Bingo Family Game Night

Bingo Family Game Night is a great way to spice up your weekend!  Especially if you are stuck inside with nowhere to go!

This fun  activity will only cost you the price of the Bingo game (affiliate link) and a few Dollar Tree prizes.  In total I spent $25.  $15 for the Bingo game and $10 in prizes.

 

The children took turns being the Bingo caller.  This is a great opportunity to build listening skills.  Sometimes we had to repeat the letter and number SEVERAL times. 

 

Even our youngest played along.  She just needed someone to point to the number to cover.  Picking up the little markers requires fine motor control!

 

Winners got the Dollar Tree prizes!  I threw each prize in a simple brown paper bag before we got started.  Literally zero prep!

 

 

 

Some of our prizes: 

• Toy guitar
• Little light brite type toy
• Paint with water books  
• Flavored chapsticks
• Fake fingernails (both my girls go crazy for these)
• Movie theater boxed candy
  

Are you ready to play BINGO?

Four Dollar Tree Items for Play Centers

 These four Dollar Tree items will make a great addition to your play centers. 

My son and I headed to my favorite store this week in hopes of finding some cute Valentine items for our play centers.  Unfortunately we didn't find as much as we were hoping.  Do not worry, we will hit up another store soon :)

We did find some great items that are great for all seasons of the year. 

Foam Alphabet Puzzle

Obviously, puzzles are great for fine motor skill development.  But you can use this puzzle in so many other ways. 

• Take out the letters and throw them in the bathtub!  They will float and stick to the side of the tub.
• Place the letters in your sensory bin.  Children can dig through the rice, sand, or pasta to find the letters and match them to the puzzle board.  You can use different utensils (tongs, spoons, tweezers) to grasp the letters.
• Use the puzzle board as a stencil in your writing center
• Dip the letter pieces into tempera paint and use them as stamps

Wooden Shape Puzzle

Once again this inset puzzle is great for fine motor development, but we can use it in many different ways. 

• Empty all the shape pieces into a basket for loose parts play.  You may want to buy a couple puzzles so that you have more pieces.  
• Use the puzzle board as a sorting tray for small pieces.  You will have 9 compartments.
• The puzzle board can be used as a cupcake tin for pretend cooking.
  

 

Sand Timer

Brickston was very excited to find this, because we lost our timer from one of our games.  You can make anything a game by adding a timer.

• Use the timer to show children when to give someone else a turn.
• Set the timer to see how many of the letters or shapes your child can find in the sensory table.
• Set the timer to see how many jumping jacks your child can do. 
•  Place the timer in your child's calm down kit/corner.  Watching a sand timer can be soothing.
  

 

Self-Opening Scissors

You know I love these scissors for beginners!  The little "lift assist" lever helps the scissors to self-open..

• Create a cutting box.  Head over to this post to see how I made an open-ended cutting box for children. 

• Cut playdough

• Hang a piece of wrapping paper between a doorway and have your child cut the paper.  This will help your child to develop correct thumbs up scissor holding. 

   

  How else would YOU use these items?
  

New Year's Resolutions: Goals for My Family

 

Do you make goals for your family at the beginning of the new year?

This year I decided to keep it simple and set only 4 goals. I chose what I think are doable goals for my family.

Read a Chapter Book Each Month

I have always wanted to make the habit of reading a chapter book out loud with my kids.  I just have NEVER been consistent.  Now we are home everyday doing virtual school.  No better time to do it than now!  We are planning to read The Boxcar Children.  We are doing this right after lunch, because when we wait until bedtime it just does not happen. 

Keep a Prayer Journal for the Year

I started this last year, but I am embarrassed to say that we missed several months. I love looking back at the things we were grateful for and the concerns we prayed about.  It is powerful to see how God worked in all of our lives.  

Get a similar journal here. (affiliate link)

Be Outside for 15 minutes Each Day (at minimum)

This might be challenging during the winter months or the bad weather days, but there is nothing like fresh air and hopefully sunshine.  Our bodies need the vitamin D and our minds need the respite of nature.  Some days we may just bundle up to sit on our porch swing to read our chapter book.  Other days, we will spend the time taking our dog for walks or riding our bikes. 

Make Sure No Family Member Eats Alone

Let's be honest, not ALL of 2020 was bad.  Some of the things I want to remember from our slower year are all the dinners we ate together as a family. I am not ready to let that go.  I have a teenager and preteen in my house now.  They are busy and have practices in the evenings.  Even so, I do not want them to eat alone when they get home.  I'm making it my goal that someone sits at the table with them while they eat. 

What are your goals for 2021?

