Holiday Gift Idea: Pre-K Hand Print Calendar (Plus, Tips for Desensitizing Students with Special Needs to Finger Painting)

My last post on creative Christmas gift ideas was received so well, I thought I would follow up with one more homemade Christmas gift idea.  The idea is not new at all but our students' parents loved it as an end of the year gift last year. It would also be a great Christmas gift idea for your students' parents or your own children's gift to grandparents, aunts, and uncles.


A special thank you to Jessica Normandin and Good Beginnings Daycare for inspiring the idea as well as numerous internet and Pinterest finds along the way!

So without further ado, I give you the Buddy Bear's version of a Hand Print Calendar.

The Cover

January: A Beautiful Snowflake

February: A Handprint Valentine

March: A Silly Leprechaun

April: A Funny Bunny

May: A Pretty Tulip 

June: A Fun Fish

July: A Patriotic Flag

August:  Cool Crayons for Back-to-School

September: A Delicious Apple

 (Note: This was a prototype my boys made as a sample. The students' middle finger

was not painted all the way to the tip so the stem was shorter on the actual gifts.)

October: A Black Spider 

(Inspired by: Conscious Discipline's

 I Love You Rituals:  Little Miss Muffet

November: A Colorful Turkey

December: A Slender Santa 

(Note: Again, this was a prototype on the real ones 

we painted the tip of the thumb peach to make a flesh colored face.) 

There you have it "The Buddy Bear Hand Print Calendar!"  You might ask how did we ever get this twelve month calendar accomplished with our little special needs Buddy Bears. Well, it was not without the loving patience and creativity of Miss Karlie, one of our master art table paras.  Each day the kids painted one page of the their calendar and then had a turn with the art choices of the day.  (For more info on art center, visit this previous post.)  

You might also ask how we accomplished this task with sensory sensitive kiddos.  There are always a few students in a special education classroom that resist getting their hands dirty and/or hate to paint! We are always honest with the kids and tell them what we are doing. We show them a sample of the page we are going to paint and the plate of paint. 

Then if they are up for it, we paint their hand.  Here is a video clip of just that. Given it is with my son, who is not sensitive to paint, but you get the idea that we keep it fun, and make it quick with all of our materials ready and a washcloth to clean up ASAP!

For kids who aren't quite ready for this quick fun painting, we take baby steps.  For some, we desensitize them by tracing their hand and just helping them color the hand print.  (Note: In our experience coloring with crayons is less invasive to students that are resistive to painting as marker has the potential to get on their hands. However, we will use whatever the child is interested in.)

For others, we trace their hand and help them paint the inside of the hand with a paint brush. . . getting them a little closer to painting their hand.   

For others, we paint a cut out of a hand print on a sponge and simply have them push the sponge down on the paper...getting them even closer to painting their own hand.  (TIP: if you do this method remember it is a mirrored image so plan accordingly unlike me who has a backward image.)  

Although painting is not a necessity for kids, it is something that they encounter on occasion so we try our best to desensitize them to the experience in a non-threatening way.  By experiencing 12 hand print paintings in a row, some of our students did make a little progress with painting.  One would go to the table without protest to watch her peers paint another painted most of the pages with her actual hand!! Remember it's baby steps! :)

You might ask what is the point?  If they hate it, why make them do it? Well, my thought is that it is something kids will experience in preschool and early elementary years so exposure in a friendly structured environment can be helpful and these little paintings mean the world to parents who know that their little one's hands will not be little forever.

Click here if you would like to use our monthly poems and sayings.  

Best wishes with your little painters!!   

-Lindy    

Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas for Teachers, Daycare Providers, & Friends

A while back I had the opportunity to meet two amazing moms, Holly Homer and Rachel Miller.

They are the authors of 101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest, Funnest Ever!: The Entertainment Solution for Parents, Relatives & Babysitters!

My boys and I have just barely scratched the surface of all the activities in this book but we love what we have done so far! And it got me thinking...the best part of these activities is that they give us a chance to slow down and do things as a family.  

