Great Benefits to Nursery Rhymes

Don’t underestimate the age-old success of nursery rhymes!  I think sometimes we get caught up in the new and improved that we forget the great benefits to the tried and true.

Nursery rhymes are definitely tried and true. 

They are great for infants through to preschoolers (and probably beyound).  The beauty with nursery rhymes, is it doesn’t take much effort to entertain our little ones with these.  Very little prep work involved AND great benefits.  The sing-song effect is very calming. They offer a great variety of vocabulary (and our little ones are learning from what we say whether we realize it or not!). Hearing the rhyming words over and over teaches detailed awareness of the language. They learn to listen for the sounds that make up a word (phonemes) which helps them learn how to work with the language.  And they are doing all of this without worksheets or lessons.  They are learning and we don’t even realize it.

Ways to include nursery rhymes in your day:

• Read compilation books with the best of the best nursery rhymes written.  
• Recite them outloud while driving in the car, going on a walk or changing their diaper (they are great distractions for even the tiniest babies).
• Use hand motions and act them out.   
• Sing them.  
• Use them to encourage your toddler during clean up. 
• Find rhymes that coincide with topics of interest or unit studies (ex: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush would work well when teaching basic hygiene; The Itsy Bitsy Spider works with lessons on bugs)
• Add a nursery rhyme to your letter, color, or number of the day lessons (Little Boy Blue for blue day; Jack and Jill for J-day) 
• March to the beat of a nursery rhyme (a great way to practice rhythm!)Do all of the above and do it consistently.  Consistency is the goal. 

But isn’t it funny how sometimes the easiest things are the things we forget about?  At least that’s me.   I’m counting this post as a reminder for myself 🙂

So here are a few popular rhymes in our house to get us started:

• Humpty Dumpty
• Row Row Row Your Boat
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Jack and Jill went up the hill
• This is the way we wash our hands
• Old McDonald
• Ring Around the Rosie
• It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
• Rain, Rain Go Away

Ok, this list is looking pretty typical, huh? I’m no nursery rhyme expert. I’m not even sure everything on the list counts as a nursery rhyme. I just use what I know.  Sometimes I even forget the words and make something up that rhymes!  My poor child will never know the real words for Lullaby and Goodnight but oh well.

Here’s some popular websites where you can print out both words and pictures for nusery rhymes, or even hear them with animation. 

• Nursery Rhymes on Enchanted Learning
• DLTK’s Songs, Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes
• Mama Lisa’s World: House of English Nurser Rhymes

There are tons of books that compile nursery rhymes. J got A Treasury for One Year Olds as a gift that we still use now.  The series offers a new book for each year, though we haven’t gotten any of the others. The older books apparently also include popular stories too. Of course there are cds you can buy that include nursery rhymes.  We don’t personally own any, but my mom plays some for the grandkids and they love them.  You could also record your own (see this post on recording stories on cd yourself).

This is something you can try right now!

Flying with an Infant

Since we are often flying the friendly skies (between 6-8 trips per year which comes out to about 12-18 plane rides yearly), I thought I would share my thoughts on flying with J at each age. J’s first plane trip was at 6 weeks and he now has his own frequent flyer card.   I will certainly acknowledge that the frequency of our travelling really helps when it comes to his behavior both in the airport and on the plane.  He knows what to expect, he knows what we expect, and he knows what will happen if he breaks the rules.  Of course he wasn’t born this way.  It’s been a learning process for us all (and we’re still learning!).  So here’s a little that I have learned over the past couple years.

First off is babyhood.  This age group is by far the easiest to fly with (at least in my experience so far).  You don’t need anything to entertain them.  They entertain themselves (just see how J is fully engrossed in his fists!).  They will most likely sleep for the majority of the trip which is just beautiful.  Enjoy it!  They grow out of this stage and you will soon be working the whole flight! 

