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Summer Challenge #4: Explore an Open Space
This week the summer challenge is to explore an open space in your city. An open space is any open piece of land that has no buildings or other built structures and is available to the public. These spaces can include: Green space (think community space, community gardens, parks, and cemeteries) Playgrounds Public seating areas Public plazas Vacant lots Open space provides areas for residents to enhance the beauty and environmental quality of neighborhoods. Some Suggestions if you are here in Columbus: Columbus Commons The Scioto Mile Columbus Recreation and Parks 4th Street Farms Check-in each week this summer for adventure ideas in your community. My hope is that each…
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Summer Challenge #3: Plant a Garden
This week the challenge is to plant a garden, any garden. Think of ways to involve your child in creating a vegetable, flower, or even a fairy garden. The following are just a few ways planning and creating a garden promotes overall development in a child: Promotes Language Development Gardening provides many opportunities to observe and discuss. You and your child can discuss the plants/flowers/fairy supplies that are needed and where these items will go in the garden. Once the items are home there will be plenty of opportunity to discuss size concepts, spatial concepts, color concepts… etc. It’s hard to plan a garden in silence! Enhances the Ability to…
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Summer Challenge #2: Explore a New Playground
This week the summer challenge is to find and explore a new playground. Be sure to check out the playgrounds in your own backyard as well as in a neighboring community. 5 Reasons to explore a new playground: Promote language skills: The playground is an easy way to build language practice into your day. Check out this link for how to have fun with language at the playground. An inexpensive way to spend the day: Playgrounds are free! An exciting way to burn off some energy: A new playground means lots to see and explore, so hopefully the kids will constantly be on the move and ready for a nap. Visit a…
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Summer Challenge #1: Join a Summer Reading Program
According to the School Library Journal, “Based on the findings of a recent three-year study by Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, we can confirm what many librarians have long suspected: students who take part in their local library’s summer reading program significantly improve their reading skills. In fact, we found that kids who participate in these programs are 52 Lexile points ahead of their peers who do not. Summer reading programs are also an antidote for learning loss. So instead of losing knowledge and skills during the summer months, kids who attend reading programs actually show gains.” This week be sure to stop by your local library…
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Say-n-Play the Summer Away with Weekly Challenges
I am one for a big adventures. I love booking trips to far off destinations and then dreaming about the trip for months in anticipation. Sometimes, however, big trips just aren’t possible when juggling the multiple responsibilities of parenthood, especially when a newborn baby is in play (like it is for us this summer). Fortunately, there is so much to see and do right in your own hometown. So, to encourage families to find new places and new experiences, I am putting together 10 weeks of local adventure challenges. Check-in each week this summer for specific ideas for local adventures and ways to encourage language development while completing them. My hope is…
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7 Tips to Encourage Speech and Language in a Toddler
Recently, I have received quite a few messages with questions pertaining to toddler’s language abilities. While language development is different in every child and should be addressed in a case-by-case scenario, I thought it might be helpful to put together a list of a strategies to support overall language development in a toddler. Be a Model Be a good language model by modeling the language you want your child to be using. For example, when your child puts his arms up to you, it generally means he wants to be picked up, right? In this situation think about a word – up – you could model that you would want…
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Plastic Egg Play
Full disclosure – we have plastic eggs out around our house year round. They are perfect for learning the concepts of colors, open/close, on/off, in/out, and so much more, and can be utilized in so many different ways. The following are ways you can learn and play with plastic eggs starting with baby up through preschool age. As always, please be sure to supervise if your child is still mouthing items. Half of one of these plastic eggs is the perfect size to fit into a little mouth and can become a choking hazard. Shaky Eggs: Fill eggs with different material: rice, beans, pennies, pasta, etc, and give the eggs…
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40 Winter Outings in Columbus – With a Toddler in Tow
The first 3 months of the year are generally the longest for me, as I’m sure they are for everyone else. Below, I have listed 40 great ways to beat the winter blues in Columbus. These outings are perfect for children of all ages, but especially geared for those toddlers in your life to play, explore, and learn. You will find us out and about somewhere on this list, blowing off some of that extra energy! Music/Theater Activities: PBJ & Jazz Concert Series: PBJ & Jazz concerts are “1-hour long interactive concerts designed to introduce jazz and American music to young children and their families.” Concerts are held in the ballroom…
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How We Color Pasta
When it comes to sensory bins, I generally just dump different materials into the container and call it a day. With the holidays approaching, I decided to get a little more festive by coloring dry pasta red and green. It did take a few combinations in order to get the set up just right, so I thought I would share the combination that worked the best for us. Step One: Gather supplies: Pasta (different shapes and sizes), rubbing alcohol, gallon size plastic bags, and food coloring. Step Two: Combine 16 oz dry pasta and 1 tsp rubbing alcohol into a ziplock bag. Shake it up to spread the rubbing alcohol…
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Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt Pt. 2
The holiday season has begun and Christmas lights are everywhere. I have updated our Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt from a few years ago to make it more user friendly for those pre-readers. If you are interested in the written list click here. To take part in the holiday fun, simply print out the list shown below and load up your bundled kiddos in the car to drive around to check out neighborhood lights or to head to one of the many light displays around town. See how many of the items you can cross of the list. Click here for the printable Christmas light scavenger hunt. Before you set off…