LITTLE PIM BLOG
Traditional Rosh Hashanah Activities for Kids
September 10th is the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, a day in which Jewish families around the world ring in the year 5779. Whether your child or classroom is learning Hebrew or not, it's a great time to expose them them to Jewish culture and global traditions surrounding this important Jewish holiday.
Rosh Hashanah translates from Hebrew to mean "start of the year." Traditionally, Jewish families attend services in a synagogue and enjoy traditional holiday meals with family on this day and the next.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which is sounded on both days of Rosh Hashanah to mark the start of the new year.
For a fun craft, your child can make his or her very own (thankfully less noisy) cardboard shofar here.
Many of the foods Jewish families eat during this holiday are also symbolic. For example, apples dipped into honey help prepare followers for a "sweet" new year.
And Challah, a round loaf of egg bread is also commonly eaten on the first night and symbolizes the circle of life.
Teach your child about this yummy tradition by whipping up a batch of Honey Apple Cupcakes together.
If you want your children to learn more about Jewish tradition and learn Hebrew, check out our award-winning Hebrew for kids program.
Are you celebrating the holiday this year or teaching your child Hebrew? Be sure to send us your pictures or share them on our Facebook page.
And don't forget you can get Rosh Hashanah cards here to wish your Jewish friends or family members a happy new year! The traditional greeting is "shana tova," which translates to "good year."
Little Pim's Winter Coloring Pages
Happy Holidays to all. Wintertime is the perfect time to cozy up with the little ones and do some coloring activities. We've got you covered for the entire Winter season with our latest coloring pages. Simply click on the links below to print out the pages. We'd love to see your creations. Post of photo on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #LittlePim and we will share it across our networks. Happy coloring and we hope you're enjoying the glorious holiday season! ¡Adiós Amigos!...
Links to download and print the FREE Little Pim Coloring Pages (in order as they appear above):
Explore Winter in Ukraine with a Craft Based on this Clever Story
The Holidays are easily the most magical time of year for a child. Make it even more magical by exposing them to another culture, like that of wintry Ukraine! In Eastern Europe, Christmas is not heavily celebrated. Instead, it is the coming of Father New Years that brings anticipation to children everywhere. That doesn't mean that there's any less winter wonder! The Mitten is a common folktale for Ukrainian families to read to their little ones during the holidays. With such cold winters, it's no wonder that the main feature of this tale is a group of animals trying to stay warm!
- Explore Winter in Ukraine with this printable craft based on the classic Ukrainian children's story, The Mitten.
The story starts with an old man in the forest losing one of his mittens. As animals in the forest find the mitten, they scurry inside to enjoy its warmth. The story begins with small animals, such as frogs and badgers, and works its way up all of the way to a bear. In the end, it's a little mouse that "breaks the camel's back," so to speak; causing the bear to sneeze and all of the animals to fly out of the mitten.
Engaging your child with The Mitten:
- Watch this free video of the folktale, retold and illustrated by children's author Jan Brett.
- Read the story with your children.
- Ask them, "Why do you think the smaller animals let the bigger animals take up the room in the mitten, even when there were too many?" This will help connect your child's mind to the abstract concepts of the reading.
- Color and illustrate pictures using your kids' imagination of the different animals mentioned in the story. Learn how to say the names of each animal in different languages.
- Discuss Eastern Europe and its Holiday traditions; its climate, its animals, and the similarities and differences between our stories and theirs.
For more phenomenal winter crafts, stay tuned to the Little Pim blog! Happy Holidays!
Fourth of July Kids Activities
Summer is in full swing and here at Little Pim, another holiday means more fun activities to do with your little ones! If you're staying local this Independence Day, be sure to check your community websites and local news sites for celebrations across town to enjoy great fireworks, fairs, BBQs, and more to create beautiful memories this holiday. We're expecting gorgeous weather on July 4th here in NYC, 85 degrees and sunny, which means we need to make sure everyone is covered in sunblock and staying hydrated all day long!
KIDS ART
Our first activity is this festive coloring sheet with Little Pim celebrating the 4th of July! Setup your kids outside with crayons or markers and hang the finished artwork as decoration for the weekend's festivities. Print out a few copies for all the kiddos to keep them occupied during an event.
If you're feeling a bit more creative, you can try this fireworks painting with salt and watercolor paint via Busy Mommy Media. It's actually fairly easy and only requires a few materials you probably already have in your home: table sale, paper (black works best), watercolors, brushes, white glue, and a cookie sheet). Visit their website for step-by-step instructions.
SWEET TREATS
Your kids will love helping you in the kitchen with these healthy and colorful fruit skewers. Make the U.S. flag design with fresh strawberries, banana slices, and blueberries. Berries are so delicious during the summer! Even better, pick your own or find some at your local farmers market! Be careful with the sharp ends of the skewers.
HOMEMADE POPSICLES
A great way to beat the heat this summer is to create your own popsicles! Check out our blog post on how you can make your own Mexican Paletas at home for your little ones to enjoy! Get create and use berries to make red, white, and blue popsicles to celebrate the fourth!
