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I just got finished listening to the DittyDoodle Works Lessons in the Lyrics System CD and I have to say as an educator I think this stuff would really be a hit with the age 3-6 set!
It is based on the national award winning preschool TV show series distributed through the American Public Television and New York Public Television that features two puppet type characters "Sheira and Loli."
The show teaches as it entertains on subjects like trying something new, doing chores, paying attention, sharing, and being responsible. You know- the important stuff! =)
The DittyDoodle Works TV series features catchy songs and age appropriate stories. The Lesson in the Lyrics Learning System takes it one step further with a fun activity book that goes along with the lessons learned on the show - making it possible to continue the learning (and the discussion with your child) after the TV is turned off! The set also includes 1 CD with 14 educational and upbeat songs as well as 2 DVDs with full episodes and 3 certificates that you can award your child with.
You can purchase this system HERE for $24.95 plus shipping and handling.
Since I will be having my first baby (a boy!) in March I have been thinking a lot about family time and traditions. I think schedules and traditions are important for young (and older) children. It is always fun to have something to look forward to as a kid. Kids crave the attention of their parents and want to spend time with them.
So, enter to win the DittyDoodle Works Lessons in the Lyrics Learning System by leaving a comment here telling me one fun thing that you do as a family. Tell me about things that you do as a "ritual" or a "tradition" weekly or monthly. An example would be a family game night. Give me some specifics and tell me how often you do it and how you make it special!
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101 Comments:
We have a family movie night. It is a kids movie- sometimes a new one that's just come out that day. And we make our own popcorn- the airpop on the stove kind. The kids LOVE it! We do this once every week or two weeks.
We make an effort to have another family over at least once a month for dinner. This helps us not eat out as well as nurtures out friendships with others.
On Sunday evenings we walk a few blocks to the neighborhood market for an ice cream cone or a hot chocolate, weather depending. It's a nice treat for the kids (and us!) and gives us time to connect as a family and get some fresh air and exercise.
We have Family Fun night every Saturday when we all make a meal together and then either play games, make a project, watch a movie, or go bowling, etc. We love the Ditty Doodles here!
At least once a week, we have "family bridge", which is a name my three kids gave to it. It just means we all five lie on the area rug in the family room and do no structured activity. We just talk, giggle, tickle and wrestle. They love it better than any planned activity. Someone just yells "family bridge!" and everyone dives for the floor.
Every night before bed my 4yr old and 20 month old get to pick out one book for me to read. We also watch wheel of fortune since my son loves it and likes to hear and see the letters being called.
vickers at comcast dot net
One of the things that we like to do as a family every weekend is go to the park. It helps them excersise. Since we both work during the week we dont have time to go anywhere during the week so we have made it a commitment to taking them out every weekend. Thanks for the give away.
Araceli
ada51654_(at)hotmail(dot)com
Since my son was a newborn, my husband would scoop him up the minute he got home from work and take him into our bedroom to have some "man chat" while he changes out of his suit. My little guy is a very active toddler at this point, but the minute my hubby walks in the door from work, he holds his arms in the air waiting for hid dad to carry him off for their special time to talk and catch up. As a tiny baby, he would just lay on the bed while his daddy filled him in on the happenings of his day and now he helps put away his daddy's dress shoes or tries to dump out his daddy's brief case while he's hearing the details of his daddy's day at work! :) Its so sweet!
amyjd2b at yahoo dot com
One tradition I do every Friday evening with my sons (7 and 4) is make homemade pizza! They have so much fun, rolling the dough (working on our tossing skills!), spooning the sauce and sprinkling the cheese on. They get so excited and check the oven window every few minutes to see if it is done. They are always so proud when it comes out "perfect" and tasty!
-Alisha
wuwubooboo@yahoo.com
What a giveaway. Crossing My fingers. Thabks. a.lichtenbarger@yahoo.com
We have three boys and we try to make spending time with them a priority. We don't have a set day to do certain activities but we like to do things that make wonderful memories for them. We all fish,ride bikes and atvs and hunt. These are our family traditions that we pass on to them-the things they will remember doing together as a family.
