Photo family tree

Why wait until your child is in 1st or 2nd grade to start talking about family trees? Start now! Help your child see where he/she comes from and begin to build a sense of history. This is something you can do together. All you need is a large sheet of paper or a poster board, some crayons or markers, and, if you have them, photos of your family members. (If you have photos, you’ll also need scissors — preferably child scissors — and a non-toxic glue stick.)

In today’s age of digital photography, gathering photos of loved ones is SO much easier. Start by looking at the photos you have around your home, in photo albums, or on the computer. Have your little one help you identify the people you’re looking for in those photos.  (Hint: If you have your digital photos stored on your computer, first check the ones that you took around the holidays or large family gatherings. Chances are, you’ll find what you need there.)  If you don’t already have extra photos on hand, you may need to call/email loved ones and ask that they send/email a photo to you.

Print the photos and cut out the faces. This is a good time to introduce scissor skills if you haven’t already. (Using scissors is a skill children really need to have before entering kindergarten, according to our local kindergarten teachers.)

Since you already have an idea of the shape of your family tree, you may want to be the one to draw the outline of the tree. Encourage your child to color in the tree if he/she would like! Put a mark where each of the photos should be glued, and let your little one use a non-toxic glue stick to attach each of the photos to the tree. Label the faces with their names and their relationship to your child.

Ask your child to find him/herself on the tree, then you. Talk about how you’re connected on the tree. Then, ask your child to find your mother or father (his/her grandmother/father). This is a concept that takes a bit for little ones to understand, but you can talk about how the grandparent is your parent, and so on.

Post the tree somewhere your little one will see it often, and use it to talk about who will be visiting, who is calling on the phone, etc. Put names to those faces!

Stringing beads

We just discovered today that the Crest Glide Threader Floss is perfect for little fingers that really want to string beads! My 3.5-year-old son suddenly announced that he wanted to string some beads, so we found some beads in my craft supplies, but the holes on them were tiny… far too small for yarn or shoelaces. Somehow my dental floss (the kind I have to use thanks to a built-in retainer) came to mind, and — voila! — problem solved. After he threaded the first bead on the floss, we tied a knot around the bead, then the rest of the beads stayed on without a problem. Now he has a snazzy new beaded bracelet that he made all by himself. This activity was great for working on fine motor skills, and threading beads on a string is actually a pre-writing skill!