Bedtime encouragement

New bedtime chart


Bedtime around our house has become dreaded by my 4 year old and me.  We are going to try something new to see if I can encourage some cooperation.  I've created a bedtime chart that has 5 things that she needs to do before going to sleep and if she can do them without complaining, whining, or crying she gets to put a star sticker in each box for the thing she did. 

 Our 5 items on our bedtime chart are: 

 clean up toys, go potty, brush teeth, put on Pj's, and hop in bed.

After she's finished and in bed she gets 2 pennies for every thing she does.  We were already having her get 10 cents every night for cleaning up, but now it's broken down into categories. I'm emphasizing the happy attitude part.   I break down the dime into 10 pennies so she has something to count into her piggy bank.  I know 1 dime doesn't seem all that much, but for my 4 year old she's able to earn 70 cents by the end of the week and that buys a candy bar, or if she waits for a month she can buy a my little pony at walmart.  

At the end of the week she gets to count all the stars she got for the whole week and will get the reward for that amount of star.  

15 stars = 5 candy hearts

20 starts =  $0.25 to put in a candy/prize machine at the grocery store

25 stars = we get to make a batch of the cookies of her choice 

30 stars = She gets to stay up after her bedtime to watch a movie with mom & dad

35 stars = Gets to go to McDonald's for a happy meal and play at the play place

I think the 35 stars in 1 week is going to be a work in progress. It's something she'll want so I hope it will encourage some better behavior.  I'm sure that after she starts to get the hang of our program she'll get better and earn her ultimate prize.

 I have made these chart available if anyone would like them.

Blues Bedtime Chart

Treasure hunt ice

 Treasure Hunt Ice

 My girls didn't see me swipe their toys for this activity so it was a surprise.  I froze these colored water cubes with several their toys.

 We tried a couple of ways to melt them.  First rock salt.  I'm sure that would have been a wonderful choice except we were too impatient.  So the second choice was the blow dryer.  This would have been a awesome activity in the hot summer. (We'll try this one again.)  

   One by one their toys emerged and they were so excited.  Next of course came the water play.

 For a hands on activity I think it was a winner.  Both girls had fun.

School room

 Organizing our school room

Fluttershy has already learned to count to 30, but Rarity is just starting out.  Being only 2 she knows how to count to 10 and can tell you what number it is from seeing it.  I thought a nice way to start introducing her to number up to 20 I would hang them on the wall. 

This got me thinking how I wanted to do this and make it look nice.  I decided to use my numbers to make a boarder around the area that I use to showcase their art work and school work.  I think it turned out looking really cute and decorative. 

 This is what I have done with my shelves so far.  I have a lot of preschool stuff and needed a way to keep it looking nice and organized. 

 I found these bins at the Dollar Tree.  I was really excited to see how well they fit on my shelves.  Now with a label I can easily find what I need.  Since I love doing sensory bins I have a bin just for a bunch of bagged ideas.  So when I need a idea I rummage through my tubs.

Sandpaper art

 Sandpaper Art

To make the really neat creation all you need is:

Course Sandpaper

Crayons

White paper

Towel

Iron

Step 1:  Cut out a design in your sand paper.  We used a son clip art off of the computer.

 Step 2:  Let the kids color the sandpaper side of the cut out.  Make sure that they really get a lot of color on the sandpaper.

 Here is how they should look before you iron them.

 Step 3:  Take a large thin towel and lay on your table followed by a while piece of paper.  Next, place the colored sandpaper face down. Place another white piece of paper on top.  Cover with one more towel and iron it for a minutes.

 Step 4: Immediately peel off the sand paper to reveal your masterpiece. 

 

 Our inspiration came from http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com.

The color green

 

 Sensory Saturday #4

The color green

 We've been working on colors with Rarity.  Hopefully she'll get what the color green is after today's activity.  

She loved feeling the different kinds of pastas and separating them into different cups. 

Squishy sensory bags

 

 Making Squishy Sensory Bags

 These very simple and easy sensory bags only need a few items.

Hair gel or Aloe Gel

Zip lock baggy

glitter

Misc items to put in bag

 We decided to go with a alphabet theme this time

and since I had foam paper I cut the letters out of that.

 To make it easier for Fluttershy to make on her own we used a small cup to put the baggy in so it would stay open for her.  First she added the Gel and glitter. 

 Now for our items.  We have A, B, C, D, and some various stickers that start with those letters as well.  We included butterflies, Bugs, Cats, Apples, and Dogs. 

This squishy bag is great just for squishing and also serves as a educational I spy game as well.  We got our inspiration from  playathomemom3.

Easy to make strawberry ice cream

How to make the easiest Strawberry ice cream

I received a 1 1/2 electric ice cream maker for my birthday and have really enjoyed making fresh ice cream.  Skimming through forums on the internet I came upon this amazing recipe that I'm now hooked on.  The best part is it's low fat and still delicious. Another wonderful thing about it is it has only 3 ingredients.

2 cups crushed strawberries
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar

Mix up well and freeze  in a 1 1/2 qt ice cream freezer.  At first I was leery to try this recipe because I'm not a big fan of buttermilk, don't let that get in your way.  It is fabulous.  

Dancing Raisins

 

 Science Experiment:

How to make raisins dance

What you’ll need:

• Clear pitcher of water
• 4 T vinegar
• 3 T baking soda
• 10 raisins

Directions:

1.  In the pitcher water add 4 T of vinegar, 3 T of baking soda and 10 raisins,

2.  Wait while the bubble build up on the raisins.

3.  Watch the raisins start dancing around and floating to the top.

This was a fun experiment using baking soda and vinegar.  Watching the reaction was fun for the girls and even us big kids.  Our inspiration today came from a wonderful website called http://kidsactivitiesblog.com.