Travel First Aid Kit

I have so many of these containers in my house, I hate to throw them out because they are nice containers, but with my son pretty much potty trained, we can't really reuse them anymore.  When we are out and about, my kids always need things that I don't have on me.  I thought was a great idea to have in the car because we are an on-the-go family!

I didn't put a fancy cover on it like the original, for a couple of reasons.  One, I don't honestly have the time to make it look pretty and two, why does it have to look pretty?  I threw in some bandaids, kleenex, lip chap, hand sanitizer, clorox wet ones and an actual travel first aid kit.  I'm not sure where I got that First Aid Kit, but it works here perfectly!

Melting Crayons

The goal in this little lesson was to teach my daughter that heat would change the look of an object.  In easier terms, I wanted to teach her about melting.  First we talked about the difference between a solid and a liquid.  She got that right away and starting labeling items around the house. 

The next concept was a tough one.  To teach my daughter that solids can turn into liquids if you add heat.  This was an overview of our conversation:
Myself: "What season just finished, when it was really cold?"
Daughter: "Winter."
Myself: "What was on the ground in the winter?"
Daughter: "Snow.  Lots of snow."
M: "What happened to the snow?"
D: "It melted."
M: "How did it melt?"
D: "Cause the sun came out and melted it. It got hot."
M: "Ah, so the heat from the sun melted the snow?  What did it turn it into?"
D: "Water.  There were lots of puddles."

After this conversation, I told her that when things got hot, they changed from a solid to a liquid.  Together we started on our project.  My daughter ripped the paper off of the crayons that I gave her (*NOTE* The cheaper crayons are harder to peel - it also helps to did the crayon in water) and while she did that, I cut the crayons into small pieces (not shaved).

M: "So how do we turn these crayons into a liquid?"
D: "They have to get hot.  The microwave?"
M: "That wouldn't be hot enough.  Something bigger maybe?"
D: "The oven!  Let's put them in the oven!"

We put the small pieces into a muffin tin and put them in the oven (230F) for 15 minutes.  In the end, this was a really cool learning activity and we had so much fun together!  She coloured with her crayons for days and even took them to school to show her teachers and friends!

There are many different activities that you can use to teach your child the difference between solid and liquid.  I think my favourite is a simple recipe for Goop.  It is a solid, but turns to a liquid when you touch it.  The recipe is simply:

Cornstarch

Water
Food coloring (optional)

Add the food colouring to the water, then add one part cornstarch to one part coloured water.

Getting more into the science behind the change, simple ice cubes are probably the best way to teach heat and change.

Matching Pitch - What's a Tune?

The other day, my daughter asked me "What's a tune?".  I'll admit, she kind of caught me off guard.  I hadn't taught her that word, but I guess the Cat in the Hat did.  I was unsure of how to explain it, so I just said it was music.  But the more I got to thinking about it, the more I wanted to teach her.  She loves music - so do I - and we can't afford those fancy music classes - but I could teach her a thing or to from my previous knowledge.

First, I downloaded the "Epic Piano" app on my IPOD.  I was going to go out and buy a kids piano toy, because we sold one and then a week later the other one broke - but I'm cheap, so I downloaded the app instead because they have enough toys - yes, musical instruments too - believe me!

After I had the app downloaded, I sat down with my daughter and we talked about the question she had asked me.  I told her that a tune was the music - not the words - in a song.  I played a couple of tunes on the app and she named them.  How did she know what song it was without the words?  Then I talked about how there are high notes and low notes.  I let her and my son make some music on their own and my daughter helped my son move his finger across the keyboard without lifting to make a beautiful scale.  My son banged on the keys and sang his version of Twinkle Twinkle.  My daughter pushed each key carefully and listened to the sound that it made.

After our discussion and her playing on the app for a bit, we did an activity that I found on Pinterest, teaching pitch to children.  On the high notes, she would get big and on the low notes she would get small.  This leads to a growing flower (low to high notes) and a melting snowman (high to low notes).

Mosaic

Learning about songs, traditions, festivals and celebrations of different cultures is something that is so important in a country that is so culturally diverse as our own.  There are so many cultures in our community and I believe that it is important to introduce our children to these differences.

This weekend we had our annual cultural celebration in the city.  There are different "countries" set up all over the city and you get a passport to travel to each one to experience the food, dance, traditions and art in each of these counties.  I only remembered to take my camera to one day of the event, but you get the idea.  The kids had a great time watching all the dances and my son especially enjoyed eating all the food!  What counties did we travel to this weekend?
Central America
Austria
South Korea
Ireland
Philippines
The Ukraine
Greece
Chile
Germany
Ethiopia
My daughter is very aware now at the age of four that she lives in a country called Canada.  She can easily recognize our countries flag and she is beginning to learn our national anthem.  She knows about other countries - specifically Mexico (we travelled there in January) and South Korea (because of the time that we spent there, we have many items around the house that are a daily reminder and she knows she was there in my tummy).  So she was very excited to visit all these countries as well - but she knew it was just pretend because if we wanted to go there for real, we would "have to take an airplane - or a helicopter"

That's Quite the Vocabulary!

By the age of three, children should have a vocabulary of 200-300 words.  Speech has always been a concern in our house with our little guy.  He didn't start talking until really late and even now that he does talk, he doesn't talk as well as other kids his age.  But it's a work in progress, and I know that he will grow out of it (either on his own or with help if needed) so for now, we just enjoy his little "sentences" and "funny words"! 

But 200-300 words seems like a lot of words!  We have a lot of books at our house, including lots of the "First 100 Word" books.  There are many in the series.  So I sat down and read some of those books with my son.  He was able to name (in his own language) more than 200 of the items and he could POINT to way more than that.  I think the most important thing that parents need to know is that under the age of three, it's not important HOW the children say their words, it's that they have their own words for 200-300 items.  Age three is when we would start to worry about HOW they are saying them.  So keep this in mind when you are reading with your children.  And if you don't have the "First 100 Words" books in your house - I recommend getting them, beacuse they are wonderful, but if you can't or don't want to, then choose any books and point to all the pictures.  Talk with your child while you read instead of just reading the words on the page.

How else can you increase your child's vocabulary?

•  Talk to your child.  In the car, at the store, on a walk, at supper time.  Don't let those special moments slip away from you.
• Read every day.  In the morning, afternoon or before bed - whatever works for you.  But read at least one book with your child EVERY DAY
• Avoid all baby talk.  When your child tells you he wants his "baba", you respond with the correct, "Oh, you want your BOTTLE?  Here you go."
• Teach your child Nursery Rhymes
   
 
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