Lately, I have been struggling to be there for them both physically and emotionally.  I get caught up in the daily responsibilities of working, blogging, housekeeping, cooking. (Well... to be honest that last one is not my strong suit!)  Anyway, I tend to overcompensate for my physical and emotional absence by buying the boys things or taking them places when in reality all they want is to be with me.

In speaking with other educators throughout my career, I think most of us struggle with "mommy guilt" from time to time. It's part of our teaching nature to try to be enough for every child in our lives, both our kids and our students. 

Holly & Rachel’s book has given us the opportunity to do simple, fun, memorable activities together. As a result of them giving me a copy of their book, I thought I would pay it forward by giving another copy of the book to someone else. 

My son’s first grade teacher also has two small boys.  As part of her Christmas gift, I created this gift basket along with Rachel & Holly’s book.

Inside the book, I attached this special note:

I also shared this concept with our youngest son's daycare provider.  She doesn’t have any little ones herself but she does have many little daycare buddies that love doing little projects so I pulled together all sorts of seasonal crafts (with a little help from Hobby Lobby.)

And placed them in a santa gift bag with this special note.

We took the gift to daycare on the 1^st of December so the kids would have the whole month to make their creations. Then at the end of the month, they can be sent home in a gift bag from my little Payton!

So fun and purposeful! Not just a trinket or two from the dollar store, but special decorations and memories from daycare. :)

Finally, one final special gift that will be given to friends and family this holiday.  Just a little something to remind everyone what really counts throughout the season...a wrapped box of chocolates! 

With a note on the outside that says ‘Wishing you Many Memories with Friends and Family this Holiday Season! From: The McDaniels' ".

And a photo of my boys glued to the wrapping of the chocolates that says "The best present you can give is the gift of presence."

I wish you all many holiday memories full of presence and love!

Merry Christmas, 

Lindy

A Tribute to the Best Teacher I Ever Had

Today is a very special day in my family.  It is my mom’s birthday.  In her honor, today I am sharing a small token of my gratitude for her as my mom and my kids’ grandma.  She contributes more than she will ever know to both my career and our family.  Many of you have asked where I find the time to not only develop my classroom ideas & strategies, but also share them with the Considerate Classroom community.  The short answer: MY MOM!

My mom regularly takes the boys for an evening or long weekend so I can get caught up on everything I have overcommitted to do including school work, blog stuff, and various presentations or projects.  I am incredibly thankful to my mom for these extra opportunities for adult time. These little evenings or weekends truly rejuvenate me and keep me sane.   

My mom has always been a sounding board, especially early on in my career.  On the bad days, she would hear my cries for help, whines of helplessness, and complaints of frustration.  And on the good days, she helped celebrate the small wins and momentary successes.  My mom has always been one of my biggest supporters, loudest cheerleaders, and strongest voice of reason.  

Unfortunately for me (and probably thankfully for her), the calls are a little less frequent now because I've gotten busier. However, I still know she is only a phone call away when I'm feeling like "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"!

My mom has always been able to provide a healthy dose of perspective especially B.C. (a.k.a. Before Children).  Before I had my own little humans running around, I am pretty sure my expectations for children and their parents were unrealistic at best.  For an example of my early impractical B.C. mentality, I once actually came up with a plan for preschool homework.  Yes, that's right, homework for preschoolers!!

Long before I was a teacher, my mom taught me how to care for children.  When I was a preschooler, my mom had her very own house full of daycare children who all cried "I stay here!" when their parents came for pick up.  Later I followed her example as I filled my parent's home with my own daycare kids each summer.  "Camp Lindy" was complete with crafts, plays, and all sorts of school projects and complete household destruction each day!  Looking back, I have no idea why she sponsored my teaching aspiration so early on. 

As the loving mother of four very independent and individually unique children, my mom has been teaching my siblings & me for thirty plus years!  As I reflect on every lesson we've learned, every tear she's dried, and every bit of wisdom she's bestowed, it's clear where my passion for children came from.  I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for shaping the teacher I am today. 

