Do Not Handicap Your Children …
Don’t Raise Your Kids to have More …
Target Practicing
Daddy showing Brina how to shoot the black powder gun!
Brina taking a shot at the target
Daddy showing Karlie how to shoot with black powder
Karlie taking another shot!
Learning About Manners Picnic Basket Game by Noodleboro
The girls have had the Learning About Manners Picnic Basket Game by Noodleboro (Playskool) for several years now. They love it! It is a unique game with a picnic blanket board, a picnic basket, games pieces, a story they can read, and a cd to listen too. Many times as we are setting up the game someone will read the story and after playing the game the girls like to listen to the cd. It is a cute game about using your manners, being kind, and polite.
- Colorful with neat game pieces (how many games come with a cool picnic basket)
- Book to read during story time with fun character who are learning their manners
- Audio CD with more about the story and songs regarding using manners
- Easy to play (recommended for ages 4 and up)
- 2 to 4 Players
- Object of the game – use your manners and be the first to collect all the items you need at your picnic!
- Learning Benefits – social skills (say “please” and “thank you”), taking turns, listening, reading, and more
We love games! We have found that playing games is beneficial for many reasons. It gives us quality time together as a family. The kids learn that they will not always win (which is not always an easy lesson to learn), but the game can still be fun even if you are not the victor in every game. It provides opportunities for us to talk and create memories together. Games teach and help our kids practice a variety of useful skills like following directions, reading, writing, counting, taking turns, and more.
Teaching Our Children: How to Wrap Gifts
Letting the kids wrap their own gifts
As I sit in the middle of the floor with little scraps of Christmas wrapping paper around me I have to smile….. The girls LOVE going to the store to pick out the perfect gift(s) for each person. They also really like to wrap the gifts! While they have a tendency to make a mess, use more wrapping paper, put on too much tape, and take a long time wrapping they have a blast doing it. Although, I have noticed that every year they get a little better and more efficient.
Each girl starts the gift wrapping activity by picking out their own roll of wrapping paper to use for their gifts. They use that roll of wrapping paper on all the gifts they have to wrap until there are no more gifts to do or the wrapping paper is gone. They do the entire wrapping process on their own from cutting the paper to taping and even labeling the gift.
While we still have the occasional – “Mom, I didn’t cut the wrapping paper big enough” overall they are getting better at the whole process. At times, I’ve even had problems not cutting the paper big enough! Typically, we spend an evening or two (depending on the amount of time we have) doing a “wrapping party” while listening to Christmas music. As they wrap their gifts I will tackle some that I need to do as well. Everyone has fun and we get a lot accomplished at the same time.
I love that they take the extra time to not only wrap the gifts but label, add little notes, or draw pictures on the outside of the gifts. They started doing this on their own last Christmas. It was so cute reading their notes and talking about their drawings as we opened the gifts. They were so proud of the gift and the wrapping which they did from start to finish. Here are some of the sweet drawings and notes we found under our tree last year:
Silly notes written on the gifts…..made me smile
Brina even picked out turtle food at the store for the turtles and wrapped it for them.
Karlie drew a planet, specifically Saturn, on this gift
I Love You note on the gift
Brina drew little “heart” people on the outside of this Christmas gift.
Picture of the sweet sisters on the gift
While the gift wrap my not win a decorative prize the girls are proud of their work and are excited to share. They are learning many lessons during this too (hand-eye coordination, measuring, sharing, giving, etc….). Pretty soon I will have to start delegating more gift wrapping tasks to them! 🙂
Audio Book: “The Story of the World” by Susan Wise Bauer (Volume 1)
After a friends recommendation we got the first CD set of The Story of the World: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor by Susan Wise Bauer and read by Jim Weiss. The girls LOVE listening to audio books and have thoroughly enjoyed these ones as well. As a Mom I am thrilled about it because it isn’t just an audio book they are listening to but history. It is amazing how quickly kids will pick up on bits of history just listening to the audio books. I have been very impressed with it and glad the girls are captivated by their stories as well! They do a wonderful job keeping the kids attention. If you have a young child that loves to read this may be a wonderful addition to your home library. I have even learned new stuff listening to the CDs with the girls. We look forward to listening to the first set several times and hopefully getting the next Volume in the future.
Curious Kids: Triangular Vacuums
The neat part about having kids is that they notice the small things, the stuff we take for granted as adults. A few months ago one of my girls wanted to know “Why does the vacuum leave triangles on the carpet?” It perplexed them when they were watching me because the vacuum itself is a rectangle yet somehow it manages to spit out triangles onto the carpet when I vacuum the floor. Although the triangles are not necessary I let them know that seeing the triangles indicates to Mommy that the carpet has recently been cleaned and makes the room look nice.They had been learning about patterns at school and this strange occurrence at home captivated their attention one day. The triangles are created in a pattern by the way I steer the vacuum cleaner over the carpet. It helps me know that I have cleaned the entire floor and adds an extra reward at the end. It is the little things that you do that the kids pick up on and want to learn more about. I don’t know for sure if they will do the same things once they are grown but at least they know why Mommy creates triangles on the floor and how to do it with a rectangle shaped vacuum. I am thankful for kids who have the desire to learn, explore, and try to figure out how things work. Their curiosity keeps me on my toes and allows me to continue finding ways to teach them about life. As a Mom love this day to day education opportunity with my girls.
