Month: March 2019

Name Check

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Today’s activity is a simple reminder to… use your child’s name! It builds upon the Name Drop game we played back when Veronika was only two months old.

A child’s name is one of the first words they’ll truly recognize, since they probably hear it hundreds of times each day. For each action today, I made a point of saying “Veronika,” first. “Veronika, I’m going to pick you up now.” “Veronika, we’re going to do your diaper change.” “Veronika, we’re getting in the car.”

Then, although she’s years away from learning to read and write her name, it was also fun to provide her with a visual of it throughout the day.

To wit, she starts the day on the sheets that say her name!

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Big brother Travis and I then had fun going through “Veronika’s photo album,” and putting together a personalized puzzle with her name – and she got to have fun watching the action.

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Personalized books are great for this purpose, too, since many companies will now custom print a book featuring your child’s name.

We even have a family song almost entirely about her name. The ditty works like a charm whenever she’s fussy in the car. It goes:

Veronika, Veronika

We love Veronika – oh yeah!

And yes, I’ve been known to repeat this song for up to ten minutes on end, if it keeps her calm!

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What other cute personalized items does your baby have? Chairs? Step stools? Backpacks? Please share in the comments!

Start Naming Colors

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As a general rule, I tend to pepper my speech for Veronika with mention of colors. They’re all around baby everyday, and you can say simple sentences like, “You’re wearing your green shirt” or “You’re holding a pink toy.” But today, we played a cute game that focused on the three primary colors, plus another very common one, green.

Build up a tower of soft blocks that are all one color for your child. As I placed each block, I repeated the color. “Red, red, red” I said, as this tower rose up, up, up.

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I repeated the process for a blue tower, green tower, and yellow tower.

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Then play a round of baby soccer (i.e. kicking) and have your child knock the tower down. “Now we’re knocking down the red tower!” I told her.

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Once she was surrounded by blocks, we took turns playing with one color at a time, again saying each color’s name as we played.

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This turned out to be such a delight that we had to repeat the building and knocking down several times!

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Once baby tires of it, leave some of the towers up for a great tummy time visual.

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Baby’s View

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If you’re at all like me, you’re probably in the habit of putting your baby in the same places, facing the same direction, and looking at the same spots. This is certainly true for Veronika, with her head always the same way for diaper changes, her high chair at the same angle near the dinner table, and a go-to spot for her blanket during playtime on the rug.

Today, the goal was to shake things up! Although routine is good for babies (it helps your little one record information), even little changes can help forge new pathways and memories in the brain.

First, instead of getting her dressed on her diaper table, we changed outfits down on the floor. Hello, new location!

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Next, I placed her high chair in a different corner of the kitchen while I cooked and cleaned. Goodbye old spot…

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Hello new!

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She loved that she could look out the patio door from here, and seemed delighted whenever I opened the cabinets just past her shoulder.

Then we slid her tummy time blanket over to a different section of the living room, and I faced her another way. A whole new wealth of furniture and sights to see!

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Obviously it’s not practical to move around big pieces of furniture like a crib, but if you have small, easy to move pieces, do a switch-e-roo today. I turned her baby swing, which normally faces one way…

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…and oriented it another. I’d say she liked the change!

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Finally, I always make a point of switching up which way Veronika sleeps in the crib. If she nurses on the right side just before bed, her head goes to the right, and vice versa for the left.

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So take the time to switch things up today, and see if your baby finds a new favorite point of view!

Coin Conundrums

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Here’s a neat brain teaser that helps your preschooler learn on multiple levels. You can use it to teach about coin denominations, counting, and shape recognition and formation, plus there’s a puzzle to solve! Travis was a bit frustrated at first, but so proud when he cracked the code for the final teaser.

For each of these three teasers, all you need is pennies (or any other coin). Travis counted out six pennies for the first one.

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I set the pennies up in a triangle, with the point away from Travis. Could we move only two pennies so the point was facing toward him instead?

At first he just randomly dragged two pennies.

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I prompted him to try moving the bottom two pennies up, and voila, our triangle was reversed. Now he was intrigued!

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Next we counted out four pennies and put them in a line. Could we make it so each penny was touching all the others? Squares didn’t work, or diamond shapes, or lines.

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Turns out you can’t think in one dimension for this one! The key is to build up, with one penny poised atop the other (touching) three.

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Finally, we counted out nine pennies, and I arranged them in a large triangle. Could Travis figure out how to turn this into a square, moving only two pennies?

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We identified that the shape toward the middle was nearly square already.

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Carefully, he tried moving one of the bottom pennies up. Now he could see the square forming, and complete the final move without any help.

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Voila!

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We got these ideas from Highlights; can you think of other penny brain teasers? Please share in the comments.

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Keep Hugging

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After a busy weekend, Veronika just collapsed against me in a hug and took a nap on my tummy. I cherished the moment; although it’s something I had time for almost every day with her big brother, I can rarely fit in a tummy nap with baby number two!

What I can make time for every day is hugging. So today’s activity is simply a reminder to keep doing so, if you’ve gotten out of the habit since my post all the way back in November.

When you hug your baby, you can say, “I’m giving you a hug,” or “Here’s a kiss.”

Then, put your baby’s arms around you and say, “Now you hug me.” This is such a simple way to teach them about love and affection.

