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#blog4cause: Playdough Cupcake Decorating Kits for the Children’s Hospital

November 27, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 9 Comments

A while ago I told you about the Blog 4 Cause Campaign, an initiative created by my friends Amy of Teach Mama and Allie of No Time for Flashcards.  I wanted to involve my sons in projects they could relate to.  There’s an amazing children’s hospital near where we live, where they knew their cousin’s cousin, Matthew, had spent the better part of a year waiting for a second heart transplant (which he miraculously received!) before finally returning home.

A little boy my own boys had never met, but whom they had talked about, asked about, and prayed for.  They knew him as a little boy like them.  A little boy who likes light sabers and ninjas, and who wanted to be healthy  — and home.  This experience made Primary Children’s Medical Center an ideal cause for my boys.

Primary Children’s Medical Center is a phenomenal children’s hospital.  They are not only one of the best places from a medical standpoint, they also do a tremendous job of meeting the needs of the whole child as well as the child’s family.  On the list of desired donation items, which they use to engage the children staying in the hospital, I noticed playdough and craft kits.  I wanted to give my kids a chance to really get involved in the project, so I thought I’d have them help create playdough cupcake kits (inspired by this post from NurtureStore).  Nothing like the combination of playdough and party-style cupcakes to make a child smile!

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Amazing Ebook Sale — Thanksgiving Weekend Only!

November 21, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized 4 Comments

learning through play

*Sorry — this offer has now closed.  But you can follow all links to the original source blogs to buy any individual ebooks in the bundle!

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Bread Baking with Preschoolers

November 14, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience, Snack Time 6 Comments

There’s something special about bread.  It may be its universal nature, found in different forms all around the world.  Ann Morris’ book, Bread, Bread, Bread takes a fantastic around the world photo journey examining bread throughout a variety of cultures. (It’s a great book I would strongly recommend as part of a food unit like the one I outline over here.)

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Playdough Recipe: An Old Favorite With a Smooth New Twist

November 6, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience 18 Comments

I was lucky enough to participate recently in a conference at Utah State University.  It was so much fun (and a little surreal) to teach a session at the front of a room where I had sat through many, many classes more than a decade ago.

As much fun as I had teaching my session, I also loved going to a session taught by my friend, Kelli Barker, who was my counterpart while head teaching at the lab school and my partner for many deliriously late night study sessions.  She taught a fantastic class, sharing all kinds of fantastic ideas for hands-on activities for young children.

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Pumpkin Passion

October 30, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Celebrate!, Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized 3 Comments

‘Tis the season of the Great Pumpkin!

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Little b, Little d. A Little Letter Confusion.

October 25, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Alphabet Awareness is a critical component of emergent literacy.  Children often master the capital letters first, quickly discerning between those large strokes.  But once the focus turns to the lowercase letters things can get a bit dicey.

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The Silly Things Kids Say and Getting Started with Sensory Play

October 11, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

I’m sharing some ideas at two different spots this week.  First, I’m over at Simple Kids, talking about what we learn about child development from the silly things kids say.  Here’s a little taste:

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Color Mixing Scientists

October 9, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Color mixing can be magical!  No, better than magic, it’s science!

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Teaching Social Skills with Bubble Lessons

September 28, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 12 Comments

I’m a believer in teaching social skills.  If you’ve checked out my ebook or ecourse, you already know that.  I’m also a big fan of learning through play.  No surprise, right?

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The Perfect Playdough for Fall!

September 12, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized 10 Comments

I’m so excited to be starting up the ecourse today, but I also wanted to share this guest post I have over at The Organized Parent.  It really is my favorite playdough!  Just smelling it puts me in a good mood!

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I’m Amanda Morgan. Here’s what I’m about…

In early education, there is too much distance between what we know and what we do. I bridge the gaps that exist between academia, decision-makers, educators, and parents so that together, we can improve the quality of early education while also respecting and protecting the childhood experience.

Content Copyrighted (2008-2025), Amanda Morgan, All Rights Reserved

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