Ouchy Toy Box
As our kids got bigger we began to notice a trend pop up. Their toys began to break, batteries died, books got torn and so forth. Almost daily (or at least it seemed) our girls were bringing “broken” toys to have us fix for them whether it was gluing a broken toy, taping a book, sewing, or replacing batteries it took time to get fix them. The girls would often hover around during the fix up process causing more delays in getting them fixed or shedding in tears when the toy truly was broken beyond repair.In our effort to streamline the toy repair in our house we created an “Ouchy Toy Box”. When a toy, book, or game broke, required repair, or was due for new batteries they would bring it to us like in the past but instead of fixing it on the spot or having it sit on our desk for days we would put the toy in the Ouchy Toy Box. Once a month or when the box was full we would set aside time to fix the toys in the Ouchy Toy Box. The best sight to see is an empty Ouchy Toy Box!
To create an Ouchy Toy Box find a cardboard box, crate, or any container that will hold a dozen or so toys. We use a small cardboard box with the words Ouchy Toy Box written on the outside. When a toy is broken the girls ask to put it in the box. Our box is up high on a shelf in the office so they cannot look into or dig through the box. The saying “Out of Sight Out of Mind” works well in this situation.
Here are our steps to repairing the toys (once a month or when the box was full):
- The night before, after the kids are in bed, we go through the Ouchy Toy Box and clean out all the toys that were broken beyond repair and throw them away. Many times they have been in the toy box for at least a couple weeks and the girls no longer remember them or ask about them. This helps us clean out the broken ones without the trauma and tears over the broken toy.
- The next day we set aside time in the evening to fix the broken ouchy toys, usually after dinner and baths. We begin the process while the girls are awake so they can see what we do to fix the toys. It gives us the opportunity to talk about why the toys are broken and how to take care of the things God gives us.
- We lay the toys out on the table or desk with a combination of tools such as glue, batteries, screwdrivers, tape, needles, thread, scissors, and anything else that we may need so we are ready to fix the toys. (This allows us to get all the repair tools out only once a month instead of getting them out and putting them away every day).
- We begin fixing the toys. As they are fixed the girls have an opportunity to play with them and then put them away in the toy box or book shelf. Depending how many toys you have to fix and the extent of the repairs we do several while they are watching us. We often start on the minor repairs first in case not all of them are fixable. (ie. taping a page in a book, sewing a button back on a stuffed animal, etc…)
- We tuck the girls in bed before finishing all of the toys. Typically, it is much quicker to repair once they are in bed especially if you need a steady hand, are using a drill or other sharp tools.
- Once the toys have been repaired we line them up on the table or fireplace for them to enjoy in the morning. It spreads the excitement and they have fun reunited with their toys. It helps teach them that it takes time to repair the toys, to trust us to fix their toys, and an appreciation for what they have.
- They will often play with the toys for hours after being fixed Which is another added bonus. Rarely do we have to fix the same toy multiple times.
One of the most interesting effects of this system, which we didn’t anticipate happening when we first started doing it, was that they have fewer and fewer toys that need to go into the Ouchy Toy Box. It could be that they have learned to take better care of their toys (turn them off after using so the batteries don’t wear down, be gentle with their books, pick up the toys so they are not stepped on), maybe they don’t like going without them for several weeks, or it could be something entirely different. Whatever the reason, it is has worked at extremely well with our kids.
Doing this monthly or regularly once the box is full streamlines the process especially if you have all the tools ready to complete the task at hand. It prevents the tear shed of toys that have to be thrown away and it allows an opportunity to teach a lesson about taking care of the toys. You are not pressured to fix it now since you have a system in place. Many people that have come into our home office have laughed initially at seeing a box labeled Ouchy Toy Box, however, several of them have since adopted the system for their own families. It works, try it!
Operation Christmas Child Packing Party
The girls were excited to finally put together their Operation Christmas Child boxes. They each took some money from their piggy banks and we went to the store to pick out goodies to put into their boxes. Brina wanted to picked items out to put into a little girls box and Karlie picked items to put into a little boys box.It was sweet hearing them pray for the kids before packing the boxes. The girls laid all the items out on the table so they could pick out the perfect ones for their little girl and boy. I was amazed at how much fit into those boxes! It was neat to see them work hard to share with others. Such a great teaching moment, we are very blessed in our society.
The “Heifer International” magazine came in the mail while we were packing the boxes. It allowed us an opportunity to discuss with the girls why people buy animals as gifts to help others. Only God can time something so perfectly!!! =) If you are trying to decide how to share with others during the Holiday Season “Heifer International” would be another great organization to consider.
