Gina Ogden

spring fun with your kids

Have Some Spring Fun with Your Kids

By / 5 minutes of reading

It’s spring! Spring is so exciting, especially if you’ve had a long, cold winter. With the brighter, warmer sunshine and the longer daylight hours, it’s natural to want to get outside. And if you have little ones, you may really want them to be able to get outside. Outdoor play is so good for our kids, and it helps us parents to get a few minutes in a quiet house. Since we’re officially into spring now, let’s think about some ways to have some spring fun with your kids!   Get outdoors Since getting outside is the most obvious spring …

Have Some Spring Fun with Your Kids Read More »

spring cleaning with your preschooler

Spring Cleaning with Your Preschooler

By / 5 minutes of reading

It’s hard to believe that spring is right in front of us already! When spring is approaching, we’re often motivated to do a big spring cleaning in our homes. Yet, when there are little ones around, our spring cleaning efforts can become really difficult. So how can we get our homes in springtime shape without losing our minds with littles underfoot? Let’s get them involved! Does that sound impossible? It’s actually pretty easy and fun. Our kids love to clean when they’re little. Now, they won’t clean perfectly or be able to do the big jobs. But there really are …

Spring Cleaning with Your Preschooler Read More »

Keep our Kids’ Brains Healthy and Strong

Let’s Keep our Kids’ Brains Healthy and Strong

By / 5 minutes of reading

Brain development is a key part of childhood, and we parents are often concerned with the mental and developmental health of our kids. So during this year’s Brain Awareness Week, let’s think about how we can nurture the mental development of our children. This doesn’t mean that we have to play classical music at all hours and keep our kids busy with intense educational activities. At the same time, there are so many tools and toys that make it easy to keep our kids’ brains growing and developing. So let’s think about some easy ways to keep our kids’ brains …

Let’s Keep our Kids’ Brains Healthy and Strong Read More »

Encourage our Kids’ Creativity

Let’s Encourage our Kids’ Creativity

By / 4 minutes of reading

Do you have kids who love to create stuff? Creativity and art can take many forms. So whether it’s crayons, paint, beads, blocks, fabrics, sticks, or Legos, we can call it art. March is Youth Art Month, so it’s a great time to encourage our kids’ creativity. It’s easy to let these activities fall aside in the busy-ness of our days. And screens can be a big distraction to the other things our kids enjoy doing. So here are 3 ways to encourage our kids’ creativity this month. Most kids love creating. And while the mediums may vary, we can …

Let’s Encourage our Kids’ Creativity Read More »

understanding and managing tantrums

Understanding and Managing Tantrums in Preschoolers

By / 5 minutes of reading

Tantrums with our little ones are never fun. And they usually do not line up with our schedules in a convenient way. There is a lot of advice to parents about staying calm, working to understand our kids when they are upset, and normalizing children’s tantrums. And sure, there is a lot of wisdom in much of this advice. At the same time, tantrums just stink. They take us by surprise, and it can be a challenge to respond in just the right way. So can we work toward understanding and managing tantrums with our kids? Let’s look at these …

Understanding and Managing Tantrums in Preschoolers Read More »

ways to develop language skills with our kids

5 Ways to Develop Language Skills with our Kids

By / 5 minutes of reading

February 21st is International Mother Language Day. We don’t often think about the languages we speak or use. Usually, we simply use the first word that our brains come up with. Our language, at least our first or mother language, just flows without our having to think about it at all. It’s a blessing to be able to express yourself with words, to be able to communicate and share your thoughts. So as we think about this International Mother Language Day, let’s think about a few ways to develop language skills with our kids and within our families. It’s so …

5 Ways to Develop Language Skills with our Kids Read More »

Help Our Kids Expect Success

3 Ways to Help Our Kids Expect Success

By / 5 minutes of reading

We know we have to work hard if we want to be successful. And we know that we have to teach our kids to work hard too. But did you know that the way we think about our efforts makes a difference? Positive thinking doesn’t bring about some miraculous outcome. But it does change the way we approach our work. It keeps our goals in view and helps us to be hopeful. And these mindsets really could change our outcomes. So let’s look at a few ways to help our kids expect success in their lives. It just might help …

3 Ways to Help Our Kids Expect Success Read More »

National Draw a Dinosaur Day

National Draw a Dinosaur Day is Today!

By / 3 minutes of reading

Does your kid love dinosaurs? January 30 is National Draw a Dinosaur Day. This is a perfect activity to bring some fun to a late January winter day. Even if your kids aren’t into dinosaurs, drawing one can be a fun challenge, even a competition. And the results can be as varied as each individual doing the drawing. You might wonder how this is even a holiday – seriously, Draw a Dinosaur Day? Keep reading to find out how this day came to be and to get some educational ideas for National Draw a Dinosaur Day. So how did this …

National Draw a Dinosaur Day is Today! Read More »

New Routines for Our Preschoolers in the New Year

New Routines for Our Preschoolers in the New Year

By / 3 minutes of reading

We’re in the thick of establishing new goals and implementing our new year resolutions. So as we work on these things for ourselves, it’s a great time to take a look at our kids’ routines and goals. Are their morning routines working? Is there something we could adjust to make things go more smoothly for our kids and for us? What about afternoon or evening routines? This is the perfect time to assess our kids’ routines and set some new routines for our preschoolers in the new year. We all know the value of routines for our families. Routines are …

New Routines for Our Preschoolers in the New Year Read More »

teach preschoolers the joy of giving

3 Ways to Teach Preschoolers the Joy of Giving

By / 4 minutes of reading

Here we are in the holiday season again…already! It’s time for decorating and lights, for shopping and gifts, and for traditions and extra fun. In this season of activities and craziness, we might need reminders to keep being intentional in our parenting. And what better way to focus our efforts than to help our kids learn a spirit of giving. It’s what the season is truly about. So let’s look at a few ways to teach preschoolers the joy of giving! The best way to teach our preschoolers the joy of giving is to include them in our own giving …

3 Ways to Teach Preschoolers the Joy of Giving Read More »

Scroll to Top