Lately Sam has been waking up earlier & earlier. I remember the days when she would quietly play in her room or watch a tv show in my bed until a decent waking hour but those are no more. When she’s up…everyone’s up. I’ll glance at the clock, see it starts with a “6” ,or heaven forbid a “5”, & tell her “Go to bed. We don’t get up until the time starts with a 7” & she’ll lay back down. For 5 more minutes. Then I feel a tap tap tap. “Is it 7 now?” Repeat until the commotion wakes Sophie or mommy drags her tired rump out of bed.
Time for a clock that speaks Samanese.
This is such a quick & easy project. The clock was a cheapo find from Target but really any clock would work, you just need to make sure you can get the plastic cover off. I used a small paintbrush to apply mod podge to the 7, 8, 9 & hour hand & then sprinkled them with pink glitter. Turn it upside down & give it a few light taps to remove the extra glitter. I ended up going back & filling in a few blank spots with more mod podge & glitter. Once it’s good & dry just use a dry brush wipe off any glitter that settled somewhere it shouldn’t be. Replace the cover & explain to your little one that they can’t get out of bed (or out of their room…whatever) until the pink line touches a pink number. (of course if you’re not into glitter or want to make a boy version you could also use paint, colored tape or even stickers!)
 My girlfriend Kelly did something similar except told her daughter that she couldn’t get out of bed until she saw the number “7” as the first number on her clock. Well, one day the kid was super pooped & slept in till after 8, when Kelly finally came to check on her 45 minutes later she said, “Oh mommy! I was starting to get worried, the 7 never came!” Hence me glittering the 7, 8 and 9. If she sleeps in till 10 then we have a different set of problems entirely.
Would this work for you? What do you do when your little one wakes up way too early?
Fabulous! I don’t have kids yet, but this is genius. Already pinned it! :o) I could even use this in my kindergarten classroom for the endless “when is recess?” questions!
I didn’t even think about the teacher/school aspect!
so SO smart!!!
a peek of chic
genius. totally using this idea with my students!
My daughter is still too young, but I’ve already started dreading this stage. I love this idea and pinned it for the preschool years!
Good for you for planning ahead! And thankyou for pinning it, that helps bring me traffic big time so big thanks!!
OMG this is adorable!!! Genius !
This is such a good idea. My 2.5 year old son has been doing the same thing in the mornings. We used to tell him that he had to stay in his bed until the sun was up. Then daylight savings ruined that plan. I have been trying to think of an appropriate clock for him and I love this idea. He already loves the clock on the wall in our kitchen. If I wasn’t about to go to bed I’d do this project now. Let us know how it works with your daughter.
I’ll be sure to give an update…fingers crossed! the dark circles under my eyes need some help asap!
So we use a clock/night light that has a sun/moon on it. It’s programmed to the time- so at 7:45pm the moon comes on. At 6:45am the sun will light up (my three year old can then come out of his room- if he wakes up before the sun is up, he can play in his room). This has taken a while for him to get- but it’s super helpful! If he stays in his room until the sun “comes up” he gets a star on a star chart for the day. I tried to find this on Amazon where I bought it but alas couldn’t find it. If your clock doesn’t work- try a sun/moon type thing that’s easy to read. 🙂 Good luck!!!!!
What a really wonderful idea!
This. Is. BRILLIANT!
This is awesome! I wish I could reason with my daughter but she’s only 6 months old…
Brilliant!!! I could’ve used this with my son when he was younger! He’s always been an early riser. Thankfully my daughter is a lazy girl and usually sleeps until at least 9.
lucky duck!!
You are so smart! I don’t have kids, but I’m definitely storing this one away for future use!
Love this idea. It is way cuter then what we have. We have a little bear w/a stop light and it turns green at 7am. She knows when the green light comes on she can get up. I like this better b/c it is prettier
Oh, I’ve never seen that one! That probably would’ve worked with Sam but yes, pink glitter always trumps traffic bear (:
I make my husband and children go lay on the couch and watch TV until it’s time for him to go to work. Then I get out of bed.
I love this. I am definitely a mom who likes to sleep in. I know that the day will come when I actually have to put the boys to bed at a decent time so we can wake up for school…but for now-sleep in we shall.
I swear by thermal curtains. They might not be the prettiest but they keep the light out and since the sun shines nice and bright into the boys room in the morning, they are going to stay up for a while. Even with the curtains, my oldest goes through phases where he wakes up between 6 and 7 so I will definitely have to remember this idea for when that comes around. Maybe we’ll do superheroes. Thanks for the idea! 🙂
I splurged on PB Kids blackout shades when Sam was a newborn and she still has them in her room. Worth EVERY PENNY. They really do block the light very well (and they come in pretty colors now too!)
Too bad she doesn’t care if it’s dark or not. ):
My son has ALWAYS been and early riser (like 5 every day) combined with a terrible sleeper (like still wakes up once at night at 3 years old) so putting those two together I’m a tired tired mommy. We’ve started with the when the sun is awake you can be awake. The sun is thankfully still sleeping till about 6:30 these days so it gives me a small break. 🙂 This is a GREAT idea though!!
