At a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
I’m Katie, the creative force behind Gift of Curiosity. Here are 10 things to know about me and my family:
- I am the mom of two wonderful and curious kids: a son who loves to ask questions and a daughter who loves to sing and dance.
- My kids are ‘virtual twins’: they were born in 2009 just five months apart, but they joined our family 1.5 years apart from each other through the blessing of adoption.
- Due to lack of early stimulation, both of my children were developmentally behind when we adopted them. By providing them with enriching learning experiences – including lots of sensory play and other hands-on learning activities – they are both thriving today!
- I am married to my college sweetheart, who is an amazingly supportive partner and a wonderfully hands-on father.
- I am innately curious, and I try to inspire this trait in my own kids. I believe that as parents, we are our children’s first and best teachers in learning about the world around them!
- I have a master’s degree in education, and my primary work experience is in literacy programming for children ages 3-9.
- In 2013 I completed my Ph.D. in child development at Stanford University. Even though it was pretty chaotic juggling a husband and two kids while pursuing my degree, I’m passionate about learning how best to help kids succeed.
- My Ph.D. research focused on (1) family practices related to children’s bilingual language and literacy development and (2) the relationship between recess and students’ social skills.
- In college I worked as the graphics editor for my school newspaper. Today I put my graphics know-how to work creating fun and educational printables that I share at Gift of Curiosity.
- I love to encourage open-ended, creative play. For this reason, my favorite toys for kids are things like building blocks, art supplies, pretend food, and dress up costumes.
Curious to know more about Gift of Curiosity? See my About Gift of Curiosity page.
Family picture taken in 2012.
Wow! I am amazed at what we have in common..I too have a background in early education. I was a Montessori teacher for almost 20 years and I have an MA in reading and literacy. I also have quite a bit of experience working with and researching dual language learners..How fun to find your blog. I love the title!
Glad to have you visit! We do indeed have much in common!
Hi Katie,
I am a grandmother of a precious 7 year old girl. I am also a former nurse. I love your activity book on the Human Body. It’s wonderful. It has all the amazing things she’s ready to learn & nothing questionable. I appreciate that & all of your ideas. Thank you!!!
I love this website already I can see it helping my two little girls very much
Thanks so much Hannah, I’m so glad you have found some things of use here!
Love, love, love your website! So often the ideas we find as teachers we need to pay for. Well hello, teachers for sure are always spending out of pocket money on the love of our kids. It is a pay it forward gift for all of us to share. After all, we are not the highest income job. I call it my paid hobby! Thank YOU!
Blessings!
Kristin
Hi Katie! Love your blog and your Rainbow Dot Printable. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Katie,
Thank you for sharing. Your activities are wonderful and I have been engaging my daughter with them. Your inspiration and passion for children is simply motivating, look forward to your future posts. 🙂
Glad you are enjoying following along Jessica! And I’m so glad you’ve found them useful for engaging your daughter. I get so much inspiration from others, and I enjoy sharing ideas with others as well.
I was looking for your twitter handle but so glad I came by this page to learn all this about you. I am now following your blog by email, so thank you for linking up with my Motivational Monday as you sound very inspiring.
Thanks, that’s so kind of you to say! I’m not on Twitter at this point, which is probably why you couldn’t find my twitter handle. 🙂
Ah that will explain it then 🙂
Hi Katie!.
I came across your blog via “Sharing Saturday”. Following you through Bloglovin and Facebook. I am looking forward to reading more.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Bismah
Nice to have you following along! I really appreciate it.
Congratulations Martha! The entry is well deserved!
Thank you so much for the great educational tools. I am homeschooling a preK and the packets you provide are like games to him. We both enjoy the fun in learning. Can’t wait to see any new information you have in the future.
Pam
Thanks Pam! More themed learning packs will be coming soon. So glad you both enjoy!
Hi Katie,
I adore your printables! You are an inspiration!
I teach at an international school in China and although
I do not have access to a color printer, we enjoy adapting your
creative ideas in the classroom.
Would it be possible for you to make the printables available
in black and white template format too?
