios, goldfish, pepperoni, chocolate, dried fruit and cereal.  I made sure that there were matches of all but two sections.  Then when one child would pick a section to eat the other child would have to find the “matching” section and eat …