Holiday Fun

Shamrock Hunt

I wanted a fun St. Patrick's Day activity for the kids. I did a poor job of planning and around 4 o'clock, still just had a pile of green paper shamrocks and 3 pouches of gold coins. I had imagined us decorating the shamrocks into little people and writing a fingerplay or typing up little riddles and gluing them to the shamrocks for a leprechaun treasure hunt.

Instead I let the kids use their imaginations and come up with something. My kids knew just what to do! (Thank goodness!) We each colored a few shamrocks and wrote our names on them. Then we took turns hiding them around the backyard for everyone to find. (We just ate the gold coins when we were hungry.) It was very fun! We played for nearly an hour.

Sometimes I try to make things too complicated and won't do anything at all, if it's not planned out...and laminated:). I was glad that my kids could help me out!

Holiday Fun

Green Lunch

Each year we have a green lunch in honor of St. Patrick's Day! I'll invite all my friends and neighbors over and tell them to bring something green to share for lunch. The kids have a great time and look forward to St. Patrick's Day each year. (I even had a child tell me that St. Patrick's Day was her favorite holiday!) I know some of you may be thinking but green food, I can't get my kid to eat green food on normal days. Well, a little green dye always helps out! And... if you get creative you'll find there are more green foods that your kids will eat then you think. (Like green sweets!) This year we had, broccoli cheese soup, green rolls, spinach strawberry salad,pears, celery, pistachio pudding, green jello salad, green Carmel corn, mint chocolate chip ice cream cones, green grapes, green cookies, green peeps, key lime pie (yum), and green cupcakes. What a fun day, thanks everyone that came!

So, give it a try call all your friends up and invite them over for a green lunch. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Math

Touch points-Counting Coins

Counting change has been difficult lately. Here is an idea to help teach kids how to count coins. First I bought these over sized paper coins at Dollar Tree. (Printing some from the computer would work too.) Next, I put garage sale stickers on the coins. (The nickel gets one sticker, the dime gets two and the quarter gets five.) Tell your child to touch each sticker and count by 5's. (I just left the penny blank, and explained that it was worth one, she already understood that concept really well.)

Now, you don't want your child to be counting coins like this forever, right? With more practice and exposure they'll get it. Touch points just help them get the concept while they're still learning. I think it makes a big difference between liking math and hating math. Success is everything!