Simple Crafts for Summer Fun: To-Do Tuesdays

Posted on May 17, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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Do ducks like the water?

Does the sun rise in the east?

Do kids love crafting?

The answer to all of these questions is YES!

Here’s a simple craft activity from Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking. It requires only 5 things…I’m sure you have all five in your home already. Your child will love making this puzzle and will enjoy putting it together and taking it apart…great pre-reading skills!

MAKE A PUZZLE

You will need: A picture (from an old magazine for example), a piece of heavy weight construction paper approximately the same size as the picture your child has chosen (or one side of a cereal box), a pair of safety scissors, paste or a glue stick and an envelope in which to store the pieces.

1. Let your child choose a picture from an old magazine.

2. Paste the picture onto the construction paper or cardboard.

3. Cut the mounted picture in pieces. Depending on the age of your child, this could be a two or three or more piece puzzle.

4. Help your child put the pieces together to form the picture.

5. Store the pieces in an envelope.

I’ll be doing a similar craft in downtown Colorado Springs on June 11^that the PBS Kids Fun Fest in Acacia Park from 10am to 2pm. There will be all kinds of entertainment and many tables of craft activities for children. If you are local, this is a MUST-GO-TO event…lots of fresh ideas for parents and teachers!

KTSC-KFF- Color Flier

Please stop by tomorrow for What’s In Your Child’s Bookcase for a great picture book suggestion for summer reading. And don’t forget to visit my website to take advantage of the Jump Into Summer Half-off Sale.

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.

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

Posted on April 15, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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Yesterday I walked into Bristol Elementary School…the halls are brightly decorated with the artistic efforts of the students. The two kindergartens where I was to do my presentation are separated by another room which serves as an office for the two teachers and their assistants…what a great set-up!

The children were eager to hear the story of Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed? by Barney Saltzberg. The teacher had introduced me as ‘Miss Vivian, who used to teach kindergarten many years ago and now she wrote a book about books and she is going to read to us today’. I opened the picture book to the inner title page and began, “This is a story about a little pig named Cornelius who does some very silly things…Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed?” I have to tell you how amazed I was when one of the boys asked, “And who is the author?” Usually I do say the author’s name after I tell them the title…this time I didn’t, and it was great to hear such a question from a 5-year old. 🙂 After I told them the name of the author, the same child piped up, “And who drew the pictures?” We talked a minute about the fact that in this particular book, the author was also the illustrator and then we read the story about the little pig getting ready for bed. When Cornelius brushes his teeth with soap and a body brush, the kindergarteners laughed. And when the little pig chooses a pile of TWENTY books as his bedtime story, the children knew that his father would NEVER read so many books at one time. But when Cornelius feeds his fish CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, one girl raised her hand and said, “If you feed your fish cookies, they will die because cookies have sugar and fish can’t eat things with sugar.” I agreed and added that it was a good thing that this was just a story and that many stories are just “made up” and those events didn’t really happen. “That’s because it’s fiction!” exclaimed another child.

WOW!!!!!

I guess that is one of the things that I love most about young children…they are sponges for knowledge…what an opportunity parents and teachers have! It is so important to spend those precious moments with little ones…just 15 minutes is all it takes to read a picture book story or do a simple arts and crafts project or prepare something together in the kitchen. Those 15 minutes (or more if you have it) of “quality” time, participating positively with a child, leaves an impression that builds self-esteem, develops pre-literacy skills and creates a life-long parent-child bond.

After the story, I showed the children the No Tick-Tock Clock craft project and explained how we would proceed to make it. I loved the way the teacher wrote the steps on the board as I spoke…using a simple picture (like a bottle of glue) and then a word (like glue)…to give the children a reference to follow as they worked on their clocks. The children really enjoyed working on the simple craft project and were excited to be able to bring it home to show their parents and use it to help them know when it was time to get ready for bed.

If you are interested in getting a copy of a great resource that provides story suggestions, simple craft projects and easy healthful recipes, I hope you will take advantage of a very special sale going on right now to celebrate The Week Of The Young Child and to help enable young families to purchase a copy of SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING. You can check it out by going to my website…if you pay by check or money order, you can get the book for $14.95 (plus postage…U.S. only)…only one copy per address, no dealers, please (April 10-April 16). This is an amazing 66% off the cover price of $44.95. The book is a great resource for parents with young children and I am trying to make it available to as many parents as possible.

For those of you who are interested in the Read with Max Book Blog tour, to find out more information about Leader Dogs for the Blind or to follow Max on the rest of his book blog tour: http://readwithmax.com/blogbooktour.html

Also, please don’t forget that I will be taking part in the EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP from April 20 – April 25. It will be the first time I will be giving away a copy of my book on my own blog, although it has been part of many reviews and several giveaways on other blog sites. The other really cool thing is that there are over 200 bloggers taking part…you will be able to hop from one to another…read their posts and enter their giveaways. So keep your eye on my posts for more information. http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-hop-page.html

Please stop by tomorrow for Saturday Ramblings: Preserve, Protect and Promote…Earth Day 2011