As far as daily, we read a bible devotion every nite before bed.
Well one thing we do is take all of our Christmas cards and put them in a box. At dinner throughout the year we take a card out and pray for that family. I got this idea from a Christmas Traditions booklet my mom's group puts out every year. I would be happy to send you a copy if I knew where to send it.
My sisters and parents come over once a month for game night- something we just started- trying to stay connected throughout the year not just over the holidays for Christmas.
As a Children's Minister I have taught a class on traditions for your family several times- it is always neat to hear them all. However, not enough space here to right them all down. Maybe I will blog about it sometime.
I would love this. I will only hope to win.
I would love this product.
cmbuechler@hotmail.com
We don't have any set traditions for our family yet that don't involve the holidays. My little one is just 2, but as she gets older I want to have a family night where we can do anything - just as a family.
Something we have done, even though it's not on a regular basis, is to take her to the park and then out for ice cream. It's a great fun way to spend time together.
I'd like to have this to use with her, and with the kids I teach at school.
On Sunday night we always have breakfast for dinner. I am not a morning person and it is all I can do to pour ceareal in a bowl, and my husband loves breakfast. Therefore I just serve it for dinner. My cuts pancakes with cookie cutters and helps with the table. We love it and it really helps us get ready for the new week.
Our one tradition is to have a family night on Thursday nights. After dinner we play a board game and then we watch a movie together.
We have mommy/daddy nights- I usually take our daughter (2) to Starbucks and we read a book together or talk about the different things that we see - IE: "look outside, what's the weather, is it raining or sunny" She leans so well by discussion!
We have family bowling night, we order pizza and play wii bowling together, I am surprised at how competitive we all are (in a healthy way). One tradition that we have started by accident. When my girls (6 year old twins) were babies I started taking their hand prints each month (and put them in their baby scrap books), when they were a year old I decided it would be better if we done this in the garage (sometimes it is hard to keep them from touching their hands on other things before wiping the excess ink off). By complete accident one of the girls pressed her little hand up against the garage wall (before cleaning) so I wrote her name under it, and done the other ones hand too! Since then we have done this every 3 or 4 months (always at the same time that we do the scrapbook print). What started as an accident has now turned into our own little work of art that I get to see coming and going. I love your blog.
Danielle
tn8dtf@yahoo.com
I would love to win this for my grandchildren.
Nancy W. (nanbob06_76@yahoo.com
I'd say the tradition that our family keeps, the most consistently, is going to church every single Sunday morning.
Our kids look forward to learning & hubby & I look forward to worshipping as a family!
Amy
(theorangefamily at yahoo dot com)
That looks really cool. Since I have a 3 and 6 yr old, it would be great!
Kelly
kellyje777 at aol dot com
We make pizza together on Friday evenings. My children love pressing the dough down.
denise_22315@yahoo.com
We watch a movie once a week and always have popcorn. That is the highlight of the week!:)
Thanks!!
Stef
we eat dinner together as much as possible. its amazing the conversations you have while at the table. i think its easy to get caught up in activities that we lose sight of each other an the table brings us together again
Our family eats dinner together every night. Even though my 9 year-old grumbles about it sometimes, the conversation is always lively and we really connect with our kids during this time.
Bigmelw at aol dot com
We have saturday morning bed time. My husband is gone from 4:30 AM to 6 PM throughout the week. Saturday is the one morning he stays in bed. Our daughter comes in lays down for a bit and then entertains us with her funny ideas and dances.
cjsime007 at gmail dot com
We always have a big family breakfast on Saturdays. My toddler plays in the kitchen (or with dad) while I cook. Everyone is together and it's a great way to start out a day together. I always try to get everyone on the same schedule so we can eat as many meals as possible together.
couponcrazymom00 at gmail dot com
we have an evening ritual of going around the table at dinner discussing the happenings in everyone's day. Then at night we all meet in one child's bedroom and pile on the bed to pray together as a family before the kids go to sleep.
