Cabin Fever

I've gotten several e-mails along the lines of "What can we do now?"--families stuck inside for days because of snow or rain. "Cabin Fever!" I have a few suggestions, all tried and true.

1. Cooking with children is fun, messy, educational, and can take a whole morning or afternoon when done right! Always make sure that you have staples on your shelves (flour, sugar, oil). I used to buy, then hide, a jar of colorful sprinkles to save for making special cookies or cakes on these "Can't get out" days. You can also make colored sugars for decorating--just put a half cup sugar in a zip-lock bag with a drop or two of food coloring.  Zip shut, then let the kids shake for a few minutes. Here's a flourless recipe for cookies:

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies....Mix 1 cup peanut butter with 1 cup sugar; add 1 egg & 1 t. vanilla and mix well. Shape in to 1" balls, then flatten with a fork on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Remove from sheet immediately. Makes 3 dozen.

2. "The $1.00 Babysitter"--that's what I call a can of shaving cream. (Cheaper if you buy it on sale). Put your child(ren) in  bathing suits, put them in the bathtub without water, and cover the  tub walls with shave cream. Let them smear, write, draw, mush; give them paint brushes or plastic kitchen utensils to create. You can sit near-by and watch the fun, refreshing the shave cream from time to time as needed. If you do this as a late-afternoon activity, you can turn playtime into bathtime. I always loved doing this--got the kids clean, the tub clean, and the bathroom smelled great for days!

3. Sock-er Match--just what you think it is! Take your kids' socks and hubby's socks out of the drawers, unmatch them, put them on the floor, and have everyone start matching. Good opportunities to talk about size, color, and what a pair is. P.S. Bonus if you're actually doing laundry and do need things matched up!

4.  Pudding Fingerpaint--many people don't like children to play with their food, but those are people who have never been stuck indoors for three days with children! Spread large pieces of aluminum foil on the table, plop a half-cup of pudding on the foil, roll up the kids' sleeves and let them start painting and licking. Guess you know that vanilla pudding is easier to clean up than chocolate pudding!

5. Catalogues-- are very handy! (1.) cut up any old catalogues you have around, creating families from the people. Give children the cut-out and some glue and let them make scenes using the people. Older kids can tell you about the scenes as you write down the words. You can get some fascinating ideas here! (2.) For clothing catalogues, have children who can scissor cut out all the blue (or red or green) items they find. If they can't scissor yet, have kids color over the items or circle with a marker. (3.) Older children can cut out pics to make their own books, tell their own stories.

You may have noticed that these activities are "quaint"--no high-tech stuff, no batteries, just things you probably have around your house already. That's what young children need the most--no gizmos, just real things they can touch and use. Enjoy!

Cabin Fever

The Bad Influence

As an Early Childhood Educator, I don't know much about Physics--astrophysics, geophysics, or any other physics, but I DO know the First Law of Childhood Physics: Negative behavior always attracts! This is an unfailable law of nature, as dependable as gravity!

Are you familiar with this scene? Your sweet child comes home from nursery school and starts to spit at you. He is smiling--he thinks it's cool, it's great! Spit! Spit! Spit! You can't believe the horror of it--where did he learn such a thing?!? Then you realize where: at nursery school! Who is letting children spit at school? What are those teachers doing? Why isn't someone stopping this? The answer is simple: First Law of Childhood Physics. Negative behavior attracts--it looks so attractive. And it causes such a stir in the classroom! Very often when a negative behavior is experienced in a classroom for the first time, the child who is doing it is probably doing that same behavior at home (or experiencing it by an older sibling at home). It is important that teachers stop the undesired behavior before it spreads, but that is a challenge. If you give it too much attention, everyone wants to try it. If you ignore it, there is the risk that the child thinks that it's acceptable.

