Self-Help/Adaptive Development Archives

Goal Setting for Kids (free printable)

This post was first published Jan 2013. Updated 2019. Family Goals It’s the New Year, which means everyone is making resolutions or goals for the coming year! Why not include our kids as well? We were talking with our boys…

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Putting on Shoes: Encouraging Independence

This post was first published Aug 2011. How To Get Your Kids Putting On Shoes When a child learns how to put on their own shoes, it is like a small weight has been lifted. It’s one thing you can…

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How to Teach Kids To Tie Shoes

This post was first published Aug 2013. Updated 2018. How To Teach A Child To Tie Their Shoes Teaching a child to tie their shoes has got to be one of the most frustrating tasks for a parent of preschool or school-aged…

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5 Reasons a Fish is an Awesome First Pet for Your Child

This is a sponsored post on behalf of PetSmart. All opinions are 100% mine. Is your family considering a fish for your child’s first pet? Check out five reasons we think a fish is an awesome first pet for your…

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How Are Germs Spread? Demonstrating the Importance of Hand-Washing

Teach your children the importance of hand-washing with this unique demonstration! This activity is an excellent visual demonstration for how germs are spread! It’s August! Which means that school is just around the corner! It is an exciting time…

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Learning about Spatial Awareness with Boxes

Post by Contributing Writer Jennie I don’t know about you, but I LOVE doing my Christmas shopping online! When the packages arrive on my front porch I am not only excited for the contents inside, but I am just as…

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Printable Morning Routine Cards

It’s August, which means school is starting soon…and so are the crazy, chaotic mornings. Help minimize the frustration by using these Morning Routine Cards! The purpose of these cards is to encourage a bit of independence in the…

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Swimming Lessons: Why Every Child Needs Them

As summer draws near and we spend more time in swimming pools and lakes, it’s important as parents of young children to be extremely vigilant around the water. Here are some alarming statistics about drowning from the CDC: -Drowning…

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Teaching your child to put on his/her own coat!

Putting on a coat is tricky for even a preschooler to do by him/herself. But this technique makes it a cinch! It’s been a while since I’ve included a self-help/adaptive activity in our thematic units, so I thought our snow…

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Learning to Dial 9-1-1

Proceed with caution on this post…or else the 9-1-1 dispatchers might have it out for me with all the little ones accidentally dialing 9-1-1! Before your child learns to dial 9-1-1, he/she needs to know what constitutes an emergency. Obviously,…

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Encouraging Independence: Getting Dressed

Getting a toddler/preschooler dressed is normally less about the skill involved (although that certainly takes a lot of practice),and more about the battle of the wills…or at least this is the case in our house. Last summer, Big Brother…

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Baby Sign Language 101

Somehow during the blog transfer, this post was deleted. So I thought I would post it again since it was one of my first posts! It made me kinda sad watching it…Little Brother was so tiny! Has your baby ever…

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Encouraging Independence: Eating with a Spoon

Learning to use a spoon is a dirty job. There’s no way around it…this skill set requires on-the-job training. As much as it makes you cringe to think of the impending disaster that awaits you, your little one, and your walls…

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Teaching Hot and Cold (for toddlers)

Not only is teaching your toddler “hot” and “cold” great for learning opposites, there is a huge safety incentive as well. For this activity, I just used 2 of those Pyrex gel pack thingys that came with my Pyrex travel…

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Favorite New "Toy"

My floors often drive me crazy! We have all hard floors on the main floor and a sweet golden retriever (who sheds like crazy)…thus making the dog hair a constant problem! So when I saw that the Eureka Quick-Up® Cordless…

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Grilled Cheese Pumpkin

Transform a family favorite into a festive fall sandwich with only 2 extra steps! 1. Melt the butter and add a drop of red and 2 drops of yellow food coloring. 2. Let your little one paint the butter onto the…

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Red Hot Applesauce

As a child, I used to look forward to getting Red Hot Applesauce for Christmas every year from a dear family friend of ours. It is a delicious treat and quite possibly the best applesauce I’ve ever had (thanks to…

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"D" for Dinosaur Cookies

We were going to make these “D” cookies last Friday when “Daddy” came home from his business trip. But since Big Brother had a stomach bug the day before, I didn’t think that would be a good idea. Big Brother…

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