Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in toronto, CN

Top Five Books About Having Fun with Grandparents

by Katie

June 09, 2009

This week, my top five is going to run with the grandparent theme featured in the guest post yesterday. The following list is of Top Five Books about having fun with Grandparents. Which means these are great books to be read by Grandparents or just when you miss hanging out with Grandma or Grandpa. Which makes me think: it's high time we saw the Grandparents.

Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer
We have read this book so many times together that I think I know it by heart. Little Critter and his Grandmother go to the beach together where Little Critter tries to be a very helpful grandson. Look for the spider and cricket who appear on every page.

Just Grandpa and me by Mercer Mayer
What can I say? We love Little Critter. In this story Little Critter goes on an adventure filled trip to the department store with his Grandfather to get a new suit. Remember to look for Little Critter's bug friends.

Grandpa and Me by Karen Katz
Cooking with Grandpa is the nice twist in this story about a grandchild helping out in the kitchen. This is a bright lift-the-flap book by the same author who wrote and illustrated the really adorable book Where Is Baby's Belly Button?

Here Comes Grandma by Janet Lord (art by Julie Paschikis)
Grandma is coming to visit! Grandma has sent a letter describing how she is going to take her trip to see the grandchild she really misses. She comes by horse, car, and even hot-air balloon to deliver her hugs and kisses.

Grandpas Are For Finding Worms by Harriet Ziefert (art by Jennifer Plecas)
Grandpas know how to do all sorts of things. Some love carpentry, some fishing, and others are masters at making silly faces. But regardless of their special talent,  all these grandpas do one thing really well: they all make their grandchild feel really special.

These books are also all available in the Toronto Public Library system.

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"Leaping" across generations: How seniors and children can read together

by Katie

June 08, 2009

Today I have a very informative guest post by Glen Atkison, Director of Marketing for LeapFrog Canada. June is Senior's Month in Toronto and Glen has ten tips on how to encourage children and seniors to read together and connect over books.

Did you know this month is Seniors Month? At LeapFrog we think it is important to encourage children and seniors to read together this month (and ideally every month). It is a great chance for seniors to share their experiences and love of reading with younger people.

As a parent, I can see the benefits reading offers my daughter, who likes a wide range of books including Dora the Explorer and the Robert Munsch classics. Unfortunately, many people don’t or can’t take advantage of the opportunity to read with their children. Not only can seniors help children enjoy reading in a peaceful one-on-one environment, assisting a child with reading can also improve the youngster’s literacy skills. The situation is win-win – by reading with a child, seniors have a sense of value, contributing to the future, and purpose. Finally, both the youngster and senior get to connect through the joy of books.
 
While being a hands-on dad and working for a company that promotes reading, I have learnt a few things on how seniors and children can read together. Here are my tips:  

1. Choose books using the five finger test. Have the child open a book and read one page aloud. For every word they can’t pronounce or don’t know they should hold one finger up. If they put five fingers up the book is too difficult to read alone, if they do not have any fingers up the book is too easy and if they have two to four fingers up the book is appropriate.
2. Read aloud with the child. For really young children you can solely read to them, for children around 4 to 6 years old you can read a story to them and then have them read it again or alternate pages, and for older children you can encourage them to read to you.
3. Cook recipes together from children’s cookbooks. Or, if you have a traditional recipe that you usually cook from memory write it down together and then follow the instructions.
4. Read a book and then take the child on a trip related to it. For example, you could read Fancy Nancy at the Museum then take a trip to a nearby art gallery.
5. Start a book club. For example, read The Little Engine That Could, then make conductor’s caps, draw pictures of trains and sing songs about trains.
6. Let little ones play with their food. Give them alphabet snacks such as cereal or cookies and have them spell three words before eating them.
7. Share books that you loved reading when you were younger.
8. Offer access to educational learning aids, such as the Tag Reading System, that encourage alphabet knowledge and reading.
9. Encourage the child to talk about the books they have read. For example, which character would they want to be or how would they change the ending?
10. Be patient and supportive. Sometimes children take a while to recognize a word and sound it out.

 

Glen Atkinson is the Director of Marketing for LeapFrog Canada. He brings to LeapFrog a wealth of experience, having worked in marketing for other major brands. He is dedicated to LeapFrog’s One Million Reading Hours, which encouraged parents to read with their children for just 15 minutes a day last summer, leading to over 1,000,000 million reading hours being generated. This is a philosophy that he embraces, as he is a dedicated dad who reads with his daughter every evening.

 

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The difficult things: preschooler books on sensitive subjects

by Katie

November 20, 2008

Now that I answer to the name "mom", I know that one of the dreaded things I signed up for in this parenting gig is talking about some difficult subjects with Gigi. Honestly, I'll take all the good help I can get because boy-oh-boy, I dread some of the more squirrely stuff. Since I love to inspire conversation with a good book, I figure why not use them to talk about the more sensitive issues.  Read more...