First gather your plants. Gathering and handling plants is a great sensory activity for kids. It will give them tactile intake, sunshine, fresh air and a time to move about. Not only will your kids get a chance to explore the outdoors, they will be choosing what tools they will use in their plant painting project. Giving choices fosters independence in young children. Give them little hints as you go, to get those little imaginations working and curiosity stirred.
Say things like:
I wonder what it would look like if we painted these plants and printed them on paper?
I wonder what shape this plant will make?
What would it look like to print different textures and size plants?
We painted different leaves in different colors and pressed them in different directions.
We also painted and pressed flower type plants.
I worked hand over hand while my young patient’s arm was in a sling.
We finished our picture, cut around the edges and tried an assortment of background colors.
You can paste your painting to the paper or you can take different pictures like I have done here and use those pictures for creating different cards etc.
This one has the corners ripped from one of the background colors. You can add your greeting over top of picture.
Print, cut and paste process below that comes out really cool. I used this process with my grandchildren to create an anniversary card for mom and dad. Each one printed different flowers and objects on his own paper. I painted the “Happy Anniversary” words and cut them out. After the pictures dried I cut around the shapes of the prints. We arranged and glued it all together(don’t press it too flat) which gave it a sort of 3D look. I trimmed it a bit, made a page with some crisscross edges and glued the trimmed picture to the crisscrossed edged picture which made it appear framed .
I love encouraging creativity and the kids are always so proud of their final creations.
I am so thankful for the warmer weather that allows everyone to enjoy the awesome outdoors. I love seeing all the little emerging critters and plants. All of nature is blooming, makes you feel so alive. Make the most of every teachable moment.
For Happy Healthy Kids,
Ms. Dawn
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Young children love to move about their world to learn, explore, create, make believe and trust, and that is what The Singing Nurse loves about babies, preschooler and older kids too.
Children are special creations, unique in all aspects and have been gifted in their own peculiar and extraordinary way.
Healthy Living
Children will take our lead when it comes to life and healthy living. Give a child a choice between apple and orange slice and they will pick a healthy snack each time.
It is an awesome privilege to guide these little ones through the maze of the “good and bad” things for us. Kids are so very impressionable and eager to copy our actions.
Guiding children through good health habits like; hand washing, coughing or sneezing in our shoulder, not spreading our germs around, brushing our teeth, going to the dentist regularly, resting our bodies and the overall monitoring and care of our amazing bodies is a distinctive task of parenting. It is draining and demanding as well as an unexpected joy to be part of.
Music/Movement
Young children blossom and thrive in the presence of melody, rhythms, instruments and voice. Kids are just free to express what ever is in their being.
Who among us has not observed a small child bee bopping to the beat, and you yourself being ignited by this show of innocence and freedom. Here we can follow the children’s lead.
It plainly puts a smile on your face. “A merry heart does good like a medicine”.
Provide a child with simple percussion instruments, simple wind instruments and they will derive great pleasure in the music they make. Encourage this!
Art
Give a child paper and writing utensils from a colorful palette and they will express themselves with utter abandon.
Give them watercolors and they will paint to your amazement for long periods of time.
Give them clay and they will relish the opportunity to manipulate it by smooshing it, squeezing it and pounding it with delight to their own identifiable creation. You’ll say,”Tell me about what you have made”, and they will know and tell you exactly what it is.
We as the adults in our children’s world must provide the basic raw materials and tools to foster creativity, curiosity and expression. They will take our lead, what a privilege.
I’ve been thinking of posting the projects I’ve been creating in the home care setting over the years. You may be some sort of health care worker and just can’t think of what to do with your young patient to make things interesting and to help perk up their day. Many of our patients are home bound and life can get a little boring when the teacher, OT, or PT are not showing up on any given day. I know you can think of things to make, let’s put our heads together, look around and let those creative juices flow. Many of my ideas incorporate bringing the outside in using the objects of nature, creating simple songs with a small keyboard, recycling medical supplies and household items. I might even share some animation ideas that are simple to create from the projects you will make.
Valentines Project:
One of my co-workers brought in some candy from her homeland so I saw the shiny little wrappers and thought oh, we can make something with that. I know if any preschool teachers are reading this post, they may think, wow, I always think like that. I do refer to myself at time as a preschool teacher with the nurses hat because of my creative tilt. Prek teachers are some of the most creative recycling people you will meet and their closets of saved items will attest to this, lol.
