Lesson Plans Plus

Edible Thanksgiving Craft - Pilgrim Hats

2009-11-15T22:15:00.002-05:00

Check out this how-to video for a cool Thanksgiving treat: Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats.
http://familyfun.go.com/how-to-videos/familyfun-marshmallow-pilgrim-hats-762347-v/

Super Cute Turkey Craft

2009-11-12T21:38:00.005-05:00

I just found an adorable and simple turkey craft that I want to share with you. I might stop by the craft store this weekend to pick up the supplies. I think that my kids would love to help make this for a Thanksgiving Day Centerpiece.

Turkey Day Craft

Enjoy!

Sharing a Giveaway

2009-11-06T22:50:00.003-05:00

This really does not pertain to preschool but I know that a lot of mom's read this blog and giveaways are fun! A friend of mine is doing a giveaway on her blog this weekend and the prize is a beautiful mothers necklace. Make sure that you check it out and get in an entry before it's too late.

Scrumptious Spiders!

2009-10-28T22:38:00.004-04:00

I wanted to share some easy spider treats with you that make a fun Halloween treat.

To make a scrumptious spider snack take two round crackers (such as Ritz) and spread peanut butter on one side of each cracker (don't put them together yet) Place four pretzel sticks (or you can snap two in half for four small legs) on each side of one cracker. Place the other cracker on top. Now you have a spider body and legs. To make eyes on the spider dot peanut butter and place two mini chocolate chips (or raisins..whatever your kids like) on the peanut butter. Enjoy!

Another yummy but not as healthy option would be to use cream sandwich cookies such as Oreos and then use string licorice for the legs.

You could also have fun making spider cupcakes using the same idea. Frost the cupcake and use black string licorice for the legs and M&M's or chocolate chips for the eyes.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy some spider snacks!

Apple Time!

2009-09-21T13:33:00.004-04:00

I brought my kids to an apple orchard this weekend. There is something about the apple orchard that helps me say goodbye to summer and embrace fall. I love the smell and taste of fresh crisp apples (especially Honey crisp!) and preservative free fresh apple cider. Whether or not you plan to visit an apple orchard with your children, I want to share a few of my favorite preschool apple books with you. I know you will enjoy reading them with your children. You may even be craving a juicy apple or a fresh baked apple treat when you are finished with the story so be prepared.

~Dinofours...It's Apple Picking Day! By Steve Metzger
~The Apple Pie Tree By Zoe Hall
~Up, Up, Up! It's Apple Picking Time By Jody Fickes Shapiro

Back to School!

2009-09-07T21:49:00.005-04:00

It's been a wonderful and busy summer here. Some of our highlights were camping, visiting the beach, parks and picnics, blueberry and cherry picking and vacationing at a cottage on a lake (both of my kids caught their first fish!). I hope that all of you enjoyed your summer too. It always goes by too fast. I can feel a chill in the evening air and some of the leaves on the trees are already starting to change colors. It's the time of year when children start going back to school. When I was a kid, one of my favorite first week of school assignments was to write and/or draw a picture of my favorite summer vacation memories. I would encourage you this week to talk with your children about their favorite summer memories and then have them draw pictures. After they have completed their pictures let them give you a picture description as you write a small caption on each page. This will make a treasured book to look back on during the year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful new school year!

Celebrate America!

2009-07-03T12:04:00.021-04:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! I love celebrating my wonderful country, especially on the Fourth of July. I wanted to point you in the direction of some of my previous Fourth of July posts so that you can enjoy some fun activities with your kids too.

Fun Fourth of July Books

Patriotic Weekly Challenge

Fourth of July Crafts and Activities

Fourth of July Coloring Pages

Enjoy! Have a wonderful Independence Day celebration!

May Day Celebration

2009-04-30T10:30:00.010-04:00

May Day festivals are traditional in England and celebrated on May 1st. May Day is a fun springtime celebration. I thought that you might enjoy doing a few May Day activities with your children too.

~For a fun and easy craft, you can help transform your children into May Kings and Queens by making May crowns with them. To make a May crown, cut the middle out of a paper plate and paint the rim green. Onto the plate, glue pre-cut flowers from construction paper or tissue paper. You could also make a construction paper crown and attach pre-cut flowers to that.

