I really enjoyed reading all the helpful posts linked up to last week’s life skills themed Discover & Explore linky! Today I’m going to feature a few posts from last week that highlight important life skills for young children. All the featured posts this week explain simple ways to help you work on these life skills with children at home or in the classroom. (And be sure to follow my Pinterest Parenting Board to find more ideas similar to these!)
Before going over the featured posts, I wanted to share a children’s book with you that’s always been one of Lucy’s favorites and fits so well with this theme. All by Myself by Mercer Mayer is a great read for kids learning to do things on their own. It shows Little Critter doing all kinds of things by himself, although not perfectly. The silliness keeps children’s interest and provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss how we don’t always do things perfectly the first few times, and how practicing skills over and over will help us become better at them. This book is definitely worth checking out!
Now onto the featured posts…
Anger Management Skills for Kids
from Fireflies & Mud Pies
I love Fireflies & Mud Pie’s post on anger management. Melissa does a great job explaining how to help children recognize their feelings and gives simple steps they can take when they’re feeling angry.
5 Steps to a Polite Kid: Teaching Manners to Kids
from How Wee Learn
How Wee Learn’s shares simple steps to help teach manners and politeness to kids. I love how she gives multiple examples of ways you can teach each skill!
How to Get the Kids to Clean Up after Play
from Powerful Mothering
Powerful Mothering shares a variety of ways to help motivate children to clean up after themselves. I love the songs at the end of the post. My kids always respond to singing!
Encouraging Independence at Snack Time
from Buggy and Buddy
And last week I shared how we manage snack time for toddlers. It’s really easy to set up and provides an easy way to little ones to practice being independent.
More Life Skills Ideas from the Discover and Explore Co-hosts
Holiday Volunteer Activities for Families (KC Edventures)
Encouraging Toddler Independence at Snack Time (Buggy and Buddy)
Encouraging Independence and Creativity with a Creation Station (Fantastic Fun and Learning)
Promoting Life Skills in the Preschool Classroom (Teach Preschool)
Playing with Language (Twodaloo)