Ideas for Children to Survive a Parent Being Away

Ideas for Children When a Parent Travels Away

One of my parenting magazines had some suggestions for making a parent's temporary departure easier.

1. Count Down the Days- Make a tear-away calendar or something similar so they have something to help understand when the parent is coming home.

2. Look at the Lovely- Take along a stuffed animal or toy and photograph it doing cool things like flying or sightseeing.

3. Record your voice- Use the computer or smart phone to record a message, video, or story for bedtime.

4. Video Chat- Skype or gmail!

5. Start a Virtual Diary- familydetails.com has a free website for the family to write day to day activities, upload pictures and texts.

6. Create Together- If a parent is gone for a long time create a picture together. Start out with a single line on a page and mail it back and forth, adding one line or shape until you have a piece of art.

Here is an example of number 2


Mouse traveled with Daddy on his business trip.


Mouse went to the pool.



Mouse sleeps in.

Books About Behavior and Emotions

When I was little my mom had a series of books for me which discussed behavior and struggles that kids go through. The series was "Let's Talk About" and the author is Joy Berry. They were written back in 1982.

I discovered her website and saw all of the new books she has written for children. Some of the topics include, teasing, bullying, divorce, bath time, bed time, whining, trauma, organization, etc.

I loved reading these books as a child and Zachary has been enjoying them as well. We do not have any of her new books but they all look very helpful in explaining various situations to children.

www.joyberrybooks.com

Another series I learned about through my mother (and you might have guessed that she is an elementary school teacher by now) is a series by Cornelia Maude Spelman with illustrations by Kathy Parkinson called "When I Feel...".

The author is a former social worker and writes about "the importance of emotions and healthy relationships in the lives of children" (Spelman).

Some of her books include When I Miss You, When I Feel Jealous, When I Feel Good About Myself, When I Feel Sad, When I Feel Scared, When I Care About Others, When I Feel Angry, After Charlotte's Mom Died, Your Body Belongs to You, Mama and Daddy Bears Divorce, and Talking About Childhood Sex Abuse.

http://www.corneliaspelman.com/index.php/books/

Summer

Books- Have not read all of them, but viewed summaries on the library website.

• Mama, Is it Summer Yet?- Nikki McClure
• Morgy's Musical Summer- Maggie Lewis
• Carl's Summer Vacation- Alexander Day
• Summer Beat- Betsy Franco (Two friends celebrate the sights and sounds of summer)
• Mouse's First Summer- Lauren Thompson
• Summer is Summer- Phillis and David Gershator- (Summer from a child's perspective)
• Four Friends in Summer- Tomie DePaola
• The Encyclopedia of Summer Olympics-David Fischer

Crafts

The link below has some fun and amazing summer crafts including a paper plate sun, popscicle matching game, ocean flower pot, watermelon craft, a homemade butterfly net and more.

http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/summer/

Baking

• Vanilla Pops (See below for recipe)
• Blueberry Yogurt Treats (see below)

Vanilla Pops- from Highlights High Five Magazine

1. One cup of milk

2. 6 oz container of vanilla yougurt

3. Tablespoon of honey

Blend ingrediants and pour into paper cups.

Freeze for 30 mins to an hour and then insert Popsicle stick.

Freeze until frozen!

Eat!

Blueberry Vanilla Treats

1. Break up graham cracker and pour in bottom of cup

2. Add vanilla yogurt

3. Place blueberries on top

Build it Yourself from Lowes

Zachary received this bird house kit from Lowes. It' a good starter kit to learning how to do woodwork and it was fun too.

Catapult

Here's a home made catapult that my husband made for a science experiment for our son. A cup, a small pvc pipe and part of our extra blinds.

It was interesting to watch Zachary. As a four year old he had to learn which side of the catapult had to be up in order to fling the object up in the air. He thought the cup had to be up at first and then thought he had to hit the side with the cup on it. He got it after trying a few times. We really enjoyed seeing things fly across the room!

Maps and World Structures

Books

Music

• The Continent Song- Tim Pacific from www.Songsforteaching.com
• The 50 States and Captials Song- Tim Pacific

Crafts

• USA map coloring- color and place stickers on all of the places you have visited
• World map coloring
• 7 Continents Mobile- Picture of the world at the top with each of the 7 continents hanging from each other. On the back of each continent glue a picture of a famous world structure that can be found there.

Activities

• Study a map of the state and write a letter for each major city. Observe all of the places you have been to.

Baking

• Pick a country, state or city and make some ethnic foods.

We used this world map to color. It came from google images.

We used this map to color and label all of the places we've been. This one also came from google images.

We cropped the pictures below to be the same size in Microsoft Word and glued them together. The other continent pictures hung from the world.

Pick Your Theme Table Runner Craft

Decorative Table Runner

We got this idea out of the Highlights High Five Magazine. We really enjoy reading that magazine and Zachary always looks forward to it coming in the mail each month. There is always a craft and a baking activity in it. There is also counting, short stories, hidden pictures, Spanish, and more.

Table Runner Craft

You will need: Wax paper, contact paper, and colored tissue paper

1. Unroll the contact paper onto the length of a table sticky side up.

2. Cut squares out of selected tissue paper and place them on contact paper.

3. Unroll wax paper onto contact paper.

4. Display!