What to Bring (this is not an all-inclusive list; I’m trying to remember back a few years ago!):

• Extra clothes for baby and for parent – It’s amazing how a child with no prior blow-outs can suddenly surprise you in mid-air.  I always dressed J in the footed pjs so I wasn’t worried about him losing socks.  It was just easy for us.  If you choose to dress your little one in shoes, security does require you to remove their shoes too.  Save a step and leave the shoes in the luggage. 
• Antibacterial wipes – I wipe down EVERYTHING when we first sit down; who knows who sat there before you and the cleaning crew does NOT clean windows, trays and arm rests thoroughly
• Diapers and wipes – of course, right?  Pack even more than you would normally need for the duration of travel.  Layovers happen. Blowouts happen.
• Carrier -this is the easiest way to travel through airports. Most security lines do NOT require you to remove your baby from a wrap/carrier.  **Of course, if they ask you to remove them, don’t ask questions.  It will do no good.  Just comply and move on through.**  Definitely keep them attached to you unless directed otherwise.  This provides one less step while going through security.  I have traveled alone with my infant J in a stroller.  You are left trying to close the stroller, hold your baby (who of course just fell asleep so now you’re waking him up with all the joggling), get that stroller up on the security belt while of course dealing with your other belongings too.  Even if you need a stroller for your trip, I would still recommend wearing baby through the airport.  It’s just easier.
• Changing mat or burp cloth – I had a small bag that fit inside my larger diaper bag with a changing mat that carried a few diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes.  I liked having this so I didn’t have to carry the big diaper bag down the aisles to that tiny restroom. **Oh and some planes do not have a changing table in the restroom(albiet the smaller ones; honestly we’ve only been on one in all our travels) .  One more reason it’s nice to have that changing mat/cloth just in case. A burp cloth works well since you could potentially use it for other things if needed.
• Feeding supplies – I nursed J even on the plane, at first using a nursing cover but later I found a zip-up sweater worked even better.  It was one less thing I needed to bring on the plane and honestly I always felt conspicuous with that huge nursing cover whereas I could easily tuck J’s head behind one side of the sweater to nurse and no one even knew.  Nursing works great on a plane.  If you bottle feed, I personally suggest the Drop-Ins for travel.  You only have to bring one actual bottle and then just toss the insert when finished and refill a new insert when needed.  Less bulk to pack, no worries about cleaning out the bottle before the next feeding.  I have used these before during travel and they worked well.  For long flights I dried some dishsoap on a sponge, cut them up into small squares and then used one to clean out the nipple (or later sippy cup) for later use. 
• Bib– J rarely needed bibs on a normal basis, but I always had one on him during flights.  It saved us from having to change clothes if he were to suddenly spit up or drool excessively. 
• Small Pillow – this may seem excessive, but it was worth it for me.  I happened to own a small sponge contour pillow that worked perfectly.  It wasn’t bulky, it curved up around the edges to keep J centered.  I could simply lay the pillow on my lap and then J on the pillow which kept us both cooler and more comfortable.  It also worked well as a temporary nursing pillow. 

General Tips:

Stay relaxed and remember this too shall pass. Yes, you will of course hit turbulence RIGHT when you’re in the bathroom, beginning to peel that blow out diaper off your infant.  Yes the pilot will come over the announcement to warn everyone to get back in their seats at that moment.  Just stay relaxed, try and see the humor in the situation.   Yes, your baby might decide to scream through security, even if they’ve never shed a tear prior.  Just keep calm. This too shall pass.  Yes, your infant will fill their diaper to overflowing RIGHT when the plane leaves the gate and you aren’t allowed up to change them while waiting in that 30 minute line for takeoff.  Just stay calm.  This too shall pass. Getting annoyed or stressed does nothing to help you or your little one.  I fully believe our little ones excel in reading body language.  They will read into your stress and become more easily agitated themselves.  That will do no one any good.

Keep a sense of humor about the trip.  I know I mentioned this before, but it’s worth repeating.

 Show your little one off to the other passengers when you are waiting to leave the gate (don’t force your baby on them, but let them admire them all they want).  Be friendly with them.  Tell them how old your little one is, even be honest about your nerves but also mention you will do your best to keep your guy calm and content throughout the flight. This serves multiple purposes.  It helps you remain calm.  It helps them remember you are a fellow human, not just some mother who dared bring their child on a plane just to annoy them!  It helps them hold their patience a little longer if that adorable baby decides to cry for awhile…. or stinks up the plane momentarily.

Don’t worry about routines.  On a normal basis, I am a proponent of schedules and routines for J.  On planes, I am just fine with getting off the routine.  If J wanted to sleep longer while flying, fine.  If he wanted to eat more often, no problem.  My goal was keep him content, which has great side benefits:  mom/dad is kept content and of course the other passengers on the plane remain content too. 

