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Starting School: Putting on your own coat and shoes

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8.25am is the most stressful time of day in houses with school-age children*. That last push to get out of the door and off on the school run can be the biggest hurdle of the day. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Welcome to Part Two of our series: Starting School. In part one we looked at School Dinners, this time the topic is:

Putting on Your Own Coat and Shoes

A simple skill we grown-ups take for granted can actually be quite tricky for little ones to master.  So here are a few thoughts which might help.

1. Let your child have a try. This sounds obvious but in the rush to get ready I see many parents doing up buttons and putting on shoes for their children. While this saves time, it’s not giving your child any chance to learn the skill for themself.

2. Take your time. You need to allow plenty of time to master this skill – so start when you’ve got lots of time to get ready, not when you’re already late. Little does a great job getting her own coat on, but the buttons take her ages. I have to remind myself to give her the time she needs – we wouldn’t rush along a child taking their first steps, so we need to slow down here too.

3. Give your child some Top Tips. You put on your shoes without even thinking about it, but does your child actually realise there’s a difference between their right and left foot and they need to match up the correct shoe with the correct foot? Little knows to line up her shoes on the floor before she puts them on. She knows that the flowers on the outside of each shoe shouldn’t be touching – if they are, she knows to swap them over. This is how she gets them on the correct feet. Even black school shoes often have a little pattern on the outside, so you should be able to get a pair with this picture clue. If not, maybe you can draw arrows or make a mark inside the shoe.

With coats our top tip is to get one with a hood. Then, the first step to putting it on is to put the hood on your head. This leaves both hands free to get the sleeves on – instead of having to hold the coat and get your arms in at the same time. Try it both ways and see how the Hood Manouvre helps!

4. Zips, button or toggles? Which can your child manage by themselves? Try a few in the shop and buy whichever your child finds easiest.

5. Laces or velcro? One child I know had a pair of high-top lace-up ankle boots, which were always tied (by their parent) in a double knot. She couldn’t even get the shoes off by herself, let alone lace them up. So my choice is always to go with a simple velcro strap.

With 25 children doing coats and shoes, up to 10 times in one day, your child’s new teacher will be so pleased you’ve worked on this!

(*Source: My good friend Catherine heard this on the radio. Not exactly scientific, but you agree don’t you?)

You might also like this idea for organising your school run.

Happily shared with WeareTHATfamily’s Works for me Wednesday

Make a dinosaur world

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As the weather is getting warmer and we’re starting to spend more time outside I thought I’d show you one way my girls love to play in our garden: in our Dinosaur Land. Big recently did a ‘show and tell’ at school about gardening and the Dinosaur Land proved to be so popular an idea with her classmates, that several of them have gone home and made their own – so it comes highly recommended.

This kind of ‘small world’ play is fantastic for young children: they get to be the boss of the world, create characters, role play situations, use their language skills, be imaginative…..  I love watching children engaged in this kind of play as it really gives you an insight into where they’re at, what’s concerning them, what they’re exploring at this present time. Big’s characters are often having battles at the moment, as she works through ideas of ‘being fair’ and negotiations. Little’s play in nearly always focused on a family group and playing out familiar routines – her dinosaurs get tucked up in bed and read a bedtime story.

As always, this idea is easy to make and you’re likely to have most, if not all, of the things you need around your home.

Start by finding a big plastic storage box and making some drainage holes in the bottom. Then let your children fill it up with soil – good, messy fun. Add a few rocks – we have one big one, which the dinosaurs like to stand on to survey their territory, and some smaller one to sit on. How about some plants for the dinos to eat and hide in? Have you got one to spare somewhere in one of your borders? The grassy one we used works really well – low maintenance, pretty robust and won’t get too overgrown. You can add any other props which catch your children’s eye: glass pebbles, fir cones, sticks, water too if you’d like a swamp area.

Then it’s over to the kids to get playing.

If your children are enjoying the garden, have a look at our Sunflower Club for more outside play ideas.

Ciabatta pizza recipe

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For an afterschool tea, expecially when you have several children to feed, I find you can’t go wrong with this recipe for ciabatta pizza. For large families or childminders providing afterschool care it can be difficult to find something everyone will eat. With this recipe you can easily vary the toppings on each ciabatta base so everyone is happy – and even let the kids make their own pizza, choosing the toppings they like best.

