Moderating my first Twitter Party hosted by Ruckus Media Group 11/17

I am so excited to be moderating my first twitter party hosted by Ruckus Media Group this Thursday 11/17 at 9 pm EST. The topic for discussion is Screen Time and Our Kids. In order to participate in this party:

- Be sure to use hashtag #RuckusAppDivide

- Please follow the panel of moderators:

@huppiemama @momtdanielle @thechattymomma @davidbfox

- You might want to read this article before the party Screen Time Higher Than Ever for Children Study Finds”

- We will be having a giveaway every 10 minutes.  We have great My Little Pony prizes all generously donated by our friends at Hasbro. The prizes are:

Pony Pals Playland – valued at $24 each (TWO)

Canterlot Castles – valued at $24.99 each

Friendship is Magic Gift Set – valued at $22 (TWO)

Pinkie Pie – Learns to Walk – valued at $26.99

For more information, click HERE. 

In order to be in the running for these awesome My Little Pony prizes, RSVP HERE. 

Hope to "see" you all there! 

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

Imitation - A True Building Block to Learning

At Abi's Place, the nonprofit I co-direct, we work a lot on teaching the teachers and parents of our children the importance of imitation. Behaviorists believe learning is built upon imitation (although I'm sure people who subscribe to other theories may disagree). If children are able to imitate simple motor movements like clapping hands, raising arms, or stomping feet, they can learn more complex play activities, like Simon Says and Hopscotch. Eventually children are able to use their imaginations to create novel scenarios and activities.

Toddlers love being little mommies and daddies. They love watching what their parents do and imitating it. I often catch Lydia cooking in her kitchen like I do in the real kitchen or pretending to go grocery shopping. Since Bryce was born, she's really become a little mommy. She places her baby dolls in strollers and the baby swing. She wraps them in blankets and carries them around the house. Well, today she was playing independently in her room. I walked in there, and I found her on the floor, breastfeeding her baby doll. She looked surprised but happy to see me. I immediately grabbed my camera to film her. It was a beautiful bonding moment for us - It showed me that she watches what I do, tries to understand it, and is able to imitate it. It was very sweet!

Does this belong on the farm?

I decided to get out a train set, play farm, and bin filled with all different animals and people this morning. Lydia and I sat down together, set up the train around the farm, and played "Which do not belong?" using the people and animals. I would show her an object and ask "Does this belong on the farm?" If it did belong on the farm, we placed it around the farm.

 If it did not go on the farm, we placed it in the yellow bin. 

She really seemed to enjoy this activity and was able to get a lot of them correct. 

However, she was uncertain of a few. 

But it was fun to help her figure them out! Others, like Dora and Strawberry Shortcake, I allowed her to choose where to place them.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Creative Lil' Hands

Not sure what she was thinking, but this is what Lydia did with her puzzle yesterday. I thought it was pretty interesting how she took the pieces out, paired like colors, and placed the person/animals on the board with the feet all facing inward and their heads toward the pointed areas.

Tissue Paper Sensory Fun!

by Carrie Wells, Ed.D.
I tend to be a hoarder when it comes to gift bags and tissue paper. Each gift bag costs $2 or $3 and a pack of tissue paper is $2 or $3, so you can literally spend $5 just wrapping a gift (not to mention the cost of a store-bought greeting card - another $3+ each). This weekend, I could no longer deal with the mess in my garage, so I started by organizing all of my 'recycled' gift wrap. I found some bags that really weren't usable, and I sorted my tissue paper by useable and garbage.

So what do you repurpose tissue paper before throwing it out? Play with it, of course! We threw it all over the floor and let Lydia dive in.

She loved all of the different colors. 

She liked crinkling it all up. 

And then she balled up a blue and a green and put them in her stroller. She walked her "baby" around the house.

She's so imaginative! 

Guidecraft Educator Review #4 ~ Little Lectern

by Carrie Wells, Ed.D.
This month, the Guidecraft Educators are reviewing the Little Lectern. Made of walnut-stained birch plywood, the lectern stands 40" tall, has a shelf inside to hold presentation items, and comes with a carpet-covered riser that can be stored inside the lectern. It is for ages 3+. With each review, I like to provide practical suggestions for home and school, and this product really asked me to 'think outside the box' because it is unlike any other product I have reviewed before!

When I was in elementary school, I participated in a public speaking program called Toastmasters. We had to learn to respond to different topics, to engage in debates and rebuttals, to summarize the information provided by both sides...but most of all, we had to learn to get in front of our peers and talk about something that may not be so familiar to us. This was not easy for me, especially since I was one of the smallest kids in my class and had some self-esteem issues. I remember we had to stand in front of the class at the end of a table. Everyone could see if my hands were shaking or my legs were 'antsy.' If I had this Little Lectern to stand behind, no one could tell that I was so nervous, which may have given me the confidence to be a better speaker!

So first and foremost, the best use of this product is for teaching children to be more confident public speakers. This would be really important to practice at home with children who have speech-language disorders since they often feel self-conscious of their performance in front of peers.

Beyond the most obvious use, I thought of a few others:

• Schoolwide competitions ~ This would be a great way to practice school competitions, such as spelling bees, math competitions, science fair presentations, or any other academic events, either at home or at school. 
• Extracurricular activities ~ This little lectern would be great for activities outside of school, such as Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Children can stand at the lectern to present minutes from the previous meetings and important announcements. 
• Pretend play ~ Have the children dress up and pretend to be different types of professions that may speak at a lectern - the president of the United States, teacher, lawyer, college professor, etc. Be creative!
• Be really creative ~ Decorate the lectern to be a lemonade stand, host a magic show at the lectern, or do a pretend cooking demonstration. The ideas are endless!

BUY IT! You can purchase your own Guidecraft Little Lectern for your home or classroom for just $200.

WIN IT! What's great about this Guidecraft Educator group is that each month, one of us will be hosting the giveaway of a product that we have all reviewed. Visit Simply Stacie to enter and win. This contest is open to the US and Canada.

*I received the aforementioned product for free to review. The opinions expressed are honest and provided without monetary compensation.