Kimberly's Child Parenting Blog

Start planning for this year's Science Fair project with the resources and links at The Science Club web site. While this is a no-frills site, it's full of science fair ideas, projects, and links to even more of the same. Your child is sure to find an intriguing project at just the right level of difficulty when you start at The Science Club.

Visit The Science Club

Parents of preschoolers can find lots of opportunities in the family's daily life to lay the foundation for successful reading achievement in kindergarten and early elementary school. See what you can do to enhace these precursors to reading.

Need an afternoon project for your son or daughter? You can use a cartridge of color toner in no time with these fun printables.

SIKids has been online for a while; but the enhanced content and interactivity have made it a truly great site for kids who are interested in sports. Kids can make their own fantasy football team and play against kids around the world. Find reviews of sports-themed video games and a great selection of online games to play. Of course, there's lots of sports news and profiles for kids; and the Olympic coverage is fantastic. Also, check out sister mag, Time for Kids, featuring a kid-friendly guide to China.

Visit Sports Illustrated for Kids

My kids really get into the Olympic competitions and we watch many hours of Olympic events on these summer days. Watching Olympic water polo made us think, 'That looks fun; wonder how you play?' The Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games might get the kids excited to try some new sports. But, how DO you play water polo? Here's what I found. Have fun!

Learn to Play Olympic Sports Games

The Beijing Olympic Games are an opportunity for a unique family or kid party. We had a birthday dinner party with a combination of Chinese and U.S. table decorations. You can add sports games and an Olympic ring of cupcakes for a summer kids' party.

Ideas for a Beijing Olympics Party

Parents' natural concerns about children's kindergarten readiness have intensified with the trend toward a more 'academic' kindergarten. Early childhood educators now know that schools need to be ready for the wide variations in development and experiences that exist in kindergarten-age children.

Read why kindergarten readiness is more than child readiness.

Thanks to National Wildlife Federation for the fantastic new web site, Green Hour. I absolutely love these simple but creative ideas for getting kids outside and connecting with nature. Inspired by Richard Louv's Child in the Woods, Green Hour encourages kids to spend an hour a day in unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. You might be surprised at the benefits to your child's health and intellectual and emotional well being. Find a new idea for your child's 'green hour' each week.

Visit NWF Green Hour

A parent is concerned because her child can't seem to fall asleep at night and is impossible to wake up in the mornings. She's correct to worry that lack of sleep may affect her child's ability to learn and grow. Millions of kids and their parents don't get enough sleep, with negative effects on memory, learning, physical growth, and psychological functioning. Back to school is a great time to make family lifestyle changes that include more sleep for everyone.

Tips for helping your child get to sleep earlier.

Cliques have always been prominent in the social landscape of middle school, but now they can be seen in grades as young as kindergarten. Cliques can be very destructive, as anyone who has experienced their exclusion knows. But it's not just the excluded child who is harmed. Cliques usually have a leader who uses emotional manipulation to empower some and exclude others. Even children who are accepted in a clique will experience emotional highs and lows as they strive to become and to remain members of the clique. Young children don't have the skills to buck the negative actions of a clique and may come to accept that cruelty to others is just part of life. The negative culture of cliques can be enabled or minimized by adults and peers in the community. There are ways that parents can prevent the harmful effects of childhood cliques.