We have "Family Fun Night." Usually on a Friday night. We try to let the girls take turns picking what we do-rent a movie, play games. We usually eat something we don't usually have to eat. They really look forward to those nights.
Saturday mornings are waffles and fresh juice. Sunday evening is family dinner and board games.
I would love to win this for my daugter. Thanks for the great giveaway!!! cmcain31 at aol dot com
We go to church on Sundays and sometimes get together with friends in the afternoon for a playdate. Thanks for the opportunity! Also my 3 yr. old loved "playing school" when his siblings are napping. We say a little prayer, pledge of allegiance, and a pre-k lesson from a workbook. He loves the one on one time and learning.
rbjj32825[at]lycos[dot]com
We've started having family meetings as a way to connect with our large family...with 5 sons under the age of 12, we can miss alot during the week.
Thanks for the giveaway...
tmillenderswain@yahoo.com
We just started a family game night. Right now, we are into Apples to Apples. The kids are older (17, 15) so it is a lot of fun!
eyedealdisorder@comcast.net
we play charades on family game night. it's hilarious and all the kids look forward to it!
We don't really have something right now that we all do as a family. My hubby works 60 - 75 hours a week, so when he is home we just try to do something fun. A lot of the time we go to the mall and play in the soft play area or go to one of those places with those large inflatables and bounce. It is actually quite fun to go play with your kids.
Just the kids and I go to story time on Tuesday mornings and then we go to the park and eat lunch. They just love it.
We have one daughter, 17 months, so for now, our family activity is taking a walk around our neighborhood. We point out God's special creation as we walk, birds, trees, and clouds. We all get fresh air and it's a learning experience as well!
We have a pajama party about once a month. The living room floor becomes a huge bed of blankets and pillows, we all wear our fave party pjs (ALL of us girls wear footies) and we eat pizza and popcorn and watch a movie or two.
Since our family is really into sports cars they have car meets at sonic on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so we go maybe twice a month as a family to look at cars and eat.
barbara_powella(at)yahoo(dot)com
My favorite family tradition is playing hide and go seek in the complete dark every christmas eve. It gets funnier every year! thanks, dirtmama02@yahoo.com.
I have four kids, ages 1 to 5. One of our favorite times each day is bedtime story time. The kids who are old enough each select a story, and we rotate which child's story gets to go first. This time really helps us to reconnect at the end of the day, while also allowing the kids to wind down.
One tradition we enjoy is camping out in the living room! :) Great giveaway ~ thank you!
We have many family traditions. One of them is camping out in the living room the first night we put up our Christmas tree.
Our little boy is not yet two, so we really don't have any raditions like a family game night or anything like that -- at least not yet. So right ow we just try to make sure that he is exposed to everything around him. We go to the park at least once a week, play outside when the weather is nice, read as many books as possible, and have lots of time for his imagination to grow.
Maria
marianjim at msn dot com
We cube our stale and/or moldy bread and bread ends and stick them in a bag in the freezer. On nice-weathered Saturdays, we pull the bag out and head to the duck pond, where we feed ducks, walk, and play at the park.
My husband gets up with our toddler on Sundays and they bundle up and go to the park. Its a nice time for mommy to sleep in and get ready baby free and its a great time for daddy and daughter to spend special time together. charlenegale at yahoo dot com
We try to have the 2nd Thursday of the month be date day. My husband and I split up the three kids somehow and take them to do something fun (and usually free or inexpensive). Go to the park, the library for storytime, Barnes and noble to read books, out in the desert to drive remote control cars, to get fingernails painted...
huz_kids@yahoo.com
We have a family movie night and a family game night. Also, once a month the kids get to pick out of a treat jar an activity to do the very next weekend. They have assigned chores and if they do them every night for a month, that family activity is the reward!
steveroncas (at) embarqmail (dot) com
Every Friday we try to have a family fun night, where the kids pick what they want to do and if we can do it we do. The kids enjoy it a lot because we gave them the choice. Thank you for this opportunity.
michelle
momkell@yahoo.com
We eat dinner together as a family every night. While it may not sound like a lot of fun sometimes, it is the only time we are actually all at the same place at the same time to talk things out. My kids will tell you this is just awful because dinner is served at 5:30 and that means that there have been A LOT of after shcool activities that they do not get to do, but on the other hand, when something happens and we are not all at the table together, my kids groan about missing that one family member.
