Welcome to Teach Me Mommy!
Thanksgiving is a great holiday for teaching your children a bit of history and a bit about gratitude. Chapter 10 of the Teach Me Mommy book provides stories and art projects to aid you in this endeavor. These chapters provide a few songs you can teach to your children.
Here is a fun and quick song you can also teach your child, submitted by Gayle Bittinger. It is sung to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”:
“Thanksgiving time is here.
Let’s give a great big cheer
For food and friends and family.
Thanksgiving time is here.”
In honor of the holiday, download for free the pattern for the Thanksgiving turkey story (found on the Teach Me Mommy Pattern Pages CD).
tags: fall, from the book, songs
With Halloween over and more sweet holidays on the way, make sure your kids are brushing their teeth every day. We’ve had great success getting our children to brush regularly and without a fight. Here are some things to try:
- Make sure they see YOU brushing and flossing every day. They will WANT to do what you are doing.
- Make a deal with them: “Mommy or Daddy brushes your teeth at night, and you can brush them in them morning.” Stick to that rule. They will feel like they are in charge, and you will be getting their teeth clean when it is most important.
- Take their toothbrush and toothpaste on trips.
- Tell them about “cavity bugs” or “sugar bugs” that will eat their teeth. We say, “Brush the bugs all out of there, and spit them down the drain!” It can actually be pretty fun.
- Make it a part of their bedtime ritual–e.g. brush teeth, use potty, read story, then bed. Something like that!
tags: articles
The third week in November is National Children’s Book Week. Plan to visit your local library on this week. Most libraries will have displays and programs to get your children excited about reading. One might think that taking a non-reading pre-schooler or even a toddler to the library is not productive. Many experts say that an early introduction to books is great way to stimulate a child’s mind and enhance a love of reading later in life. Besides, every child loves to see brightly colored pictures and hear a story in an animated voice. When my daughter-in-law lived in Vermont and throughout the long cold winters there, she took her toddler to “Story-Time” at the local library. It’s a great place to discover new books and mingle with other parents.
tags: timely tips
A Tiger Called Thomas, by Charlotte Zolotow
For a little boy who just moved into a new house, making friends is not an easy task. However, after his mom has him try on a tiger Halloween costume, Thomas isn’t scared to trick-or-treat because no one will recognize him. When the other children in the neighborhood see though his disguise and say “hello” anyway, Thomas realizes that maybe he can make friends without a disguise. And, hopefully, your child may learn from Thomas’ discovery of the joys of friendship this Halloween time.
tags: fall, halloween, reviews
Halloween Monster, illustrated by Catherine Stock
Many young trick-or-treaters can relate to little Tommy who is too afraid of Halloween to really be excited about all the fun. After Tommy and his mom make a monster costume, Tommy meets his friend Billy to go trick-or-treating and the monster says, “Tommy didn’t want to go. But I do.” You will enjoy reading this festive book with its fun water-colored illustrations as the days to Halloween near.
tags: fall, halloween, holidays, reviews
As you can guess, I am a strong believer that preschool-aged children should not be placed in daycare where possible. A recent study by the National Institutes of Health indicates that:
“the more time children spent in center-based care before kindergarten, the more likely their sixth grade teachers were to report such problem behaviors as ‘gets in many fights,’ ‘disobedient at school,’ and ‘argues a lot.’”
What’s particularly interesting is that this was true regardless of the quality of the center-based care they received. The study authors go on to suggest that these problems could be due to poor training, little time, and inadequate adult attention to address bad behavior or to resolve conflicts over toys or activities.
While we can’t always provide home-based care for our preschoolers, I think the advice from Dr. James Griffin, the NICHD Science Officer for the Study, just reminds us how important it is:
“These findings add to the growing body of research showing that the quality and type of child care a child experiences early in life can have a lasting impact on their development” said Dr. Griffin.
More information can be found in the press release from the NIH.
tags: articles
We already know that preschoolers have a fine-tuned sense of injustice. So when they see their older brothers or sisters going off to school with a brown bag lunch you packed for them, they’ll beg for the same treatment. Here’s an easy way to make the preschooler imitate her older brother or sister and celebrate Easter too!
- Take a brown lunch bag and draw a line around the bag down about 9″.
- Draw curved lines from the two top corners of the bag down to the line.
- Make round eyes, a triangle nose, and a curvy mouth.
- For whiskers, you can use paste pipe cleaners or yarn.
- With the bag still closed, cut the ears along the lines you’ve drawn.
- Tape the tops of the ears together.
It may not fit much, but it’s a perfect little bag for a fun meal with your child.
tags: activities, holidays
We’re always happy to hear from folks who’ve just discovered all the great preschool activities in Teach Me Mommy.
“I first checked this book out at the library. I found it to be invaluable. It is the perfect guide for parents who want to teach their kids preschool curriculum at home. It is full of subject ideas and very easy to follow. You don’t have to be a skilled teacher to do it. I love it.” —Jamaree M., United States
Thanks, Jamaree!
Unfortunately not everyone can be so lucky to find a copy of the book in their local library, so we thought, why not give you a sneak peak for free?
Download the first three chapters of Teach Me Mommy, and you’ll find:
- Chapter 1: Why Have a Home Nursery School? – and other frequently asked questions
- Chapter 2: Where Do I Begin? – equipment, resource materials, and planning ideas
- Chapter 3: Me and Myself – with 6 activity days such as “Things My Body Can Do” and “Clothes We Wear”
That’s 30 pages worth of great activities for your preschoolers, as well as suggestions on how to set up a successful home preschool of your own.
Of course, the book contains so much more–we hope this just whets your appetite!
tags: from the book
Like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day can be celebrated easily, with just a little color:
- Try green food coloring in the milk (just a drop!) and put it in pancakes, too.
- Serve celery moons as part of lunch (cut the celery crosswise and little half moons are formed.
- Broccoli trees are another green food and fun to eat for dinner.
Too bad that St. Patrick’s Day is on a Saturday this year.
tags: holidays, recipes
Traveling with children is often hectic and sometimes downright difficult. Holiday travel is even harder with the crowds. If you and your family are traveling for Spring Break this year, here a few tips to make it a little easier.
Packing
Do you ever reach into your bag to get an outfit for your child, and somehow only find one sock, the wrong jeans and a dirty shirt? An easy way to streamline your packing and to keep clean clothes separated from dirty ones is to use Ziploc storage bags. Place an entire day’s outfit; shirt, pants, socks, underwear, and other needed items into a gallon storage bag. You can buy Ziploc bags you can write on and write the day of the week on the bag. When it is time to dress your child, you’ll be amazed at how much less stress and less time it takes to get ready for the day.
Getting There
Most often we think of flying or driving to visit our destinations. Why not try a train?
Many small children are mesmerized by trains (Thomas, anyone?) and traveling by train can be a wonderful teaching tool, not to mention a chance for the family to spend time together and and have an adventure. A great idea for families with young children is to get a sleeper car. This provides nice beds for naps and overnight trips.
If you’re in the United States, Amtrak is pretty much the only deal in town, but it can often be much less expensive than flying. They also have discounts for AAA members, seniors, children, veterans and students. Check out the Amtrak website to see when they come through your town.
tags: articles, spring
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Teach Me Mommy is a preschool activity guide by Jill Dunford. You can order it here or at Amazon.com.
Inspired by the book, this website is a place where anyone can share preschool activities, games, learning ideas, and teaching tips to help young children learn and grow.
Thanks for visiting!
tags: articles, spring Learn more
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