Must Have Music!

My boys LOVE music! Well, I really think they just like to act crazy and music makes the craziness much more fun and purposeful:)

On the days that we are home all day I usually have a music time. I pull out our music box made up of homemade egg shakers and the Melissa and Doug Music Set. I turn on whatever is in our cd player and the boys know what to do next! With in seconds both children are making as much noise as they can and I am off to a quieter part of the house. I usually use this time to do dishes or sneak down stairs for a date with my laundry.

Lately one of our favorite CD's is Party Like A Preschooler by Go Fish. My friend describes it as kid's music you can stand to listen to. This statement is very true. I never knew that I could listen to songs like "Do your ears hang low" and "5 little monkeys" so many times and not tire of them. This up beat CD is sure to spruce up any "stuck at home" day!

We also LOVE our Melissa & Doug Band in a Box . I have also heard good reviews of the Bee Bob Band, Red. As we have discovered with Levi, simply pouring rice into plastic Easter Eggs and taping them shut is music enough for him!

What are your favorite cd's for kids? If you have music videos or dvds for kids that you are found of, please share those too!

Using Left Over Egg Cartons

In what I call my "previous life" before I stayed home with kids, I worked as a Family Development Specialist with Early Headstart in USD 383 Manhattan/Ogden school distict. I was P.A.T. certified and worked with families and their children on key developmental areas. Since having my own children I try to incorporate what I know about child development into my time with Seth and Levi. I am always looking for fun activities to do with them that are also fun for me:) I guess coupons aren't my WHOLE life!

With that background information you now have about me don't be surprised if you start seeing little "activity" posts popping up every now and then. I figure I have at least a few readers with young kids or know of moms who do, right?

Here is what we did with 1 of our left over egg cartons after we dyed Easter eggs.

We took the carton and colored the egg holders 6 different colors to represent the items we were using. We didn't have a pink marker, so we saved the pink items for the "non -colored" holders.

The colors corresponded to the "fuzzy balls" or pom poms that would be placed into the carton.



Then, we got out our handy dandy tweezers that light up when squeezed together (our own P.A.T. lady gave us these to use) as our tool to get the fuzzy balls into the designated colored cartons holders.

My son LOVED this activity. I loved it, too, because it focused on a few key developmental areas. Below are the key areas I was using this activity to focus on.

Fine Motor and Pre-Writing/Scissor Cutting Skills: When a child uses tweezers to pick up objects he is using his fine motor skills. The use of the tweezers aids in future scissor cutting skills as the child learns to open and close the tweezers. The use of the tweezers is also strengthening the child's hand and wrist which are important for learning to write. The stronger and more coordinated a child's hand and wrist are the easier it will be for them to grasp a writing utensil and write.

Color Matching/Sorting: The use of the colored pom poms is useful in teaching a child their colors by asking them to "match" similar colors. If they already know their colors then you can talk about "sorting." In this activity you can sort by color and size. These could be considered "pre-math" skills.

Have Fun!