Toddler Time

In my former days as an 8 year old know-it-all, bossy, older sister I was the teach and my poor sister was my student.  She had to do everything I said.  I'd put together lesson plans, activities, plays...you name it.  Now I am recreating this childhood moment with my own daughter.  Here is a little of what we do (so I can maybe remember for future kids).

ABC's and 1, 2, 3's


Firefly Jar Counting.  There are lots of variations of this out there.  I used fireflies as it went along with the theme of preschool for the day.  I found them here.

Letter Identification.  You can make one of these with any letter.  This particular day of school we were doing the letter E.  We used magnets to cover up all the Ee's but you can also use markers, stickers, buttons, whatever! (Document found here.)

Feed the Animal.  I love this idea my friend did at school.  She had empty milk cartons and supplies to make the front of each carton a dog.  She cut a hole for each mouth.  One dog ate D crackers and the other ate d crackers (she used real crackers and wrote a big D or little d on each of them).  The girls loved feeding the dogs the correct Dd.

Arts and Crafts

Homemade Camera.  Recently E wanted to go on an animal hunt and said she needed a camera.  I cut some egg carton (leaving a hole for the view finder) and let her decorate.  We tied a ribbon on either side to keep it around her neck.  I also added a brad on top for a button.  Huge success!

Homemade Melted Crayons.  We made heart crayons to give as Valentines for our friends.  They were very simple.  Gather several crayon and take the paper off them.  Break them into pieces and fill your mold (ours is an Ikea silicone mold).  Heat your oven to about 250 degrees F.  Place your mold in the oven for about 15 minutes or until melted.  Remove from oven and let them cool for about 15-30 minutes (can put in the freezer to speed process, but may crack).  When cool and hard pop out of the mold.

Ice Painting.  Fill a couple ice cube trays.  Add a drop of food coloring in each spot.  Add a straw or stick and freeze.  Pull them out and immediately start painting.

Shaving Cream Paint.  Mix shaving cream with a drop or two of food coloring then paint!  We used a white board but I've seen it done in the bath or sliding glass doors or wherever!  Clean up was super easy!

Shaving Cream Animals...and Body.  Another variety of our shaving cream painting.  E wanted to paint her animals then give them a bath.  She saw how much fun they were having and wanted to join in.

Valentine's Hearts.  Simple.  I cut hearts out of foam sheets, gave the girls some glue, buttons, feathers and stickers.  They did the rest.  Attention time to this activity: 10 minutes.

Creative Play and Learning

Bug Hunt.  I printed a bug page I found outline here and laminated the pieces.  I spread the bugs around the room and let her search, with magnifying glass (of course), for all the bugs.  She matched them up with her bug chart.

Cloud Dough.  Mix 8 cups of flour with 1 cup (or a little more) of baby oil.  This makes a super soft and moldable mush perfect for squishing, stirring and pouring.

Colored Rice. There is something about pouring, dumping and mixing that is super fun.  In this particular day of rice play it is even better with a helmet on.  Sometimes the animals join in to be fed or to play hide a seek.  Attention time to this activity: anywhere from 5 minutes to hours.

Color Sorting.  Today we sorted with a muffin tin.  It all started with needing to 'earn' a treat (which was obviously greatly appreciated by the little one).  We added buttons and puff balls and I watched her figure it all out, mix the buttons and balls, transfer balls from her 'bowl' to the muffin tin with a spoon, etc.  Attention time to this activity: about 30 minutes intermixed with tickles and runs around the table.

Ice Play.  I filled a couple balloons with water and let them freeze.  Give some salt shakers and colored water and let them go at it.  After a while I added some small ice cubes and shaving cream for 'icing'.

Magnets.  This girl loves magnets!  We have quite the collection of homemade or purchased magnets.  Here she matched the little letter to the big letter (in our home-school preschool class we are only up to letter F).  She then needed to 'feed' all the letters with matching pom pom magnets.  I'd say she did quite well.  Attention time to this activity: about 20 minutes.

Pretend Play

Be a Fairy.

Be a Pirate.

Be a Princess.