Food Dramatic Play

My toddler just loves food dramatic playtime! What is food dramatic play? We play with food toys, where we pretend to cook, eat, learn table manners, go shopping and pay for our food items. The only guarantee for it to last long, be engaging and fun, is for me and his brother to play with him. We always have fun playing with food toys!

© Everything Family Guide

We play the following types of food play games:

-Cashier and Shopping Center - We set up our food toys and pretend to shop by placing food items in our buckets. We then proceed to the cashier (my preschooler he loves to scan the items and ring up a bill. I use play money bills as opposed to coins; little pieces can cause a choking hazard for kids under the age of three).

© Everything Family Guide

© Everything Family Guide

-Cooking and Serving Food - We pretend to be cooks and/or customers. We cook a meal on the request of the customer at our pretend restaurant. We also practice our speaking and table manners. I have taught my preschooler to set the table and how to eat at a restaurant.

© Everything Family Guide

These skills are really important in real life situations like shopping and eating out at a restaurant. Every child is different when it comes to interest in playing with certain toys. The key is to be involved with your kids to teach them how to play, as you are your child's role model in life.

Be the best you can be for your kids!

Annie

Forming Geometric Shapes with Popsicle Sticks

Since we had our Popsicle sticks out for the Math Color Sorting and Graphing Activity, we decided to make shapes with Popsicle sticks. This is a tactile activity that goes a long way to teach the concept of Shapes.

© Everything Family Guide

For us, this was an introductory activity to learn about "Shapes". We will progress by talking about corners and how many corners does each shape have.  

For the following activity, you will need Colored Popsicle sticks, and a diagram of practice shapes. Here is what we did:

1. I did a demonstration by making a square shape using the Popsicle sticks. We discussed how to do this by placing Popsicle sticks in a similar pattern.

2. Then I let my preschooler experiment. Notice how he is still in the learning process, as he has not joined all of the Popsicle sticks together to form the shape.  At the moment, we are exploring "Shapes" so I let him have the free rein. For the next lesson, which will be the same activity again, I will talk about connecting the Popsicle sticks together and possibly talk about how many corners does each shape have. It is always nice and easy to start off with basic shapes like square, rectangle, or triangle and then move on to other harder shapes. You can use a shape manipulative if you have it or you can always draw it nice and big on a piece of paper.

© Everything Family Guide

3. Activity Extension: you may also incorporate another hands-on activities to teach the concept of Shapes such as "Shapes I SPY" or Form Shapes with your hands or body.

© Everything Family Guide

Early Math practice is crucial in strengthening your child's future math learning.

Annie

Math Color Sorting and Graphing Activity

Preschool Math is so much fun! We are still learning about "Colors" but we are growing and learning as we go on.  We started off with primary colors but now we have moved to secondary colors.  My son is having so much fun learning, by doing! For the following activity, you will need: buckets/bins/boxes, different colored Popsicle sticks, a timer, a pencil and paper.  

Here is what we did:

1. We got the buckets ready by placing a different colored Popsicle stick in each bin. We then discussed each color in the Popsicle bin to review the concept of "Colors".

© Everything Family Guide

2. I set the timer before beginning the activity.  When the timer started my preschooler started placing the assigned Popsicle sticks in the assigned bins. My son loves the timer and he likes a little bit of competition once in a while.  So I use a timer for him but it is not necessary during the first few practice runs to set a timer.  Timers in the beginning of an activity can cause a distraction and deviate the learner from the learning process.  So, you may use it after your child has had ample amounts of practice learning a concept. I have used a timer for doing math drills with my little sister back in the old days to help her practice her math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). It all depends on how comfortable the learner is with the timer and using it at the appropriate time.

© Everything Family Guide

3. When the timer went off to signal the end of the timed activity, I asked my son to drop the rest of the Popsicle sticks and come forward. Together, we counted how many Popsicle sticks he gathered from each bin. I would drop a Popsicle stick in the bin one at a time while he counted. This helped with number practice as well as color identification.
 
4. Finally, I did up a quick graph for the activity (This idea came while we were counting and discussing colors/numbers, so I'm apologize about the messy lines). I placed each colored Popsicle stick from the bin in different columns of the graph. We then counted again from the bins to record our numbers in the graph. After counting, I asked him which colored Popsicle sticks did we have the most and the least amount. I did this to test his number sense.

© Everything Family Guide

Overall, it was a good learning experience. However, this was our first graphing activity and I will be incorporating more graphs in our learning. I will start off with the Calendar and report back my findings! 

If you have any questions/comments regarding this activity, please let me know,

Annie

Good Foods for Our Teeth

We went to the paediatric dentist this week for my kids routine check-up. We ended up discussing some tips on good vs. bad foods for the teeth. We need to eat foods that are good for our teeth (besides brushing our teeth 2x everyday) and do not hurt the tooth enamel. This way we can prevent cavities or tooth decay. This is equally important for our children's teeth health.  Here is a list of foods that are good for your teeth (everything has to be eaten with moderation according to our daily food guide servings):

• Cereal w/fruit
• Fruit Smoothies
• Yogurt w/fruit or Parfaits
• Cheese (soft, stringy, slices, 
• Grilled sandwiches
• Luncheon meats
• Roast beef or Chicken
• Shelled Nuts
• Salads
• Fresh Fruits or Vegetables w/dips (optional)
• Sugar-free Gum

 

Bulletin Board at the Dentist© Everything Family Guide

Some foods like raisins, chocolates, chewy gelatin snacks (Gummies), and sugary drinks are the worst for your tooth enamel, as they stick to the teeth.  The acid from these things works hard to erode the tooth enamel and discolor your teeth. That being said we may eat these once in a while with moderation and with a meal or water.  

Let's keep our teeth healthy,

Annie

"I Spy" Literacy and Math Activities

I love playing "I Spy" activities with my kids. They can be played with kids of any age and stage. When I was a little kid, I loved exploring and playing with little toys and things. So keeping that in mind, I made "I Spy" activities with an emphasis on little things. Here is how you may incorporate "I Spy" activities in your preschooler/toddler's schedule:

"I Spy" with Picture Books - Books that are great to use for "I Spy" are ones with lots of little pictures or little picture clues. This would be a great time to introduce new vocabulary words. You can also describe things that are found by using simple sentences (This is a ball). 

Shapes "I Spy" - looking for shapes around the house can be a fun activity. I tell my kids that sometimes shapes are hidden around the house (i.e. on the furniture or on any patterns). This will teach them the math concept of 3-d (objects) and 2-d (pictures) shapes.

© Everything Family Guide

Numbers "I Spy" - for this activity we look for a number of things around the house like 3 or 5 of something. This will teach the math concept of counting and sorting.  It can be played with anything around the house like macaroni noodles, books, stripes on the wallpaper, etc. 

© Everything Family Guide

Color "I Spy" - we look for things that are of a particular color like blue or yellow. This will teach the concept of color and you can also make it advanced by using terms like lighter than, darker than, etc.

© Everything Family Guide

Advanced "I Spy" - I do this activity with my preschooler but you can do it with a toddler who has extensive vocabulary. We look for things around the house that I usually name with an added adjective(s).  For example, I would say: "I Spy with my little eyes something that is red with yellow stripes." It is really fun and makes it interesting for your child.

© Everything Family Guide

We always have fun playing "I Spy" games when we are free or as a time filler. And it is ALWAYS fun and exciting!

Annie