Look What I Can Do

Boost your children’s self-esteem and self-confidence by acknowledging and appreciating their strengths and accomplishments. Follow the steps below to celebrate the milestones in their lives.

1. Pull out a few photos of your children in varying stages of growth and arrange the photos according to each child’s age.
2. Talk with your children about how much they have grown and tell them how old they were when they reached certain milestones (e.g., walking, potty training, brushing teeth, going down the slide).
3. Together, talk about what they can do now that they could not do when they were younger.
4. Then, ask them what they do well that makes them especially proud. List their accomplishments on the lines below.

5. Next, ask them what they would like to learn to do. Write these on the lines below.

6. Keep each of these lists in a prominent place so that your children will share what they can already do. Based on these lists, you can help them reach each new milestone.

Going Further
Go to the Building Blocks Web site to get a copy of the Look What I Can Do easy reader. Print out the large, colorful pages or sit with your children at the computer to read all about the different things that Wally Bear and his friends can do. At each page, ask each child to name or point to those things that he or she can do.

Use construction paper and markers to create your family’s Look What I Can Do book. On separate sheets, have your children either paste or draw pictures of their own accomplishments. Bind these pages together with staples, string or brads and put this book where everyone can see it. Continue to add pages as each child continues to grow and learn to do new things.