learning materials - Stuff Parents Need

How We Study the Weather and the Calendar (Giveaway!)

June 2, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 54 Comments

What morning rituals does your family have these days? I’d like to show you one of ours that Darah (my almost 4 year old) is really enjoying and that creates great moments for learning. Check out the Funky Monkey Forecast!

Learning Resources has this set of 60 magnetic pieces available on their website. It comes with a jumbo monkey and 28 different accessories to dress him in, depending on the day’s weather. There are also 6 weather icons and 3 weather words. Every morning Darah looks outside to see what the weather looks like at the moment (sunny, cloudy, etc.) and I also check the forecast online to get a sense for the daily temperatures and if any special weather conditions are headed our way.

After Darah dresses the monkey for the day, she has a better idea of how to dress herself, too! This helps tremendously once we head upstairs to pick out an outfit. She used to choose things that were seasonally inappropriate and not understand why she would be much too hot or much too cold in them. Now she gets it, and she edits her options accordingly. And as you likely know, drama over wardrobe is GREATLY reduced when the child gets to make her own choices. So the Funky Monkey is helping us not only with weather comprehension, but also with the practical life skill of dressing oneself.

Darah dressed this moneky for a warm day at school. Note the backwards shoes and the lack of pants. Darah finds pants to be an annoying component of wardrobes, to be avoided if at all possible.

practical life: weather and dressing with funky monkey

Her clothing selection (a dress, which means no pants needed! )

Additionally, I’m starting to work with Darah on the calendar aspect of the Funky Monkey set. It comes with the 7 days of the week, as well as the 12 months of the year. Darah is starting to associate the days of the week with the different activities we do on those days (such a school on Monday and Wednesday during the summer, or Daddy being at home on Saturday and Sunday). She isn’t yet able to identify the words by sight, but the magnets are helping us practice and improve in that area.

I’m really pleased with this fun new tool that provides my child with a morning ritual to get her day started right. And I also LOVE that it comes in magnet form, which means it takes up very little space. Three cheers for that!!!

Buy it!: The Funky Monkey Forecast is available for $29.98 through the Learning Resources website, as well as through Amazon.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Funky Monkey Forecast!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post contains an affiliate link.

Product that Encourages Sensory for Toddlers (Giveaway)

March 20, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 53 Comments

The Montessori method of education gives a very strong preference to using multiple senses during the learning experience. Whether you have an infant, toddler or preschooler at home, I want to encourage to make it a goal to find sensory activities to do at some point every day. Touch, taste and smell are all very important components of memory development, and they also help pique interest when used together.

Learning Resources has a terrific product available that can be used for years and years and for so very many uses. This summer we will be working on sensory for toddlers as Layah becomes a young toddler (oh…don’t make me cry!!!) and we will be working on sensory for preschoolers as well. The Primary Science Sensory Tubes will be getting a workout, holding all sorts of fun discoveries that we can study more closely.

This is a set of 4 sturdy, clear tubes. They can be opened on both ends and have high quality lids that can be screwed on of off. They come with an extra set of vented lids just in case you want to smell what is inside or if you have small creatures in there than need some air. LIke Ariel, for example.

We have already made an “under the sea” sensory tube. Darah really enjoyed scouring the house for anything that made her think of the ocean. She has quite a collection of sea shells!

I very highly recommend the Primary Science Sensory Tubes for parents of toddlers. Each product comes with 4 tubes, so you can even keep some and give others away as gifts.

What sensory activities have you been doing in your home, whether intentional or not? I’d love to hear!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of Sensory Tubes for Learning Resources!
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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Teaching a Child How to Read a Tape Measure (GIVEAWAY)

February 21, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 78 Comments

A few months ago, Darah asked, “How do you read a tape measure?”

Hmm…an interesting question! She can read the numbers on the measuring tape that her dad uses around the house, but she has figured out that the numbers mean something more than just a simple number.

I thought perhaps the best way to help Darah learn how to measure objects and how to read a tape measure would be by getting one just for her that she can use. Learning Resources has an excellent child’s tape measure!

A tape measure is actually an incredibly useful teaching tool. You can learn increments, fractions, and of course, measurements with it. You can also work on comparisons for the younger kids.

Here’s what we are doing to work on the skill of learning to read a tape measure.

When we are having a “measuring session” I get out a piece of paper and serve as the note taker. Right now we are learning about the foot measurement. The tape measure we have goes up to 4 feet. So we hunt for things that are less than one foot, greater than one foot but less than 2 feet, greater than 2 feet but less than 3 feet, and up to 4 feet in length. It is so cool to see Darah using her critical thinking skills and her estimation skills before the pulls out her tape measure to investigate length. She will often make a guess about how long an item will be. She isn’t often accurate, but this will improve with time, I think. Plus, we try to teach her that it is perfectly fine to be wrong. Better to take a stab at a problem and not get it right than to not try at all!

Does anyone have any tips on how to teach children the concept of inches? I’m not sure how long it will be before we are ready for that task, but I’d like to be prepared once she is!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a simple tape measure from Learning Resources!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.