L. (4) just finished up his preschool year. Though we had gone in with the class on a group gift for L.’s teacher, I still wanted to give her some kind of personal “thank-you gift” for the wonderful year L. had.

But L.’s teacher had told us at the beginning of the year that she doesn’t collect anything and that while she appreciates parents’ thoughtfulness, there was really no need to buy her any knick-knacks during the course of the year. So I had to come up with something more creative…

However, creativity is not my strong suit.

Then one night, a very simple gift idea came to me. It’s not an earth-shattering idea, or even a terribly unique one. But it fit the bill of being personal, expressing thanks, and being specific to L.

I wrote a “fill-in-the-blanks” card for L. to personalize with memories and some of his favorite preschool activities. I placed it on the inside of a simple card (8.5 x 11 cardstock, half-fold). On the facing inside page, I taped a picture of L. and his teacher (which I had very sneakily taken at an earlier preschool function, pretending it was just for me), and a Starbucks gift card.  We just put “Thanks for Everything” on the outside cover, but I thought later that I could have had L. also draw a picture on the front — one more way to personalize the card.

Here’s a general idea of what the inside of the card looked like before L. filled in the blanks. (You’ll have to use your imagination a bit.) Click to enlarge.

Because L. is only four, he only wrote in a few of the blanks; he dictated other answers for me to write in. I resisted my bossy motherly urge to influence his answers and just let him fill in the blanks honestly and spontaneously. He also signed “Love, L.” at the bottom of the card. It was neat to see what he had enjoyed most about the year, and his teacher appreciated the authenticity of his answers. All in all, it seemed to go over very well.

As I wrote this post, I (of course) thought of ways the card could have been more creative — I could have had L. illustrate some of the sentences, or I could have added cute clipart or doodles to spruce things up a bit. But this was all in hindsight, naturally. At the moment, what you see above was as far as my creativity took me. But perhaps you can take advantage of my very delayed additional creative ideas.

If you’re interested, I’ve created a pdf file of the card for you to download and use as desired. I also put just the “fill-in-the-blanks” part into a Word document in case you want to use it as a starting point, but modify it to better fit your child or situation.

Download the pdf here.
Download the Word document here.

It worked for me!

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Despite the title of this post, I technically do not have an iPhone. But I do have an iPod Touch, and the wonderful thing about the iPod Touch is that you can use nearly every iPhone app on it. And I’ve certainly downloaded my share of apps. I have apps related to cooking, reading, productivity, social networking, and just plain fun. In fact, while I’m battling the annoying and miserable virus that has invaded our house, I’ve wasted quite a bit of time playing games on my Touch.

I also have a number of toddler/preschooler apps loaded on my Touch, which come in very handy when I’m out somewhere with L. (3) and we have to stand in line or run a million errands, or if I just want to linger over a bagel & coffee with a friend for a few more minutes. I just hand the iPod over to L. — he knows where to find “his games” and how to play them.

Want to know some of his current favorites?

“The Song Games” from Duck Duck Moose. We have three different “song games” (as L. calls them): Old MacDonald, Wheels on the Bus, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. The apps are simple — kids page through a book-like app while the song is played in the background. On every page, there are pictures that kids can poke, slide, or move, resulting in some giggle-worthy silliness. The illustrations are bright and colorful, the music can be changed to different instruments or languages, and the newest app — Itsy Bitsy Spider — includes a bunch of educational tidbits. I’m guessing L. will outgrow these apps within the next year, but as a 2- and 3-year-old, he’s thoroughly enjoyed them.

Parents iPlay ‘n Learn. This app focuses on teaching kids about four primary things: letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. In addition, kids can choose from three different levels of learning: flashcards (where they simply page through cards, learning about the concepts), quizzes (where kids are asked to find a specific letter, shape, or color from group of four objects, and tracing (where they learn how to actually draw letters, numbers, and shapes). L. is not crazy about the tracing — in part, because his fine motor skills are still developing and he gets easily frustrated when he can’t get it “just right,” and in part because the app sometimes glitches and thinks he already tried to trace when he didn’t yet. However, he loves the flashcards with their cute pictures, and the quizzes where he can strut his stuff, and he appreciates the periodic encouragement the app gives out in between activities (“You’re doing great!” “Right on track!”). I like the fact that it uses lower-case letters. It seems that most toys and games aimed at preschoolers focus on upper-case letters, but ignore the lower-case, so this app provides some nice balance. (Disclosure: Parents magazine sent me a gift card for iTunes so I could receive this app free of charge to try out. L. is so glad they did, since he really likes it.)

