Pre-School: Pets Theme Week Feb 16-22

Sam’s Pre-School theme for this week was Pets! We had SO MUCH fun with this. We have a fish, a cat, and a dog, so we only incorporated (for the most part) these types of lessons.

Snack: Puppy Chow – we weren’t able to get to the store for this, but a fun idea nonetheles.

Art: CD Rom fish craft (absolutely excellent – Sam’s fave activity so far!); Toilet paper roll – dog; Coffee filter fish craft – Sam loved holding the blow-dryer himself and we shared this activity with our 8-year-old neighbor. We also added glitter to the body because we didn’t have tin foil.

Reading Skills: Cat Book – make your own; Related activity sheet (these both went over really well!); In The Water-World Poem by Evaleen Stein

Music: Pussycat nursery rhyme –

“Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?
I’ve been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.”

Pretend Play: Paper bag cat puppet

Gross Motor Skills: We took Annie, our dog, for a walk and brought back a leaf for McQueen (the cat) to play with and a few rocks for Choo Choo Train’s bowl (the fish).

Field Trip: Pet Store! Make sure you bring hand sanitizer for afterwards.

Bible Verse: Isa 65:25: The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
       and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
       but dust will be the serpent’s food.
       They will neither harm nor destroy
       on all my holy mountain,”
       says the LORD.

*What a fun week! Again, be sure to visit DLTK for their amazing ideas. Have any ideas for Pet Week? What are you doing next weel? Want to share your lesson plans with us?

Read Full Post »

Obstacle Course

So I forgot to take pictures. Rather, I was having so much fun and breathing so hard that it wasn’t possible to take pictures at the same time. But we set up a very cool obstacle course. I was getting a bit concerned about my boy not exercising enough due to not having a vehicle during the day anymore and the cold weather outside, that I decided to make fun exercise in four parts:

1. Toddler Yoga. If you know anything about toddlers and/or yoga, you pretty much know that the two don’t go hand-in-hand as some try to make us believe. Yoga is too peaceful and toddlers are, er, not so peaceful. Instead, we took basic yoga principles and adapted them to a three-year-old. Downward Dog turned into a barking butt up in the air pose, child’s pose was a baby crying, etc. But all the while we breathed in through our noses (as if smelling a candle) and out through our mouths (as if blowing the candle out).

2. Hot Lava. I set up construction paper throughout the house. The carpet was “hot lava” and we jumped/ran to each spot all the while saying, “Oooh. Ah. Ow!” He got lots of kisses on his feet afterwards.

3. Cup Weave. Next I set up a gazillion plastic cups left over from birthday parties. We weaved in and out of these like a soccer player. It was hard for him to understand, so I drew some chalk on the floor in a line that he should follow. I got pretty frustrated here, but checked myself and went on.

4. The Gauntlet. While I waited in the bedroom Sam would run from the bathroom to the laundry room – screaming in laughter! When I saw him go by I threw soft balls and feather pillows at him. He went down a couple of times, but was laughing so hard nothing could hurt.

And then he passed out on the bed and took a two and a half hour nap.  Needless to say, it was a good time.

Have fun!

Read Full Post »

My (Our) Favorite Toddler Toys

Just in time for Black Friday!!!

My favorite toys for growing toddlers are toys that are multi-purpose, sensory rich, and/or just great fun. Here are my (our) top picks for value and fun:

1. Bob The Builder Die Cast Take Along  – Not only are these sturdy, colorful, and magnetic, most of them do something “special”. Scoop picks up dirt, Packer’s apples smell sweet, Sumsy moves up and down, and Tumbler spins (to name a few!). They run about $5.00 – $7.00 a piece, which may seem spendy when you think of a Matchbox car, but these are so much more fun. They are great in the bath, sandbox, water, and I can throw them in the dishwasher for an easy clean up. (We even paint with them – their tires are all different and work well for “Car Painting”.)

