The Rainbow Conundrum. Help!

My daughter (who turned 3 in February) needed some motivation to sleep in her own bed at night and not on the floor of our room. She said her room was scary, and I showed her all the pretty things her aunt and I painted on her walls and decorated. It is covered in owls and birds, pinks and greens, her name on wooden pieces and other things.

The quote was left from when it was her nursery, and I couldn't get myself to take it down, so we designed her big girl room around those colors. We found a matching wall hanging set that we bought, and then she got to earn it after eating meat at dinner. Each meal she ate some meat, she got another clip to hang her art on. Now she gets to change out her work when she eats what she is supposed to.

She has her name above her bed. We spell it every night.

Before this big girl room, she was still sleeping in her crib (she was 22 months old when we moved her out of it). Now that she had a twin bed, she was scared to be alone. We painted handprints on the wall next to her bed to remind her she is never "alone." If she got scared, just touch our hands. This was cute, and worked for a bit.

Then she couldn't sleep in her own bed because it wasn't "good for girls my age." So we painted lucky mushrooms by her closet door to help make it better. Evidently pink and green polka-dot mushrooms ARE good for girls her age.

We had also painted a large tree on the wall and I cut out owls and birds that matched her bed set and mounted them in simple frames to make them sit int he tree. I attached them with the 3M wall sticky stuff. Well, when one owl fell down in the middle of the night, that made the tree scary. I could put it back up, but she told me it would just fall down again. See where it took the paint out with it? 

Then she was doing alright in her room after I fixed the owl, but then she saw Monsters, Inc. We didn't think anything of it. She saw the new one at the theater with her grandma, so we watched to first one at home. She enjoyed the second one, but she couldn't sleep in her room with a closet door because monsters might come out and scare her. So her aunt spent the night in her room and scared all the monsters away. She left a note for proof :)

 Now we are at the rainbow. After the note, we laid in her bed and looked around at all the things in her room. I asked her to point out anything that seemed scary, then I explained what it actually was. She said she needed rainbows and sparkles to make her room not so scary. So I told her if she slept in her own bed from bedtime to sunlight for 5 days in a row, I would paint a rainbow and sparkles (the red, green, violet and clouds have glitter on them) on her door.

Well, today is day 6. She will probably sleep in her own bed, since she has been, but what can I do if she needs even MORE motivation? Am I bribing her too much or is it incentive? Is she playing me to get more things on her wall? Should I just make her sleep in her own bed without a reward? I am running out of room to paint things on her walls!

Teaching with Play Dough

My daughter was talking to her daddy today about learning. He was explaining that one day she would get to go to school and learn all sorts of things (because my sister, Emily's best friend, is away at college). She started to cry, and when he asked her what was wrong, she said she wanted to go to school with mommy and be in her class.  I was so moved I almost cried :) My little girl loves to learn. We do all sorts of fun activities to help her learn her basic and not so basic skills.

Yesterday we worked on her fine motor skills with some mazes and some play dough fun. She would go through a maze, and trace back and forth the way to go. With the play dough, I would make something, then she would replicate it. Then she would make something and I would replicate it. We did that for an hour! We started with our own homemade play dough. She loves to bake and cook things. Here is a great recipe for homemade play dough, so if she loses some on the floor, its okay if her brother accidentally eats it before I get to clean it up!

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 small pack of jello (use different flavors to make different colors)

Mix everything in a small pan until most lumps are gone. Heat on the stove over medium heat stirring the whole time until it makes a nice ball. Remove from the pan and place on a floured surface and wait for it to cool (about 20-30 minutes). While it cools, we make a few more colors. Knead it in flour until it doesn't stick. The website suggested adding glitter, so you know we did! Now play!

When you are done, keep it in a tupperware or plastic baggie in the fridge until next time, no more than a few weeks. Have fun!

File Folders!

I recently played around with making some new clip art. I usually hand draw all of my clips, but I thought I would take a chance at using some software to make some. I tried making file folders and used glitter (everything is better with glitter!). It didn't take too long once I got my file folders how I wanted them. Making clip art is really fun, and as I make it, all sorts of ideas pop into my head of how to use them.

I was thinking use them as labels for think tank boxes or folders, use them at the start of different flipcharts to categorize which area of science it covers, use them as kids personal file labels, etc.,... all sorts of ideas!

Here they are!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Glitter-File-Folders-750217