MESSY FUN: DIY SLIME
We recommend doing this activity outside so clean up will be a breeze! This recipe is fun and safe for kids as it doesn't use Borax and you can color them red and blue, perfect for the 4th of July!
What you’ll need:
- Plastic bowls
- Water
- Cornstarch
- Food coloring
In a bowl, combine 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 cup of water. Mix until you have a good and slimy mixture.
Add 1 to 3 drops of food coloring.
Repeat with other colors.
Then play away.
We hope you and your family have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend! Remember to incorporate Little Pim and language learning in your family summer fun! Have your kids name each color in a different language when making crafts or recite the names of the fruits in their second language when prepping summer treats in the kitchen. If you're traveling this holiday weekend, you can take Little Pim with you with our digital downloads available in 12 languages. Happy Independence Day, America!
Celebrate Crayola Crayon Day with Little Pim's Springtime Coloring Page
Spring is in the air! What a great day to celebrate Crayola Crayon Day by having your kids color in Little Pim's Springtime coloring page. Print out this coloring page today and teach your kids how to say each color in a different language to incorporate language learning into your day.
When you're done, you'll have a finished picture to hang on your fridge! Share your kids' page with #littlepim on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Enjoy your colorful day!
Staycation: Messy Summer Fun for Families
Summer is in full swing: long sunny days where the sun doesn’t set until late in the evening, and lots of hours to fill entertaining little ones. In some Scandinavian countries, in fact, the sun barely sets at all during July!
But never fear, we have LOTS of great ideas on how to fill those summer hours with plenty of messy summer fun for families, with the added bonus of a small price tag to boot.
In this round up, we have messy projects – the kind kids love, and parents are usually afraid of – but all of these are easily cleaned up as long as they’re done outside. Whether you have a balcony, picnic table in the park, or a grassy yard, we’ve got some messy fun for everyone!
MESSY STAYCATION FUN
Fun Foam Twister
What you’ll need:
- * Plastic Twister board
- * Foam soap in a variety of colors or shaving cream and food dye
Honestly, Twister is fun in any season. But you can amp up the laughs for your little ones by using colored foam soap (look for kid-friendly versions usually used in the bathtub) that coordinates with the colored circles on the board. Fill in each circle with the soap.
Then play away! This is guaranteed to be slippery, squeal-worthy, laugh-out-loud fun.
(Can't find foam soap? Simply buy shaving cream, dispense into bowls, then add drops of food coloring to create colored soap foam. Warning: this version may stain light clothing.)
Finish up the game by having everyone run through the sprinklers, hose, or even the shower to clean off.
Variations:
Are your kids too young to know left from right? Use a washable marker to make a red circle on their right hand to differentiate the two.
Make it a bilingual, or trilingual, game by using a language such as French to yell out commands.
Here’s a quick French Twister cheat sheet:
- Right— Droite
- Left— Gauche
- Circle— Cercle
- Foot— Pied
- Hand— Main
- Red— Rouge
- Blue— Bleu
- Yellow— Jaune
- Green— Vert
Ice fossil hunt
What you’ll need:
- *Large plastic bowl
- *Cooking Spray
- *Small toys
- *Water
- *Plastic and/or wooden spoons
Note: Make sure you start this one the night before so you’re ready to play on a hot day:
Take a large plastic bowl (make sure it will fit in your freezer) and spray with cooking spray.
Then add an assortment of small plastic and rubber toys; think: dinosaurs, rubber duckies, anything you’d get in a party gift bag or at an arcade.
Then fill the bowl with water and freeze overnight.
The next day, take the bowl to any outdoor location. Unmold (this should be easy after the cooking spray). Hand out plastic or wooden spoons to the kids and let them dig for treasure.
Good, cold, wet fun!
DIY Slime
OK, you’re probably not going to like this one as much as your kids are – but remember, do this outside and clean up will be a breeze (consider lining whatever table you’re using with newspaper or wax paper).
There are a number of DIY Slime recipes around, but the ones that make plastic-y slime usually contain Borax, which isn’t safe for little mouths. This recipe is completely edible (although we don’t recommend eating it – yuck!), and plenty of fun to play with, too.
What you’ll need:
- Plastic bowls
- Water
- Cornstarch
- Food coloring
In a bowl, combine 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 cup of water. Mix until you have a good and slimy mixture.
Add 1 to 3 drops of food coloring (classic green is always a great starting point).
Repeat with other colors.
Then play away.
World Cup 2014 Soccer Crafts for Kids (Perfect for Father’s Day!)
Does your family love soccer? Have they caught World Cup 2014 (currently being played in Portuguese speaking Brazil) fever yet? Are you all itching to find a way to show your love of the most popular game in the world? If you answered yes to any of the above, we have great news for you: we’ve found fabulous, fun soccer crafts (or as they would be called in most of the world, “football crafts”) for kids, fun to make and also perfect for Father’s Day giving.
