Category Archives: ponpon

How to reward instead of punishing your kids

Posted on February 29, 2016 | 2 comments

I know how hard to always act calmly, not to yell and keep a positive and wise attitude around kids, especially when they provoke you with an unacceptable behavior.

All parents see their kids as perfect as they wish them to be. It’s so frustrating when they start acting stubborn or refuse to eat or do their homework…. there are many behaviors that make you disappointed to a point you might loose it on them. Here comes the easiest solution: punishment!

Have you ever tried to reward and praise instead of penalizing? Because our kids learn better with love, punishment was never the ultimate solution. In contrary, punishments push your kids to be more stubborn and aggressive. Instead of telling your kid: “if you don’t finish your plate the ball will be confiscated for 3 days” get closer to give a hug and kiss and tell him”my big boy, if you finish your plate you will stay up one extra hour watching your favorite program”.

Rewards help to keep children motivated. You give them a choice and let them be the decision makers. You develop their logic and reason to know how to choose what’s best for them and push them to be responsible for their choices.

But between reward and blackmail there is a thin line. You should be careful not to let your kids manipulate you and put conditions to do things. For example he could tell you, if you buy me this toy i do my homework! This is the trap that you might fall in. To keep the game on the safe side, It’s the other way round; you suggest and not the kids. You explain that this is a reward and nice gesture from you to appreciate the efforts and not a condition to do their duties.

For that reason i came up with a way to reward Nady showing love and appreciation without opening his eyes to the blackmailing thing. We cut out together colorful hearts and stars (made with a homemade salt dough) and told him that each time i see that he deserves a gesture of kindness i will offer a heart/star, he will collect them and by the end of the week, we count how many he has to replace them with a reward. The more he has the bigger the reward is.

Rewards can be privileges, things or activities;

Going to the park
crafting together
going for a bicycle ride
going out for ice cream
extra tv hour
sleeping an hour late
buying a toy of his choice

You know what your kids fancy and make them look forward to! But don’t forget along with the rewards should offer hugs and kisses to remind them how dear and precious they are, and no matter what they will remain the biggest love.

Actually i am thinking to give my son some hearts and stars and ask him to reward me too when he thinks i deserve it. I like this game 🙂

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Posted in way to play

Tagged gesture of love, hearts and stars, jaymmy, love rules, marmite et ponpon, praise your kids, raise a healthy child, reward, salt dough, say no to punishment, way to play

Pencil control improvement – High res printables

Posted on February 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

A fun tracing activity for your 2-4 years toddlers to help them develop pencil control and promote writing readiness. I’ve included 3 sheets, starting with horizontal lines. I will be posting later additional sheets for vertical lines. As your kids show improvement you can move gradually to more complicated shapes as zigzag, curves, circles….

Click on horizontal lines practice sheets, to download the high resolution files. Your kids will love these fun exercises, you will help them improve their pencil control to be ready for writing at a later stage. This exercise also helps in developing your kids concentration and improves their eye hand coordination. Teach them the right way to hold the pencil while having fun. It’s always good to work at home in parallel with the school. It’s a matter of 10-15 mns that will help a lot.

They can first start by tracing the lines, and later on do it without following the dots.

You can laminate the sheets for many times usage. Write with a marker and wipes it off when done and use it again and again!

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My baby’s first sensory play – ziploc paint

Posted on February 24, 2016 | 3 comments

Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates your baby’s senses: touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. When babies first interact with the world, they don’t have words to describe what they encounter, but they do absorb information through their senses.

Newborns begin to hear sounds in the womb and recognize their mother’s voice from other voices at birth. They distinguish sweet and sour taste, gravitate toward pleasant smells, and are soothed by warmth and a soft touch.

Babies may be limited by their mobility and dexterity, but not their ability to interact with the world. I was hesitating if i do this play with my 6 1/2 months baby, but knowing that he will be amused touching the smooth bag with his tiny fingers and discovering many vibrant colors encouraged me to do so. At the end your babies will grow to be toddlers, so don’t be afraid of giving them sensory experience for a cognitive growth and later a fine motor skills.

This sensory play is mess free and safe. All you need to do is put some paint in a ziploc, close it and hand it to your baby to play and discover. I recommend edible paint, because your baby will engage all his senses during the process and might try to taste it as well. There is a small chance he can tear the bag if he already have a tooth.