Often times, it's easier for me to show my love in a project rather than words. Therefore, I wanted to share my mom's birthday gift with you all.  It is a creation inspired by the crafty Miss Karlie, our newest para, and Pinterest.  For Christmas, Karlie made my family this absolutely gorgeous plague with a few 2x4s, a cricut machine, scrapbook paper, and mod podge.  

Her creation encouraged me to make my own. I had seen a quote on Pinterest that read “Great moms get promoted to grandmas!” I took it and ran with it.  I printed the quote on scrapbook paper and then had my husband cut a 2x4 to size.  I mod podged the quote to the 2x4 after staining it with a dark color.  

Then, my husband cut four 2x4 squares to go above the quote.  I stained and mod podged them with a matching scrapbook paper. Next, I mod podged the very first hospital photo of her holding the boys and my niece.  

I made an extra block for more grandbabies in the future.  (My siblings have that job! :))  

The final project turned out perfectly. 

Mom, you are the best!  I have no idea where I would be without you.  Love You Mom!  Happy Birthday!!  

Rolling Back to School

With the new school year right around the corner, I wanted to share this fun back to school gift idea.  I made it for my son’s daycare friends, but you could make it for your own children, your students or teaching staff. 

All you need are: Rolos, scissors, tape, glue stick, Sharpie marker and this template. 

First, open the template and change the wording for the appropriate grade level for the receiver of your gift and print it.  

Next, cut the pencil template out and remove the paper wrapper on your Rolos.  Tape the end of the template in the middle of the foiled package of the Rolos. 

Then, wrap the template around the Rolos and use a glue stick to seal it.  

Cut slits along the pink end of the template to make the eraser part. 

Fold the paper down and tape it to make the eraser. 

Now for the tricky part, cut a slit on the tan side of the template, then wrap it like a cone and seal the tip with tape.  

Mine didn’t look perfect but you can tell it is a pencil! :)

Follow up by coloring the tip of the tape with a black Sharpie marker to represent the lead of the pencil. 

And there you have it .... a candy pencil to roll into the new school year!  Best wishes with   your back to school preparation!  I have to run & finish mine.  So much to do and so little time before the school year begins!!  Is it just me or do the summers get shorter with each passing year?

Post Update:  Okay...so I thought this was a "Lindy Original" until I saw another version of the Rolo pencil as I was pinterest browsing.  In full disclosure, it's very well possible I was inspired by pinterest on this one!!  

Bonus:  Here are a few other versions of the Rolo pencil I have found since writing this post:  Glue Sticks and Tape,  Thrifty and Thriving and Thoughts that Stick. 

5 Fun Father’s Day Gift Ideas

With Father’s Day right around the corner, I wanted to share some our favorite gifts given to my beloved husband for special occasions.  

For Christmas just after Emmitt was born, I had a cute little canvas with a picture of Doug and EJ sleeping together printed by personalizationmall.com   

  

Then for Doug’s first Father’s Day, I printed a book through Walgreens Photo.  I don’t want to seem redundant but I can’t help but share a few photo spreads because they are so darn cute!! 

The following Father’s Day Doug received a collage from Walgreens Photo with some of my favorite shots of him and Emmitt together.   

He received a golf magazine cover by Walgreens Photo three years ago. 

Okay, so you are probably seeing my theme here. . . Walgreens Photo is my one-stop shop for personalized gifts.  That being said, they no longer make the golf magazine cover. (They make lots of others, just not the golf one.) 

Last Christmas, I went online and found another great website that prints magazine covers— Yourcover.com.  They are a little more pricey but a great gift all the same! Payton gave one to daddy for Christmas last year.

Last year, we gave Doug a coffee tumbler with photos and sticker letters that spell out “We Love You”  from Target.   

Finally for Doug’s birthday this year, I did a photo shoot with my boys wearing Daddy’s uniform.  Then I put them together to create this keepsake.  The boys had a blast taking pictures with each other. 

Wishing all those Dads out there a very Happy Father's Day!