Feed baby just before entering airport.  This honestly always worked best for us when J was an infant and young baby.  J would often get a catnap on the way to the airport and I would feed him in the car upon arrival.  This meant he was well-rested and well-fed BEFORE either of us had to deal with the craziness inside.  You don’t want a hungry baby in the security line or while heading onto the plane.  They will also likely be at least hungry enough to feed a little (though not necessary, see next tip for more) upon departure if you want them to suck on something during take-off.

Don’t worry about ear pressure.  That’s seems to be a very common question I get about flying with little ones.  J has never had an issue with his ears while flying.  In talking with other moms, they’ve told me the same thing.  To be safe, I would be sure there is no ear infection prior to your trip and then don’t worry about it.  **I should note that there was one instance where J’s pediatrician found an ear infection in one ear eventhough J had NO symptoms at all.  I had just taken him to the doctor pre-travel as a precaution.  I’m so glad we did.  I wouldn’t want to get on the plane only to realize then that his ears were a problem. **

It’s true that drinking or sucking on something helps to relieve pressure in the ear, so be prepared just in case. But if your little one is sleeping, my suggestion is let them sleep.  Don’t worry about their ears. I see parents on planes waking their sleeping baby up for takeoff/landing to feed them fearful that their little one will be in pain.  Usually they end up with a fussy baby that didn’t want to wake up and doesn’t want to eat.  With the pressurization on planes today, cabin pressure is not a big problem at all.  If you notice anything it would most likely be during the initial descent (about 30 minutes prior to landing), but even then a problem is unlikely.  They are way better with this today than 20 or 30 years ago when we were flying as kids.  Again, J has never had a problem.

Most importantly, flying gets you to where you need to be… and does so quickly (comparitively speaking).  You will make it and your little one will make it.  I would not let fear of travelling with an infant keep me from flying.   Go and have fun!

And you might just make it with ease. Actually while flying with an infant, this is entirely likely!

I’ll be posting my thoughts, experiences and helpful activities for flying with older babies, pretoddlers and toddlers soon.

Operation Christmas Child

I am so excited about this!  I first heard about Operation Christmas Child last year through a Veggietales video.  Of course I didn’t find out about it until the after the deadline to drop off boxes.  This year I won’t miss it!  I think it is so important to teach J a heart of giving.  That takes putting it into practice. 

So this year we will be organizing some shoeboxes full of goodies for little boys and girls around the world.  I plan to do something similar to what Amanda described here on Impress Your Kids (a WONDERFUL site by the way!!)

Since J is so young, I first plan to show him this video: Veggie Tales Operation Christmas Child story. I originally saw this on the St. Nicholas Veggietales video. 

We’ll talk about the act of giving, make a list of fun things to give other little boys and girls and GO SHOPPING!  I’ll be sure to share how everything goes once we’ve packed our boxes, but I wanted to get this info out in case others would like to join us!  The week to drop off boxes is November 15-22, 2010.  Don’t miss out like I did last year!  If you go to Operation Christmas Child  you will find all the info you need, including where the drop off locations are for your area.  This is something everyone in the family can get involved in!

ETA: I wanted to mention that they even give you the opportunity to track your box.  You can a barcode online to attach to your box to determine it’s final location.  This is a great way to incorporate a little geography and culture to the project!  This page tells more about their tracking process.

To add to the links for you to check out, please take time to listen to this song, Give This Christmas Away.  It will touch your heart and inspire you to find all sorts of ways to give this year.

New Favorites Page!

Check out the new favorites page in the top toolbar.  If you’re looking for a quick list to choose from to get started, I would recommend choosing from that page. I tried to organize based on what would’ve helped me the most when I first started.  These are all activities J enjoyed the most.    I split up the top activities by age groups and then separated crafts from homemade toys/games.  Remember that the age groups are generalizations, you will probably find activities that your little one could enjoy at an earlier age as well as activities that might need to wait for awhile.  I have only one child to base my generalizations on!

My criteria for a “Favorite” is: 

• lots of mileage.   
• easy to implement
• easy to clean
• entertain for a realistic period of time
• cheap/worth the expense
• encourage development

Many are activities that I have heard other mom’s say say their little ones adored too.

I hope this helps streamline things a bit!

Coupon from Seeds Family Worship

You’ve heard me mention these CDs from Seeds Family Worship before.   As a little reminder, they are great children’s worship songs that put scripture to music.  They aren’t just for kids either.  I love them.  J loves them.  My husband loves them.  As my husband put it, “You can’t get better than divine lyrics.”  (See this post for more info on them)

We currently have all five of their CDs. They literally rotate from one to the next.  We love each one.  And we’re all learning scripture!

