Easy Trail Mix for Tots

Tot Trail Mix Recipe

1/2 cup of Cheerios

1/2 cup of Marshmallows

1/8 cup of chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch marsels (M&Ms work too)

1/8 cup of raisins

Optional: pretzels, fruit chips, animal crackers, gold fish, yogurt chips or marsels

I like to keep it simple and small, non-messy items. The marsels are a special treat and I leave them out from time to time, because I don't want melted chocolate in my car. Smaller snacks that require single picking last longer and the variety keeps the kids interested in the snack, too.

Movies with Kids

Movie Going with Kids Tips

• Be Prepared! Yes, that girl/boy scout motto holds strong when adventuring out with kids, especially, if you are the solo adult. My must haves: Wipes, Water in sealed, non-spilling cups (a plastic baggie containing these ensures no spills and gives you a trash bag if needed), quiet, safe and nutritious snacks (support your theater, buy popcorn and such too), a toy and/or coloring pages and colored pencils for the previews and little ones who loose attention and a blanket (and pacifier, if one is still used). A baby blanket or jacket to wrap up with and get cozy is a wonderful way of making the movie going experience more relaxing. I, also, like to bring a blanket I don't mind getting stickie or dirty, such as our fold away picnic blanket. This gives a designated space for Jackson (2 years old) to play or lay down if needed.
• Look for kid booster seats. Most theaters I have been to have had seats available. Usually, I find a stack down a hall, but asking on your way in ensures a quick find. 
• Where to Sit? I recommend the aisle if the theater is a bit packed for quick potty break exits. 
• Potty Break Before! After picking out your seat, take a load off and take just your valuables and go for a potty break. 
• Strollers? Yes, I have adventured in with a stroller and lugged it up a stair or two. The strollers I have brought sat low enough not to block any viewers, but I would say leave them in the car. When Jackson was around one and napped twice a day, the stroller offered a nice option, but I ended up holding him most times. 
• Flashlight anyone? Almost every time I have taken the kids to the movies, someone has dropped something.. a few times. Binkies (pacifiers), water cups and other important items- like their favorite toy. The sippie cup leash comes to mind, here's a great how to blog post. Other than tethering all items to yourself, I recommend only allowing one item (snack, crayon, toy, etc) and bringing a flashlight (most phones will do the trick too).
• Be Advised. Know that even G rated movies can be scary to a toddler or preschooler. Take time to talk about what you are going to see and discuss the movie afterwards. This give you a chance to answer anything that may have confused the child or been a bit scary. Also, if there was any behavior you want to discourage, after the movie is a great time to discuss why a certain behavior is not appropriate. Check out this Baby Center on when it is ok to take your kids to the movies and such. 

Here is a picture of what I am bringing tomorrow for filed trip to the movies for only one dollar a ticket at our Regal Theater.

• Blanket
• Diapers, Wipes and changing pad
• Hard book (choose one with touch and feel items on each page)
• Toys (from our car toy bin- car (anywhere can become a super highway, ponies with comb and a pop out ball/pet toy) All toys have more than one function of play- thus entertaining for longer.
• Markers and Coloring book (I recommend a smaller coloring book, such as a traveling one found at Walmart and such, with coloring items that don't require tops, but this is all I have with me.)
• Home Aid Trail Mix (click link for ideas)
• Other Heathy and some sweet, not so healthy snacks

ENJOY!

Dollar Movies All Summer Long

Summer Movie Express offers select G and PG movies for nine weeks in the summer for only a $1. Every Tuesday and Wednesday from June 5 to August 1, 2012 at 10:00 am. 

Participating Regal Cinemas, United Artists and Edwards Theaters offer a nice break from the summer heat or a way to beat a rainy day. There is nothing like magic of the movies with wide screens and surround sound rumble around you as you relax with your little ones and enjoy an adventure!

A portion of the proceeds goes to the Will Rogers Institue. (I always like to be informed and know where my donations go, so I have attached the link to the Will Rogers website.)

Regal Express Summer Movie Schedule (Most theater have this same schedule, but you can check your theater here.)

!

