MomTrusted on Parenting, Kids, and Early Education

Animal Themed Snacks

Teaching your kids about animals? There’s no better way than using tasty treats. Check out these fun, animal themed snacks:

 

Bear S’mores

Put a fun twist on s’mores by making them into little bears. Break the graham cracker in half so that you have a square. This will be the head. Take two mini marshmallows and melt them so that you have two gooey dots in the two upper corners of the square. These are the ears. Then take a regular sized marshmallow and melt it near the bottom center of the square. Add a chocolate chip on top for the nose and use chocolate syrup to draw the mouth on the big marshmallow. Place two chocolate chips under the ears to represent the eyes. Then chow down on your bear-themed s’mores.

 

Animal Pancakes

You can create virtually any animal from giraffes to bees out of pancake batter. All you need is a squirty tube to help you create intricate designs on the pan (think the dressing squirters at Subway) and your regular old pancake batter. If you want to get super creative, add a few drops of food coloring to the batter to make peacocks blue and green or ladybugs red. Check out JimsPancakes.com for ideas!

 

 

Fruit Frogs

Make a healthy snack by turning apples and grapes into green fruit frogs. Use a core-remover to get rid of the center of a green apple. Then, cut the apple into fourths. Using a couple dabs of cream cheese to prop two of the pieces on top of each other horizontally. This is the frog’s body. Then take three green grapes and chop them in half. Cut slits that represent toes in four of them. Use cream cheese to stick two feet near the center and two feet on either side of the body, underneath the plain-sliced grape halves. Next, use a little cream cheese to glue two mini marshmallows on top of the body with a chocolate chip inside of each one for the eyeballs. Ribbit!

 

Sources:

-“Traceee Young” Pinterest

-“Apple Frogs” Clean and Sentsible

-Photo courtesy of Feelart/freedigitalphotos.net

Advice for Smooth Sailing at the Grocery Store

We’ve all been there. You’re strolling down the produce isle and you can sense a meltdown coming from your kiddo. You try to hurry, but you’re only halfway down your grocery list. Do you abandon cart and run for the car? Or do you put on a smile and pretend that your kid isn’t screaming at the top of his lungs? MomTrusted has some advice for dealing with public meltdowns and how to avoid them in the first place. Think of it as your guide to smooth sailing at the grocery store:

 

Avoid meltdowns by avoiding boredom

One of the classic reasons behind a tantrum is just plain boredom. Grocery shopping can be boring for little ones so here are a few ways to make the chore as much fun as possible:

-Have your little one help you find what you’re looking for by hosting a scavenger hunt.

-Kids love the scales at the grocery store. Plus, they’re great learning tools! Ask them to help you weigh the fruits and veggies.

-Help teach counting by writing the objects on your list nice and big and crossing them off as you go. Then, ask your child how many items you have left to grab.

-When you’re ready to checkout, ask your little one to help you sort your items as you put them on the conveyer belt. You can organize by size, shape or color.

 

How to handle grocery store meltdowns

If it’s too late and your child is already crying and screaming loud enough for the whole store to hear, don’t panic. Here are a few ways to handle a public, grocery store tantrum:

-Stay calm. Reacting emotionally will only trigger strong emotions from your child.

-Do not cave. If he or she is crying because they want a piece of candy, do not give them the candy! You’ll only be reinforcing poor behavior and creating more work for yourself down the road.

-If it’s really disruptive and not ending, step outside or take your little one to the restroom until they calm down.

-Ignore looks or negative words from strangers. It happens to the best of us.

-Apologize. A screaming, crying child can be embarrassing because we all know how disruptive they are so apologize to fellow customers. While they may not love the meltdown, they’ll certainly appreciate you acknowledging it.

 

Sources:

-“Great Games for the Grocery Store.” Disney Family

-“I’m embarrassed by my child’s public tantrums. What can I do?” Baby Center

-“How to handle public tantrums.” Circle of Moms

-Photo courtesy of digitalart/freedigitalphotos.net

Easy Crafts: Make an Educational Felt Board

Looking for some easy crafts to keep you and your little one busy? Check out this felt board that’s both educational and fun. You can use it to teach colors, shapes, letters and more.

