Category: Parenting

Multiple Intelligences with Potato Head Toys

If you teach about the multiple intelligences, you may want to give this one a try. Multiple Intelligences with Potato Head Toys will not only engage your students because this is a hands-on activity, but you may even get a smile or two out of your students as they “play”—oops, I mean “learn” about this topic!  So, if you have some of these classic toys stashed away, it may be time to dig them out and give them a new life and purpose in your classroom!  If not, I’ve linked them below.

Eating Disorders

Unfortunately, since the pandemic, Eating Disorders have been on the rise. I’ve been seeing a lot of requests for updated lessons on Eating Disorders. So in this post you will find a variety of engaging lessons to help keep your students focused as they learn more about the three most common types of eating disorders.

Family Strengths: Game Night

Family Strengths: Game Night is a great way to teach your students about components that make up a strong family!  Not only does it get the entire class involved, but it’s a lot of fun! While many students may have grown up with a night set aside for games, many  don’t get this opportunity for “community” in their own homes so this exposes them to it as well as a variety of board games that have them communicating, collaborating, thinking, practicing patience and good sportsmanship among others.  It’s also a great lesson to do around the holidays as it is a pretty low prep lesson on your part, but engaging enough to keep students interested.

30 Days of Holiday Fun Project

December is a hectic time for most families making it even more difficult to spend quality time together. This 30 Days of Holiday Fun Project is a great project to help promote family bonding when schedules are busy and harried! Add diversity by incorporating many different holidays.  Read on to learn more…

Child Safety: Mystery Powder Identification

When teaching about safety in child development, it’s important to discuss mystery substances that may or may not be toxic, but look like a variety of possibilities. The Child Safety: Mystery Powder Identification is a quick little activity where students observe substances via pictures and try to identify the substance.  Not as easy as you might think! Read on to see how this works…

FCS HOT Topics: Good Idea or Bad Idea

One way to get students talking is to throw out a contentious topic because there are bound to be differing views!  I’ve taken some topics that I feel fit this category
for both food and child development/parenting classes. FCS HOT Topics: Good Idea or Bad Idea has students looking at each topic and researching in more detail the good and bad components of it before sharing with the class. Not only is this an engaging assignment because it includes collaboration, communication and critical thinking, but it could be done weekly or quarterly and is tied to a writing assessment for those of you who need to include writing as part of your curriculum. The lists below obviously do not include every topic, but if you have a great topic that you believe should be included, please let me know by adding it to the comments.

Children’s Book Character K-Cups

Last fall, I saw a lot of cute children’s book character pumpkin projects surface all over social media!  While the pumpkin characters are/were super cute, I feel like the project limited itself to only the fall season.  With that being said, I wanted to come up with a similar project, but one that could be done ANY time of the year and with minimal cost as empty K-Cups are used as the base of the character!  AKA~ Book Character K-Ups!  How’s that for sustainability and upcycling!

FACS 5 Second Rule Games

The 5 Second Rule Game is a must have for my classroom! Not only can the game be played as is, but it’s easy to adapt to FACS content or even just use the time for quick, fun reviews. The rules pretty much stay the same for the “FACS: 5 Second Rule Games” which engage, challenge and build relationships as students compete against each other in this fun adaptation!

Project: I’m Bored!

Ever wonder how many parents over the years have heard the phrase “I’m Bored!” during the summer months from their child or children?  In this “Project: I’m Bored!”,
students research and curate activities to engage children of all age groups to not only prevent boredom, but help promote the developmental areas (PIES). This project is a great end of the year assignment or could even be used as a project for a substitute if you have to be out for day or two! Be sure to read on to learn more…

Picky Eaters Lesson

Did you know there are six types of picky eaters?  I think we’ve all been exposed to at least one of them in our classrooms, especially when trying foods prepared in
the lab!  So, what’s a parent to do when they have a picky eater?  This Picky Eaters lesson has student groups exploring the six types and perform skits as they present the information on why it occurs and what parents can do.