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.

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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.

Sugar Cookies with the Kid

Stevie and I made sugar cookies this week. He loves to sprinkle the cookies with sugar and eat the remaining sugar. I didn't write down the recipe for this one. Let's face it, any old sugar cookie recipe will do. Toddlers won't complain about the results as long as the main ingredient is sugar.

Glue gun texture rubs

Here's a great color/texture activity. I found it on a site called This Little Project . I've made texture rubs for a group of friends that are coming to play tomorrow. The texture plates are actually the fruits and veggies from the book, Lunch, by Denise Flemming. Our kiddos will use crayon melts to rub the fruits/veggies on a sheet of paper. The end result should look like the mashed up food mess left by the main character of the book. I had fun making mine, so hopefully our precious little tots will have fun too. That's the whole idea.

Update: Our theme day was great. Stevie and his friends seemed to enjoy using the crayon melts and glue gun rubbings. Yay!

Letter collage

This was Stevie's first time using a glue stick. He was intrigued by the texture and loved it. First, I cut out pictures from a magazine, we glued them, then labeled them with letters. I think next time we'll just cut out and glue, then later on label them with their initial letter. Stevie was proud of his art work. Take out the letters that your toddler will need to ensure success with this one.
The conversation went like this:

Mom: What's that picture?
Stevie: A fish
Mom: What letter makes the /f/ in fish?
Stevie: F
Mom: Yes, F says /f/. Let's find the F and glue it on the fish.

We put Stevie's art on the refrigerator and he's been commenting on it all day. We'll do this one again soon.

Stevie's first Muffin Tin Monday

I was hoping to celebrate Stevie's first Muffin Tin Monday with an assortment of healthy foods. It just wasn't in the cards. Stevie's cousin, Joshua, came over and we all had chicken nuggets and waffle fries from Chick-fil-a. Tasty.

Muffin Tin Mondays

I stumbled upon this one today. If you're in search of a way to make lunch or dinner more interesting, add this one to your arsenal. Muffin Tin Monday is pretty cool.
Check it out http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2009/06/muffin-tin-monday-faq.html

Bedtime Book about the Moon

We had a full moon a couple of night ago, and it reminded me of this great book that Stevie and his dad read at bedtime. It's all in rhyme and it's awesome. The book is called Look at the Moon, by May Garelick. The first page says it all:

Moon light, moon bright,Shining on this lovely night.

Does everyone see the moon I see,

The very same moon that shines on me?

It describes the moon being all different night time settings quite beautifully. One drawback,it's a bit long for my 2 year old. My husband usually skips a couple of pages, depending on the mood of the kiddo. The book allows your child to focus on the big picture. The world, outside of their world. Pretty cool.

Two Good Toddler Games/Activity Books

New find from the library. . . Brilliant Brain Games for Kids to Enjoy by Hamlyn. It's one of those great books that describes the game, gives photos, and suggests appropriate ages for games. Numbers, sorting, rhyming, music, etc. Really nice book. Go check it out.

Also, The Complete Resource Book for Toddlers and Twos by Pam Schiller. This one is set up like lesson plans. It's nice because it lists activities by "concept." Example, High and Low, Round, Short, Rainy. The book also has a really cool section in the back with puppet templates, flannel board cut-outs, etc. Now I just have to make a flannel board.

Both are excellent books. Reserve them at your local library if you can.

Noodle art

Stevie made noodle art today with some pasta I had in the pantry. He seemed to enjoy the dumping of the noodles more than the actual painting.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Crayon Melts from Cool Website

I found this cool activity today. It's a perfect way to put those crayon pieces to good use. Yay for 100 degree weather! During your kid's naptime (God help you if there is no naptime), take some time to browse through this site. It is awesome.

Go to the site No Time for Flash Cards