We read a chapter of a book picked out by the kids every night after dinner, not a bedtime story but a family time rading.
One the weekends my 2 year old twins, husband, and I have recently began making homemade donuts. They love it, its easy, and its inexpensive! Its a great way to get us together in the kitchen stress-free!
heathererusk at hotmail.com
We take walks as a family several nights a week and talk about our day.
johnson1032@netzero.com
Every Monday night is Family Night at our house. We always have a small values lesson, a family activity, and a treat. The treat is always a hit because this is the only night of the week we have dessert! :)
trudd82@gmail.com
Thanks for the giveaway! This sounds fun - especially since I am a mom and a preschool teacher!
i have 3 young girls (ages 5, 2 & 1) and we go on walks after dinner every night (when it's warm!). We also have a bible study every monday night. Since the girls are so young, it's pretty short, but they enjoy the songs and pictures.
becki
bljohnson30@sbcglobal.net
We exercise together as a family every night. Hubby walks on the treadmill, and I do a walking dvd.
the kids can color, play, or join in. They don't want to miss it, and I hope it helps them stay fit throughout their lives.
Thank you.
mrsden@gmail.com
We have family night every Monday evening. We play games, sing songs and talk about our week to come. We also read our little ones scriptures from their own scriptures with pictures.
Every Sunday night, we have pizza and movie night. We either make our own pizza or pick one up at Papa Murphy's. Then we have popcorn and watch an age-appropriate movie that we got from the library or bought earlier in the week. We started this about 3 months ago and we all agree that Sunday night is our favorite night of the week now!
lora at mortier dot org
I would love to win this for my little one. Thx!
Urvashi
urvashig@gmail.com
I know this isn't original, but the 1st friday of the month we do pizza movie night. We splurge on our favorite takeout pizza, put out a blanket on the floor and pop in a family movie. The girls LOVE it.
We have lots of family traditions. My son is four and he loves, loves, loves routine. We take a walk to the railroad tracks and look for trains at least once a week. We go to library every Friday for story time, and sometimes we get McDonald's afterward for an extra treat. I know he'll remember these special times forever.
zuzutracy@yahoo.com
We eat dinner, at the table, every night and we do not allow the TV to be on! Sometimes the kids rush from the table to do their own thing, but I try to get them to tell us about their day, what they are learning in school (or Church if it's Sunday) and that kind of thing. Sometimes I ask a specific question and everyone gets a turn to answer. It's a short time that we can spend together each day, talking and getting to know one another better.
During the winter time we really enjoy using the fireplace! So, about once a week we have a family "picnic" and movie night. We have dinner on the living room floor in front of the fire (something simple like crackers with cheese and meat, fruit, nuts, chips & dip, etc.). Then we all watch a movie together (even if it means that the kids are up past their bedtime!). Our 3-year-old especially enjoys this. He thinks it's so great to eat in the living room and, of course he loves watching movies so that's an added bonus!
snbjork@gmail.com
I have 5 small children, who I stay at home with all the time and what we do is have a date night. That is my husband takes one of the children out on a date. They may go to the store, out to eat and a movie, you never know. My husband always lets them help pick out the things they do. The children always look forward to their date with Poppy. The girls always want to dress really nice and the boys even want to look their best. It is something that they look forward too and are always anxious to hear how the date went with their siblings. And what is amazing is they understand they can only go one at a time and they do not mind at all. They enjoy the quailty time they get with their Poppy, which in returns always puts a smile on my face.
