Mini Tree Skirt (kind of)

It snowed this week (rare in our part of the planet) so Little Dude and I made a snowflake place mat/ tree skirt, drank warm chocolate, and ate gingerbread to commemorate our special day. I just found one of many "how to cut a snowflake" sites, and started cutting. When you fold the paper, it's really hard for your toddler to cut, so this is the parent part. Then your tot can glue the snowflake to a paper backing.

We added glitter glue because it makes everything better. We also added contact paper on top and below for extra durability. I wrote a nice little message about our snow day on the back. It's one of those things that will bring me to tears when I take it out of our Christmas decorations each year.

Sight Word Ornament

I wish I would have taken better photos of this one. This is one of Little Dude's favorites. He plays with it every day. I would use words that you see often in your tot's books. Later, you can find the same words in the books with your tot. It's the craft that keeps on giving.

Materials:

construction paper, paper plate, brad, glitter glue, single hole punch, glue stick, scissors, and sticky note (tot uses it as a tab to turn the wheel)

Poofy snowman

We made this one with some constuction paper, glue, hole punch, and cotton. It was cool to see Little Dude using glue like a pro.

Favorite Christmas Book

This is Little Dude's favorite Christmas book. In the book, Christmas Magic (Michael Garland) a little girl watches in amazement as a snow woman and snow man come to life. She even gets to dance with them on a snowy moonlit night. The snowflakes seem to glow and float on the pages. Magic!

Old magnets - New

Something to do with old magnets. Have your tot glue wrapping paper on the top and decorate with pom poms, glitter glue, stickers, etc. Glue stick works better than real glue for this one. Cut out a hole for tot's photo. Good, messy fun.

Kids Music for Grown-ups too

I heard this on Kids Stuff today. Cool concept and the music is actually really good. I hope the Little Dude likes it as much as me. Check out Gustafer Yellowgold

Art on the Window

Little Dude had a ball with this rip-off of No Time for Flashcards post on free art. I thought our window was a better spot on such a gloomy day. It was perfect. He loved experimenting with stickers, markers, crayons. He asked if we could leave it there tomorrow too. No problem.

N is for night

Our little letter project was Nn today. We made a list of things of that start with Nn with drawings, but then decided to go with a "night catcher" instead. It catches the "night sky." Of course it confused little dude because I made a moon on with a paper plate to hang it. So, then it became a "night time necklace." That made more of a connection with him. Yay!

When you were in my tummy book

Here's a cool "when you were in my tummy" book. Tell Me My Story, Mama by Deb Lund. I'm not expecting another bambino, but if I were this would be a great book to read to my little dude. I've read it to him several times and we always get into this great conversation about the stuff he used to do when he was a baby. Memories . . . . . . .

Another word wall game

Little dude and I add a word wall word every week. Usually the words come from his suggestions (Mom, Dad, silly, work). He's really getting into making sentences now. Here's a game we play with word wall words.

Make a Smilebox collage

A CD with Rhymes and Songs

This is my favorite random library find ever. I just grabbed it at the library a couple of weeks ago and I don't want to return it. This little dude is loving the short rhymes and songs. Just awesome. Check out for yourself. It's called Frog in the Meadow, Music, Now I'm Two! by John M. Feierabend and Luann Saunders. I'll have to buy this one.

Word Wall Fun

Actually, it's more like Refrigerator Wall but you get the idea. Stevie's Memaw got him started on "g-o, go" and we've just been building from there. We started with the names of family members and then short sight words to help make sentences. We briefly do a word wall activity each day and when I'm on the phone, Stevie will usually try to out-talk me with word wall sentences. Smart little guy. Love him.

Math Monday

Here's a little thingy that little dude and I started recently. It's a number matching game with jacks(large) and number cards. Using the numbers 1-5, Mom lays out the number of jacks and asks tot to make the match with the numbers. If they are struggling, give them a choice . .. "Is it the matching number 2 or 5?" Pretty simple. I use sentence strips to make number cards. A good game for waiting rooms, if you have a stroller with a tray.

Initial sound pages

Stevie and I have just started playing "school." Here's some good initial sound worksheets to work on together. If your tot is familiar with all the alphabet letters/ sounds, then this is fun. If not, and your tot likes a little "tv time," check out Super Why. My kid loves it and it makes learning fun.
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/learning-letters/index.htm

Letter R Fun

This is our little project on the letter Rr. Stevie colored the R's with markers and I cut them out. We then played an "initial sound" game after I cut out some pictures from magazines. I usually cut out some pictures that start with /r/ and some that don't. Stevie has to decide which one belong on the Rr and he glues them. It's a quick activity, but obviously takes some prep time.

