Wired Wednesday: Blogging for Kiddos

Wow! Can you believe it is already Wednesday?! I feel like this week has flown by! Manda is home with us today so everyone is happy! Lil Man and I are super excited to share today's post with you!    

**Disclaimer: bare with us this post got a little long winded!**

 

 Last week Lil Man was watching some videos on Brain Pop Jr. He watched one about blogs. Unfortunately, unless you have a subscription to Brain Pop Jr., you won't be able to watch the video. You can read a little about it on the page though. Basically, the video tells you what a blog is (web log), describes some types of blogs (general topics, specific subjects, personal, photo, travel, news, etc.), explains the parts of a blog (title, author/contributors, posts, tags, comments, archive, links, pages, etc), shares ways to participate in blogs (writing and publishing posts, including photos and/or videos, and reading and commenting on others' blogs), and shares a little about safety with blogs (not sharing personal info).

Later in the afternoon after watching the video, he made a comment about blogs. We told him that we have blogs that we post on (this one and personal one). He made the comment that he could start a blog. We didn't think much of it at the time, but since then, while we've been working on blog posts for here, he's made other comments.

Yesterday, we were discussing topics for upcoming weeks and he made a comment, "I could make a blog and talk about my family, things we do, and being a dancer." Mind you, he is 7 years old and doesn't really enjoy writing...so this idea is both scary and intriguing at the same time! We've always had the thought that we would like to have classroom blogs so we decided that this would be a great experience for him and us!

I spent some time researching last night about how to help him set up his blog. What he needed to know, what I needed to know, and any information I could find really. I just wasn't sure where to start with him. I actually watched the Brain Pop Jr. video myself so I would know exactly what it had talked about (hence the notes from above). I found a great Blogging Rules printable from Scholastic. I also read a blog post 14 Steps to Meaningful Student Blogging, which is of course directed to teachers getting ready to blog with their students, but I definitely got some ideas.

So then it was time to sit down with Lil Man and get him started!

We discussed about some rules:
    --Only use your first name
    --Don't put the name of your school or dance studio
    --Don't put the name of the apartment complex
    --Don't give any personal contact info (email, phone number, or address)

Then we talked about some things that he can talk about on his blog. He was having a hard time coming up with what to say so we made a circle map:

Then we sat down and wrote out his first post (I had to write because he started tearing up when he realized we were going to write it on paper. Told you he doesn't like writing; it's a big weakness we're working on.) We also helped him come up with a catchy blog title.

Then I sat down with him at the computer and set it all up. I let him choose all the fonts, background, and everything. Then he sat down and typed what we had written. 

We're excited to help him get started. We all talked about some ideas for posts for him to do. We'll keep you updated on how his blog is going! If you'd like to visit, just click the screen shot above!

Make It Monday: Lunch Skewers

Today we had a really fun lunch and wanted to share it as our Make It Monday! Lil Man was excited about lunch today because it was fun, yummy, and healthy! Our lunch was inspired by this pin...





Our dining room table was covered with a makings of a craft project, so we had a picnic at the coffee table in the living room.

Here's what is pictured above: wooden skewers, Catalina dressing (in the colorful bowls), spinach, mandarin oranges, ham, bananas, vanilla yogurt, mandarin oranges (again), pineapple, and marshmallows! 

Now at this point I've probably lost you because all of that stuff together doesn't sound quite appetizing. Just stick it out a little longer! 

We had like a pack of 100 skewers, but we each took two and kept reusing them.

Here's the first skewer we tried:

We paired the spinach, mandarin oranges, and ham together and dipped it in Catalina dressing! It was really yummy!

Our second skewer was a little sweeter:

We paired banana, mandarin oranges, pineapple, and marshmallows together and dipped it in vanilla yogurt! Again, it was really yummy! 

We went back and forth between the two different ones. We even had to go back to the kitchen a few times for more ingredients! We definitely enjoyed our yummy, fun, and healthy lunch!

Can you tell he enjoyed it?

He decided to enjoy some of the left over yogurt!

What do you think? Do you like skewers? What do you like on yours? 

 

 

 

Make It Monday: Tank Craft

We hope you are as excited as we are! It's time to kick-off our new weekly schedule! That means it's time for...Make It Monday!

Today we started a schedule with Lil Man and a chore/allowance system! (More coming on all of that soon!) But we are super excited about getting it all set up!

Summer has set in for many of us. Have you heard the dreaded "I'm Bored" yet this summer? Thankfully, with everything we've had going on to start off our summer, Lil Man is pretty good at entertaining himself. For instance, one of the first days of summer he came to me and asked for my help with a making a tank. We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share a inexpensive, quick, and easy craft for kiddos.

Therefore for our first edition of Make It Monday, we're going to share the small craft that Lil Man wanted to make...

Here's a short little "interview" video of our Lil Man sharing his tank:

He wants to add some type of wheels/track to it and color it, but here's what the "finished" product looks like: 

Here's what you'll need:

                                                      --empty tissue box

                                                      --tape (preferably packaging tape)

                                                      --3 toilet paper rolls 

                                                         (probably could use 1 paper towel roll)

As I said, this is an inexpensive, quick, and easy craft. All of the supplies we had around the house. He actually convinced me to take some tissues out of the box and put them in a basket so he could go ahead and use it. Then he gathered the toilet paper rolls. And we had packaging tape because we were packing boxes getting ready to move. 

Here's how to put it all together:

Slide the three toilet paper rolls together or use a paper towel roll.

Fold in half on one side of the tube. This makes it easier to attach.

Tape around where the rolls meet on each end.

Tape the folded end into the tissue box.

And you're done! Decorate and/or add some tracks/wheels if desired!

I hope you enjoyed our first edition of Make It Monday and this quick craft to curb summer boredom! If you make this craft (or anything) we'd love to see it! Share your Summer Fun ideas!

~Steph