Ask An ECE

Here is a fun theme to fill in the winter blah's between Christmas and Valentine's Day, after you've finished up the Winter themes. Have the children bring in pictures of themselves, their parents and siblings. There's a number of activities you can do with them.

Remember! Not all families are just Mommy, Daddy & child - adjust this according to what's appropriate for your children.

Thanks to my daughter's daycare provider for this idea.

• Put the pictures in a hat, and have the kids pull them out and say who it is.
• Use the pictures to create a family tree craft.
• It can be used to create an All About Me booklet towards the end of the week, which could be a nice lead in to an All About Me theme.
• You can create a bulletin board with current pictures and baby pictures, and have them match them up.
• In circle, you can talk about the different words for Grandparents.
• This is also a good time to go over the sign language - or words in other languages - for Mommy, Daddy, brother or sister.
• You can use a mirror to have the kids draw a self-portrait. The results of this can be interesting!
• Have the kids draw a picture of their family - it's sometimes interesting to see how they put everyone together.
• Have the kids lie down and trace them, and they can paint a life-size picture of themselves.