A quiet, middle ground is what's needed--at school and at home. The child who's showing the negtive actions needs to be sat down quietly and told that "We don't do that in our class/family." You can explain why if there's a really solid reason ("Spittting spreads germs and can make people sick."), but generally it's more productive to quietly and quickly declare that such behavior isn't done. Is there a chance that the teachers are unaware of negative behavior? If it's a very large class with very few teachers, it could happen, but then it spreads wildly, and soon everyone is a part of the negative scene! Always let the teachers know what you've been seeing at home if it's something that you do not approve of. And always let your child know what is and isn't allowed in your family. When  family rules and family values are clear, it's much easier for a child to know what to do! (And what not to do!)

Reading Chapter Books

RABT asked in a recent comment what the right age to begin "chapter books" is for young children. Good question! The answer is (of course) it varies from child to child. Some children love picture books so much that they don't yet enjoy a book without illustrations. In fact, pictures are ways that children learn a lot about what the language is saying. Looking at the pictures is a form of "pre-reading. " Have you ever seen your pre-schooler looking at a favorite book, saying the words and "reading" the book?  If you have, you've seen your child reading!

Most "chapter books" require the child to wait for the end of the story, to wait for the resolution of any conflict, or to wait to see what happens next. Some young children can wait, but many others need to know that everything is all right NOW! They can't wait until tomorrow night!

I feel that the best approach is to pick a short chapter book that you, the adult reader, enjoy and introduce that to your child. (Please, no Dickens just yet!) When parents read with enthusiasm and verve, children understand that this is a good book--mommy/daddy likes it! If the book has pictures every now and then, be sure to show them to your child. If there are no pictures, then stop reading every so often and help your child get a mental picture of what's happening: "When I think of the farm, I imagine that it's big with a fence around it." The more children can relate to what the story is about, the more they will be invested listeners.

Reading chapter books is a wonderful way to expand your child's vocabulary, help them learn the excitement of "what's coming next." and even do some guessing about what the future holds for the characters in the story.

Some of my favorite chapter books are those by William Steig, such as "Amos and Boris." The vocabulary is so rich and the action so real that even three year-olds sit for this book (for 10-12 minutes). You all probably know Steig's famous picture books such as "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble"--try his small chapter books for a pleasant surprise.

Holidays Ahead!

By now, your little one is probably nicely "settled in" at nursery school or day care (if not, feel free to ask me about some separation strategies that might work). So, that means it's time for the holidays to start! Your family may celebrate Thanksgiving, Channukah, Kwanza, or Christmas, or even all of these holidays in one way or another. For small children, all holidays are early experiences with traditions and meanings that are important to their families--that's why you celebrate! Religious holidays are unique opportunities to transmit the strength, joy, and beauty of one's beliefs while enjoying a special time with your children.

I encourage parents to decide what's really important about the holidays and then look for ways to share that importance with small children. For instance, a great meal at Grandma's might be your family tradition for Thanksgiving. Is there something that you and your child(ren) can cook together and bring to the festive table? Once you get to Grandma's (or wherever you are invited), there may be a delay before the meal starts; make sure you have crayons and paper so your child can "decorate" Thanksgiving signs for the front door. If you emphasize the importance of giving thanks at this season (a worthy characteristic for children to be aware of), you can tell your child what you are thankful for. You can show your gratitude by sharing your good fortune--donating to/volunteering at a food bank with your child. Let your child pick out a food item to put in the food drive barrel at your local grocery store.

Just remember to focus on what's important about any holiday to you--don't worry about  what the neighbors are doing or what Grandma wants you to do. By making the holiday personal, your child will come to love the meaning of the day and look forward to each new year and the opportunity to celebrate.

askteacherpam

Welcome to Ask Teacher Pam! As an Early Childhood educator, recently retired, I get lots of questions from  young friends  and acquaintances who are now parents and want to do "the right thing" when it comes to raising their children. It's very gratifying that so many young families are truly interested in taking the time to explore any issue that concerns their children, and not just do what's easy or do "what everyone else is doing." Watch this blog for a variety of topics, from toilet learning to school separation to "the picky eater." And, of course, I'm here to answer any question you may want to ask, so, go ahead--"Ask Teacher Pam."