Kids * Page 2 of 7 * Little Miss…

Learning how to take turns might seem like a minor part of a childhood development that comes naturally over time. In reality, it’s actually a complex skill that doesn’t come easy for a lot of children.

Turn-taking involves not only the ability to wait but always an awareness of when one person’s turn ends and another’s begins. This is compounded by the subtle social cues and rules of communication that takes place when people talk or share toys, or participate in the classroom.

Turn-taking is a fundamental part of how we communicate and socially interact. When children struggle, it can often take many forms. Some children interrupt people when they’re speaking or find it difficult to actively listen. Others don’t understand the rhythm of communication. Children who struggle with turn-taking in social situations often have trouble in school or building friendships with their peers.

So why do some children have trouble?

One of the most common reasons is speech and language delays. This happens when a child doesn’t develop their speech and language skills at the expected rate for their age. These developmental problems are quite common and affect about 10% of all children.

Fortunately, there are many strategies parents can do with their child at home to improve their speech and language abilities, encourage turn-taking, and promote conversational exchanges. I’ve outlined a few tips and best practices below:

Play Games: Many of the most popular games you may have at home can help your child naturally learn turn-taking. Think Go-fish, Candyland, and Uno. You put a card down, roll the dice, move a piece on the board – and then it’s your child’s turn. For younger children who aren’t ready for board games just yet, insert turn taking into everyday play activities. I put a block on the tower, then you, then me, then you. Blowing bubbles is another crowd-pleaser.
Promote Sharing: It’s not uncommon for kids to have a tough time sharing. However, as a parent, it’s important not to give in and let your kiddo run the show. That’s not how things work on the playground, at school, or when we engage in conversation. Make sure to insist that you always have a turn. Use helpful language and hand gestures: “First my turn, then your turn.” Practice makes perfect, so try to be consistent on a day-to-day basis.
Be Responsive: Children communicate in a variety of ways, from babbling or crying as infants, pulling your shirt or using gestures as toddlers, to using words when they’re older. However, they express their needs, being responsive can promote their understanding about the value of communicating. Knowing someone will be responsive when they signal for attention helps them navigate the world around them.
Ask Open-Ended Questions: Asking questions that prompt one-word answers, such as “yes or no” questions, limits the responses your child will have. You want to help them with their conversational skills, and this doesn’t happen when children repeat words they already know. Instead, try asking questions that start with “how” or why.” This will help your child learn to express their thoughts and feelings using different words and language.
Use a Timer: Playground arguments between children can be commonplace if they’re struggling to take turns. Using a timer is an easy way to ensure everyone gets the same amount of time to play with a toy, or go down the slide, or partake in an activity. It helps reinforce the value and importance of sharing.
Positive Reinforcement: Try not to raise your voice or accuse your child when they fail to take turns. Similarly, if your child refuses to give up a toy, don’t yank it from their hands (this can discourage generosity by making children even more protective). Instead, praise and celebrate them when they demonstrate positive behavior. “You’re doing a great job waiting patiently – good work!”
Calmly Handle Undesirable Behavior: If your child becomes upset or disruptive, remove them from the activity and give them an opportunity to calm down. Speak slowly and use clear language when describing why they had to be removed from the previous setting, and use it as an opportunity for a learning experience.
Seek Professional Help: As mentioned above, speech and language delays are a common reason many children struggle to take turns. If you are concerned about your child’s development, it’s important to seek help from a speech-language pathologist (SLP). They are the most qualified professional to help evaluate, diagnose, and treat speech and language delays, as well as other communication disorders.

About Leanne Sherred, M.S. CCC-SLP:
Leanne calls Austin, Texas home but studied Speech and Hearing Sciences at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and gained her Master’s in Speech-language pathology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She has worked in pediatric outpatient clinics, schools, early intervention, and home health. Leanne is currently the President and Founder of Expressable, an online speech therapy company that envisions a modern and affordable way for anyone who needs speech therapy to access these vital services. You can check out her blog here.

A great way to spend quality time together, learn and explore right at home is by cooking with kids in the kitchen. It’s a fantastic way to get them to try new foods and flavors and as well and find a love for experimenting in the kitchen! Here are some fun ideas to get you started!

French Bread Pizzas

Pizza Bar – Let your children top their own Pizzas. This was probably one of my favorites things to do as a kid, and my kids love it too.

Donut centers with fruit kabobs

These are easy to do just by adding fruit and donut holes on to a kabob stick! It’s a great opportunity to talk about patterns and differences with little ones too!

No-Bake Chewy Oreo Bars

Jello Kool-Aid Ice Pops!

