Productive Parenting

by Jennie on September 7, 2011

productive parenting

We have a section on our navigation bar (at the top of the blog) called “Parenting Resources” which has a list of “Our Favorite Websites”. One of the websites listed on that page is Productive Parenting. I totally LOVE this site!!! Productive Parenting website has allowed me to find easy little “games” and fun things to do with Cody that is specific to his age and will aid in his development. Now that I have two I feel like I have NO spare time! What I love so much is that I get an email a day from them with an activity that I can do with Cody so it helps me to not have to “think” about finding another activity to keep him busy. It gives me great ideas which has helped with the post pregnancy brain and the fact that the first couple of weeks after Grayson was born I didn’t really want to get out of the house to do anything because I was trying to recover. I wanted to tell all moms about this great FREE resource and thought what better way to get the word out than to hear from the creator of the website!?!

I ‘get’ that I’m my child’s first teacher…but what do I do?

This was my question about 18 months into the parenting journey.  With my daughter growing more curious about her world by the moment I was eager to engage and explore with her.  At the same time I certainly didn’t feel very creative or resourceful about how to do this.  My background is in Physical Therapy so other than applying band aids with finesse and being aware of physical developmental milestones I didn’t bring the insights of an early childhood educator to the table.  Before my feelings of inadequacy got too out of control, I decided to do the logical thing: look on the internet.  What I found was an overwhelming volume of resources many of which required sorting through long lists of activities only to find that I needed a laundry list of supplies to get started.

This was the quandary that lead to the development of Productive Parenting.  After conducting extensive focus groups with moms with newborn to five year old children, I was relieved to discover I was not alone.  There was a need for a convenient resource of simple ways to engage with young children that would lay the foundation for future learning and strengthen parent-child bonds.  I have a theory that an equipped mom is a more confident mom and a more confident mom enjoys her children.

Productive Parenting is a website that provides one simple way to engage with your newborn to five year old child each day based on your child’s birth date.  You can access all of the activities on the site but I know for me at this early stage in the game when the parenting job was all consuming, if I was able to introduce one new way of interacting with my child I was feeling very accomplished at the end of a day!  Early Childhood Experts have contributed the activities which build on one another over time.  They are highly interactive, promoting lasting parent-child relationships.  My driving motivation in creating the site was to equip new moms with simple ways to connect with their children.   Any further description of the site is kind of like describing a great meal, the only real way to know what it’s like is to try it yourself!

Productive Parenting Web 158p Video from Emily with Productive Parenting on Vimeo.

 On that note, here is a short sampling of a few activities you’ll find on the site:

 Clapping Numbers

Target Age:

Early Two-Year Old

What To Do:

Children learn using the sense of hearing. Listening and following directions are important skills for your child. Introduce this fun activity by saying, “I will clap one time.” Clap. “I will clap two times.” Clap. Clap. Continue up to four times. Have your child try clapping 1, 2, 3, and 4 times.Continue only if your child is still interested.

Skills Learned:

Activity Category:

Spotlight Search

Target Age:

Late Infant

Materials You Will Need:

stuffed animals, flashlight

What To Do:

Gather several of your child’s stuffed animals and place them in a semicircle. Turn out the lights and shine a flashlight on one of the animals. Encourage your child to move to the animal that is in the light.  Ask your child to return the stuffed animal to you.

Variations:

Allow your child to hold the flashlight too.

Skills Learned:

Activity Category:

Minutes, Hours, and Days

Target Age:

Late Four-Year Old

What To Do:

While driving, give your child examples of activities that take a few minutes, (brushing your teeth, eating a coookie, looking at a book), activities that take about an hour, (eating dinner, watching a movie), and activities that take about a day, (rain puddles to evaporate, driving to the beach). See if your child can list more activities that fall into each category.

Skills Learned:

Activity Category:

I highly recommend Productive Parenting and love that is a FREE resource for parents and it comes in an easy to read email with easy to follow instructions for great activities to do with our little ones!! Go check it out!

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