Does Breast Feeding Doll Go Too Far?

I don't usually blog about this topic, but this news report really got me fired up.  You can watch the video here.  The controversy is if it is inappropriate to give a little girl a  doll that breastfeeds.  To be honest I think this is the most ridiculous controversy ever.  First of all you don't have to label a doll as a breastfeeding doll for a child to mimic breastfeeding.  My daughter is 3 years old and while I was nursing her sister she went and got one of her dolls and started nursing the baby doll.  Why wouldn't she do this when this is the only way she sees me feeding her sister.  We don't use bottles so why would she want to feed her baby a bottle.  Children model and mimic what they see. I think it is fine for a little girl to pretend she is a mommy and feed her baby the way her mommy feeds her baby.  Unfortunately, our society has put a stigma around breastfeeding.  It is a natural, wonderful thing and is the most healthy way to feed a baby. Why shouldn't we be teaching our daughters the importance of breastfeeding at such a young age?   What are your thoughts?

Women of Faith Conference

This year the women of faith conference will be visiting 28 cities around the country.  Thanks to book sneeze I will be attending the conference in Charlotte, NC.  I am very excited and can't wait to hear all the speakers and to be a part of something so awesome.  The speakers for the event in Charlotte will be Sheila Walsh, Luci Swindoll, Lisa Harper, and Ken Davis.  The musical guests will Mary, Mary and Natalie Grant.   Nicole Johnson will be leading drama and there will be special guests Henry Cloud and Karen Kingsbury.   Tickets are still available.  The event pricing is $89 per person for groups of 10 or more and $99 per person for individuals and groups of 2-9.  For more information about the Women of Faith event in Charlotte, NC and other Women of Faith events around the country please go here.

Preschool Week 1

Preschool Week 1

36 months

Bible Activity-Creation

I am getting some of my ideas for our Bible Activity from this website.  This week we did creation.  We read from Little Sweets Bible; The Beginners Bible.  Then I retold the story through picture cards   Little Sweets used her wand to point to the card I was describing. 

Language Arts

We have been working on  a few sight words over the summer.  This week we added "see" to our list.  Here is the list Little Sweets has been working on. 

Sight Words- A, at, go, I, is, it, see, the

Sight Word Activities

Paint and Reveal

  I used a white crayon to write sight words on paper.  Little Sweets took water colored paints and painted over the page and words appeared on the page.  She read the words as they appeared.  I got this idea from this blog.

Stamping Sight Words into Play Dough

Little Sweets used her letter stamps to make words in her play dough.  She also used number and picture stamps. 

Reading Sight Word Book

I have printed out several books that use the sight words we have been working on.  Little Sweets loves to read these books.  This week she found all the books I printed out and decided she wanted to read a book that had sight words we hadn't done yet.  She was determined to read the book and did a great. job.   We will be adding those words to our list next week. 

Word Family Activities- "at" Family

Here are some of the activities we have been doing for the "at" family words.

Word Whammer

Little Sweets made words in her word whammer- cat, sat, fat, mat, bat, rat

Self-Checking Word Wheel

I made this word wheel for Little Sweets and she loved it.  She turned the wheel read the word and checked to see if she was correct by lifting up the flap and looking at the picture.  I posted directions on how to make it here.  I was surprised at how quickly she picked up on blending the sounds to make the word. 

Art/Math

Homemade Play Dough

Little Sweets helped me make homemade play dough.  She helped with counting and pouring.  You can get the recipe for homemade kool-aid play dough here.

Math

Counting, Number Recognition, and One-one correspondence

Little Sweets told me the number on the page and counted the dots as she placed them in the squares.  We did this activity for numbers 10 and 11.

Number Recognition

Little Sweets put bottle caps on the number as I called it out.  She can recognize numbers 1-10 so we are working on 10-20.  It was helpful to have the colored squares because I could tell her to find the number 17, it is on a blue square.  This narrowed it down and made the activity much easier for her. 

Fine Motor

Handwriting

Recently Little Sweets has showed an interest in writing letters. She asks me how to make them and shows me when she has made a letter so I thought we work on some handwriting.  Here she is tracing letter cards I made for her.  The cards are laminated so she can reuse them. 

Linked to Preschool Corner

Stamping Fun in Homemade Playdough

Stamping Words into Play Dough

Little Sweets has been asking to play with play dough for a while now. The play dough she had been using was dried out so I thought I would pick some up at Wal-mart.  They didn't have what I was looking for so we decided to make our own.  I wanted it to smell nice so I thought it would be fun to add kool-aid to the dough.  I found a great recipe for kool-aid play dough here.   Little Sweets helped me make the dough.  Then she used stamps to spell words in her play dough.  She also stamped pictures and numbers into the play dough. 

Little Sweets helping me make the playdough.

Little Sweets stamping in her playdough. 

Linked to For the Kids Friday, It's Playtime

Self-checking Word Family Wheel

Self-checking Word Family Wheel

I made this to help Little Sweets with her word family words.  She spins the bottom wheel until she comes to a letter.  She says the word and then lifts the flap to see if she is correct.  This was simple to make.  I cut two circles from a poster board.  On the first circle I cut out 2 squares.  I wrote "at" beside one square and glued a flap on the other square.  Then I used a clasp to fasten both circles together.  I wrote the letter and glued the corresponding picture on the second circle while it was fastened together. This way I knew it would match up.  Remember to keep letters on one side of the circle and pictures on the other side of the circle.  I have included a picture of the second circle.   Have fun!!! : )

Linked to For the Kids Friday

Caterpillar Review Activity

Caterpillar Review Activity

This was a fun activity that I made for Little Sweets.  Each player gets a caterpillar sheet and tries to fill in the circles.  I laminated colored circles to use as the body.  I wrote words and numbers we were working on that week on the circles and turned them over.  Little Sweets picked a circle and could place it on her caterpillar if she could tell me what the name of the number or word on the circle.  I plan on using this game as a review with other words and numbers in the future. 

Pattern Block Sight Word Review

Pattern Block Sight Word Review

We just started working on sight words this summer.  I have been searching the internet for some fun games and came across this one. You can find this idea and more here.  Little Sweets really enjoyed this game.  I got the pattern from this site.  I printed and lamintated the paper.  I recommend laminating the paper because then you can write and wipe-off words, letters, numbers, whatever you would like your little one to review. Little Sweets read the word and then covered it up with the correct pattern block. We also did this activity with numbers.