We think they’ll score a goal with your whole family!
Soccer Field Mouse Pad
Supplies: Green craft foam square (you can also use green craft paper and glue it to Styrofoam or carboard), white paint markers, white crayon, or white acrylic paint and a small brush
- Cut green construction foam into a rectangle, approximately 6” x 8”
- Using a pencil, sketch the outline of a soccer pitch on the foam: circle in middle, rectangles for goals, line across the center. Hint: We used a small glass and our mobile phones to trace the shapes in pencil before we started coloring in.
- Then using whatever white art supplies you've chosen, fill in the lines on the field.
Goal!
Check out these links for other great Soccer Projects for Father’s Day and beyond. Feliz dia dos pais!
¡Te Queremos! Happy Valentine's Day from Little Pim
Whether you usually mark Valentine's Day by cutting out homemade valentines with your kids, presenting a heart-shaped box of candy to your beloved or cooking a special family meal, why not use the occasion this year to express your love in a whole new way? Say it in another language and spark a love of languages and learning in your kids.
Here's how to say "I love you" in seven languages:
German:Ich liebe dich
Russian (transliterated):Yah tebyah loobloo
Spanish:Te quiero or (romantically) Te amo
French:Je t'aime
Hebrew (transliterated):Ani ohev otach (to a woman or girl) or Ani ohevet otchah (to a man or boy)
Arabic (transliterated):Ana behibek (to a girl or woman) or Ana behibak (to a boy or man)
Italian:Ti voglio bene or (romantically) Ti amo
What better way to say "I love you"? Of course, a shiny red box of bonbons is nice too!
Earth Day - ideas for kids
On April 22nd, more than a billion people around the world - and millions of children - celebrated Earth Day. It's a day to think about the pressing questions that affect our planet, such as water quality and conservation, recycling, food safety and availability, and how we can each work to reduce our carbon footprint.
How can you make this day meaningful to your children? Taking on a topic like "the earth" can be pretty intimidating, so we at Little Pim have come up with our favorite ways to bring Earth Day into your home. Here are the top ten things you can do to teach the values of Earth Day in an easy and fun way, and learning a few new words in one of the earth's many different languages! Check out or Springtime video to learn important earth-related words in Spanish, French and Chinese.
10 Fun Ways to Celebrate Earth Day With Your Kids
1. Plant seeds with your kids, and help them take care of their growing plant. The act of watering and caring for something alive - even if it's just a plant growing in an egg carton - is a great way to help children understand why nature is so valuable. If you have an herb plant, your child can also pick from the plant and help you cook with it, and learn the valuable link between nature and food.
2. Take your child to the local dump! Stay a while (bring wooden pegs for your noses if needed) and talk about what a landfill is. Few children really understand where garbage goes once it leaves the trash can, or that it takes up SO MUCH ROOM.
3. Do a recycling art project. There are so many fun things you can make from tissue boxes, egg cartons and cereal boxes. Try this piggy bank from a tissue box, this cardboard house, or these cute little bugs
4. Get your old globe out of the attic, or buy one. Preferably a child-friendly globe like this one, with fun pictures and bright colors.You can point out parts of the planet where resources are scarce, explaining water-shortages in Saharan Africa, or countries where kids farm the land from an early age, like certain places in South America. Where possible, connect the lesson to the experiences of real kids. I love the United Nations book A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World. You can also teach your kids how to say words like "tree", "flower" or "water" using Little Pim!
5. Bake something using as many whole and non-processed ingredients as possible, and use the experience as an opportunity to explain that food can still come straight from the land! Explain the difference between processed and whole food using real examples, such as boxed mac and cheese vs making it from scratch.
6. Visit a farmer's market together and learn about which fruit and vegetables are available in which season, and what is means to grow food locally. You can also explain that buying local food helps the planet, because it doesn't have to be transported very far.
7. Go to an Earth Day event in your city. The Natural Conservancy is hosting Picnic for the Planet events all around the world!
8. Have an Earth Day party! The kids can help you cook and you can decorate the house with Earth Day crafts
9. Go online and read about how kids are celebrating Earth Day around the world, then share some of those stories with your kids.
10. Help your child make an Earth Day drawing or story, and post it on your fridge or elsewhere in the home. You can teach them about endangered animals (pandas like Little Pim are endangered!) and print out coloring pages like this one (click to download).
And finally, happy Earth Day everyone!
Homemade language flash cards not pretty but they work!
Emmett and I made our own flash cards and have been having a great time with them. First, we draw six boxes on a piece of regular paper with a thick black pen. Then, following Emmett’s instructions, I drew a picture in each of the boxes with the word written under it in French. We laughed a lot over my bad drawings (the orange juice picture looked like a UFO landing). Emmett has never really liked store-bought flash cards and always got bored and restless right away when I tried to bring them out, so this was a great way to turn reviewing vocabulary into a fun game.
After much thought and work (and input from children like Emmett) we've finally developed a fun series of Little Pim flash cards in Spanish and French.
