Homemade Friday

I'm just like most mothers who really want their children to be happy, healthy, well rounded, educated and worldly.  And just like most mothers, when I see a problem I try to fix it.  So in lies the premise of Homemade Friday.

All children need help sometimes doing different activities and learning new things.  All children need to learn different activities and new things.  Especially, in my house, the use of scissors.

Scissors scare me to death.  The thought of my children running through the house with scissors in their hands is no less scary to me than a giant monster jumping from a dark closet when you open the door.  The dilemma of how to have a child learn scissors has been solved.

In the picture you will see pom poms, egg cartons and a tea ball.  Have your child pick up the pom poms, one at a time, using the tea ball and drop them in either side of the egg carton.  The squeezing motion used to open the tea ball is the same motion needed to use scissors!  Whew!  Know, no worries for me about scissors flying through the air and those fine motor skills will still be tuned up!

All children also need to learn their months and how to eat healthy!  Well, good thing for Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup with Rice!  We have so much fun reading this rhyming book!  Last night I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner.  Guess what they said?  Chicken Soup With Rice!!  An easy, peasy, homemade dinner in a flash!

Lastly, all children need to learn to explore so that they can become worldly right?  The "clothespin in a toothbrush holder" is tried and true!  Our Parent Educator told us about this gizmo eons ago and it has always worked to engage a bored child, and it usually stays in my purse.  How does it work?  Put the clothespin in the toothbrush holder and close it.  It does lots of fun things!  It makes noise when you shake it.  It can turn into a clarinet if you blow through it.  It can become a clothespin sling shot if opened too fast.  It can become a cocoon for a caterpillar if you decide to decorate your clothespin.  The list goes on and on.

Now if you are an overachiever and want your child to become really "worldly" try the next activity!  Get a marble and a clear straw and some different colored playdoy.  First wrap red playdoh around the marble, next comes yellow, then red again, then yellow again, then blue, then some green.  What do you make you ask? Well the Earth of course! Now have your child stick the clear straw into Earth until it hits the marble and then pull it out.  Wow! A core sample!  Your child has just discovered what the Earth is made of!  Marble = inner core.  Red = outer core. Red = mantle. Yellow = crust.  Blue = oceans.  Green = land.

Try something new this weekend and see how it goes!  And don't forget, it's never to early to start making Christmas presents (yeah right!)!