So I started saving the wrappers that will be part of our heart creation. Don’t forget to speak with your patient about your plans, draw them into the creative process. They love to hear about and begin anticipating what might become of those shiny little papers.
Chocolate wrappers
Create a pattern from paper then trace it to a cardboard box flap(this is recycling boxes from the shipping of medical supplies) Make sure and let the child watch as you cut the cardboard, hearing the sounds and seeing the fragments dropping are fun and great sensory activities.
make a pattern
Cut up shiny candy papers to smaller pieces and paste them to the the cardboard heart. Use liquid glue, my little friend loves watching the glue fall to the heart and feeling the sticky slimy texture on his fingers.
add glue and papers to cardboard heart
After completing one side let it dry on a piece of wax paper, flip it over and do the back side, wrap papers around the edges as well to create a completely covered heart.
cover both sides and wrap around the edges
Add a hanger to the back so your project can be hung on the wall. We did some bending to a paper clip and attached it with some duct tape and glued a piece of paper with a valentine message.
attach a hanger to the back of heart
Finally, glue your child’s picture to the front of your valentine heart. We glued a piece of red construction paper on first so our picture would have a nice border. Adding a heart shaped paper lace doily would look great too.
add your child's picture
Hope you enjoyed our recycle and creative project in the home care setting.
Just a quick post to remind you that this Sunday is 10/10/10.
What are you going to be doing on that day? As a child, my daughter always thought it was cool when the time or date was duplicated, she would say, “make a wish” or “say a prayer” and always shouted it out when it was happening.
I guess this is my “shout out”.
Make October 10th 2010 a special day, seems like we should be shooting off fire-works or celebrating in some way.
I’ll start it off with 10 ideas, let’s hear yours…
1. Call 10 friends
2. Write down 10 things you are thankful for
3. Take a picture holding 10/10/10
4. Write out 10 with apples, pumpkins or some veggies-take a picture
5. Spend 10 minutes or 10 hours of solitude with God
6. Go on a special date with your spouse
7. Celebrate with friends-take pictures
8. Pick up 10 soda bottles off the road
9. Climb 10 flights of stairs with your video camera running
10. Smile and say hello to 10 complete stranger
Let me know how it goes, send some pictures to: TheSingingNurse@gmail.com I’ll post the best ones.
For Healthy Kids and Families, Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse
I decided if I was going to finish my lesson plan book, I better create my own pic props for the teachers, parents and health professionals who will use The Singing Nurse health lesson plan book. I want to avoid the copyright problems which would prolong finishing the health lesson book while waiting on granted permissions, so here I go.
P.S. If you’d like to be notified when The Singing Nurse Lesson Plan book, which coincides with my health songs is complete, sign up @ my contact page and put Lesson Plan Book in the subject.
I will tell you what I learn from my Bamboo travels. Today I used the BFP with my simple Paint Program.
#1 don’t leave the pen on the drawing pad if you want to use your hands on you laptop cursor pad. They get mixed up and compete for control. Not good!
Today I learned how to crop my carrot, as you can see above I have a large amount of white surrounding my carrot. I added some eyes and a smiling mouth because carrots are good for our teeth and make them happy.
#2 I am still using a simple paint program. To crop your pic, right click on your picture, click on edit, click on crop, move the brackets to make the space around your subject close to the edges, click ok, and save. I’m so thankful for my kids whoteach me a lot. They are my human computer GPS’.I also drew some broccoli and an apple today which are all good for our teeth. Check out the health songs on the music page, catchy and fun for the whole family.
How many have felt overlooked, left behind, or ignored? My suspicion is that this is a common human emotion we all feel from time to time. Emotions are strong forces to be reckoned with and can be valuable and affirming in good instances and be totally deceiving in other instances. Whatever instance they may come, they are feelings none the less and need to be evaluated and measure against what is the truth.
I’ve come to learn that tears may be a sign of deep feelings, but not necessarily the truth about it all. Some of our deepest feelings may be reactions to our own make-up of unfounded fears and apprehensions. Feelings may lead our actions in thought and deed and totally miss the mark. Pride will also play a part when we “feel” someone may be thinking ill of us or question our motives. It is difficult to sift through it all and we may need an outside mind to help us pull the pieces together.