That is ROUGH! How old is he? You might want to think about sleep training if you’re up for it…we used Healthy Sleep, Happy Child with Sophie when she was younger b/c the kid was NOT sleeping well…EVER. I liked it alot, I’m not a cry it out person but this book made total sense to me. It’s more explains how kids bodies sleep from a physiological perspective. Here’s the link if you’re interested…http://www.amazon.ca/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/0449004023
Good luck!
And yes the thermal curtains can do wonders Miranda!!
That is a fabulous idea! Definitely pinning for my teacher friends as well, great idea for recess or lunch time!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!! Going to do this for my 3 year old this weekend!!!!
PS – any way you could post your old Kane Show posts on here?? I really liked the make-up / My Stash post 🙂
Yes! I’m totally working on getting the content back so I can re-post it here…there were a couple ones that I really loved and want to keep here. (makeup post included!)
I pinned this idea not too long ago where you plug a night light into a timer. So for kids who don’t know numbers yet, they can understand light on/off = time to get up/stay in bed.
Huh, why had I not heard of that? That’s pretty smart! Although Sam doesn’t have any outlets in places she could see it…
lol the glitter totally made me laugh, and is so you and Sam! We tried to put a ticking clock in my daughter’s room, but the ticking drove us nuts!
Omgosh we bought her a cheap, pink Disney princess clock awhile ago that she could keep in her bed but the ticking was so darn loud we could hear it from our room! Drove me batty too!
Such a great idea! When my kids are younger I have done the same things you have done–watching a show queitly, playing in their room. If I am really desperate I get up, put on a show, get them breakfast and then take a 10-20 min nap on the couch!
I have an “ok to wake” clock – you tell it an “ok to wake” time and it lights up green at that time…. but when you try to explain that to a 3-year-old, she thinks it should turn green BECAUSE she’s awake. She doesn’t quite understand it yet. So when she’s awake at 530 am, she’s coming in our room asking why the thing isn’t green. It’s hard not to laugh, even at 530 am. I wonder if this glitter idea would work…..
Sam’s kind of the same way but I’m hoping maybe she’ll catch on that the hands are slowly moving towards the glitter numbers? We’ll see…
Love THIS idea! I will be using it for my Harlow Grace, she is almost 4 and thinks that 5:40am is the perfect time for “Wake Up” time. She has been better but I think this may help as well. Thanks for sharing! She watches Sam on your YouTube posts and cracks up!
Aww, I’ll pass that along to Sam! And when Sam finally learns the awesomeness of sleeping in till at least 7 I’ll be sure to have her fill Harlow in! (love love love that name btw)
This is fantastic! My little guy is only 2..but I am going to do a “boy” version..blue glitter, perhaps. He gets up early too, great idea to start introducing a clock! Thank you!!
Very cleaver I need one that will work for twin boys…hmmm maybe something relating to superheroes:)
This is so insanely smart. Pinning this for when I have kids. This is amazing
Love the shirt can you do one with this link? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=484751331539816&set=a.373045712710379.113034.236108246404127&type=1&ref=nf
I would so buy one as would a few of my friends. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php
That is a clever idea. We started with a night light plugged into a timer, the kind you would use to turn your lights on and off when you are gone and don’t want anyone else to know. When the light came on she could get out of bed. That was before she was potty trained and we also put one of those safety knobs over her interior door knob so she couldn’t open the door herself and used that to reenforce that she really couldn’t come out of her room until the light was on. I always felt horrible about that but it helped. (Plus is kind of freaked me out she could roam at night like poltergist, I would wake up and she would be staring at me) Then my Mother found a clock that changed from yellow to green at a time you set and stays green for a determined amount of time. We followed that up with telling her “we’ll see you when the clock turns green” line instead of “see you in the morning” when we kiss her goodnight. That helped also it reiterated the rule for her every night until it became a mantra. It works most of the time. Now we reenforce it with a sticker chart. One of the things she gets a sticker on her chart is for staying in bed until her clock turns green.
Cute idea! My almost 4 year old would probably like one with all the numbers in glitter! A bit after her 2nd birthday we bought her a clock that turns green at a time we set (for us it’s 7:15). When the clock turns green she knows she can wake up. If she wakes up and it’s still orange she has to either go back to sleep or lay quietly in either her bed or our bed. It’s routine now, so I usually wake up to her yelling “THE CLOCK IS GREEN…TIME TO WAKE UP.” This clock and toilet seats with built in toddler inserts are the best inventions ever!
If your glitter clock doesn’t work, check out http://www.amazon.com/American-Innovative-Teach-Talking-Nightlight/dp/B0019IHE8I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1340993324&sr=8-3&keywords=toddler+clock.
What a cute idea! I think my daughter needs a clock in her bedroom now…..
This is sooo genius! I love all your projects but I think this one is my favorite! =) I’ll be linking.
Yay!! Thanks Rachel, that’s a great compliment! (:
Great idea! (This too happened in our house. So, I taped a ‘7’ on the minute side of a digital clock. When the “paper 7” matched the digital hour 7, my son knew it was then ok to get up. I wish I could have seen your cute clock idea back then!