Catching The "NICE" Bug

Let's be real . . . siblings are not always the nicest to each other. I know they love each one another but I also know they can get on each others nerves faster than anything. Since they fight like Tom & Jerry I figured the house could use some quiet (what mother doesn't enjoy that). The most effective way to get them to do anything I want without them knowing is to make it a game. Our newest game is "Catching the Bug", the ultimate goal of this game is to help your kids say & do nicer things to others. So we made bugs out of clothes pins, so they would be able to pin them on their shirts when we were done.

Materials I used:

2 clothes pins

4 googly eyes

5 pom pom balls

4 heart stickers

4 pieces of felt

For Aubrey we made a butterfly. We layered the hearts on top of each other, then glued them to the clothes pin, added the googly eyes & felt (for antennas) & were done.

For Landen we made a caterpillar. We glued the pom pom balls to the clothes pin, then the googly eyes & felt (antennas), & we were finished. They came together super quick & we didn't need many materials (I had everything laying around the house).

Now the object of the game is when someone says or does something "NICE" to someone else I give them the bug & they were it until someone else comes along & does something nice & then they pass the bug on. For example: If Aubrey cleaned up Landen's toys out of the living room (just because), I would give her the bug. Then later on if Landen told her something nice or helped her out with something she passes the bug to him . . .  Hence the name "Catching The Nice Bug".

I'll admit I did have to take the bugs away a few times because they weren't being so sweet to each other, but I'm happy to say they did earn them back.

Hope this helps you if you were looking to keep the peace between your little ones, leave a comment below to let me know how it works out for you.

Learning Greater Than And Less Than

Learning Greater Than And Less Than

I'm working on helping my little one out with learning more than & less than, plus she needs help with her number recognition so this game is great for both . We were watching Bubble Guppies the other day & it inspired me to make this game . On the show they had a dinosaur running & they were checking it's speed . That's the reason there is a dino . . .

All I did was make a chart with numbers from 1 - 10 & we were using the number 5 as our greater than or less than number . So I circled it in green & underlined all the less than numbers in green as well, then I underlined all the greater than numbers in red . I also made a small arrow & then cut out some number (of course 1 - 10)

We took turns drawing numbers from the bowl, she had to tell me the number she drew, show me how many fingers it is, then count it out on the chart & put the arrow on it .

I had her lay the number she drew on the dino so she could see her number vs numbers on the chart . Simple enough right . . . After a couple of turns I started to ask her if the number she drew was greater than 5 or less than 5 . She got the first one wrong but after that she was getting them all right, now she loves playing .

The tricky part was when she drew the number 5 . . . I guess I didn't really think that part through until it happened . I just told her that 5 is not more than or less than 5 because it's the SAME .

We played this all morning, it turned out to be more fun than I thought & we had a dino - rific time . It really did help her with her number recognition more than I accepted .

Hope you enjoyed this idea & let me know if you & your toddler play anything similar to this or if you plan on using it for yourself . . .

Learning Letters

Learning Letters

Getting children school ready can be a little challenging, they have to know their ABC's, numbers, colors, & how to write . It feels like a lot to go over all before the age of five . Since my little one stays home with me I want to make sure she can do it all before it's her turn to go to school . Getting started is really the hardest part, just make sure you set aside time everyday & keep up with it . Start simple . . . with your ABC's

Just singing the alphabet song is extremely helpful for your toddler . After they have that somewhat down lay out letters & point to them while you sing your ABC's . This is to help with letter recognition .  

On the backside write the letters in lower case that way you can practice capitals & lower case .

Don't forget to practice writing . . . kids seem to love this one because they get to "draw". Again keep everything simple, no pressure, just start with their name . You draw it out with dotted lines & let them connect it with a pencil . You'll have to help your child along the way with holding the pencil correctly & teaching them to stay in the lines .

A more challenging game is to put the letters out on the floor & let your little one grab the letters to make his / her name .

Don't forget keep it simple, you don't need fancy supplies or a bunch of paperwork . Make it fun . . . kids love GAMES. I've learned that if my kiddos felt pressured to do "work" they didn't want to participate but if it's just a game that we're playing they are all in .

Remember you are your child's first teacher

Make your time count .