Once again it's time for...
The idea behind screen free week is for families to “rediscover the joys of life away from screens." The Screen Free organization believes as we do at BTBL that a childhood should include play, which invites exploration, expands imagination and builds creativity. Children need play to feed their curiosity and make sense of their world through hands-on interactions and what better way than to set an example and take time to play with the whole family. A Pew Survey finds that it is the households with children that own the most multiple gadgets and that these are most used to communicate and connect, which can be a positive thing but they can also distract us from what’s important; our children. I know that when I go out to the park with my daughter, which now that spring is here seems to be an almost daily activity, I use my phone to take photos of her and send them to family members. Just don’t get distracted and start reading your emails and text messages and ignore your child. Use the time together to play and explore.
We understand that completely disconnecting from all gadgets for an entire week may be an impossibility, so perhaps choose to disconnect from those devices that distract you and keep you disconnected from family. We feel that everyone needs a break from the electronic devices that have become such an integral part of every day life so take the leap and try to unplug for the week!
Even if you don’t unplug for the whole week, consider unplugging for a time to:
This year Screen Free Week coincides with the 100th anniversary of Children's Book Week, the "annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading." In honor of both occasions and in an attempt to get your kids on board with the idea of spending more time unplugged from their gadgets and gizmos, consider reading aloud the following titles during the week:
For additional information on unplugging, take a look at our previous blog Unplug This Summer!.
So, unplug, disconnect, and get back to basics this Screen Free and Children's Book Week!
-Kate @ BTBL Author
We are three generations that seek a way to get back to basics. It’s not that we eschew technology, but sometimes simpler is better, especially in raising our children. Mom was a reading teacher, Amanda is an early childhood educator and Kate a children’s literature specialist and former school librarian along with the latest editions, a daughter for Kate (now 3) and a son for Amanda (now 1.) We advocate reading aloud, the simple toys that use imagination and encourage creativity and learning in the kitchen, which can be a fun mess but also teaches life skills. Join us in raising healthy, happy, inquisitive and intelligent children.
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After a relatively mild winter thus far, the snow finally decided to grace us with its white, powdery, cold perfection and schools have been closed all week. What do you do with a restless child when you’ve got oodles of time and plenty of fresh snow? Make snow scream, of course! My daughter couldn’t have been more excited to finally see the world outside covered in a layer of fresh snow. Ever since watching the Little Bear episode “Snowbound” she has been asking to make Snow Cream just like Granny and Little Bear and now that we actually have clean snow on the ground, we were finally able to give it a try. In the episode, Little Bear and his family are snowed in at Emily’s Granny’s cottage for the night. Granny asks Little Bear to help her make a special dessert. Granny says, "We take a bowl, an ordinary, empty bowl, fill it full of snow, add a few magic ingredients… a little cream…and some honey and repeat after me: Whether the weather be cold, Or whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather, Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not.” Little Bear mixes the concoction together as they all repeat the poem and magically it becomes ice cream! Amazing! My daughter absolutely loves this episode. I cannot tell you the number of times we have watched it nor how often we have recited the poem. Of course, after watching it the first time we just had to know if Snow Cream is a real thing and if we could make it ourselves. Turns out there are several recipes out there and they are all pretty simple. *Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts! Before bundling up to go out and collect snow we got our supplies together:
Once we had everything gathered, we bundled up in our winter gear and headed outside to find some clean snow. My daughter used the large measuring cup to scoop up the snow and fill her bowl. We weren't quite sure how much snow it would take to make our snow cream, so we just filled our bowl and measuring cup and brought it all inside. After peeling out of our winter gear we got busy with measuring and mixing. Making snow cream is not an exact science. We ended up using approximately eight cups of snow, the whole can of sweetened condensed milk and a few drops of vanilla in ours and really enjoyed the flavor. It does not come out creamy like traditional ice cream, or at least ours didn't. It was more icy and extremely cold, but quite tasty. I believe we can thank the subzero, arctic temperatures for the icy consistency. We also gave Granny's recipe with honey and cream a try, but found that the honey didn't mix in well and the taste wasn't really to our liking. Don't be afraid to experiment a little like adding chocolate syrup, caramel, strawberry, lemon or other flavors to find your favorite combinations. The flavor possibilities when making ice cream out of snow are truly endless. Allow each member of the family to have their own bowl to mix up their own unique flavor. We followed up our adventures in making snow cream by enjoying some picture books all about snow and winter. Is there any better way to round out a cold afternoon than snuggling up with your little one and a good book?! Below is a list of the snowy related picture books we had on hand in our home library. For more winter related picture books take a look at our previous blog Picture Books for Wintry Weather. Happy creating and reading! -Kate @ BTBL AuthorWe are three generations that seek a way to get back to basics. It’s not that we eschew technology, but sometimes simpler is better especially in raising our children. Mom was a reading teacher, Amanda is an early childhood educator and Kate a children’s literature specialist and former school librarian along with the latest editions, a daughter for Kate (now 3) and a son for Amanda (now 1.) We advocate reading aloud, the simple toys that use imagination and encourage creativity and learning in the kitchen, which can be a fun mess but also teaches life skills. Join us in raising healthy, happy, inquisitive and intelligent children. Fall, our favorite time of year here in Michigan with harvest festivals, apples, pumpkins and the gorgeous fall colors that surround you every time you leave the house. With all the cider mills and apple orchards that abound in the area, it’s hard to choose just one to bring the kiddos to, but, as in our name, we love getting back to basics and visiting those orchards that shun the commercialism and stick to what they know best. One such orchard in our area is Kreps Apple Barn in La Salle, MI, which we had the joy of visiting this past weekend. Instead of bouncing in an inflatable castle and looking at fake plaster animals (yes we went to an orchard last year that had cows, pigs and chickens, none of which were real) my three year old daughter experienced the country at its best by engaging those large motor muscles as she ran through 10 acres of apple trees, swung on a rope swing suspended over bales of straw, participated in a sensory experience by digging in tables filled with loose corn, enjoyed touring the orchard on a tractor hay ride (at no charge), making friends with the resident animals and of course partaking of the delicious cider and donuts (they are to die for)! The peacefulness of the country, the fresh air and the simple offerings that allow a child to engage their senses and imagination is what bringing it back to basics is all about. Visiting an orchard also allows a child to see how a farm operates, where we get some of our food from and how it grows and is harvested. We encourage you to take some time this fall to engage your senses and visit an apple orchard and cider mill near you. Don’t forget to bring home some apples to make homemade applesauce, dried apples (a great healthy snack), apple pancakes, pies, breads and other apple goodies with your children. Getting kids in the kitchen is a wonderful way to build life skills as well as increase reading and math skills and speaking of reading, check out the great selection of apple themed books below. Apple Themed Books to Share *Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts. Take a look back at our previous blogs for some fall themed book ideas to share as well: |
AuthorWe are mom Sandra and daughters Amanda and Kate, all with backgrounds in literacy and education, who want to share our philosophy of taking the basics of life; books, simple toys that encourage play, imagination and creativity, and using cooking and baking to teach math and real life skills to raise happy, inquisitive children. Join us in exploring the old and the new and sifting through the myriad of research to consider what is best for our children. Archives
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