Taco Pizza

Directions: Flour Tortilla, Taco Meat, Toppings – Oven 350 – 10-16 mins

Orange Banana smoothie pop!

Cheese Fondue

No-Bake Peanut Butter Treats:

Kiddie Crunch Mix :

Turkey Rach Wraps:

Quick Icebox Sandwiches:

Flying saucers –

Blueberry Fruit Dip –

What’s your favorite thing to cook in the kitchen with your children?

Summer is so much fun, but it can also be stressful too. As a kid growing up we didn’t do a lot of vacations, and summer break didn’t equate to going on a trip as it did for some (no hate there, just saying). This didn’t mean that our summers weren’t fun or memorable because they were. I wouldn’t trade them for a do-over at all. Some of the most fun moments have come from the creativity that was born out of boredom.

You don’t have to spend a lot to have fun and make memories with your kids. It’s also easier when you are able to add a little structure to your day, typically when a child knows what to expect or is involved in activities they are less apt to be working your nerves. I’m not saying that it won’t happen, I’m just saying there’s a better chance it won’t.

Fun Family Summer Activities

Pick your own. Find a farm with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, veggies, or flowers, and get picking. There is a website Pick Your Own that can help you locate farms in your area where this is available! You can also type “Pick your own” into a Google search and it will come up with some in your area as well (if your settings allow Google to know your location).
Planting: Plant a butterfly or hummingbird garden, or create a backyard wildlife habitat.
Grow fresh herbs in containers. Use old coffee cans, milk jugs, mason jars, plastic cups, or anything else you have around the house. Keep your herb garden on a patio or windowsill.
Make fairy houses. Use moss, bark, and leaves to create a dwelling fit for Thumbelina. For bonus points, tie in a book with your fairy garden!
Look for shapes in the clouds. Put a blanket in the grass and stare up at the sky. Take turns talking about what you see in the clouds. This helps cultivate creativity and imagination. It’s one of my favorite things to do as a kid and even now with my own kids we will go outside and stare at the sky finding cloud shapes. Sometimes on car rides if they start arguing I’ll find a cloud that looks like something and mention it so that they occupy their mind looking for things too.
Go bird watching. Take photos and keep track of your sightings. Use an app or guidebook to identify feathered friends.
Make a bird feeder. Watch birds visit your yard and add to your list of bird sightings.

Want more summer fun? Check out this post-

Looking for some summer activities that you can plan during all this uncertainty? Here’s a list of things that are guaranteed to bring a smile and fun memories during your summer!

- Movie Night – Outside! Love these ideas from Red Triclycle on hosting an outdoor movie night. Buzzfeed has some great indoor movie ideas as well!
- Go for a hike/ ride bikes through a trail – So much scenery to take in and talk about what you see as you walk or ride a bike
- Water Gun Fights: These are great for the Summer because it’s a fun way to cool yourselves down on a hot Summer day!

Go on a Scavenger hunt: These are good in order to occupy a certain amount of time with kids! It helps them learn competition if you grant the winner a prize in the end!
Make S’mores: Who doesn’t love s’mores and they are very delicious at the end of a long day roasting them over the fire as a family! Our favorite smores are made using McVities Digestive Cookies (sounds odd, I know but trust me. If you’ve ever gotten a s’more pie from Blaze Pizza you will understand), marshmallow, and chocolate. It’s perfection.
Go on a picnic: Picnics are a great way to spend time together as a family! They are fun and you let the kids help to prepare all the food for it!
Make Ice Cream: Ice Cream is a great treat for a hot day but instead of just going to get ice cream, you can look up a simple recipe online and make it yourselves!
Go fishing: You may have to help them out a bit, but when they catch their very own fish they are always so surprised and love it!
Have a Tea Party: This is fun! Whether you get real tea or not they like to have fun with having a little party! Dress it up, stick out your pinky and enjoy!
Play I Spy: This is a great way to work on their searching skills!
Go to the Beach: Make sure you take plenty of sunscreen…and things for playing in the sand.
Draw with Sidewalk Chalk: The possibilities are endless with sidewalk chalk! You can use your creative skills on sidewalks and your driveway!

Looking for more at-home activities? Check out these at home artistic fun activites!

Candy Science Experiments

First up was Skittles. This is what they used in their example in the book as well.

From the book Awesome Science Experiments for Kids The experiment in the book

First, we got a white plate. Next, I got hot water (which I handled instead of the kids). The kids put the candy on the plate arranging them as they chose. Then, I poured the hot water on the plate with enough to cover the bottom of the candy.