Gratefully & admirably yours,
Jeanne (1st grade teacher)
Hi Jeanne,
The reason I don’t make my printables available in black and white because most printers allow you to print even colored pages in black and white. On my Canon printer, for example, I hit hit print to bring up the dialogue box. Then I select “quality & media,” then I can check the box for “grayscale printing.” This will print things in black and white even though they are in color. Most printers have an option like this, although the specific way to access the option will vary depending on the brand of printer.
Cheers!
Katie
I would love to write directly to you sometime. Especially after reading that your Ph.D. research focused on (1) family practices related to children’s bilingual language and literacy development and (2) the relationship between recess and students’ social skills.
I have a small English immersion preschool here in Japan. We added this school to our English language school which we have had for 11 years now.
Regards,
David
Dual language options are near and dear to my heart. I only wish my kids would be able to attend one, although I am trying to teach them Spanish at home. Good luck to you and your students!
Gracias for teaching me so many things,share your ideas and more!!!!!
Katie..I accidently found this website, and I am so glad I did!! 🙂 Its wonderful and a great source to engage my 2 year old little boy! Love it…and appreciate the efforts you put in this!
Thanks so much Kavitha. I’m glad your son can benefit from some of the ideas I have shared! All the best to you both!
You are an inspiration to others love this site been a child-minder for 22 years, now been fostering for 12 months loving it.
So happy to have found you. I am trying to get my youngest son involved with printables. I have many worksheets but I find printables to be a bit more engaging. Thank You!
Welcome, and I hope your son enjoys!
Hello Katie, I’m an elementary school teacher and having access to these wonderful material is a great blessing; as mentioned before-we often get our material from personal aching pockets. I work with children learning English as a second language-your greatest thing!
Hello and welcome Lorena! Or perhaps I should say, Hola y bienvenida!
Katie,
I have to say that your site is such a blessing to my family. I started staying home last year to be with my little ones {6, 4 & 2} and wanted to incorporate lessons into our daily routine with the younger ones. Having no childhood education in my background, I sought after key resources to help guide us. GiftOfCuriosity, in addition to others, have become part of our weekly curriculum and I want to thank you for all your efforts. It is clear that you value education in your children and all children. Thank you for helping us teach our children ::)
Andrea, Thanks for making my day with this comment. It means so much to me to hear from people who benefit from my work. I do have a passion for education and for families, so I’m happy to know that shines through in my work. All the best to you as you enjoy your children during this wonderful season of life.
Hello Katie,
Thanks for your sharing on the website. It helps me a lot.
Thank you.
I just found your site through Pinterest and I’m very excited to start using it! Thanks for sharing your talents! Your ideas are great!
Thanks Jeneane, and welcome!
you are really an amazing person!!! I admire you and your work. Thank you so much for all these amazing stuff you share with us so generously!!!
I love your site and I am very thankful to have found it!
How do you find the time to do all that you do???
I am curious!
I have a 6 month old and a 4 year old and feel that I am missing out on all of this great learning!!!
Creative and engaging education is what I’ve always been involved with. It’s my passion, so that really helps. But of course, like any parent, I don’t and can’t do it all! There are always more things I wish I was doing that I don’t get around to. But I do what I enjoy and I enjoy what I do. 🙂
I feel very lucky to find this great website. I really like to say that I appreciate your time and effort to make this great website.
Thank you very much. God bless you!!
I love teaching art to children. My philosophy is quite simple: To engage, inspire and teach art with age-appropriate techniques and subjects. I’ve only been teaching art to children for eight years but it feels like I’ve been teaching my whole life. I remember what I was attracted to as an artistic child: how-to-draw books, colorful illustrations and art supplies (especially the jumbo pack of Crayola Crayons with the built-in sharpener). I keep these things in mind when I’m front and center amongst thirty kids. Over the years, I have tried many techniques and found some more effective than others.
Thank you for this wonderful website and for sharing your great ideas! I know it will be helpful and a great source of inspiration for my students to grow! I found your website on Pinterest and so glad I did! I am grateful that you are so willing to share your teaching tools, I am indebted to you!
