Parents: It’s your son’s birthday party. On the invitation, you wrote that the party would go from 12:00-3:00pm. It’s 2:00pm, and you’ve already gone through all the activities you had planned. You told the kids they could just “play” until their parents arrived, and now you have twenty kids running around your house wreaking havoc on your newly polished floors and white walls. EEK.
Teachers: It’s field trip day, and the bus just dropped you off at the museum entrance. For some reason, all the doors are locked and no staff is there to greet you. After waiting ten minutes, you call the main office and are told they’ll be there in twenty minutes. Your students are entertaining themselves– some sitting in small groups chatting, others running around and playing a violent version of tag. Chaperones make a half-hearted attempt to calm some kids down, but let’s be honest– everybody wants to be the cool chaperone, so they won’t go too hard on the kids. Their behavior is already spiraling out of control, and you have another twenty minutes to wait. EEK. What do you do??
Play a game. A simple, quiet, but active and FUN game! Sound too good to be true? Read on and try it, my friend, and be won over.
A few months ago, I led a teacher training on how to use a new behavior system in Sunday school at my church. I outlined how the system of consequences would work, with the consequences progressing from a simple verbal warning all the way to stepping outside for some time out. Then one of the teachers shared her situation with me, “What if the kids want to go outside? When I threaten to send them outside, they say, ‘Oooh, can I go now?’ as if it’s a treat!”
First of all, ouch. That is a low blow, and hard for any teacher to hear– especially when she has volunteered time on her Sunday morning to serve children!
Before I had a chance to respond, another teacher chimed in, saying that we needed more severe consequences– stepping outside the room wasn’t going to motivate the kids enough to stop poor behavior. Ack. This was not the direction I was hoping to head in!
I think I gave some response about the real purpose of consequences (not to punish but to provide consistent reinforcement of boundaries), and how we shouldn’t make kids behave out of fear. But I knew my answer was incomplete. I also offered an example of what I might have said in response to the child, but still… there was something more to it, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Shaping hearts shapes behaviors
Months later, I started reading Don’t Make me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman, and I saw what the missing piece in my teacher instruction was. I realized it was missing not only from that training session, but also in previous posts I’ve written on shaping children’s behavior!
Parents and teachers, this one’s for you. If you are regularly around kids, you know there are frequently pockets of time when you need to keep them occupied. Whether it’s the last few minutes at the end of a school day or you’re waiting at a restaurant, resist pulling out technology to quell their boredom and try this game!
“Guess My Number” is a simple, fun, easy, and educational game for kids 7 and up that you can play anywhere that you have pen and paper. It’s a flexible game, and can be easily adapted for young elementary aged children or your middle school math whizzes. I played it often with my fourth graders and they always loved it.
Teachers: this is a game that almost any child in any level in your upper-grade class can happily and confidently participate in. Parents: this is a great anywhere-game that will engage their minds in a way that is really fun for them while working their mathematical brains– parenting WIN!
So the test said POSITIVE and you’ve finished that terrible first trimester of “morning” sickness (total misnomer– the nausea can be constant!). Now you are into what most women find to be an enjoyable second trimester, and you’re ready to start getting that nursery ready!
You are not alone. I have a whole lot of friends right around that stage as I type. I literally have TEN close friends who are expecting in 2015– and that’s only getting us up to September! (And those are just the ones who have told me– I know there are more of you out there…!) Well, friends, here are some things you will want to think about before your baby comes. Some are to help you as you prepare the nursery and gear up, while others are just things you’ll probably wish you had thought about before you were constantly sleep-deprived and bleary-minded.
I was working through some of my old teaching stuff and came across some books I used to LOVE reading to my students (ages 8-11). These were the ones I knew would make them sit on the edge of their seats, hanging on to my every word. These were the ones I couldn’t WAIT to start reading to them, and the ones that made them howl in protest whenever I stopped for the day and inserted my bookmark. These were the ones that gave us fodder for rich and deep discussion on real-world topics– the stories they remembered years later. There are millions of wonderful chapter and picture books out there, but here are some of my favorites!
Note: My post does contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but I’ll get a small commission. Thanks!
Chapter books
School Story
(9-10 yrs)
While Frindle
This will be my last post about quiet books for a while! Thanks for your patience, friends. I know you’re not all rearing little ones, but… yanno… it was a big project for me so I’m still excited about it :D. But really. Last one. For a long time.
So I made 16 sets of this page. They are felt chain links that can be snapped together to form a rainbow chain. Kids can (quietly) practice their rainbow colors while getting some fine-motor skill practice in! Nice, right? The most annoying part was learning how to apply the snaps. It wasn’t hard to do, but I had to do some research to figure out the easiest and least expensive way to apply the button snaps, since I had (16 x 8 x 2) = 256 of them to do!!
Although it took a lot of time, I had fun making these pages!
Earlier this week, I shared about the quiet book I made with some friends. (Er, the fourteen quiet books we made together.) It was a fun and very satisfying project! If you have a baby or young child to care for, consider organizing some other crafty mama friends to make your own! It will be a treasured item for the years to come, and a must-bring item when you head for a plane ride, car ride, church service, or visit to grandma’s!
Parents, have you ever heard of a Quiet Book? Also known as a Busy Book? It is a cloth book filled with fun activities that your child can play with… quietly!
My baby girl LOVES her quiet book!
BRILLIANT isn’t it? From making different Mr. Potato Head combinations to counting cupcake sprinkles to buttoning buttons to building sandcastles, quiet books help children hone their fine motor skills, review educational concepts, and encourages creative thinking all while keeping your child busy and quiet.
Um. Yes, please. (Go HERE to make your own!)
My baby girl just turned one! I still can’t believe the first year has passed! I was inspired to make the outfit above when I saw this cute outfit on Etsy. For the party, I didn’t have a clear theme, but just picked out things I liked as I perused Pinterest
I visited a friend with a newborn recently and we talked birth and newbornness. She reminded me of a ton of stuff I had already forgotten about that I really wished I knew back when our baby girl had just arrived, so I’ll share them with you upcoming and expecting mamas! They are just a few wish I knew that and FYI tidbits for ya!
Veteran parents, please add any other things new parents should know in the comments below– I’m sure all of your wisdom and experience will be appreciated!
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