We first tried the skittles, which looked a lot like the image in the book. The kids noted that the candy shell melted off the one side. Almost instantly you could see the colors coming through and becoming more vibrant. They said the Skittle was sweet even with the bottom part of the shell melted off.

Since that was fun, we decided to see what other kinds of candy we could use to do this with as well. Next up, was NERDS.

NERDS Candy Science Experiment

We followed the same steps with the NERDS. The colors ran out and were bright. The colors mixing did come out to a very green/brown color with all the different NERD colors. One was shaped as an exploding volcano which turned out really cool. The kids decided to taste a couple of the nerds afterward and said that because the outside had come off they were tangier than normal.

Jelly Beans Candy Science Experiment

Next up, Jelly Beans!

Initially one started off as a smiley but it changed after my daughter thought about it and didn’t think there would be enough colors to mix together. The jelly beans turned out ok, the colors were lighter than the other two experiments. The kids tasted a jelly bean and determined they were still just as sweet.

M&M’s Science Experiment

While it’s true M&M’s melt in your mouth and not in your hand, there’s an exception when you add hot water to a plate for a candy science experiment!

Because they were having so much fun doing the science experiments, the kids asked if we could do one more. I remembered that we had some M&M’s in the cabinet and took them down. We had some plain ones as well as some hazelnut (hence the different sizes). These were my favorite. The colors were so pretty! This one was their favorite too.

This was a super easy activity, helped us get rid of some candy without just throwing it in the garbage, and there was some learning involved. The kids wrote down their hypotheses and observations of what happened each time. We talked about the scientific method and steps in it (since my 3rd grader is currently covering it in school). They had a sense of pride and accomplishment with their research which was fun to see. They also learned that saw that science is an adventure. Plus, clean up was super easy!

It was a nice break in our day and takes some of the stress out of virtual school, working from home, and feeling like you are stuck.

There are a lot of cute, easy experiments in the book and it’s totally worth the price (currently $8.99 on Amazon).

Check out the book:

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Looking for more fun during your stay at home time?

It’s a great time to tap into your creative side and have some fun at home with the kids. It’s a time when there seems to be so little but so much going on and we all need an outlet for our sanity. Here’s a quick list of 5 ideas that you can do that will give an outlet and allow for some stress relief with artistic fun!

More Fun Artistic Activities On The Web

Here are some sites that have some great activities and ideas on them as well!

The Artful Parent has some fun activities to check out as well that include some really cool raised salt art activities.

Left Craft Brain has a list of 40 of the best art projects for kids

Good Housekeeping has 50 Fun Activities for kids

Art Projects for kids has some cool drawing tutorials

Buzzfeed has a great post about the art kids are creating during quarantine to give you some more inspiration!

What are your favorite art activities to do at home that bring out your artistic side?

Bring out the creativity and imagination to have some fun while spending time at home with the kids. Creativity stimulates the brain and promotes learning. It doesn’t require anything expensive or special to do and can not only entertain but create memories as well.

Get Creative!

Make a fort. Drape some sheets around the house and get out the flashlights. You can also have a fort building contest to see who can build the best one!
Plant some seeds in the backyard and watch them grow. There are a lot of things you can grow from the food in your fridge, like potatoes and garlic.
Make a band with kitchen pots, pans, and wooden spoons. Have kids pick they’re favorite song and try and re-create it on the pots and pans.
Do you have a balloon? If you do, then you can play keep it up. Blow up the balloon and try to keep it in the air by bouncing it back and forth. Here’s another fun twist by adding pool noodles to your game of keep it up!
Make a store with everything in your kitchen. Give your kids fake money (you can make some if you don’t have any) and have them buy the food from you. This will teach them how to add and show them how it works to pick things out and pay for it.
Make a treasure hunt. Hide some treasure (it can be anything) and make some clues. Each clue leads to the next clue until they find the treasure. The Spruce has some clues for an indoor treasure hunt! Playtivities also have some printable cards with 10 clues for a treasure hunt!

Want more? Check out how you can get moving with kids at home!

Looking for some ideas to help make it through this #stayathome time with the family? Here are some ideas to help have fun and get the kids up and moving around. They are all super easy and can be don’t require anything special. Sometimes we forget about the simple things in times like this when we are overwhelmed and frustrated.

It’s been proven that moving affects your mental health whether adult or child. It is fun to some days hang out and watch Netfilix or Disney + but we also have to remember the importance of moving and physical activity.

