Paper Bag Puppets with Rachael
Watch my video as you make your own paper bag puppet! Make more than one puppet, and have a puppet show behind a box or piece of furniture? You and your child can explore broader/more abstract ideas, topics, and even current issues that might be celebratory or troubling as the puppet does the talking. Therefore, puppet making is not only a creative art outlet for your child to express their individuality, but a way to explore social emotional expression - and to help address anxieties, fears, worries, or feelings of excitement and anticipation. Go with the flow! Make clothes, add details with glue (beads, the foam shapes thy cake inside your bags, etc.) and let your imaginations run wild! You might even want to record your child’s original stories to read later or act out familiar stories your children cherish:) If your child is inspired to create, share a photo of their puppet, and maybe a chosen name!
I'm Not Scared!
LCC teacher, Rhonda Mack, reads Todd Parr's book I'm Not Scared!
With his signature blend of playfulness and sensitivity, Parr explores the subject of all things scary and assures readers that all of us are afraid sometimes.
A Little Spot of Anger: A Story about Managing BIG Emotions!
LCC teacher, Cassie Burda, reads A Little Spot of Anger. Kids experience frustrating situations everyday, whether it's someone taking their toy or they feel like they can't do something. This story shows them that instead of yelling or stomping their feet, they can practice some fun ways to help them stay calm.
"What is Missing"
Materials: bag or tray with a variety of fun objects; large piece of paper or a blanket
Objectives: This is a fun game that helps children to recognize and recall, they interact with peers, follow directions, practice using expressive vocabulary, problem solving, classification skills and understanding spatial relationships.
Directions: Have your child pick out a variety of objects, tell them that you are going to play a memory game. Have them look over each object and talk about what they are, what they are used for and maybe where you found them. Next tell them you are going to put them on a tray or on the floor and cover them with a blanket/towel. Carefully remove one or two objects from the tray. Uncover the remaining objects and ask the children to tell you what is missing. After playing a couple of times the Foxies found it fun to take turns removing an object from the tray. Sometimes we would remove on object and sometimes we would remove three! Have fun with it!
“Stay at Home” Extension: This is a game that can be played with others over skype, zoom, or facetime. Get a family member or friend that doesn’t live with you to play along. You can each create your own tray of favorite items, share what they are, and then play the what is missing game together.
How to talk about feelings
How do I talk about feelings or emotions with my older toddlers and preschoolers? There are many ways to do this and whether or not there is a pandemic we all need reminders about talking about feelings and emotions.
I’m making the assumption that most of us have some sort of smart phone and these can be a great tool when there aren’t other options for emotion photos. A fun way that I recommend to do this is to take photos of your children when they are feeling happy with their different emotional faces. Happy, sad, mad, frustrated, surprised, confused, calm, impatient and so on…
Sad
Thoughtful or confused
Surprised or goofy
Peaceful or content
Happy
Impatient
If you are able to print them that’s great but it isn’t necessary in this case. When your child is having a difficult time in some way offer them these photos when they can’t tell you exactly what is happening. To make sure they feel supported through tough times make sure that you let them know you are ready to help when they are ready. Stay close and calm so they feel your presence during these tough times…
If and when they are able to let you know how they are feeling talk about what you can do to help them get back to a peaceful or happy place. Some suggestions of things they can “do” to help them feel better are: (to give them control over this part they can even point to the picture of what they have chosen or make the pictures by themselves) making a picture with whatever items you have available, take a breath with them, pretend to blow up a balloon, hug a person, hug a bear, squeeze play dough or a sensory ball if you have one, snuggle a baby, or softy snuggly item they have that gives them comfort.
Squeeze playdough
Snuggle a baby
Hug or cuddle a stuffed animal
Squeeze a sensory ball
Snuggle a blanket or softy
Get a hug
30 Mindfulness Activities for Parents to prepare for Week #4
As we all get ready to head into week number four of "stay at home, stay safe", here are some ideas for parents. Hopefully there is one or two here that will help you prepare mentally and emotionally for the week ahead. https://www.waterford.org/resources/mindfulness-activities-for-parents/
Helping Young Children Through Coronavirus Crisis.
Thank you to LCC parent and licensed master social worker Emily Kohler for sharing this helpful and important resource with us. https://zerotothrive.org/covid-19/covid-19-kids/
