More sensory activities, and today, I wanted to focus on the sense of touch.

This is a simple activity that takes hardly any time for you to set up. Take a cloth or canvas bag (not a plastic or transparent one ), and fill with a variety of things that you can find around the house – toy cars, nuts, spoons, an apple, a stone or pebble from your yard, pine cones etc. Your child should be familiar with all the things in the bag, and should be able to name each without difficulty.

Ask your child to close her eyes, put her hand inside the bag, grab an object, and guess what it is.

As it gets easier for her to identify objects, increase the difficulty of the items – playing dice, coins etc. Increase the variety of tactile experiences for her – include satin and velvet ribbons, a feather, glass beads or small jars, small pom poms, a bell, a shoe brush.

Another activity is to have pairs of different fabrics – silk, velvet, cotton, plaid, corduroy and wool and mix them up in a basket. Ask your child to close her eyes, pick up a patch of fabric and find the other one that feels just like it. It’s not always easy, but once she gets more familiar with the difference in sensation when she touches silk and wool, she’ll be able to match more accurately. This is a great activity because she uses her sense of touch and her thinking powers to match fabrics.

Another touch activity – Sit in the yard or out in the open, and ask your child to close her eyes. Rub different objects one by one on her arm – a dry leaf, a stone, feather – and ask her to guess what they are.

Have fun!

First up, take a look at this great math link I found while Stumbling. It’s got sections right from kindergarten up to Grade 6. The preschool section is terrific, and really easy to use. If your preschooler has no experience with a mouse, this might be a good chance to teach her to point and click.

Now to the next item on the agenda, and this one’s for you. I am apparently one of the last people on the planet to see this terrific video. Better late than never! It’s a condensed version of what a mom would say in 24 hours, and it’s hilarious! I’ve also posted the lyrics below the video (thanks to Crystal from the WAHM forums!) Listen closely, and you might hear yourself!

Enjoy!

[youtube]RxT5NwQUtVM[/youtube]

Lyrics

Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepyhead
Here’s your clothes and your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now! Get up and make your bed
Are you hot? Are you cold?
Are you wearing that?
Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and gloves and your scarf and hat
Don’t forget! You gotta feed the cat
Eat your breakfast, the experts tell us it’s the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at 3 today
Don’t forget your piano lesson is this afternoon so you must play
Don’t shovel
Chew slowly
But hurry
The bus is here
Be careful
Come back here
Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside, don’t play rough, will you just play fair?
Be polite, make a friend, don’t forget to share
Work it out, wait your turn, never take a dare
Get along! Don’t make me come down there
Clean your room, fold your clothes, put your stuff away
Make your bed, do it now, do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay?
Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone! Get off the phone!
Don’t sit so close, turn it down, no texting at the table
No more computer time tonight!
Your iPod’s my iPod if you don’t listen up
Where are you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You’ll appreciate my wisdom someday when you’re older and you’re grown
Can’t wait till you have a couple little children of your own
You’ll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now I thank you not to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew, would appreciate
Take a bite maybe two of the stuff you hate
Use your fork, do not burp or I’ll set you straight
Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, get the door, don’t get smart with me
Get a grip, get in here, I’ll count to three
Get a job, get a life, get a PHD
Get a dose of,
“I don’t care who started it!
You’re grounded until you’re 36″
Get your story straight and tell the truth for once, for heaven’s sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump, too?
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said at least a thousand times before
That you’re too old to act this way
It must be your father’s DNA
Look at me when I am talking
Stand up straighter when you walk
A place for everything and everything must be in place
Stop crying or I’ll give you something real to cry about
Oh!
Brush your teeth, wash your face, put your PJs on
Get in bed, get a hug, say a prayer with mom
Don’t forget, I love you
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom’s work never ends
You don’t need the reason why
Because, because, because, because
I said so, I said so, I said so, I said so
I’m the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom!!