Character Building with #readforgood

Hi friends!

Did you all have a great holiday? Well, all you Americans and Canadians, anyway. Do I have any international readers??

Are you guys following along with the Read For Good Readathon at MeMeTales? We are and we are loving it! This is probably Abbey's favorite app on my phone.

This week's theme is Character Building, and the books are, as always, wonderful. Our favorite is Good Habits to Have.

It talks about all sorts of good character traits like honesty, kindness, and perserverence.

Another great one is Ditto the Butterfly, which is about eating a variety of foods. 

Yeah....we're going to be reading that one a LOT!

One character trait we've been working hard on here in the Long household is obedience. Abbey turned 3, realized that she forgot the Terrible Two's and is making up for lost time. "No" is way too popular right now over here!

One thing we've been talking about a lot lately is being part of the household. This comes with things like chores and helping around the house. Abbey has had a few jobs for a while now, but I decided to make them a bit more official. 

So, I made her this:

Her very own chore chart! It's simple, she can understand the pictures, and it lives right on our fridge. 

What are Abbey's Jobs?

1) Feed the dog. We fill the bowl, she sets it out

2) Silverware. We give her the basket of clean silverware from the dishwasher and sorts it into the silverware caddy

3) Laundry. Old clothes go in the hamper whenever she gets dressed. She helps put laundry away when it's clean.

We're running low on ink, so I think I might send it out to be printed at Kinko's, but for now this one works. 

It's amazing how motivating a smiley face can be! Now, for these jobs at least, a smiley is probably all she will get. I'm a firm believer in the idea that some jobs you just do because you are a member of the household and that's how things work. As she gets older there will be other things she can do to earn rewards/money/allowance.

Want to make your own super cute chore chart? Here's what I used. All of these products can be used in Photoshop programs, as well as other digital scrapbooking software!

The chart itself is from Chore Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Then I filled in in with A Life Expressed....Colorfully by SuzyQ Scraps

The chore felties come from these kits by Chelle's Creations

Spic n Span

Fetch

Sunnyside Up

Be blessed!

Heather

Toddler Box 6: Counting Ducks

Hi friends!

Abbey and I have been playing along with the Readathon at MeMeTales. It is so much fun! MeMeTales is a children's e-book app that is available for iPhone, iPod and most e-readers. The app gives you access to tons of books, some for free, and some available for purchase at great prices!
During the readathon you get to "borrow" books each week that fit a certain theme. Every week, new books become available.
This week's theme was animals. Abbey's favorite!! We read The Donkey and The Wolf, The Lion and The Mouse, and 5 Little Ducklings. Abbey was having so much fun counting the ducks that it inspired another Toddler Box!

This one takes a bit more prep work than the other boxes, but I think it's worth it.
I started with some yellow foam, and a duckling outline I found through Google Images.

I cut out the ducks, decorated them with a little fabric paint, and added dots from 1-5. Then I cut out some numbers and glued them onto clothes pins.

This game works in the same way as the Paint Chip Matching Game. Find a match, clip it on!

Abbey loves counting, and this game lets her practice that while working on her fine motor skills. It's simple, and she get's to say "I did it!" all the time while she plays.

I plan on adding 5 more ducks and making the game go up to 10, but I didn't have enough foam for that, so I'll have to pick up some more.

Be Blessed!

Heather

I'm linking up, come play!