Put slider pads (or a towel) under the basket to it can slide, tie a rope (or a necktie) on as a way to pull-have child pull toys/stuffed animals/etc in basket (and get a pull from an older sibling/caregiver)

Build a fort with chairs/blankets/cushions from couch

If comfortable: Use couch as a trampoline (take off cushions and place on floor next to couch (supervise!!) or put a mattress on the floor and jump!!

Create an obstacle course to test balance, agility, etc. For example: Have a starting line then go under the dining room table, around a chair 3 times, back under the dining room table, walk on a line taped to the floor (or a piece of string or yarn), go over the footstool, under the coffee table, hop on one or two feet to the finish line. This is also a good way for kids to learn positional words like over & under.

Using a soft ball (or ball of tape), play a little indoor soccer with laundry basket as goal

Play hide and seek, one person is the seeker and everyone else hides or sardines, one person hides and everyone else looks for the hider. When someone finds the hider, that person join him/her. Each seeker joins the hider until everyone is there together.

More indoor large muscle activities!

Get Outdoors too!

RESOURCES FOR FREE FOOD

Information about food for children 18 yrs & younger from the Minneapolis Public Schools

Hope Academy will be providing youth ages 1-18 with grab and go bagged meals while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 virus. A Hope Academy Bus will be parked in the Visitor Lot on 24th and Chicago Ave S in Minneapolis. Meal pickup services begin Thursday, March 19 and continue Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. No meals will be served March 27-April 3 due to Hope Academy's scheduled Spring Break.

If you find yourself in a tough spot, please let us know. We have WWP families and supporters who have told me that they want to help WWP families affected by the closures.

3/19/20 3/19/20

Fun & Learning at Home! DAILY ROUTINES

We are into our new reality of spending most of our time at home with our family. The WWP staff want to encourage and support you during this time. We are intending to send out daily emails (Mon - Fri) with activity ideas.

Today we are talking about daily routines! Children thrive on routine it helps them to know what to expect and gives great comfort. At preschool we have a pictorial schedule showing the children what is happening that day.

Here's a pictorial schedule that you can print out. You can cut out the sections and rearrange them as you like. Thanks to our board member, Sarah Bates, who is a Berry Patch teacher, who shared this schedule with me to adapt for you.

Here are the basics:

Breakfast
Story time - Share a book or 2 or more! It may inspire creations or activities for the day.
Let's Create! What will you create with today? Art supplies, found materials/junk, playdough, legos, blocks, cardboard boxes... be creative!
Snack
Outside Time - Go for a walk, "What do you see?" Go on a scavenger hunt for colors, numbers, shapes, nature items, birds, animals, etc, play in the yard, explore nature
Lunch - Let your child help to make lunch and/or set the table
Reading/Puzzles/Room Time - A little quiet alone time is good for everyone! Play quiet music or an audio book.
Games/Free Choice/Indoor Scavenger Hunts, Hide and Seek, etc.
Snack
Large Muscle/Outside Play
Family Chores - Children can help with many chores - setting the table, matching socks, dusting, picking up their toys. Make it fun!
Movie/Screen Time - limit screen time

I pray that you and your family learn new things about one another, find great peace and joy during this time together!

Love, Ms. Ann

Sarah Yamaguchi 7/20/17 Sarah Yamaguchi 7/20/17

Summer Ideas

AUTHOR: Becky Danielson, M.Ed. is a licensed Parent & Family Educator on staff at The Berry Patch and Whittier Wildflowers Preschool. She contributes monthly to the Family Buzz, highlighting a topic or current trend in parenting.

Dear Whittier Wildflowers Families,

The end of the year picnic was so much fun! Thank you for attending. I hope you had as nice of an evening as I did.

Here’s an expanded version of the Top 10 Tips to Encourage Learning over the Summer Months. I hope the list is helpful for you and your children.

1. READ Read as much as you can as often as you can to your children. Spend time at the library. Your children can have their own cards to check out books. Keep the books in a special bag, away from pets and younger siblings. When reading, find words your children can identify. Follow along with your finger as you read to encourage left-to-right motion. Look for words your children know when you’re out and about (STOP, the name of common stores, etc.). Help your children identify letters and the sounds of each letter.

2. WRITE Allow your children to write on a variety of surfaces with many writing utensils. For example, chalk on the sidewalk, crayons on construction paper, a stick in the sand at the beach, markers on grocery store bags, pencils on notebook paper, or fingers in pudding in a jellyroll pan. Print letters, numbers, and symbols. Draw pictures.

3. PLAY Play is a child’s occupation. Through play, children explore their world. This happens through both unstructured and structured playtime. Play fuels creativity. Children will come up with fabulous games and adventures. Join them in their playtime to help your child grow socially, cognitively and emotionally.

4. EXPLORE From the backyard to the park to the nature center, explore with your children. Pack a small bag with a magnifying glass, binoculars made from toilet paper tubes and yarn, a notepad, and a pencil. Make rubbings of tree bark. Watch birds. Look for animal tracks. Collect fallen leaves to make a collage at home. Take notes on your outings.

5. BUILD Make a pirate ship or castle with pillows and sofa cushions. Drape a blanket over a card table to create a fort. Build a city with Legos or blocks. Wash out milk cartons, tape down the triangular top with duct tape for homemade jumbo building blocks.

6. CREATE Put together an art bin in a shoe box with paper towel tubes, string, rubber bands, pipe cleaners, glue, cardboard, thread spools, paper clips, and paper. Add any items you come across that would be interesting. Really, it’s a junk box to make treasures from trash.