Dirt is good

My son was digging in the dirt a couple of days ago and it made me think of a great book I read. It's called Why Dirt is Good, by Mary Ruebush. It's actually kind of reassuring to know that my kid's love of mud is actually helping strengthen his immune system. In the book, Ruebush covers our immune system, superbugs, antibiotics, vaccines, and lots germ talk. It sounds like it would be scary subject matter for a parent, but it actually is empowering.

Texture T

This one used to be a hit in my kinder classes. Basically, just cut little pieces of different types of textures and paste them on a "t" that your child colored with marker. Talk about the different the way each one feels.

Bat

Here's a "handy" project from notimeforflashcards.com.

Michael Jackson

Yeah. This one was inspired by the following question to my kid:

"Who's your favorite singer?"

Kid: "Michael Jackson"

I was fully expecting Laurie Berkner, Wiggles, or Mommy.

Stevie did some of the handy marker work, but I drew and cut out the pieces. Glitter glue on glove. Stevie told me where to glue all the pieces. Nice.

Squash Rocket!

We went to the pumpkin patch last week and found the perfect squash. Stevie picked it up and said "this one looks like a rocket." So I asked him if he wanted to take it home and paint it like a rocket. A project was born. Here's the result.

Changes in the blog

After realizing how difficult it was to take photos of our (my son and myself) projects, I decided that I would only take pictures every now and then. Also, we don't do a "project" every day, so a daily entry in this blog is not really necessary. From this point on, I'll focus on the big picture. My blog will contain more personal entries, more links to good mommy sites, early learning sites, etc. I'll still post pics of our project, but not all the step by step stuff. Usually, the picture speaks for itself (if it's a craft). If you ever have questions about a craft, please post it in the comments and I'll answer. Thanks for checking out my blog.

Fall Dotted Tree

Leaves are confetti. Just get your hole punch out and start punching. The tot drops the dots on paper (that's been covered in glue stick). Easy and pretty. Sound out the word "F-all" in chunks. Your tot will love that they can help you spell words.

Taking a Break

It's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be to update this blog. I think I'll take a break for a while. In the meantime, check out notimeforflashcards.com. It's updated regularly and I snag a lot of ideas from it. Have fun learning and playing with your kids.

Little ABC Underwear Bag

Stevie is now wearing only 2 diapers a day. One at rest time, and one at night. Today we decided to make a home for a pair of underwear by using a paper bag. That way, he always has a pair of underwear ready after his nap. Strange craft, but kid-inspired for sure. That's really the whole idea.

Materials:

Letter marker stamps

Paper bag

scissors

stickers

undies

Calendar and Separation Anxiety

While my husband and I were away on a "no kid" vacation, we left Stevie with his own calendar. This trip was our longest time away from the boy, so we were quite concerned about how he would react. We talked about the calendar before we left and told our son to "x" out the days until we come back. Because his 2 year old mind doesn't comprehend "4 days," we told him "4 moons" and he actually got it. My mom (Memaw) told me he was excited about marking the "x's" each day and that he seemed to get it. After returning, our son told us not to go away for "4 moons" anymore without him. I don't think I could handle anything more than 3 moons for a while. Mommy and Daddy time is great, but family vacations are super too.

Gift bag and horn

Today Stevie and I made this little gift bag and a magic horn. I didn't take pictures of each step, but I think its pretty easy to make just by looking at the photo of the finished product.

Materials:

-Scissors

-Colored paper

-markers

-paper towel roll or tp roll
-tape

-stickers or other decorations

-paper bag

-alphabet letters

-glue

This is a good kid group project too. Good rhyme for this one is Little Boy Blue.

Enjoy.

Good Night Book

I'm back from vacation with a new camera and a whole list a books that I've found. Here's a good night book that is super charming. It's one of those peaceful lullaby types of books. Soft illustrations, moons, stars, and teddy's. It's called I'll See You in the Morning, by Mike Jolley and Mique Moriuchi. My favorite page:

Don't be afraid of darkness.
Don't be afraid, my sweet.
The night is just a blanket
that helps the earth to sleep.

Brilliant!!!

