Teacher Appreciation Day is May 8th

Today is a day to honor teachers – if your child is in school he or she might want to make a card for the teacher.  Preschool age children 3-5 love playing school.  Let the child be the teacher and read you a story or give you homework.  You might want to invite some dolls or stuffed animals into the classroom as well.

Let’s Track It!
Stickers or stars are put on a piece of paper to show behavioral improvements.  This is called a behavior chart.  It works well with chronic problems –such completing chores and homework or for starting routines.  Once a goal of quantity of stickers has been set, a reward is given.  The reward should not be food or toys; it should be more time doing a favorite activity, such as going to the park.

You should only focus on improving one behavior using the chart method at a time.  It takes a lot of work and consistency to maintain an effective chart, so if you don’t know enough about charting, research it before you start. 

Get Outside with Sidewalk Chalk
On these beautiful spring days, take advantage of them and head outside to draw on the sidewalk with chalk. Kids love to have their whole body outlined and then fill in the drawing with clothes and a face. Play games like hopscotch or hangman. Draw pictures of everyone in the family. Take pictures to make them last forever.

Make your own play dough!

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into one cup of water and add it to the mixture. Mix well to make it smooth and to spread the color evenly. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

S’Mores- 
Ingredients:

• Chocolate candy bar, ex. Hershey’s or Dairy Milk
• Honey Graham Crackers
• Marshmallows

Instructions:

• Break off a square of graham cracker
• Add a piece of chocolate
• Toast a large marshmallow over the campfire
• Put the hot marshmallow on the chocolate
• Top it with another graham cracker so it makes a sandwich
• Enjoy!

Note: You can also make S’mores in the microwave. Just put all the ingredients together as described above and pop them into the microwave on high for 15 to 20 seconds.

Book of Jokes- Create your own book of favorite jokes and riddles with your children ages 4 and up.
Gather the following: two pieces of thin cardboard at least 5.5 x 8.5 inches (14 x 22 cm), to match the size of the paper ,ribbon, string or a stapler, crayons or markers, or if you want, scissors, glue, white paper or colored construction paper.

Step 1: Cut the cardboard into the size you want for your cover. Cut two pieces: one for the front and one for the back. Make two holes along one of the long edges, in the same spot on both pieces. Your ribbon or string will go through here to hold your pages together. (You can also staple the pages together if you want to keep it simple.)

Step 2: Decorate the covers: draw or use magazine pictures and place them in a design on the cover.  Let dry.

Step 3: Write just one or two jokes on a piece of paper. If it’s a riddle, put the answer on the back of the page. Draw colorful pictures to go with the joke.

Step 4: Punch holes in the paper you’ve written the jokes on to match the holes in the cover.

Step 5: After the covers have dried and put the joke papers between the covers. Take your ribbon and thread it through the holes of the covers and the matching holes in the paper. Tie the ribbon into a knot or a bow.

String Painting – Get string and cut it into various lengths. Dip the string lengths into bowls of paint and let them fall on a piece of pa­per (let a portion of string hang off the paper). Fold the paper in half, with string and paint on the inside, then pull the string out while paper is held shut with one hand.

photo by Jessie Terwilliger