Encourage your favorite children to take care of their health. 
Practice covering your mouth and blowing noses with a family of caterpillars! Of
course, everyone can catch a
cold. Then it is time to rest, drink plenty of fluids and get healthy!
Make it a little bit more fun with Butterfly School's stress-free &
creative ideas.
Here are some tips from my kitchen table to yours . . .
 | Practice taking care of a favorite stuffed animal (or doll) who has a cold. Encourage the animal to rest. Make the animal a simple blanket from any fabric scrap, a recycled rectangle cut from an old (and favored shirt), or a spare washcloth. Sing the animal a simple lullaby! |
| Make a little leaf picture book to bring the "reading" Activity Sheet to life! Fold a blank paper in half. Make it into a tiny flower book or leaf book! Print a leaf outline or real leaves from our shininghours leaf collection. (oak) (gingko) (tupelo) |
| Keep tissues available! When your child demonstrates readiness, keep tissues in a place your child can reach to make it easy for him to be responsible about blowing his nose. Many children enjoy the "game" of pulling tissues out of a "pull-up" box. Explain that it is fun to pull them out and each time they need to use a tissue, they can enjoy taking just one. (This takes time!) You can also do a project for fun with tissues -- make a tissue butterfly.... and show that there are special times to enjoy tissues just for fun. |
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For more great ideas, check out the activities at our parent site www.shininghours.com.
Next week, we'll help caterpillars rest & take good care of themselves to get over a cold!
You are ready for the Activity Sheets now; you can print them from here (go to Activity Sheets), or go back to the Butterfly School home page.
From Butterfly Central,
Teacher Tips
from Corinne Steigerwald
Help your child feel great about sharing responsibility for her good health! Each day, say & review the names of important parts of your child's body. Include the basics: mouth, throat, nose, eyes and ears. Share a mirror so your child can see these amazing features. Don't forget details: eyelashes, eyebrows and ear lobes!
Give your child a range of words to describe how his body feels. If your child can express his physical and emotional feelings (happy, sad, sore, hot, cold, sweaty, shaky), it will be easier for you to help take care of him and to teach him to care for himself. When you call in to a doctor for advice, you will also be able to describe exactly how your child feels.
Some aspects of having a cold are especially difficult. This includes having patience when your temperature is measured. Try this exercise to teach your child a strategy for being patient for one minute.
Watch a clock with a "seconds" hand. First count to 10 seconds. Next, see how many times you can clap in 10 seconds -- or jump, or open and close your hands...
Work up to 60 seconds. Experience the length of one minute together. It helps a child to know how long a minute lasts. It is also helpful if they can do something simple with their hands while waiting for a thermometer to measure their temperature. (Can't jump, but they can clap gently...)
Coordinated resources:
check our reading ideas before your next trip to the library!
E-mail ideas and comments to: butterflycentral@shininghours.com
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