We have a case of the Monday Blues. Spring break is over and daddy went back to work. COVID 19 has caused his company to move to a work one week, off one week schedule for awhile. We are happy he will be making an income but sad at the same time as we have grown accustomed to having him around! To brighten our day we tried some of the activity suggestions sent by my daughter’s teacher.
Alphabet Exercise– We used these alphabet exercises to get moving! Children can spell words or their name to engage in the physical activity that accompanies each letter. We pulled letters out of a “mystery bag” and after naming the letter and making the sound, we did the exercise. CLICK HERE to go to The OT Tookbox to learn how to do each alphabet exercise.
Writing a Story- My daughter’s preschool class loves to write! They had just completed a project on writing a book prior to the quarantine. The culminating activity was working together to publish their own class book (a fairytale) and then having a book signing party. Her teacher used School Mate Publishing and turned the book written and illustrated by Mrs. Stanglein’s preschool class of 2019-2020 into a published book! My daughter created the skunk character who sprayed the princess. Every child got to illustrate two pages. Our family of three have happy memories of the book signing party where we visited with her teacher, talked to other parents and watched our daughter joyously play with her friends! With an abrupt stop to attending school in the physical sense, with her teacher and friends, the book and book signing party is a sweet preschool memory we’ve been dearly holding onto during this time of isolation.
This week my daughter’s teacher assigned the task of writing an original fairytale. We completed Step One: Brainstorm ideas by writing or drawing characters, a setting, and a problem and a solution for your story. 
Family Game Night- Two of our favorite games are the Sneaky, Snacky, Squirrel Game! and the Hoot Owl Hoot Game. The Sneaky, Snacky, Squirrel Game! (ages 3-5) was our daughter’s first board game. The game reinforces color learning and develops strategic thinking, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills while using the squirrel shaped squeezer. This is a fun game that develops memory skills, matching, sorting and counting in an engaging way. The Hoot Owl Hoot Game (ages 4 and above) is a cooperative matching game that develops strategy. Players work as a team to get the baby owls back to their nest before the sun comes up. Although my family of three wasn’t successful at returning all of the owls to their nest; we had fun trying and the best reward was spending quality time together! 
Noteworthy Mommy 