how are you feeling today?

Whew! I'm exhausted. I tend to overextend and now that school and work are back in full swing, it's catching up to me. In my spare time (whenever that is) I work on this blog and do grant research for a local non-profit called Help a Mother Out. You should check them out, they're an awesome diaper donation organization that collects for mothers in need. They rock! 

And of course when I'm not doing all that, I'm teaching preschool and going to staff meetings and taking Max to the park and having husband time and trying to remember to stop, eat and relax. It's tough. I know alot of moms who are just as busy (if not busier!) and could use a little pick me up from time to time. 

So for today's project I made this little "How are you feeling today?" poster. I keep this on my fridge and it always makes me smile despite my mood and brings me back to earth when I've drifted off into some busy alternate universe. 

materials:

digital camera

your child

computer

get to work:

1. If you want you can set up a background or choose a blank wall to take your photos. 

2. Take 5-10 head shots of your child. You can show them what faces to make ("go like this!") or you can ask them to make any faces they'd like, or perhaps name the emotion and ask them to make a face that corresponds to the emotion. 

3. You can use a few different websites to make your poster with. A nice free one is: pixlr.com. If you aren't familiar with using photo editing sites you can either follow a tutorial for the site online, or make a poster on a photo printing site such as snapfish.com. (These posters are going to cost a little more than printing at home, but will last much longer). 

4. I chose not to put the labels on the poster, you can write the emotion under the photo or print them separately. Because Max is too young to read, I skipped this step. Instead I'll ask him how he was feeling in this picture or say "can you show me the happy picture?"

extra:

If your child is learning to read or able to read, you might want to print out and cut out the names of the emotions. Then they can play a matching game, matching the word to the picture.