Here’s the good news, Seeds Family Worship is offering a great deal to all my readers.  You can get 20% off of your cd purchase by using this coupon code at checkout, ENGAGINGTODDLERS.  This offer expires in 6 months, December 14, 2010.  This discount is good for everything except clearance prices.  Since Seeds Family Worship already offers a free cd for every one that you buy, this extra 20% makes a good deal even better.  If you want to hear some of their songs, check out this link.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do receive a free cd after the purchase of 10 cds using this code.  Since I have all 5 of their cds anyway, I’ll be giving any free cd away to others. 

You really won’t be disappointed with their cds. I hope you find the coupon code helpful! Check out their website at http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/

Mother’s Day

We’ve been sending my mom and grandma’s some of J’s artwork quite a bit and honestly thought they could use a little break from it 🙂 

They always tell me how much they’d rather get photos than store bought cards, so this year I incorporated our a photo of J into our Mother’s Day message…. with sidewalk chalk!  (again, gotta love this stuff!)

You can’t get much simpler than this.  J helped by “writing” the letters (scribbling over each one with his blue chalk) and then I coerced a smile out of him and snapped a picture.  Notice his hands up by his cheeks?  This is what he does when he’s being forced to smile(shhh… don’t tell the grandmas!).  I printed the photos, along with a few other favorite shots from the past month and mailed them in place of a Mother’s day card. 

Age: 24 months

Homemade Toy: Family Board Books

I made these board books for J when he was probably 12 or 13 months old.  It was SO easy to accomplish and well worth it.  J has always loved them.  I think these would be great from infancy on (just keep your little one’s slobber away since the ink will bleed… or seal the pages beforehand).

I bought a board book kit from Amazon; I’m pretty sure this is the link. I still have a three blank books to make.  The kit included the books, blank labels for each page and a computer template to download.  Of course you don’t have to use the labels.  You can draw on the books or even have your toddler create their own book.

The family book I made is really simple.  I include parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We don’t live anywhere near ANY family, but I really wanted J to learn who all his relatives were.  This way when we are able to see them, he is already familiar with their pictures at least.  Each page in the book has just one labeled picture so it’s very clear who is who.  I used to read this book a lot to him before we took a trip to visit family.  After each trip we’ve taken to visit family, J tends to return to the book a lot on his own too.   I do think if I were to do it again, I would try and include photos that were a little more fun… like Grandpa playing with a ball or Aunt Jenn riding a bike (whereas I just have a front photo of each one smiling). 

“My Dad Loves Me” was actually a Father’s day gift (from J to daddy).  This is his favorite of the two board books, probably because Daddy is J’s favorite person in the world!  I included lots of pictures of J and dad from birth until the present (or when I created the book obviously).  I added a rhyming story to go along with the photos.  J loves that he sees them playing the guitar or playing with a ball in the pictures.  When we’ve taken a few trips without dad, I brought J’s daddy book along with us to read which he really likes.

Here’s the text of J’s daddy’s book:

Right from the start, Dad was my biggest fan. 

We share kisses and cuddles and lots of big grins.

My Daddy is teaching me to play the guitar.

I’m teaching him to take care of the car.

We work out together.

We act silly together.

We walk and we ride and we explore together.

We splash around in the pool.

We eat ice cream ’till we drool.

Whether we’re playing ball or just hanging out,

My Daddy loves me. You can’t get better than that!

Another side benefit of the books is that when J has experienced a little separation anxiety and hesitant to play alone, I have kept the books within his reach so he has pictures of those he loves close by.  I got this idea from an online group I’m in.  I’m honestly not sure how much this helped since any bout of separation anxiety was very short lived.  It certainly didn’t hurt though!

FYI…. I also bought this blank board book kit and it really only included the blank book and some ideas/instructions on how to create your book.  I haven’t used this one yet; it’s currently stuffed in my craft cabinet. 

Read This: Because a Little Bug went Ka-Choo!

“Because a Little Bug went KA-CHOO!”  is such an adorable book that I had to mention it here.  It’s probably been J’s favorite for the past 3 or 4 months.  The book is in The Cat in the Hat’s line called Beginner Books.  It was written by Rosetta Stone (gotta love that name by the way!). 

