ACTIVITIES “Five Little Monkeys” Five little monkeys swinging from a tree (hold up five fingers and sway them back and forth) Teasing Mr. Alligator, you can’t catch me. (point to yourself) Along comes Mr. Alligator, sneaky as can be (walk fingers across hand) Snap! (clap hands together) Four little monkeys swinging from a tree (hold up four fingers and sway them back and forth) Teasing Mr. Alligator, you can’t catch me. (point to yourself) Along comes Mr. Alligator, sneaky as can be (walk fingers across hand) Snap! (clap hands together) Three little monkeys swinging from a tree (hold up three fingers and sway them back and forth) Teasing Mr. Alligator, you can’t catch me. (point to yourself) Along comes Mr. Alligator, sneaky as can be (walk fingers across hand) Snap! (clap hands together) Two little monkeys swinging from a tree (hold up two fingers and sway them back and forth) Teasing Mr. Alligator, you can’t catch me. (point to yourself) Along comes Mr. Alligator, sneaky as can be (walk fingers across hand) Snap! (clap hands together) One little monkey swinging from a tree (hold up one finger and sway it back and forth) Teasing Mr. Alligator, you can’t catch me. (point to yourself) Along comes Mr. Alligator, sneaky as can be (walk fingers across hand) Snap! (clap hands together) No more monkeys swinging from a tree.
SCAVENGER HUNT For next week’s Activities feature, you will need paper and crayons.
(Contributed by Discovery Place Early Learning center.)
JOKE OFTHEWEEK Q: How do you fix a broken gorilla?
A: With a monkey wrench.
BOOK OFTHEWEEK There are thousands of books written for young children every year and many are available for you to borrow from a public library or can be purchased from a bookstore or online. Here are a classic children’s book or two that your family might enjoy: Bell, Cece. Sock Monkey Boogie-Woogie. For those of you who grew up with a sock monkey, this book is for you! Sock Monkey, the famous toy actor, tries to find a dance partner for the Big Celebrity Dance.
Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do. Five little monkeys are bored, but their mother has them clean up the house for Aunt Bessie's visit.
VIDEOVARIETY In addition to the books that are available for your family, there are also many movies and documentaries that may make you laugh and inspire you, as well. Here is one classic choice: Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas. George and the Man with theYellow Hat are having a very merry time counting down the days until Christmas. There's only one puzzle: neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present ... Will they be able to find the answers before Christmas morning?
WONDERS OFTHEWEB The Internet has long been available to supplement your parenting knowledge and skills. This is one web location that your family might enjoy: Monkey crafts for you to do with your child - http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/ Remember that you can also visit the website of your local public library to find out more about local library services. Libraries in much of Northwest Minnesota are listed on the Northwest Regional Library website: http://www.nwrlib.org/ (With assistance from the Thief River Falls Public Library.)
PARENTINGTIPS Healthy Families Put Family First In today’s world, families are facing many challenges. These challenges make it difficult for families to be a strong, supportive base for their members. Author Delores Curran researched healthy families in today’s world to determine what qualities they have that help them to remain healthy in spite of the challenges they face. She then wrote about her findings in her book “Traits of a Healthy Family.” Here are some of her findings: *A healthy family communicates by expressing and listening to feelings, not just words. (A generation ago this was not considered important in families.)
*A healthy family shows respect for one another. Everyone’s opinion is respected, even the opinions of young children. By modeling respect, we can teach our children to respect others.
*A healthy family has a balance of interactions. In other words, all family members are important and time is spent with all of them. Make sure someone isn’t predominant in the family. For instance if one child is in a sport or activity, don’t focus all your time and attention on that one child. Give all family members attention. Today, the major family function is relational. Our needs are emotional rather than physical as they were in the past. In pioneer days, children were needed to help a family survive. It’s just as important today to make family members feel needed and appreciated.
Everyone needs to feel loved and that they are important members of their family.
(Contributed by the Early Childhood Family Education department of School District 564.)
SOMETHINGTOTALK ABOUT Tell your child that you love and appreciate him/her. Help him/her understand the concept of unconditional love: you love your children no matter what they do.
(Contributed by the Early Childhood Family Education department of School District 564.)