~Take a nature walk and collect wild flowers on your walk or pick some flowers from your own yard. Your children can "go a-Maying" and surprise a friend or family member with the flowers.

~Another fun activity is to dance around a May pole. To create a May pole, attach ribbon, thick yarn or crepe paper streamers to a pole or tree. The children can wear their May crowns as they hold onto the ends of the streamers and dance around the "May pole" singing their favorite springtime songs.

~A May Day song by Elizabeth McKinnon (sung to "The Mulberry Bush")
Let's dance around the Maypole today,
Maypole today, Maypole today.
Let's dance around the Maypole today.
We're the Kings and Queens of May.

~Here is a link to another May Day activity that I posted about last year. I hope that you enjoy these fun May Day Activities. Happy May Day!

*Note, many of these ideas were inspired from the book Small World Celebrations by Jean Warren and Elizabeth McKinnon.

Earth Day!

2009-04-22T16:21:00.006-04:00

Today is a great day to talk to your kids about doing their part to help take care of our world. My preschool students always enjoyed participating in Earth Day clean-up. I gave every child a pair of gloves and we went on a clean-up walk around the playground. It was fun for them to help make the playground look nice and I'm sure the groundskeepers appreciated our little contribution as well.

Another fun thing that I enjoy doing with my kids on Earth Day is a craft that I call a "Junk Collage". I simply collect "junk" that I would toss out anyhow and the kids enjoy making art from it. If you are a classroom teacher or daycare provider, you could send a note home for parents to donate a few items so that their child can turn trash into treasure. I realize this post is coming in a bit late as today is already Earth Day but you don't need this specific day to have fun reusing and recycling.

A sample list of items for a cool junk collage:
~Mismatched buttons of all shapes and sizes
~Beads
~Yarn
~Shredded paper scraps
~Milk carton rings
~Bottle caps
~Toilet tissue tubes
~Cut up cardboard from food boxes
~Pieces of material

Pretty much anything goes as long as it's safe and clean. It's so fun to see the creative creations. I like to provide a piece of cardboard or poster board for the children to glue their treasures onto but some children might also enjoy making free standing objects.

Have fun and remember to reuse, recycle, pick up litter and possibly even plant a tree or two.

Looking for some fresh Ideas?

2009-04-21T14:56:00.007-04:00

Spring is in full swing where I live and before we know it, summer will be here. If you are interested in some easy and fun ideas, arts and crafts and other projects to keep your kids busy this spring and summer, check out my Lesson Plans Plus website for fun preschool lesson plans. The lessons are a great way to stimulate and keep kids busy. Thinking ahead...whether you are planning to home school for preschool next fall or just looking to supplement an existing program, my lesson plans would be a good and inexpensive resource for you. You are welcome to download one free lesson plan at any time to give you a taste of what I offer. Check out Lesson Plans Plus.

Christian Easter Ideas

2009-04-08T23:54:00.007-04:00

As usual, I had hoped to update sooner but life has again kept me busy. We got hit with several rounds of early Spring sickness which was not at all fun. Thankfully, we are mostly healthy again. As Easter is just around the corner, I wanted to share a few ideas for those of you who enjoy teaching your children that there is much more to Easter than candy and the Easter bunny. Of course, candy and the Easter bunny are great fun and I've been buying Easter surprises but Jesus gave us a gift far better than any Easter basket could contain.

I've been reading a great book with my kids this week titled "Benjamin's Box" by Melody Carlson. The book is appropriate for children ages 4-8 years of age. This book is a wonderful compliment to the popular "Resurrection Eggs" by FamilyLife. I have been using the Resurrection Eggs with my children since they were 3 years old. This year I purchased the Benjamin's Box book to go along with the eggs and my kids are really enjoying reading a couple pages each night before bed. Rather than read the book all at once, I like to break it up over a few days so that we open two or three eggs with the story each night. It gives them something to look forward to the following evening. When we are finished, I will let my kids re-tell the resurrection story on their own using the eggs.

We also have a great Easter DVD called "Miss Patty Cakes Easter Eggstravaganza". It's perfect for toddlers and preschoolers and gets the message across in a fun way. There is also a Miss Patty Cake book that compliments the Resurrection Eggs titled "The Story of the Resurrection Eggs in Rhyme & Song".

