Kids Activities

Today over at Kelly's Korner, she is hosting Kids Activity Ideas. Well, I wouldn't consider myself a pro at this by any means but Lilliana and I do stay pretty busy around the house and she LOVES to do crafts and stay busy. One of the very first things we did that included structured play was painting with pudding. I believe we did this as early as 9 month's and she loved it! Now, with a very busy 2 1/2 year old our activities are able to be more structured and include a lot of education where possible.



Sorting colored balls into cups; we did this fairly early on also, I think she was about 15 month's here, this was great for color recognition!

We have been doing a "letter of the week" for more than a year now and she still loves to do this. We typically incorporate a letter she is studying in school and incorporate it throughout our entire week. I usually start with a coloring page, many of them I found here, and then we do some activities with sticky notes where I place the letter all over the house and ask her to look for them and help determine whether they are uppercase or lowercase letters. We also typically take whatever letter we are studying and I cut it out of construction paper so that we are able to make something out of it. For example: for the letter "L" we did a lion and created a mane and tale and colored it. There are some great sites online where I have gotten most of my ideas and I will try to list them all at the bottom.

Another thing we do is to incorporate our letter of the week in the food we eat, going out on an "adventure" and looking for things that start with that letter. I have also found some great resources in the $1 bins at Target along with phoning the school she will be starting Pre-K at and inquiring about what type of curriculum they use. The newest book we just started using was recommended to me by some friends at church and it's called "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons". I was able to find it at my local bookstore and I look forward to using it more.

There is a great website online called starfall and bembo's zoo that have great games online that Lilliana LOVES to do. She even asks if she can play her "game" on the computer!



one of our ABC sticker books



picking peaches last fall



lunch in our "muffin tin"



we LOVE this leapfrog game



playing on the computer at starfall.com



finding her letters around the room

We also incorporate a weekly bible verse either from this book, or from something she is studying at PDO. This summer they are learning to recite John 3:16 and have broken the verse up into all 6 weeks of school this summer. I try and continue this at home and realize that she is only 2 so it may take a while for her to pick up on a longer verse. This really helps when we talk about the behaviors we should be exhibiting as a 'daughter of the King'. One of my favorite verses that we go back to on many occasions is, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons (or daughters) of God" Matthew 5:9. We talk a lot about choosing to be a peacemaker over a troublemaker when playing with our friends or when situations arise that cause dissension.

Other than doing letter's of the week and educational games, we love to just get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Here in the South it gets extremely hot in the summer so the purchase of a splash pool and water table are almost a must. We love to get outside and sit in the shade to enjoy these fun summer time toys. We also have a great splash pad that is close to us that we try and visit about once a week. We also have a great Children's Museum here and fabulous Zoo that we enjoy visiting when it's not so hot outside. It doesn't matter where you live there are always fun things for kids to do, and lot's of times free things. You just have to do a little research.



trip to the Zoo



shopping at "Kroger" while at the Children's Museum



playing at the Splash Park


I also LOVE to let L cook with me. She loves to do whatever Mommy is doing so she has some certain utensils that are hers and she will pull up a chair and dig right in. We love to make homemade bread together, pizzas and pretty much whatever I am
cooking for dinner if I allow her to help. I love the way she wants to be so useful and hope it will be helpful when baby #2 comes along!



making strawberry bread with Mom

We love trips to Target, strolls around the neighborhood, playtime at the park and even storytime at Davis Kidd. I think one of the biggest realizations was finding out that they really aren't ever to young to start learning in some aspect. Lilliana LOVES to read and we have made it a habit since birth. Now, she won't go to bed without choosing books for us to read and rocking. It's the little things that I hope she is able to cherish in the long run and not the money that was spent, or not spent. I pray it is the quality time and moments we have together that will truly last a lifetime.



playing on her slide outside



fun playtimes at the park
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/
http://www.bemboszoo.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.akidsheart.com/bible/bible.htm
http://www.daniellesplace.com/index.html