Feelings can also warn us of danger and eminent harm and the sensing of what is not right about an event or word. Feelings in this situation are there to help protect us. The descript word “feeling” in this instance may be better named “discernment”. We have to be open, non reactionary and mature enough to know the difference which comes with time, experience, learning, and surrendering our own ideas.
Our own ideas, is that what we want, can they always be trusted? We shall look into the “matter” no pun intended, or maybe it does make sense that what I really want to say is that you and I do matter. It is comforting to know there is a measuring stick to evaluate what is true, what is true about the world, what is true about us and people in general.
I live my life from a biblical world view and the scriptures are my template. I strive to “listen and do”, a statement I reiterated and reminded my children as they grew. Don’t be just a hearer of the word, but a doer as well. The Bible has a lot to say about human behavior, what is true about our hearts and what is in them. The scriptures talk a lot about living our daily lives and looking to and seeing hope in our futures, which is our hope in His future for us.
Psalm 139 talks about how we are wonderfully and fearfully made, I’m sure you have heard those words before. In the same Psalm it says He was there watching as we were coming together, as He was putting us together in our mother’s womb. How awesome is that, like an artist painting a picture, He adds color, shading, blends it all, and stands back to see how His masterpiece is coming together. Do you think you matter? I’d say you are pretty special and of course none of us are prints, we are all the original deal.
You were created for and by God. Wow, what a revolutionary and life giving and life changing thought. In the book of Ephesians (a book in the New Testament of the Bible) it says God has His good works ready for us to deliver on. Awesome! We are part of the plans of God; we get to work together with the creator of the universe. Do you matter? Take the time to read all of Ephesians 2, it is wonderful.
Here is the part that talks about how He has created us to do His good works.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2: 8-10 New Living Translation
When we come to God and say oh my, I’m wrong, I’ve blown it, ask Him to forgive us and set us on a new path, He does just that. We knowingly and miraculously become part of His team. God helps us discover our gifts and talents “and then”, we learn and long to, with His help, “do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Do you matter? Yes!
Dawn Ginese
Below is a young child’s version of Psalm 139
Psalm 139 paraphrased:
1. Lord you know all about me.
2. You know when I sit and when I wake-up, You know my thoughts.
3. You know when I go places and when I go to sleep. You know what I do every day.
4. Before I speak, You know what I’m going to say.
5. Your hands care for me.
6. It is hard to understand how you know me so well.
7. I can’t run away from You. I can’t hide from you.
8. Wherever I go You are there.
9-10. If I try to fly like a bird or swim like a fish, Your hands lead me and Your hands hold me.
11-12.When I’m afraid of the dark, the black night is like daytime to You and You are not afraid.
13. You made and formed every little part of me. You put me together in my mom’s tummy.
14. I thank You, because you made me. What You do is wonderful.
15. You watched as You made me.
16. You saw me before my body was complete. Everything about me was planned in Your book before I was born.
17. You have so many thoughts about me, I can’t count them all.
18. If I were to count all Your thoughts about me, they would be more that the grains of sand. When I wake up I am still with You.
♥ Nothing creates a love for reading more than sitting with our child and doing just that, reading.
♥Start as soon as they will sit still, which of course starts as an infant right from the crib.
♥Our children love hearing our voices, the rhythm and the tones.
♥ We spark our toddlers curiosity when we read to them, let them turn the pages and allow the anticipation of what’s to come, remember not to rush. They will ask for the same book again and again.
♥Start with board books which you can pick up cheep from your local thrift store.
♥Visit your local library and participate in a story hour for young children. Story hour is a nice break for moms and expands your child’s exposure to new stories.
♥Make sure and sign up for a library card and let your child be part of checking out the books.
♥It is helpful to use a book bag to keep books organized and accounted for.
♥ Remember to borrow more books than DVDs.
♥When the children get older it is fun to create a chart to keep track of the titles and the amount of books read.
♥Good books are windows to explore the world in which we live.
1) Hand Washing
2) Dental Hygiene
3) Dentist Visit
4) Flu Prevention
5) Lyme Disease Prevention
6) Audiologist Visit
7) You are Special
8) Body Parts/Kindness
9) TSN Resource
Each lesson will be accompanied with a song performed and sung by The Singing Nurse! Your kids will love the catchy tunes and sing themselves to a healthier life.