The Beginners Bible by Karyn Henly includes a preschool appropriate version of the Easter story that is broken into sections. My children have enjoyed stories from the Beginners Bible since they were 2 years old. By now we have read through the Beginners Bible several times, so last year, I purchased another great children's Bible titled "The Jesus Storybook Bible Every Story Whispers His Name" Written by Sally Lloyd-Jones. I recommend either of these Bibles for your preschoolers.

St. Patrick's Day Magical Leprechaun Powder

2009-03-10T23:00:00.004-04:00

St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday to celebrate with kids. In addition to wearing green, I want to share a fun and easy project that you can do with your kids at home or school.

I like to cut out a bunch of little green footprints when my kids are asleep. They awaken to a trail of footprints that they instinctively follow. The trail leads to a Ziploc bag of "magic powder" with a note attached describing what to do with the magic powder. The note is also signed by our little green friend ;-) The magic powder is simply instant pistachio pudding mix but my kids have no idea and they are thrilled to whip up the magic treat. I hope that you give this a try with your kids too. Enjoy!

Pot of Gold Jello (St. Patricks Day)

2009-03-10T22:47:00.006-04:00

Check out this link at Family Fun for a cute recipe of Pot of Gold Jello.

Family Fun has many other cute St. Patrick's Day ideas here.

I'll be adding several of my ideas soon too but wanted to give you some resources to get you thinking about St. Patrick's Day fun.

Rainy Day Fun...Balloon Baseball

2009-02-11T13:53:00.004-05:00

It's pouring buckets of rain today. It's finally feeling like Spring outside but we are stuck inside. Boredom was sneaking up on my kids and they were beginning to ask for the TV to be turned on. I said, "I have a better idea".

I happened to save a couple of cardboard paper towel tubes (for a rainy day activity) so that we could make telescopes. I gave my kids some markers and told them to decorate their telescopes. After spending awhile decorating, they were finished and ready for their next adventure. The telescopes were fun for a few minutes but quickly turned into swords and my couch pillows became shields. It was a creative use for the tubes but I wasn't sure that I really wanted to encourage that game for very long so I suggested an alternative that was an instant hit.

I blew up a balloon (I always seem to have a bag of balloons on hand) and showed my girls how to play balloon baseball in the living room. They loved it! I probably should mention that although they played very nicely and had a lot of fun, after awhile, they became weary of sharing one balloon (a natural and frequent occurrence with preschoolers ;-)) I blew up a second balloon so they could just hit it around with their "bat" on their own. I didn't have to worry about the "ball" breaking anything, knocking anything over or anyone getting hurt so that made me happy. It was an easy and fun way to pass about an hour of time.

The next time you finish off a roll of paper towel, save that tube. When you and/or your kids start feeling stir crazy or bored, give this easy project and game a try.

Fun Field Trip Ideas

2009-02-08T22:06:00.005-05:00

If you are in need of some fun field trip ideas (and who isn't during a long, cold winter), check out our newly updated Field Trip page on LessonPlansPlus.com. We have compiled a list of our favorite field trips for young children as well as links to some other great resources. Now go get rid of that cabin fever...Enjoy!

Valentine's Day / Handprint Hearts

2009-02-08T20:07:00.010-05:00

I want to share a very easy Valentine idea. To make a hand print heart: paint on your child's hand in his/her choice of color(s). Once the hand is painted, instruct them to close their fingers and then press their hand onto a piece of white construction paper at a sideways slant. Paint the other hand in the chosen paint color and press that hand onto the paper slightly overlapping the fingers of the print already on the page. This is a very easy project but rather difficult to explain so I'm going to add pictures of my own children's hand print hearts so that you can actually see the project. I think this will make it much easier for you to do the project at home or school.

Once the hand print hearts are dry, you could add a clever Valentine message and give the card to a parent, a grandparent or special friend as a gift. A couple of Valentine phrases that I have used in the past:

~You're the best Valentine, hand's down!

~I've got to hand it to you, you're the best!

You could also do this project with feet. You could make foot stamped hearts or trace the children's feet and help them glue their foot cut-outs into a heart shape.

Valentine Mailbox / Love Box Craft

2009-02-05T23:21:00.010-05:00

A fun and easy craft to do at home, school or daycare is a valentine mailbox or love box.