Movement Activities

Have a dance party! Put on some fun music and get moving. Make a playlist, add some glow sticks and have fun! You can even take it up a notch with a freeze dance party! You can also check out our Hulk Smash Dance Party
Play a game of tag and get the whole family involved. It’s a fun way to get moving, get your heart rate up and wear kids out for bedtime that night!
Hide and seek is a great way to move around and involve younger kids in learning to count.
The floor is lava game. Start on one side of the house and try to get to the other side. You must jump from rug to rug and pillow to pillow without touching the floor. Imaginative play is so important for kids, even in non-pandemic circumstances.
Relay race especially if you have a backyard. If you only have one child make an obstacle course for them. Mommy Poppins has a great indoor obstacle course option as well

Do you have any at home moving ideas?

Want more activities to do at home?

Check out these creative options!

I can vividly remember being a kid and not wanting to go outside because it was hot, or I wanted to watch tv instead- and then it would rain and there was absolutely nothing more that I wanted to do than go outside. It was in those moments there was no tv show, no toy, no books, no anything that would provide me something sufficient to do. This was also the struggle during hurricane season when storms would come through. It was like murder. Although all the opportunities I had prior to those moments I didn’t want. It’s the funny thing about the way people tend to think.

For a couple years now there’s been this push of seeing people in person and being involved in “real life” because everyone is so caught up in the online world and social media. The minute though that it is suggested we distance ourselves socially, suddenly no one can take it and they need to be in the biggest, closest social gatherings they can find.

Enter one of the (sometimes many) reasons that adulting sucks. It’s our job to be responsible and lead our kids through this time. That isn’t fun or easy. They recently closed schools in our area for an additional week (I’m hoping that will be all but who knows). I’m smart, I have a Masters Degree and am a big believer in continuous learning but that being said, I’m not a teacher. It is not my expertise and it’s not a role you can just walk into. That doesn’t mean we don’t do our best to keep kids’ minds sharp but I hope that it helps everyone to see just how much value our schools and teachers provide. It’s also a balance in helping our kids not freak out and become scared over everything and keeping our own sanity at the same time. All that we can do is our best. Whatever that is at the moment. Sometimes that will be reading books together or finding fun learning activities. Other times that will be watching Netflix or playing games on the iPad. It’s ok. There’s no rule book for this and in our lifetime nothing like this has happened before so don’t let anyone tell you that you’re doing it wrong. I will say that over the past two days I’ve found that my “out of routine” approach hasn’t helped. I thought I’ll let them stay up a little later- and by that, I mean like 8:30-9:00 at the latest which wasn’t the most brilliant idea for a person whose children thrive on routine. Oh well. Lesson learned and now I start this week trying to figure out balancing routine, the unknown and trying to keep my sanity in the process. It will not be perfect and there will be meltdowns but that’s just life, it really doesn’t have anything to do directly with the Corona Virus or quarantine.

Ideas to Survive Quarantine:

Just the word quarantine let alone survive quarantine sounds dreadful and scary, doesn’t it? Here are some ideas on how to get through it and keep your sanity and wit in the process.

1. Lego Competitions

Legos are educational and fun. Get creative and have your very own lego competitions right at home! Little Bins for Little Hands has a cool Printable Lego Challange Calendar!

2. Dance Party

Music makes us happy, dancing is a physical activity and gets us moving. It’s the perfect time to put together your favorite playlist and have a little fun. It reminds me of our Hulk Smash Dance Party that we did for my son, just on a “household” scale. Get some lights or glow sticks from Amazon to add to the fun!

3. Facetime Party with Friends/Cousins

That’s right, GROUP FACETIME! Virtual parties! Seriously, it’s a great way to entertain and socialize with friends and family during this social distancing/quarantine.

4. Coloring

Coloring can be fun, creative and even therapeutic for kids and adults.

5. Keep a Journal

This is a great idea to help on so many levels. Get feelings out, keep track of the day, talk about what is going on. It can help process things while practicing skills like writing, drawing, fluency. It will also be something that will be interesting to look back on later!

6. Start a Penpal Relationship

I get that maybe snail mail isn’t the best suggestion during this specific time but if you are using envelopes that are self-seal it could work. There’s also the email option that can still make this safe and fun.

7. Fun with Patterns

ABC Mouse Blog had these suggestions on patterns

Visual Patterns

Small, large, small, large
Red, red, blue, red, red, blue
Circle, square, triangle, circle, square, triangle

Sound Patterns

Snap, snap, clap, snap, snap, clap
Long sound, short sound, long sound, short sound

Motion Patterns

Sit, stand, sit, stand
Arms up, arms out, arms down, arms up, arms out, arms down

8. Scholastic

The Scholastic site has great resources for at-home learning during school closures.

9. Breakout EDU

Breakout EDU has put together some games for kids suddenly stuck at home due to school closures. They are a company that brings the excitement of escape rooms to learning.

