February 16, 2019 – joyful parenting

Clapping Game (3)

Babies generally can’t clap until they are about 8 or 9 months old, but they sure do love clapping games long before that. Today, we simply played patty-cake, a perennial favorite of parents for good reason. It had Veronika giggling and wide-eyed as I guided her hands through each motion.

As a reminder, here are the words:

Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker’s man

Bake me a cake as fast as you can.

Roll it, pat it, mark it with a [child’s initial]

Put it in the oven for [child’s name] and me!

The first time, I simply said the words and did the actions for her: Clap during the first two lines, roll your hands for “roll it,” pat baby’s tummy on “pat it,” and trace their initial on “mark it.”

Clapping Game (2)

The second time, her hands joined mine – clapping, rolling, and patting. She looked so excited to be part of the action!

Clapping Game (1)

I also broke my no-screen rule and let her watch a cute cartoon of the song, to increase her familiarity with the tune.

Clapping Game (4)

In sum, this is a fun one to do throughout the day, or at diaper changes diaper changes!

Verseilles (7)

Here’s to another clever lesson plan from Raddish Kids, one that I originally feared would be too advanced for a four-year-old, but which led to great fun and games.

The idea is to start with the Palace of Versailles specifically, and move on to what a palace is more generally. All in connection with the yummy Nicoise salad we cooked, of course.

I introduced Travis to Versailles through a few of the lesson plan’s suggested resources, such as quick videos and online books.

Versailles (1)

Now that he had a sense of the place, I asked him what a palace was. We settled on a definition of a “grand residence” that housed a king or queen. (Note: Big kids can be more exact with this definition).

He seemed only mildly interested by the Versailles information, so I was delighted when he immediately stood from the table and said, “Let’s build one!” His preferred medium was magnatiles, and I was thrilled watching his design come together.

Verseilles (3)

He even added “rooms” inside his palace, since we’d rattled off fascinating facts about Versailles (700 rooms, 60 staircases, and 10,000 residents, oh my!).

Verseilles (4)

Now we needed to furnish our palace, and we followed Raddish’s suggestion for the youngest kids to make a collage. We went through a home decor magazine and I asked Travis what his palace needed.

He had very definite ideas, everything from a Corinthian column to a kitchen. “We need a fancy kitchen. And we don’t have a fancy stove yet,” he reminded me as we selected photos to cut out.

Versailles (2)

We then pasted these down into a collage, which he loved so much we cut out more pictures and covered three sheets of construction paper!

Verseilles (8)

Finally, it was time for a royal gala. Travis dressed up in a cape and crown (mommy might have donned a second set…) to parade about our royal residence. (Note: Here’s where big kids can do this more as a presentation, and explain their palace to siblings or friends).

Versaille (9).JPG