This visual exercise helps kids ages 4-7 learn about same and different.

For a similar activity using touch instead of sight, click here.

Essential Vocabulary:

Same, Different, Both

Helpful Vocabulary:

• Comparative adjectives (smaller, bigger, lighter, darker)
• Colors (red, blue, yellow…)
• Shapes (square, rectangle, circle, star…)
• Counting (1-10)

The Game:

Below you will find 10 pictures. Each picture has two objects. In some ways the objects are the same, and in other ways they are different. Name at least one similarity and one difference for each pictured pair.

Extension Activity:

Have older children name more than one similarity and difference.

The Pictures

And here’s a letter sized printable jpeg of all the pictures (left click once, then right click to save the full sized file).

I’m a visual person, and I like check lists. Crossing items off my to do list is satisfying in the utmost. Perhaps I should have become a hit man instead of a stay-at-home-mom because young children have no respect for lists.

I often start my day with a simple list like this:

• Go to bank
• Reserve family reunion campsites
• Mail thank yous
• Meet Evelyn at the zoo

Now that doesn’t look too hard, right? In fact, it sounds like fun. I mean, who doesn’t like going to the zoo on a sunny Tuesday afternoon?

However this day and this list became derailed by a simple box of lettuce.

While I gathered checks for our bank run, my son Michael decided he wanted lettuce. He removed the lettuce from the fridge and took it to his room. Why his room? He told me later, “So we could have fun with it.”

And fun is what they had.

His room looked like a lettuce explosion. Weeks later, I would be finding pieces of lettuce lodged inside random toys. My one-year-old twins found the lettuce game particularly delightful. I removed the twins from their lettuce heaven (kicking and screaming- who knew lettuce was so much fun?) and cleaned up the remains.

Sometime during this process, I accidentally left the pantry door open, and the twins found the dried beans.

If you ever need to remove something like… oh say… a dried bean from a child’s nose, here is a good trick: cover the unblocked nostril and blow through the mouth. That bean will pop right out.

Some of you might wonder why I keep dried beans within a one-year-old’s reach. In my defense, I don’t. They climb!

Now this story is all very nice, but why am I telling it to you? Well, it’s because I need some help with my to do list. I have one more item, and it’s about to get away from me.

You see, we need a new couch. I saw one the other day that made my heart skip like Neil Armstrong on the moon. It’s in our budget and would look awesome in our living room. There’s just one problem: It’s white.

My head says no, but my heart says YES! I have it all rationalized:

•  It’s leather so it will clean easily.
• I will NEVER become distracted when caring for my couch. (har, har)
• We love each other, so everything will work out! Right? Right?

Will someone please slap me before I run off to Vegas with this couch? Or if you consent to our union, please join the wedding party. You know where to find us, and the couch will be the one dressed in white.

…

Now without further delay, here are the winners from our photo caption contest:

• The photo caption winner: Kat Moore!
• The sweepstakes winner: Stacy S. Jensen!

I loved reading all the entries, and choosing one was incredibly difficult. Thank you so much everyone who entered! You made my Mother’s Day special!

Winners: Don’t forget to send me your address within seven days.

First, a quick reminder that tomorrow is the last day to enter the Mother’s Day Photo Caption Contest.

Second, here are two finger painting projects with Mom’s special day in mind.

What you’ll need (for both):

• Paint (we used acrylic)
• Paper

Project #1: Spell “Mom” with your fingers.

Kirsten over at Creating Curious Kids reminded me last week that “Mom” upside down is “Wow.” You could also do “Wow, Mom!” with this project.

Project #2: Heart Hands

Cover the fronts of both hands with paint. Then touch index fingers together as well as thumbs and press to paper to form this heart.

I added a heart with the word Mom to our project, but what else could you do?

Note: I tried this project with a four-year-old and a fifteen-month-old. While I managed with the toddler, I recommend this project for preschool age children and older. Here’s project #1 by the toddler:

*** This contest is now closed. Thanks to all who entered! ***

My Mother’s Day post is alllmost ready, but I’m missing one thing. I need a caption for this photo.

Because it’s Mother’s Day, I thought I’d reward myself (with laziness) and you (with cash) by running a contest. If you come up with the best caption for this photo, you get the cash.

Here are the rules:

1. The title of this photo is “Motherhood.” Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to create a description for “Motherhood” in 140 characters or less (including spaces, punctuation, etc., like Twitter).
2. The contest runs from now until midnight (EST), Thursday May 10, 2012.
3. Enter by leaving a comment here or on my Facebook page.
4. You can enter only one caption. If you submit more than one, the first entry will be your official one; extras are just for fun.

What you win:

1. If selected, your name will appear under the final photo caption. You also win $20 in cold hard cash.
2. Each entrant will be automatically entered into an additional $20 sweepstakes drawing.
3. Like my Facebook page, and your name goes into the sweepstakes drawing one additional time.
4. Share the contest and receive one more sweepstakes ticket. (You can share the contest either from my original Facebook page link or by tweeting with the hashtag #lbbContest. If your Twitter handle isn’t the same as your name, please let me know in the comments section.)
5. For those counting, that’s a total of three chances you can have in the sweepstakes (one for entering, one for “liking”, and one for sharing).

The fine print:

1. You must be at least 18 years old to enter (sorry!).
2. I will remove any submissions with profanity or offensive language. Let’s keep it family friendly.
3. The winners will be posted on Saturday, May 12th. You must email your address to me within seven days or forfeit the prize. Please use the “Contact” page on this website.

Now put on those thinking caps, and GOOD LUCK!

 Personalized popsicles make a fun summer treat for birthday parties, family reunions, and other special occasions.

 What you’ll need:

• raspberry yogurt (Yoplait)
• vanilla yogurt
• a permanent marker
• a sandwich bag
• scissors
• popsicle sticks
• wax paper
• a cookie sheet
• a freezer big enough to fit the cookie sheet
• food coloring (optional)

Step 1) Using the permanent marker, draw a circle on the wax paper. (I traced the bottom of a plastic cup for my circle.) Write a letter or letters in the middle of the circle.

Step 2) Turn the wax paper face down on cookie sheet (so the letters are backwards). Place 3-6 ounces of vanilla yogurt in the sandwich bags and cut a 1/4th inch opening in the corner. Squeeze the bag gently as you trace the letters with yogurt. I also outlined my circles with the vanilla yogurt. Like this..

Step 3) Freeze the vanilla yogurt for at least an hour.

Step 4) Place about two ounces of raspberry yogurt over the vanilla. (I use Yoplait raspberry because they color the yogurt with concentrated beet juice. Most ordinary yogurts won’t have enough color contrast for legible letters. For other color possibilities see Step 6.) Place a popsicle stick about half way into the yogurt circle and top with another ounce of yogurt.

Step 5) Freeze overnight (or for at least four hours) and enjoy!

Step 6 ) For other colors, simply add a few drops of food coloring to a small bowl of vanilla yogurt. Using the sandwich bag piping method you can create almost anything.