“Rise and shine sweetie, it’s time to ____” Insert any number of things that must be done before you able to get out the door and to work, daycare and/or school. If you’re a working parent, mornings can be challenging when you have young kiddos—just trying to get yourself dressed and ready can seem impossible at times let alone getting their needs met! If you build in a little extra time to interact, engage your kidlet with some play-based activities, you just may be able to get a meal made….try this as a way of cultivating an attitude of cooperation and patience!
READ
Books about animals, in general, are a big hit with children. One of grandbub #2’s current favorite books is:
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle. He, his Mom and Dad (and sometimes a guest grandreader) read it to him as part of his bedtime routine. He also likes listening to the story any time of day…and it’s a good story to share—full of fun of sounds and good lessons…Beep! Beep! Beep! this will be one you’ll want to read too!
If you are a fan of Goodnight Moon, I think you’ll enjoy one of my favorite farm animal books written by the same author:
Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. I thoroughly love how she’s able to insert all kinds of descriptions—a golden flying horse for the weather vane and not just a ‘cat’ but a tiger tomcat plus the words for the kinds of sounds animals make—lowing, squealing, braying. It gives the rhymes, the overall story, a much deeper depth and doesn’t ‘talk down’ to any children listening to the story.
PLAY
I often use props when reading books. If you have any farm animal toys, bring those out and make the sound of that animal for your kidlet OR if your child is old enough have them pick the animal out and make the sound for you! During a grandnanny shift, I repurposed grandbub #2’s farm animal set. This set was really made for tub use, but there’s ALWAYS more ways to use things!
Typical household items can also make great accessories and serve as a way to spark curiosity in your kiddo. I emptied out a Kleenex box to use to ‘showcase’ the farm animals—setting the animals around on different levels so grandbub #2 could view them on different planes and take animals out …later, perhaps, put them back in!
While grandbub #2 was playing, I started cooking breakfast. To extend his interest in the farm animals, I started singing Old McDonald Had a Farm. If you have a kiddo old enough to join in the singing you can do it one of 2 ways.
Using the lyrics below you can:
1. Treat each verse independently: or
2. Add each verse onto the previous one to help develop your child’s memory skills
After eating—I took a handful of animals along with me to ease into the process of getting dressed…you’d be surprised how a pig can make putting a shirt on go! Next time you’re telling your little one to “Rise and shine” incorporate some play-based techniques and let me know if your morning routine goes more easily.
Yours in Play!
Teacher Karen
Old McDonald Had a Farm
Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O
And on this farm he had a chick E-I-E-I-O
With a peep, peep here,
And a peep, peep there,
Here a peep, there a peep,
Everywhere a peep, peep.
2. Duck – quack, quack
3. Turkey – gobble, gobble
4. Pig – oink, oink
5. Cow – moo, moo
6. Cat -meow, meow
7. Mule – Heehaw
8. Dog – woof, woof
9. Hen – cluck, cluck
10. Turtle – nerp, nerp
11. Rooster – cockle doodle doo
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