 

What you need:

-Different colored pieces of felt

-Large picture frame

-One plain piece of adhesive felt about one inch l inch larger than the frame

-Scissors

-2 pieces of cardboard board the ½ inch smaller than the frame

-Duct tape

-Kraft paper

 

Instructions:

1. Remove and discard of the glass from the frame.

2. Cut about 1 inch of the corners off of the large piece of adhesive felt.

3. Tape the felt around the cardboard.

4. Place the felt-covered board within the frame.

5. Add a second piece of cardboard to the back for extra support.

6. Secure with kraft paper and duct tape.

7. Cut fun shapes out of the different colored pieces of felt. Here are a few ideas:

-Letters

-Numbers

-Basic shapes

-Animals

 

Sources:

-“Felt Board for Kids.” Martha Stewart

-Photo courtesy of Grant Cochrane/freedigitalphotos.net

Baby Development: What to Look for in Babies 4-7 Months

When your baby hits four months, they’ll begin to go through all sorts of physical and mental growth. From new movements to name recognition, you’ll be amazed at the baby development that your little one goes through in a few short months. MomTrusted has summarized a few exciting milestones to keep an eye out for:

 

Physical developments

Babies will develop remarkably in physical ways during this stage of growth. Some typical physical developments include:

-The ability to roll right to left

-Some may even develop the ability to roll over to their stomachs

-Color vision

-Clearer vision in general

-Sitting with support and possible on his or her own

-The ability to put support on his or her legs

-Reaching

-Grabbing and transferring with alternating hands

-Raking, or pulling items closer

 

Mental developments

In addition to going through some big physical changes during these three months, babies will also have tons of new information shaping their minds. Here are some of the cognitive developments that you can expect:

-Spotting covered, “hidden” objects

-Starting to understand and respond to words like “no” and his or her name

-Can keep an eye on moving objects

-Beginning to recognize emotion in voices

-Responding to sounds with his or her own baby noises

 

Social, language and emotional developments

Finally, between four and seven months, babies will begin to grow socially and emotionally, starting with very small, but powerful signs including:

-Babies’ language skills will increase through babbling consonants.

-He or she will begin to interact with you or others through the form of play.

-Babies start to see, recognize and enjoy their own reflections.

-Not only will babies begin to recognize emotion through voice, but they’ll respond to others’ emotions, often by imitating them.

 

Sources:

-“Growth and Development Milestones: 4-7 months” parents.com

-“Infant Development: Milestones 4 to 6 Months” Mayo Clinic

-Photo courtesy of magerymajestic/freedigitalphotos.net

“Bad” Charter Schools Show No Signs of Improvement

Charter schools have received a lot of attention from the media in recent years. The movie Waiting for Superman shed light on the alternative schools as a positive possibility for solving poor education in the public school system. At the same time, many experts don’t believe they’re the answer due to their small sizes and availability, ability to bend rules like time regulations on school days and their access to both federal and outside funding.

 

While some argue that good charter schools could be the answer to low reading and math scores in public schools, a new study by Stanford scholars shows that this can only be an option if they start out strong in the first place. According to a report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), a group that studies student performance and educational reform, charter schools that start bad, stay that way.

 

The group followed thousands of charter schools throughout their first five years. CREDO looked for performance trends, comparing early scores to ones after the charter schools matured. The results were basically the same across the board: the ones that started with high scores, still had high scores five years later. However, the trend held true for those on the opposite side of the spectrum. Charter schools that started off shaky were still low performers five years after their launch.

 

What does this mean for parents today? If you’re considering sending your child to a charter school, do your research. Compare test performance between the charter school and local public schools. Send your child to whichever performs better. And whatever you do, don’t listen to anyone who claims the charter school is just having a shaky start and will work out the kinks down the road. According to CREDO’s new study, they’re doomed to stay exactly where they start- bad charter schools are bad charter schools.

