Whole Child Development
I’ve been so excited to tell you about a new book, The Artful Parent, written by my friend Jean Van’t Hul, who you may already know from her popular blog, The Artful Parent. This book is amazing, and so much more than just a collection of art activities!
**This offer has ended, but the individual resources can still be purchased from their original locations. Click on titles below to be redirected to purchasing information.**
As parents and caregivers, the safety of our children is our highest priority. We ask them to wear their helmets while biking, to look before they leap, and we remind them again and again of the proper procedures for crossing the street. We want them to be safe. That’s reasonable and responsible. But, as it is easy to do, we sometimes go a bit overboard on our efforts to protect our children. In the long run, some of our efforts can backfire. [Read more…]
Richard Louv wrote Last Child in the Woods almost 8 years ago. I first read it (actually listened to it) back in 2008, and as luck or providence would have it, I began to reread it recently on a family trip to Zion National Park. It was the perfect backdrop for diving back into this motivating call to reconnect children (and ourselves) with nature.
An amazing friend of mine wrote a post entitled, “100 Ways to Be Kind to Your Child“. It’s a fantastic piece, one written by a real mom with all the sincerity of her heart. She’s a mom who knows as well as any that there are times when the stress of the day piles on until you feel like you could very well snap. So she created this great resource. 100 ideas for a parent to choose to be kind, and to be intentional and mindful in those simple acts of kindness. (You really should read it.)
It’s certainly winter time around here, as the three and a half foot berm of snow that has been shoveled and blown from our driveway will attest. If it’s winter in your neck of the woods, I thought you might like a list of ideas for activities you could use in creating a winter themed unit.
(This video can also be viewed on YouTube here. Do you think YouTube intentionally chooses the most awkward point of the video to use for the freezeframe?)
Many of the resources on imaginary friends center on a study published in Developmental Psychology (Vol. 40, No. 6).
There are few things better than a frothy cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day. Though I discovered recently that there’s even more to be gained than a warm belly.
Have you ever heard people joke about getting an extravagant gift for a child, and all the recipient wanted to do was play with the box? That’s because for all the bells and whistles you can find attached to today’s toys, the fact remains that children love any opportunity to imagine, create, and pretend. And as a parent and educator, I love to give kids that opportunity! Here, you’ll find some of my favorite gift ideas for igniting that spark!
*This post contains affiliate links to products I genuinely believe you’ll enjoy!
I was working on a batch of Stone Soup today, and thought it might be time to dig up, dust off, update, and reshare my favorite Stone Soup lesson from three years ago. It’s a great way to start a discussion about the importance of sharing. And who couldn’t use some nice, warm soup this time of year?
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