TERRI'S TIPS

On Gift Giving & Buying

All our children can contribute to gift giving. Allow your child to create his or her own and/or pick out the presents in the store using a budget. Remember, it is the thought that is the true gift. It does not matter how messy the craft project is or even what it looks like.

“Don't get caught up in buying your child what you think they would like. Really listen to them and buy what they actually want. This can get costly, so you might as well get them something they are actually going to enjoy for the long haul.” - Cobb County Parent Mentor Judith Steuber

Holiday Meals

My best advice: Plan ahead. For those of us with kids who have either allergies or sensory issues around food, this is a MUST. Naturally, hosting the holiday meal allows you to control the environment and menu that your child will be sharing. If you are attending parties or meals hosted by someone else, here are some ideas:

 
* Pack certain foods and snacks to bring with you that your child can eat.
* Discuss with host/hostess about the foods your child can safely eat or sensory issues with your child. Many of our friends and family members are more than willing to make some accommodations, if we only share and ask.
* Offer to contribute to the holiday meal by preparing, baking,  or cooking foods that everyone can eat and still meet the diet needs of your child.
* Have your child help you in preparing the meal and or snacks. If our kids have a vested interest in the meals, it can make a world of difference

Decorating

Get your children involved.

Let the kids hang the ornaments in silly ways, or help them make some decorations for the hous.

take them with you to choose new decorations.

Family Get-Togethers

Bring special toys, electronics, books and/or games with you to these family gatherings. These will keep the kids occupied, so you can enjoy time with adults.
Bring activity ideas and games with you for the adults & kids to do all together. These can be done either before or after the holiday meal. There is a tremendous amount of super fun things to do that will keep everyone engaged, laughing and enjoying one another's company.  

Travelling

*Create a "goody bin/box" for each child. Let your child pick those things they wish to bring with them for the car ride. Things like Nintendo DS, DVD player, videos, coloring books with crayons, small sized toys, favorite stuffed animal, books, car ride sized games, etc.
*Bring a pillow and blanket for each child.
*Make frequent stops for the kids to get out and stretch, walk, use restrooms and eat.
*Discuss the trip with your kids ahead of time. If need be, bring a timer with you to help those who have yet to fully understand time in hours and minutes.
*Use incentives to promote "peace" between siblings in the car. Incentives can mean many things. For some children, money is a hit. For example, for each 15 or 30 minutes of no fighting, each kid gets a quarter!.  Give them a special treat at the end of the trip!

Over the Holiday Break while Kids are out of School

“Over Thanksgiving break we tracked the weather. Each day we decided whether it was sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, rainy. Then we checked the temperature. We recorded our data (we had stickers for the sunny cloudy
 part). If you do this over the winter break you can store it away with holiday decorations and then pull it out the next year and compare. It is easy, doesn't take much time and adds a little bit of structure to the day.”   - Gwinnett County Parent Mentor Anne Ladd

Avoid cabin fever by divinding up your days into segments of time blocks. Have a certain block of the day devoted to TV and/or video gaming. Use a simple egg timer so the kids know that when it goes off, no more TV or video games. Set aside a portion of the day for quiet time activities like reading or playing with toys.

Do this throughout the day while the kids are home. If need be, make chart of what the winter break will "look " like, so the kids can go to the chart and see.
Get the kids involved in those overdue household chores.

Rake the leaves together and have fun with piles. Clean out closets and drawers. The kids can help you do this and then go with you to donate the items! This is also a great way to demonstrate ways to help others.

Arrange play dates, go site seeing in your locally or in a neighboring city, make craft projects, go the library, look up other FREE things to do in your community, volunteer with the kids, catch a movie in the theatre or on video, and make time for family games together .

Doing things with music
Do different things while listening to the car radio or to a tape or CD:
• Sing
• Clap (while at a stop light!)
• Move to the music, when you’re stopped or in the back seat with your child
• Talk about how the music makes you feel

Singing
While singing in the car together, you can:
• Move to the beat together when stopped or sitting in the back seat
• Make gestures that go with the song (e.g. Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
• Encourage your child to sing along
• Sing the rhyming words louder or softer

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Encourage your child to move to the beat on his or her own while in the car seat
• Encourage your child to make gestures that go with the song all by him or herself
• Have your child sing some of the song’s words aloud (e.g. Wheels on the Bus)

Guess the password
Play this game in the car to make the miles go faster!:
• Pretend your child’s stuffed animal or doll has a password to get into a special place
• Say a word that rhymes with the password (It sounds like ham).
• Have your child guess the password (It's a name).
• Later, you can write the word down and read it together

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Give your child hints of what the password is (“It starts with the same sound as your name." "Sounds like hat, it’s furry...”)
• Draw a picture on the car window of what the password is (when you’re stopped!)
• Do this activity as your child is asking for something in the car, a snack or a toy

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Have your child use the password in a sentence
• Encourage your child to write the password down on paper
• Ask your child why your word sounds like the password