Collect enough empty tissue boxes for each child. I prefer the longer boxes (8.6 In X 8.4 IN) rather than the smaller boxes. A shoe box would also work fine.

You have a few options. I usually just let the kids paint the entire box using their choice of red, pink, white and purple tempera paint. They may also sprinkle glitter onto the wet paint. When the paint dries, they can add a variety of heart shaped cut-outs, etc.

Another way I have helped the kids decorate the boxes is to cover the box with paper (usually red or pink), as if I am wrapping a present. Be sure to cut out the opening at the top. The children then decorate the paper covered box by coloring on it, adding stickers, glue designs or even stamp art.

This is a great craft to use in a school or daycare setting where the children exchange valentine cards with several other children. They usually get a lot of cards and need a place to store them. Make sure each child's name is clearly visible on their mailbox so that others can easily drop cards in the appropriate boxes.

This is also a fun project to do at home whether you have several children or even a single child but I have a slightly different idea for the use of the box. Instead of using it just for a Valentines Day box, use it as a love box. The week leading up to Valentines Day (or however far in advance you would like to do this) you can leave your child special love notes and messages, maybe even a small piece of candy or a trinket inside the Love Box. You could even make a small "flag" out of card stock paper and when your child sees the flag raised, he/she will know that she has mail waiting. The flag is really not necessary as I'm sure your children will be checking the box all day anyhow but it's a fun option. The love boxes are fun for all family members and it would be extra fun if the parents had one too. I know that my kids love writing me notes, drawing pictures and even leaving things inside my shoes as a surprise.

I'm sure that your children will enjoy making the valentine / love boxes and will especially love getting surprises inside!

If you are interested in a Valentine Lesson Plan unit, I do have them for sale on my Lesson Plans Plus Website. You can inexpensively purchase my set of 28 themed lessons or you can purchase the lessons individually for only $1.99 each.

An Indoor Winter Picnic

2009-01-23T23:06:00.006-05:00

If your weather is anything like mine, being outside is no picnic ;-) The arctic breeze is blowing through the mounds of snow. My kids love to have picnics and in the Summer, we eat outside all the time. About a week ago we packed up a picnic lunch, spread a blanket out on the living room floor and we enjoyed an indoor picnic. Part of the fun of a picnic is letting the kids help make and/or pack up the lunch. Having an indoor picnic is always a special treat for my kids because it's not something that we do very often. As we were having our picnic lunch, I had an idea, or as my kids would say, "a GREAT idea". For our next indoor picnic we are going to create Spring. We'll spend the day before making flowers and butterflies and other typical Spring crafts. We will decorate the room with our artwork, spread out our blanket and enjoy eating our picnic lunch inside our little Springtime retreat (as we watch the snow fall outside). It will be fun and something different and my kids can hardly wait. The great thing about our inside picnic is that the paper bugs won't try to eat our lunch! I love how preschoolers find such great joy in the simple things.

Weekly Challenge: Enjoy an indoor picnic with your children and make it extra fun by decorating the area with some fun artwork ahead of time.

Indoor Winter Activities

2009-01-14T21:30:00.007-05:00

It's freezing cold here so my kids have not been able to play outside in the snow for several days now. I've been trying to bring some of the outdoor fun inside. I thought you might like to try some of these ideas with your kids too.

~ Ice Skating: Use waxed paper and rubber bands or masking tape. Tape or attach a piece of waxed paper around each foot (preferably with a sock on the foot). Put on some music and watch your children skate.

~Fill your sensory tub (I just use a big plastic bin) with snow. Put mittens on the kids, give them a few gadgets and toys to play with in the snow and they will be happy for awhile. You can also provide magnifying glasses for the children to observe the snowflakes.

~Make Snow Play dough: It's actually just regular homemade play dough with some silver glitter but we like to pretend that it's snow play dough because it sparkles like the snow. You can find a play dough recipe on the Lesson Plans Plus website.

~Simple winter science experiment: Bring a container of snow indoors. Once the snow melts, add food coloring to the water. Place the container back outside until the water freezes into a colored block of ice. Bring the container back inside. The children can observe the changes as the ice melts.

~Bird Feeders: Another fun activity for kids is making bird feeders. Roll a pine cone in peanut butter and then roll (or sprinkle) the peanut butter covered pine cone with bird seed. Tie a string around the pine cone and hang it outside for the birds and squirrels to enjoy. Be sure to hang the feeder in a location where your children can easily see it by looking out a window.