7. MOVE On sunny and rainy days make movement (exercise) part of the routine. Dance, bicycle, run, skip, walk, tiptoe, or hop! Any kind of movement is good. Play games together. Have your children teach you games they learned in school this year.

8. LAUGH Few things make a person feel better than a belly laugh. Take time to be silly!

9. REST Too few of us, adults and children, are getting enough sleep these days. Be intentional with bedtime and the routine getting ready for bed. Try to keep the same schedule throughout the summer months.

10. LOVE Love is a decision! Say, “I love you” daily. Show love in words and actions.

Speaking of LOVE, I was blessed to be the winner of the Whittier Wildflowers Preschool mosaic at the raffle drawing for the Patchworks Foundation event in April. Each day, I look at this beautiful piece of art and think of the wonderful students, staff, and families. Whittier Wildflowers Preschool is a very special place. Thank you for creating this beautiful work of art!

Most sincerely,
Becky Danielson, M.Ed.
Licensed Parent & Family Educator

One-on-One Parenting is available for you! Email me at b.danielson@berrypatchschool.com with questions or to set up a time to meet.

Subscribe to the FREE monthly parenting newsletter available at FaithFirstParent.com. Receive a copy of Biblical Blessings when you subscribe April 15-May 1, 2017.

Sarah Yamaguchi 4/11/17 Sarah Yamaguchi 4/11/17

Manners Matter

Dear Whittier Wildflowers Preschool Families,

Manners matter. Children begin learning appropriate behaviors and social skills from mom and dad at an early age. Manners are powerful, both good manners and poor manners. Society may focus on the crass and unruly, but respect and polite behavior will always be in style. Truthfully, would you rather hang out with a friend who is polite or one who is rude?

Teaching manners goes far beyond please and thank you. Manners are not lessons a parent can just check off the “To Do List” like shoe tying. It might take a long time to master the skill but once the shoes can be tied, the child is on his way. Manner lessons go on, and on. And sometimes on, and on, and…well you get my drift! Even with teenagers, it’s a continual time of coaching. Here are a few tips to teaching manners.

Praise success. A little positive reinforcement can go a long way in strengthening a child’s desire to do well.
Verbalize your expectations. “We are having dinner at Grandma’s house tonight. I expect you to sit and the table, eat with a fork, and use a quiet voice.” Children generally desire to live up to Mom and Dad’s expectations.
With younger children, focus on one manner at a time. Concentrate on table manners then move to phone etiquette.
Give directions in the positive. For example, “Please take your elbows off the table” rather than “Don’t put your elbows on the table.”
Be tolerant of lapses but don’t overlook them. Use slip ups as teachable moments.
Make it fun! When my boys were little, I would pretend to be the rude friend that came for lunch and broke every rule in the book; elbows on the table, speaking with my mouth full, napkin left on the table, reaching across others for food. The boys would laugh themselves silly. Then we’d talk about what a polite table manners look like as compared to the rude friend.
Model kindness and polite behavior in all interactions with others.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Most sincerely,
Becky Danielson, M.Ed.
Licensed Parent & Family Educator

One-on-One Parenting is available for you! Email me at b.danielson@berrypatchschool.com with questions or to set up a time to meet.

Subscribe to the FREE monthly parenting newsletter available at FaithFirstParent.com. Receive a copy of Biblical Blessings when you subscribe April 15-May 1, 2017.

Sarah Yamaguchi 2/21/17 Sarah Yamaguchi 2/21/17

National Children’s Dental Health Month

Dear Whittier Wildflowers Preschool Families,

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Tooth decay is the most prevalent dental health problem for preschools. Cavities in baby teeth can affect permanent teeth, so it’s best to get a good start with caring for those cute smiles when children are young.

Keeping up on good dental hygiene is important for a number of reasons. The mouth is the first stop in the digestive system. Strong teeth allow for foods to be chewed into digestible pieces. The saliva mixes in and then it’s down to the tummy. When teeth are kept plague free, decay is less likely to occur. Plaque, a sticky, bacteria-filled substance, causes cavities. A bright, shiny smile is the goal!

11 Tips to Help Your Child Develop Good Dental Health Habits

• Use a soft bristled toothbrush. Brush teeth at least two times a day, morning and before bed. Supervise and help your child.

• Use fluoride toothpaste for children over two-years of age with no more than a grain of rice sized amount of paste pressed into the bristles of the brush. (Press it in so the paste isn’t rinsed down the drain.) Encourage children not to swallow the toothpaste.

• Model for your child how to use dental floss.

• Limit sugar consumption. Check labels, as there’s more sugar in our foods than we often realize.

• Water and white milk are the best drink options for children. Juice, sports drinks, lemonade, and pop contain sugar and acid that can harm tooth enamel.

• Raisins, Craisins, gummies, and other sticky treats easily catch between teeth and should be kept to a minimum.

• Have “tooth brush foods” available for snack time: raw carrots, celery, apples, and other healthy snacks with a crunch.

• Get in the habit of a quick “swish and swallow” after meals with water to rinse the mouth after meals and snacks.

• Don’t share eating utensils, cups, or plates. Germs are easily passed along.

• Schedule a check-up with the dentist at 12-18 months and every six months following for a cleaning and exam. Discuss the options with your child’s pediatrician and dentist.

• Let the child choose a fun toothbrush. Having a princess or a super hero help with the brushing is much more exciting.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you… 3 John 1:2a

Subscribe to the free parenting blogs available to Whittier Wildflowers Preschool families at 1Corinthians13Parenting.com and the brand new site, FaithFirstParent.com. Like the Faith First Parent Facebook page for encouragement, tips, and fun for faith-filled families!