While babies may not have the words to describe their experiences, sensory play can help babies build vocabulary and understand language. It’s your turn now to articulate his sensory experience by using words to explain your baby’s experience. For example; Touch: “oh Joud touch this bag of paint, it is so soft, do you feel it ?” or you can add warm water with the paint to tell him “touch it it’s warm…” Sight:“do you see the yellow color, wow it’s shiny, i see also the red color here…” Using descriptive words such as cold, warm, soft, shiny, smooth… in the context will help solidify the meanings of these words in a young child’s mind.

Kids at this age loose focus so quickly. After mixing the colors, Joud was trying to taste the paint but couldn’t obviously, he was insisting but at the end he lost patience. Such activities won’t last for long, it’s a matter of 10-15 minutes. As they grow you can extend the play duration by adding more elements to stimulate other senses.

It was a success, looking forward for our next activity. Happy playing!

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Tagged 6 months activity, baby sensory play, cognitive growth, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon

Guess, smash and splash -kids art activity

Posted on February 18, 2016 | Leave a comment

A messy art activity, teaching kids geometric shapes and colors while enjoying and having fun. All you need is

large white cardboard
watercolors (washable ones)
geometric shapes paper cutout (circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, rhombus)
toy hammer

Squirt a generous amount of different colors of paint all over and cover up each one with a geometric shape.

Let the kids name the shape and predict which color is underneath, then splat it with their hammer. The color splash will prove them right or wrong!

This educational activity in the same time so fun and crazy. You will hear so much laughs and cheers during the process. It helps your kids practice their knowledge (geometric shape and colors) and develop a love for the creative process, enlarge their brain and set them up as creative thinkers in all walks of life. Without forgetting the use of the hammer requires fine motor skills; let’s exercise those tiny muscles!

Once your kid is done smashing all the shapes, pull them off to reveal an awesome art piece to frame!

It’s a messy game, better be done outdoors if you have space and if not, cover well the things you want to protect from the paint splash. Try not to stress about the mess and let your kid enjoy. Of course shouldn’t be a war zone as well, set the rules and boundaries and leave the space for exploration and amusement. It’s washable paint at the end!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

Endless ways i love you

Posted on February 10, 2016 | 1 comment

After the success of last year’s wheel of love i found an urge to revisit this activity, to express my endless reasons i love my family especially my family has grown since then.

As said before, telling your children “I love you” more often and expressing it for every occasion develops their secure attachment to you, knowing that they are loved unconditionally. Strong closeness to the family will lead no doubt to positive relationships in adulthood and high self esteem.

I still have faith in celebrating love if done in deep and expressive ways. Lot of you including me, find Valentines day becoming very shallow and commercial. Lets not go this path and teach our children the true meaning of love, the way of Valentinus the patron saint of lovers.

I used an old wood tray; i gave it some festive bright look by painting it with vivid colors.

I prepared our homemade clay dough, and hand it to Nady to cut out heart shapes and color them.

A quick reminder on how to do the dough:

You will need:

1 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to medium heat. Whisk continually until it starts to thicken. It will take couple of minutes to look like mashed potato in consistency, remove it immediately from the heat. Place it in a bowl and cover it with damp cloth until it’s cool. Knead it on a smooth surface by adding cornstarch if it feels a bit sticky. And it’s ready!

Stick the hearts on the tray:

Enjoy writing on the hearts the many and endless reasons why you love your children and husband/wife too 😉 It’s not just for kids! Do it to your significant other and let love flourishes in your hearts and homes!

Hang it on the wall as a frame, and if your children are old enough to write, you can get them involved in the game and stretch it for a longer time. Ask them to write the reasons they love you too and play this mutual love game starting a week ahead, hanging everyday one heart from each, until valentines day when you have filled all the hearts.

My boys are still too small to be able to read, Antoun and I filled all the hearts and read them to Nady. Joud (6months) was enjoying the colors and kisses!

I wasn’t surprised with my Nady who visually memorized them and was telling me each heart is saying what! This is a reason why i love my smart boy.

Don’t forget that love is not only words, it should be followed by actions, and the most important the presence. Be present for your kids, in love, protection and service. Happy love xxx

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.