And thank you to you for sharing some of your story with me. I love how you draw on what you loved as a child for inspiration for your students today. I would guess that your love for art shines through and is infectious. I wish you and your students the best.
I just found you recently. Thank You for some new ideas to use with one of my Virtual Twins. They are 4 months apart born in 2002 and 2003. He was almost 3 when he and his sisters came to live with us. Our youngest we have had since she was 5 days old. I spent the first month with her in the NICU,
Hello Katie,
Thank you very much for sharing your work with us. My son enjoys so much your printables.
I’m from Spain, so you can see your ideas come far from you.
Regards
Bienvenida Ana! I’m glad your son is enjoying my printables.
Thank you so much for offering your website to others. I am a retired (36 years) elementary school teacher. I have found myself back to teaching my 3 year old granddaughter. I want her to be prepared when she enters preschool next year. I am so glad there are those like you that offer such educational and fun activities for the little ones.
Sign a grandmother in Washington state
Hi Katie,
I’m so glad to find your website, by coincidence actually. Thank you for your great ideas and i would definitely share with my teachers and children. I’m working with children below 6 years old.
Regards,
Lily
I love your website. I am currently attending college to obtain a degree in education and the Montessori method if very intriguing to me. I have written two papers on the method and its creator so far because I think it is a very viable option in teaching. Thank you for sharing your experiences and ideas.
Thank you sooooo much! I am simply amazed at all the sheets. You’re amazing, and so are all of your sheets. It’s incredible that you have so much for free as well. And they are all high quality. I love that you have things sorted by themes as well – holidays – all of it. I love 1 on 1 days with my crafty niece and nephew, and though they are different ages, they can both do the crafts/sheets in a way applicable to each. It’s wonderful. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make so many incredible printables. Fantastic. Blessings to you!
So… I’m checking out a kids anatomy book on Amazon and I see the author is one of my friends, classmates and basketball teammates from jr high and high school! So exciting to see all the work you’re doing here, and I can’t wait to check out your site to learn more! I have a 2 year old now, so I’m looking forward to providing him the best education possible. Hugs -EN
Oh my goodness, thanks for writing in! It’s good to hear from you. 🙂
Not entirely sure how I came across your website but I am soooo thankful! Just read through your information and all I can say is your an inspiration, definitely goals. Thank you so much for dedicating this much time into what you do!
Thank you for your kind words and I’m glad I can be of service.
Just wanted to chime in and say thank you for the fantastic ideas and sensory activities for ABC’s – I’m aware these are likely geared more towards preschoolers, but they are really helping me and my 8 year old dyslexic child (who is reading at a kindergarten level). I was advised to do sensory activities with her to go back to basics and reinforce the letter sounds and sound combinations she has the most trouble with. She is loving it!! Your website is a treasure trove. Thanks again 🙂
Hello. I love blog and website and all of your printables. They have been so helpful. The other thing I admire about your blog is that while your children are partially many of the pictures, you have protected them. I really think that wonderful. I just makes me feel good about using your website. Thank you so much for all your hard work.
thank you for such inspiring ideas for experiments! This is my first year teaching at a preschool and your posts have helped me plan! Wishing you all the best!
Hi Katie. I am so glad to locate your website. The printables are so amazing and I am looking forward to getting them in the shortest possible period. I’m a teacher who started a Montessori school some months ago. I am based in Nigeria and I love teaching children. With these amazing worksheets from you, my children will never have a dull moment but will have fun all year round. My name is Usomine but my friends call me Lady Bee. I wish you all the best and more creative ideas .
Hello Katie.I am from Russia, but living in Northern Cyprus. I want to create a creative sensory club. Your ideas and experiences are very inspiring. Thank you very much. Very glad to meet you.
Hello there! I have just found your web page and am thoroughly enjoying “wandering” through it! I am an early preschool teacher, but I visit in homes and help guide parents as they learn how to teach their children. Parents truly are their children’s first and BEST teachers! You are a wonderful, loving, and creative person and I look forward to the blessing of your knowledge, Thank You!