6/5-6/6 (10am)

JOURNEY 2

KIT KITTREDGE: AMER GIRL

6/12-6/13 (10am)

DOLPHIN TALE

HAPPY FEET TWO

6/19-6/20 (10am)

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS

YOGI BEAR

6/26-6/27 (10am)

CATS & DOGS: REVENGE

HUGO

7/3-7/4 (10am)

ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN

PUSS IN BOOTS

7/10-7/11 (10am)

KUNG FU PANDA 2

RANGO

7/17-7/18 (10am)

RIO

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME

7/24-7/25 (10am)

CHIMPANZEE

HOODWINKED TOO

7/31-8/1 (10am)

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

SMURFS

Also, Cinemark is offering a simular idea, but there is only one Cinemark 

in Georgia, so we will be Regal-ing it this summer. :-)

On a side note AMC offers this, Baby and Mommy Matinees

Coupons at the movies.. The Suburban Mom has some great tips for Regal and AMC coupons

See my Movie Going with Kids Tips Here

First Circle Time

For our first circle time of the summer, I would say it was a success.
Here is what we accomplished:

Opening Prayer

We practiced the sign of the cross and then using "I say, you say," 

we said the following prayer I adapted from searches online of morning prayers:

Dear God,

   Thank you for the night 

        and early morning light.

   For rest and food and loving care 

       and all that makes the world so fair. 

   Help us do the things we should, 

        to obey and be respectful, honest, kind and good.

   Be on our minds, lips, hearts and on our hands.

    With the Cross before us, we can do all things grand.

   God bless.... (list a few loved ones) and everyone.

            In Jesus' name we pray, AMEN!

I like this prayer because it brings awareness to thankfulness, ask for God's help with the characteristics we focus on, ask God to be the cross before us, in us and on us and offers prayers for others.

Pledge of Allegiance

We have a small flag hanging and we stood and said the pledge with our right hand over our hearts.
This is something all students do daily during the school year, so I want this to stay fresh with Skye (5 years old) from her preschool year. Jackson (2 years old) surprised me and stood at attention with his right hand placed over his heart and observed.

Weather

The weather chart is something Skye inherited from preschool. Each student took home a part of calendar and this is what she chose and received. I would of included this in our calendar anyways, but I like this simple chart to track the weather patterns. After a month or so, we will graph the data and discuss bar graphs. All you need is a poster board, label as seen in the picture (sunny, rainy, partly cloudy and cloudy) and post-its. Skye and Jackson really enjoy looking out the window and determining the weather of the day.

We were practicing our feeling faces.. Skye loves to make the grumpy face!

Focus of the Week: Feelings

The Water Cycle is our overall unit for the summer. We are adapting Water Cycle curriculum and expanding each allotted week to two weeks to allow for extra exploring and field trip and pool days. For the first week, we are focusing on feelings. An especially great topic for a two year old learning to express his emotions. We will do a daily check in and give each kid a chance to share how he or she is feeling that day. This creates a deeper community among the kids and myself and helps me to gauge our day. Also, we practice asking not assuming. This means I expect each kid to tell me what he or she needs with words (no whining). In one of my seminars, a big complant of early education teachers was that students don't ask for what he or she needs, instead they state "I'm thirsty" instead of asking for a glass of water. This increases problem solving skills and supports an independent environment needed for learning. Another reason for starting on a unit about feelings was the direct segway to bible days and character words.

Today, we talked about different types of feelings (happy, sad, mad, excited, frustrated, grumpy, exhausted/tired) using sign language, song, smiley faces and body expressions. We sang "If your happy and you know it" and "Feelings" by Rachel Coleman as seen on Nick Jr. I plan on expanding the if your happy and you know it to include other feelings, but we had just enough time for a little taste of the song. We really focused on stomping. This was a great segway to our number and opposition words of the week. We, also, read the Three Little Pigs, which demonstrated each feeling we had discussed earlier. 

Found this on the sidewalk. :-)

Grumpy Tree

For our craft today, we made feeling faces on balloons. We only lost two to popping! Skye was a little heavy handed, but Jack loved when the balloons "pop!" lol. I used Scotch tape to keep the balloons from wailing around.

Number of the Week: 3

We stomped our feet counting 1.. 2.. 3.. and incorporated our oppositional words (Fast and Slow). I gave lunch in 3's (3 chips at a time, a sandwich cut in 1/3's, etc) and started talking about parts and fractions with Skye (5 years old). 

Shape of the Week: Triangle

We built triangles with our food and found some outside on our walk.

Opposition Words: Fast & Slow

We practiced slow and fast with stopping our feet, running and while counting to the three. We were lucky enough to find a puddle to jump in! We stomped the water like giant, slow stomps and then fast, little, light stomps. Super fun! The kids really loved the anticipation of going slow and then really, really fast! I also practiced Stop/Go, which is the first command I teach kids as soon as they start moving. This helps with safety and I do not find myself running down isles at the store chasing the little ones. 

Animals: Pig 

On our walks we walk like various animals, so I included the pig, snorts and all. When I read the Three Little Pigs, I had the kids snort and oink every time they heard the word pig.. too funny!