Caterpillar Magnet

I don't have photo's of the step-by-step process, but here's the result. Stevie and I made a caterpillar after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I've seen this done with tissue on the leaf and it's cute too. We used a butterfly stamp for the leaf and glued the pom poms with hot glue (mommy only please) after regular glue didn't work. I also have magnetic tape for the backing of the clothes pin. Great fun

Toddler Cookbook

Until I can save up for a new camera, my post will be a little flare-free. Here's a cool book I checked out from the library yesterday. It's called The Toddler Cookbook, by Annabel Karmel. It has great recipes with lots of photos, demos, etc. You can read it with your tot before you make a recipe. I really like the corn quesadillas and tropical pops.

Book about the Farm

My camera broke a few days ago, so I've been holding back on postings. Stevie and I spent two wonderful days at my mom and dad's farm. He loved feeding the chickens and cows. Our farm adventure reminded me of a great farm book. It's Farmer Will, by Jane Cowen-Fletcher. Farmer Will is a toddler who takes his toy farm animals outside and pretends to play all kinds of games with them. It's one of those really well written "use your imagination" kids books. It's not too long and it's got beautiful illustrations.

Peas on P's Project

After reading Eat Your Peas, Ida Louis, I thought it would be fun to do a craft with split peas. Here's what we came up with. All you need is some split peas, a gluestick, paper, scissors, and markers. Stevie like sorting the peas more than the actual project. Good fun.

Make a Scarecrow

My son loves to collect leaves, acorns, pineneedles, and other outdoor items. Our bucket-o-outdoor stuff was full so we decided to make a scarecrow with it. Stevie and I were inspired by the scarecrow in the book, Up, Down and Around (Katherine Ayres). This one requires real glue, no gluestick, because of the pine needles.

Muffin Tin Monday - Circus

The theme for Muffin Tin Monday (thanks to Her Cup Overfloweth) was Circus, so I tried to be creative. Stevie isn't really familiar with "circus" stuff, so I related the theme to a book. In the book, Eat Your Peas Ida Louise (Leo Landry), the Tiny Tender Peas do circus acts on the main character's lunch tray. So Stevie had peas with his lunch, and they performed on his muffin tin. I was hoping that this renew his love of peas. No such luck. He still won't put them in his mouth. I'll try again some other day.

Toddler Book Lists

Found this today. I'm always looking for brief book reviews and recommendations. Here's a list of tot books by topic from the San Francisco Library.

Mommy is passionate about what?

I think one of the most important things we can do with our kids is share our passion with them. It's good for them to know that mommy and daddy have things that they like to do too. Whether it's fishing, cooking, reading, acting, bowling, singing, it's good to share these hobbies with the kids. If you're passionate about your "death metal," you may want to wait to share that one until your tot is a little older. I'm passionate about all things outdoors. More specifically, gardening and butterflies. Stevie and I regularly pick/plant seeds, play with bugs, and hunt for caterpillars. Lucky for me, he's picked up on my interests and made them his own. There is something special about a 2 year old smiling with sheer delight when a Monarch flies above his head. Just beautiful. Here's a picture of our latest caterpillar friend, a Queen butterfly (caterpillar).

Making mini whole wheat pizza

If you and your tot are in a lunchtime rut, try mini pizzas. My son loves making pizzas and he'll usually eat the whole thing. A good way to sneak in the veggies (unless you're one of those lucky souls who's kids love veggies) try using veggie lovers spaghetti sause. They'll never know they're eating healthy. I usually use whole wheat tortillas because they don't get as soggy in the oven. Just have the tots put the sauce on the tortillas, cheese, then other toppings and bake on a cookie sheet for 5-8 minutes at 350 degrees. For a cripy crust, let the pizzas cool on a baking rack. I usually only use about a tablespoon of sauce per pizza and freeze the rest for another day.

Here's a good pizza book, Pete's a Pizza by William Steig

Rock Sorting

I found this little tray in my old "teacher" boxes. We've been using a muffin tin to sort, but this little tray is cute too. Stevie and I sort the dark and light colored rocks most of the time. We also do "big" and "little" sorting. The boy also likes to pretend he's baking rock cupcakes. Warning to parents: Rock cupcake "pretend" baking requires much supervision. A kid could lose a tooth, or worse.

