Making Memories With Your Children: Summer Craft Activities

Posted on May 14, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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I was in Chicago last weekend for Mother’s Day with my son and daughter-in-law. I also had an opportunity to visit with my sister and her sons and their families.

One evening, we all got together at a fantastic BBQ, hosted by my nephew and his wife. We all had a great time…the food was not only delicious, but healthful as well…kudos to Dave and Rebecca!

After dinner, we sat down to look at the old photo albums my sister had brought. As we turned the pages and my son and his cousin (both in their 30’s) exclaimed over each picture, I realized how important the pictures were…they reminded these grown men of the children they had been and the activities they had been involved in when they were young.

Summer is just around the corner…I know many parents are wondering how they will fill the long hot days with their children.

Of course, there are various solutions to this problem:

Put them in some kind of day camp…might be costly.
Sit them in front of the TV…how many cartoons do you really want them to watch?
Send them to someone else’s house…don’t you want to be the one they get their values and information from?

What is my solution to the problem of young children home for the summer?

READING…CRAFTING…COOKING!

Young children are always eager to hear a good picture book story.

Young children love arts and crafts.

Young children enjoy helping in the kitchen.

If you buy a copy of my book that is FILLED with picture book suggestions and summaries, easy arts and crafts activities and simple healthful recipes, you will be prepared for the long hot summer days ahead.

For starters, here’s a great idea that comes from Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking. It will help capture those memories for your child as you create a photo album together.

AN ALBUM OF ME

You will need: A small blank photo album, a selection of photos of your child at different stages of his or her life, self-stick labels and a fine point marker.

1. With your child, go through some of the pictures that you have of him from birth to the present…and let him choose several to include in his own album. Make copies if you want to keep the originals in the family album.

2. Help your child insert each photo and then write a description (with his input) on a label or small strip of paper and press or glue it on the bottom of each page.

3. Listen to your child while he turns the pages of his album and tells you the story of his life.

4. Important tip: keep a camera handy…you never know when a photo opportunity arises.

Activities like this help:

build your child’s self-esteem!
develop pre-reading skills!
create a life-long parent-child bond!
keep your child busy in a constructive positive fun-filled way that will be fun for you also!

Start planning your summer activities now…with this amazing short-cut for busy parents and teachers!

And please stop by tomorrow for Cinema Sunday: My Picks of Great Flicks.

Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest: That’s Where Miss Vivian Will Be!

Posted on May 13, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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Last week was my last Show-Me-How Story-time presentation for this school year.

I wasn’t sure if I would have anything to tell you about in the upcoming weeks on Follow-Me-Fridays: Where’s Miss Vivian.

But I guess I had nothing to be concerned about. 🙂

Yesterday I met with the head of the District 11 Volunteer Program to go over our plans for the Show-Me-How Story-time presentations for the new school year (which will be here before we know it considering how quickly time is passing).

The response from teachers has been overwhelmingly positive…I know I will be even busier come August and September as the flyer with four new stories and crafts is distributed to all of the kindergarten and Pre-K teachers in District 11 schools. We decided that these picture books will focus on end of summer and fall themes and I am excited to look through Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking to choose four classic picture books and appropriate craft projects that will be enjoyed by all of the children.

We also discussed my connecting with the PTA to offer them presentations for parents and teachers…Positive Parental Participation is a powerful approach that builds a child’s self-esteem and creates a life-long parent-child bond. I hope to be involved in school book fairs this coming year as well.

When I got home from the meeting, I went online and noticed that there is going to be an awesome local event next month, sponsored by Rocky Mountain PBS Kids and Pikes Peak Parent. The Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest will take place at Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 11 from 10am – 2pm.

I called PBS and was able to secure a spot for SHOW ME HOW! I’ll be reading and crafting with children (WHAT FUN!) and look forward to being a part of this fun-filled day. Here’s a copy of the information from PBS Kids’ Facebook Page:

Join us for the Southern Colorado Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest – a fantastic FREE festival for kids and families. (Also, the opening day of the Uncle Wilber Fountain)

Meet Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog; splash in Uncle Wilber Fountain; enjoy live entertainment throughout the day under the band shell; and visit over 20 booths to learn, engage and have fun!

Participants include:

Show Me How! Vivian Kirkfield
Falcon Landing Dental Group
Pikes Peak Library District
Pikes Peak YMCA, Downtown Branch
Girl Scouts of Colorado
Care and Share Food Bank
Imagination Celebration
Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
Manitou Art Theatre
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Chick-fil-A of Colorado Springs
Western Museum of Mining and Industry
Barnes & Noble
Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale
Marmalade at Smokebrush
Sports Climbing Center of Colorado Springs
FutureSelf
Al Kaly Shriners
Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region
Phonics Phantasy Tree House
Mr. E and the Magic of Kyle Groves
Wee Bee and the Smilez
Wells Fargo Bank
And more!

Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest is sponsored by Sylvan Learning Center (2340 Vickers Drive), PikesPeakParent.com, Whole Foods Market and the Friends of the Uncle Wilber Fountain.

They are anticipating a wonderful audience for this opening-of-the-summer-season event…I hope parents who are local (Colorado Springs, Denver, Pueblo and surrounding towns) will come out to participate with their children! It will be a great place for preschool teachers and daycare providers to get fresh ideas as well.

Also,the week after the Fun Fest, on June 18^th, I’ll be in Monument, CO participating in the Summer Soul-stice town-wide crafting event for children. If you are in the area, I hope you will stop by at the Covered Treasures Bookstore from 11am – 1pm. I’ll be doing several craft activities with all of the children who come by. What a lovely way to spend a summer day in Monument.

What’s happening in your local area in the next few months? With gas prices expanding and budgets shrinking, parents and other caregivers of young children really need to be inventive in order to provide great activities that keep kids busy, happy and constructively engaged. Simple arts and crafts activities are a low-cost perennial favorite and whipping up child-friendly recipes with your children in the kitchen is fun and costs nothing…you have to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner anyway. For hundreds of super easy and economical ideas, please check out my book. New special offer will be posted this weekend!

Follow-Me-Fridays: Where’s Miss Vivian?

Posted on May 6, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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Yesterday I enjoyed my last Show-Me-How Story-time presentation of this school year at Queen Palmer Elementary School in Colorado Springs. I did two programs…the first teacher had picked Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed by Barney Saltzberg. What child doesn’t want to hear about a silly pig that has a unique idea of how one should get ready for bed. The children chuckled when they saw how Cornelius brushed his teeth with a body brush and soap. They were horrified when Cornelius fed his fish chocolate chip cookies. They counted the number of books Cornelius had picked for his father to read to him…19 books, they said, NO WAY! After the story, all of the children made construction paper clocks with movable hands and were excited to be able to take them home to show their parents how they could tell time. The second teacher had chosen Frederick by Leo Lionni. The children in that class loved hearing about the little mouse that collected sun rays, colors and words while his family collected nuts, seeds and wheat. I believe the children understand the lessons behind Mr. Lionni’s story…we need to celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, and every member of the family (even young children) contributes in his or her own special way. Do you celebrate your child’s uniqueness? Many of the activities in my book focus on celebrating a child’s unique gifts and talents.

The teachers loved the book and one of them is going to request that the school obtain copies for the kindergarten classes…she commented that teachers are so busy (just like parents) and would appreciate a resource like Show Me How! because it just about provides 100 lesson plans…complete with story suggestion, arts and crafts project and a simple cooking activity (and many of these are no-cook)!

As many of you read this, I’ll be winging my way from Colorado Springs to Chicago.

I’ll be spending the Mother’s Day weekend with my son and his wife.

Since we all LOVE eating sushi, taking long walks around the lake, watching classic foreign films and being with one another, I know I will have a great time.

My daughter-in-law (the talented artist who designed and drew the cover for my book) is picking me up at the airport. She’ll be taking me to Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, where I’ll be meeting with the owner of Lollie’s, a beautiful children’s boutique. Alexis has already read Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking and is interested in offering it for sale in her shop. I’m really excited about that! My hope is that indie bookstores and shops across the country will carry the book to make it more accessible to parents and teachers. Several libraries in various states have also purchased the book for their collections…if you are not in a position to buy the book, why not ask your local library to purchase copies…many libraries welcome suggestions from patrons regarding future book purchases. If you feel the book would be a valuable resource for your community, let your library know!

The rest of my time in Chicago will be spent having fun and also connecting with my sister and her sons and their families, all who live in and around the Chicago area.

So, I may not be able to post in the next few days…but I’ll be back Tuesday afternoon and am eagerly looking forward to my first featured author guest post with Colorado Springs award winning author, Rebecca Dunning.

Also, a quick reminder about the Mother’s Day bonus offer that ends May 8 on my website. If you purchase a copy of the book (at 20% off the cover price), you will also receive, with your order, a $10 Marshalls/TJMaxx gift card. What a great deal…a wonderful resource of great fun-filled activities and story suggestions for you to use with your child and a gift card to stores that are overflowing with great stuff for mom…Happy Mother’s Day!