Uncategorised

Parents of young children are under a huge amount of stress. We love and care for our kids, but we are bombarded with often conflicting messages about how to be good parents. It can be confusing and overwhelming.

We parent, we work, we volunteer; we try to keep up with homework, keep our toddlers out of the toilet, keep our sanity…and forget about sleep! We feel guilty because we can barely keep our heads above water, let alone try to enhance our kids’ development.

As a mother herself (I have four grown children), I know about the guilt and the exhaustion. As a child-development specialist and consultant with over 40 years of experience, I also know how to work fun and high-quality learning games into your busy days in a manageable way.

You know your child needs “quality time” with you. Yet, the term is vague and unmeasurable, and a mother may never feel like she has met this goal. This site gives you clear and measurable activities, so that you can know that you have spent focused, enjoyable, and beneficial time with your child.

Your minutes are precious. Here you will find ways to get a lot of mileage out of your minutes. All my activities are designed to provide targeted skill development in just 10-15 minutes. You can fit these meaningful activities into the chinks in your schedule, or take a quick but powerful play break any time the kids ask for a game.

When you’re exhausted and the kids are climbing the walls, a short, fun, structured activity can be the magic medicine to tame a chaotic household. Here, I’ve done the thinking for you so that you can just grab one of our activities, set the timer, and give your kids a constructive way to get all that excess energy out.

My games and ideas will be fun for you as well as for your kids, and you’ll know you are helping your preschooler grow into a healthy, smart, and confident person.

If you want a whole lot of ideas all in one place, feel free to download my e-book Getting Your Sweet Potato off of the Couch. Additionally, you can get a free PDF of 30 mini-meditations on rediscovering your joy as a mom by Kirby's daughter, Christen.

Wishing you the best,

Kirby

P.S. If you find any of the content here useful or encouraging, would you please let me know on the contact page. Thank you!

Kirby Worthington is a mother, grandmother, and a child-development specialist. For over forty years she has been putting her Master’s Degree in Child Development to good use by teaching parents and educators through speaking, classes, and workshops, and by training child care providers through the Virginia’s Department of Social Services. She also has directed an urban-suburban play group to help parents learn ways to develop their children’s minds, bodies, social skills, and spirits.

Kirby authored Getting Your Sweet Potato off of the Couch and co-authored Value Your Children: Becoming Better Parental Disciple-Makers with her husband Everett Worthington. She is an avid beach-walker, tea-drinker, and resolute child-at-heart.

Children love help cook, and they really enjoy eating what they make. This recipe is easy, fun, and tasty! You can make pretzels that teach shapes, numbers, or letters, or you can just make them for the benefits of measuring, mixing, and developing hand strength through rolling and shaping the dough.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast
• 1 ½ cups of warm (not hot) water (around 112 – 120 degrees F)
• 1 – 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups flour
• 1 beaten egg
• Coarse salt

Procedure:

• Mix together the first four ingredients until dissolved.
• Mix in the flour. You may need an extra 1/2 cup of flour if the dough is too wet.
• Knead the dough on a floured surface or on waxed paper until it is smooth.
• Optional: You may now let it rise in a warm place until the dough doubles (or not). Play another game while you are waiting.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Divide the dough into about 14 pieces. Show children how to roll the dough into long “ropes,” then let them do it.
• Let them shape the “ropes” into letters, numbers, or shapes. You can do the first letter of their names, their whole name, or any letters they are learning.
• If children are just beginning to learn letters, shape the same few letters over and over. “Let’s see how many A’s we can make. A for Andy.”
• After the pretzels are formed, brush the tops with the beaten eggs. Sprinkle with salt. (If you have coarse salt, use it. If not, use regular table salt.)
• Bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
• Enjoy eating. Reinforce what the letters are named in fun ways. Hold up the letter you are about to munch. Say, “I’m eating the letter A. What letter are you eating?” “Oh my, you just ate Mr. A’s foot! Now you’re eating Mr. H’s middle!” “I just ate the top of Mrs. O’s head!”
• If you made a variety of letters, show children how letters go together to make words. Let them make words.

This website uses cookies for statistical purposes using Google Analytics. The cookies simply assess how you interact with our website – as an anonymous user (the data gathered does not identify you personally). Third party providers like YouTube.com are outside the control of this website. Additionally, externally linked websites, e.g. Amazon, may have their own cookies and tracking mechanisms. By not viewing this content, no third-party cookies are installed on your device.

No other information is collected by GrowthAndGiggles.com. By visiting GrowthAndGiggles.com you can choose to accept or reject cookies. Acceptance of cookies means you agree with this policy.

You can always manage/delete cookies as you wish - for details, see aboutcookies.org.

Read the EU law for more information.