Activity
Seeing words
As you are driving around, point out all the print you see on:
• Buildings SAFEWAY
• Road signs AAAUUUBBBUUURRRNNN
• Cars & trucks Ford
• Snacks you have in the car Goldfish crackers

Activity
Keeping a diary
Keep a pad of paper handy in the car and:
• Offer paper and encourage your child to scribble, draw or write
• Ask your child to draw what he or she sees out of the car window
• Can your child write words to go with his or her picture (road, trees, cars)?
• When you’re stopped, help your child write a sentence about his or her drawing; remember to date it
• Look back at the pictures in your child’s pad and read what he or she wrote

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Give your child different things to make pictures with (stickers & paper; magazines & a glue stick -tear the paper, NO scissors in a moving car!; crayons & a coloring book)
• When you’re stopped, help your child write words that go with his or her picture

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Have your child read the picture sentence back to you
• Ask open-ended questions about your child’s drawing (What do you think the truck is hauling?)
• Have your child date their masterpiece!

Activity
Talking about nursery rhymes
Recite nursery rhymes together as you drive and:
• Talk about the nursery rhymes
• Play a tape or CD of nursery rhymes (Wee-Sing; Raffi)
• Keep a book of nursery rhymes handy in the car for your child to look at.

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Recite your child’s favorite nursery rhyme over and over (and over!) as you drive
• Ask your child to pick a nursery rhyme from a book and see if you can recite it!
• Encourage your child to draw a picture of his or her favorite nursery rhyme

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Ask your child to draw two pictures about the same nursery rhyme and talk about how they go together
• Encourage your child to say the nursery rhyme all by him or herself
• Ask simple questions about the nursery rhyme

Activity
Talking about what will happen next
As you are out and about, ask your child what will happen next when you are:
• About to go into the store
• On your way to the doctor’s
• Going to visit a friend or family member
• Heading out to a place your child likes (McDonald’s; playground, library)

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Tell your child what will happen next
• Ask yes/no questions about what will happen next (Will there be other cars in the Safeway parking lot?)
• Show your child pictures of what will happen next in your outing today (first we’ll go to the library, then McDonald’s for lunch, and then home)

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Ask your child what will happen next as you get to where you’re going
• Ask your child what will happen tomorrow when you two go someplace
• Ask what your child thinks will happen at a special event (visit to Grandpa’s birthday party)

Activity
Talking about things outside
Ask your child questions about things he sees out the car window:
• What color is it?
• What shape is it?
• How do you think it feels?
• Do you think it has a smell?

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Talk about what color and shape things are and how they feel and smell
• Ask your child questions about things your child is really interested in (trucks, bugs, flying)
• Ask yes/no questions (was that a Ford truck we just passed?)

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Encourage your child to describe things with more than one word (that’s a fast, brown dump truck)
• Describe something you’re passing by and see if your child can find it
• Have your child describe something for you and you try to find it

Activity
Listening to different things outside
As you are driving, have your child listen for:
• Birds
• Cars, trains and planes
• Animals in trees and fields
• Water
• Wind in the trees

and talk about how they sound

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Have your child listen for things he or she likes (birds, car horns, engines )
• Have your child listen for loud things (dogs barking, trucks passing, train whistles blowing)
• Talk about what you hear

Activity
I Spy
This is the original car game to pass the time! The basic rules are:
• Pick something easy for your child to identify
• Say “I spy with my little eye something beginning with.....”
• Give your child time to guess
• Take turns being the person spying and the person guessing

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can:
• Choose something that starts with a letter you know your child already knows
• Spy something very obvious such as trees or the road
• Give extra clues like a rhyming word (starts with “t” and rhymes with “bees”)

To make it more of a challenge, you can:
• Choose a letter your child is working on at school
• Pick something familiar up the road or at where you’ll be staying (“I’m going to spy...”)
• Ask your child to draw the last three things you both spied and to write the words that go with them

Activity
Window Writing
On very hot or very cold days when the car windows are all steamed up, have your child:
• Write the letters in their name
• Make scribbles & shapes
• Pretend to “write”
• Write numbers 1-10

Then give your child a cloth to wipe the window clean!

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can have your child:
• Copy a simple shape such as a circle - make your’s while you’re stopped, not driving!
• Copy the first letter in his or her name - again, make the model for your child when it’s safe for you to do so
• Draw themselves

To make it more of a challenge, you can ask your child to:
• Write in cursive!
• Write the letter that begins the word you’re saying
• Draw a favorite cartoon character and write the character’s name

Activity
Talking Maps
As you are driving to familiar places with your child (grandma's house):
• Talk about the different landmarks on the way (school, park, grocery store)
• Talk about directions as you go straight or turn right or left

When you arrive ask your child to tell how you got there (How did we go from our house to grandma's?)

Hints
To help your child succeed, you can have your child:
• Have your child tell you what they see
• Encourage your child to notice landmarks ("Look, there's the fire station!").
• Remind your child of all the landmarks ("First we went by the park, then we went by Sandy's house").

To make it more of a challenge, you can ask your child to:
• Draw a map

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