FirstWords: Vehicles. Maybe it’s just because my kid is obsessed with letters and words, but the FirstWords series has been a hit with L. In the FirstWords: Vehicles app, kids are shown a picture of a vehicle, a grayed-out word describing the vehicle (i.e., “plane”), and some mixed-up letter tiles. Your child drags the letters on to the grayed-out word (where they click conveniently into place), and once the word is complete, he’ll hear the word spelled out and spoken, and then a sound associated with the vehicle (i.e., a zooming airplane) is played. Seconds later, a new picture, word, and letter tiles arrive on the screen. Nothing too fancy here, but L. will do the words over and over again.

Mail. Okay, this is most definitely not a toddler/preschooler app. It’s the app that controls my e-mail. But L. will open it almost every time he has my iPod, and if I’m not careful, he’ll start deleting my emails and sending gobbledy-gook to my contacts. I’ve learned that I need to turn off the wireless connectivity for my iPod Touch before handing it over to L., if I don’t want him taking over my e-mail account.

Apps that can entertain a certain preschooler or teach him about basic concepts in a fun and engaging way? Definitely works for me. Visit Works-for-Me Wednesday to read other bloggers’ tips this week.

What about you? What iPhone apps do you recommend for the younger set?

My 10-year-old son, C., is more than thrilled that the school year is over. He greatly prefers lazy mornings, bike rides, and no homework to the school-year burdens of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

But I know him. As much as he enjoys the slower pace and the unscheduled days, he can start to feel a little restless or lost without some kind of structure.

I have no intention of being a slave-driver or of giving him a minute-by-minute schedule this summer. But I did want to offer him an easy way to make sure that every day, he accomplishes the things he wants to accomplish (and a few things I want him to accomplish as well), while minimizing the potential for restlessness and the dreaded, “Mom, I’m bored!”

Enter: The Daily Task Card

Every morning, I make an index card with C.’s “assignments” for the day. For example, here is today’s card:

Initially, I wasn’t sure how he’d respond to being handed a kind of to-do list at the start of each day, but it turns out that he really likes it. Here’s why I think it works:

• Checkboxes. He’s a kid after my own heart — finding great satisfaction in crossing off list items. Putting a check in each box gives him a sense of accomplishment and provides a visual reminder that he’s actually doing stuff every day.
• I include fun things, too. Note that his task card includes a bike ride and reading. These are two things he really enjoys and would do every day anyway. But putting them on the list does two things: first, he gets “credit” for doing things he enjoys; second, when he’s feeling out of sorts or bored, it reminds him that there are several things — fun things — just waiting for him.
• One “big chore.” C. has a bunch of little chores he does every day — making his bed, putting dishes in the dishwasher, helping with his little brother, etc. — but I include one “big chore” on each day’s task card. Today, it’s cleaning his room. Other days, it might be weeding, laundry, vacuuming, or making (a simple) dinner. Including this big chore keeps me accountable (to give him one each day) but also lets him know that I won’t be piling a ton of stuff on him — he can reasonably expect just one miserable big task per day.
• A deadline. If I didn’t include a deadline, I’m sure the piano practice and daily “big chore” wouldn’t get done until somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m., resulting in a grouchy kid and a frustrated mom. By making sure he has all these things out of the way before 4:00 or 5:00, I’m also ensuring that he has a free evening to relax and enjoy.
• A place to record key information. C. likes to write down the page numbers from his reading and Bible study and the amount of time he spends learning about PowerPoint (one of his goals for the summer). I leave space for him to record this information on every card, so we’ll have a lasting record of his progress and accomplishments.
• Freedom within the structure. C. doesn’t have to practice piano at 9:00 and complete his chore at 1:00. He is free to create his own schedule every day, as long as he hits all the items on his list. In this way, he learns personal scheduling and responsibility, while also having some solid anchors in his day. He doesn’t have to ask himself, “I’m bored — what do I do now?” He can just check his list and see what’s left.

As I mentioned, this system is working really well for us. C. usually spends the first few hours of the morning ignoring the list and just playing or reading Garfield comics or torturing loving his little brother. But after a while, just when he starts to wander around aimlessly, he’s likely to start working through his list.

I know this system won’t work for every kid, but I hope it’s helpful to someone!

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I’ve included this post in the Works-For-Me Wednesday carnival hosted weekly by We Are That Family. Be sure to click over there to see what’s working for other bloggers this week!