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Ready to Take on the World - Kindergarten Goals

My 4+ year old will be starting Kindergarten in a few days.  I received a bunch of papers to fill out from her soon to be teacher and one of them was a Parent Survey.  One of the questions was "List two goals you would like to set for your child this year".  It got me thinking about what we really expect from Kindergarten.  As the various Schools would list in, Kindergarten Goals include 1. Writing full name 2. Knowing all the colours, letters and numbers. 3. Knowing all letter sounds 4. Knowing the vowels and their sounds 5. Reading the Sight words 6. Writing the sight words 7. Being able to Rhyme 8. Being able to segment words 9. Identifying various Shapes 10. Counting in 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's 11. Simple Addition and Subtraction What I would love to see my little girl accomplish this year is,  1) to make life long friends.  you know, when you can say "We've been friends since Kindergarten" kind of friend...

First Day of Big School

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It’s the middle of spring and your family’s enjoying days at the beach or picnics in the park or just being relieved that you were able to secure a seat for your kiddo in that big prestigious school 😉. there is excitement at home but deep down there’s an anxiety or nervousness brewing as the first day at school beckons. For the littlies, its the anxiety for the unknown. They’ve never been to school as a fully-fledged, uniform-wearing student. Phew!  Even you may be feeling jumpy and jittery. you might be wondering  When your child is starting the big school, it’s completely normal to be a little anxious and nervous for everyone – first timers at big school and their parents. but a few tips can really make the sail a lot easier.. TIPS FOR THE FIRST TIMERS AT SCHOOL Child Psychologists suggest the following tips -  “Normalise” those feelings of nervousness  - Tell your kids that it’s OK to feel nervous and worried and that these feelings are very normal. ...

Colour their World

Add a colorful description. Always add a color word when talking about items in your environment. For example, instead of“Can you bring mommy the ball? Say “Can you bring mommy the red ball?” Find colorful foods. Parents are encouraged to feed children a colorful diet to aide in balanced nutrition. Take advantage of the rainbow of foods on your plate everyday by asking your little one to show you the red food on her plate or ask her what color her peas are. As eating is something that is done several times daily, simply taking a moment at each meal and snack to notice colors will make your child more aware and interested in colors. Color your bath time. You can ask them what color they would like their bath to be and create it using 2 colors if necessary. This is also a great introduction to the science skill of color mixing. Bath crayons (washable soap crayons used to write on the bathtub and tiles) are also a wonderful springboard for talking about colors. A colorful famil...

Homemade Playdough

You need: 2 cups plain flour (all purpose) 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 cup salt 2 tablespoons cream of tartar Up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right) food colouring (optional) few drops glycerine (optional- adds more shine!) Method: Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl. Add food colouring TO the boiling water then into the dry ingredients (colour optional) Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough. Add the glycerine (optional) Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. * This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it s the perfect consistency! * (If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right)

Shape Up! - teaching shapes to your Toddler

Shape Up! Two-year-olds often enjoy manipulating shape toys. The process of learning shapes takes time– kids don’t just “get” that a triangle has three sides and three points from the beginning. With a two-year-old, the first stage in the task of learning shapes is beginning to recognize similar or matching shape. The best way to teach your toddler about shapes is to look at the environment he is in and encouraging het through repetitive practice to see the world as being made up of the wonderful shapes! Have children make shapes with their body and see if you can make shapes as a family. Pose questions such as "How can we....?"or "What if we...?" and let them go! You don't need to buy expensive things, use cups, bowls and Tupperware. These simple shape activities will help your child shape up her shape recognition skills: Shape Sort .   Have your child help you clean out your food storage container collection. Ask her to help you match the lids to ...

Teaching your Baby Colours

Add a colorful description . Always add a color word when talking about items in your environment. For example, instead of “Can you bring mommy the ball? Say “Can you bring mommy the red ball?” Find colorful foods . Parents are encouraged to feed children a colorful diet to aide in balanced nutrition. Take advantage of the rainbow of foods on your plate everyday by asking your little one to show you the red food on her plate or ask her what color her peas are. As eating is something that is done several times daily, simply taking a moment at each meal and snack to notice colors will make your child more aware and interested in colors. Color your bath time . Adding food colouring to her bubble bath can help children become aware of colors. You can ask them what color they would like their bath to be and create it using 2 colors if necessary. This is also a great introduction to the science skill of color mixing. Bath crayons (washable soap crayons used to write on the ...