Painting activities are always fun to do with toddlers. Unleashing their creative side is a great learning experience not just for the child, but also for the parents who would be able to witness how a child marvels at what they have created.

You don’t necessarily have to have the best painting products. You can pick items available in your kitchen and create artsy project you and your toddler will enjoy. A reader has sent us some of these ideas on how to do it.

Making paint with soap — for this project, prepare detergent soaps of about 3 cups and some food coloring and water. Mix soap and water together, taking note to only add a little water at a time. The paint’s consistency must be cream-like. When it’s about right, add food coloring in different shades.

Making paint with flour — instead of soap, substitute this with flour and salt. The mixture would be a little puffy and it’s best to put this in squeeze containers to be able to handle it better.

Making paint with salt — aside from food coloring and water, you will need liquid starch for this. Mix this all together. This is the kind of paint that must be used immediately since when it dries out, the paint will crystalize beautifully.

There are plenty of things you can do with a set of colors. You can create artwork that can be displayed at home, too. It would be make your home so much more personal.

One of the funnest but really challenging to do with a toddler is cooking. But it can be very rewarding for the parent and a learning experience for the young child. They don’t really have to do much and will probably be just messing around the kitchen with you most of the time, but cooking with toddlers can such a bonding moment, you would definitely treasure this time with them.

Below are some easy peasy things you can cook with toddler in the kitchen:

HOTCAKES. Mixing stuff is fun for a toddler to do and if you equip them with a spoon and a bowl, and sing songs or count along while doing this, you would invariably be making teaching and learning so fun for them. Allow them to whisk the eggs and mix the batter. When it’s time to cook this, allow them, ever so carefully, to add the cheese or whatever you intend to put inside the hotcake.

HOME MADE PIZZA. This activity will help bring out the creative side of your child. Put all of the ingredients in front of them and watch them put together their very own pizza concoction. Use bread for crust and slice this into smaller pieces so that the child can do plenty of batches. This will also encourage the child to eat her food or dinner, knowing that it’s something she has created herself.

CEREAL-ICIOUS. Allow her to prepare her own cereal and include a few exciting ingredients such as fruits and nuts to add to it. Watch her glow with excitement as she comes up with a delicious mix of healthy breakfast.

With the winter season coming, flu and other sickness are expectedly going to have a higher rate. Most people get vaccinated to prevent getting sick and if you don’t know where to get a flu vaccine you can check out this flu shot locator from Flu.Gov

CLICK ON PHOTO

Just enter you location and then the site should tell you where to go to get you and your children the necessary medicine so as not to get sick.

The flu shot is helpful and important to your child’s health. Although, understandably, your child may be apprehensive about getting a shot as this is administered via injection and the needle is pierced in the arms. Condition your child days before getting the flu shot and try to make this a fun and learning experience for her. And if possible, take the flu shot together.

In fact, adults are also advised to take the flu shot, especially when they come in constant contact with children, such as with teachers.

This vaccine works for three kinds of influenza viruses, most especially H1N1.

These are the signs you need to watch out for to immediately detect if your child or any one in your family is suffering from the flu virus:

Fever
Coughing and/or sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Headaches and/or body aches
Chills
Fatigue

When this happens, especially with little children, you need to call the doctor and get an anti-viral prescription as well as medicine to help drop down the fever.

Many parents feed left out of the loop after having their children.  Especially parents who were previously part of a workforce.  The change from working on your career to raising your children can be a hard one.  A great way to feel both accomplished and more socialized (after all, parents do need adult conversation as well) is to take a few classes.

This is one of the many reasons that many parents choose to use the precious little time their children are growing to get some more education as well.  While it can be difficult to add it in alongside childcare, it can be done.  Choosing to go back is a big decision, and depending on your specialty- it’s possible to go back for a much shorter time than a full degree.

If you already have a degree, you can supplement it and zone in on a more specialized area.  Consider picking up some courses and work towards a certificate, or even just take a few local classes in your profession. 

Even for parents who may not already have a degree, most local areas offer free or reduced ways to take some classes to get into a better job once your children are in school (if that is what you want).  A great place to start the search is a local town’s own webpage.

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While it’s hardly a surprise to any parents, studies have been showing more and more the need for parental involvement in a child education.

With parental interest in a child’s studies comes a drastic improvement in grades and interest in learning.  An article from the Huston County News really hits the point home and carries a great list for what parents can do to be more involved in their children learning habits.

1. Expectations. Children learn better when parents have clear and reasonable expectations. Talk with your child’s teachers to be clear about what you both expect in behavior. Ask about the quality and quantity of schoolwork required and make sure your children understand what will happen if they do not meet expectations and the benefits of what will happen if they do.

2. Structure. Children learn better when parents provide a regular routine. Help them schedule their time. Make sure they have time to get schoolwork done. And to provide balance, allow time for fun activities.

3. Learning. Children learn better when they have opportunities outside of school. Children don’t stop learning when they leave school. The more positive and constructive learning experiences children have outside of school, the better they do in school.

4. Support. Give your children frequent verbal support and praise them often in their schoolwork, progress and efforts. Let kids know you care about them and how they perform in school, because this increases their self-confidence and helps them do better in school.

You should read the entire article for more advice on how to become more involved.

Obviously starting a child’s formative years in school on the right foot is very important.  When a child gets the absolute best start, the zest for learning will continue long after school is complete.

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