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Preschool activities and crafts with a fun Sesame Street theme.
Keep
the good times rolling for your preschooler!
September 2006 - Issue 29
Quote Of The Month Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
~Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family
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Editorial
Almost the end of summer! My children are back in school and my days are mine again. Well, not really. I'm not sure they are ever truly mine. But, I do have a goal of getting my house cleaned up and it staying that way from 9 AM until 3 PM. It could happen!
For those of you with littler ones...you may be starting preschool or kindergarten this year. It's amazing how quickly children grow, develop and learn at this age! It can be a struggle to keep up with them.
With the weather getting a bit cooler, be sure to take advantage of outside activities around you before bad weather sets in. This is a great season to visit an apple orchard, a pumpkin patch, a zoo...there are so many places you can go to experience new sites and sounds.
When you're stuck indoors, use the Rock It Times AmuseLetter for some great ideas to make your time together fun and memorable. Playing with your child is the best thing you can do for them!
Have a great end of summer!!
Mari
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Reading Rocks!
Recommendations |
Sesame Street Where Is Elmo?: Wiggle and Giggle Peekaboo Book
Reviewer: Amazon Editorial Staff
Elmo's hiding from his friends and they can't find him. How can they find Elmo? They come up with a great idea - to tell a joke. Elmo can't resist the funny jokes his friends tell and his irrepressible giggle gives him away every time. As kids read the story about Elmo and his friends, playing hide-and-seek, kids push up on the slider to make Elmo pop up from his hiding place and giggle. |
| | Animal Alphabet
Reviewer: A Mom
I am so pleased with this book! It is a great way to introduce my little one to the ABC's. I was very happy that the cover seems so durable, and the size is just perfect for little hands. I think it is a great tool to use with your child, especially as they learn words that begin with the letters of the alphabet. You can't go wrong with this book! |
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Kid Rock "Party In The Spotlight" Sesame Street
Have a great day on Sesame Street! Preschoolers just love playing with their colorful Sesame Street friends. Host your own Sesame Street party and enjoy watching your child dance and wiggle to some of their favorite Sesame Street songs!
The Sesame Street party may include the following songs:
- Sesame Street Theme
- A Little Big Begger
- Zig, Zag Dance
- Somebody Come and Play
- Keep the Park Clean
- Rubber Duckie
- C is for Cookie
Reserve your party date today! Email to parties@rockitkids.com or call
us at 847-961-6584. Return to top
Craft Of The Month
Muffin Crayons
Everyone on Sesame Street loves to color, especially Elmo! Make your own crayons and then use them to create a masterpiece, just as Elmo does in Elmo's World!
Materials:
Directions:
Have your child unwrap the crayons and break them into very small pieces. Let your child mix the colors, as desired, in the tin cups. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with color recognition and sorting like and unlike items. This is also a great fine motor activity for your child. Once done, place the tin in oven on 250 F, until crayons have liquified; place in freezer and pop out when cool! Your child will love coloring with their new, round crayons that they made themself.
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Having a party? Don't forget to invite
Kid Rock! If you are in our neighborhood, we happily provide stress-free,
interactive children's party entertainment for any function. Or, make it a Kid
Rock day no matter where you live, with our perfectly assembled gift bags and
party favors! Visit the official Kid Rock website at http://www.rockitkids.com/
for more information!
Snack Of The Month
Slimey's Apple Snack
Oscar the Grouch's pet worm, Slimey, loves apples! Here's a fun snack that's sure to please your child as much as it would Slimey!
Ingredients:
- Red apple
- Knife/corer
- Crunchy peanut butter
- Gummi worms
Directions:
- Core or cut out the middle of the apple.
- Spread in enough peanut butter to fill apple.
- Place a gummi worm or two in the middle peanut butter filled apple, so it's peeking out of the apple.
- Eat and enjoy!
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Music Rocks!
Recommendations
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Sesame Street: Kids' Favorite Songs
Reviewer: E. Bader (Oklahoma)
My 3 year old requests to listen to this CD over and over again! It is fantastic since I know the words to all the songs too. I love singing and dancing around the house with my son to this CD. It is much better than laying around the house and watching another movie. What was even better was listening to this CD on our last road trip. I never heard a peep out of him except his singing! It is a MUST HAVE!! | |
| | Sesame Street Platinum:
All Time Favorites
Reviewer: Mama PJ
When looking for car-time entertainment for my 15month-old, I found myself bombarded with some pretty annoying chioces. Barney, Wiggles, Nursery Rhymes, etc... While my son really enjoys them all, there's only so much I can stand. The Sesame Street Platinum is such a great choice because while HE loves the music, the songs are all oldies that I can sing along to.
Sesame Street is always entertaining as well as educational. The Platinum favorites will really take you back and help create a special bond with your child. I would definately buy this one for any parent looking for a car-time distraction. |
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Motor Activity Of The Month
Ring Around the Rosie
One of the favorite games on Sesame Street is Ring Around the Rosie! Children of all ages love this game. It can be played by two or many!
