Is your child creative?  Artistically?  With words?

The other day my son came up to me and said, “Why can’t I be creative like my sister?”  My response, “What do you mean?”  He said, “She can make up stories with her stuffed animals and dolls.  She has a new story every time she plays.  I can’t do that.”

He was right.  My daughter can play for hours making up stories and acting them out.  My son is more black and white.  He likes facts and numbers.  Having to create things on his own makes him uneasy.  So I have had to think of ways to help him bring out his creative side.

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Do you use workbooks with your children?

The use of workbooks and/or worksheets has always and will always be a debate in education.  Some teachers only use worksheets, others feel that complete hands-on learning is the best.  I would put myself right in the middle.  I think variety and moderation is the best approach.  Therefore from time to time at our house we crack out the workbooks and do a few pages.

I have had great success using the Kumon workbooks for learning how to write letters.  I started my son with My First Book of Uppercase Letters at around age 3 1/2 and am about to start them with my daughter.  I like that it starts with drawing lines and then incorporates the letters that use the same lines.

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Do your children write letters?

In today’s world of technology, the telephone, email and Facebook have taken preference to the age old art of letter writing.  What does this mean for our children?  Will our children not take the time to write a letter?  Will they not receive letters in the mail?  Will all birthday parties be done on Evite?  I hope not!

Recently my son has started writing to a little girl in Florida (we live in MN).  He loves having a pen pal!  He loves sending and receiving the letters and/or packages.  He has learned a great deal about writing letters as well as going to the post office.

I highly recommend incorporating letter writing into your child’s life.

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Do you have your children practice writing every day?

My 6 year old son is not a fan of writing.  In most subject areas he catches on very quickly.  Writing is different.  It takes work and practice and this is new to him.

Now I do not like to force him to write because then his bad attitude gets worse.  However he needs the practice.

So what is a mother to do?  My solution: Find as many fun and silly writing activities as possible - if he is having fun he will forget he doesn’t like it.

Idea of the Day:

Notebook Tag

- Write a short message in a notebook (make sure each child has his/her own).

- At the end of the message write, “Tag!  You’re it!”

- Hide the notebook in the house.

- Have each child find his/her notebook and write a message back to you.

For younger children simply write shapes or letters.  Then have them practice scribbling or drawing in their notebooks.  This way they do not feel left out of the game.

I found this idea in the Family Fun Magazine - August 2009.  It was submitted by Wendy Ann Mattox of Idaho.

Did you know that having children crumple paper is actually a learning activity?  I was surprised to find that having a child crumple paper is a great pre-writing activity.  It helps children build muscles in their hands necessary for writing.

Tip of the Day:

You guessed it…. Crumple Paper

Have children crumple paper that you are going to recycle.  Whether it is last week’s newspaper or junk mail start crumpling.

Make a game out of it.  Simply crumpling paper will only hold their attention for so long.  Here are a couple examples:

- Throw the papers into a basket or can and keep score.

- Build a pile of crumpled paper and have them jump into it.