Christmas Arts and Crafts

2008-12-08T21:30:00.005-05:00

Life has been super busy around here and I haven't had time to update my blog in awhile. We have been doing lots of home improvement projects and we are also getting ready to put our house up for sale. Between all of this and my normal busy life as a mom of four year old twins, there hasn't been much time left-over.

I had good intentions of sharing some of our fun Thanksgiving projects but my life was so busy that I forgot to post. I wanted to give you a few easy and fun Christmas art projects as the Christmas holiday will be here before I know it.

Hand print Wreath: This is super easy. Lay out a large piece of white construction paper as well as a shallow pan of red paint and a shallow pan of green paint. Very lightly (in pencil) draw a circle in the center of the construction paper. Have your child dip his/her hand in the green paint and press it all around the circle. After the hand print circle is complete, instruct your child to dip his/her finger in the red paint and then press it around on the green hand prints. The hand prints are the greenery of the wreath and the red dots are berries. I also cut a red bow from construction paper for my kids to place on the wreath. You can cut the wreath out or leave it displayed on the large piece of paper.

Rudolph: You can trace your child's hands and feet on brown paper, cut out and let your child assemble and glue onto a piece of white (or whatever color you choose) paper for this project or you can use painted hand prints and a footprint. Rudolph's face is the foot shape and his antlers are the hands. Decorate with eyes and a red nose.

Shiny Candy Cane: Draw a large candy cane shape on construction paper and cut out (or let your child do the cutting). Mix red tempera paint with a small amount of corn syrup. Let your child paint the candy cane. When dry, it will have a shiny wet look like real hard candy.

If I get the time, I will try to post some pictures of these projects in a few days.

Halloween / Harvest Festival Fun

2008-10-31T12:18:00.003-04:00

Happy Halloween! Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch which was a lot of fun. We painted our pumpkins and once they were dry, my kids decided they wanted to carve them into jack-o-lanterns too. They did all of their own painting but mommy ended up doing most of the cleaning and carving of the jack-o-lanterns. My kids are still not fond of the pumpkin "goo".

I wanted to share a few fun Halloween activities for you to enjoy with your children:

~Make orange play dough and add some pumpkin or apple pie spice for a yummy scent. I have a play dough recipe on my website.

~Make orange goop. Again a recipe is on my Lesson Plans Plus website.

~Bobbing for apples. I like to stick craft sticks into the apples.

~Add shaving cream (or whipped topping) to pie tins and add orange food coloring. Pretend that it's pumpkin pie and let your kids stick their hands into it and play.

~Add some water, orange food coloring and dish soap into a plastic bin, give the kids some bubble wands and other water toys such as small cups, etc.

~Make hand print bats. Press both hands, palm side down onto black paint then press hands onto a piece of construction paper so that the wrists are touching. When dry, add a face.

~Paint a large paper plate orange and then press paper face cut-outs onto the wet paint to make a jack-o-lantern. Add a brown or green paper stem.

Fun Books to read to your children:

The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs (Note, this is a Christian based book)

The Pumpkin Patch by Elizabeth King

It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White.

Low-Fat, Low Sugar Pumpkin Dessert

2008-10-24T13:17:00.005-04:00

It's that harvest time of year again when I start thinking about using pumpkin more. I love canned pumpkin because it's inexpensive, convenient and 100% natural. I have an easy and delicious pumpkin dessert that I would like to share. I used to make this dessert each year around Thanksgiving with my preschool classes and I continue to make it with my own children at home. It's called Creamy Pumpkin Mousse and I obtained the recipe years ago from a chef "Mr Food" who made it during a segment on one of our local news channels. It's diabetic friendly and figure friendly. It's also easy for kids to help make this recipe.

Creamy Pumpkin Mousse

1 Can (16 ounces) solid pack pure pumpkin
1 package (6 oz) instant sugar-free vanilla pudding
1/4 cup low-fat milk (I use fat-free)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups frozen light whipped topping, thawed (I use a small tub of fat free, sugar free whipped topping)

1. In a bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the pumpkin, pudding mix, milk and cinnamon

2. Fold in whipped topping until thoroughly blended then spoon into serving bowl. I like to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top because it looks pretty. Cover loosely and chill until ready to serve.