2. Parents markers  – Even the Crayola no mess markers can’t beat the wipe-off factor of these great markers. They come in many colors, are priced about the same as others, and are chunky enough for the littlest boys and girls.

3.  Melissa & Doug (everything!) – This company rocks! From their puzzles and little cars all the way up to train tables and easels. They are sturdy, colorful, and made with little ones in mind.

4. Cabbage Patch Kids – Great for boys and girls, every age, color, and ethnicity. You can match your doll to your child so they have someone to play with that looks just like them. My boy loves his “baby” and often falls asleep with him in his arms, tightly swaddled.

5. Trains, trains, trains – Whether you go with the pricey Thomas the Tank Engine sets, a middle priced Imaginarium set, or great finds from garage sales – you just can’t go wrong with train sets. They help build math skills, sensory skills, and take loads and loads of time to build (and break!). Thomas the Tank Engine Imaginarium  Ikea Lillabo

What are your fave toys for the holiday season?  What won’t you buy your kids?

Read Full Post »

Family Night Fridays

This week for your family night take advantage of the nice, cool weather and spend the evening outside! Why not take along some charcoal and grill your dinner? Go here for some easy recipe ideas for toddler-friendly food on the grill. Next, play, swing, ride on the merry-go-round, eat “sand pie” or “sand shakes”, and bring a ball. If your park has trails, go hiking after dinner. Even bring the dog and a few neighbors. Make sure to give thanks before you eat, and enjoy these beautiful days of Fall. If you remember, bring home some fallen leaves with you, paint some glue to the top of them, sprikle on some glitter, and you have yourself a very sparkly leaf!

Be blessed today and always!

Kellie

Read Full Post »

Solution to Wet Slides

In my opinion nothing can ruin a day at the park like wet slides. Which in turn means wet butts, which means wet diapers, which means cranky kids. And, really, that’s never cool.

This last Spring Sam and I were at the park and the slides were pretty yucky. There was a HUGE puddle at the bottom of (of course) the best slide. I had forgotten a towel (never a bad idea to have in the car when you have kids…) so when Sam would slide  down it I had to catch him before his butt got blindsided by the pool at the bottom.  This very sweet mom came over and fixed it for me – quickly and easily – and I wanted to slap my forehead for not thinking of this awesome trick first!

She put TONS of sand all over the puddle. And I mean TONS – way more than you think you need. All this does is create wet sand – and takes the moisture off the slide. Then you just brush the sand off. DUH! And it works every time. How often can we say THAT as parents???

So don’t be afraid to take your little one to the park or playground if it has just rained – go have a great time!

Read Full Post »

And the winner is…

     

Lydia!!!!

This is what Lydia suggested as a Preschool activity:

 

           One of there favorite things to do it play games on the floor with masking tape. There are many ways you can play. One way is I tape a line down the middle of the room and take different colors of contruction paper and put 1 of the same color on each side. Then the kids have to go and stand on whatever color i call.. instead on just standing you can mix it up.. sit, jump to, etc.. You can also use the masking tape to make shapes letters etc.. Great Game with minimal mess/clean up.

 

I can’t wait to try such a fun activity! Maybe I’ll get the neighborhood kids together and try this out! Lydia, your book is on the way!

 

Read Full Post »

Shape Hunt

Here’s something we used to do with the 2-3 year old classes:

Use some card stock and make some cut out shapes, the bigger the better, and throw them on the floor. When you yell out, “Star” your toddler should run over and stand on the star and say as loud as she can, “STAR!” Make sure you are encouraging and praising and help out it your child forgets. Next yell out, “Crescent or Moon” and so on. Start with the basics like star, crescent, square, circle, oval, rectangle, octagon, etc. Then move onto harder shapes. Next time try them in Spanish, etc.

I have found that one shape per each 8×10 cardstock paper works the best. Different colors are always fun.

The point is to have a loud, running, fun activity. Remeber to always quit an activity while you’re ahead and you toddler isn’t yet bored.

Have fun!!

Read Full Post »