B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

V
A R I A T I O N S
⽧ If a bit of water on the floor doesn’t bother you,
use a roller paintbrush on a bathroom wall.
⽧ If there is a fence or playhouse that is okay for chil-
dren to really paint, use a variety of paint colors to keep the attention
high and results colorful. (House painters often have a lot of leftover
paints from jobs they’ve finished.)
W
H A T
’
S
B
E I N G
L
E A R N E D
Children’s attention is being engaged by the fascination of changing the
look of a large area.
Games for 3- to 6-Year-Olds
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As an added benefit, they are also getting to stretch their bodies to
reach high places and strengthen their arm muscles with the repetitive
motion.
The Perfect Gifts
Finding the right gift for your child can be wearing. I found that if I didn’t
think of something ahead of time, I’d wander around a toy store looking
for something to catch my eye and then get caught by expensive stuff that
was not quite right.
Because I also work with children and often need to find interesting
materials to capture their interest and encourage their development, I got
in the habit of looking for potential gifts wherever I went. Often the perfect
gift would not be in the toy store but in the hardware store!
T
Y P E S O F
A
T T E N T I O N
E
N C O U R A G E D
Open and focused
M
A T E R I A L S
Any of the items in the gift sets described below, plus boxes and wrap-
ping supplies
D
I R E C T I O N S
Gift 1
Business supplies may mean work to us workers, but to a child they are a
great source of play. Buy things like paper clips, a stapler, a hole puncher,
folding files, index cards, a ledger, tape, a ruler, sticky notes, a receipt book
with carbon paper, tracing paper, stamp pads, stamps, graph paper, col-
ored stickers, and highlighters. Store them in an empty boot box (free at