My Favorite Christmas Read Aloud Books

 

Tomorrow starts the 24 day countdown to Christmas!  Last year I created the Play Your Way to Christmas book, and my family is excited to participate in all the sensory and play activities again.  Last year, I loved seeing teachers and families participating.  You can get your copy here!

One of the things I loved about creating this was revisiting some of our favorite Christmas stories.  If you don't have these stories at home, don't worry!  I have read alouds posted below for many of the stories.  I am also including the affiliate links if you want to purchase these Christmas books for your home. 

The First Christmas

Watch me read this book here!

The Christmas Baby board book

If the book above is a little too long, this board book is a great option!

The Gingerbread Man

Run, run as fast as you can!

Watch me read this here!

Dream Snow

You know I LOVE Eric Carle!  This book is great because it has these amazing transparent pages.  Pairs wonderfully with Day 5-9 activities in the Play Your Way to Christmas book.

Watch me read this book here!

The Littlest Elf

This is a precious book about an elf who seems to be too small for most of the jobs in the North Pole.  This story reminds us that everyone can do SOMETHING.

Watch me read this here!

The Polar Express

There is just something about this book's beautiful illustrations!  This is a long book, so if you are reading this with younger children you can tell them a condensed version.

Watch me read the full version here!

Or the condensed version here!

Five Busy Elves

Lots of cute rhyming practice in this book!

Watch me read it here!

And last, but not least....

The Night Before Christmas

Yes, this was my book as a kid!  Ever time I crack open that metallic, golden spine I am instantly snuggled up in bed with my little sister.  We could always swear we heard jingle bells on Christmas Eve night!

Watch me read this here!

What books would you add to this list?

Turkey Story: Timmy's Feathers

Join me for a fun retelling of an easy reader book!

This activity combines a little scientific cause and effect with pre-literacy skills.  This is the best way to prepare for Thanksgiving!

What you need: 

* The printable story

*Picture of the turkey body cut out

* Paper plate

*Food coloring set (red, yellow, blue, green)

*baking soda

*Dropper

*Small cup of vinegar

*Crayons, markers, or colored pencils

How to Set Up the Story:

1. Put a few drops of red food coloring in a line on the paper plate.

2. Do the same with yellow, green, and blue (in this order).

3. Cover the color with sprinkled baking soda.  These will be your feathers.

4. Place the vinegar and dropper close to your paperplate.

5. Begin telling the story.  When Timmy begins to eat items, drip the vinegar onto the appropriate feather.

You can watch the retelling here: 

Go HERE to get the printable story.  Have children read the story and color the appropriate feather.

The story has lots of sight words!

 

Stocking Stuffers for Babies

 

This post contains affiliate links.

Reusable Gallon Ziplock Bags

These are great for reusable sensory bags!  These bags are so fun for babies.  It is a great way to explore things that might be too small for them.

Baby Snacks

If your baby is ready for these, they are always a crowd pleaser.  Goodness, my kids all still love these :)

Boats for the Bath

These can be used in the bath and in the sensory table when they get older.  There are no holes for water to get trapped and mold.  Gross!

Personalized Pacifier: MAM style

We had these for Zaven when he was going to childcare and still used a pacifier.  So cute!  You can search for the style your child uses.

Wubbanub Infant Pacifier

Brickston always loved these Wubbanubs!  This reindeer is so cute and would look adorable peeking over the top of the stocking.

Baby PhD Disposable Placemats

Great for messy play or IF we ever get to eat in a restaurant again.  I like to use disposable placemats when I'm at friends' houses so I don't mess up their table!

Socks

Can you ever really have too many socks? I always struggled to find matches back in the day.  I still struggle with big kid socks.

Angel Dear Lovey

These bring back so many sweet memories.  Both of my boys had Angel Dear Lovies.  Zaven had this leopard and called it "Spotty."  They wash up so well.  If you child falls in love with these, do yourself a favor and buy back-ups.

Letter Sounds with Chick-fil-A Toys

 My family may have a problem.  We may eat at Chick-fil-A quite a bit.  The app just makes it so convenient!  We have accumulated a few sets of these Discover Color cards.  This is a cute game to throw in your purse for when you are waiting at a restaurant or waiting on a sibling to get finished with practice.  

But as I was looking at it today, I thought this would be an easy DIY Letter Sound Game.

What you need:

*Color Cards from Chick-fil-A

*Clothespins

*Permanent Marker

Write letters onto the clothespins.  

I already had these clothespins created from the snowman activity I made.  I prefer to use lowercase letters, because children need practice recognizing these in print.  For this set of cards you really only need: f, l, b, c, r, p, t, f.

You can add other letters just to practice letter discrimination.  

Ask your child to match the letter to the first sound of the picture.  

"What beginning sound do you hear?"

Have you gotten this toy from Chick-fil-A?