Sarah B
allenandsally(at)hotmail(dot)com
Every Friday night, the hubby, I and the children go see Oma and Opa. They are my husband's parents. Oma and Opa mean grandma and grandpa in German.
We have been doing this on Friday night for a couple of years. We always have pizza, sometimes we have it delivered, or go to Wal-mart get sliced italian bread, mozeralla,pizza sauce, and pepperoni and the kids will put the pizza slices together with their grandparents.
We then play card games. My kids will always have these memories of spending time with their grandparents which is so important.
Marz04@verizon.net
Every week we go to the library-- my son really looks forward to it and always asks if it is open.
snakan0(at)hotmail(dot)com
We go to church together every week. We make it special by singing songs on the way and then having lunch out afterwards with family. We learn, relax, and catch up in a single morning!
RLCGALLOWAY at msn dot com
We have church on Saturday nights which is also sort of a "family night" as we go out to eat just the three of us at the wonderfully kid-friedly chick-fil-a.
tbmroberts at yahoo.com
WE have a family movie night - we rent a kid friendly movie and pop popcorn - sometimes we get out the air mattress and all lay together with every pillow and blanket in the house!
rankin1997@hotmail.com
Mondays are our family movie night (and we do this with the free Redbox code)! We get a kid-friendly movie, pop some popcorn and all settle in front of the TV to watch the movie of the week!
Nightly, we have storytime. My 2 and 4 year old love it. Another ritual we like to do once a week is have PJ day and just stay at home in PJ's all day and play.
My husband has class on Tuesday night, so the kids and I have made it our library night. We walk or ride bikes (in good weather) and then spend time at the library. Nightly we have a great bedtime routine which includes, singing songs, reading books, and going over catechism questions.
We go to the zoo once a month. We have an amazing zoo here and it's great to get out as a family and the kids love it.
My little ones are too little for game night, but that will definitely happen when they're older! We go to the zoo together often, the Aquarium, and the Children's Museum. We try to do this as a family when we can. We also have playdough family time on the weekends. Does that count? :)
We eat dinner together as often as possible (tough to do because I work parttime nights). My dd is now 3&1/2 and sets the table with placemats, cloth napkins and we light an oil candle to eat by. One night a week we go out (to the cafeteria of the hospital where i work) as a family. It helps keep us connected. :)
We read a book or a poem and then pray together as a family every night before bed. And recently the kids have started helping Dad make cinnamon toast on Saturday mornings as a special treat.
jenegsmom@bellsouth.net
We have a game night with my sons about once a week, maybe more. He loves to play CandyLand and we have a few memory games. We also just have a story time a few nights a week. We read as many stories as the boys want, and they help us read along. They really enjoy it. Please enter me in the contest.
Friday night is family night. Our married daughter and her family come to our house for dinner. My son who lives with us because of an illness is already here. Sometimes we just eat and sit a relax and talk about what has happened during the week. Before my son got sick, we used to go on walks after dinner. (When the weather was nice.) Sometimes we watch a movie. It is just time to stay connected as a family. Every now and then we will go to our daughter's house for a change. Good times and great memories.
pscole3467 at gmail dot com
I have 2 of my grandchildren living with me and we have a choose your own night once a week. The kids take turns. They get to choose what we have for dinner that night which we all help in the kitchen and then they select either a movie or a game. Again their chose. We have so much fun! The rule any complaints you lose your turn for a week. We want this to be fun. Thank you!
We go pictureka and ispy bingo for Christmas plus are learning to play chess together (at different levels). The picture game and Ispy bingo work for both age levels (7 and 3).
We do the weekly board game night with the kids. We turn the TV down (Dad goes nuts if it's off lol ) and we talk and laugh and have a great time.
We also play Boggle each week on my blog (from Boggle Me Thursday). We have a friendly competition to see who can find more words. We also do that on the word games over on Pogo.
