Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in albuquerque, NM

Summertime Learning

by Alison

June 08, 2009

School is out, but that doesn't mean that learning opportunities need to stop! Whether you want to make sure your child is ready for Kindergarten in the fall, or you just want to try and foster a life-long love of learning, incorporating math, writing, and reading into your daily activities is important for all kids - and it can be a lot of fun, too!

Teach your child to write his or her name and give them ample opportunities to do it. Write it on paper, trace it in the sand, or spell it out with magnets in the sand. Look for the letters in his/her name wherever you go.

Read to your child every chance you get. Sign up for the library's summer reading program and visit the library often. Check out this Reading Activity Calendar from PBS Kids for some fun reading related activities.

Create a calendar and mark down any special dates. Use the calendar to countdown how many days are left until that special vacation or outing.

Encourage your child to keep a journal. He/she can draw pictures or dictate things to you.

Bake with your child. This provides for some great counting activities. Count how many different ingredients there are. Count the cups of flour or sugar as you pour them in the mixing bowl.

Go to the airport and stop at one of the viewing areas. Count the planes as they take-off and land.

Take advantage of time in the car to play rhyming games (can you tell me what rhymes with cat?) or I Spy with a letters and numbers twist (Can you find the letter 'T' on one of the signs? Can you find the number six?)

How do you keep your kids learning in the summertime?  Read more...

Chores for the Littlest Ones

by Alison

May 11, 2009

Preschoolers definitely are not too young to start helping out around the house! Sometimes (or perhaps very often) it may feel as if doing things yourself would just be so much easier and effective, but giving your young one chores is a great way to instill a positive work ethic in them. In the long run, you will be happy you started them out young - at least that is what I keep telling myself!  The chores need not be extravagant, just enough to let your child know that he is helping. Here are some chores that even three and four year olds can do:

Put away clean dishes: Just be sure that the dishwasher is free of knives or other dangerous things and be sure to supervise. My almost two year old helps me a lot with this. I hand him things (mainly sippy cups and tupperware that go down low) and he puts them away.

Unload the dryer and fold clothes: Have your child take the clean clothes out of the dryer and put them into a laundry basket. She can then help you match up socks, sort the clothes into piles in regards to what belongs to who, or fold simple things like hand towels. Don't forget to have her put away her own clothes after you're finished!

Set the table and clear it after dinner: We usually fill up the plates and then take them to the table at dinnertime, so setting the table doesn't necessarily apply in our house, but if we are thinking about it, I'll have my son put cups on the table beforehand.

Wipe down tables and cabinets: Give him a wet rag and have him wipe down any surface he can reach. An alternative would be to give him a dry rag and a spray bottle filled with water.

Make the bed: It won't be perfect by any means, but the fact that she is trying and putting forth effort to be helpful is what matters.

And the big one -
Clean up toys: It's the simplest and most obvious, but why does it seem to be the hardest?

What chores do your children have?
 Read more...

Guest Interview: Emme on Weight Bias

by Alison

February 23, 2009

Several of our City Editors recently had the great pleasure of participating in an interview with Emme, the supermodel and nationally recognized body image and self esteem advocate.  Emme has twice been selected as People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful Women.

Emme is working with Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity to educate our country about weight bias and weight discrimination and wants to share with you helpful ways to teach your children about the harmful effects of weight bias and how to support a child in your life who is the victim of such a horrible experience.

I am bringing you this interview as the week of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week begins.  Please take a moment after reading this post to visit the site!  

Savvy Source - What exactly is weight bias? Why is it such a growing problem in the US? 

Emme - The issue with childhood obesity is that it has doubled in the past 20 years.  30% of adults are obese.  1 in 5 children are overweight.  The obesity rate in teenagers has tripled in the last 20 years.  If you read the studies that are being done you realize that children who are obese have the same type of feeling as a child going through cancer treatments. 

They get mobbed, they get verbally assaulted by their parents, other friends, coaches, teachers.  To think that these kids are walking around, having to deal with this? It is vitally important that government take it past just talking about.  Nothing is really being done behind the scenes.

Savvy Source - Yale University's Rudd Center has recently produced two videos.  What do you hope the videos will accomplish in the fight against weight bias?

Emme - To increase public awareness of its consequences.  One video is geared towards teachers/parents and one is geared towards the medical community.  Suprisingly enough, there is quite a weight discrminiation between doctor and patient!

The other goal is to try and change the negative attitudes about obese individuals and replace it with tolerance and respect.  It's awfully hard in this culture right now when there is such loathing and fear around food.  It's hard to ask any of us overnight, to just be nice and be kind. There needs to be so much more education and exposure, so many more conversations and so much more knowledge.

Savvy Source - How can we help reduce weight bias at home and at school? 

Emme - Exactly what we're doing right now.  We're talking to ... (to read the rest of the interview, please visit Cleveland.savvysource.com)

 Read more...

Five Places to Practice Math (and Make it Fun)

by Alison

February 11, 2009

When you spend time with a preschooler, every experience is a learning opportunity.  Here are five of our favorite places to go and some math activities to go along with each one.

The Bosque: Choose your favorite access point and count away.  Count birds, bugs, picnic tables, or trees.  Head down the bike path and count how many people you see or how many bikes ride past you.

The Library: More thought of as a place to practice early reading skills as opposed to math, but there are plenty of math opportunities here.  Tell your child how many books he can choose and help him count to the appropriate number.  Look up a non-fiction book and have your child help you find it on the shelf, let her help you figure out if you are in the right section or need to higher numbers or lower numbers.  Try some basic measuring skills and figure out how many books tall the shelf is.  Pull out a few books and have your child tell you which one is the shortest and which is the tallest.
 Read more...

Make Recycling Fun plus Giveaway Winner

by Alison

January 12, 2009

Last week my son and I watched an episode of Word World where Pig taught Duck all about recycling. Since all the objects in Word World are made from words, recycling there is fun and easy. They just add some new letters to the old word and suddenly a can turns into candy or a candle (which came in handy, since they were making a birthday cake for Frog). Ta-da! Something new from something  Read more...

Explore a New Culture and a Giveaway!

by Alison

January 01, 2009

The giveaway is at the bottom of this post, but I'd love it if you'd read the whole post! Perhaps 2009 is the year that you'd like to introduce (or re-introduce) other cultures to your preschooler. Albuquerque has a few local places that you visit that will help you do just that. 2009 is the year is the year of the ox, and you can help usher it in at the Chinese Cultural Center on  Read more...

Keep Those Routines Going, Even During the Busy Holiday Season

by Alison

December 08, 2008

With so much going on this time of year, it can be hard to keep up your normal routines. Whether you stay home, or leave town to visit family, there are parties, busy shopping and errand days, fun cartoons to watch, and more treats than you probably normally allow your child to have. When January brings a bit of normalcy back to your life, you'll be much happier if you've tried to keep some  Read more...

A Great Book Helps Explain a Tough Subject: Getting Lost

by Alison

November 20, 2008

I love the Little Critter series of books by Mercer Mayer. They are simple stories that both kids and adults can relate to. One that I really enjoy reading to my son is Just Lost. Just Lost is about Little Critter getting lost the mall. Being separated from their child in a busy place is every parent's fear, and it's important to teach children what to do in such situations. This book  Read more...

Making the Election Something Your Kids Can Relate To

by Alison

November 03, 2008

You know that Tomorrow is Election Day, but do your preschoolers? The big issues are certainly ones that don't directly affect your young children, but the basics surrounding the election - making choices, persuasion, and simply the fact that not everyone will be happy with the outcome - are great preschool lessons. Making Choices Explain that you have an important choice to make -  Read more...