Step2

Make a game out of teaching toddlers how to stay in bed! Thriving Early Magazine inspired us to share this great bedtime game you can try with your children.

Follow these steps to start playing:

• Create a board game on cardstock and grab one color block.
• Draw a line on one side of the cardstock that says “START” and draw a line on the opposite side that says “FINISH.” In-between the words start and finish draw seven squares to represent the seven days of the week. The objective is to move the one block from start to finish.
• Each night that your children stay in bed, they will be able to move the block up one space the following morning. Each night that they do not stay in their own bed, they will have to move the square back a space the following morning.
• Once they hit the finish line for staying in bed, they will get to pick an activity they would like to do as their reward. For example: going to the playground.

It may take some time for children to get to the finish line. It is important for both children and parents to be patient with the progress of the bedtime game. However, once your children make it to the finish line for the first time, it will encourage and provide them with an incentive to continue to stay in bed in order to get their next reward.

What tips do you have for getting your children to stay in bed?

Still cannot figure out a costume for your kids this year? There are so many ideas out there! It is hard to choose from. Here at Step2, we searched Parents.com and Pinterest and saw some adorable choices that you can create yourself!

Check out these creative and cute costumes:

Olympic Runner:

In spirit of the 2012 Olympics, why not remember it by dressing your child as a runner! This costume is great to invest in because many of the materials that will create it can be repurposed such as the tennis shoes and sweatbands.

Fierce Tiger:

Kids love transforming into their favorite jungle animals. Better yet, kids can even help create this costume by helping to glue and cut out the shapes for the stripes. Here are the instructions!

Chicken Little:

Cluck, cluck, chicken! The chicken costume will keep infants and toddlers very warm just in case it is chilly on Halloween! Click here to find out how to make this costume.

Cuddly Cowboy:

Cluck, cluck, chicken! The chicken costume will keep infants and toddlers very warm just in case it is chilly on Halloween! Click here to find out how to make this costume.

Wild Kitty:

Do not let this furry kitty fool you, she is dangerous . This costume requires an animal print vest, hoodie, ears, tail, and maybe some eyeliner or other method to create whiskers.

Flower Pot Full of Posy:

Take a trip to the craft store to gather fake flowers and a plastic pot to create this flourishing posy.

Do you have any ideas for DIY costumes for the kids for Halloween? Have a safe & fun Halloween

It is great that children are becoming tech savvy, especially in this generation. However, could a child’s active play and creativity be suffering? “Researchers who have tracked children’s creativity for 50 years are seeing a significant decrease in creativity among children for the first time, especially younger children from kindergarten through sixth grade. This decline in creativity is thought to be due at least in part to the decline of play,” according to the Washington Post.

“Play is a remarkably creative process that fosters emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulation. As children actively invent their own scenarios in play, they work their way through the challenges life presents and gain confidence and a sense of mastery” says  Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma. Moderation is important when it comes to how a children play. There are so many ways for children to play due to the advancement of technology. Television is no longer the only issue when it comes to making sure children are getting enough creative and active play.

The Washington Post released an article this week titled “Is technology sapping children’s creativity?” With all the new gadgets that children can play with from tablets, cell phones, flip down car monitors, and computers, children have a variety of options of how they spend their play time. Yet, if children become consumed with these gadgets, they may not realize that there are many other ways to play that do not involve a screen and interactive applications.

The question remains, can technology and play tie together when it comes to child development? The products that are on the market that are technology based for children have a value of being educational and Step2 offers a variety of fun toys that help foster imaginative play and creativity including play kitchens, a puppet theatre, and art easels. We believe that a little tech and a little imagination can help to raise a well rounded little one.

What do you think about children becoming more involved toys that require technology?

 

A beautiful feature of autumn is the leaves falling to the ground. Naturally, children can play around in the piles of leaves. However, there are many other ways to utilize the leaves during the autumn months.

Foliage Friends: Help your children pick out a bunch of leaves from the yard. They can glue the leaves onto a piece of paper and draw different shapes to resemble animals or other creative images that appear in their minds.

Leaf Bracelets: Gather up some string and create a leaf bracelet. You can poke holes in the leaves to string them together!

Leaf Crown: Your children will be the kings and queens of fall with the leaf crowns. Again, poke holes in the leaves and string them together. Or you can even glue the leaves together and attach string to just the ends to create the leaf crown.

Leaf Drawings: Collect leaves from the yard and cut them in half. Glue the halves of the leaves that have been collected onto a piece of paper. Suggest to your kids to draw the other half of the leaves next to the original leaf.

There are endless amounts of crafts you and your kids can create with leaves. What activities have you done that involve leaves?

 

This Labor Day teach your kids the meaning behind the holiday with facts and crafts that the whole family can enjoy.

First, ask your children if they know what Labor Day is all about. If they do not, explain the purpose of the day and why we celebrate it.

Apples4theteacher.com gave these brief facts about this honorable holiday:

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September. It’s a day dedicated to the hard working men and women of America. It became an official national holiday in 1894.

During Labor Day, we celebrate activities that relate to summer such as: swimming, camping, picnics, etc. A lesson that your children can appreciate about Labor Day is that everyone plays a role or works a job that helps to support the community, this can relate to how they help out in school or around the house.

Next, the real fun begins!  Ask your child (or children) what they want to be when they grow up and bring out the magazines, construction paper, scissors, and glue. Help your kids browse through magazines and find images associated with the job they want to have when they grow up. Have them (or help them) cut out the pictures and glue them to their own personal career board. Explain the different responsibilities of each job/picture they pick out. This is a fun way to intertwine education and crafts!

Finally, since Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, encourage the kids to get out and play during this fun filled three day weekend! Support active play and ensure that the kids spend a lot of time on their swing sets and playhouses.  This will buy you some time to prepare a special Labor Day meal.

From the Step2 Family we’d like to wish you and your family a great Labor Day Weekend! In celebration of the holiday, our offices will be closed on Monday, September 3^rd.  We will re-open on Tuesday, September 4^th at 8:00AM Eastern.

What family fun do you have planned for your weekend?