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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Art Creation Sites- Links 4 Moms

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National Gallery of Art- NGA Kids Art Zone

This is a wonderful website for children to explore creating art. I tried the Swatchbox which is a drawing program. Then I went to the 3-D Twirler it allowed me to move the object around, resize it and change its color. The final area I looked at was the Collage Machine. I felt very Matisse as I added elements and moved them around. This site is definitely for school age children.

Something Special

This is a painting activity that lets children illustrate what is happening in a story. The paint tools are a little tricky so, I would practice on my own before having my three to five year old do it.

How to Donate to Charity- Great Tip for Bloggers from Mariann Johansen-Ellis

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http://www.hotelscombined.com/Charity.aspx very kindly donate to your charity of choice if you mention their link on your blog…… so let’s all go ahead and do that……
because every dollar for a good cause is a dollar for a good cause!

This was taken from a blog entry on Mariann Johansen-Ellis’ Blog.

Mommyhood Moment- Saying Grace

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I was fortunate to get to spend the weekend with my in-laws this past weekend. Last night at dinner everyone reached out to hold hands to say grace even JDaniel. He has never done that before. He has seen us pray before meals all his life and usually chooses to fuss during grace. Last night he put one hand in mine and one in his grandfathers. It was something I will always remember.

Mommyhood Tip- Sharpening a Crayon at Both Ends

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You have heard of burning a candle at both ends. (Many of you probably feel that way at one time or another.)This tip calls for sharpening a crayon at both ends. Young children have enough trouble holding a crayon. If you sharpen both ends of the crayon, there isn’t a wrong end for them to color with.

Mommyhood Tips- Teaching Toddlers to Share

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I found a great article called 10 Parenting Tips To Help Teach Your Child To Share located on the More 4 Kids website. Here are there tips:

•Tell your toddler that not sharing may mean his friends will not want to share with him either.

•If your toddler doesn’t want to share, explain why it’s important to share.

•Take the toys in question away; if your toddler doesn’t want to share – then no one will play with the toys.

•Never yell at the toddler, but be firm in your reprimands. Yelling rarely gets you anywhere and does not set a good example.

•If your toddler screams and carries on; give the toddler a timeout, or what I like to do is a time in and sit down with your child, talk to him or her and make sure there is not really some other issue that is causing the problem.

•Thank your child for sharing his toys with others.

•Teach your toddler to think of others and how happy it makes them when they share their toys.

•If other toddlers are invited over, ask your toddler to pick out some toys to put away. But also remind him the toys left out can be shared with everyone.

•Teach by example; show your child how you are willing to share something you own.

•Finally, start very young. When my youngest was just a few months old and could sit up we would start playing a game. I would give him a toy and whenever he gave it back I would smile profusely, say ‘thank you’ and give it back to him. Now when we are playing together he routinely shares his toys with me and his big brother.

These tips are just guidelines. I found them very helpful read over and think about how I am teaching JDaniel to share.

Mommyhood Momment- Sharing Food

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I have had the opportunity to watch two of JDaniel’s playgroup buddies share food with him. Jake brought over gold fish to JDaniel a few weeks ago. He actually walked over and handed him a gold fish without trying to take it back. He is such a sweetie! Morgyn is another sweetie. She has learned the way to JDaniel’s heart. Morgyn placed two noodles and part of a meatball in his mouth recently at playgroup. He will be her friend for life!

JDaniel is great at sharing the food off his high chair tray that he no longer wants or may not have wanted in the first place. He gathers it up and hands it to me. Maybe that is not really sharing. Maybe it is really clearing the way for food that he would rather have, but it is better than when he throws it on the floor.

Interactive Water Cycle Websites- Links 4 Moms

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Droplet and the Watercycle
This is a cool interactive activity on the water cycle for school age children. My student loved to work on it when they finished their other tasks.

US EPA- Thirsten Water Cycle:
This is a wonderful interactive picture of how the water cycle works.

Water Cycle in Action
This would be a great tool for teacher at school or at home. Students could tell the class what they see happening in different parts of the flash picture.

Earth Guides Water Cycle Quiz

Learning to Enjoy Water at the YMCA- Greenville 4 Moms

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We took JDaniel to the YMCA this summer to participate in the infant-parent class. It was only four classes, but he had a lot of fun. We learned activities we can do in the water with him. The instructor was a wonderful lady who reviewed what we learned during previous classes and taught us new activities too. We worked on blowing bubbles, floating, kicking, exiting the pool and more. (He wasn’t eager to exit the pool.) JDaniel seemed to like riding the water noodle and having us sing “Yankee Doodle Rode a Noodle” as we moved around the pool the best.

Mommyhood Tip- Letting Your Children Help Do Household Chores

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watering-can
JDaniel is doing what we do and saying what we say more and more each day. Earlier in the summer I got him a watering can at Target in the dollar area. He loves to water the plants along with me. My husband planted a small tree for his 6 month birthday. JDaniel loves to toddle across the yard and take care of his tree. We are trying to let him help and do big people things when he is interested.

That is the tip. Let your little ones help vacuum if they want to help push the vacuum. (Yes, it takes a lot longer.) Let them help fold clothes. JDaniel now snaps the towels to straighten them before folding them. Let them help clean the tub. I do the cleaning and he dumps water into it with a giant plastic glass to clear out the cleanser. He just started dusting yesterday. I had a dust rag out and he wanted to do it too. There are now low areas in the house that have been dusted that I probably would have missed.

Welcome Hopper and Blogger Visitors!

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Thanks for stopping in. Please enter both the giveaways that are running.

The winner of the personalized print gets to choose the print of their choice. It could be “In the Swim” or any of the others of the PinkPawsArt Etsy site of equal or lesser value.
The necklace is beautiful and would be a great addition to any one’s jewelry box.

If you are not interested in one of the giveaways, please leave a message on any other blog entries. I plan on stopping by all your sites and entering your giveaways.

Subscribes and visitors I hope you will take a moment to visit one of the other giveaways too.

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