Our kids are 9, 17, and 21.
When they were little we cooked with them and had movie nights and also read books. They always liked to go to the drive in too (until it blew apart in a hurricane).
My DD is a childhood development major in college and I am sure she could put this to good use in her teachings. As for family traditions... she is also a college athlete and has played sports since she was 5. We have always made it a BIG family thing. I have never missed a game she has played in and her dad and my parents have only missed a few. We have traveled to many states and we would go on picnics between games. Sports is a part of our life.
Once a month we normally rent a movie off Pay per view one that the kids would like. We eat popcorn and chips and junk stuff we normally don't have and have a blast.
My kids always come into our room on Saturday morning and we spend a few minutes wrestling and giggling!
Stacey
We have several family traditions or rituals that just make our life easier, more predictable, and give us something to look forward to: Thursday nights are potato soup and cornbread nights. It is a cheap, easy meal that my husband and 4 small children all eat well. Also, Sunday lunch is always with extended family. Later in the afternoon, our immediate family watches an episode of Little House on the Prairie (We have nine seasons on DVD purchased from pawn shops), eats popcorn, and also has cereal for supper since our lunches are so big with extended family.
leslihowell@comporium.net
Every Friday night is movie night I buy candy and popcorn and we rent movies from DVD Play!!
Carla
cpullum(at)yahoo(dot)com
We have Friday night pizza and movie night. But we make our own pizza and pick out a movie from the library. So this is super cheap for us to do and we enjoy making the pizza together as well. Thanks for the chance to win!
We also have family movie night. We go to Blockbuster, and my little one picks out a movie that we can watch together. It gives her something to look forward to once a week and we have quality time together. We also pop a bag of popcorn, cuddle up on the couch, and enjoy!
Every Wednesday night we go out to eat where my son wants to eat. This is his favorite day of the week!
We as a family go ice skating once a week.
We take bubbles for our almost 3yo so she is distracted trying to get the bubbles and forgets she's on ice. It helps her to stay on her feet and to maintain balance.
We go swimming every Friday evening that we are healthy enough! Friday is "warm water day" at our local pool and it's like bath water. It's a time for all of us to relax together and it helps us "wash off" the work week and get into family time.
Every Friday is movie night, we have new movies from Netflix and make snacks like triscuit pizzas and popcorn and just spend time together!
mommyhoodisthankless{AT}gmail.com
When the weather is bad, we clear out all the furniture in the living room and lay out sleeping bags. We pop some popcorn and watch a movie together. The kids absolutely love it!
My son is 4 so we have family lego nights! He loves that we sit down together and build something. We also have family Play Doh afternoons on the weekends once in awhile. He really looks forward to those times bc he gets our undivided attention.
One of our favorite rituals is a weekly trip to the library. The boys love picking out new books and movies to take home!
elissa at huebert dot org
Our church sets Monday night apart as Family Night. So, every Mon night we have a spiritual lesson, sing hymns, and play a game.
sprklyblue at gmail.com
We have a sort of music class--very informal--at our house once a week. It is something we do with our friends that we've known for almost two years and our kids, in their threes and almost-one-years really have a sense of family this way. They have seen each other since age one or birth respectively and as our extended family doesn't live near us, this really makes our own family unit. We all have snack and sing songs and do rhythms with instruments or our big parachute.
lkziegler[at]gmail[dot]com
When my husband is in town (he travels a lot) we read bedtime stories to my daughter together before bed and say a family prayer befre lights out. My daughter loves it!!!
choward16 @ gmail dot com
When we switched from the bottle to the cup we started giving my daughter cheerios and milk in a cup while we read bedtime stories. Then it's off to brush teeth and sing a couple of songs before we put her down for the night. It really helped ease the transition. Good luck with your baby!
Once a month we have a family "outing" where we take the kids to dinner and ice cream, and then something fun like the park or skating rink. Thanks!
lisanne411 (at) yahoo (dot) com
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