10. Kids Discover Online

This resource from Kids Discover Online has some great science and social study resources. There are some free resources, such as interesting infographics and articles (see How Crayons Were Invented) to check out!

11. Prodigy

Prodigy is an online math game that ties in math to a fun adventure. My kids LOVE this game and play it on a regular basis. The same math they will complain about during homework they tend to do with ease while playing in a game environment which in turn helps them at school.

12. Tynker

Tynker is another online learning resource offering access to those whose children’s school is suddenly closed. They are a school computer coding resource.

13. Workout/Physical Activity

It’s so important to get up and get moving during this time, it’s proven to help us emotionally, mentally and physically. Some great FREE resources to help you out.

Fit as a Mama Bear YouTube Channel has some great at home, equipment-free workouts

Family Cario Workout

Cosmo Yoga Frozen Workout

Erin Kendall Mommy and Me Dinosaur Workout

14. Netflix/Amazon/Disney+

There’s a time for everything…. including sitting back and checking out Netflix, Amazon Video and Disney+! Some of our favorites

Dino Dana

Nailed It!

Tangled the series

Jessie

Bunk’d

Phineas and Ferb

More suggestions of Great TV for Kids from Vulture

15. Make It Up As You Go

Sometimes, the most creative, adventurous fun you can have is that which is made up as you go. Whether creating a new game, making a scavenger hunt, or looking for Hidden Mickeys there is fun to be had. When it gets stressful, take a step back and remember that everyone is feeling it. We’ll get through this!

What are your suggestions for activities to survive quarantine? I’d love to hear them!

“Can I have a pet? Please! I promise to take care of it.” -said every child at some point in their life. Most of the time it’s something that will inevitably fall back on the parent even if it’s just partially which I think is what makes us dread it when we hear that question.

At the end of the school year, my daughter’s teacher asked if someone would like to take the class Betta fish. My daughter begged, “please!! I know how to take care of it!” as she proceeded to explain to me the process of feeding and cleaning the bowl. It was a fish, that came with the tank and all, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to say yes. Apparently, other people felt that way also so there way a drawing for it, which we didn’t win. This led us to the next inevitable question… “Can we buy one?” which makes my 5-year-old pipe in too “I want one!” Great. Now I need two? Initially, I explained they could just share one, there wasn’t a point to two. Besides, you can only have one Betta in a tank.

Proven Wrong By Amazon

In order to look for cheap tank options, we decided to look on Amazon. We needed something more than just a plain bowl that didn’t have a lid. We found this Betta Falls Kit by Aqueon.

It’s three separate containers that are part of one tank. It’s pretty cool and it allowed for each kid to pick out a Betta fish which was a bonus.

The tank setup was super easy!

We also got these Betta Bed Leaf Hammock which apparently Betta’s like to lay on?

Interesting Tidbits about Betta Fish

They are jumpers- so you need a lid
They are Carnivores- You can supplement the fish’s diet with frozen or freeze-dried brine shrimp or tubifex worms.
They can live up to 3 years
They grow up to 3 inches long
They gulp air from the surface of their tank so they don’t need aerated aquariums

Bettas don’t need a lot of room or a filter in their habitat. However, having a bigger habitat and filter helps with maintenance so that’s the route we went with the Aqueon Betta Falls Kit. The setup process and cost for a Betta fish is much more affordable than a full-on aquarium (especially a saltwater one). The nice thing is they are beautiful and colorful, which you don’t get a lot of in a freshwater tank.

You feed them a very small amount 1-2 times a day, and their maintenance is very little. This makes them a great pet for kids.

The Betta Bed Hammock

I’m not going to lie about this, I laughed at my husband when he purchased these. I mean… really?? A Betta bed hammock? Then, after about two weeks, the fist started laying on it. This was one of the funniest things I had seen. It was like a dog trying to get comfortable on it’s dog bed so it walks around in a circle before sitting. The fish did nearly the same thing.

Is It Really An Easy Pet for Kids

Overall, this is an easy pet for the kids. They like to watch it and talk to their fish. It also helps with encouraging responsibility as they remember to feed their fish every day. Fun fact, you can train your Betta to play with it- Playing With Your Betta Fish. This was funny because when my son went to pick out his fish he looked, and looked, then looked some more before saying “I want to see which one comes to me” meaning when he stuck his finger on the outside of the container which one came over.

If you’re looking for something very low maintenance that will allow your child to have a pet but not drive you crazy, I think a Betta fish is a great option to check out!

Helpful Betta Fish Resources:

Petsmart Betta Fish Care Guide

Aqueon Betta Care Sheet