Ring around the rosey
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down
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Special Guest
Article
9 Things to do Instead of Spanking
- by Kathryn Kvols
Research confirms what many parents instinctively feel when they don’t like to spank their child, but they don’t know what else to do. The latest research from Dr. Murray Strauss at the Family Research Laboratory affirms that spanking teaches children to use acts of aggression and violence to solve their problems. It only teaches and perpetuates more violence, the very thing our society is so concerned about. This research further shows that children who have been spanked are more are prone to low self-esteem, depression and accept lower paying jobs as adults. So, what do you do instead?
1 - Get Calm
First, if you feel angry and out of control and you want to spank or slap your child, leave the situation if you can. Calm down and get quiet. In that quiet time you will often find an alternative or solution to the problem. Sometimes parents lose it because they are under a lot of stress. Dinner is boiling over, the kids are fighting, the phone is ringing and your child drops the can of peas and you lose it. If you can’t leave the situation, then mentally step back and count to ten.
2 - Take Time for Yourself
Parents are more prone to use spanking when they haven’t had any time to themselves and they feel depleted and hurried. So, it is important for parents to take some time for themselves to exercise, read, take a walk or pray.
3 - Be Kind but Firm
Another frustrating situation where parents tend to spank is when your child hasn’t listened to your repeated requests to behave. Finally, you spank to get your child to act appropriately. Another solution in these situations is to get down on your child’s level, make eye contact, touch him gently and tell him, in a short, kind but firm phrase, what it is you want him to do. For example, “I want you to play quietly.
4 - Give Choices
Giving your child a choice is an effective alternative to spanking. If she is playing with her food at the table ask, “Would you like to stop playing with your food or would you like to leave the table?” If the child continues to play with her food, you use kind but firm action by helping her down from the table. Then tell her that she can return to the table when she is ready to eat her food without playing in it.
5 - Use Logical Consequences
Consequences that are logically related to the behavior help teach children responsibility. For example, your child breaks a neighbor’s window and you punish him by spanking him. What does he learn about the situation? He may learn to never do that again, but he also learns that he needs to hide his mistakes, blame it on someone else, lie, or simply not get caught. He may decide that he is bad or feel anger and revenge toward the parent who spanked him. When you spank a child, he may behave because he is afraid to get hit again. However, do you want your child to behave because he is afraid of you or because he respects you?
Compare that situation to a child who breaks a neighbor’s window and his parent says, “I see you’ve broken the window, what will you do to repair it?” using a kind but firm tone of voice. The child decides to mow the neighbor’s lawn and wash his car several times to repay the cost of breaking the window. What does the child learn in this situation? That mistakes are an inevitable part of life and it isn’t so important that he made the mistake but that he takes responsibility to repair the mistake. The focus is taken off the mistake and put on taking responsibility for repairing it. The child feels no anger or revenge toward his parent. And most importantly the child’s self-esteem is not damaged.
6 - Do Make Ups
When children break agreements, parents tend to want to punish them. An alternative is to have your child do a make-up. A make-up is something that people do to put themselves back into integrity with the person they broke the agreement with. For example, several boys were at a sleep-over at Larry’s home. His father requested that they not leave the house after midnight. The boys broke their agreement. The father was angry and punished them by telling them they couldn’t have a sleep-over for two months. Larry and his friends became angry, sullen and uncooperative as a result of the punishment. The father realized what he had done. He apologized for punishing them and told them how betrayed he felt and discussed the importance of keeping their word. He then asked the boys for a make-up. They decided to cut the lumber that the father needed to have cut in their backyard. The boys became excited and enthusiastic about the project and later kept their word on future sleep-overs.
7 - Withdraw from Conflict
Children who sass back at parents may provoke a parent to slap. In this situation, it is best if you withdraw from the situation immediately. Do not leave the room in anger or defeat. Calmly say, “I’ll be in the next room when you want to talk more respectfully.
8 - Use kind but firm action
Instead of smacking an infant’s hand or bottom when she touches something she isn’t supposed to, kindly but firmly pick her up and take her to the next room. Offer her a toy or another item to distract her and say, “You can try again later.” You may have to take her out several times if she is persistent.
9 - Inform Children Ahead of Time
A child’s temper tantrum can easily set a parent off. Children frequently throw tantrums when they feel uninformed or powerless in a situation. Instead of telling your child he has to leave his friend’s house at a moment’s notice, tell him that you will be leaving in five minutes. This allows the child to complete what he was in the process of doing.
Aggression is an obvious form of perpetuating violence in society. A more subtle form of this is spanking because it takes it’s toll on a child’s self-esteem, dampening his enthusiasm and causing him to be rebellious and uncooperative. Consider for a moment the vision of a family that knows how to win cooperation and creatively solve their problems without using force or violence. The alternatives are limitless and the results are calmer parents who feel more supported.
Article Copyright © 1995 INCAF
Kathryn Kvols is the president of the International Network for Children and Families and the author of Redirecting Children’s Behavior. She is also a national speaker and workshop leader.
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Great Links
and Freebies Check out these great links for parents and caregivers!
- Featured Link: Visit the official Sesame Street website for lots of fun, games and activities! http://www.sesameworkshop.org/
- Featured Link: Find fun Elmo coloring pages and printable activities at: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/sesame/activities.html
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Mari Peckham
RockItTimes@rockitkids.com
IPRA "Outstanding
Teacher of the Year" Award Recipient
Publishing Editor, RockIt Times RockIt
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