The Lid Game

Here is a very simple to create activity for very young children. I think I started this with L when he was about 9 or 10 months and he still loves it at 15 months. I got the idea from his school. They took a plastic container and cut a slot in the lid. Then the child can slide in baby food lids or some other small lids. For added benefit, you can add photos of family members, classmates or anyone you would like your baby/toddler to learn their names.

This was L's favorite activity for the longest time and he still plays with it once in a while.

You can also make a sort of family tree with circles just big enough for the lids so the child can match the person's name to the picture for older children or you can put a photo on the family tree for younger children. I love this idea because it allows children to see how family members are related in a very tangible way. It is hands on and hopefully more meaningful. And maybe they will even be less shy around the family because they are used to seeing their photos.

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Freebie: Family Tree

I think I have finally figured out how to share documents. So, I decided to try this out by posting the family tree pages that I shared on an earlier blog post: Family Tree, Graph and Class Book. Hope this works! Family Tree HW My Family Tree 1 My Family Tree 2 My Family Tree 3 My Family Tree 4 My Family Tree 5 My Family Tree 6 My Family Tree 7 My Family Tree Blank 1 Parent My Family Tree Blank 2 Parent

Family Tree, Graph and Class Book

Here are a few of the things we did this week for our family study. This first activity is a very basic family tree that I made and sent home for the children to fill in with their parents' help. They were to draw each person, label them and tell what name they call mommy and daddy. We mostly used it (and will continue to use it) to talk to the kids about their family members and ask them questions about their family.

Next, we graphed the number of family members in each child's family. We glued a button on for each family member so it could be a visual representation that helps the children learn what graphs are for. At large group time, each child took a turn using the pointer to count the number of family members in their family and we compared who had the most and the least.

We also worked on our class book. Each child designed their own page with something they like about themselves. We took a photo of the each class (Morning and Afternoon) laying in a circle for the front cover and called the book "We are Special." 

We had to take 2 seperate photos (boys and girls) in the morning class since we have so many kids, they wouldn't all fit in a circle. P.S. Do not think it is easy in the least to get the kids to lay this way on the floor. It took us quite a while to get them there and all looking at the camera, but I think the final result turned out great!

I did end up binding the books. Yay, I learned a new skill, how to use the book binder: