Perfectly Practical #129 - Family Placemat

(Please keep in mind, I am NOT crafty.  In fact, let's just say that I am the Anticraft.)

Most of you know that Diva was born in England and we lived there until she was seven.

That meant that she only saw her grandparents once or twice a year.  A once or twice a year meeting is not enough for a small child to remember names and faces.  So I had a plan...

I cut out pictures of her grandparents, glued them on a piece of paper, and wrote their names beside them.  Then I laminated the paper to make a place mat.

From the time she was an infant, every time she ate, I would go through the list saying each name as I pointed at each grandparent and their name.

As she learned to speak, I would point to them and have her tell me the name of the person in the picture.  This is also how she learned which parents were whose and where they lived.

I knew that it had made an impression on Diva when we met up Stateside with all of her grandparents for her second birthday.  Upon walking in the room, Diva said a chirpy, "Hello Pop!" to Engineer's father.  She had only seen him twice before in person, once at 6 months old and once at a year old.

For those who are crafting divas, this would be a fun and easy project involving glue guns and scrap-booking paraphenalia and cricuts but for those of you deficient in the craft gene, a piece of paper, some photos, and a laminator will get the job done. :)

This is a great way for kids who don't see family members very often to get some facial recognition down and it worked for me.