Put Those Parenting Magazines to Good Use!

Wait! Don't throw away that pile of parenting magazines you were "going to read someday" but never got around to doing it and now can't stand them laying around your house.  I've got something else for you to do with them!

Just a small selection of my all too massive pile.

As I mentioned in my first post, this blog will be a random mix of teaching ideas...this one comes from my desire for more "reading" material for my son with real people, not cartoons.  I've been reading in parenting magazines (sort of ironic) that baby/toddlers should "read" books with real images, in particular images of people, real people.  You may have read this also and wondered, "Ok, so where do I get a book like that?"  I love how parenting magazines will throw out tidbits like this but totally leave you hanging.  There are a *few* books out there that fit the bill, my son is particularly a fan of the Babyfaces Pack by Roberta Intrater.

Other than this series - which I bought using my Scholastic teacher points by the way :)  - there really isn't much else out there.  In fact, I could only find one of the Babyface books on Amazon, you have to buy them through Scholastic. 

While cleaning (trying to clean) the house today I glanced at my rather large pile of parenting magazines that I've promised myself I will get around to reading (some day) and I realized jackpot!! I have a whole collection of real people images right under my nose.  I thought about my sons like, er obsession, for magazines (ok so all he does it rip them to shreds but he loves every minute of it) and realized  I could kill two birds with one stone.  I'd cut out a ton of images from my stored up parenting magazines and create a book (magazine) for my little love bug.

After searching the house for some scissors, I got to cutting.  While flipping through just one magazine I realized you really only need one to complete the project.  There are so many photos in each magazine. I never realized how stinkin cute the kids are on those pages!!

Before making a book, I made some "flashcards" to test out my son's reaction. 

I love the baby reading the book!!

He was pretty excited:

I loved the one he is holding because it reminds me of him:

You can see my trusty laminator in the background (I had to dust it off before using it, poor thing has been all couped up since I stopped teaching). After cutting out the pictures, I placed them on cardstock and ran them through, viola! I LOVE my laminator.

Next, I made a little book.  Cut the cardstock in half, laminated, whole punched, and put on some rings.  It was that easy. A few of the pages:

 Seriously, how adorable is that little guy?  He even made my love bug smile!

 Speaking of my love bug, how do you think he liked his new book?

We took it in the car with us on the way to Gymboree and there was no fussing!  I'm thinking I may just keep it in the car for now on...

Don't have a laminator?  Not a problem!  You can just use sheet protectors:

I especially like the shots on the second page because they show lots of different emotions.  It's a great way to talk to your toddler about how the child is feeling and why they might be feeling that way.  Giving a word to the child's expression/feeling is also important so that your child can start to label his or her own emotions.  Stay tuned for more on that topic in an upcoming post - I'm just finishing up a fabulous book, Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina, and I can't wait to share what I've learned.