I know that I haven't offered up a challenge in awhile so I would like to challenge everyone to give this recipe a try. It's a great way to get another vegetable into your kids because it's "disguised" as dessert. Let me know how you and your children like the creamy pumpkin mousse. Maybe it will become a seasonal regular at your home as it is at mine.

Enjoy!

Fall Fun

2008-10-07T00:15:00.005-04:00

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful fall. The leaves are starting to change colors and there is a chill in the air here in Michigan. I love this time of the year. My children and I spent this evening creating pumpkin art. My kids painted and decorated large construction paper pumpkins and they also worked on smaller tissue paper pumpkins that we will as fall decorations in our home. I set out a variety of materials for my kids to decorate their pumpkins and they enjoyed using paint, glitter, shape cut-outs, colored pom pom balls, tissue paper, small beads and wiggly eyes. These are no average jack-o -lanterns. It's fun to provide a bunch of materials and let your children be creative.

I want to share a resource that I recently discovered. A Kid's Heart is a fun site offering many free online games and printable activities for children. They have a page of autumn activities that you might enjoy so check it out when you get a chance.

Fun with Apples

2008-09-17T13:43:00.003-04:00

I'm finally back! My anniversary celebration, beginning of school and a vacation have kept me very busy this September and I haven't had a chance to get back to my blog before now. I hope that each of you had a wonderful summer. We returned home from a warm and sunny vacation in Nevada to early fall in Michigan. I'm now shifting gears and thinking about fall fun.

Yesterday my kids and I made caramel apples. I picked up one of the easy packs with the sheets of caramel that you wrap around the apple and then bake for about 5 minutes. They were super easy and very yummy. I usually end up melting caramel in a pot and dipping apples. The caramel wraps were the easier way to go with four year old helpers.

This week we are going to work on making Stained Glass Apples. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. I simply cut three identical apple shapes from two pieces of red construction paper and one sheet of wax paper. I cut the middle out of the construction paper apples leaving the frame of the apple. Leave the entire wax paper apple shape. I then will provide my children with torn pieces of tissue paper (they can help tear and cut small pieces), glitter and glue. They will glue the tissue paper and glitter onto the wax paper apple shape. When finished, we will glue the wax paper apple shape between the two apple frame shapes. When dried, the apple can be hung in the window for the sun to shine through.

One of my favorite apple themed books is called, The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. I would encourage you to check your local library for a copy of this book. It has a recipe for apple pie at the end of the book if you are feeling in the mood for baking.

Enjoy!

Back- to-School Traditions

2008-08-27T22:26:00.005-04:00

Whether you are a home school mom, a teacher or a mom whose children will be going to school this year, I was wondering if you have any special traditions that you do to "kick off" back-to-school time.

Being a former teacher, I've always enjoyed this time of year and I love looking for back-to-school sales and bargains. I especially love buying new art and craft items and school supplies (as you may have guessed from my recent sweepstakes offer). Even though I'm a stay-at-home mom now, I still feel the urge during this time of year to buy myself at least one new outfit. There's just something special about buying new clothes during back-to-school time. I have great memories of my mom, my sister and I on our big clothing shopping spree every year in August. I always buy my kids new clothes this time of the year too.

My husbands aunt hosts a Back-to-School party every August. It's a great time for the children and adults in our family. She really goes all out planning fun games and activities for everyone to enjoy. At the end of the day, she gives all of the children some new school supplies. One year she handed out pencils with "Back-to-School party, 2006" printed on them. It's a fun way to end the summer, spend time with family and get ready for the new school year.

Some other ideas that I have read about or thought of doing as a way to celebrate the start of a new school year:

~Let the children pick out new backpacks or lunchboxes (this is fun even if you are a home school mom).

~Shop for school supplies together.

~Go out for ice-cream after the first day of school.

~Gift your child with a new book

~Make a special breakfast the morning school starts.

~Set some goals with your child for the new school year and help him/her to accomplish them.

~If you home school or are a classroom teacher, get your children involved by asking them for ideas. Such as "Tell me two things that you would like to learn about this year" "Tell me one thing that you would like to learn how to do". If they don't know, that's okay, they can think about it and let you know when they are ready.

What are some of your ideas and/or traditions? I would love to know!