 

Sources:

-“CREDO at Stanford University unveils national charter school growth and replication study.” CREDO

-“Charter school arguments.” NCSL

-“Charter schools that start bad stay bad, report says.” HuffPo

-“Parents daily news roundup.” Parents.com

-Photo courtesy of criminalatt/freedigitalphotos.net

3 Ways to Help Your Child Reach Their Full Potential

With the job market in its current state, colleges getting more expensive and scholarships getting pickier and more difficult to obtain, the need to help your child reach their full potential is becoming increasingly important. The importance of outshining fellow classmates has become an obsession for many. We’ve put together a few steps to help your kiddos be as great as they can be without putting too much pressure on them:

 

Step 1: Talk to your child

Ask them questions from when they’re learning to talk to when they’re leaving for college. Ask them about their day. Ask their opinions. Ask about their goals. Throw in a few challenging vocab words when you’re asking these questions. Even if your little one doesn’t know exactly what they mean, he or she can use the context of the question to figure them out, teaching important problem solving skills.

 

Step 2: Read to your child

Reading stimulates parts of the brain that talking and playing don’t. It also helps grow children’s vocabulary pools and literacy. Keep plenty of books around the house and make sure to take fun trips to the library. Read aloud to them, but also encourage them to read on their own. Ask them what they’re reading about and teach by example by making sure you’re reading in front of them.

 

Step 3: Praise results, but don’t fuss over shortcomings.

Did your child ace a spelling quiz or learn a new word? Tell them how awesome that is! Don’t necessarily buy them a special toy or treat though. You want to make it clear that getting results is important in itself, not a way of getting presents.

 

However, don’t make a big deal out of a mistake or not coming in first. Failures are just another way of learning. Remind your child of the valuable lesson they’ve learned and ask them what they think they could do next time to improve. Doing this will set progression tools for the rest of their lives.

 

Sources:

-“How to Raise Gifted Children.” Parenting.com

-Photo courtesy of photo stock/freedigitalphotos.net

7 Ways to Promote Early Education

It’s never too early to start actively enforcing your toddler’s learning, even before they head to preschool. Simple, every day activities promote early education, putting your child in peak learning shape for when they do head to school.

 

Stick to a routine. Consistency is grounding and gives children a sense of trust. Once their environment is stable, they’ll be more open to learning, especially at an early age.

 

Hit the books early. Just because your child can’t read on their own quite yet, doesn’t mean they don’t love to read. Reading out loud can help jumpstart reading skills. Plus, reading to your little one helps build basic skills like speech, sentence structure and the abcs of learning (like reading from left to right).

 

Let them help with every day tasks. There are measuring lessons in cooking, color recognition in laundry and biology lessons in gardening. Learning every day tasks will not only teach responsibility and the jobs themselves, but there are mini lessons to be learned with each activity.

 

 Participate. Joining in and guiding result in more effective learning than simply telling children what to do. Kids learn by example and, especially at young ages, often mirror their parents and teachers. They’ll learn faster if they have someone to observe and copy.

 

Communicate. Simply talking and listening to your child will help them learn. They want to both ask you questions and share their theories and experiences. Listen when they do and actively respond. If your child is telling you about coloring at a play date, ask what they drew and why they chose that subject. Talk about their favorite colors.

 

Encourage creativity. Youngsters learn by imagining and imitating through dress up and pretending. Encourage them to express themselves and make believe. These behaviors are their way of understanding and digesting the world around them.

 

Time and patience are key. Take things slow and one day at a time. Just like adults, children have good and bad days. It’s your job to remain consistent and loving, not frustrated. Plus, overstimulation is never good. A slow, steady pace gives your little one time to digest all of the new information they’re taking in.

 

 

Sources:

-Serge, Irene. “Time to Get Serious About Early Learning.” Eye on Early education. November 28, 2012. < http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2012/11/28/time-to-get-serious-about-early-learning/>

-“10 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids” Early Moments. < http://www.earlymoments.com/Promoting-Literacy-and-a-Love-of-Reading/Why-Reading-to-Children-is-Important/>

-“Promoting Learning.” BornLearning.org. http://www.bornlearning.org/default.aspx?id=17

-“Early Learning at Home and in Preschool.” 4Children.org. http://www.4children.org/issues/2012/spring/early_learning_at_home_and_in_preschool/

 -Photo courtesy of sheelamohan/freedigitalphotos.net