Start by switching your grill on and slicing your ciabatta loaf in half lengthways to make your base. Pop the ciabatta under the grill to lightly toast, so you don’t end up with a soggy pizza. Then you just need to add 3 layers on top:

Layer one is some kind of sauce: tomato puree, chopped tomatoes (from a tin is fine) or pesto

Layer two is some flavour: sliced ham or bacon, peppers, onions, olives, sweetcorn, oregano,  whatever you have in the fridge

Layer three is some  cheese: mozarella or cheddar works well

Pop under the grill until the cheese melts and is everything is nicely toasted.

Then let the kids tuck in and enjoy.

Story box tent

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Make Your Make : 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion

Help your child to make their mark with these wonderful projects that help develop a love of writing, creative storytelling, self-confidence and compassion – along with six sets of bonus printables.

 

It’s always exciting when a delivery arrives in a great big box. Who cares what’s inside, the big questions is: what shall we make with the box? Over to Big this time, who straightaway said, ‘Let’s turn it into a Story Box’. Her inspiration came from the character Pinky Dinky Doo (attention: this link is noisy!) who has her own cardboard story box where she draws pictures which come to life to tell her stories.

I think this is a wonderful idea to get children creating stories of their own, developing language skills as they play with characters and settings.  It’s also good to use drawing in a different way – on the walls and roof of your house. And writing on a vertical (or even overhead) surface is very effective in developing wrist strength and pencil grip, getting ready for writing.

To make your own story tent you will need:

a big box – ours is big enough for both girls to fit in to together and sit upright comfortably. (If you’re not expecting any deliveries of your own, your local removal company or white goods store are places you might source a big box.)

a craft knife – to cut out some windows to let light into the box so you can see what you’re drawing. And apparently, rectangular windows are boring, so you might like our star-shaped ones.

felt pens – to get drawing and telling stories with. Whatever you like – let your imagination go free! And you can come back again and again to add more characters and make the next installment of your adventure, until every surface of your story box is full.

You might like to add in some cushions and a blanket to make your story box as comfortable as can be.

My girls are really enjoying this play den – inside together, in their own space, lying on their backs, collaborating over a story as they draw it out on the ceiling. Why not give it a try with your children? I’d love to hear what stories they come up with.

Any if you’re looking for other ways to use a cardboard box you might like our play house or ride-on train too.

Alphabet wallchart

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We’re making Little a parade of letters to go around her bedroom wall. Big has had an alphabet wall chart up since she was 3, and if Big Sister has one…

We could buy one of course, but where’s the fun in that? By making our own we can incorporate lots of other skills and new things to try out, such as using scissors. We’re going to include a sensory element too – having touchy-feely letters you can trace round with your fingers helps children to learn the letter’s form. We’re not working from a – z, as learning alphabetical order will come later. Our focus to begin with is on letters which mean something to Little, and as we’ve been knitting this weekend we’re starting with…

W is for wool

I drew out a ‘w’ on some red paper.

Little has learnt how scissors operate and enjoys snipping away to make random shapes but now I’m encouraging her to try and follow along a line sometimes too.

She applied glue very liberally to her W.

And then we added lots of soft wool onto the glue. We left if to dry and then stuck it onto a piece of card. We’ve not decided yet how we’re going to put them up on to the wall – maybe on a long roll of paper, maybe on a washing line. Any suggestions for us?

How are you introducing letters with your child?

Embroidery for children

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My oldest daughter loves crafts (would you have guessed?) so, when she was 7 earlier in the year, we wanted to get her a birthday present that would encourage her creativity. We have paint, card, glitter and crayons galore so I was stuck for what to get her. And then I saw an idea over at maya *made on embroidery for children and knew a sewing and embroidery basket would be the perfect present for Big. I bought a woven basket and filled it with some of the things suggested by maya to give Big all she needed to get started. (You should pop over to read maya’s post for a great guide on what to include and how to get started.)

sewing projects for kids

This weekend she tried it for the first time, and here are the results. Do you like them? I threaded the needle for her as the thread was quite thick and also tied a knot to get her started – everything else is all her own work.

That ‘m’ is for Mummy – she’s a sweetie.

And this is a portrait of our cat, drawn first with a pencil and then stiched on top.

She’s so pleased with what she’s made and has plans to make lots more to give away as gifts.

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Want more happy handmade crafts?

Our Happy Handmade resource is bursting with colourful and imaginative crafts and DIY toys that are designed to add even more colour and creativity to your home. With easy-to-follow tutorials and free patterns and printables, you can read, make, and start playing today! See more of Happy Handmade here.

 

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