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Big brother Travis has decided that several times a day should be designated “Hugging Times.” He’ll swoop in for a big hug with his sister, which usually has her giggling.

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We finished off the day with a cute read of Huggy Kissy by Leslie Patricelli.

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Does your family have any special hugs? Please share in the comments!

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Photo Time Capsule

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First, I have some proud-mama news: Travis has graduated from High Five magazine (which we’ve subscribed to since he was two years old) to Highlights magazine! I noticed he’d grown bored of High Five’s crafts and recipes, and sensed it was time for a change. When his Welcome issue arrived, he had to dive in right away, and we couldn’t wait to read the comics, puzzles, and stories. The magazine is billed for ages 6 to 12, so we’re starting young, but Travis is so proud to be reading the “big boy” version.

One project we needed to try right away: a photo time capsule.

I set Travis up with the instant camera, as well as cute photo frames to slot the prints into, and challenged him to find things he loved around the house that represent this time period.

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Some ideas include favorite books, favorite games, and favorite foods.

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Here his superhero figures pose for a pic!

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Highlights also suggested capturing family meals, pets, or school tests in a picture, although we skipped those. Some of his choices were not what I would have spent ten instant photos on, but it’s his capsule, and turned out adorable. When I questioned why he snapped the bread loaf from his toy food set, he said, “Because I like to eat bread in restaurants!”

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And of course we captured bigger things, like baby sister Veronika, and his bedroom at this age.

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Make sure to label the photos, then seal in an envelope. Travis wanted to decorate the envelope all yellow so it was “happy”.

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We taped it shut, and wrote this directive: “Do not open until 2029!” We’ll see you in 10 years, time capsule!

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Larger Board Books

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Veronika first graduated from black and white books to those with more colors and rhymes. Now, at just shy of five-months-old, she’s at a great age for large-format tactile books. Look especially for ones that can open flat, so they provide entertainment during tummy time. She’s rolling over to check this one out!

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No need to stick to black and white anymore – babies at this age will love seeing vivid colors.

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Other things to look for include thick, easy-to-turn pages and flaps. Veronika loves playing peekaboo with the animals hiding behind pages.

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Noises are also fantastic. Two that we love, featuring farm animal sounds: I Like to Squeak, How Do You Speak by Jonathan Litton and Poppy and Sam’s Animal Sounds from Usborne Books.

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And don’t forget about texture!

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Pat the Bunny is a classic, and Veronika also loves Noisy Farm Touch and Feel by Tiger Tales.

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In sum, mix it up for your baby with new finds from the library or bookstore, and watch how interactive your little one is with books now.

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Roly-Poly Game

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We have a roller! Veronika officially started rolling a few days ago (and I credit a lot of that to our scarf circle game!) and now she doesn’t want to stop.

If you’re still coaxing your baby to roll (or have a new roller who can’t get enough of it) here’s a fun game to play. Any toy will work, but I like to play this game with round balls for maximum roly-poly fun.

Start with your baby on his or her back, and give them a toy.

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Then move the toy just out of reach off to the side. If needed, you can get down in that direction too, and coo and urge your baby to reach for it and (hopefully) flip over.

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My little miss roly-poly needs no encouragement, now! Going, going…

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Gone!

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She looks so pleased to reach the toys.

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We added on to the rolling fun by gently batting the ball back and forth.

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As I rolled the ball near her, I sang:

Roll that little ball round the room

Roll that little ball round the room

Roll that little ball round the room, 

Roll that little ball, roll.

In sum, great roly-poly play.

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Banana Messages

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Here’s an adorable way to leave a message for your kids – and to teach them a tiny science lesson in the process!

Use a toothpick to score a message (whether words or a picture) into the peel of a banana. Thanks to the way this bruises the banana peel, your message will darken over time –  the longer it sits, the more visible it will be!

Note that you barely need to puncture the peel at all. The first time, I figured I needed to etch all the way down to the banana flesh, but this turned brown almost instantly.

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A more subtle, gentle scoring of the peel reveals itself slowly.

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Regardless, Travis was thrilled when I told him his banana had a secret message for him. He was so surprised!

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He then needed to try his own hand at it of course. These would be fun for a kid to put together and slip into mom or dad’s lunch for work!

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Take Peekaboo To a New Dimension

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A few weeks back, we introduced peekaboo; now it was time to take the game to a new level! Peekaboo never gets old for babies, but as your baby gets older, you’re going to keep want to find ways to keep it novel and entertaining.

So whereas in the past I’ve draped a see-through scarf over Veronika’s head, today, I used an opaque (but lightweight) blanket. Prop your child up and drape the blanket over his or her head.

Quickly and gently lift one corner with a big happy, “Peek-a-boo!”

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Likely, you’ll get giggles and your little one will want you to repeat again and again.

Though to be honest, sometimes Veronika was more into the blanket itself, and the tactile feel of it over her head or in her hands.

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Then repeat the game with a favorite toy. “Peek-a-boo,” says her pudgy little bear.

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She eagerly awaited each reveal whenever the blanket hid the toy.

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When it appeared again, I’d greet it with, “There’s the toy!”

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As a reminder, there’s a purpose behind this classic. It’s one of the best and earliest ways to teach your child object permanence, so keep those peek-a-boos coming!