I love when we can add new finger plays to our repertoire, because let’s face it: Where is Thumbkin? can grow old after a while! These two new ones are fun any time, but especially on long car rides or waiting rooms since all you need are… your fingers! Depending which rhyme you choose, your fingers become four kitty cats or ten gentlemen.

For Little Pussycats, Veronika loves to have her stuffed cat act out out the game alongside my fingers! Simply say the following:

One, two, three, four, (hold up four fingers)

These little pussycats came to my door.

They just stood there and said “good day” (bow your fingers)

and then they tiptoed right away!

End that last line with a tickle over your toddler’s shoulder as the cats run away!

Now you’ll need to recruit all ten fingers and turn them into Ten Little Gentlemen:

Ten little gentlemen, standing in a row. (Hold ten fingers up).

Bow, little gentlemen, bow down low. (Bend your fingers in a bow).

Walk, little gentlemen, right across the floor, (Walk your fingers around).

And don’t forget, gentlemen, to please close the door. (Give a clap!).

Veronika especially gets the giggles for this last clap every time, asking me to open and close the “door” over and over.

I love finding new materials for toddlers to use as an indoor sandbox, and today we tried something totally different: cedar shavings. Veronika took right to the material, and I quickly discovered there were three things to love about it.

First, it smells incredible. That meant the play doubled not only as tactile sensory play, but olfactory sensory play, too. Veronika would pick up handfuls and declare, “It smells really good!”

Second, there was a down-on-the-farm vibe to how the cedar shavings looked in a bin (they made me think of hay in a hayloft), so we set up a little pretend farm play. We added a funnel to be her “silo”, and Veronika loved filling it up with a pitchfork (er, beach shovel).

Then we added toy animals who could play on the farm. Veronika loved sprinkling the cedar down on them, or burying them underneath the shavings.

Finally, the cedar is a dream when it comes time to clean-up. Unlike tiny materials (rice!), this sweeps up cleanly and easily. A win for parents and kids both.

This adorable idea from Kiwi Co’s website brings Dr. Seuss’s story of Yertle the Turtle to life. It requires a bit of grown-up prep, but nothing too complicated. Ahead of time, I saved up bottle caps until we had 12. It would have been a bonus if they were green to begin with, but a quick coat of tempera paint solved the problem.

Meanwhile, I traced out turtle shapes on green felt around each bottle cap, (you just need a head and four limbs extending off the round body), and then cut out.

Use hot glue to add a green bottle cap in the center of each body and 2 wiggle eyes on each head.

Now it was time to watch the story! This was the perfect snuggle time on a rainy day, but the book was only halfway finished before the kids were trying to stack their turtles just like the ones in the tale.

Oh no, this tower toppled over at only seven turtles!

Veronika simply delighted in stacking a few before knocking them down on purpose. Clearly these turtles were a hit!

Travis, meanwhile, was the champion. He carefully began stacking…

…and managed to stack 10 turtles before his “king” hit the ground.

This was a wonderful way to make the book come alive.