Settling Sibling Arguments with a Calendar

Although I'm blessed with three amazingly well-behaved kids (really!), our house still has its share of sibling arguments.  There is always fighting over which book to read, which show to watch, what color cup each girl gets, who brushes her teeth first, etc., etc., etc...  I've found a (hopefully long-lasting) solution to some of these arguments by letting each of the girls (L and E are 3 years old) get a 'special day' on the calendar.  When it's a girl's 'special day', she gets to go first whenever we take turns and gets the first choice of books/videos/toys/food.  For those random sibling arguments over toys, unless it's clear who took the toy away from whom, the 'special day' will settle the dispute.  Even my husband will ask the girls whose day it is when they fight over something.  We've been doing this system for a week and a half now, and it's working really well.  I've actually observed the girls saying "let's look at the calendar" to each other so they can see whose day it is.  They know the turns alternate so they acknowledge that if it isn't their special day today, they'll have their day tomorrow.  I can't take credit for this idea because I'm sure I heard about it somewhere, but I'm very excited about how well this is working, and wanted to share!

Preschool Learning Activities

Here's a quick summary of some of the learning activities I've been doing with L and E (3 years old).  I've been toying with the idea of trying some more structured 'homeschool preschool' time for the girls, but I realized that we fill most of our day with early learning activities, anyway.  I'd rather keep the structure really flexible for now.  I think the key is to plan enough ideas for things to do each day that when the girls ask for an 'activity', I don't have to scramble to pull something together.  For example, for our daily art activities, if I pull out all the materials I need the night before, I don't have to keep the kids waiting while I look for everything we need for the craft.  So here are some of the recent activities I've put together...

Masking Tape Resist Painting

I mixed up our usual painting routine by giving L and E (3 years old) some painters tape and creating tape-resist artwork.  It's really easy to do and produces neat results.  The tape (both sticking it on and peeling it off) added some new fine motor-skills practice, and the girls had a great time..