Lucinda's Library Notes

Xylophones! Funny what a letter will bring us to. Let's brainstorm some activities related to this instrument for you to enjoy with the child(ren) in your life. Science : Make a row of glasses filled with differing levels of water. You can colour the water to make it a rainbow of glasses if you want to. Now experiment on the different sounds that each glass makes. Can you make them into a range of notes similar to a xylophone? Construction : Line up wooden blocks of varying lengths. Practice ordering them by size, smallest to largest and find a stick or spoon to tap each one. Does the length of the block of wood alter its sound?  Music : Learn a tune on an actual xylophone. Can you play the notes to copy the melody of a favourite song? Try playing several different tunes on the xylophone. Music : Expand on the music session by adding in other instruments to make it a band! They can be homemade like a maraca made from an easter egg filled with rice or store-bought like a ukelele. Co...

I chose X-Men because it is important to realize that sometimes we have a reluctant reader who does not particularly enjoy books. However, there is so much to gain from reading that we really want to get them interested using every tool in our toolbox. Sometimes, it takes a book like X-Men to lure a young one in to a reading session. The advantage of this series is that it is written at multiple reading levels so you can find the one that is best suited to their interest and skill. Some may prefer a comic book version while others prefer the movie star character version. Some are okay with simple retells and others want to know behind the scenes facts to share with others. X-Men has something for everyone. Perhaps the child even has a favourite character in which case they may like to branch out to other books in the series based on that main character. The advantage to a series like this is that you can follow up a reading session with an animated version of the story and then discuss...

When can you make an exception to a rule? There is a saying that we should say what we mean and mean what we say. When we tell our child what to do, we need to follow through to make sure it happens so that they are clear that our words have intention and meaning and that we are serious about having them listen to what we say.  The question is, are there any exceptions to this rule?  I would say there are always exceptions because we need to adapt for individual differences. We need to understand that in any given situation there is going to be someone who didn't hear properly, who was ill, who didn't understand or who was unable to follow through for one reason or another. Is that an excuse? Not always but we need to be understanding and first fully consider the circumstances and why they may need us to be gentle and possibly make a revision or exception in that moment. However, I can say that with one other comment. It should be accompanied by a discussion. "Normally thi...

  Water: As a fundamental necessity for life, water is highly esteemed. Without it, we cannot survive. But more than a basic requirement, it is also the source of many fun activities that you may enjoy with the child(ren) in your life.  Here are a few suggestions but the list is extensive! Be creative! Add rice or beads or coloured water to a water bottle and seal it to make a sensory bottle or shaker. Bob for apples in a bucket of water. Saturate a sponge and wring it out in another bucket 20 feet away. Which relay team will reach a set limit first? (ie. fill a glass to the brim) Learn to swim. Add food colouring to glasses of water and add in white carnations and wait. Watch how they change colour. Practice a thorough hand-washing routine. You can use a GloGerm kit to find out if you managed to get rid of all the germs! Learn about the water cycle. Do a science experiment to test different paper towel brands. Which one is the most absorbent when placed on a spill of 1/4 cup ...

 👀⌚Watching and Waiting.  If we want to build up skills in ourselves or in a child's life, watching and waiting is a helpful directive. Watch others before you try something. What are they doing? Were they successful? What steps did they take and what were the circumstances? Is it something you want to do too? Wait: You planted the seeds and now you have to wait. Whether it is a garden whose seeds literally have to have the right conditions to sprout and grow or a seed of kindness that you are waiting on to see if it bears fruit in another person's life. Maybe we invested in something and are anxiously waiting to see if it was a good decision or an amazing decision!  Waiting is a challenge. Even when it comes to simple things like waiting in a line or waiting for our turn in a conversation. It is even more challenging when it requires us to wait days, weeks, months, or even years before the wait is over. It is important to remember that it is never wise to rush things al...

  What a Wonderful World is a board book that I found that follows the lyrics to the song that Louis Armstrong sang so beautifully.  With this book, you can talk about nature; trees, roses, skies, and the world as a whole. You can talk about colours; green, red, blue, white and the colours of the rainbow and of people too! You can talk about day and night and you can talk about people...how they greet each other, how they grow and interact and how we show love for one another. There are numerous birds and butterflies in the book that you can use as a launching point to a more detailed study of them in nature. Near the end there is a picture of the sea or ocean for those who love the water and want to talk about sea life. There is also one of horses for those who love horses and a final picture of the mountains. So whatever landscape or animal is of interest to your child, you can talk with them about how they, too, are a part of this wonderful world we live in and look into th...

Like I spy, we each have our own view of the world around of us. Some of us are very in tune with it and see minute details. It can be very distracting but also very helpful. After all, these skills are important for police officers and investigators. Others view the world solely from a personal bias of what is going on of interest of importance to them as individuals. All the details fade away unless they value what is happening as being relevant. Some people have a sour view and defer to a negative worldview and others wear rose-coloured glasses. Some view things in shades of gray while others see a rainbow of living colours. We are all different. We are all unique and our views are impacted by our life experiences. While there will be circumstances beyond our control, it is important to help the child(ren) in our life to be optimistic and see things in the best possible light so they have hope and positivity. It matters. Here are some activities that may support this goal to have a ...

Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki  are Americans who created a computer animated Christian series whose main characters are vegetables!  It is a great concept to help children have a positive experience with vegetables in the hopes that perhaps it rubs off on the practice of eating them too! What I love about the series, apart from the Christian content, is that it is filled with fun songs and stories that engage the children and create moments for interacting with your child on positive topics that are interesting to both of you! The benefit of having catchy tunes is that children love to repeat them, over and over. One advantage of this is that they learn the new vocabulary and memorize the text quicker. This will help them build their fluency of speech and help with the pronunciation of a wide variety of words too. It also provides more opportunities to sing along with them. My boys liked "Oh, Where is my hairbrush?" and it led to a number of funny interactions. If I wanted t...