Today I’m just going to get into projects that have to do with physical attributes.
Tomorrow I will get into the feelings and senses attributes.

But, the concept of "everyone is different" can
be hard to teach to a child without some hands-on projects. So, without further
ado…..

"All About Me" Preschool Activities

Me Puppets

In this project you will be assisting the children in Making "Me Puppets".
Me puppets will help you reinforce to the children that everyone is different
in the physical sense. You will need 6 inch paper plates to use as faces, popsicle
sticks or tongue depressors as the holders. Also, get out some yarn, markers,
crayons, child safety scissors and glue to finish off the "Me Puppet".
Let them put on a puppet show.

Self-Portraits

Give the kid some art supplies and let them draw pictures of themselves. Give
them a list of easy descriptive words and let them chose the words that most
describe themselves. You can even have pictures next to the descriptive words
to help them chose the words that best describe them. For example, for the word
“funny” you can have a person laughing so that they know that word is "funny".
And, for the word “smart” you can have a picture of a person with a light bulb
above their head. Those are just examples, but you get the idea. You want to
help your child pick descriptive words describing themselves.

Eye Color Graph

Make a color graph to show the different colors of eyes such as…. blue, green,
brown and hazel eyes. Let the children look in the mirror and decide what eye
color they have on their own. Did they chose the right color. Talk about that with them.

Thumbprints

This is a really cool project… a little messy, but cool. Bring out an ink
pad and let the kids place their thumb on the ink pad and then onto their own
pieces of blank paper. Give each of the children a magnifying glass and let
them determine what makes each thumbprint different. Do they notice the differences?
Explain to the children that no two fingerprints are alike…. pretty amazing,
huh?!

Body Tracing

Me Stories

Let the children create short stories about themselves. They can draw pictures
and make it a picture book or you can help them write a story using word and with the pictures
as well.

Felt Faces

Cover a coffee can with felt. Also, cut out different sizes and shapes of
felt cutouts. Tell the kids to make their faces using the different shaped felt
and the coffee can. Felt sticks onto felt pretty easily, so no other supplies
such as glue or tape is needed.

Growth Charts

Provide a measurement chart and scales for the children to measure their height
and weight. Explain to the children what these numbers mean.

In Conclusion

These projects should help you teach your children all about them in
the physical sense. Tomorrow we will continue the "About
Me" topic, but go into projects that help you teach them about
themselves using their feelings and their senses.

Top image by squacco

Here are
some of the things that you need to do when preparing your child to start preschool:

• Know
  where your child should be academically. Your preschooler doesn’t
  have to be right on track or ahead of the game, but you should have some basic
  child development knowledge of where other kids of the same age are going
  to be. This varies depending on the age that your child enters preschool but
  can be figured out by checking out basic parenting books on development. Help
  your child reach an average academic place before sending him off to preschool
  so that he doesn’t start at a disadvantage.
• Point out the
  ways in which your child is growing up and make it a point to say
  that preschool is a big kid thing. This way, your child will be proud
  and excited about preschool, not scared.
• Purchase
  some special preschool items that your child gets to use only when going to
  preschool.
  A backpack, lunchbox, set of crayons … these small things that are for
  school only can help with the transition to preschool.
• Use a
  schedule at home since your child will be on a schedule in preschool.
  Have a playtime, a nap time, a video time, and an outside time that are basically
  the same every day. The routine itself may be different in preschool but the
  process of getting used to a routine won’t be new.

And of course, the
most important thing about preparing your child to start preschool is that you
have to prepare yourself. Even parents who are eager to return to work
feel a twinge of regret when it’s time to send kids to preschool. It’s
a change that breeds fear. But if you are overly anxious about it, your child
will pick up on that and the transition to preschool will be more difficult.
Trust that you’ve prepared your child for preschool and rest easy in that
knowledge.

Technorati Tags:preschool, pre-k, kids, children, education, learning

This sounds like
a big task that involves a lot of moral conversations with your kids. While
those will eventually come up, the task of teaching children about prejudice
is really an ongoing thing that you don’t need to stress out about. It
happens every time that you teach your children about differences (“daddy’s
a boy and mommy’s a girl”) and every time you encourage fairness
amongst people in a group (including your own kids). These basic lessons
that you’re already teaching your kids are going to be the foundation
for helping them to avoid prejudice later on.

While parents may
find it awkward when their kids make seemingly prejudice statements, they find
it outright horrifying when their own children are the victims of prejudice.
This happens especially as your kids get older and start going to school with
a divers group of people. When it does, you have to be sure to work first on
restoring your child’s self esteem. Prejudice is confusing for
children and it’s your job to explain that it happens and that
it is about the person who is being prejudiced, not about your child. At the
same time, you need to encourage acceptance of all people, even the prejudiced
person, while not condoning the behavior. Every time that you teach
your child to stand up for herself as well as to stand up for others who are
being victimized, you teach your child how to cope with prejudice in
a mature manner.

