Food and Learning?

by Kristin Miller on 04/18/16

Yes - we love learning with food.  I mean, come on, how many times growing up were you allowed to paint with your yogurt???  Super fun!

From painting with our applesauce and ketchup, to smearing our yogurt, coloring on tortillas, learning the colors with our fruit loops cereal, scooping up rice, and making letters with our cheese and crackers.  There are endless opportunities to learn using food.  It is so practical and easy; and the best thing, the kids LOVE it (because they get to eat their "homework" - literally!)

5 Foods to Easily Learn with at Any Home:

1. Tortilla or Bread - Have your child build their fine-motor skills to tear the pieces apart.  Then, color on them!

2.  Thick Liquids or Foods as Sauce (Ketchup, Yogurt, Applesauce, Mustard, Jelly, ect) - Just for some messy fun, let your child finger-paint (or use a paintbrush) to smear these fun sauces around on thick white paper!

3. Foods you can Cook (spaghetti noodles, rice, ect.) - After they have cooled off, throw some noodles in a bucket (or rice).  Give your child a cup, fork, and a spoon to stir.  Creative imagination and pretend play will be sure to keep your child busy as they make some spaghetti or rice for you!

4. Snack Time Foods - Like crackers and cubed cheese - Use these to teach tons of learning skills, like letters, numbers, counting, and making shapes.  Check out our other blog post specifically for ideas HERE.  

5. Breakfast Time Foods - Using a variety of cereals to teach learning concepts, such as colors, counting, making letters, and using to build fine-motor skills and literacy awareness!

- See more at: http://www.eteachingme.com/Mom-Blog.html?entry=food-and-learning#sthash.yvSzqBTg.dpuf

10 Ways to use Play Dough for Learning

Ever wonder how you can use play dough to learn with your child? Here is a list of verbs to use when teaching your infant, toddler, or preschooler.  Below this list are 10 FUN and EASY ways to use play dough as a learning tool, as well!  Enjoy...and we love sharing ideas, if you have an interesting way to use play dough for learning with your child, please tell us in a comment below!

10 Ways to use Play Dough as a Learning Tool:

1. Use it to make big and small balls, teaching the concept of size.

2. Make creatures out of it and have your child (or you for an infant) use describing words to explain what you created, why, and its characteristics such as color, size, and features!

3. Use play dough to make shapes!

4. Use play dough to make letters!

5. Use play dough to spell out your child's name and teach them the letters in it!

6. Use play dough to teach colors.

7. Use play dough to teach sorting skills.

8. Use a ball and play dough to flatten out, building hand-eye coordination and motor skills.

9. Use play dough to practice tracing letters!

10.  Allow child to free-play with play dough; play is how learning occurs!

Find Your Letter

Teaching the ABC's to your child does not have to be hard, it is actually simple and can be loads of fun for your child!  Check out this FUN and EASY activity idea to teach your child the alphabet letters!  Watch the Video

Join eTeachingMe.com during April for our curriculum theme is "Spring into ABC's" and we have a letter lesson plan specifically for your child's age group (6 months - 5 years) every day of the month!  Practical, fun, learning with your child...

Activity: Find your letter!!!

Materials Needed:

1. Flash light
2. Dark (lights off) room or bedroom
3. Sticky Notes
4. Marker

What to do:

1. Write the alphabet letters, or the letters in your child's name, on sticky notes using the black marker. (I only did ABC to teach at this time)
2. Post them up on blank wall around the dark room you have chosen to do this activity with your child in your house. (We chose the hallway)
3. Give your child a flash light.
4. Explain to them to use the flash light to point and find the letter you are asking them to find.  Such as: Parent says to child: "Can you find the letter A?"  Child would turn on flash light and point the light to the letter A on the wall.
5. Continue teaching and learning like this until all letters have been "found" or your child no longer shows any interest.

Milestones this activity teaches child:

1. Hand-eye coordination
2. Literacy and Alphabet letters
3. Early print recognition
4. Spatial awareness
5.  Listening skills
6. Following verbal directions
7. Object permanence
8. Trial and Error

Modifications of activity:

1. For younger children (1-2 years old), just let child use the flash light to find and shine on the letters. Once they see one, parent would say/teach the letters name to child.  Help child learn how to shine the light onto the letters to find them.  Assist their hands/arms to do so.
2. Write the same letters on index cards, put inside a brown bag.  Have child pull one out one at a time and then use the visual letter card to tell child which one to find on the wall using their flash light.
3. Preschoolers - Have child find letters in a specific order, pull it off the wall when "found" with flash light, then put on another wall, building specific, easy, short words! Such as "MOM"!  Great phonics activity to teach word-building!