Good Sleepers - Sleeping Tickets

As my son gets a bit older (3.5 years), some days I find it harder to get him to stay in his bed for nap time. That throws off our WHOLE evening. He wants to crash right at dinner and then he's up WAAAYYY to early - 5am! 

So, I stole, borrowed, or implemented this idea from his school, however you want to look at it. He's in an older 3's and younger 4's room where almost all the kids are still nappers. If the students are sleeping or quiet the entire nap time, they get a sleeping ticket. At the end of the week, they can turn their tickets in for a prize. Something small like stickers, bubbles, cool pencils, etc...

Start off by putting your kiddo's name on the sticky part of a sticky note and cut away the bottom. I write their name at the top. (In school, the student's name goes on the ticket but here I just have my two so we are going to reuse them.) 

**Update** - This is a smashing idea! The kids love it and they have been champion sleepers! I am soooooo excited that my husband and I are sleeping in our bed the whole night! 

I made some easy tickets in Word. 

You can snag mine or make your own.

Find the PDF download on my TeacherspayTeachers site

I snagged some of my regular magnets and stuck their names to it. If you notice, this is all above the ice/water dispenser so no little figures can get to it, take them away or add to them :)

 Let your little one add their own sleeping ticket to their clip - it lets them take ownership!

 Each kid is in charge of their own tickets.

 The extras are clipped together above so we can take one as we need it.

 Being independent is helping create kids and students who make the right choice and see how they actions affect themselves and others.  We talked about how important it is for children to rest, be able to recharge they batteries, and be ready for an afternoon of play. This is your time to have conversations with your children and provide vocabulary about how their bodies use energy and need to get more by eating and sleeping.

 Steps stools work perfectly to help with independence.

 Ignore the headphones, he's being silly this morning :)

 I found a few fun clips while I was at bed bath and beyond. Theses are perfect for the kids and I can have my clips back for our daily family reminders ;)

Remember this is fun and your kids will think its fun, also. Include them in whatever you can and explain what you are doing and why. You'd be surprised how fast children pick up vocabulary when they are included in the conversation!!!! If you choose anyway to get your child ahead, choose involvement and conversation! It goes a long way!

Beans! Sorting, Counting! Busy Bag Idea

Grab an old sheet and let's get started! 

We use this old blue one for everything! I'm sorry if you have seen it in other posts and upcoming posts! It's just so handy to have around the house! 

I purchased three bags of dried beans at our local store. Buy whatever colors strike you as fun. I also focused on getting different sizes. 1 bag of large white beans, 1 of black beans, and 1 pinto beans. 

I get out just about anything that can scoop or move beans. 

We gather containers, funnels, measuring scoops, table spoons, everything that's fun! 

Let them scoop and dump, make piles, spread them around (within reason).

This is a great sorting activity! Help provide your kids with vocabulary such as largest, smallest, big, bigger, biggest.... 

please excuse the yucky picture, I bet you can get the gist

We got silly and starting making food troughs for our animals and pools for them to swim. 

Do whatever your kids want with this, just talk with them. It's so important to teach conversation skills and teach them the vocabulary by modeling it for them!!! I can't tell you the number of 5th graders I teach that lack, what we think is basic vocabulary, and the ability to hold a full conversation. Many don't even respond "How are you?" if they are asked the question first. 

All I can stress is TALK with your children! YOU are their first and MOST teachers!!!!

Window Blocks - Window Clings

I loved finding this idea!!! I wish I could remember which blog I saw it on first! - Totally snagged this one and it's a KEEPER!

I found foam sheets in rectangles and circles at the dollar store. I picked up one pack of each totaling $2. 

I know an expensive activity ;) 

This is going to be my next busy bag contribution at our next exchange (not scheduled - but too easy to pass up!!!)

When foam is wet it sticks easily to windows and walls, like window clings. We have two little ones that LOVE their water table and playing in the kiddie pool. Dipping and splashing in water is always a plus. I set them up outside, let them dip and splash all they wanted and it didn't matter if they were getting the windows or themselves wet. 

We call this Window Blocks. 

Cut into various easy shapes. I did this during nap time one day in about 4 minutes. I didn't worry about making cuts perfect or look beautiful. Didn't think it matter very much.

Use a small container to dip the foam pieces in to get wet and make the stick to the window.

Have fun! Build towers, castles, houses, trees, etc....

Sort by shapes

Sort by colors

Just stick them on and build. It doesn't matter, have fun!

Practice giving your little ones words to add to their vocabulary. Talking with your kiddos and explaining what they are doing and with what they are working will always help your child grow.

Store them how you wish, zlip-loc, a sak, a plastic container. They dry VERY fast in the sun. I leave them out for a minute and then gather them up for the day.

Painting Pasta

This was an AWESOME and cheap activity to do with the kids. It was so easy to put together and little man loved creating painted noodles with me.

I found a box of noodles on sale.  I didn't think it mattered if the noodles were nasty as we were only going to be silly with them. I think I ended up paying $.78 for the box.

We talked about cold water and boiling water. "How do we know when the water is boiling?" It was a great intro to steam and evaporation. Now little man talks about my coffee being hot when he can see the steam.

Cook the noodles until al'dente. This way they suck of the color and don't fall apart in your little one's hands.

drain - use right away! pasta as you know can get sticky and not as easy to work with

The kids and I (really my 2 1/2 year old) decided with what colors he wanted to play. I split the pasta into four bowls.

Add some oil to keep the noodles from sticking together. '

I only added a splash to each bowl.

Use your favorite food coloring and get creative.

I wanted brightly colored noodles and have an abundance of food coloring so I opted to use quite a bit. Use what you have.

Use a fork to get you started mixing the colors, because the noodles are still hot. You can rinse them in cold water first to make mixing easier, HOWEVER, it stops the cooking process and then they don't suck up as much coloring.

Because we love noodles in our house, I found little man eating them several times. Nothing wrong with it - other than a blue and green mouth afterward :) Use a cookie sheet to keep your table a bit cleaner and the oily pasta in one spot.

Have fun playing with textures, picking out only certain colors, practicing dexterity - one noodle at a time, and just spreading them around and mashing them together. 

We made little birds' nests, then talked about the types of birds that we have in our yard that may use our colorful nests.

Squish!!!!!

If you have ever read "I love you Stinky Face", then you may recognize the "slimy swamp monster that CP turned himself into. If you haven't read the book, it is a must in our house! It's super adorable and just sweet to read at bedtime.

Get a few days of life out of the pasta by keeping it in an airtight container. Since it's only in oil, it's ok to keep on the counter but it will spoil after some time.