Technorati Tags:prejudice, children, kids, social skills, people, education

Your child
lives in a social world. The better that he understand the people in that world and the diversity
that those people includes, the better equipped he will be to live well in that
world. And the better equipped that he is to live in a social world, the more
likely it is that he will have a positive impact on others in that world. For
this reason, preschool social studies is critically important. You want to give
your child an early understanding of others so that he can be an empathic individual.
And you want to give him an understanding of his place in the world so that
he can develop positive self-esteem and feel connected to the life around him.
These are things that are done through the social studies.

While it includes
many different individual facets, social studies is basically about
the study of people. It’s
about the study of communities and how they interact with one another. For that
reason, much of social studies is based on history. Bringing history to life
for your preschooler will help him gain an understanding of the world as it
currently is. And social studies follows-up on this by also being about the
way that societies interact today. Since an interrelated world is a key part
of your child’s future, you’ll want to lay the foundation of social
studies in the preschool years.

Here are some things
that you can do with your preschooler to encourage social studies:

• Combine
  social studies with other topics. For example, math and social studies can be combined
  with money since money can be used for counting and is also an important part
  of social studies. Use pennies and nickels to teach your preschooler to count
  and explain also the value of these things in society.
• Notice
  opportunities to explain brief parts of history to your child. For example, if the topic
  of race comes up with your child, explore it and discuss history and your
  beliefs with your preschooler.
• Make
  use of a preschool curriculum
  that has worksheets and projects that include preschool social studies. Use supplementary preschool social studies software and books
  to make this part of your child’s learning experience.
• Share
  your interest in the world around you with your child. Make it a point to make observations
  about the world in conversation with your child. Obviously, this should be
  done appropriately (and not with a cynical tone) but when done right, it will
  encourage your child to care about his society.

Technorati Tags:preschool education, social studies, pre-k, kids, children, homeschooling

You can pick just
about any theme and run with it for planning your summer kids’
party, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• Hollywood
  Movie Parties.
  Every summer, at least one big Hollywood kids’ movie is released and
  there’s a good chance that all of your kids’ friends are going
  to know what it is. Theme your party around that release. If you’re
  adventurous, you can even take the kids to go see it. But that’s not
  necessary. Make homemade costumes at your party and let the kids act the movie
  out for themselves.
• Popsicle
  Parties. Popsicles are a great summer treat and they make for a terrific
  theme for your party as well. When the kids first arrive at the party, they
  can participate in the making of the popsicles. This means you can use fruit
  juice and other healthier options to make the treats. Children can be given
  popsicle trays or even shaped ice cube trays to make their own individual
  treats. While your waiting for them to freeze, your party can continue with
  outdoor games and activities. After the popsicles have been eating, everyone
  can wash away the stickiness by playing in kiddie pools or sprinklers.
• Sundae
  parties.
  Just like with popsicles, ice cream sundaes are a great summer treat. They
  cool you down and they’re terrific for parties because you can lay out
  the toppings and let the kids enjoy making their own.

Summer parties
for kids are terrific because they help to break up some of the monotony
of the season, giving them focused activities to work on and something fun to
plan for. If you’re having a theme summer party, you can turn many of
the decorations and games into small crafts for your kids before the party.
This reduces the cost of the party and also helps to increase the planning excitement
for everyone. And if you can get a few other parents to plan parties this summer,
too, everyone should be able to stay happy all season long.

But, experts in
child development do tend to agree that playgroups have numerous other benefits
for kids. At the core, they assist children in developing the social skills
that they will need throughout the rest of their lives. Kids who are in playgroups
that meet consistently become familiar with the group and therefore comfortable
there. In this comfortable environment, they can stretch their wings, learning
different ways of interacting with others in the group. And this consistent
group can also give them a sense of community which helps children to better
develop in areas like self-esteem.

The playgroup is
good for parents, too. Not only does it give you a break from your busy day
in which you get to just relax and chat with other adults, but it also acts
as a great resource. Parents who spend time with other parents have access to
information about current health trends, local schools and the best area babysitters.
They also have a support network when things go wrong and a group to celebrate
with when life is good. These people differ from your friends who may come from
all walks of life in that they are specifically committed to you as a parent
and to the well being of your children.

Having a playgroup
also serves a purpose that benefits both the parent and the child, and that
is that the parent knows the other people in the playgroup. Obviously, it’s
important to know who your kids friends are and who they spend time with. The
playgroup facilitates this. As your kids get older and move on to making their
own friends in school, they may be able to make better choices because of the
groundwork that was laid for them in the playgroup. And the parent will know
what’s going on in the lives of their children during these important
young years.

So, playgroups serve
all kinds of different purposes. They can be structured in different ways and
may be made up of a variety of different families. But ultimately, what they
do is create a small sense of community in which you and your child can both
thrive. In this busy age, when communication is often limited to emails and
voice messages, it’s a relief to have a place like a playgroup where you
and your child can go to get that old-fashioned sense of community.

Technorati Tags:playgroups, children, kids, parents, social skills

Here are a few kids’
birthday party game ideas to get you started:

Technorati Tags: birthday_party, games, activities, crafts, kids, children, parenting