We read the three little pigs to tie in the animal and number together.! The version I read ends with the Three Little Pigs helping the big, bad wolf turn his talents into something positive (blowing balloons up for children at the fair). We talked about talents and thanked God for all the gifts he has given each of us. After we read the story, I had Skye (5 years old) retell the story and asked a few critical thinking questions. Skye start Kindergarden in the fall, so much of our summer objects are to get her ready for Kindergarden, especially, focusing on reading comprehension.

Sight Words: Scat, Cat, At, Bat, Hat, Sat, Rat, Mat 

We read "Scat, Cat." For Jackson (2 years old), I had him point out the different animals in the story and make their sounds. For Skye (5 years old), I had her read all sight words as I pointed and read the other words. 

Friday the Dog wanted to learn too!

Closing Prayer: Our Father

I looked for opportunities to discuss our themes and stars (items of the week) of the week through out the day. At dinner, we do our review of the day. We talk about what we learned and what we did all day. I forgot to today, but we usually give our roses and thorns of the days or our favorite and not so favorite parts.
Well, that is the summary of our first circle time. Feel free to leave any comments or questions. As the weeks go on, I hope to become more organized and categorize our post. 

God Moment 

of the Day

Skye set up a tea party for her stuffed animals and myself, but before we clanked our tea cups... she had us pray.

Praise and Thanks be to God 

First Post and Why

School is out and that means Summer Vacation is here! If you are looking for some ideas on how to keep your toddler or preschooler's mind active during the summer, you are in the right place. This is my first attempt at a blog for the most part, so here's to learning and first attempts at blogging, home schooling a toddler and preschooler and keeping it simple!

Why take time for circle time to engage and challenge your kids, especially, during the summer? 
As a nanny and educator, I have found the best plan to beat the "I am bored's" or stopping a good day from melting into a grumpy or shouting chaos is a schedule. I have noticed through the kids I nanny for and the students in my sunday school class have thrived when I have given structure (and I am a better nanny and teacher when I use a schedule).

(Some data for the research oriented.)
          In the New York Time's bestseller, Drive: the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink (2009) described over 40 years of research that supported humans favor and thrive on intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation and that the old carrot-and-stick approach does not work. Using the following three elements: autonomy, mastery and purpose, Pink explained humans desire to direct their own lives. By have a structure and schedule, children are more free to make decisions and choose to be challenged. (Two year olds are very good at demonstrating autonomy!) A schedule creates the atmosphere for creativity and challenges to thrive. By age two, your child has doubled in size and has twice as many connections as your adult brain (Stamm, 2007). Dr. Stamm discussed the three important needs of a toddler with the ABC's: Attention, Bonding and Communication. It is giving a child the tools to unlock the greatness of their brains abilities, such as the belief behind the constructionist, Montessori school standards and beliefs that a child can flourish through structured independence. 
         In 1868, the great education reformer, Horace Mann said, "Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin is a great equalizer of the conditions of men." Supported by data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-99, Downey, von Hippel and Broh (2004) found that the schools were in fact the great equalizer and noted that the achievement gap widened after summer break. Also, Downey et al. concluded that non-school factors account for over 90% of inequalities. Brownell (1986) showed how cognitive skills are related to peer relations, thus education can close achievement gap not only academically, but also socially. To give your kids the best opportunities and chance to succeed, continue the learning through the summer, plus, you'll have fun connecting with your little ones and have plenty to do. 

Background...

I have been a nanny to a 5 year old and a 2 year old since March 2009. I am off for the summer before I finish my masters program in the arts of teaching at Kennesaw State University in the fall. Three times a week I will update with our circle time happenings and few post here and there with other tips to keep busy during the summer. The curriculum is scaffolded for both kids. Jackson (2 years old) is working on counting, colors , shapes and his ABC's. Skye is working on story comprehension, reading, writing and math. As a science teacher, I have to include science. We will have a music, bible and science day.
The music day will introduce our theme of the week(s). The bible day will be pieced together from my eight years of experience as a Catholic Pre-school Religious Education Program Educator and from a book called ESP Character Training (Explain, Show, Practice) by Kim S. Doebler that simplifies a model for teaching character and discipline based on scripture. For the science days, our theme this summer is the very appropriate "WATER." I am using my prior experience as a teacher and student, along with curriculum outlined here, called the Water Cycle. Only nannying three days a week and knowing how the summer opens up the opportunity for field trips, we will spend two weeks as opposed the to the listed one week. I know the KISS method works best for me, so in my attempt to keep this summer simple I have set some individual curriculum goals based on Skye and Jack's age and needs.


We are having a trial and error week to see what works and I still have to make our calendar board, but see the next post to see how our first circle time went.

Thanks for reading! Comments and questions encouraged!