The story is adorable, all about how a little bug’s sneeze causing a chain reaction that ends with mayhem in the nearby town.  The pictures are adorable too.  J loves that he can find all the characters on basically every page.  My aunt gave J this book, saying it was her daughter’s favorite almost 20 years ago and the first book her daughter learned to read.  Well, it’s still a winner today.  J has much of the chain reaction memorized already.

Homemade Toy: Pipe Cleaners in a Bottle

This activity is a huge winner.   I once read about giving toddlers spaghetti pasta to fit inside empty spice containers in the “Toddler Busy Book”.  I tried this first (with an empty water bottle since he was too young to fit the spaghetti in the tiny spice holes) but the spaghetti kept breaking and then I was worried he’d try to eat the pieces.  It just didn’t work with J so young.  So I changed the activity and gave him pipe cleaners with the empty bottle instead.  I twisted the pipe cleaners in half so they were more sturdy and bent the ends around so they were safe.  J loved loved loved this.  It is definitely in the top 10 toys he owns.  I now include it when making a  Busy Box for 1 year olds.

It’s a great activity to help little ones practice motor skills.  The length of the pipe cleaners makes it more difficult to fit inside the bottle than a puff ball or anything small enough to fit into their hands.  J often tried to hold the bottle in one hand and the pipe cleaner in his other hand so it required steady hands (something he did not have at first!)  As he’s gotten older and in better control of his muscles I’ve decreased the size of the mouth on the bottle.  He now uses an empty parmesan container with the holes in the lid or a plastic lid that I punched holes into.  I’ve also seen an activity online that colored around each hole to encourage their toddler to match the colors during the activity (though I can’t remember where!).  I liked that idea, but haven’t used it yet.  It would definitely increase the difficulty. 

It’s funny how we don’t realize all the skills we had to master in order to do things like pouring, sorting, threading, etc. It’s fun watching J learn these things.  This is one of J’s favorite activities between ages 11 months and maybe 18 months.  

      

It’s a perfect plane activity since it keeps him occupied for so long and is so light to carry while traveling.  In fact, he just enjoyed this toy on our plane ride this morning at 22 months.  Again it’s light, keeps them busy for an extended time and the pipe cleaners can be used for other things (make jewelry, letters, shapes, chains, threading,…).

Age attempted: I can’t remember exactly when I first introduced this; I know my neice is able to do it at 12 months right now.

Teachable Moments:  In and Out, show them how to hold the bottle still while moving the pipe cleaner, fine motor skills, color matching,

Try Again?  He is still intrigued at 23 months!  I made the activity more difficult as he got older.

 

Here’s the cuter version I made for my neice.  I just punched holes into the top of an Empty Puffs container.

Why Didn’t I Think of That? Children’s Scripture CD from Seeds Family Worship

** Edited to add:  They’ve just offered a coupon code to my readers.  Enter ENGAGINGTODDLERS at checkout and you’ll get 20% off of your cd purchase. This coupon expires  December 14, 2010.  If you would like to hear some of their songs check out this link!**

Have you ever noticed how it’s so much easier to memorize to music? 

I’m gonna assume you answered yes 🙂 

Somewhere in my search for activities, I discovered a BRILLIANT set of CDs from Seeds Family Worship.  They put scripture to song and they do it BEAUTIFULLY!  The songs are great for kids, but they’re also great for adults.  I listen to their CDs even when J isn’t with me.  I would have ordered them even if I did not have a child at all.  They are that good. 

I absolutely LOVE this product (can you tell?).  J absolutely LOVES this product.  It will be my new gift for family and friends.

I currently have two of their CDs, but will soon order the remaining 3 in the series.  Each CD has scripture focused on a specific topic.  We have “Seeds of Purpose” and “The Power of Encouragement”.  The other choices are “Seeds of Faith”, “Seeds of Courage”, and “Seeds of Praise”.  The lyrics are direct quotes from the NIV Bible.  Each song has the scripture reference and the text; the text is repeated (in a praise song style).  The repetition is not annoying like many of the children’s songs. 

For now, J and I just listen to the songs in the car and while playing at home.  When he’s a little older and can speak a little better, I will use these CDs to help him memorize scripture.  To me, scripture holds the greatest lessons I could ever teach J.  Anything that will help me accomplish this is something I want to promote!

**Oh and one added benefit, the company sends TWO CDs for every one that you order!  You get one to keep for yourself and one to give away to friend or family.  I have already decided who is getting my 2 extra CDs! I can’t wait to give it to them!!