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.

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."