Many children are heading back to school this week (if not already back already).  It is a time of transition and change, of new faces and old.  It is a time of adjustment and a time of schedules.  And that’s just the teachers!

Whether your child is starting preschool or nursery school for the first time or is a seasoned pro at the education system, take a small moment to recognize your child’s teacher.  Creating a simple gift is a great way to introduce yourself and bring a smile to your child’s teacher’s face!  Here are a couple of quick and easy ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

1.  The traditional teacher-gift – an apple!  Apples are nutritious, easy to transport and even boys don’t mind sharing one with their teacher (my son absolutely cringes when I suggest a small bouquet of flowers from our garden, but an apple is “cool”).  Tie a note to the stem to finish it off.  I found a lovely poem online for a teacher-apple:

You plant the seeds of wisdom with patience and concern,
And your efforts all bear fruit as your students grow and learn.
You offer them good food for thought, you care right to the core.
There’s just no better teacher than the one this apple’s for!

2.  Another cute idea is to give your child’s teacher a small bag of Hershey Hugs chocolate candies.  Again, I found a cute poem online to accompany these yummy snacks:

You are a wonderful teacher – I think you’re very neat!
That’s why I put together this special little treat!
A little bag with Teacher Hugs to get you through your day,
And let you know that I am glad that you are here to stay!

3.  Other simple ideas:  give a cute pencil with a small note:  “You’ve got the ‘write’ stuff!”; tie a note to a ruler: “You really measure up!”; or a can of his/her favorite soda with “We’re bubbling over with excitement to have you for a teacher this year!”

Concentration, or Memory, is a simple game for children that is wonderful for increasing memory skills and learning to pay attention to details.  While commercially-created games are available in a wide variety of themes and ability levels, you can also create your own to fit your child’s interests and learning level.

Use an even number of index cards, such as twenty, to create pairs of objects.  These can be simple shapes, pictures, letters, or words.  Shuffle the cards, the place them face-down on a table.  Each person takes a turn to flip over two cards of his or her choice.  If the cards match, the player gets to keep the pair and go again.  If the cards do not match, then the player turns the cards face down again and the next person gets a turn.

For older children, try making a set of cards with upper/lower case pairs, synonyms, antonyms, or rhyming words!

Even our little kids will get a kick out of this great idea for using fun food to create some excitement about geometry!  It is a great way to explore shapes, and even older kids can benefit tremendously from this hands-on activity with shapes.

You will need toothpicks and a soft (and yummy) food, such as gumdrops, fruit snacks, grapes or marshmallows.  Use the toothpicks to place the piece of food on each end, then stick another toothpick in to form shapes, such as triangles, squares, and three-dimensional objects.  The food pieces are your “endcaps”.  This is similar to Tinker Toys and K’Nex.  See what interesting and new structures your little architect can create!

Here’s a fun activity to try with your child that promotes critical thinking and school readiness.  This idea can be adapted for any age from preschool through grade school and beyond.  Best of all, no supplies are needed!

Have your child turn his or her back to you.  Using your finger draw a letter on your child’s back and see if he or she can identify the letter.  After he or she guesses the letter, see if they can come up with a word that begins with that letter!

If this is too difficult for your child, try it out first on the palm of his or her hand.  That way, your child can see the letter being written.  With younger children who might not know their letters yet, try simple shapes, like circles, triangles and squares.  Older children will enjoy the challenge of entire words or a more complex picture, such as a tree, a plane or a house.

Have your child do the same to your back as well.  It is great practice for writing, spelling and simple fine motor skills and dexterity!

I recently came across an activity that is quite simple, but for my boys and me, provided oodles of fun and playing time.  While this is really geared toward older children, it can be just as fun with younger ones as well.

Each person needs paper and a pencil (or crayon, but my boys found pencils easier to manage).  The key is to draw a picture without looking at it.  This process forces your brain to think perspectively and to be intentional with each mark.  Start with something simple, such as a tree or a house.  Either blindfold the person doing the drawing, ask him or her to look away, or sit in a darkened room.  Use your non-drawing hand to orient your pencil with the paper, feeling for the edges.  Then, draw!

With practice, my boys got better and better.  Once they were able to “see” the picture in their mind while they drew, they found that it was easier to produce the desired drawing.  We moved on to more complicated ideas, such as landscapes, people, animals and even a space scene.

Another idea is to place the paper on your head (with a book underneath to give a solid writing surface) and draw a picture on top of your head.  When I was younger, this was a great activity that my friends and I would try at Girl Scouts, in the lunchroom, and in any free time we had.  Our favorite was to attempt to draw a pig, but we did venture into other simple objects such as cars and flowers.  This activity is more difficult than the other; not only are you having to draw without seeing what you are doing, you are having to do it in a different angle and perspective.

Challenge your kids (and yourself) to attempt some different art together today.