Dilly Days with Beth and Joellyn: Authors of The InvestiGator Club™ for Robert-Leslie Publishing

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the best way for children to learn about nutrition is when they are involved with actual food—”not simply answer[ing] questions in workbooks or sing[ing] songs about vegetables.”

Here’s a snack-time activity to combine healthy eating with fine motor-skill development and the proper use of utensils. Set out small containers of fruit yogurt and graham crackers. Have the children use spoons or cheese spreaders (no sharp edges) to add yogurt on top of the crackers. They can experiment and decide just how much yogurt to add to get the best taste combination.

The Jonesboro Sun newspaper did a story on The InvestiGator Club!

Two days ago in a Chicago suburb, a 3-year-old boy accidentally died when he became entangled in his bedroom’s Venetian blind cord. It made me realize once again just how different the world looks to our prekindergartners.

A lot of us spent time toddler-proofing our environments for a newly crawling or walking child, but have we been lapse in our updates? It helps to get at the young ones’ eye-levels and move around. The world looks different at that height. Teachers can and should do this in their classrooms.

Is the furniture appropriate in size? Can anything topple over if pulled? What is within reach that shouldn’t be? Can anything pinch or trap a limb or a head?

Here are some resources and informative sites about cord safety:

• State Farm
• Parents for Window Blind Safety
• Strangulation and entrapment prevention

I will be leading three presentations at this week’s National Head Start Training Conference in Nashville. They are all tomorrow, the 22nd. Whew!

• 8:00 to 9:30 am: Using a Core Curriculum that Emphasizes the Needs of Children with Diverse Abilities
• 10:00 to 11:30 am: Building Relationships Between Schools and Families
• 12:00 to 1:30 pm: A Fully Intertwined Approach to Science and Literacy

I’ll also be in exhibition booth #331 for Robert-Leslie Publishing on the 23rd and 24th.

Welcome to Spring, everyone! Here’s a Butterfly Color & Match Activity to do with the little ones as the days get warmer.

Beth is going to be attending and presenting at the Alabama Pre-K Conference in Montgomery this week. At dinner on Wednesday night, she’ll be speaking on “This is the Bestest Day of My Life: Bringing Joy to the Preschool Classroom through Social and Emotional Development.”

Then on Thursday afternoon (3:30–4:45), she is leading the breakout session: Investigating with Science Wrapped in Literacy. You can also meet her on the exhibit floor. Please stop by and say “hi!”

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Here’s one last snack idea for you, and it is the easiest of them all!

Chilly Willy Grapes
Freeze seedless grapes. Take them from the freezer, and eat them while they’re still frosty cold! Yum.

Here’s a fun Dramatic Play Learning Center activity from The InvestiGator Club Prekindergarten Learning System that you can complete with your children.
 

Fruit Smoothie
You’ll need:

• 1/2 cup of your favorite fruit
• 3/4 cup of fat free, sugar free, vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup ice

1. Cut the fruit into small pieces.
2. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and puree.

In honor of American Heart Month, I wanted to share over the next few days a couple of snack ideas that are heart-healthy and fun to make. We’d love to hear about your favorite healthful snacks, too!

Trail Mix
Set out small dishes with the following items:

• raisins, peanuts (pecans, pine nuts, almonds or pistachios)
• banana chips
• pretzels
• carob chips
• dried pineapple chunks.

Let each child:

1. Scoop 1 tablespoon of each item into his or her own small plastic bag.
2. Zip the bag shut and gently turn it upside down to mix the ingredients.

Let children experiment with the ingredients to make a Trail Mix recipe that tastes especially good to them.