Toddler Writing

Stevie is in a "everything in marker" phase right now. Crayons, chalk, paint just don't cut it right now. So today, he asked me to draw the circle for faces and he did the rest (except for the labeling). The conversation went like this:

Mom: What do you want to write?
Stevie: Faces
Mom: I'll draw the circle for the face.
Stevie: Ok. Look, it's Daddy.
Mom: What does Daddy need to see?
Stevie: Eyes (draws the eyes)
Mom: What is he going to use to wave hello?
Stevie: Arms (draws arms and hands)

You get the idea. Anyway, it was the first time I had seen him draw with such detail. When looking for info on early kid writing, I found this website. It has all kinds of good information on early learning.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Chicka Chicka Activity

My son really likes Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr. It's one of those library books that I should have bought already. Christmas. There are so many things you can do with this book. Here's just one. Get some magnetic letters (lower case are best) and make a coconut tree with construction paper. Once your tot gets familiar with the book, they'll be recreating the book on your refrigerator. It comes in handy when you're trying to make dinner.

A Good Rhyming Book About Cars

Red Light, Green Light, by Anastasia Suen. This is the kind of book that can kick start your kid's imagination. In the story, a little boy uses his toys to create a busy rush hour scene filled with cars, trucks, buses, trolleys, fire engines, and pedestrians. Stevie and I usually make our own highways and parking lots with his cars. We play a game where he puts all the like-colored vehicles in parking lots (on a piece of construction paper). You can also use painter's tape to mark the roads on the floor/carpet. Your toddler will love making "road construction zones" with tape too.

Another good activity following this book is playing "Red light, Green light."

Goodbye Diapers?

Stevie and I have been hard at work in the last week getting used to the idea of life without diapers. My husband and I introduced the potty when Stevie was just over a year old. I guess we were hoping that Stevie would just magically fall in love with the potty chair if he hung out with it long enough. In the last year, he would occasionally be fascinated with it, and the reaction he got after using the potty, but it would never last. Then last week, it happened. I told Stevie that the diaper factory was closing soon, and that we need to try underwear. I pointed out how fast he could run in underwear, how good being dry felt, etc. Stevie also saw his older cousin using the big potty and really thought it was cool. He's been wearing underwear for the last several days, telling me "he's got that feeling," when he's got to go. We're not out of the woods yet. This week we'll be taking our first outings without diapers. I'm concerned, but optimistic. We'll learn how to do this together. Public restrooms. Whoa.

Here are some books that we've read on the subject in the last 6 months or so.

Potty Time by Guido van Genechten (Stevie's favorite)
Caillou Potty Time- Great because it talks about how kids have accidents and that's ok. Also, talks about stopping play time to use the potty. This is a big hang up for my son.
No More Diapers for Ducky- pretty cute characters. Simple storyline

Intro to kid gardening

I'm currently devising a plan for starting a garden with the boy. I found a great, great, great, book to introduce gardening. The book is Up, Down, and Around, by Katherine Ayers. It's the total package. It's got rhyme, short descriptive sentences, and the illustrations are exciting (without being overwhelming). Perfection. The details in the illustrations are awesome too. This is the kind of book that allows the young reader to make new discoveries about gardening each time they read the book. The author does an excellent job of explaining how some veggies grow underground, some climb, some twine around. Stevie is now getting more excited about our Fall garden.

Sidewalk Paint

I found another gem of a website with all kinds of crafty/fun/creative ideas for tots. Yay! On the site, I saw a recipe for sidewalk paint. Stevie and I made the cornstarch sidewalk paint(with the help of Pink and Green Mama)and we had a blast. Check out Pink and Green Mama's post on sidewalk paint.

My Kid is a Robot Birdman

After breakfast, I tried to think of something we could do to mix things up a little. Here's what I came up with. We made a costume called Robot/Birdman. Half robot, half bird. Stevie loves both of those things and also loves glitter glue. If you have foil, a cereal box, tissue paper, a magazine, and glitter glue, your kid can become a robot-superhero too. Make sure you get the washable glitter glue and supervise the activity. Great fun.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Books in Rhyme

If you can't tell already, I'm a big fan of predictable text and rhyme. So, here's one for the rhyme fans out there. It's Mrs.McNosh and the Great Big Squash, by Sara Weeks. It's an exciting story about a woman, Mrs. Nelly McNosh who plants and grows an enormous squash. The illustrator, Nadine Bernard Westcott, does a good job of creating the silly scenes without making the pages look to busy and cluttered. This would be a good book to read with the kiddos before starting a Fall garden. Maybe I'll post something about gardening with kids. I'm hoping I can talk my husband into building me a raised bed for fruits and veggies.