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This blog is here for you to find fun learning activities to do with your children. We share great ideas we find and love on the Internet, as well as ideas we come up with on our own! We also like to share resources we find helpful.

To find ideas for your child, click on the age range blog label or on the theme/topic you are looking for (on the left side of the page). In each post, we try to list optimal age ranges for the activity, but you must judge for yourself if it is appropriate for your child. When you try an activity out, please comment and let us (and everyone else) know how your child liked it!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Making Diaper Changes Educational

I don't know a single parent who hasn't struggled at one time or another with a baby or toddler who insists on crying, screaming, or turning over during every diaper change. It's a short phase for some, and a longer phase for others. Either way, we change our kids' diapers so many times a day that we might as well take advantage of those times rather than dread them.

Songs/Rhymes:
  • English Alphabet
  • Alphabet in another language--we sing the Hebrew alphabet because we plan to teach our son Hebrew. You can find the entire version here but we sing a simpler one that only identifies the letters and not every sound each letter makes. This is critical if you want to teach your child a second language because some languages have sounds that English doesn't have so they need to practice those. For example, Spanish has the rolled rr in many words.
  • Itsy Bitsy Spider
*Nursery rhymes and knowing the alphabet are critical to early literacy and kindergarten readiness, even silly songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider really are teaching rhyming!

Activities:
  • Name your child's body parts for him/her.
  • As they get older, ask child where his/her different body parts are.
  • peek-a-boo with clothes, this is how Tobias first learned to play peek-a-boo :)
  • say "uh oh, where'd your foot go?" when putting your baby's pants back on. Make a big deal about having "lost" the foot and then get really excited when it pops through the pant leg. Sounds silly, but it works for all kids I've ever done it with!
Or you could always just add a kitty to the mix and let them entertain the baby for you :)




1 comment:

Bonnie said...

Beautiful timing with this post. I'm really starting to experience the tears at diaper changing time. I think in my situation it is because they are sad to take a break from playing and using up their abundant energy. I will purpose to use these suggestions and be even more animated than usual and see if I can help them through this!

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