Valentine's Day

Sign Language- Saying "I Love You"

When I think of Valentines Day I always think of LOVE.

 

One of the first signs I would do with my daughter was ‘love’. I knew she wouldn’t be able to sign that back to me for a long time but I still loved signing it to her.

 

I would sign this version of ‘I love you’ to her:

 

My husband, on the other hand, would always sign ‘I love you’ to her by pointing at himself for ‘I’ then signing this version of love, then pointing to our daughter for ‘you’.

 

 

We would both sign our versions of ‘I love you’ to our daughter. Then one day she started signing it back to us. For me she would hold up her hand with all of her fingers extended (she didn’t have the dexterity yet to hold down the middle and ring fingers) but it was so cute and so definite that she was signing ‘I love you’. And for my husband she would hug herself.  I always thought it was cute that she would sign the two different ways to each of us.

 

Then one day I decided to mix it up a little and I signed ‘I love you’ the way my husband did and my daughter responds to me with, “No mommy, that’s ‘daddy love’!” It’s so cute that she associated the different versions of love with each of us. I kind of liked that we had our own ‘mommy/daughter love’ sign that was just ours.

 

Happy Valentines Day to you and the ones you love!

 

Check our other sign language posts here.

 Laura Berg, my smart hands

Monthly signs are submitted by guest blogger, Laura Berg, My Smart Hands,

Laura Berg is the President of My Smart Hands Inc, a company that teaches baby sign language and now boasts over 200 instructors worldwide. Her recently published book, The Baby Signing Bible (Avery/Penguin) has cemented her status as the go-to authority on Baby Sign Language.

 

Posted by momstown guest on 02/13/2013 - 17:38
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Valentine's Day Paper Plate Wreath

It is always fun to get the house in a festive mood for a holiday.  This easy preschooler craft is perfect to spread some Valentine's Day cheer.  You only need a few simple things to make this paper plate heart wreath and it is also a great opportunity to learn about two shapes - circles and hearts.

 

Materials:

Large paper plate
Glue stick or white glue
White, pink, red and/or purple construction paper
Scissors

 

paper plate Valentine's Day wreath

 

 

How to Assemble Your Paper Plate Heart Wreath

1.  Cut out a large hole in the middle of the paper plate.

2.  Fold a piece of construction paper over 4 times and cut half of a heart at the fold so that you will end up with 8 hearts.  Repeat this for as many colours as you would like to use.

3.  Glue the hearts on to the paper plate, covering most of the white background.

4.  Let it dry for 10 minutes and then hang it up and enjoy!

 

paper plate heart wreath, valentine's day

 

Submitted by momstown Oakville

Posted by momstown team on 02/11/2013 - 15:03
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Teaching Kids to Sew with this Simple Valentine's Craft

This is a great craft to teach children eye hand coordination and give them freedom to be creative. These make great valentines for friends at school, grandparents or neighbours.  The best part is that it only costs about 2 dollars all together!

 

stitching craft for Valentine's Day

 

Supplies:

foam hearts available in many colours at most dollar stores

various colours of yarn

scissors

hole punch

patience

 

Instructions:

 

1.  Punch holes in any random pattern all over heart , I use less holes for younger children and many holes for older.to get the holes in middle just fold over the heart and punch two holes at once.

2.  Cut various lengths of each colour yarn

3.  Tie the end of one yarn anywhere on the heart

4.  Show the child how to put the yarn in any hole and pull through. 

5.  Sit back and let them be creative and allow them put the string in any hole with no rhyme or reason.

6.  When string is all threaded , tie off and start at step three with a new colour.

7.  Continue until all strings are done and enjoy your child's creation.

 

 

Sent in by Tammy Bonney (@nazcat on twitter)

Posted by momstown guest on 02/11/2013 - 10:18
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Footprint Valentine's Cards

momstown Ottawa moms and babies met this week to make Valentine's Day cards! 

 

Homemade Valentine's Day cards are so much more special than the store bought kind and can be very simple in both idea and execution.  Valentine's Day doesn't have to be about expensive chocolates and dinners.  It’s about slowing down and remembering to tell all the special people in your life that you love and appreciate them.  Nothing says love better than a homemade gift!

diy valentine's card with baby's feet

 
My favorite way to do this is by making hand made cards. Even babies can help make adorable footprint cards perfect for your significant other or extended family.


1.  Take your baby’s foot and paint with red non-toxic paint.  This card is a little trickier than others because we’ll be painting both feet. Be aware of how squirmy your baby is and what materials are around you that you don’t want any paint to get on! Have the wipes ready!

 

2. Begin by painting your baby’s left foot and stamp it on the page on an angle. Clean the foot. Then paint your baby’s right foot and stamp it on an opposite angle creating a heart.

 

3.  Complete the card by adding decorations with whatever other materials you’d like to use to decorate your card. We used glitter, markers and paint.

 

4.  Don’t forget to write your baby’s age and what month it is on the card so you don’t forget later.
 

DIY valentine's day card with baby's feet

Posted by momstown team on 02/06/2013 - 18:04
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DIY Valentine's Day Bracelets

It's amazing what you can create when you look in your craft cupboard.  With felt, ribbon and buttons, you can create simple and beautiful Valentine's Day bracelets for gifts for teachers, classmates (instead of store bought cards) or family members.

 

DIY craft for Valentine's Day

 

 

1.   Cutting out a number of heart shapes out of red and pink felt scraps (each heart measured approximately 2.5 cm across). 

 

2.  Cut red, pink, white, and purple ribbon so that they are long enough to tie into a bow around a child or adult's wrist. 

 

3.  Collect purple, red, white, and pink buttons.


4.  Simply place a button on the centre of a felt heart, and  thread a length of ribbon through a wide needle.  Poke the needle through the back side of the felt heart, and up through a hole in the button.  Pass the needle through the opposite button hole, and pull the ribbon through.  This is a perfect craft for older children to do with adult supervision.  Each bracelet only required one "up and down" type stitch and a blunt needle.

 

5.  Take the craft even further by creating a special card to go with the bracelet.  Cut out blue cardstock rectangles, and tied a bracelet around each one:

Add a "Happy Valentine's Day" message on the front, and a "You are Cute as a Button, Valentine" message on the back completed the cards.

 

With just a few minutes, and a few scraps you probably have around your house, you can make your own heart bracelet and wear your heart on your sleeve this Valentine's Day too.  

 

Submitted by momstown Calgary.

Posted by momstown team on 01/23/2013 - 12:25
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Easy Stitching Craft for Valentine's Day

Grab your favourite Valentine's Day treat and check out the beautiful hearts filled with love the momstown Hamilton children made for their mom & dads. 

 

easy valentine's day craft

 

 

 

1.  We started out with giant hearts and punched holes around the edges for threading, which is a very fun fine motor skill to practice at this age. And then we coloured and wrote special messages to our favourite valentines.

 

easy stitching craft for Valentine's day


2. Then we threaded two hearts together halfway and filled it with a bit of stuffing so it had a puffy look. Getting a little help from mom is always good.

 

 

3. Once the stuffing is in we finished the threading and tied it off.

 

stitching craft for Valentine's day

 

 

4.  Then we added the final touches of a few special stickers. Concentrating very hard on making sure it's just perfect.


valentine's day craft for kids

 

After craft time we had a valentines treat and then finished with story time about love.

 


Share the love on Valentine's Day!

Posted by momstown team on 01/23/2013 - 12:07
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